Baby Bloomers- Polar Bears

Today was our first day of Baby Bloomers story time for the winter session. After the long break I was so excited and nervous this morning, I felt out of my groove but having their small faces smiling at me, while I read about Penguin and his new friend Pinecone made all the butterflies fly away.  It was a small group which is perfect to build an intimate experience and try some of my new ideas. I have been wanting to incorporate more nursery rhyme, everything I read on Early Literacy (EL) support using nursery rhyme to develop EL skills. I also want to build more consistency and routine to the program, especially with this age group while keeping it fun.  I found this idea on a blog and create a "Nursery Rhyme Cube" using Mother Goose Rhymes.

 

The idea is to have the kids throw the cube and then we chant/sing/act the rhyme. I am also incorporating a "read with me" time in which I bring board books from the collection for parents to quietly read with their children.  It didn't work as planned today but the babies were excited to grab and open the books.  Here is today's handout.

A couple of new titles

Whale Shine An Artistic Tale by Fiona Robinson. 2013.

Whale’s job is to advertise for the art show where all her fellow sea creatures get to show case their talents- eel can make wonderful sand patterns, squid and octopus use their ink to create designs- and she feels left out, as she has no special talent. One night as she is contemplating the starry sky she wonders how she could bring that beauty to the other sea animals.  With the help of special luminescence plankton, they decide to work together and submit their own entry to the art contest by creating a night sky under the weather.  I loved the watercolor and pencil illustrations the yellows and dark blues play together to create a beautiful night.   

 

Ollie and Claire by Tiffany Strelitz Haber, illustrated by Matthew Cordell. 2013. 

These two best friends spent their days together- they hang out at the park and the beach; they play and exercise together, and have the same bologna on white dinner every night. However, the monotony and routine is getting to them when Claire sees an ad looking for a travel companion to circle the planet! What a dream, she decides she must do it without telling Ollie, after all she does not want to hurt his feelings.  Preparation and packing begin and she starts to feel guilty, what type of a friend is she if she does not let him know.  Nevertheless, Ollie has his own plans and is too busy to talk to her.  The reader is in for a surprise when they discover that they are each others travel companions. It was Ollie’s idea to travel the world and whom best to accompany him that his best friend.  This is a great read aloud story.   The illustrations created using pencil, watercolors, and digital enhancements are expressive and colorful. 

New Book- The Day the Crayons Quit

The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt, illustrated by Oliver Jeffers. 2013. 

When Duncan goes to get his crayons, he finds some very interesting letters from his dearest friends. They all loved being his favorite color but they have some requests like purple crayon who likes to color inside the lines because he is very neat,  or yellow and orange crayons who need Duncan to clarify who is the true color of the sun,  or blue who is down to a stubby self from being overused.  Each crayon takes on a full spread with a quirky letter and drawing to accompany their request.  The illustrations created by the wonderful Oliver Jeffers provide the perfect background for each crayon unique personality to show through.  Young readers would love this story and will relate to Duncan’s crayons.