Baby Bloomers- Farm Animals

Today was day day two of Farm Animals this time with a few different books and songs since the audience is a bit younger.  Our attendance was higher today but the little ones were really into the books, singing, and playing with each other.  We started with our regular opening song "The More We Get Together" and our "Wiggle, Wiggle" which I have found out parents really like. My first book was
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Pop-Up Peekaboo! Farm by Dawn Sirett. The kids loved flipping the pages to see what was underneath the flops.  Sadly, our copy is missing the cute baby chicken so I improved with our own little chicken. They loved it. We then did a round of "Barnyard Song" to the tune of "If You Are Happy and You Know It" using different animal sounds. We also tried using our fingers to count "Ten Fluffy Chicks". My next book was

Barnyard Dance! By Sandra Boynton. There has been a few occasions when parents really became engaged with the songs or books and this was one of them with several parents reciting the book aloud with me.  I continued with another finger play  "This Little Cow"  and we all sang "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" using the fingerpuppets. The kids had started to grab our little baby chicken so I decided to read a book from yesterday


Little Chicken's Big Day by Katie Davis. The kids weren't very interested on the story but they loved the oversize images of little chicken.  I followed with another finger play "The Farm Yard" and several songs "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" and "Open Shut Them".  We finished with our closing song "We Wave Goodbye Like This".

Totally Tots- Farm Animals

I'm not sure if it was the cold weather or the rain but only a couple of kids showed up for today's story time.  The small audience created a very intimate story time and kids really enjoyed helping with the flannel board animals, dancing, and singing extra songs.  We started with our regular opening song "The More We Get Together" followed by our first book

Quacky Duck by Paul Rogers. There is a lot of "quacking"on this story and we took the opportunity to count and point out different animals.  We followed with  "Barnyard Song" and a finger play about  "Ten Fluffy Chicks".  I only had a small version of this book but it worked out great because we acted out the story.

Barnyard Dance! by Sandra Boynton.  We had fun bowing, twirling, hopping, and sliding.  We then did another finger play "The Farm Yard" before our next book










   


Old MacDonald Had a Farm by Jane Cabrera. I originally wanted to use fingerpuppets but they kept falling off so I decided to use them with our flannel board.  Each kid took turns putting a different animal up from our dog to our pig.  After the story we played several songs and danced around followed by one more story
 
 Little Chicken's Big Day by Katie Davis. I had a little chicken for the kids to hold and pet. After the last story we just had enough time for our closing story time song "We Wave Goodbye Like This". 

This week's Bluestem achievements

This past week was a slow reading week with only a few Bluestem books completed. 


The Lemonade War by Jacqueline Davies, Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2007. This is a great read for a hot summer day. Evan and his younger sister, Jessie, have always been good buddies. But everything changes the summer before fourth grade when Evan discovers that Jessie, a math whiz, will skip 3rd grade and move on to 4th grade with him.  Evan is furious and they start arguing and competing about everything. Things start to escalate to war proportions and with only a few days left before school starts they decide to settle things off by setting a lemonade stand and seeing who will be the first one to earn $100 . It’s an all-out war as they try everything—including dirty tricks—to get the most cash. Can they resolve their problems with each other…or will fourth-grade be a disaster?  



Seaglass Summer by Anjali Banerjee, Wendy Lamb Books, 2010. I liked this story a lot more than I thought I was going to, it turned out to be inspirational sort of story and one that I would love to see kids reading and relating to.  Poppy Ray is our main character; she is eleven-year-old and full of confidence, already knowing she is going to be a veterinarian, just like her Uncle Sanjay when she grows up.  Granted, she has never had a pet because of her mom’s terrible allergies. This year for her summer vacation she convinces her parents to let her go to Nisqually Island off the coast of Washington State where her Uncle lives and work with him at the Furry Friends Animal Clinic.  Her lack of experience won’t stop her from trying to help but she would soon realize that there is a lot more to being a veterinarian than cuddling fuzzy puppies & cats.  In her journey, she discovers suffering, scary emergencies, quirky owners, and lots of gross stuff.  Will Poppy ever be able to stay cool in the face of  pain, learn to handle animal emergencies, cope with heartbreaking cases of abandonment, and deal with persnickety owners? Is she truly meant to be a veterinarian?

Baby Bloomers- Spring Time

Day two of Spring theme wasn't much better- weather wise- the kids were amazing and we all had a great time. We had a few new faces so we took our time playing and getting to know each other. We started with our usual opening song "The More We Get Together" and our "Wiggle, Wiggle" and since the majority of the group was close to 2 years old we got to dance and wiggle around.  My first book was


Kevin Discovers Spring by Liesbet Slegers. The illustrations are perfect for this age group with all the black outlining, and really expressive faces. The book size is also ideal because it is a bit bigger than the traditional board book and not as large as a regular picture book.  The text is a bit longer but the kids all seemed to enjoy Kevin's spring day.  I decided to use the finger play "My Garden" since the majority of the kids were a bit older and could do all the motions with help. We did a couple of rounds of "April Trickery" and pointed to flowers on our flannel board. I decided to do "Planting a Rainbow" on the flannel board and let the kids touch the different elements (bulbs, stems, leaves, and flowers).  It turned to be a fun activity. I then did a quick finger play "Flowers Tall & Small" and "Round and Round the Garden".  The group started to get a bit restless so I decided to play "The Wheels on the Bus"- it was handy and they all  know the song followed by "Open, Shut Them" . For my last book I went with 


Up, Down, and Around by Katherine Ayres.  The kids enjoyed the big pictures and pointed out every little thing around.  It worked out okay because it was a  small group with older kids- except one little guy- plus you really don't have to read much so it became more interactive.  We finished with our usual closing song "We Wave Goodbye Like This". 

Linconlmania

Last week I managed to read several of my YA-Lincoln nominees.  It was a fun week that reminded me how much I  like to read YA stories. 


Every Day by David Levithan Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2012. I listened to this book and loved the story. The quality of the audio wasn't always consistent with the character voices changing now and then.  I found the story captivating and was a little disapointed at the end when A doesn't get to be with Rhiannon.  A never knows where he is going to be or who he is going to be when he wakes up, every day is a different person- never the same- and by now he has made peace with that. He has figured how to live day by day without getting attached or involved until he meets Rhiannon.  He lets his guard down and falls in love, but this is a love story that can't be, even if he convinces Rhiannon to believe him and what he is. 


Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo, Henry Holt & Co., 2012. I wasn't particularly crazy about this fantasy story but a few pages into it got me hooked into Alina's story.  Ravka was once a great nation, but the Shadow Fold- a vast impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters- is destroying their nation. This magic world is ruled by the Darkling, a seductive and terrifying magician, who uses the Grisha's unique powers to fulfill his destiny. Alina and Mal, are orphans who grew up together and have been inseparable ever since but all that changes when  Alina discovers  a unique power that can take her into the world of Grisha and make her the Darkling's chosen one.Could she be the key to Ravka's salvation?  Would she risk everything to fulfill the Darkling's destiny? Or would she choose true love and damnation?



Everybody Sees The Ants by A. S. King, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2011. I loved this book!.  This is a story with so much happening from Lucky's dysfunctional family with his father not getting over his own father not returning from Vietnam, his mother always avoiding conflict, and the ruthless, over the top bullying from Nader McMillan's. But that all change when things get out of control and Lucky has to stop using his dreams as a hiding place. Because it is only on his dreams that he thinks he can be a true hero and save his grandpa, stand to his bully, and fix his family.  As a reader I could feel Lucky's transformation and kept thinking  this would be a great choice for book club discussion with teens dealing with peer pressure and bullying.

Totally Tots- Spring Time

I was hoping for a little bit of sunshine today for my Spring story time, lucky for us the lack of it didn't stop us from having fun.  Every week I have been reviewing good library behavior and it seems to be working well. The kids are listening better and staying seated for the majority of the stories.  Today's theme revolved around Spring and everything fun you can do when the weather is warmer. We also talked about flowers, planting a garden,  and did some dancing and singing.  We started with our usual opening song "The More We Get Together" and "Let's Start Story Time" . Our first book was


Hurray for Spring by Patricia Hubbell. I love the bright, colorful and full of details illustrations.  The rhyming text creates a whimsical tone which engaged the kids with what was coming next.  We followed with a couple of short finger play/rhymes "April Trickery" and "My Garden" and one round of "Open Shut Them".  My next book was



Up, Down, And Around by Katherine Ayres.  I was lucky to have a big book  with great big illustrations full of funny bugs and silly animals.  The kids loved pointing out the different animals and plants.  We followed with another finger play "Flowers Tall & Small" and a song "Flowers" using felt flowers.  For some reason the tune wasn't working for me but the kids didn't mind and were ready to shout out the next color flower.  Since the kids were getting restless I decided to play "Shake Your Sillies Out" and let them shake around.  For my last book I went with a flannel story of "Planting a Rainbow" by Lois Elehrt.


I knew reading the book was going to be to much for this group but they enjoyed going through the process of getting the soil ready,  planting the bulbs,  pretending to be the sun and the rain, and watching the stems grow and the flowers bloom. Everyone enjoyed the story, except my felt pieces kept falling down. We finished with our usual closing song "We Wave Goodbye Like This". 

Baby Bloomers & Crawlers- Rain

Today was my first session of our Spring Baby Bloomers story time, we officially started last week, but I was away at training, so I missed seeing my babies.  At the end of the winter session, I decided to add a new group and called it Crawlers (12 to 24 months) I wanted to give those in between their own space.Sadly, the only time I had available (11:45 am-12:30 pm) is not working and they are all showing up at the regular time (10:45 am). But, I am digressing and it truly was exciting to see familiar faces and some new boys and girls this morning. It was a rambunctious group ,with lots of boys running around, which I blame on the rain...not my rain theme, but the actual rain outside. 

We started with our traditional opening song "The More We Get Together" and our "Wiggle, Wiggle". Our first book was 



Wind or Rain? by Anna Nilsen. (I only  had the English version).  The kids loved the spinning face and how it changed from happy to sad.  Some parents had started singing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" so I decided to use yesterday's song and brought out our little spider and again it was a hit.  Not a single kid was afraid. They are a brave bunch. I used our "Colors in the Rain" flannel and we pointed out the different colors.  Our next book was  
 
Split! Splat! by Amy Gibson. This book was probably better for the older kids, but I liked the bright pictures and all the different sounds you hear as you read it aloud.  Since I was starting to lose their attention, I decided to go back to the flannel board and use the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" flannel pieces as we chanted the rhyme.  We then started singing "Rain, Rain Go Away" and ended going around the room calling each kids.  Since we had a bit of time I decided to read the last book


 
One Rainy Day by Tammi Salzano.  This is a cute and very short story about a little duck playing in the rain.  And then did a fingerplay  "Rain" and a short song with motion "Rain Is Falling Down". By this point all attention spam was gone so I just went to our closing song "We Wave Goodbye Like This".

Totally Tots- Rain

Totally by accident but I couldn't have planned today's theme better.  It was raining, cloudy, and windy a perfect day to hear stories about rain.  My Totally Tots class was again small on size but eager to help and get going with stories.  We started again with a review of good story time behavior and quickly moved to our opening song "The More We Get Together" and our "Let's Start Story Time" rhyme. I loved that they know the entire chant!

Our first story was


Rainy Day! by Patricia Lakin.  The kids really liked the part when our four friends get lost and encountered pirate ships, monsters, and whales- what could this place be? A mini- golf park! The ending is perfect when the friends followed a funny looking dog into the library.  It made a perfect transition to my "Colors in the Rain" flannel (cute colorful umbrellas).   We then did a clapping rhyme "Boom, Bang!" involving lots of different sounds (boom, rumpety, zoom, clappety...)all around a thunderstorm.  Since we still had a bit of jiggles  I decided to bring back "Shake Your Sillies Out". It was a hit and a good way to transition to our next book


The Rain Train by Elena De Rosa & Brian Lovelock.  I just found out this book and loved the calm tone and descriptive language. We were all quiet and engaged with the story and the sounds. For my next song/flannel I wanted to do something fun with an old classic "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and created my own little spider

I was a little concerned that the kids were going to be afraid, but instead they all loved it and wanted the spider to crawl up their arms and legs.  We listened to Hap Palmer's Early Childhood Classics version of the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and then retold the story using a different flannel board.  One of the benefits of having a small group is that we all had chances to place the flannel pieces on the board. I have been wanting to use more songs with motions during our story times and "I Can, Can You?" from Pam Schiller's Start Smart Songs for 1's, 2's, & 3's worked really well.  Sadly, we run out of time and just moved to our closing song. My last book would have been



Rain! by Linda Ashman. This is a brand new book at our library about a grumpy old man complaining his way through a rainy morning, while a little boy is enjoying and spreading cheer in his frog-themed rainwear. It has a fun twist at the end. The language is perfect to describe the very different feelings and totally supported by the illustrations.  I am  not sure if my 2 & 3 years old would have enjoyed the story as much as I did. 

Road Trip Listening Adventures

Last week it was spring break and we decided to get away for a few days and enjoy the semi-spring weather. In preparation for the trip, I decided to check out some audiobooks to make the best of our two hour drive. I used to listen to audiobooks all through grad school thanks to my hour long drive to and from school, it was great and I missed it. Here are the titles we listened too:

 
Wonder by  R. J. Palacio, Books for Young Readers, 2012. This is a double nominee both on the Bluestem and Caudill list and after listening to it I can see why. It is an amazing book. We loved  the story, the characters, the growing and transformation that takes  place throughout the book. It is a powerful book. There were moments when we found ourselves parked on the hotel parking lot listening to Auggie's (August Pullman) story without been able to stop.  Auggie is a 5th grader born with a facial deformity. All of his life his parents and sister have protected him, but this year, his parents decided that he should attend school like every other kid. This is a terrifying thought for Auggie, and while some of his fears will come true, there will be lots of ways his new friends will surprise him.  Readers, or listeners in this case, get to experience Auggie's life through his experiences but also through those close to  him with alternating chapters told by his family and friends.


Time Warp Trio #1 Knights of the Kitchen Table by Jon Sciezka, illustrated by Lane Smith, Puffin Books, 2004.  I loved the humor on this book and can see why boys loved this series. The audio was engaging and entertaining with the language descriptive enough to allow you to imagine this three "amigos" traveling through time.


 Clementine by Sara Pennypacker, illustrated by Marla Frazee, Disney-Hyperion, 2006.  I liked the main character and her enthusiasm. She is that happy, outgoing, confident little girl that I wasn't. Overall we enjoyed listening to Clementine's not so good week from principal's office visits, awful haircuts, and pigeon relocation. 

Totally Tots- Colors & Shapes

Today was our first session of Spring Story Time and it was great seeing all the kids so excited to start a new round of stories, songs, and finger plays.  I was amazed that they all remembered our opening song and were ready to participate.  Starting with today's session, I am trying a new approach to make sure we practice good library behaviors like listening, stay seated, keep our hands on our lap, and our mouth closed when we are not singing.  I am hoping this would help my older tots transition into the Pre-K story time in the fall, plus it might help create a sort of "organized chaos."

We started with our opening song "The More We Get Together"and our  "Let's Start Story Time" since we were seated the last verse "and put your bottoms on the floor" was a bit pointless.Our first book was



Seven Blind Mice by Ed Young. I recently meet the author and couldn't wait to share this book with my tots.  I even created my own flannel to go with the story.  The kids were really good at trying to figure what the Something was and by mouse #4 they knew it was an Elephant.  This was a great book to review our colors.

We followed with the song "If  You Are Wearing Orange Today" I made sure to skip to all the different colors kids were wearing like reds, purples, greens, pinks, and greys.  I created a simple flannel using images to help the kids associate different objects and things in nature with colors- like apple and red. Our next book was




Monsters Love Colors by Mike Austin.  I just read this book a few weeks ago and loved the story. It reminded me of "Mouse Paint"and how the mice created new colors using red, yellow and blue.  There is a cute rhyming to it and lots, and lots of color.  I found this song "The Shape Song" and went ahead and made different shapes for the kids to hold up and wave all around.  We finished with a new book I just found as part of my Monarch Nominee challenge.



Perfect Square by Michael Hall.  I loved the book and the concept of the transforming square but I think some of they kids were getting a bit restless so we moved on to our closing song "We Wave Goodbye Like This.".

My weekly contribution to the Monarch Nominee List

 
Perfect Square by Michael Hall, Greenwillow Books, 2011. This book uses a simple concept- a square-to explore shapes and colors. I loved the fold out images paired with white bold text on a solid color background matching the transformations the square experiences throughout an entire week.  Our happy square becomes a river, mountain, bridge, park, and my favorite a garden!  I found the text to have a poetic quality and thought the use of the final pages to review all the changes as our square goes through one last transformation was great. Check it out at our library.


Swirl by Swirl Spirals in Nature by Joyce Sidman illustrated by Beth Krommers, Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2011. While cataloged as fiction this book is filled with interesting facts and details about animals in nature that use spiral shapes to grow, protect themselves, create homes,  and even create destruction. The illustrator used strachboard to create the shapes of animals, flowers, nature, within their natural habitats. The colors are a bit dark creating better definitions and contrast against white backgrounds. The bold text alternates from white to black depending on the background with smaller captions detailing every shape within a page. I loved to find all the hidden shapes and look around our environment for more shapes. The back page provides definitions and clever explanations of how spiral shapes are snuggling, growing, strong, clever, beautiful and fascinating. Check it out at our library.