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!

The Little Red House Flannel

I received this flannel when I first became a children's librarian based on the book "The Little Red House" by Norma Jean Sawicki.  I've used it for my toddler time and outreach storytime this past week and it's a big hit.  The houses change colors and get smaller and smaller.  In the last house there is a teddy bear.

"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.

Kindergarten Class Visits

Kindergarten Class Visit

 After all my class visits last year I decided I need to find new class visit books, I'm really getting sick of my old ones.  Today marks the beginning of a month of class visits and decided to try out two new books.

Frog on a Log? by Kes Gray & Jim Field
"But I don't want to sit on a log," said the frog.  "Logs are all hard and uncomfortable.  And they can give you splinters.  Ouch!"
"I don't care," said the cat.
"You're a frog, so you must sit on a long."
This is the start of an explanation of what all animals sit on because the words rhyme.  Storks sit on Forks, Fleas sit on Peas, etc.  The ending is funny and surprising and all the kids and parents loved it.

I Am Not a Chair! by Ross Burach

On the first day in the jungle Giraffe is mistaken for a chair...which leads to some funny illustrations and happenings....I really like the end of this book too.  I got this book yesterday and thought it was great, decided to see if it would pass the "Olivia" test, it did, so I tried it.  I would say the kids enjoyed the Frog book better, but I still really like this book.  I will use it again.

Dogs!

It's a Doggy Dog World

I've been in a dog mood lately, doing all my storytimes with a dog theme.  Here are some of the books I read this week to support my dog theme.

In Toddler Time the first book I read was "Maggie's Ball" by Lindsay Barrett George.  I really love the illustrations of her books.  The children really responded to this story and I plan on reading it again.

This was the second book I read during Toddler Time.  I really like this book, but it may have been a tad long for my group.       I really enjoy reading "Bark, George" to older Preschool crowds, and this was a winner this week.  The kids all got the humor and enjoyed the ending.

The next book I read in Preschool Storytime was "Dog's Colorful Day" to Emma Dodd.  I own the flannel to this book, which I often do side by side, but this time I just read the book.  After each new spot on Dog I asked the children, "Now, how many spots does Dog have?".  When they say the answer I say "That's right, because 1 + 1 = 2" on each new spot.  On the page with all the spots I have the children say the color of the spot and what it was (grass stains, bee pollen, etc.), which helps with recall and retelling of the story.  This is also an easy book to prepare a craft for.

 This is my craft sample for Preschool Storytime.  I enlarged Dog on the cover of the book on the photocopier.  I asked a teen volunteer to cut out dog for me.  (If you have an older crowd they can cut it out themselves).  I would have liked my volunteer to have cut all the way around Dog, but I wasn't there when he finished.  I used the Dot-to-Dot markers for the children to give Dog all his spots.

I also read "Digger Dog" by William Bee, which is always a hit, no matter who I read it to.

For music I played "My Dog Rags" by McGrath, Bob.  You can find this song on his CD "Bob's Favorite Sing Along Songs".  If you ever need me to show you the movements I use just ask.  I always do this song twice, for two reasons, it's a short song and to give the children a chance to do it correctly one whole time through.

I also used the flannel "Bingo".

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.