Read & Play: Water

Summer reading is officially here!  Today was my first summer family story time focusing on water as part of the Fizz, Boom, Read! summer theme.  I admit, science is not my area of expertise (hence the choice of library school!) and I was a bit unsure about story times with science-related themes, but this week went really well.
My co-worker and I decided to use this weather station from Mr. Printables as a conversation-starter every week along with a new-to-us weather song with ASL signs to start off story time along with our opening song.  It seemed to work really well today- I had fun with the kids telling me what they saw and felt outside on their way to the library for story time.

Read: 
We Need Water by Charles Ghigna
Water in the Park by Emily Jenkins - love this book, but I did have to shorten/paraphrase a lot of the story for my age range of kiddos this morning
A Cool Drink of Water by Barbara Kerley
In My Pond by Sara Gillingham

Sing: 
Can't Wait to Celebrate by Jim Gill

What's the Weather? (to the tune of My Darling Clementine) with ASL signs for weather words:
What's the weather, what's the weather, what's the weather, everyone?  
Is it windy, is it cloudy, is there rain or is there sun?

The Goldfish by Laurie Berkner
Jump & Jam by Greg & Steve

Play: 
Sink or float activity - I put out two tubs of water and a small collection of items (pencil, paper clip, button, etc.) for kids to drop into the water to find out if they float or sink.  I printed off several copies of this page from The Measured Mom for older kids to use which let them predict whether or not something would float or sink.

Book Review: Hermelin the Detective Mouse

I've finally gotten into my ordering routine this spring, and Hermelin the Detective Mouse by Mini Grey is one of the titles I'm most excited about:

Hermelin is a most unusual mouse.  After making a home for himself in the attic of Number 33 Offley Street, he discovers a typewriter.  One day, he notices the message board where local residents have left notes about their missing jewels and pets.  Suddenly, Hermelin is on the case!  He returns the missing items to their rightful owners with typed notes, but on one knows where to find this mysterious detective.  When the residents search him out, will they accept a mouse as their friend and helper?

Mini Grey, of the Traction Man series and Toys in Space, has created another winning picture book.  The whimsical cartoon-like illustrations provide depth and detail in Hermelin's world that will bring readers back again and again.  They will want to tag along with the detective mouse and will cheer when he finds a young sleuthing partner to join him.  I can't wait for more adventures with Hermelin and Emily!  This one is a must-purchase for my library collection!

Appropriate for ages 4 and up; reviewed from a digital copy provided by Edelweiss.

Read & Make: Fish

Another fun week of story time focused on fish!  (I really just wanted an excuse to try out Jon Klassen's This is Not My Hat in story time - which made all the grownups chuckle, but I'm not sure the kiddos really got it..)

Read:
Hooray for Fish by Lucy Cousins
Ten Little Fish by Audrey Wood 
This is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen
Click Clack Splish Splash by Doreen Cronin
also check out In My Pond by Sara Gillingham

Sing:
The Goldfish Song by Laurie Berkner 

Make:
Fish stick puppets printed from First Palette -
I just printed and roughly cut out a bunch of fish outlines and the kids could color and cut them as they wanted before taping them to a craft stick to make a puppet!

Read & Make: Going to the Library

This story time & craft combination turned out to be one of my favorites of the winter semester:

Read:
Lola at the Library by Anna McQuinn
Dog Loves Books by Louise Yates
Baby Bear's Books by Jane Yolen
Maisy Goes to the Library by Lucy Cousins

Make:
My Visit to the Library foldable mini book - I ended up making this one myself in Powerpoint with clip art in the program - download and print your own copy of the book here!

Read and Make: Numbers

I've started a new series of family story times this month, and this week's books and craft are too cute not to share...

Believe it or not, this is the first number themed story time I've ever done!  We do lots of counting on a regular basis, but this group of picture books was begging for its own story time:

Read:
Count the Monkeys by Mac Barnett
Let's Count Goats by Mem Fox
Abigail by Catherine Rayner
Dog Loves Counting by Louise Yates

Sing:
Two for Tea by Jim Gill - I got to see him speak at a conference last fall and ever since then I can't stop using his music - it's just awesome for story time.

Make:
Crocodile number line from Mr. Printables - this site has the cutest stuff (for free!) that's also really well designed - love! I had each section of the number line already cut for families so all they had to do was add any coloring or dots they wanted before folding and gluing (or taping) the number line together.

Story Time Fun / Favorite "Singable" Picture Books

Last month, I posted about using "singable" books in story time and today I want to share some of my favorite titles to use.  Some of these were new to me for story time use, and some are old favorites:

top row:
If You're Happy and You Know It by Jane Cabrera - any of her books are done deals for me as far as story time goes; they're bright, colorful and use nice rhythmic patterns.
Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star by Jerry Pinkney
Old Macdonald Had a Farm by Jane Cabrera

bottom row:
Pete the Cat: Wheels on the Bus by James Dean
The Itsy Bitsy Spider by Lorianne Siomades

These are all great titles to use for story time; the verses are familiar enough that kids can sing along and it's easy to skip any extra verses added by the authors if you need to shorten things up a bit with your group of kids.

Story Time Fun / Tips for Sharing "Singing" Books

The first series of story times that I run for my library in January are called "Book Boogie" story times. They're basically more informal (if you can get more informal than our regular sessions) story times that are heavily focused on music & movement as a way to get kids (and me!) back into the story time routine before starting our official family sessions.  In past years, I picked out wintry books that had lots of fun rhymes and sounds like Jan Carr's Frozen Noses or Nicola Smee's Jingle Jingle.

This year I decided to use only books that "sing" or books based on songs.  I want to use more music and singing in my story times and I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to try out using a type of book that I tend to shy away from.  In past story times, these kinds of books always seemed really short, or I was never sure if just reading the text was ok, or if we should be singing the text instead.  After a couple of what I thought were very successful story times, there's a couple ways I've come up with for sharing books that "sing".

1. Sing it together!  Sing slowly, with pauses for the page breaks so everyone can follow along.  Even though the kids can't read the words, they're seeing a visual representation of the words they're singing.

2. Singing and reading the song is ok - repetition is good!  Sometimes the written version of the song includes extra or different verses so reading the song and kids are super happy to sing along especially when they know all the words.

3. For shorter texts, talk about what's happening on the page - I used a picture book version of The Itsy Bitsy Spider that included illustrations that fleshed out the Itsy Bitsy Spider's story beyond the text which gave us a perfect chance to talk about the new parts of the spider's story.

4. Use actions or even instruments!  Incorporating the song motions, sign language and even using instruments like bells or shakers is another fun way to add an extra element to singing books.

Maybe these tips are super obvious, but for story time newbies (like me!) they were really helpful.  Some of these things I already do anyway no matter what type of book I'm sharing, but it seems to help when I am more intentional about them when sharing "singing" books.  Watch for another post this week about my favorite "singing" story time books as well!

Read & Make / Pumpkins

My last story time of the fall semester featured pumpkins!  I love wrapping up with pumpkins since our last week of fall story time is usually the same week as Halloween.  It's the perfect way to feature a staple of the fall season without focusing specifically on Halloween in case anyone isn't really into the whole trick or treating thing.

Read:
Mystery Vine by Cathryn Falwell
Life Cycles: Pumpkins by Robin Nelson
(I know this one is small for story time sharing, but I like to include a nonfiction book with lots of photographs once in awhile!)
Pumpkin Trouble by Jan Thomas
Duck and Goose Find a Pumpkin by Tad Hills

Rhyme:
Pumpkin, pumpkin round and fat,
Turned into a jack o' lantern (turn around)
Just like that! (clap on that)

Make:
Pumpkin stick puppets!  I just let kids cut out or tear a circle (ish) piece of orange paper for the pumpkin and had them tape it to a craft stick.  If you want, you can have kids color a jack o' lantern face on one side  - then they can use it at home to re-enact the "Pumpkin, pumpkin" rhyme.  Instead of clapping on the last line, flip your pumpkin puppet from the plain side to the jack o' lantern side!
from Boy Mama, Teacher Mama

Read & Make: Apples

Fall is the perfect time to read about apples! I ended up changing last week's story time theme at the last minute but it ended up working out really well with my group of story time kiddos:

Read:

Apple Pie ABC by Alison Murray

Apple by Nikki McClure

Apple Farmer Annie by Monica Wellington

Dappled Apples by Jan Carr

Rhyme:
Substitute A-P-P-L-E for B-I-N-G-O in Bingo:
There was a farmer has some trees, 
His apples were so tasty
A-P-P-L-E, A-P-P-L-E, A-P-P-L-E,
His apples were so tasty!

Continue with the same words for the next verse, just flip the apple with the right letter over and substitute a clap for that letter as you normally would.
from Storytime ABC's

Make:
Use a recycled cardboard tube as a trunk for an apple tree - just have kids cut or tear a piece of green paper for the leaves and use stickers for the apples.  Cut a slit on the top of either side of the tube and slide the green paper into the slits so it stands up like a tree.

Round Up / Slightly Scary Picture Books

I'm sharing some of my favorite Halloween-ish picture books with you this week! For Halloween, my library hosts a "slightly haunted" story time for preschoolers, perfect for someone who hates pretty much all horror & scary stories or movies!  These are perfect for young readers looking to enjoy the fall season and trick or treating:

Ghosts in the House by Kazuno Kohara
Ollie's Halloween by Olivier Dunrea
Mystery Vine by Cathryn Falwell
If You're a Monster and You Know It by Rebecca & Ed Emberley
Pumpkin Trouble by Jan Thomas
Vampirina Ballerina by Anne Marie Pace
Zombelina by Kristyn Crow
Click Clack, Boo! by Doreen Cronin
Creepy Carrots by Aaron Reynolds

I never celebrated Halloween very much growing up, but since this is the only holiday the library is actually open, I'm more than willing to share some great books with my patrons for the occasion!  If you'd like recommendations for older readers, check out my slightly scarier reads book shelf on Goodreads.

Read & Make: Getting Ready for Winter

This week's story time was largely inspired by the book Hibernation Station by Michelle Meadows.  I thought it was so cute that I planned a whole story time around it!  Here's my "getting ready for winter" or hibernation story time activities:

Read:
Hibernation Station by Michelle Meadows
Busy Little Squirrel by Nancy Tafuri
Leaves by David Ezra Stein
Time to Sleep by Denise Fleming

Rhyme:
Little Mouse and the Big Leaf adapted from Miss Courtney
Five Autumn Leaves from Story Time with Miss Tara

Make:
A collage style fall tree - just have kids tear up and glue their pieces of paper to a larger piece of paper to work those fine motor skills!

Read & Make: Owls

I've been wanting to share some quick story time posts!  I love reading about what other librarians use in their story times - and when I'm stuck in a rut, a new rhyme, book, or song can make all the difference! Owls are one of my favorite story time themes because there are so many cute owl-y books to choose from!

Read:
Wow! Said the Owl by Tim Hopgood
Owl Babies by Martin Waddell
Little Hoot by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
In My Tree by Sara Gillingham

Little Owl Lost by Chris Haughton is another favorite of mine to use for story time!

Rhyme:
Five Little Owls - template from Sunflower Storytime
Five little owls went flying high
Over the hills and through the sky,
Mother owl said "whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo"
But only four little owls came through 

(repeat until there are no owls left)

No little owls went flying high 
Over the hills and through the sky, 
Mother owl said "whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo"
And all five owls came flying through!

rhyme from King Country Library System (I added the last verse)

Make:
A simple paper & feather owl!  I used a volunteer to help trace and cut the templates, but if your kids are older you can let them cut the owl out themselves.  Just add googly eyes, color with crayons, and tape on some feathers!

Book Review / Flora and the Flamingo by Molly Idle

Molly Idle has definitely become one of my favorite new author/illustrators.  Flora and the Flamingo is a beautifully creative wordless book perfect for young ballet fans.  This isn't your average pink & girly ballet book, making it a stand-out choice for young readers.

The entire story is told visually through Idle's expressive illustrations of Flora and her flamingo - at first shy and unsure, but becoming friendly and bold despite a few mixed up dance steps.  The perfect combination of silliness and charm, this picture book will have kids eagerly turning the pages (and flaps) to find out what happens next.  Flora and the Flamingo is a must-have addition for libraries & aspiring ballerinas!

Summer Reading 2013 / Preschool Picks

May in the library means my coworkers and I are up to our ears in summer reading prep!  One reason I like this year's theme, Dig Into Reading, is because you can go so many different directions with it (digging & dirt, construction, gardening, caves and archaeology, dinosaurs & prehistoric creatures) depending on the age group you're working with.  We are right in the middle of making school visits to our local elementary & preschool classes so I thought I'd share some of my favorite book picks for sharing with the younger crowd:

1. Underground by Denise Fleming takes readers on a journey to discover all the different kinds of creatures that live under our feet!
2. Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site by Sherri Duskey Rinker and Tom Lichtenheld uses rhyming verses and colorful illustrations to put each piece of construction equipment to bed for the night.
3. Who Digs? by Michael Rex uses flaps to help children learn about all different types of digging.
4. Stuck in the Mud by Jane Clark follows a mother hen and her barnyard friends as they try to rescue a baby chick from an especially sticky puddle of mud.

I don't usually use books with the older kids because I see them in large groups (like 75-200 students at once) & sharing picture books doesn't work as well in that setting (at least in my limited experience!).  But if you'd like Dig Into Reading book suggestions for the older crowd, check out my summer reading bookshelf on GoodReads!

Favorite Board Books / Baby Lit series by Jennifer Adams

I've got another round of my favorite board books for you today!  In full disclosure, I have not had an opportunity to use these board books in baby or preschool programming (yet!). The Baby Lit series is probably enjoyed the most by adults who are familiar with the novels these board books are based on, but they are just too clever and cute not to share with you.

Jennifer Adams and Alison Oliver have created a series of board books for babies & young kids based on classic novels.  There are currently nine titles in the series, including Romeo & Juliet, Alice in Wonderland and Moby Dick to name a few, along with the titles in the image above.  Each book focuses on a single concept such as counting (Pride and Prejudice), colors (Alice in Wonderland), opposities (Sense & Sensibility) or a single topic like weather (Wuthering Heights).  The books are extremely well designed with clean, bright vintage inspired illustrations that bring these well-known characters to life in a completely new and enjoyable way.  The humor and cleverness of these books is all in the illustrations which adults who are familiar with the original novels will no doubt pick up on.  These books are a great way to introduce classic stories and characters to young listeners during family story time - and the adults will enjoy the book just as much as the kids will!

Family Program / A Friday Fling with Skippyjon Jones

We've had two Friday Flings this month (special themed story times for preschoolers), one based on the Gossie and Friends books by Olivier Dunrea, and the second based on the Skippyjon Jones picture book series by Judy Schachner.  Skippyjon is another one of our favorite characters in the Children's Room.  In case you haven't read these seriously fun picture books, they feature a Siamese cat who thinks he is actually a Chihuahua.  Of course, hilarity ensues as the incorrigible Skippito-friskito finds his way through all sorts of adventures which usually begin in his magical bedroom closet.

For our program, I started off with a quick singing of Raffi's Shake Your Sillies Out (a regular story time favorite!) and a reading of Skippyjon Jones by Judy Schachner.  This was the only book I read with the kids that morning since Friday Flings aren't designed as full length story times.  After our story, I explained the activities I had prepared for kids to do and let them go around the room as they wanted.  I had some Skippyjon coloring sheets set out as a crafty activity, a spot-it challenge, and a matching game.  

The spot it challenge was super simple: I just printed out the Life of Skippy panorama from the Skippyjon Jones website using Block Posters to make it a little larger.  Then I posted a list of simple things for kids to look for like 6 different Skippyjons, 11 yellow dogs, and 1 big bumblebee.  The matching game I made from scratch using Spanish words used in the books.  On one card I wrote the English word with a matching picture and on the matching card I wrote the Spanish word with the same picture.  Each pair of cards had an outline in a different color to give kids an extra clue to figure out which cards belonged together.  If you'd like to print out a set to use, download it here!

We had a great time with this program & and so did our families!  Hopefully these ideas help you with planning your own Skippyjon-themed program!

Book Review / Tea Rex by Molly Idle

This is one of my favorite picture books that we've added to our collection lately: Tea Rex by Molly Idle.  I haven't read any of her other work, but I'm definitely going to look them up after reading this!

Tea parties aren't exactly go-to subjects for picture books, but a DINOSAUR tea party? That's one party that kids wouldn't want to miss!  Tea Rex is an absolutely charming & silly book that begs for repeat readings.  The pair of siblings in the story are planning a very special tea party for a guest whose "manners are more Cretaceous than gracious"... The story includes all of the things you'll need for a perfect tea party, but hilarity and mischief ensue as a result of the siblings' most unusual guest.  The humor is all in the illustrations which are bright, expressive and guaranteed to make kids smile.  Molly Idle's book may just make you want to host a tea party of your own - just make sure your prehistoric guests can fit through your front door!   This book is a great pick for ages 3 and up - especially for one-on-one or family story time all snuggled together on the couch!


Reviewed from a library copy.  

Favorite Board Books / Gossie & Friends by Olivier Dunrea

During the school year, we host special Friday morning programs called "Friday Flings" about once a month for preschoolers.  Our latest Friday Fling was based on the Gossie and Friends series by Olivier Dunrea.  This is one of our favorite series of board books & little picture books!

The books feature Gossie the gosling and her farmyard adventures.  Dunrea's illustrations are completely adorable and each little gosling has their own distinct personality - Gossie loves her red boots, BooBoo loves to eat, and Ollie is a bit reluctant to hatch from his egg.  The simple plots come straight from a toddler's daily routine - from not wanting to take a nap to wearing the same red pair of boots every single day.  There are currently eight different characters featured in the series.  The newest additions are Jasper & Joop whose board book was just published in March.  I highly recommend this series for kids, especially ages 1-4.