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.

Ten Little Fingers, Two Small Hands

Ten Little Fingers, Two Small Hands by Kristy Dempsey

 At first I was a little nervous about sharing this book during Babytime because of the length of the book.  It turned out perfect for Babytime, the babies and parents enjoyed it.  I recommend counting your fingers before and after the book.

Enjoy!

Best outreach ever!

This morning, I did a storytime for school-age kids at the YMCA summer camp. It was so much fun, and the older kids were actually really enthusiastic. (Sometimes those tweens can be a tough nut to crack!) We sang 2 songs and read 3 books, then talked about the Summer Reading Program.

Instead of a welcome song, I asked them to do their camp cheer for me, which was very long and very loud! We also sang The Pizza Hut Song (which I sang at camp as a kid) and Bananas (the Jim Gill version, which I love and play at almost every single storytime).

The books were a big hit. The camp director gave me the theme of "Time Warp," so these are the two I chose:

Otto Grows Down by Michael Sussman. It's about a 6-year-old, but really the older kids liked it and understood it a little better than the younger ones. Otto wishes on his birthday that his baby sister had never been born, so time starts going backwards. The best part is when the author starts describing how weird it would be to have normal, everyday things go backwards, especially going to the bathroom! The kids loved that part - so gross.

The Case of the Train Without Wheels and Other True History Mysteries for You to Solve by Patrice Sherman. THIS WAS FANTASTIC. It's one-page mysteries (like, "How did King Tut die?" with a few clues), and the next page gives what historians think is the true answer. They wanted me to read the whole thing, but I didn't have time. The kids were telling each other all about history and were so excited when they guessed the correct answer. I need to find more books like this!

Splash! by Flora McDonnell

When the jungle animals are hot, a baby elephant has a good solution involving the squirting and splashing of water at the water hole. Very simple with big bright pictures!

Favorite Class Visit book

I missed the J meeting this week where everyone shared their favorite class visit books, so I thought I would throw in my two cents...

Parts by Tedd Arnold

 

"A five-year-old boy thinks his body is falling apart untill he learns new teeth grow and hair and skin replace themselves." A classic! Gross enough to satisfy any first-grader.

Whoosh! Lonnie Johnson's Super-Soaking Stream of Inventions by Chris Barton

"Chronicles the life and achievements of the NASA engineer and inventor, from his childhood to his accidental invention of the Super-Soaker water gun." Great STEAM bio. The teachers especially like this one!

Kate's Cats!

I see there is another cat themed storytime post already.  However, I chose different books to read and a different art activity.

"Mama Cat has Three Kittens" by Denise Flemming
A great book full of adjectives and repetitive words.  Large beautiful pictures which are easy to see at the back of a large group.

"Ginger" by Charlotte Voake
Ginger is an adult cat who has difficulty adjusting to a new kitten.  If you have ever owned cats, you will recognized the new kitten problem Ginger endures.

My last book is "I Am Cat" by Jackie Morris. Gorgeous watercolor pictures of cats of all sizes from all over the world. A must have for cat lovers, but all of her books are lovely.

The art project of the week was a cat mask.  The kids needed to cut it out. They could color it if they wanted to or they could choose to leave it white or grey.  Then they just needed to tape a stick to it.

If you want a PDF of the original cat art, email me. ~Kate :-) 

Cats!

I wanted to nail my first story time here at Sebastopol, so I picked a theme I would be especially excited about: Cats! I used my favorite cat books for preschool story time:

Meeow and the Big Box by Sebastien Braun:
I love this book because it covers a variety of concepts, like shapes, colors, handling scissors carefully, prediction, and imagination. And the protagonist, Meeow, is adorable. The book gives us as readers opportunities to ask the audience side questions. When Meeow shares his favorite color is red,  I ask the kids what their favorite color is, or if they can name some red things. When Meeow cuts a hole in the box with scissors, I invite the kids to make a scissor shape with their pointer and middle fingers and pretend to cut, so they can practice their fine motor skills.

Pete the Cat, I Love my White Shoes by Eric Litwin:
A no brainer choice. The original Pete the Cat books are the best!

I'm still learning how to pick the best books for baby story time. I used Pete the Cat for the preschoolers and the babies, and that seemed to work well. I thought Meeow and the Big Box would be too much for the babies, so I tried to pick a sweet story that would also appeal to the adults.

Kitten's First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes
I think this book is really sweet. One parent seemed to really enjoy the story. I felt like I was losing the audience a little bit: I had a majority of babies and a few toddlers. The toddlers started getting very wiggly.

I learned this cute song:

I'm a Little Kitty Cat 

(To the Tune of I'm a Little Teapot)

I'm a little kitty cat, soft and sweet (pretend to pounce)

Here are my whiskers (hand motion whiskers)

Here are my feet (hold up your two paws or hands)

When I go a 'hunting, mice beware (pretend to pounce)

Or you might just have a scare! (pretend to scare)

We did this adorable C is for Cat craft! Our teen volunteers cut out the bodies and heads (I drew those up) before hand. I provided glue sticks, markers, and pom poms (I wanted to see what the kids came up with, with the pom poms). The pom poms were a great idea. Some kids used them as eyes, tails, or noses!

"Z" books

Sandra and I finally finished our alphabet storytime series! I had two books from the Z storytimes that went over really well.

Zero Kisses for Me by Virginie Soumagnac. It's about a little bear who decides he doesn't want any more kisses. It is shorter than most picture books, so I read this one to the toddlers. The parents loved it, of course, and the kids could really relate.

Zin! Zin! Zin! a Violin by Lloyd Moss. This one is a "classic" (1995), about counting and musical instruments and concerts. I love it - I'm afraid it doesn't circulate very well because it's in the 784s instead of picture books. The words are so musical and fun to read out loud. I read it to the preschoolers, and they really got into it - they were all trying to tell me about instruments they have a home, concerts they've gone to, music they like, etc. It was a huge hit.

Dancing Shoes

Last month my favorite story time theme was "shoes."  I know you are thinking, "What an odd theme."  However, with the books and music it came together perfectly.
The first book was " Dog in Boots" by Greg Gormley. A sweet retelling of Puss in Boots, but with a dog.

 My second choice was the original "Pete the Cat" in his cool white Chucks by James Dean.

 The third shoe book was "Shoe Dog" by Megan McDonald the author of the first Chapter "Stink" books.

After stories we put on our dancing shoes and I put on music. I got out scarves for the dancers and I blew bubbles. We all danced around.  Even some of the moms got up and danced too.

XO, OX : a love story by Scott Campbell

I just discovered this book while looking for "X" books for storytime. It is the first picture book in a while to make me laugh out loud! I would say this book would be great for an older audience including and especially adults.  My favorite quote, "even when you are running from tigers, you are like a ballerina who is running from tigers." I think almost every adult can identify themselves as the OX and/or the Gazelle as some point in their lives.

Bibliobop 4/28/17

I had a really successful Bibliobop yesterday. There were about 90 people there! It was a lot of fun. Thank you, Tiffany and Charity, for helping me with planning/advice.

 Here's the outline I used:

Good Morning (Songs for Wiggleworms) 
Introduction: explain what we are doing today

Hands Are for Clapping (Jim Gill Sings the Sneezing Song)
Walking, Walking (Songs for Wiggleworms)

Shakers: Shake My Sillies Out (Raffi, Giggling & Laughing)
No More Monkeys (Asheba, No More Monkeys)

The Airplane Song (Laurie Berkner, Whaddya Think of That?)

Book:

Groovy Joe: Ice Cream and Dinosaurs (Eric Litwin)

This is the greatest storytime book. You can download the songs that go with the story from the Scholastic website. All the kids were singing along and shouting out the words by the end of the book.






Scarves: Spider on the Floor (Raffi, Singable Songs for the Very Young)
Bananas (Jim Gill, Music Play for Folks of All Stripes)
Bubbles: Bubbles (Laurie Berkner, Superhero)
The More We Get Together (Raffi, Singable Songs for the Very Young)

Doggies: A Counting and Barking Book by Sandra Boynton

Count—and bark—with a fun pack of pups in this 
Sandra Boynton classic.
Serious silliness for all ages.

Preschool storytime: The Letter W

Books:

The Crocodile Who Didn't Like Water by Gemma Merino

The kids enjoyed this one. They were able to guess why the crocodile didn't like water before the end.

The Whale in My Swimming Pool by Joyce Wan

This one was okay. I love the pictures, but I don't remember getting much response from the kids.







Songs and Chants:

• Welcome, Welcome, Everyone
• Alphabet song
• Buenos Dias/Frere Jacques
• The Itsy Bitsy Spider
• Dance Your Fingers
• Peanut Butter and Jelly
• If You're Happy and You Know It
• Dinosaur, Dinosaur, Turn Around
• Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes
• Rocketship Run
• The More We Get Together

Flannel:

 The Wolf's Chicken Stew by Keiko Kasza

The kids enjoyed this, but I messed it up a few times. There are a lot of pieces to this one! (It is a purchased one, not a homemade flannel.)








Craft:
Watermelons and whales with paper plates

Digger Dog

Digger Dog by William Bee

The moment I read "Digger Dog" I knew this one would be a hit and I bring it to almost all my outreach groups at least once a year.  It's important to have a reference copy of this book though, the pages will be torn after multiple circulations.  I like to point out how the word "dig" is repeated over and over in the text.  A hit!

Hi, Pizza Man

  Hi, Pizza Man by Virginia Walter

I do a lot outreach storytimes for the Windsor community.  Today I went to a preschool group for the first time.  I decided to reach into the "oldie but goodie" pile and read "Hi, Pizza Man!" by Virginia Walter.  I forgot how much kids love and respond to this book.  After the sentence "What if it's a pizza snake?  Then what will you say?" we guessed how a snake can hold a pizza box.  You can also discuss/point out the different attire the animals are wearing.  A hit among the kids today!

Whose Nest? by Victoria Cochrane

I read Whose Nest? to the preschool group and they focused right in trying to guess what creatures built the nests. All the kids sitting next to their parents in the back ended up on the rug to actively participate. It was great fun. It is an easy non fiction picture book read for storytimes.

There Are No Scary Wolves! by Hyewon Yum

I read There Are No Scary Wolves by Hyewon Yum at yesterday's Toddler Time. The kids loved it! They actually got quieter as the story went on, and you could hear a pin drop by the time I got to the end. It was amazing; they were all absolutely enthralled by this book.

Beep! Beep! Go to Sleep! by Todd Tarpley

Quiet at last. Not a peep. Three little robots are... BEEP! BEEP!

When his three rambunctious robots give every possible excuse not to go to sleep, what's a little boy to do? With a fun refrain that will have readers of all ages chanting along, here's a book that kids will be begging to read every night before bed.

Everyone is Yawning by Anita Bijsterbosch

It’s time for bed! The kitten yawns. Look. I think it is tired. All the little animals yawn. And the little kid? Does the little kid yawn too? You’ll find out as you lift-the-flaps in this surprising book.