HIT: Keeping the attention of primary grade students

[Janel Watson <janel_watson@HOTMAIL.COM>]

Thanks very much to those of you who responded to my need for songs, rhymes,
stretches, etc...to help keep the attention of wiggly primary students when
transitioning from one thing to the next.
Here is the hit that many have asked me to compile.  This is my first time
posting a hit.  I hope I do it correctly.

Sincerely,
Janel K. Watson
Library Media Specialist
Scholls Heights Elementary
Beaverton, OR
janel_watson@hotmail.com

***********************************************************************

Janel,
Here are the words of a ditty that I used to use when I was a public
librarian, but come to think of it maybe it would be helpful in my current
position as a middle school librarian  (SOMETHING has to) ;-)

I wiggle my fingers,
I wiggle my toes,
I wiggle my shoulders,
I wiggle my nose,
And when I  wiggle all the wiggles out of me, (big body twitches and
giggles here)
I can sit as quiet as can be (model folded hands and quiet body as you
segue from line and action above).

Hope this helps,
Johanna Freivalds
Lockwood Middle School
Billings, MT


Hello, Janel.

We use the following with our preschool ages right through second
grade.  It has worked well for us.

I can make myself get taller, taller, taller.  (Stretch to the ceiling
on tippy toes.)
I can make myself get smaller, smaller, smaller. (Scrunch down toward
the ground.)
I can make myself go faster, faster, faster. (Run in place quickly.)
I can make myself go slower, slower, slower. (Slow motion running in
place.)
I can clap my hands three times. 1....2.....3...... (Clap hands on 1, 2,
3.)
Turn around and sit quietly down.

This works well for preschool in a sing-song tone, but also works for
the primary grade with a slightly more serious tone.

Here's another:

I can clap my hands.  Clap. Clap. Clap.
I can stamp my feet. Stamp. Stamp. Stamp.
I can roll my head, and close my eyes and quiet be.
(You can make up your own tune or use sing-song verse.  You can also
make up your own verses and just end them with "and quiet be")

Another:
When your hands are folded in your lap, your mouths are closed,
your ears are ready to listen, and your eyes are looking at me,
the story house will open (or the story will begin.)

Hope these help. They are fun to experiment with.

Stacy

Stacy Brand
James Prendergast Library
Jamestown, New York
sbrand@cclslib.org



You can find a wealth of such things in the book, Hi Ho Librario.  I found
it in Amazon.com.
You have the option of purchasing the book with an audiotape that teaches
you the tunes to the songs if you don't read music.  I use the book and love
it!

Good luck!
Ginny Beall


Janel,
  Two fingerplays that I use are:

Open them,
Shut them,
Give a little clap,
Open them,
Shut them,
Put them in your lap
(this  is done while opening and closing the hands as stated)

I have 10 little fingers  (open them out toshow all 10)
They all belong to me  (pointto yourself with both hands)
I can make them do things  (move hands around in circular motion)
Would you like to see?  (hands open, palms out toward audience)
I can make them jump high  (raise open hands up over the head)
I can make them jump low   (put hands down near floor)
I can put them all together
Quietly just so.   (close hands and put them in your lap)

Also, check out your local public library for books with fingerplays
and other storytelling, storystretcher ideas which include such things.
We have a larger teacher resource section than any area school district
and other public libraries might also.  Good luck
Nancy Gifford
Schenectady County Public Library
Schenectady, NY
scp_giffo@sals.edu



Dear Janel,
This is the one I "stole" from Tucson-Pima Public Librarians:
My hands upon my head I place,
on my shoulders,
on my face.
Then I wave them way up high.
Let my fingers fly, fly, fly.
Clap, clap, clap
One, Two, Three
See how quiet
they can be.

I'd hum a few bars but I don't have the necessary software.

Best,
Judi

Judi Moreillon
storypower@theriver.com
http://personal.riverusers.com/~storypower



Is is this one?

Here are Grandma's glasses (they hold their fingers up like glasses)
And here is grandma's hat (they make a hat with their hands on their
head)
This is the way she folds her hands and puts them in her lap (they do
so)
Here are Grandpa's glasses (bigger glasses formed with fingers)
Here is Grandpa's hat (larger hat formed with hands and arms)
This is the way he folds his arms, just like THAT (arms are folded in
lap)



Sharon Castanteen
Educational Media Specialist
Fort Lee, New Jersey



I know a couple.

Clap your hands, clap your hands, clap them just like me!
Touch your ears (shoulders, knees, etc.), touch your ears, touch them just
like me!
Clap your hands, clap your hands, now quiet let them be.  (I always
gradually lower my voice as I say the last 4 words)

There is also one about wiggles, but it escapes me at the moment.  You could
try the children's room at your public library.  They should have a couple
of resources for conducting storytimes that you could use.

You could also use action oriented stories occasionally, where the kids act
out motion described in the story.  Eric Carle's "From Head to Toe" and "The
little old lady who was not afraid of anything" are two good ones.  I'm
sorry I don't know the author of the latter.

Hope this helps!
Molly Clark
Library Media Specialist, as of 9/1/99 :-)
St. Paul's Academy, Oswego, NY 13126
e-mail mcclark@twcny.rr.com



I have used nursery rhymes with hand gestures or short
poems such as "There was a little turtle who lived in
a box"

I'm sure there are many others but all my stuff is at
school now.
===
Christine House, LMS  <christinelms@yahoo.com>
Prince School Library
22 Gold Street
New Haven, CT 06519
203-946-5612

Hi Janel!
I have been a substitute for more years than I care to admit.  One of the
rhymes that I have used for years starts with  me saying,
"Hands up! Everyone get your fingers up!"  Wait until everyone has complied,
then go into the rhyme.  "Fingers to snap, fingers to clap, fingers to pat,
fingers to lie quietly in our laps."  Do the motions for as long as it takes
to work their wiggles out!  (When you pat, just have them pat their hands on
their legs.)  The response of one third grader that I had used this on, was
"Hey!

It's a trick!"  I agreed.  But it does really work!  Please post a hit if
you get a bunch of these.  Marcy
<> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><> ><>

Marcia Berbeza
Substitute
Christina School District
Newark,  DE  USA
Mberbeza@aol.com
LMS in training




Hi Janel,

I got this from a book, The Best of The Mailbox Magazine: Songs, Poems and
Finger Plays: Preschool/Kindergarden

"Hand Tricks" by Marie E. Cecchini, Hughsonville, NY

Clap your hands-
Up high, down low.                      Clap hands above head, then below
waist.

Let them wobble                 Shake hands
To and fro.                                     Shake hands to and fro.

Shake your hands-                       Shake hands
First left, then right.                 Shake hands to the left, then the
right

Now tuck them in your lap so tight.             Fold hands in lap

There is also one called "Open and Shut"  in this book as well as others.  I
just realized that I don't think I'm aloud to take them from this book am I
isn't it a copyright infringement.  oops!
It is a good book with lots of fingerplays.  There are other books as well.

I also use Judy Freeman's songs from her book Hi Ho Librario.  You can
purchase it with a cassette or CD.  I really like this book it has good
ideas
and songs to use with library lessons.

My friend uses this at her public library and I used it with my primary
grades

Wiggle your fingers
Wiggle your nose
Wiggle your shoulders
Wiggle your toes
Now no more wiggles are left in me,
So I'm as still as I can be.


I have also used

This is Grandma's glasses               Make circles with fingersand hold in
front of eyes.
This is Grandma's hat                   Put hands together over head like
party hat
And this is the way she folds
Her hands and puts them in her lap

Something like that and it can be with Grandpa as well

I just started working in January in Two elementary schools, one is PreK and
Kindergarden and the other school is 1-4th.  I have been trying to think of
things to keep the kids attention as well.  I did my internship in a
highschool setting, so I have a lot to learn.

I hope these are useful.

Rose Luna
School Library Media Specialist/Outreach Librarian
Columbus Ave/New Visions School/Freeport Public Library
Freeport, NY


I don't the one you are talking about but I do know a cute transitional
poem that will get them from one place to another.
"See the little caterpillar crawling on the ground,
quiet as can be, crawling up and down.
If you were a caterpillar how quiet would you be?
Table one will line up and I will listen and see."
Then last line can be change to fit any situation.
ex: those wearing red will line up and I will listen and see.

If you go to your public library they will have books on finger plays
that can be effectively used with primary students.  Songs like "Eensy,
Weensy Spider", "Wheels on the Bus", "Open Shut Them" are ones the
children will probably know and enjoy but there are many, many others
and many books to help you choose ones you like.

Another trick I used to keep the attention of my students when I was in
an elementary school was to have them recite (or together we would
recite) a nursery rhyme and I would cut a "surprise" from colored
construction paper.  For example, for Jack be Nimble I would cut a
candlestick; for Jack and Jill, a pail; for Wee Willie Winkie, a number
eight.  The kids loved it and never seemed to get tired of repeating the
rhyme for as long as it took me to cut.

I hope this helps you.
Harriet Rothstein
Director
Western Suffolk BOCES School Library System



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