It started out fine, I did my opening of a hello song, Six Little Ducks, and finished with The Wheels on the Bus. So far so good. I lost them at the very first story. They started wandering. They started chasing. I finished my story as fast as I could. Not that anyone could actually hear it.
Next up fingerplays, action stuff, more songs, all good. They loved it. I feel my confidence come back a bit. Then my next book. Starts out fine, but I look over and there is a kiddo under my flannel board. I was going to let it slide, but another kid joined him. I made them move saying it wasn't safe and made one of them cry. That sucked, especially since he is a regular who shook his sillies out for the first time ever! Agh! Anyhow, I tried to finish the story over the talking and the running and the general mayhem.
I was now pretty rattled. I started in on my next group of songs and couldn't find the O to my flannel BINGO set. Where was it? Oh some kid had it. I got it back after. I attempted to sing without and messed up my clapping once, not a big deal, but I know that I have a tendency to do this, which is why I have the ding dang flannel letters. Next up, Old MacDonald. I forgot the tune and lyrics. That might have been the lowest point! My only consolation is that I knew this embarrassing thing had once happened to Joanna (sorry for sharing that Joanna!).
Next story? BOMB! Honestly? There were children climbing on the tables!!! And their parent's weren't stopping them! At that point I knew that the nice new people who decided to give my storytime a try were never ever ever coming back.
After my goodbye songs I said for the kids to put their hands on their heads and come up and get a stamp for the craziest storytime ever (i said this with jazz hands. OK, no I didn't). One nice mom said that she had enjoyed my stories. Then she proceeded to tell me that she and her son go to a lot of storytimes and mine is his favorite. Ahhhhh. That made me feel better. My storytime is a bit rowdy, but this was over the top craziness that was not normal.
Can't wait to see what excitement awaits me next week!
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10 comments:
Totally okay to share my Old MacDonald brain fart. It happens to the best of us. Next week they'll be great.
I feel your pain. I've had storytimes like that and today was pretty crappy on a non-storytime level, too.
I'm thinking a little pre=storytime announcement might be in order :)
Those are always fun. The old "if you can't sit still, you can leave the room and come back when you're ready" speech. Alas, my son and I were two of those people today.
Wait, you mean you don't already give that speech?!? I always give that speech! I can't handle mayhem during stories. Songs, sure. Movement stuff, definitely. Stories, no way. ;-)
I always give The Speech before storytimes... but I also start with the stories and end with the music. And if they are ALL rowdy, I skip the stories completely and let the stricter parents glare down at the unattentive ones.
We've all been there - ack! I used to give a speech (in my pre-publisher days) but, even with the best intentions, some days it just wouldn't come together.
I do not joke when I blame the full moon. It makes everyone a little crazy. Especially the kids.
I am happy to report that this week's went much, much better. I did end up doing a little speech, but I kept it very brief and basically just said if you're kid is feeling a little zippy, I just want to let you know that it is ok to take a break and come back in when they're calmer.
Oh and the nice new people did come back. When I saw them I couldn't seem to help myself, I went up to them and said, "you came back! I had noticed you were new to my storytime and after it was over I said to myself, oh man they aren't coming back! But you're back! Yay!"
And then, as always in these situations i said, why did i say that!
I love that you told them that! Now if they come back next week, they really do like you and don't think you're a weirdo.
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