Note: This version lasts from forty-five minutes to one hour! It follows a different order from the typical MGOL session (the tradition section number will be in parentheses). There is no section 8 with a lullaby or section 9 with interactive rhymes.
To see a video of Gloria in action, recreating this program, click here!
Section 1: Welcoming Comments
Branch, library, and community announcements
“We’re So Happy”
Section 2: Rhymes and Reads
“Hello Song Medley” / fingerplay sequence
“Good Morning” (call-and-response part of the “Hello Song Medley”)
“Hello, Everybody, Yes, Indeed” (another part of the “Hello Song Medley”)
“Good Morning” (Personally greet each child or family by name.)
Book: Read aloud the big book version of Hooray for Fish! by Lucy Cousins.
Section 3: Body Rhymes
Hands: “Open Them, Shut Them”
Arms: “Two Little Apples” / “Shake My Sillies Out” / “Two Little Red (Blue) Birds”
Tummy Time: “Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater”
Legs: “Cobbler, Cobbler, Mend My Shoe” / “One, Two, Buckle My Shoe” / “Wee Willie Winkie” / “Hickory Dickory Dock” / “Ten Horses Galloping”
Section 4: Musical Instruments and Scarves (This section is typically Section 7.)
Scarves: “Wind, Oh Wind”
Scarves: “Peek-a-Boo”
Scarves: “This Is the Way We Wash Our Knees”
Scarves: “Abracadabra”
Scarves: “The Wheels on the Bus”
Scarves: “ABC Song”
Scarves: “Scarves Away”
Section 5: Nonfiction Activities (In the standard program, this is the animal activities section.)
Show Nonfiction book covers and chant “Bears” (call-and-response facts). Introduce a teddy bear.
Hibernation by Margaret Hall
Sleep, Bear! by Shelby Alinsky
Time to Sleep by Denise Fleming
Section 6: Stand-Up / Sit-Down Activities (In the standard program, this occurs during section 5.)
“Here We Go Uppety Up”
“The Hokey Pokey”
“Ring around the Rosie”
Section 7: Musical Instruments and Scarves
Move to a recording of “The Elephant” by Hap Palmer (Circle dance to changing tempos while listening to the song. Participants swing big arm trunks, walk with big feet, and make elephant sounds.) NOTE: This song has been removed from the video due to lyric updates by Hap Palmer. Experience the updated version by clicking here.
Section 8: Closing Ritual (similar to the typical drum sequence)
“Good-bye Song” (Each child taps his or her name on the drum.)
Be sure to offer free play with toys immediately afterward. When it is time to clean up, invite everyone to put the toys in a large plastic storage container. Put on the lid, ask the children to place a hand on the lid, and make choo-choo noises together as you bring the “toy train” into the station.