Jack and the Beanstalk

This was my very first attempt at mixing STEAM and fairy tales. I decided to tell different versions of Jack and the Beanstalk and give the kids a chance to practice measuring things in the room. 

Outline: 

Opening song: Put your hands up high
Tune: Do Your Ears Hang Low?

Put your hands up high

Put your hands down low

Put your hands in the middle

And wiggle just so

Put your elbows in the front

Put your elbows in the back

Put your elbows to the side 

And quack, quack, quack

Source: Jbrary

Opening rhyme: Hands go up

Hands go up

Hands go down

I can turn myself around

I can stand up, on just one shoe

I can listen, so can you

I can sit, I'll show you how

Storytime is starting now

Source: I found this on Pinterest a long time ago, and have been using it for so long I don't recall the original source

Story: Kate and the Beanstalk by Mary Pope Osborne

Song: Five Cows All Brown and Tan
Tune: Five Green and Speckled Frogs

Five cows all brown and tan 

Chewed their cud again and again 

So they could give milk sweet and pure. 

Squirt! Squirt! 

One left the barn one day 

So she could find more hay. 

Then there were four cows brown and tan. 

Moo! Moo!

Source: Pre-K Fun. I switched it up a bit because I had it in my head that Jack's cow was brown, but a look through the various book versions I had actually showed a mix of colors. 

Song: Climbing up the Beanstalk
Tune: She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain

He'll be climbing up the beanstalk when he comes

He'll be climbing up the beanstalk when he comes

He'll be climbing up the beanstalk, he'll be climbing up the beanstalk,

He'll be climbing up the beanstalk when he comes

Additional verses:

He'll be hiding from the giant

He'll be taking lots of gold

He'll be chopping down the beanstalk

Source: This is my own adaptation, but not my original idea. I could see that someone else had come up with something similar, but couldn't see their version without paying for it.

Story: Jack and the Baked Beanstalk by Colin Stimpson

Activities: Measuring items in the room

Pentominoes (if time)

Craft: Make your own beanstalk

Final Story: Jack and the Beanstalk by Nina Crews

Goodbye song: Time to Say Goodbye to Our Friends
Tune: If You're Happy and You Know It

Oh it's time to say goodbye to our friends (clap, clap)

It's time to say goodbye to our friends (clap, clap)

Storytime is done today, so come again another day

It's time to say goodbye to our friends (clap, clap)

Source: This is another one that I've used for a long time, so I don't remember where I originally found it. 

How it actually went:

I only had one child show up for this storytime, so things didn't go quite like I had wanted when we got to the activity portion of the program. The first couple of stories went over well. My one kid was very attentive and participated by asking questions and commenting on the pictures. 

When we started on the measuring portion of the program, I had initially envisioned handing out rulers and letting the kids explore, but it wound up being more one one one. I had a paper beanstalk on the wall with both giant and Jack sized footprints leading up to it. We measured each foot print and we measured the beanstalk. Then I asked him to estimate how many giant footprints it would take to reach the top of the beanstalk. We did the same with Jack's footprints. His estimates were really close each time! As it turned out we did not have time to play with the pentominoes.

My paper beanstalk laid out on the floor. It measured just over six feet tall.

Next it was on to craft time. Ahead of time I prepped the beanstalks by gluing green paper to paper towel tubes and then hot gluing that to a paper plate. I try not to prep too much so the kids still have some room to get creative, but hot glue is one exception to that. 

Craft time ran over, as it often does, so I did not have time to read my final story. 

Overall, I think this was a decent first try. I will definitely attempt this one again after some time has passed. I'll probably make some changes next time around also. 

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