Hello! Hola! Bonjour! Guten Tag!

We got a couple new books in that made me really want to do a language centered storytime. The community I work with is largely bilingual so the majority of the children who come to storytime communicate in two languages. I have noticed that they always have a fun time when I stumble through Spanish pronunciations and they can correct and teach me the correct way.

We began with Chicka Chicka Boom Boom written by Bill Martin Jr. & John Archambault and illustrated by Lois Ehlert.

This book was a crowd pleaser when I was a kid (I think my sister and I went through 3 copies) and continues to get children today excited about the alphabet. I always have so much fun reading it aloud and usually a few children are familiar with it so they help me out with the chicka chicka boom booms.

Next we read Everybody Bonjours by Leslie Kimmelman, illustrated by Sarah Mcmenemy.

 

This is a really beautiful book about a young girl who visits Paris where “Everybody Bonjours!” The children enjoyed it and we had a good time practicing our French saying bonjour and au revoir. We also practiced our Spanish. However, I think the highlight of the program for me was when I asked if anyone spoke any other languages and one little boy said “I speak them all! Especially dinosaur!” He taught us all the correct pronunciation of ROAR!!!

Next we read Alpha Opps!: The Day Z Went First by Alethea Kontis, Bob Kolar.

I was a bit worried about how this would go over, but I decided to do it anyway. Much like The Scrambled States of America by Laurie Keller, in this book we learn what happened when the Z got tired of being stuck at the end of the alphabet and of course, hilarity ensues. Overall, the kids liked this book. I think the older ones found it more enjoyable than the younger ones which wasn’t too much of a surprise.

After that, we read Everywhere the Cow Says Moo! written by Ellen Weinstein.

As with When Z Went First, I wasn’t too sure of how this would go over. It was great! In this book animals all over the world make different sounds but every where the cow says MOO!! We had a great time moooing with the cows.

I had a hard time coming up with the craft this week and decided on alphabet caterpillars and every one spelled out their names. I felt a little bad for the kids who have longer names.

This was a very fun craft however, the cutting of each letter section was a bit labor intensive. Thank goodness for teen volunteers!

The template for the craft was found here:

http://www.dltk-kids.com/crafts/insects/mcaterpillar-letters.htm

Advertisement

It’s Bedtime

This week I recycled a great theme- bedtime. This is a fantastic theme because everyone goes to bed so it lends itself to a great discussion about what bedtime means. Additionally, there are tons of books for kids about this topic and there are so many awesome books about bedtime.

We began with Dinosaur vs. Bedtime by Bob Shea.

This book circulates really well at my library and so it was no surprise that the kids really enjoyed hearing it. For me the best part was hearing all of their very scary ROARS as we read through the book.

Next we read What’s Under The Bed? by Joe Fenton.

I really like this book but knew it was a bit on the scary side for the younger ones in my group so I read it as nice as possible, if that makes any sense. One kid in the group was very brave and announced that he was not frightened, even if there was something under the bed which I think made everyone else feel a bit braver too.

The third book we read this week was Good Night Mr. Night by Dan Yaccarino.

We really needed to read a calming and peaceful story after the first two and this book was perfect. It really calmed everyone down and brought us back together.

We finished with the newest Caldecott winner, A House In The Night by Susan Marie Swanson, illustrated by Beth Krommes.

I am a huge champion of this book and was so happy that it won this year! It is such a beautiful story making it a perfect finish for storytime.

For craft this week, we decorated pajamas.

Since gluing has been such a hit lately, I continued on that track with this craft. It went over really well. Mine is the one on the left. You can tell I was a bit more artistic with the use of crayons. Most of the children opted to skip the crayons and just get crazy with the gluing, which resulted in an awesome result!

Happy Valentine’s Day!!!

I could not ignore the holiday coming up this weekend, so this week’s theme was Valentine’s Day!

We began by reading Sweet Hearts byJan Carr, illustrated by Dorothy Donohue.This is a very sweet story about a little panda girl who leaves valentines all over her house for her family to find. This is a very nice book, although the children had a hard time understanding what was going on. I thought it was going to be a bigger hit but sadly, it wasn’t.

Next we read I love you Stinky Face written by Lisa McCourt and illustrated by Cyd Moore.

This is a great book about a child whose mother reassures him that they will love them even if they are stinky, slimy or even an alien. This book was fun to read and the kids enjoyed it too.

After that we read Valentine Surprise by Corinne Demas, illustrated by R.W. Alley.

In this book, a little girl tries to make her mom the perfect heart-shaped valentine for Valentine’s Day but keeps making mistakes. Not to worry- her mom thinks they are perfect. This was a great book to read in preparation for our craft today.

We finished with Guess How Much I Love You written by Sam McBratney and illustrated by Anita Jeram.

I actually hadn’t planned on reading this book but I had brought it with me as a plan B book, just in case one of my other choices didn’t work out, and one of the kids saw it and begged me to read it. It went over really well, I imagine because so many of them were familiar with it.

For our craft this week, we made valentines. This was a very easy and super fun craft. I pre-folded paper and cut out lots of hearts for them to use. Everyone had a great time.

 

Pets!

I was a bit anxious about this week’s theme but we ended up having a fantastic time at storytime!!

We started with What Pet To Get? by Emma Dodd.

I think this is just one of those books that begs to be read aloud in storytime. A little boy and his mother discuss what pet they should get and come up with some pretty crazy ideas such as an elephant, a shark and a tyrannosaurus rex! The kids really loved this book and it was a great way to start out.

Next we read A Kitten Tale by Eric Rohman.I absolutely adore this book. I used it in my Nursery Rhyme Time program and could not wait to use this week. Four kittens are waiting for it to snow and three are nervous but one can’t wait. It has been snowy here for a long time so it was fun to ask the children how they felt about snow. Most of them felt the same way I feel, they are ready for this snow to be gone!

We followed up A Kitten Tale with Ginger Finds A Home by Charlotte Voake.

This is another great book about a kitten (can you tell what kind of pet I have?) who is homeless but a kind little girl feeds him and gives him a new home and a special name, Ginger. I was surprised about how well this book in storytime. The pictures are a bit space however, the text is large and I think the children enjoyed looking at the words .

Finally, we finished with Hooray For Fish by Lucy Cousins.

This book is one of my all time favorites for storytime. Both toddlers and preschoolers really enjoys Cousins’ bright and colorful illustrations. There is a double page spread of many fish and the children always love to count all of the fish. This book was a great lead into the craft we did this week which was a fish bowl.

I have to say this was, by far, the most successful craft I have ever done. The initial workload was sort of time consuming, I cut out each of the fish individually. But it was worth it because the kids had a blast gluing them onto their fishbowls. In fact, barely anyone touched the crayons, they all just glued and glued and glued. When it doubt, plenty of quality time with a glue stick is all that’s needed for a super fun craft time.