The Second Sky

Written by Patrick GuestIllustrations by Jonathan Bentley

A fun story to use during preschool story time.  This book allows the reader to ask open ended questions to the audience.  Its story is full of great descriptive adjectives used to describe the penguin learning to "fly" like an albatross.  The story is sweet and funny.  The pictures are beautiful watercolor or gouache paintings of the arctic.
CENT, SEBA, and ROHN each have a copy.

The Three Bears by Byron Barton

Who's been sleeping in Baby Bear's bed? In a rhythmic text with striking pictures, Byron Barton retells the classic fairytale of the three bears and a little girl named Goldilocks. This book is not too big, not too small, but just right for toddlers.

A good pairing...
Little Brown by Marla Frazee

and

Too Many Carrots by Katy Hudson

There are many books about learning/struggling to share, but Too Many Carrots is one of my very favs!  I love the illustrations and it makes me laugh every time I read it. The bunny has hording issues too!
Little Brown is a new book only found at HEAL and ROHN, but worth the read.  The dog, Little Brown, also needs to learn how to share.  What is unique about this book is it has great questions that can be dialogued with a group.
Give them a read.

Book Review: Benji, the Bad day and Me

Benji, the Bad day and Me is a story of two brothers.  The story opens with the older, Samuel, struggling with a really bad day.  A rotten day at school, getting wet and cold on the walk home, and coming home to a little brother, Benji, who also had a difficult day.  The younger brother has autism, and the reader learns through the interactions between mom and Samuel that Benji is hypersensitive to sensory input. I'm not going to give summarize any more.  Read the story. This JE is owned by three branches and listed as a "Supplementary Title" on Children's Core Collection (H.W. Wilson).  
However, having worked with youth with autism for many years I think this is better than supplementary...I highly recommend it.  And yes every child is different, so not all children will react as Benji does in the story, but it is a jumping off point to open the conversation about behaviors, feelings, kids that go to different schools, and much more i.e. who and why kids ride the little yellow bus (there is a stigma). Oh, I've put it in the cart because ROHN doesn't own it.

Ocean Storytime

Craft:
Paper plate fish with dot stickers and pens. A couple parents said this was their favorite craft.  I should have asked why, as it is so simple, and I don't think it is very creative.
Supplies:
scissors
white cheap paper plate- large
circle stickers in various sizes
markers
masking tape for tail




I read a variation of the same books at my Toddler Time and Preschool Storytime.

Rub-a-Dub-Sub by Ashaman 

Is a story about a boy in the tub playing with toys, but the reader does not know that until the very end.  There are rhyming sentences on every page that include the sea creatures in the verse. Bright fun colorful pages.  Great read-a- aloud book!

Poor Little Guy by Allen

This is a book with a cute fish that looks harmless, but isn't.  I had to do some explaining and deeper discussion with the toddlers.  It was over their heads, but the parents loved it.  The older preschool kids however did get it and thought the book was funny.

Hooray for Fish by Cousins

This a a staple fish book, I think, for toddler story. The covers colors, shapes, and more.  I think it is too low for preschool.

I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean by Sherry

I love this book!  I wish it came in BIG BOOK size.  It is about a egomaniacal giant squid 

Owl Storytime

hoot! hoot!

this morning the babies and i got in touch with our wise old owl selves. 

we read the following picture books together:   

wow! said the owl, by tim hopgood

good for: color association, repetition

good-night, owl! by pat hutchins

good for: animal sounds, repetition, humor

in my opinion, good-night owl! by pat hutchins
goes by smoother during story time

 when you paper-clip some of the pages to shorten it.

i made this flannel to go along with the following rhyming game:

"barn owl, barn owl, where could you be? 

are you under the purple tree? 

let's see!"

   

i adapted the traditional 2 little black birds rhyme:

"two little barn owls 

sitting on a hill

one named jack, one named jill

fly away jack, fly away jill

come back jack, come back jill!

two little barn owls

sitting on a cloud

one flew quiet, one flew loud!

come back quiet, come back loud!"

i've finally learned a new song on the ukulele,

which i copied from the children's librarian
at greenwood public library.

here's are the lyrics w/ the chords, 

 using a simple island strum: 

                                             C

i'm in the mood for singing

                                            C                       G7

hey, how about you?

                                            C                           

i'm in the mood for singing,

                                            C                       G7

hey, how about you?

                                            C                                    

i'm in the mood for singing,

                                            C                            F

singing along with you!

                                                       C

hey, hey

                                           G7

what do you say?

                                            C                                 F

i'm in the mood for that today

                                                       C

hey, hey

                                              G7

what do you say?

                                            C

i'm in the mood for that!

here's her youtube video: 

happy storytime,

courtney

   

Transportation Storytime & Spring Displays

beep beep!

On Tuesday we did transportation story time with the babies.
I was inspired by the new picture book
by Kate Dopirak & Mary Peterson,
"Twinkle Twinkle Little Car" :

 

  

After surfing the web & finding a cute flannel song, I made the following truck to go along with the lyrics:

There were 5 in the truck and the little hen clucked 

"MOVE OVER! MOVE OVER!"

So they all moved over and one fell out...4...3...2...1...

There were none in the truck and the little hen clucked.... 

"I'VE GOT THE WHOLE TRUCK TO MYSELF, 

I'VE GOT THE WHOLE TRUCK TO MYSELF!"

This spring I am focusing my passive displays on local wildlife & conservation to promote my upcoming programs: Design Your Own Bird Nest, Make a Bee Hotel, and Where Do Birds Nest? - a talk with guests from the Native Songbird Care and Conservation nonprofit in Sebastopol.

           

To peak patron interest and stimulate introverts, I put together the following displays to promote these upcoming sustainability STEM programs for K-3rd & 3rd-5th:

                  

The Stick Together display for Read Across America was such a hit, that we've decided to keep some kind of passive activity in that area for middle grade kids & families. This season we are encouraging kids to trace their Laguna de Santa Rosa neighbors. I printed out and laminated illustrations/photos of local wildlife from Pixabay, referencing the "Field Guide to the Laguna de Santa Rosa." The purpose of this activity is to instill a deeper connection between resident and local wildlife. 

 

  

To compliment this activity I made a "Meet Your Laguna de Santa Rosa Neighbors" display, giving names and friendly gestures to various native plants, mammals, birds, and insects. My goal for this display is to make patrons aware and more conscientious of the diverse wildlife in their area.

       

This season's Early Literacy Scavenger Hunt bookmark was easy to make because of these displays:

All images used are fair use / public domain or given express permission to me to use for such purposes. I collected them from Wiki Commons and credited them as required, and Pixabay. We are maintaining a google spreadsheet to keep track of the images we use.

Happy Thursday,

Courtney Klein, Sebastopol