I can’t believe we are doing our third ASL/English storytime. This is a storytime that I present with a deaf mother and an interpreter, in both English and sign language. Deaf families will be able to enjoy the entire program in sign language and hearing families will enjoy a storytime where they can learn some simple sign language.
These have been very successful before and really great for the community.
Here is what we have planned:
Rhyme – The More We Get Together
We learn the signs for: more, together, happy and friends.
The more we get together, together, together The more we get together, the happier we’ll be. ‘Cause your friends are my friends and my friends are your friends. The more we get together, the happier we’ll be.
Identifying Animals
I’ve got some simple animal pictures and we teach the group these animal signs: Cow, Pig, Duck, Sheep, Cat, Dog
Book – I Went Walking by Sue Williams
I am going to attempt to do this as a repeat after me story, which is how I read it out loud. Here is what I am thinking.
Mother – I went walking. Audience – You went walking. Me – What did you see? Mother – I saw a black cat. Looking at me. Mother – I went walking. Audience – You went walking. Me – What did you see? Mother – I saw a brown horse. Looking at me. Mother – I went walking. Audience – You went walking. Me – What did you see? Mother – I saw a red cow. Looking at me. Mother – I went walking. Audience – You went walking. Me – What did you see? Mother – I saw a green duck. Looking at me. Mother – I went walking. Audience – You went walking. Me – What did you see? Mother – I saw a pink pig. Looking at me. Mother – I went walking. Audience – You went walking. Me – What did you see? Mother – I saw a yellow dog. Looking at me. Mother – I went walking. Audience – You went walking. Me – What did you see? Mother – I saw a lot of animals, following me!
Rhyme- Old MacDonald had a Farm
For this one we use our animal signs we learned earlier and also the sign for “farm” and the letters “EIEIO.” When the animal makes their sounds we also sign the animal sign. I’ll highlight the first stanza so you get an idea.
Old MacDonald had a farm, E I E I O And on the farm he had a COW, E I E I O With a moo, moo here and a moo, moo there. Here a moo, there a moo, everywhere a moo, moo. Old MacDonald had a farm, E I E I O
Old MacDonald had a farm, E I E I O And on the farm he had a DUCK, E I E I O With a quack, quack here and a quack, quack there. Here a quack, there a quack, everywhere a quack, quack. Old MacDonald had a farm, E I E I O
Old MacDonald had a farm, E I E I O And on the farm he had a PIG, E I E I O With an oink, oink here and an oink, oink there. Here an oink, there an oink, everywhere an oink, oink. Old MacDonald had a farm, E I E I O
Old MacDonald had a farm, E I E I O And on the farm he had some SHEEP, E I E I O With a baa, baa here and a baa, baa there. Here a baa, there a baa, everywhere a baa, baa. Old MacDonald had a farm, E I E I O
Game – Sleeping, sleeping all the children were sleeping.
Basically, you say/sign: “Sleeping, sleeping all the children were sleeping. And when they woke up they were….” and you name/sign an animal for them to pretend to be.
Animals: Bear, Cow, Dog, Bird, Rabbit
Book w/ props – Thank You Bear by Greg Foley
For this one, my deaf Mother signs the book with the interpreter speaking, while I act it out with our props.
Rhyme – Five Little Ducks
This one will be similar to “Old MacDonald,” where we will only sign certain words. Again I’ll highlight the first stanza to give you an idea.
Five little ducks went out to play, over the hill and far away Mother duck said, “Quack, quack, quack, quack” And only four little ducks came back
Four little ducks went out to play, over the hill and far away Mother duck said, “Quack, quack, quack, quack” And only three little ducks came back
Three little ducks went out to play, over the hill and far away Mother duck said, “Quack, quack, quack, quack” And only two little ducks came back
Two little ducks went out to play, over the hill and far away Mother duck said, “Quack, quack, quack, quack” And only one little duck came back
One little duck went out to play, over the hill and far away Mother duck said, “Quack, quack, quack, quack” And only no little ducks came back.
Sad mother duck went out one day, over the hill and far away Mother duck said, “Quack, quack, quack, quack” And all of her five little ducks came back
Rhyme – The More We Get Together
Finally, we finish how we started.
The more we get together, together, together The more we get together, the happier we’ll be. ‘Cause your friends are my friends and my friends are your friends. The more we get together, the happier we’ll be.
How’d it go:
Oh my goodness, what a wonderful storytime! Everything went so smoothly and the crowd really were participating, both the adults and the children. We even had some kids from the local high school come to the storytime because they are studying sign language. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful!
That’s all for now!
-M-