Flannel Friday Roundup for 12/16/11

Welcome to the final Flannel Friday Roundup of 2011!  As always, there is a wide variety of ideas in the following posts.  I love how creative this group is and how members easily adapt ideas to fit their own needs.  Flannel Friday has inspired me to be a more creative storyteller.

Library Quines of Loons and Quines has some adorable and very colorful felt owls featured in her post "Owls and Longevity."  She also asks readers for suggestions for keeping the felt pieces looking good.

Mary of  Miss Mary Liberry gives us "Bippity, Boppity, Boo, There's a Teddy Bear on My Shoe."  She points out how easily adaptable this rhyme would be.  I just found out I will be subbing for a January Toddler Time program so I'm thinking bippity, bobbity, bee, there's a snowflake on my knee.

Alison of Miss Alison Is Blogging presents "Hey, Mr. Snowman" which not only covers winter but colors as well.  The children can also bring the snowman pieces up to the board.

Andrea of rovingfiddlehead kidlit combines winter fun with a little bit of drama with "The, Cold, Cold Night."  Her polar bear is simply designed but very effective.

Mel of Mel's Desk unearthed a great prop for singing "She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain."  She mentions that this format could be used for other songs.  Since I can't carry a tune I would use it to make a circular story linear - folding out and then folding back.  Flannel Friday inspiration already!

Meghan of Busy Crafting Mommy has again created some beautifully crafted pieces, this time for Balancing Act by Ellen Stoll Walsh.  The parachute activity looks like fun as well.

Katie of Story Time Secrets takes the "Rudolph!, Rudolph!" rhyme to a new level with a cute and cuddly Rudolph.  I love the colorful noses.

Mollie of What Happens in Storytime flannelizes Hungry Hen by Richard Waring.  She didn't give away the ending and now I have to wait until I'm back at work Tuesday evening to read it.  I love the expression on the fox's face.

Katie of storytime katie made the most incredible "Knights."  I love the detail of the armor and the colorful shields.

Sarah of Read Rabbit Read brings us her cute flannel board version of What Color is Bear's Underwear?  What could be more fun than bears and underwear?  It's certainly an entertaining way to teach colors and the days of the week.

Cate of Storytiming has come up with a great activity to go along with Pete the Cat Rocking in My School Shoes! by Eric Litwin.  She also has lets us know about the newest Pete book!

My contribution is "Turtle Talks Too Much."  I used it for my November Family Story Time program and it is another story adapted from a Native American tale.  I made simple props but it could be a flannel board story as well.

Update:
Moxie of Storytimes with Moxie gives us a holiday gift with "A Stocking for Hoppy" by showing a lovely felt stocking she made and by sharing a wonderful personal story along with it.  I hope she lets us know what Hoppy gets from Santa.

If I missed anyone please let me know in the comments or via Twitter or our Facebook page.

You can find previous roundups at Anne's blog, so tomorrow, where Flannel Friday has it's own page.  That 's where you'll also find the hosting schedule for the beginning of 2012.

Be sure to visit Flannel Friday's Pinterest boards where you will find all of the contributions in one place and conveniently categorized. (It make take a while for me to "pin" this roundup since I'm a newbie at it and didn't have much time to practice.)

Since this is the last roundup for 2011, I would like to thank everyone for making Flannel Friday such a great resource and I'm looking forward to 2012.  May everyone have a holiday season of peace and joy and then be inspired to create fantastic flannels all through the coming year.

Flannel Friday Posts

If you have a Flannel Friday post, please leave a link to it in the comments. I will also be checking Twitter and the Facebook page throughout the day.

Thanks.

Update:  The roundup has been posted and can be found here.  However, I will still add posts through Saturday.  LM

Turtle Talks Too Much

"Turtle Talks Too Much" is another Native American story that I adapted for the Family Story Time program of November 29, 2011 (see post for 11/30/11).  It is based on "How Turtle Flew South for the Winter" in Native American Stories told by Joseph Bruchac.  Although I told it using props, it can easily be told as a flannel/magnet board story.  I remember reading a version of this tale several years ago but of course I have forgotten where I came across it.  My version can be found as a Google document here.

The props were fairly simple to make.  The stick came from my front yard.  When selecting a stick make sure it is small enough for the clothes pins to fit on it.  I drew the turtle and birds and colored them with markers.  The turtle's shell is plain and I put a piece of white sticky-backed Velcro in the center of the shell and colored it with green marker.  I then made a cracked shell putting the other part of the Velcro on the back of it so it can be attached after turtle falls.  I put card stock behind the figures to reinforce them.  This also helped the birds stay upright on the stick.  I then taped clothes pins behind the birds' feet and behind turtle's head.  I taped a mouth onto turtle's clothes pin. 

Birds carrying turtle:



How it is put together:

After the fall:

It's my turn to host the Flannel Friday Round-Up so please come back Friday evening for the last Flannel Friday of 2011!

Crow's Great Gift

One of the stories I told at last month's Family Story Time (see post for 11/30/11) was "Crow's Great Gift" which is based on the story "Rainbow Crow" from The Grandfathers Speak: Native American Folk Tales of the Lenape People collected and written by Hitakonanu'laxk (Tree Bear).  Libraries may have the book, Rainbow Crow by Nancy Van Laan, which is a nice retelling of this story.  Other versions can also be found by searching the internet.  My version can be found as a Google document here.

I used clip art from Microsoft Publisher to make stick puppet figures.  However, this story would work just as well as a board story.  I like to vary my ways of telling stories in a program so I decided to use stick puppets for this one.

This week's Flannel Friday Round-Up can be found at Liz's "Putting Smiles on Faces" blog.

We Were Fans Before He Was a Star

Several years ago we adopted a shelter cat named Pete.  Actually he selected us by sticking his paw out of his cage and tapping on my husband's shoulder.  We had planned to adopt an older cat but ended up with Pete who was technically a kitten at 11 months according to the shelter.  When we got him home we decided he was more like a teenager.  (A few months later we adopted his sister as well.)

My husband took to calling him Pete the Cat (now you may see how this story connects to children's literature).  One day my husband told me that he had found another Pete the Cat on the internet.  He had found the work of artist James Dean here.  From Mr. Dean we learned that blue is the new black and have been fans ever since because we had our own Pete the Cat.  It was great fun to find out that Pete was going to be the featured in a children's book and even more fun when he became a hit!

Of course we have succumbed to Pete merchandising.  When visiting the Pete the Cat site last year I was pleasantly surprised to find out how affordable Pete prints are and purchased one for my husband for Christmas.  Needless to say he is getting more Pete stuff this year.  The work of James Dean is geared more toward adults while the books are definitely a hit with children.  I think it's great that Pete can be enjoyed by both grown-ups and kids and I'm looking forward to reading Pete's books to my grandson the next time he comes for a visit.  However, I don't think our Pete the Cat will be wearing white shoes any time soon.

Pete and Pete: 

Holiday Bells

Flannel Friday is having a "Holiday Extravaganza."  It is hosted by Library Quine at http://loonsandquines.blogspot.com/

Here is my contribution:

"Holiday Bells"

One silver bell rings out loud and clear,

Calls for another so that more can hear.

Two silver bells make a joyful noise,

Call for another to ring for girls and boys.

Three silver bells ring out holiday cheer,

Call for another to be heard far and near.

Four silver bells make a merry sound,

Call for another to be heard all around.

Five silver bells ring throughout the land -

May there be peace on earth and goodwill to man.

Notes:  The word "little" can be substituted for "silver" if you don't want to make your bells all silver.  I used a silver marker to color in the clip art bell I selected.  (Mine is from Microsoft Publisher.)  I added a bit of ribbon to make it festive,