Library Halloween Party!

In a Dark, Dark Room accompanied by a BOOkmark craft 

This Saturday, I am hosting our library's Halloween party for kiddos, family, and friends.  Halloween is only my FAVORITE so I am pretty excited about it.  We will have a Spooky Storytime, Creepy Craft, and trick or treating all day (I am mostly excited about this part-- there is nothing cuter than little munchkins in costume)!

Books we will read:

Brown Bat, Brown Bat Flannel

• In a Dark, Dark Wood by David A. Carter (pop-up book)
• Five Little Pumpkins by Iris Van Rynbach
• If You're a Monster and You Know It by Rebecca and Ed Emberley

Two Little Ghosties Flannel

Flannel Fun:

Brown Bat, Brown Bat, What Do You See?

(I see a yellow moon, a white ghost. a red leaf, an orange pumpkin, a green apple, and a black cat looking at me!)

Two Little Ghosties (based on Two Little Dickybirds)

Two little ghosties, looking at you!
One named "Peeka", the other named "Boo!"
Fly away Peeka, fly away Boo!
Come back Peeka, come back Boo!

For our craft, we are going to make BOOkmarks. (See what I did there?!)

Preparation for this craft was too easy.  I cut some card stock into strips, cut lengths of various ribbons, and bought a Value Pack of Halloween foam stickers from Michael's (on sale, of course!).  We tend to get a wide range of ages at our storytimes so I needed something that would be simple enough for tiny hands (cutting and pasting usually doesn't work, but stickers are great), that wasn't too "baby-ish" for the older kids.  I think this will fit the bill.

Happy Haunting, little ghosties!

Miss Cassie's Tea Party

On Saturday mornings, our library holds a "Family Fun" storytime for all ages.  This is really the only time I use a theme... normally I find themes a little too limiting in terms of choosing titles that are developmentally appropriate for each age group, but this storytime being for all ages lets me broaden my horizons a bit.  And what better time for a tea party? Here is the storytime lineup:

• Hello, How Are You?
• If You’d Like to Read a Book, Clap Your Hands
• The Tiger Who Came to Tea by Judith Kerr
• Flannel and Song: I’m a Little Tea Pot
• Madeline’s Tea Party by John Bemelmans Marciano
• Flannel: Birthday Cake
• Song and puppet: Muffin Man
• Rhyme: Patty Cake
• Tea for Me, Tea for You by Edward Gibbs
• Song: Tea for two, two for tea, tea for you, and tea for me! I love you and you love me, we’re a happy family!
• Song: Skidamarink
• May I Bring a Friend? by Beatrice Schenk De Regniers
• Song and dance: Teacup Hokey Pokey (Handle, Spout, Whole Pot)
• Our Hands Say Thank You

After the storytime, we did a craft of making little tea cakes out of sponges, glitter glue, and sequins (inspired by The Craft Train).  I pre-cut the sponges into little rectangles and squares, and had a little "table setting" of materials laid out for each child.  They put their cakes together with "frosting" (glitter glue) and had a wonderful time.  I was also able to find these adorable tiny iced tea juice boxes that I served while we did our craft.  After all, what is a tea party without tea?!

Miss Cassie Had a Little Lamb

I created this set of sheep based off of a template from Making Learning Fun.   One of the first flannel sets I ever made, Baa Baa Black Sheep, has been a storytime favorite ever since its creation and was thinking about continuing the song with "Baa Baa Purple Sheep", etc.  This did not turn out as well as I had hoped it would during my Wonderful Ones storytime.  With each color, I sang only the first stanza of the song, ending with "Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full" and moving on to the next color, because I thought 6x Baa Baa Black Sheep in its entirety would be way too long and repetitive. Singing it this way, however, felt awkward and clumsy, especially when parents and caretakers were trying to sing the rest of the song lyrics.  It was just confusing.

So today, I tried something else (for Toddler Storytime).  I told them I knew a girl named Mary who had a little lamb, and its fleece was as white as snow, BUT,

"Miss Cassie had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb!
Miss Cassie had a little lamb, whose fleece was ________ as _________!"

The little ones caught on to identify the colors right away, but it was the parents and caretakers shouting out color comparisons, like "purple as grapes", "blue as the sky", "green as grass", and "orange as pumpkins".  One little girl in the front row did sing "red as strawberries" so that made me happy.

Today's toddler storytime was a large group of kiddies on the younger side of the tiny tot world, so I may try this again with Preschool Storytime. Today, it was still a little awkward.  I usually shy away from singing songs that parents and kids either don't know at all or can't quickly catch along to because I think it's so important for them to sing along.  But I also want to give them to opportunity to think and use their imagination, and identify different colors instead of just doing the same old song.  (Nothing against Baa Baa Black Sheep, I am just trying to shake things up, and build on their learning!)

Any suggestions on successful sheep/ lamb song variations you have used during storytime would be much appreciated!

Eric Carle Storytime

I started planning this storytime because I was feeling "lazy" and Eric Carle books are (almost) always a hit, but lo and behold of course I ended up getting super into it. I think/hope the kids could sense my enjoyment, because this seemed to be one of my best storytimes yet, especially for toddlers!

I started by introducing Eric Carle as the author and illustrator of the books we would read today, and spoke about what that meant.

As always, we start out with my favorite, borrowed from a wise colleague: "If You'd Like to Read a Book, Clap Your Hands!":

If you'd like to read a book, clap your hands! (Clap, clap!) If you'd like to read a book, clap your hands! (Clap, clap!) If you'd like to read a book, listen up and take a look! If you'd like too read a book, clap your hands! (Clap, clap) ...followed by stomp your feet, sing hooray!

The first book I read was The Very Hungry Caterpillar in the big book format. Normally I find big books particularly awkward and steer clear of using them for that reason, but to see the lovely details in this book, you really need it for a large audience and it worked well. The little buggers get extra excited about big books, even if Miss Cassie looks like a goon trying to turn the pages. I used our butterfly puppet at the end of the book. Some people are puppet people and some people are not. I am definitely one of the former, as I love the way the little ones' faces light up almost every time I engage them with one of my puppets.

To prepare for our next book, Ten Little Rubber Ducks, we practiced counting to ten with my flannel number set. I like to include a flannel visual whenever possible. We have a huge piece of blue felt, almost blanket sized, which I draped over a large Tupperware bin that served as a little ocean backdrop for the telling of this story. In the beginning of the story, a cardboard box of rubber duckies falls out of a boat and the duckies fall into the ocean. Thus, I dumped my cardboard box of duckies into the "ocean" and squeals of delight ensued. To transition to our next book, we sang Five Little Ducks along with its flannel counterparts.

From Head to Toe is one of Eric Carle's best books for a storytime because of its participatory nature. It gets the kids moving and I like letting them move and stretch about midway through the storytime to get those ants out of their pants.  With vivid and brightly colored pictures of animals doing fun movements, we transitioned after this book to a flannel I made called "I Went to the Zoo One Day". When I went about making this flannel, I picked numerous illustrations from a wide selection of Carle's books and glued them to felt. To perform it, I pick the animals out of an envelope so that each one is a surprise, as we sing (to the tune of "London Bridge"):

I went to the zoo one day, zoo one day, zoo one day! I went to the zoo one day, and I saw a _______! (Let the children identify the animal as you put it on the flannel board)

Finally, we read Eric Carle's Have You Seen My Cat? because I can never resist a cat book. Mostly because it allows me to use my fat cat puppet. When the cat is "found" at the end of the story and I surprised the little ones with Mr. Cat who had been hiding behind the flannel board, they were beyond ecstatic at having "helped" me find my cat. As always, we ended with "Skidamarink" (because I love them oh so much, and want to tell them so) and kitty cat kisses on everyone's noses. Puppet nose kisses are something I started doing at the end of each storytime and as time has gone on, even the shyest of the toodles comes up to me for a kiss. It is actually the cutest thing you could probably ever see in your life. Just today I had a little boy get in line five extra times for a kitty cat kiss.

Five Little Ducks

My newest flannel addition- Five Little Ducks!

Five little ducks went out one day,

Over the hill and far away...

Mother duck said,

"Quack quack quack quack!"

But only one little duck came back!

Repeat until all five ducks come back.  For the last one, encourage the kids to give their loudest quacks!

I found a wonderful new way to cut felt from a template.  Draw or print your template, and cover it with a thin coating of glue using a glue stick.  Glue the paper onto the felt, and cut.  Peel off the paper and voila!  You can cut even the most fine details this way.  Also, I've said it before and I'll say it again.  Googly eyes make the world go round.

Celebrating Caldecotts

Image via RandophCaldecott.org.uk

Beginning in 1937, the ALA began awarding the prestigious Caldecott medal to the illustrator of America's "most distinguished picture book for children." The medal gets its name from Randolph Caldecott, an influential 19th century English illustrator. The image on the Caldecott medal comes from his illustrations for The Diverting History of John Gilpin, a poem written by William Cowper.  Check out the entire list of Caldecott winners and Honors (runners-up) and pick out your favorite!

Children and their families got to enjoy a special Caldecott-themed storytime and craft this past weekend.  It was a beautiful day so I had a low turn-out for the storytime, but I continued to have the kids do the craft throughout the day and they LOVED it!  I started out the storytime by pointing out the "shiny gold sticker" on each book, and explained that it was a very special award.  I asked them to pay close attention to each book's pictures, since that is what they won their award for.  I had a small group of very eager and interested participants.

Here is the lineup...

• Song: Hello, How Are You?
• Our "Hello" song.
• Book: A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Erin and Philip Stead (Winner, 2011)
• One of my personal favorites, a sleepy story that went over surprisingly well with the little ones.
• Song and Flannel: "I Went to the Zoo One Day" (sung to the tune of London Bridge)
• I went to the zoo one day, zoo one day, zoo one day, I went to the zoo one day and I saw a _________! (Use flannels of different zoo animals and have children identify each one you put up on the board.)
• Book: King Bidgood's in the Bathtub by Don and Audrey Wood (Honor, 1986)
• Not as much of a hit as it has been in the past for preschool storytime, probably because this crowd was on the younger side and did not understand the story's silliness.
• Flannel: Rub a Dub Dub Three Bears in a Tub
• Bears are easier to make out of flannel than men!
• Book: Kitten's First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes (Winner, 2005)
• Probably the favorite pick for this group, little kitten is so endearing.
• Flannel: Where is Kitten?
• Substituted a flannel kitten for Mouse in the House- this flannel is always a favorite.  By chance the kitten was in the last house picked, and I had the kids meow so that kitten would be less shy and come out of her hiding spot.  They were thrilled.
• Joseph Had an Overcoat by Simms Taback (Winner, 2000)
• Attention spans were wandering at this point.  I would try it again as a first book.
• Our Hands Say Thank You
• Our "Goodbye" song.

For our craft I had children make their own Caldecott books.  The prep work for this project was extremely high but I do believe it was worth the effort because I've never seen a craft go over so well! They were so very proud of their Caldecott creations.  I pre-made booklets out of construction paper and blank white paper, and glued color-printed cutouts of the Caldecott medal to AccuCut award ribbons.  It was their job to glue their award onto the book, and to write and/or color pictures to create their own Caldecott winning story.  We had a story about a kitten, a dog, a bird, and someone named "Crispy" who found a map.  "Reading" their stories as they beamed with pride was my favorite part of the day.

St. Patrick's Day Storytime

Long ago, St. Patrick's day began as a religious holiday that celebrated the arrival of Saint Patrick, who brought Christianity to Ireland. Today, it is celebrated in many parts of the world in the spirit of Irish heritage, culture and good luck! St. Patrick's Day celebrations of today include parades, feasts, Irish folklore and wearing the color green!  We got to celebrate it here at the library with a special storytime and craft.

Stories I read:

• Green by Laura Vaccaro Seeger
• Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato by Tomie DePaola (the board book shortened version)
• St. Patrick's Day by Anne Rockwell
• Good Luck Bear by Greg Foley

Songs/ Flannels:

• Five Green and Speckled Frogs
• Leprechaun, Leprechaun, Have you any Gold? (sung to the tune of Baa Baa, Black Sheep) ....Yes sir, yes sir, three pots full!  One for St. Patrick...
• Find the Leprechaun (A variation of Mouse in the House, where Leprechaun is hiding underneath on of the felt houses)

Craft materials:

• Green, Yellow, and Orange construction paper hearts
• Green strips of construction paper
• Hole puncher
• Gold brads
• Glitter glue or other decor

Directions: Punch holes at the bottom tips of each heart.  Do the same on a strip of green construction paper- this is your shamrock's stem.  Layer the pieces as pictured, and insert a brad through the holes to fasten the pieces together.  Decorate as you wish!

Erin Go Bragh! (Ireland Forever!)

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

Dr. Seuss, born Theodor Seuss Geisel on March 2nd, 1904, has published 42 beloved children's books throughout his life of 87 years.  On March 2nd, 2014, we celebrated what would have been his 110th birthday.

We began with a special Dr. Seuss Storytime:

• Song: "Hello, How are You?"
• Our typical "Hello" song for storytimes.
• Song: "Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss"
• This one is a bit self-explanatory, yes?
• Flannel: One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss (1960)
• This book is a little but too long and confusing for the storytelling format, so I made it into a flannel!  They liked chanting along with me: "One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish! Black fish, blue fish, old fish, new fish!"
• Book: Gerald McBoing Boing by Dr. Seuss (1950)
• One of Dr. Seuss's lesser known works, Gerald McBoingBoing was a film that Dr. Seuss made in 1950 that went on to win an Academy Award in 1951.  It was adapted into the picture book format in 1978 by Mel Crawford.  I took this as an opportunity to explain to kids that while many books can become movies (like The Cat in the Hat, The Lorax, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas, it can work in the opposite way!  The kids liked making the silly noises that Gerald makes throughout the book.
• Flannel: The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss (1957)

• Another example of a great book that doesn't work too well for reading to a large audience, I adapted this too as a flannel activity.  On pages 20-21, the Cat in the Hat is showing off to Sally and her brother how many things he can hold while hopping on a rubber ball.  I turned each of these items into flannel pieces and asked the kids how many items they thought he could hold without falling down or dropping any of them.  It sort of ended up like playing "Jenga" on the flannel board with the kids anxiously watching me add item after item while reading along the text on page 20. On the next page follows, "That is what the cat said... Then he fell on his head!  He came down with a bump from up there on the ball.  And Sally and I, we saw all the things fall!"  As I read this text, I swiped my hand over the flannel board and watched as the Cat in the Hat fell down along with all of his silly items.  The kids loved it.
• Book: My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss (1973)
• This is another lesser known work of Dr. Seuss, perhaps because it is not self illustrated, instead with pictures by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher.  Still it is a great storytime book about colors and feelings, and the kids enjoyed helping me identify the colors on each page.
• Song: Silly Hat 
• Since the Cat in the Hat has a silly hat, I brought out my silly hat to show my friends and sing this favorite song.
• Book: Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You? by Dr. Seuss (1970)
• This book is a wonderful participatory book that gives great variation on the typical animal noises we see in these types of books. Along with "Moo, Moo", the kids got to make all kinds of noises, like "Choo Choo", "Sizzle Sizzle", and "Tick Tick Tock", among many others!
• Flannel: Cat under the Hat 
• Borrowed from my "Silly Hat" storytime, this is another great flannel that can be adapted for almost any theme.  I explained to the kids that instead of wearing his hat, the Cat in the Hat was hiding and they had to help me find him!  They excitedly found him on the third try (he was under the purple hat).
• Our Hands Say Thank You 
• Our typical goodbye routine for storytimes.  The kids love to clap, tap their feet, and "Rollllll our hands to say 'Goodbye'!"

Dr. Seuss Crafts

After our storytime, the kids were able to do my favorite activity: crafts!  I was very excited about the Lorax mustaches on a stick, but I think the kids liked the Dr. Seuss hats better because it was a little bit easier for them (the approximate age of my audience was 4 or 5 years old).  Anyways it was nice to give them a choice of what to do and a lot of kids did both, and they were super cute running around wearing their hats and mustaches together.

For materials, we are lucky enough to have a silly hat pattern for our Accucut, which I punched out of cardstock and cut long strips of paper for the base of the hat: super easy prep work!  The Lorax mustaches were a bit more involved.  I drew the mustache then made copies of it on cardstock, cut up bits of yarn for Lorax fur, and found some foam beads in the craft closet to use as Lorax noses.  If I had had more time I think it would have helped to cut out the mustaches myself, because that's where a lot of kids got snagged up and needed help or said it was too hard and wanted to make the hat instead.  Other necessary materials to have on hand were markers, glue, scissors, and popsicle sticks.

Overall the birthday party was a wonderful success.  I will be repeating the storytime for my preschool daycare groups that come in this week since they weren't here for the party.

One more activity that I had available for the kids: coloring sheets, mazes, word-searches and other printable activities from Seussville.  What a wonderful resource!  I will leave these out for kids to work on throughout the month of March.

Welcome to Storytime!

When I have a little free time, some felt, and glue, this kind of thing is bound to happen.  (Throw in glitter glue and the AccuCut, and that is where the magic really happens)!  I keep this sign up on our flannel board during storytimes. That is really all there is to say about that!

Valentine's Day Storytime

I usually don't do themed storytimes because I don't like to limit my book choices... I would rather just pick my favorites whether they are related or not!  However, in the spirit of Valentine's Day, I decided to do a storytime about love since that is quite a broad theme, and I had a lot to choose from!

Books I read:

• And I Love You by Ruth Krauss and Steven Kellogg
• My Heart is Like a Zoo by Michael Hall
• All Kinds of Kisses by Nancy Tafuri

Songs I sang:

• "Skidamarink"
• "Two Little Lovebirds" (Dickybirds)
• "Six Little Valentines"

"Six Little Valentines" was especially fun.  I borrowed the idea from Storytime Katie, who adapted the song and flannel from Busy Crafting Mommy.  I am not as handy with a sewing machine as these ladies, so I crafted my envelopes from paper and added a velcro tab to the back of each so that they would stick to the flannel board.  The kids loved these valentines... there is a certain excitement about opening up mail and finding out what is inside an envelope, especially when they are cute little valentines from animal friends.  I wish I could use this set all year long... I may have to adapt a non-seasonal "mail" flannel set since this one was such a hit!

"Six Little Valentines"

Six little Valentines were sent to my house,

The first one said, “I love you, From Mouse.”

Five little Valentines in my mailbox,

The second one said, “Be mine, Love Fox.”

Four little Valentines full of love,

The third one said, “You are sweet, From Dove.”

Three little Valentines just for me,

The fourth one said, “Be my honey, Love Bee.”

Two little Valentine’s mailed with care,

The fifth one said, “Here’s a hug, From Bear.”

The last little Valentine, from my friend Jay,

This one said, “Happy Valentine’s Day!”

Silly Hat Storytime

We recently started a new Saturday morning family storytime.  This is great for two reasons: one, parents who work throughout the week can attend (during the week we mostly get nannies and daycare centers) AND I get to pick a theme!!!  With an all ages audience, we have some more leeway when it comes to themes, which is why I usually don't do a theme for a specific age range; it ends up being too limiting to appropriate book choices.  Anyways, for my first Family Fun Time Storytime, I did SILLY HATS!

Silly Hat Storytime 

• Song: Hello, How Are You?
• Our typical "Hello" song for storytimes. 
• Book: Whose Hat? by Margaret Miller (1988)
• The kids loved this, as they got to identify who each hat belongs to (i.e. a witch, policeman, nurse, etc.)
• Puppet: Fat Cat in Hats

• I used hats from our dress-up set to put on my fat cat puppet Maurice and asked the kids to identify them. This was a nice continuation of Whose Hat? and the kids always love seeing Maurice.
• Book: Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina (1947)
• This was probably the crowd's favorite book of the storytime, and no wonder, it's a classic!  My favorite part was when an infant was shaking her fists right along with the monkeys.
• Song: and Flannel: No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed
• Always a favorite!
• Book: I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen (2011)
• I wouldn't read this for storytime again.  Since the story is basically told through dialogue, I think it's a little hard to follow just by listening.  I get the humor in it, but I don't think the kids do.  In fact, it's a little terrifying for wee ones, as the rabbit gets eaten by the bear in the end.
• Song: On My Nose I Have a Hat
• Kids love participating with this song by offering answers to the question, "Where else can my silly hat go?"
• Book: The Hat by Jan Brett (1997)
• I've said it before: Jan Brett is among the best of the best!  It's still winter so this was a nice choice, and the children listened intently.
• Flannel: Little Rat and Hat

• A variation of "Little Mouse in his House":  I put up five different colored hats and ask the kids to help me find my missing rat.  Someone guesses green, and I say, "Little rat, little rat, are you in the GREEN HAT?"  It is always extremely exciting for them when we finally find the rat.  I like this flannel because it's easily changed for a theme and it is always a favorite.
• We Wave Goodbye Like This 
• Our typical "Goodbye" song for storytimes.
• Our Hands Say Thank You
• The final finishing touch: "Our hands say 'Thank You' with a clap clap clap!  Our feet say  'Thank You' with a tap tap tap!  Clap clap clap!  Tap tap tap! And we rollllllllll our hands to say, 'Goodbye!'"
• Craft: Jan Brett's characters and hats, a matching game craft!  Jan Brett's crafts are so simple and easy to prepare, and kids love them.  This was perfect for multiple ages.

Five Little Snowmen

My new winter storytime flannel board staple:

"Five Little Snowmen"!
(chant to the tune of "Five Little Monkeys")...

     Five little snowmen riding on the sled!
     One fell off and bumped his head!
     Frosty called the doctor and the doctor said,
     "NO MORE SNOWMEN riding on the sled!"

(Continue verses with 4, 3, 2, 1, etc.)

The Mitten

Jan Brett is one of my favorite authors.  I used her version of the folktale The Mitten to adapt a flannel board story.  I made a large white mitten out of felt and drew and colored the animals onto white foam paper, with sticky velcro on the back.  As each animal "enters" the mitten, you can see how crowded the mitten ends up getting!  I like snowy winter stories for this time of the year because it reminds us of the coziness of the season.  And as I have stated before, I love a story that lends itself to visual adaptation.  It really helps to have visual props especially when storytelling to a large audience, like I do in my storytimes, where I have up to 75 little viewers!

Humbug Witch

Our Halloween party yesterday was so much fun.  We had Trick or Treating around the library's various department, and awesome photo booth, a scavenger hunt, and make your own spiders, mummies, and monster crafts.  We kicked off the party with a special Halloween storytime for all ages.

 For the storytime, I adapted Lorna Balian's Humbug Witch to a flannel board display.  This story adapted well because at the end, the witch starts to take off her "witchy" gear, finally revealing that she was a little girl all along.  It is a fun surprise ending the for the kiddos, and is definitely not a scary book so it is suitable for all ages.  I had fun telling the story and I think the kids had fun listening to it!

"Leaf Man" Flannel Story

Happy Fall!  The air is crisp, the wind is blowing, and the leaves are falling.  What a perfect day to read  Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert for today's preschool storytime.  As I read the story, I periodically "found" leaves along the way, creating my own leaf man for the children to see.

We talked about how leaves are different shapes and change different colors.  A lot of the kids eagerly explained that they had read this already, but the flannel board story kept their attention throughout this quiet and melodic text.

Birthday Cake in the Oven

I am always trying to think of clever ways to use felt and make new flannel board displays.  I love the visual element that it adds to rhymes and songs.  I made this birthday cake display to go along with "Pat-a-Cake".  

First, I ask the little ones who likes birthday cake.  Then I tell them that we are going to bake a cake just like in the rhyme!  If they are old enough, I can ask them for suggestions on what we should put in the cake; otherwise, I just list off the ingredients as I put them on the board: flour, sugar, eggs, milk, and butter.  Then, with the felt cake layered underneath, I put the oven on top of the ingredients.  We all count to five to let the oven "warm up" so the cake can cook.  

After that, I carefully peel the oven off revealing the cake underneath!  The kiddos were pretty thrilled with this; it seemed like a magic trick to them.  Finally, as another counting exercise, I count five birthday candles to go on top and our birthday cake is done.  I think that this is a great exercise to show kids patience, counting, and of course a fun surprise!

Banned Books Storytime

      To honor the last day of Banned Books Week 2013, I held a special "Banned Books Storytime" today.  Featured books include H.A. Rey's Curious George, The Family Book by Todd Parr, Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak (of course), Brown Bear Brown Bear by Bill Martin, Jr., and Where's Waldo? by Martin Hanford.  Each of these titles were challenged for various reasons.  My favorite has got to be Curious George and the reasoning behind its challenge: the monkey is not portrayed as anatomically correct (he's missing his tail).  The book to leave most patrons dumbfounded, however, is Brown Bear, Brown Bear.  What could it possibly have wrong with it? Bill Martin's name was confused with another Marxist Bill Martin. 

In addition to reading these books, I created some rhymes and flannel board activities for the kids to do.  I made 5 felt balloons for Curious George and asked the little ones to help me count them so George could fly away, followed by Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed.  I have a flannel board activity where I hide a felt mouse underneath one of five different colored houses and have the kids guess until they find him.  For Banned Books Storytime, I thought who better to hide than Waldo?  Finally, I had the kids do "Wild Thing Wild Thing" (turn around... touch the ground... etc.) and "If You're a Brown Bear and You Know It".  The little ones really seemed to enjoy this storytime as banned books are often classics and they got to see a lot of familiar characters.  At the end, I even had a child who wanted to take a picture with my Wild Thing stuffed animal, in front of all the banned books.  The theme was probably a lot more important to parents than children, but I did try to help kids understand the theme by opening the storytime by asking them if they could imagine the library without Curious George and various other characters.  None of them thought it was a good idea!

Wonderful One's

Today was my first storytime for Wonderful One's.  Or as I like to call them, little puffer bellies.  I think that you could sing them or read to them anything and they would still look at you with wide open eyes like you are giving them the keys to the world.

I started out with one of my all time favorite stories, The Three Little Kittens.  I used Paul Galdone's version but also added my own little creative twist.  I like to use flannels any chance I get because I think a visual prop holds the babies' attention even more than just the book. With three little kittens, it also gives me the chance to count to three with them.  So I made three little kittens, three sets of mittens, and a pie.  I also made jelly splotches and soap bubbles for when they soil and wash their mittens.

Next, I sang "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" (definitely the perfect age for this song) and "Baa Baa Black Sheep"; another chance to count to three and another chance for me to take out my scissors, glue, and felt!  

I also read Teddy Bear Teddy Bear by Steve Scott, as well as Sleepy Oh So Sleepy by Denise Fleming.  I love her illustrations and the way the babies responded to the tiny baby animals with looks of pure adoration.  I think the parents and caretakers liked this book too.  When it says "Where's my sleepy baby", I pretended to look through the audience for a sleepy baby, trying to engage them as much as possible. I ended up very pleased with my book, song and rhyme selections for this age group but I had planned a thirty minute storytime that only went twenty five, so I need to be sure to watch my speed, or add another book and song just in case.

My First Storytime

Now I can truly say that I am an "official" Children's Librarian.  I have assisted with storytimes in the past, but until now I hadn't planned and facilitated one on my own.  Today I did a preschool storytime for 54 kids.  We have a lot of daycare centers that come to this library along with just a handful of parents and their children so the adult to child ratio is quite large.  The children were super cute as per usual, and were highly participatory which is what I love about this age.

 For this storytime, I chose two of my favorite books from when I was a child.  When I told the kids this, they looked at me like they were being let in on a big secret.  First, I read If You Give a Moose a Muffin by Laura Numeroff, and had the kids guess the numerous things that that silly moose was going to need next.

Second, I read The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and The Big Hungry Bear by Don and Audrey Wood.  I created a flannel board display to go along with it at the last minute.  I think that this visual prop really helped them participate with the story even more, as they suggested ways to disguise the strawberry along with the plot of the book.  At the end, I pulled the two halves of the strawberry apart and pretended to gobble up my half of the strawberry. They got a kick out of that.

The only thing that I would change about this storytime is that I think it needed more active songs and rhymes.  I did "The Wheels on the Bus", "I Went to Visit the Farm One Day", and "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star".  These songs and rhymes were fine except for the fact that none of them got the kids to stand up and move around.  For a thirty minute storytime, I think they need at least one way of getting some of that energy out.  So next time, I think I will do something like "If You're Happy and You Know It".  I will also skip "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star".  I had originally thought that a lullaby would calm them down toward the end of the storytime, but instead they seemed a little to old for it and bored with it. Overall, I'm really happy with how it turned out and can't wait to do it again!