Fish and Under the Sea Storytime Lesson Plan

Fish & Under the Sea Storytime Lesson Plan

Books

Amazing giant sea creatures by Marie Greenwood, DK Publishing, 2014.
Dear fish by Chris Gall, Little Brown Books for Young Readers, 2006.
Fish is fish by Leo Lionni, Random House Children's Books, 2013. (25th Anniversary ed.)
Hooray for fish! by Lucy Cousins, Candlewick Press, 2005.
I spy under the sea by Edward Gibbs, Candlewick Press, 2012.
I’m the biggest thing in the ocean by Kevin Sherry, Penguin, 2007.
Mister seahorse by Eric Carle, Penguin Young Readers Group, 2004.
The pout-pout fish by Deborah Diesen, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008.
Rainbow fish by Marcus Pfister, North-South Books, 1999. (Also available in big book format.)
Shark in the park by Nick Sharratt, Random House Children's Books, 2002.
Swimmy by Leo Lionni, Random House Children's Books, 2013. (50th Anniversary ed.)
Ten little fish by Audrey Wood, Scholastic, 2004.
The three little fish and the big bad shark by Ken Geist, Scholastic, 2007.
Ugly fish by Kara Lareau, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2006.
Way down deep in the deep blue sea by Jan Peck, Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers, 2004.
Wow! Ocean! by Robert Neubecker, Hyperion Books, 2011.

Songs

"Baby fish" – Jean Feldman, Dr. Jean Sings Silly Songs (1:00)
"Five fish swimming in the sea" – Jean Feldman, Dr. Jean Sings Silly Songs (1:32)
"The goldfish" – Laurie Berkner, The Best of the Laurie Berkner Band (3:25), video accessed 11-28-17

Fingerplays & Action Rhymes

Baby shark, accessed 11-28-17
Fishies, accessed 11-28-17
Five cranky crabs, accessed 11-28-17
Waves on the sea, accessed 11-28-17

Props

I'm the biggest thing in the ocean story pattern, accessed 11-28-17

Fishies flannel board pattern, accessed 11-28-17

Folkmanis octopus puppet, accessed 11-28-17

Art Project

Torn paper fish, accessed 11-28-17

Paper plate jellyfish, accessed 11-28-17

Multimedia

Hooray for Fish movie, created by Candlewick Press (5:36 min), accessed 11-28-17

Every Child Ready to Read Skills and/or Practices

Print Conventions/Awareness: Large text in Shark in the park (Sharratt) can be pointed out to kids while being read aloud

Background Knowledge: Kids help to identify the animals found in I spy under the sea (Gibbs) or Way down deep in the deep blue sea (Peck)

Letter Knowledge: Point out the letters in "WOW" you see on many pages of Wow! Ocean! (Neubecker)

Vocabulary: Use nonfiction books such as Amazing giant sea creatures (Greenwood) in your storytime

Phonological Awareness: Rhyming books such as Way down deep in the deep blue sea (Peck) promote the awareness of the smaller sounds in words -- a skill kids need when learning to read

Sing: Kids sing along with songs played during storytime

Talk: Have a dialogue with the kids about two or three of the animals found in I spy under the Sea (Gibbs)

Read: Have kids read the word "bigger" along with you in I'm the biggest thing in the ocean (Sherry) or the phrase "swim away" in Way down deep in the deep blue sea (Peck)

Write: Kids write on their names on their paper plate jellyfish art projects

Play: Kids dance along with the songs played during storytime, especially "The Goldfish" (Berkner)

Possible Asides to Parents & Caregivers

Rhyming is a way that children learn that words are made up of smaller parts. By sharing rhyming stories with them, you are supporting phonological awareness. This helps them when they later try to sound out words to read. 

Even in a book that seems simple to you, there are many words that are not used in everyday conversation. Even if you don’t discuss the meaning of all the unfamiliar words, your child hears the words in the story and uses the context of the other words and pictures to get an idea of what they mean. This expands your child's vocabulary.

Minnesota Early Childhood Indicators of Progress

Domain: Language, Literacy and Communications:

Language comprehension
Social conversation
Vocabulary and syntax
Grammar
Motivation, engagement
Phonological awareness
Letter recognition
Concepts of print
Comprehension of narrative text

Storytime Implemented

Storytime for 2 & 3 year olds
Introduction: Storytime brought to you by the letter ‘F’
Book: Way down deep in the deep blue sea (Peck)
Action Rhyme: Waves on the sea
Flannel Board Activity: Fishies (with flannelboard)
Song: The goldfish – Laurie Berkner’s The Best of the Laurie Berkner Band CD (track 12; 3:25 min)
Book: Hooray for fish! (Cousins)
Song: Five fish swimming in the sea – Dr. Jean Sings Silly Songs CD (track 19; 1:32 min)
Action Rhyme: Baby shark

Further Resources

Every Child Ready to Read
Minnesota Early Childhood Indicators of Progress
Valuable Initiatives in Early Learning that Work Successfully (VIEWS2)
King County Library System Tell Me a Story