At the children's service meeting some people were interested in more info on what I had done for my "ABC Read With Me" story time. We tend to get a small showing for traditional storytimes, so I scheduled this during the after school time period and aimed it at pre-k/kindergarten kids and their families. I'm advertising it at the Homework Help program to try to attract those families with children working on letter knowledge/phonemic awareness and the families with children of mixed ages.
My process is basically just picking a topic based on the letter in question. I try to use an idea where I can make a picture out of the letter. These ideas usually come from the world wide web. The themes I have used so far include
A=Apple, B=Bear, C=Color, D=Dragon, E=Elephant, F=Frog, G=Goat, H=Horse, I=Ice Cream (while there were less books to chose from this was one of the most fun!), J=Jungle. Once I have a theme idea I look up books in the collection, find rhymes/songs/felts. If I can't find rhymes/songs on the theme I picked on the internet, then I usually just make up words to a familiar tune.
I have attached examples of the plans for my favorite two topics. I usually print out the words of songs/rhymes and hang them on my easel so families can sign along.
(F is for frog, I did use both musical books "I'm in Love With a Big Blue Frog" Book/CD and the traditional "Froggie Went a Courtin" book. These were especially popular with the parents, but the kids enjoyed the music and silliness too!)
