July 2016 TITLE: WIGGLE AND THE WHALE By Roger Priddy The bright colours and unusual fingerprint bodies of these friendly creatures makes this book a fun and interesting read. The unlikely friendships explored are clever, descriptive and exciting. As you meet each set of friends you will discover the ways they like to move about and what they like about each other. You may even be able to spot some familiar items hidden amongst the pictures. Key Message for Parents The first five years matter and last a lifetime Positive early experiences help children make connections in their brain, laying down pathways for learning. These pathways will become strengthened over time but it is critical that the foundations are laid down in the first few years of a child s life. Parents can help support their child s first five years by: providing positive relationships, rich learning opportunities and safe environments for the child to develop to their full potential participating in stimulating experiences like Story Time with their child to create meaningful learning opportunities valuing time spent with young babies and children, taking time to read, sing, talk and play. One-to-one interactions with babies and young children help to reinforce feelings of security, encourage language and positive experiences which in turn help to enrich their early brain development. Learning Outcomes Outcome 5: Children are effective communicators Children will learn to interact verbally and non-verbally with others for a range of purposes. Children including those who are not yet verbal will gain many communication skills from taking part in a story time session. As educators we can encourage babies to be effective communicators by: engaging with a variety of texts and exploring all the book has to offer repeating favourite books and discovering different things about them at each new opportunity expressing what is seen on the page, using the written language and also explaining the other visual representations - images, photos and colours on the page. Babies will begin to understand symbol and pattern systems by observing the reading process encourage babies to have a say and engage them in conversation around the book, during reading and after. They will begin to identify books as a way of communicating ideas and start to make meaning of the language and tone used to tell the story.
Themes of this story include: Animals Friendship Rhyming stories Welcome Ask carers to write nametags for themselves and their babies. Welcome everyone, introduce yourself, remind adults to turn their mobile phones off and that there will be time for adults to chat after the story and songs. Welcome Song (or your preferred song) Have the words available as a handout or written on a board or butcher s paper for the adults to read and join in. Good Morning Good morning to you Good morning to you Good morning everybody And welcome to you! Song Sing songs with gentle actions, this helps engage babies and young children. 5 Little Ducks Galumph Incy Wincy Spider 5 Little Ducks 5 little ducks went out one day, over the hills and far away, mother duck said quack, quack, quack, quack but only 4 little ducks came back continue 4, 3, 2, 1 - until no more little ducks come back sad mother duck went out one day, over the hills and far away, mother duck said quack, quack, quack, quack and all of the 5 little ducks came back!
Before Reading This story is about animals, their unlikely friendships and how each animal is unique. The animals in this story might make particular sounds or they may have a favourite action. Animate the story by making these sounds and actively moving your body. Invite parents and carers to join along with you whilst holding their baby. During Reading Photographs of everyday items have been use to collage the illustration in this book. As you share this story, point out any hidden items you can see. If you have multiple copies of this book, let babies explore the pictures up closely. Encourage parents and carers to name objects, older babies who are using words can then help to name the objects too. Point out the features of the animals, the colours they are. Look at the differences between the animals, the very big giraffe and the very tiny caterpillar. Its through lots of talking with babies that their knowledge and understanding will grow. Over time they will begin to understand meaning and can start to categorize animals and the sounds they make from your description and expressions. After Reading Pick a favourite animal from the story and sing a song related to that animal. You can adapt the well know song Old Macdonald s Farm and include the animals from the story, making the noises and movements as suggested in the text. Talk about the different animals who appeared and what sounds or movements they make. Older babies and todders will begin to replicate these actions themselves. For young babies, ask parents and carers to hold them on their laps (alternate between holding babies facing away from their parent/carer and towards the group, and sitting face-to-face.) wiggle like a jellyfish waddle or chomp like a crocodile roar like a lion swing like an orangutan Keep singing!! Why not sing more songs about animals! Some great songs include; Baby Crocodile, How much is that doggy? and Cuddly Koala. Baby Crocodile Sing to the tune of Frère Jacques Baby Crocodile, baby Crocodile (snap like a crocodile with your pointer finger and thumb) Don t you bite, Don t you bite, (wiggle or shake finger) I can run away from you, I can run away from you (move babies legs in running motion, or more your arms to immitate running) Out of sight, Out of sight! (cover and open your eyes with your hands, peek a boo action) **Repeat verses with other family members. Eg: Mummy, Daddy, Aunty, Granny etc (alter your crocodile snapping to get bigger and bigger! )
Activity Time Finger painting Babies will love to explore this sensory experience. Older babies can try to make fingerprint marks and younger babies may just explore the paint. Remember to use vibrant colours and let the babies direct the activity. The animals in the story were made from fingerprints so it doesn t matter if the animals aren t exactly accurate initially. Tip: Talk about the texture, the colours and the patterns the paint makes on the page and think about what some of the fingerprints could turn into. Identify possible connections between the paintings and animals to give accurate and honest meaning to the experience. E.g. a green fingerprint may get turned into a green tree frog or a brown fingerprint could be a dog. Materials needed: paint (use non-toxic and washable paint in a variety of colours) table cover smocks paper textas/crayons/pencils *optional Instructions: 1. Lay paper out on covered table with paint in between each piece of paper 2. Once babies are wearing their smocks encourage them to make a variety of fingerprints on the page 3. For older babies, once the paint is dry add some small features to the fingerprints to turn them into animals. (try a beak for a bird, tail for a fish or tentacles for an octopus) TIP: With older babies use this opportunity to talk and explore your imagination. Talk about the texture, the colours and the patterns the paint makes on the paper. Be creative! Identify possible connections between the printing and animals to add to the experince for example, green fingerprint may get turned into a green tree frog or a brown fingerprint could be a dog, add wiggly lines... you created Wiggle the Jellyfish! Use the book to make connections, look back at the picutes and match or compare to your artistic creation.
Extension Activities Sensory experiences are wonderful activities for babies and young children. If exploring with paint is not appropriate at your centre or site look for other ways to incoporate sensory experiences into your sessions. Some ideas could include: sing songs with actions or props use coloured scarves parachute or light material to raise up and down over babies while singing (perfect for groups) use bubbles and musical instruments. Goodbye Conclude the session with some suggestions of relevant books that parents might want to borrow. The Little Big Book Club recommends the following books to support learning in this area - Australian Animals ABC by Bambi Smyth Brown Bear, Brown Bear be Eric Hill Splash! by Alison Lester Where is the Green Sheep? by Mem Fox Goodbye Song Depending on the size of your group, you may wish to insert each child s name in the place of you as it develops a more personal relationship between yourself, the child and the family. Sung to the tune of (Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush) or your preferred choice. Goodbye This is the way we say goodbye (use a waving action) Say goodbye, say goodbye This is the way we say goodbye To all our library friends (or)) (to our friend )!