Family Connection

Clearwater Public Library Youth Services

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Clearwater Public Library Family Connection

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Rap-A-Tap-Tap, a Selfish Hippo, Puppies, and Orchestras

As usual, we opened with our “music house” lesson. You can see I used the chalk board this week as opposed to my usual supercolorful and tactile felt, but I needed more space. LOL

In review, we learned how eighth notes have one flag on the note and move twice as fast as a quarter note with no flags. We also learned you could attach the two flags together. Once our minds were warmed up, we got up and danced to warm up our bodies. It’s always important to remember with the younger kids, especially toddlers, to bookend more cerebral activities with movement. This actually helps them to stay focussed for longer periods. So, if you read a book or you teach by showing, keep it brief and then dance or play a more active game before starting your next lesson or story.

The song we danced to was Movin’ Groovin by Mr. Jon. It’s from his CD Mr. Jon and Friends which we have here at the library. TO RESERVE CLICK HERE

If you click HERE you can hear him perfom it live and you can relive storytime all over again.

The picture above shows us using our sticks to “Rap-A-Tap-Tap” along with Mr. Bojangles, the famous dancer from the 1930s.

I read a simple version of his story which includes a repeating refrain. We all tapped along to the refrain with repeating rhythm. There was a surprise rhythm change in the middle which was very using in teaching about rhythm itself.

The following is taken from the back of the book we shared, Rap-A-Tap-Tap: Here’s Bojangles Think about That by Leo and Diane Dillon:

Bill “Bojangles” Robinson was born in1878 and lived until 1949.He is known as the greatest tap dancer of all time. His fame reached mythic proportions. He had charm and charisma and, it was said, “He talked with his feet.” His rhythms were so intricate and fast it was impossible for other dancers to repeat them.

During the Great Depression, Bill Robinson was the highest paid black entertainer. He shared his wealth with less fortunate friends and neighbors through thiose hard times.

Bill performed shows on Broadway as well as in the famous clubs around the country. He formed revues that appeared in vaudeville, and he danced in several films, including four with the child star Shirley Temple [like the Little Colonel].

On May 25, 1989, Congress declared that day, his birthday, as National Tap Dance Day in Bill Robinson’s honor.

I am kind of combining both my Main Library and Countryside entries this time. So some things were not exactly the same at both locations. I like to mix it up so that if folks want to attend both, they’ll get a little review and some new stuff.

So at Main, we went off on a doggy tangent. We did the fingerplay Little Puppies where we counted the ten darlings. And we sang one of my favorites “Danny Bought a D-O-G”. At the end of this segment we read Hello, Puppy by Cowen-Fletcher.

Main’s big finale was an incredible marching band where we played and marched along with a funky version of Old Macdonald by Rufus Thomas. I put the link on the title if you want to hear it again.

We also did some penguin dancing at Countryside.

Then, there’s Pete the Cat! We did the one where Pete is feeling blue and needed his Magic Sunglasses to cheer him up. We shared this one at Main a few weeks ago, I made a whole entry about this series. You can read it HERE.

At both locations we got to experience the transformation of Chubbo the Hippo from a selfish meanie to a grateful friend.

Chubbo’s Pool by Betsy Lewin.

As this story takes place in Africa. I played my Mbira.

This instrument is also known as a Kalimba.

HERE is a wonderful musician playing a more sophisticated version of the instrument.

And that brings us to the end where we learned a bit about how Orchestras work. I played conductor and I divided the group into multiple sections. The children learned to wait for the conductor’s signal for beginning and “resting”. They also had to watch to see which section was supposed to play at what time. For this excercise we played with some exerpts of different Symphonies playing classical music. Although they didn’t know it, they also learned about “Crescendos” and “Decrescendos” (Louder and Softer). Then we sang our goodye song.

GREAT GREAT FUN!

-Mr. David

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Hooping With Kids

Sarah Jordan, of Hooping by Sarah, brought her Hooping with Kids program to both the North Greenwood and Main Libraries. Sarah began her program at Main with a series of warmup exercises. These helped the kids loosen up.

The first skill Sarah taught was neck hooping, or spinning the hula hoop using only your neck.

Here are the children trying it out.

  After neck hooping, Sarah moved on to waist hooping. This is the way we all played with hula hoops as children, and the kids had a blast spinning and twirling. Sarah taught some useful tips to keep control of the hula hoop. For example, she said if you feel the hoop falling try walking in the direction the hoop is spinning, that will help it remain around your waist longer.

The children were quick learners, and good listeners. They experimented with all of Sarah’s tips.

After waist hooping came leg hooping, or spinning the hula hoop using only the area around your knees.

This took a little more practice, but by the end of the program everyone was doing it easily!

After Sarah taught these basic skills, she played some games with the children. The first she called Freeze Hooping. Sarah would play music and ask the children to practice their new hooping skills, but when the music stopped you had to freeze in place. This was a really fun activity, and the children never missed a beat, always stopping and freezing when Sarah paused the music.

The next game she set up was Hopscotch, using hula hoops.

Sarah set out a pattern of hoops on the floor that resembled a Hopscotch board. She then had the children test their newly learned skills by hoping through the course while using a hula hoop!

Even our youngest attendee took part in the fun.

The final part of the program was a solo performance by Sarah herself. She demonstrated a remarkable array of skills including hooping with one hand, waist hooping and even working with two hoops at the same time.

The children really enjoyed her performance, and the program as a whole. It was fun, interactive and very entertaining. Thank you Miss Sarah!

-Miss Jessica

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Shake, Rattle, and Read

I just wanted to highlight some of the fun we had last week and Toddler Music and Stories!

This is some of the gang listening to Pete the Cat and his Magic Sunglasses.

You can always click on a highlighted title and it will take you to our catalog so you can reserve a book.

Pete the Cat is a pretty big franchise these days. There are six Pete the Cat picture books out as of this posting. And as your kids learn to read themselves, you can lead them to the Pete the Cat Easy Readers. Here is the list of books below:

Originals with Eric Litwin and James Dean Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes Pete the Cat: Rocking in My School Shoes Pete the Cat Saves Christmas Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons

Newer Pete with James and Kimberly Dean Pete the Cat and his Magic Sunglasses Pete the Cat: Valentine’s Day is Cool

A Few of the Pete the Cat Easy Readers Pete the Cat: Play Ball Pete at the Beach Pete’s Big Lunch

Pete the Cat has always been a musical cat which makes him a perfect fit for Little Ones Music and Stories. He is also quite wise and gives everyone advice for living a happy and content life. Originally Eric Litwin, a musician, wrote the stories and songs for Pete but now James Dean, the illustrator and creator of Pete has taken on these duties with his wife. But as you learn each storytime with Mr. David, you all have songs within you, and you can use the words given to you by James and make up your own melodies!

I have an example of a lovely teacher, Ms Kathy, who did just that. She is awesome. Enjoy!

Click on the piccie for the video with Ms Kathy singing

Now moving on to one of our greatest acheivements at Toddler Music and Stories, play in the Mr. David’s Library Orchestra

For this activity, we prepared by looking at some pictures of an actual orchestra in action. We compared the pictures so that we could see how different types of instruments were grouped together. And we were able to see how the conductor signalled to each section with his baton.

We then set out to organize our orchestra. We had three sections: Cymbals, Bells and Tambourines, and Shakers.

Above you can see me working with the Cymbal section.

It was fantastic fun!

Here are the Bells and Tambourines.

Once we were concert ready, we put on some classical symphony music and I directed them to play quiet, loud, or to stop playing which they all know now is called “A rest”.

See you next time.

- Mr. David

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E-Books Collection

Clearwater Library users have access to electronic books through our online catalog system!

You may limit your catalog search to only ebooks by clicking on the box next to “Limit by:” and choosing “Ebook”.

Currently, we don’t have a large amount of children’s books. I am actively trying to build up this collection and I am concentrating on the young adult (YA) novels and some younger novels for school age children (YF). I am also trying to add some of the classics like Tom Sawyer and Swiss Family Robinson.

I have a theory that the preschool crowd would rather get their hands on an actual picture book rather than read one on a screen, but I am seeking your input on this.

Please let me know if your children would like to read picture books on their electronic devices as well as have print versions.

Please leave me some replies to this posting. You may do that by clicking on the Title Heading which will take you to a page that has a box for replies near the bottom. Thank you.

Mr. David

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Sheep Storytime at Countryside

The kids display their sheep crafts from the PreSchool Place Storytime, Thursday mornings at the Countryside Library!

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Happy Valentine’s Day-Family Storytime

Today we celebrated Valentine’s Day. Our opening song was “I’ll Make a Valentine”

I’ll Make A Valentine (Tune: “London Bridge”)

I’ll make a bright red valentine, Valentine, valentine.

I’ll make a bright red valentine, And give it right to you.

I’ll trim it with lace and bows, Lace and bows, lace and bows.

I’ll trim it with lace and bows, And give it right to you.

The first book read was Love, Splat by Rob Scotton. Scotton has a series of books about the adventures of Splat the Cat. In this Valentine’s Day edition Splat had a Valentine that he wanted to give to Kitten, but she had another admirer. It was really fun to see Splat work through his problem and pluck up his courage. In the end, he received a surprise that made it all worthwhile.

Snowy Valentine by David Petersen was our second book. This was a touching story about a little rabbit named Jasper and his search for the perfect Valentine’s Day present for his wife Lilly.

Music made its first appearance during our activity “Musical Hearts.” My version was a combination of Charades and Musical Chairs, which was based on an idea from Children’s Programming Monthly vol. 3/ no. 5. A ring of hearts was placed on the floor face down. Each heart was one of three colors (pink, purple, and red,) and on the underside was an action for the children to perform, such as “Sing the ABC Song.” The children stood in a ring around the hearts and when the music started they walked around the ring. For our walking around music I played Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious from the CD Mannheim Steamroller Meets the Mouse.This song had a very lively beat and had the children fairly bouncing around the circle. When the music stopped, one of the three colors was chosen. The child in front of that color heart picked it up, did their action and received a small prize (a valentine sticker). It continued until every child had taken a turn. This type of activity reinforced the children’s reading skills because they had to read each action that had to be performed themselves (adults were there to assist). This activity also augmented skills associated with listening and following directions. The children were told the rules of the game before hand, and they had to be followed. Also, listening to the music cues was vital to playing the game successfully.

Here are the children during Musical Hearts!

Our next book was Valentine Surprise by Corinne Demas. Lily made a different valentine for her mother everyday in the week leading up to Valentine’s Day. The surprise was what happened to all those valentines.

After this story out came the CD player, for the second time, and our wooden clapping sticks. Laurie Berkner’s  “There’s a Little Wheel a-Turnin’ in my Heart” offered a perfect Valentine’s Day themed song. The song can be found on her CD Buzz Buzz. For each verse I assigned an accompanying action (highlighted in bold type in the lyrics below.) Each action was demonstrated prior to playing the song so the children would know when to act out each part. Clapping, stomping, barking and honking were just some of the fun sounds we made. The lyrics are:

There’s a Little Wheel a-Turnin’ in my Heart

There’s a little wheel a-turnin in my heart.    TURN HANDS IN CIRCLE There’s a little wheel a-turnin in my heart. In my heart, in my heart. There’s a little wheel a-turnin in my heart.

There are two hands clapping in my heart.   CLAP There are two hands clapping in my heart. In my heart, in my heart. There are two hands clapping in my heart.

There are two feet stomping in my heart.   STOMP FEET There are two feet stomping in my heart. In my heart, in my heart. There are two feet stomping in my heart.

There’s a little dog barking in my heart.   BARK There’s a little dog barking in my heart. In my heart, in my heart. There’s a little dog barking in my heart.

There are two eyes blinking in my heart.   BLINK There are two eyes blinking in my heart. In my heart, in my heart. There are two eyes blinking in my heart.

There are some kids sleeping in my heart.   MAKE PILLOW WITH HANDS There are some kids sleeping in my heart. In my heart, in my heart. There are some kids sleeping in my heart.

There’s a big truck honking in my heart.   BEEP BEEP There’s a big truck honking in my heart. In my heart, in my heart. There’s a big truck honking in my heart.

There’s a little wheel a-turnin in my heart.   TURN HANDS IN CIRCLE There’s a little wheel a-turnin in my heart. In my heart, in my heart. There’s a little wheel a-turnin in my heart.

Music was a large part of today’s Storytime. Having children listen to music or play games where music is a major component aids in childhood development. This article from Education.com encapsulates the many benefits music gives children with regards to education and development.

Our final book was If You’ll Be My Valentine by Cynthia Rylant. This is a story that is a favorite for Valentine’s Day Storytime. It is told in rhyming verses and is the tale of a little boy who created unique Valentines for his family and friends.

For our craft today we made heart-shaped glasses. The glasses were crafted out of pipe cleaners, and as I was passing out the pipe cleaners one of those serendipitous moments happened. I had not yet explained how to assemble the glasses, I had just passed out two red and two silver pipe cleaners to each child. One little girl then looked at me and said, “But we need three silver ones.” I asked her why and she stated, “Because we need to hold the glasses together.” I just love it when the children get a concept without any explanation, I was smiling! I, of course, then gave out the requisite third silver pipe cleaner. The children had such fun creating their Valentine’s Day duds!

This was an especially enjoyable Storytime!

-Miss Jessica

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Chop Chop

We added a new magazine at the Main library this month called Chop Chop. 

Chop Chop hopes to inspire families to cook and eat real  food together and most of the recipies are meant to be prepared with an adult. The Winter 2013 issue includes soups from around the world: Ribollita from Italy, Cuban Black Bean, Avgolemono from Greece, Middle-Eastern Makhlouta and Vietnamese Chicken-Noodle. Tucked in between the recipes and colorful pictures are cooking terms, safety tips, puzzles and games. Did you know that our youth magazines circulate? You can check out Chop Chop to take home for two weeks or put a hold request on if it is currectly checked out. So survive the cold by cooking up a cup of ginger root and honey tea (p. 32) and a slice of date-nut cake with cream cheese frosting (p. 36). Yum!

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Mount Rushmore-After School Art at the Main Library

Today we made cards depicting Mount Rushmore to celebrate President’s Day. We began by folding a piece of construction paper in half. Then to one side we glued a coloring sheet.

  This is a picture of one of the cards that was made. The coloring sheet in on the left. It had a picture of Mount Rushmore that the children could color. It also contained fun facts about the construction of the monument. The sheet ended with a short quiz challenging the children to name all four Presidents shown. Here is a link to a printable version of the coloring sheet.

On the inside of the card the children were encouraged to create their own version of Mount Rushmore. These were very free form creations. The children made mountains by tearing up pieces of construction paper so they appeared jagged.

On our supplies table, above, there were also several printed versions of Mount Rushmore available that the children could choose from. Additional materials such as tissue paper, colorful scrap paper and construction paper springs were provided for the children to embellish their creations.

  The children could then cut out the faces from those printed sheets and add them to their cards.

Here are some of the unique and creative finished products.

    What made this craft so wonderful was the originality of the children. Miss Julie and I presented them with a basic idea, then they took that concept and made it their own. Each picture was different, yet it was a perfect reflection on its creator. The children’s capacity for creativity was amazing!

An educational craft that the children just had a blast with.

-Miss Jessica

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Under the Sea with Mermaids

This morning was “Under the Sea Time” at Let’s Grow Baby-Oh! and all manner of sea creature puppets came out to visit: a fluorescent angelfish, a starfish. a dolphin, and many tentacled squid. Here are some new activities and songs we included along with our weekly favorites.

Three Little Mermaids by Mara van Fleet- We read this fun little pull-tab board book about an underwater tea party. 

The Waves on The Sea: We sang this to the tune of Wheels on the Bus.

The waves on the sea go up and down, up and down, up and down..all day long

The fish in the sea go swish, swish, swish….

The boats in the sea go toot toot toot….

Babies in the sea go splash splash splash…..

The parents in the sea go tickle tickle tickle….

The babies in the sea go hee hee hee….

Ram Sam Sam: This is a song we repeat most weeks. It is a fun song from Morocco. Here is a  link to the lyrics and music for RamSamSam.  We pound our fists right over left as in the first part of the activity. But at the Guli Guli section we roll our arms around each other as in patty cake. When we sing A Rafi we raise our arms up to the sky and then down. This video clip is similar to the version we do every Monday. 

Roll, Roll, Sugar Babies: This is a new fingerplay I saw online that I wanted to try. Thanks to: Reading Chick at Rain Makes Applesauce.

Roll, Roll, Sugar Babies

Roll, Roll, Sugar Babies  (roll babies hands over each other)

Push

Pull (Gently push baby’s arms…lean forward and back if they are sitting on your lap, or pull on their arms if they are lying on their back.)

Clap, Clap, Clap

Most Monday’s we end with a group musical parachute activity. The goal is bounce the beach balls on the parachute into the air, or stand/sit under the parachute and feel the breeze, or what ever else seems fun at the time.

Ms. Mercedes

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Imagination-Family Storytime

Our theme this week was Imagination. Our opening song was “If You’re Happy and You Know It” from the CD Wee Sing Children’s Songs and Fingerplays. Here are the lyrics:

If You’re Happy and You Know It

If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands. If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands. If you’re happy and you know it, Then your face will surely show it. If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands.

If you’re happy and you know it stomp your feet. If you’re happy and you know it stomp your feet. If you’re happy and you know it, Then your face will surely show it. If you’re happy and you know it stomp your feet.

If you’re happy and you know it shout hooray! If you’re happy and you know it shout hooray! If you’re happy and you know it, Then your face will surely show it. If you’re happy and you know it shout hooray!

If you’re happy and you know it do all three. If you’re happy and you know it do all three. If you’re happy and you know it, Then your face will surely show it. If you’re happy and you know it do all three.

The children particularly enjoyed singing along and acting out all the movements.

Our first selection was My Favorite Michael by Laura Heiman. Throughout the day, as Michael changed his outfits, he imagined himself to be different people, from a businessman to a pirate.

My Garden by Kevin Henkes, our next book, was a story filled with the joyous wonder of a little girl who described all the magical things that she would have in her garden, from jelly bean bushes to chocolate rabbits.

After reading several books, there was an activity to get the children up and moving and let them work off some energy. This helped increase their attention span. I worked at a Children’s Theater for ten years, and one of the activities we performed was Magic Wand. One person, an adult, would wave a magic wand (today a blue pipe cleaner) and ask the children to portray different actions or characters such as being various animals. We used this activity in the theater to help the children better understand how to transform into a character. For this  Storytime, it was used as a form of dramatic play, which research has shown to help build thinking and social skills. This article from Early Childhood News is an excellent example of the benefits of dramatic play.

Here are the children doing energetic interpretations of frogs!

Our next book was Harry’s Box by Angela McAllister.  Harry transforms an ordinary cardboard box into all manner of fantastic things, from a grocery store counter to an undersea cave.

Our last book was Isabella, Star of the Story by Jennifer Fosberry.  Isabella goes to the library and imagines she is the many different characters from the books she is planning to check out. As I was reading this book, an extraordinary thing happened. One of the children shouted out “Peter Pan,” when they saw the first character Isabella imagined herself to be. This led me to a whole different reading of the book. As Isabella became each new character I would ask the children to identify the character based on the illustrations. If they got stuck I would offer clues, but they knew almost all of them! The only one that really stumped them was Captain Nemo (my kids were young and they didn’t recognize this title, although one did know about the giant squid in Fosberry’s illustration!) Fosberry has written several Isabella books which not only have their roots in imagination but also present other meaningful themes as well.

Our craft today was especially imaginative. There was no prototype. Instead a variety of supplies such as construction paper, pipe cleaners, buttons, assorted die cuts and stickers were placed in the middle of the table and the children created whatever came to mind.

These are some of the items that the children could choose from to create their masterpieces.

Here they are having a blast coloring various animal die cuts and embellishing their creations with stickers and other assorted materials.

This craft further enhanced the theme of imagination.

Most importantly, a good time was had by all.

-Miss Jessica

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Sounds All Around

We had a good time learning and playing with all sorts of different sounds. Here, I am playing the classic song “Downtown” made famous by the English singer Petula Clark. I used a rhythm track with this one, so we got to learn what a Bassa Nova beat sounds like. I used this to accompany a book we shared entitled,

The Sounds Around Town by Carluccio.

In this book we get to experience all the everyday sounds we hear on a regular day in the city. There are many sounds for the children to imitate on each page in addition to the simple storyline. Naturally this made me think of Petula Clark’s song, “Downtown” because of the line “Just listen to the music of the traffic in the city”.

This song is perfect for children for two reasons: 1) The melody is so catchy, fun and  easy to learn 2) It repeats the word “Downtown” many times which gives them a good listening excercise.

Keep your ears open when you’re in the supermarket or other public places and you will hear this and many other pop songs that would be fun to introduce to your kids.

At one point we were hearing the buzzing of bubblebees! That little guy above was entranced in the story

Buzz by Eileen Spinelli

He was worried for Owl who was sleeping in the burning tree. But our hero, Buzz, the bumblebee was already flying to the rescue. Buzz learned that scientists think it’s impossible for a bumblee to fly, so he had a lot of self doubt for a while, but when he learned his friend was in danger, he forgot what others said about him and flew into the tree. YES! He can fly again!

We all buzzed right along with our hero, and afterwards we did a fingerplay together to show what good bees we are. (Click here for more info on fingerplays from a previous blog entry)

 Here you can see we were really into our beanbags. We were doing the Beanbag Hop. This is a dance that involves moving over and around your beanbags. As with many traditional American folk dances, there is a caller who calls out the moves, again helping the children practice listening and following directions in a fun toddler friendly way. There are many bean bag dances and songs on the cd, Me and My Bean Bag by the Learning Station

Here is a video example of one, though it’s not the one we used.

The remainder of our 50 minutes together was spent in part learning the sounds of ships in the harbor from the adventurous book, Toot and Pop ! by Sebastien Braun.

This story also opened the door to discuss how large instruments and things usually produce low and deep sounds, whereas small ones produce high sounds. We showed on the music house where low notes and high notes show up on written music.

We moved into our final act with some nursery rhymes and a rousing, non-pushy toddler version of Red Rover which has an easy melodic refrain we can also repeat as the game progresses. “Red Rover, Red Rover, send Davy right over”.

Once Davy moves over, we reinforce his self esteem by using the same melody but singing these words instead: “He made it, he made it, we knew that he could do it”

Our finale was our good-bye song, executed in typical fashion using our American Sign Language.

Hope to see you on the first and third Tuesdays. Clearwater Main Library 100 N. Osceola Street, Clearwater FL

Here is a link to our schedule. Look for Little Ones Music and Stories

-Mr. David

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It’s Winter! – Family Storytime

My first Family Storytime of 2014 and the theme was Winter. The opening song was “Snowflakes, Snowflakes” and it was sung to the tune of “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.”

Snowflakes Snowflakes

Sung to “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”

Snowflakes snowflakes dance around. Snowflakes snowflakes touch the ground. Snowflakes snowflakes in the air. Snowflakes snowflakes everywhere.

Our first book was Snowman Magic by Katherine Brown Tegen . It was the story of a young boy named George who built a snowman that came to life.

After the story, we built our own snowman to the rhyme “Hey, Mr. Snowman”. The idea was originally a Flannel board found in Children’s Programming Monthly Vol. 1/No. 4, but for this Storytime I modified it slightly. Our snowman was created out of poster board, and each of the pieces (hat, scarf, eyes etc.) out of felt. As we read the rhyme, the children came up and placed the parts of the snowman on the body.

This is the rhyme we read:

Hey, Mr. Snowman

I went walking Through a winter wonderland And spied a frosty snowman Who needed a hand. Hey, Mr. Snowman, what do you need? I need some eyes, put them on me please. Hey, Mr. Snowman, what do you see? I see an orange carrot. Put it on me please. Hey, Mr. Snowman, what do you see? I see a purple hat, put it on me please. Hey, Mr. Snowman, what do you see? I see some red licorice, put it on me please. Hey, Mr. Snowman, what do you see? I see some brown sticks, put them on me please. Hey, Mr. Snowman, what do you see? I see a green scarf, put it on me please. Hey, Mr. Snowman, what do you see? I see red mittens, put them on me please. Hey, Mr. Snowman, what do you see? I see yellow boots, put them on me please. (And our ending was cut off, so I adapted this line:) Hey, Mr. Snowman, what do you see? I see a snowman, happy as can be.

Our next book was Snow Friends by Christina M. Butler. This was an adorable book about a little bear cub, otter and rabbit who build a snowman to play with. It exemplified the ideas of friendship and working together. The children really loved the fact that the book was tactile, the snowman is glittery and had a textured feel to it. The best part was, they caught on before I even pointed it out! One little girl leaned forward to touch the snowman (I think the glitter caught her eye) and then the others did as well. Each time I turned a page the children would reach out and rub their fingers over the snowman.

Our last book was Sam the Snowman by Susan Winget. This is one of my favorite winter books. The illustrations are lush and full of movement. Also, the book demonstrates in a sincere and compassionate manner how friends can help when you’re trying to overcome a problem, and what the magic of giving truly means. It is a lovely, heartfelt story.

We did a snowman themed craft to round out Storytime. Each child was given a die cut snowman, a piece of blue construction paper and some cotton balls. They drew their own winter scenes.

 An excellent fingerplay that can be used with this theme is called “Five Little Snowflakes” from Library Storytime ABC’s. As this article from Michigan State University attests, fingerplays are a wonderful way to develop children’s motor and linguistic skills. The article also provides a very useful link to the Fingerplays and Songs for Child Care database.

We created our own winter right here in Florida!

- Miss Jessica

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Big/Small –Loud/Soft Lapsit

Some times at Let’s Grow Baby-Oh! lapsit we will follow a theme and this morning it was Big/Small, Loud/Soft.

Opening Song: Baby Hop from Diaper Gym followed by our welcome song.

Bounce: I Bounce You Here.  We introduced this new lap bounce. You can see a live version courtesy of the King County Library.

Book:  Maisy Big, Maisy Small by Lucy Cousins. We them brought out Big Bear and Small Bear and their respective beds. Will Big Bear fit into Small Bear’s bed?  Oh noo…

 Song: Wiggles and Giggles from Diaper Gym.

Nursery Rhyme: Where is Thumpkin? We followed that with Tommy Thumbs Up from Songs and Games for Toddlers by Bob McGrath.

Book: Big Little by Leslie Patricelli

Bounce: The Grand Old Duke of York found on Oh Baby! by Rainbow Songs.

Book: Sailor Boy Jig by Margaret Wise Brown. A fun rhyming story of a sailor who stamps, jumps and dances the jig in both big and little steps as well as loud and soft ones.

Song: Frere Jacque from Songs and Games for Toddlers. With our egg shakers we followed Bob McGrath in a exuberant version of Frere Jacque in which we shook our shakers softely to “are you sleeping?” and crazy loud to “morning bells are ringing.

Action Song: Circle Song from Diaper Gym. We always follow this with Ring Around the Rosie.

Closing Song: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

Ms. Mercedes

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Warm Things and Cold Things: A Study through Stories and Songs

This is a special storytime I put together each year when Florida has its annual cold week at the beginning of January. I like it chilly, but I really never cared for snow. SO if you are like me, this is the perfect way to enjoy snow and not get too cold.

We got started as usual by singing our “Let’s See Who’s Here Today” song and with our music lesson. We looked at how the notes go on the music house for “Baa Baa Black Sheep”. This is a common nursery rhyme, so it was a good choice for our music lesson. Most folks already know the words and so could concentrate on the melody. It’s amazing when you build these connections in the toddlers’ minds. You will see them using the knowledge and applying it to completely different subjects. It is very important for them to learn to connect abstract concepts with real life things in their world.

In Littles Ones Music and Stories we do this in a number of ways. One way is when we sing simple songs and then show on the board or in a songbook how the notes go up and down in the same way our voices do when we sing the melody. Look at the photo below and you will see our music house on the board. Middle C is right in the middle of dowstairs and upstairs. That is the note where we started “Baa Baa Black Sheep”.

Sometime after our music lesson we made more connections by doing some fingerplays. Fingerplays are nursery rhymes or short poems, usually rhyming, that incorporate hand movements that mimic what is happening in the words. In this particular one, we were connecting the word for toes with our actual toes. Here are some demonstrated from Reading Is Fundamental.

For more fingerplay information you can visit http://www.earlyliteracylearning.org.

In the title of this entry I did say “Warm things and cold things” didn’t I? Well, after talking about sheep from the nursery rhyme, we talked about warm clothing and wool. I wore my wool trousers that day so the little ones could feel the texture of wool, again, making a connection between the abstract and the solid.

We eventually decided a good game of follow the leader would be great fun. As you can see above, we got a good bit of exercise as well. This was connected to our reading of

Follow the Leader by Erica Silverman This book has many actions to perform within its pages and is wonderful all on its own.

We completed our activity to the soundttrack of “Following the Leader: which is from the Toddlerific CD. I included the link to the Pinellas County Library COOP Catalog so if you would like to get this wonderful CD it’s right at your fingertips. It can be delivered to any of the public libraries in the county.

From there we moved full on into the theme of “Warm Things and Cold Things”

We used another fingerplay/song, “The Frost Is on the Roof” to the tune of Farmer in the Dell.

THEN….we got to make actual snowballs using finely crushed ice.

To really get everyone in the mood, I played “Suzy Snowflake” on my keyboard and taught everyone the words for this one. It’s a classic. Click on the title and you can here it performed by Rosemary Clooney. To really enhance the whole experience, we got to watch a full-on snowstrom projected from our I-Pad onto the big screen. It was perfectly cold and warm at the same time.

The little ones were helping me with our feature story which is so wonderful.

Sneezy the Snowman by Maureen Wright

This is a fantastic story for toddlers as it has a repeating refrain, it is written in easy to recite rhymes and rhythms, and it has vibrant playful pictures.

The snowman in the story gets cold and then when the children share their warm clothing with him, he gets overzealous for the heat and melts through a variety of mishaps like drinking hot cocoa or sitting in a hot tub. Never fear though, with the children’s help he is “Made brand new” each time.

I was able to extend the story further into the realm of play. And our children that attended Little Ones here at the Main Library in Clearwater literally got to rebuild him over and over again…

In the last part of our time together we played together in a jingle bell band to the classic “Frosty the Snowman”. We had to warm up so we practiced our American Sign Language a bit whilst reciting the nursery rhyme “Hot Cross Buns”.

Our final story, Pip and Posy: The Little Puddle, brought us back to reality by addressing the very real incident in a toddlers life, an accidental pee pee puddle. There’s a link there for you to find this and other Pip and Posy books. The books in this series address many issues that kids may experience.

Above are the children listening to Pip and Posy.

Well I hope you all enjoyed the suggestions and the pictures ini this posting. Hope to see you back at Toddlers Music and Stories soon. We meet the first and third Tuesday of every month at Clearwater Main Library at 100 N. Osceola Avenue.

-Mr. David

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Vacation Panels-After School Art at the Main Library

On the first Monday of every month Miss Julie, the Youth Librarian at Countryside, will bring her After School Art program to the Main Library. Today we made a wonderfully fun craft Miss Julie called vacation panels. These were sheets of construction paper folded into fourths and decorated in all manner of creative ways by the children.

Begin by folding a piece of construction paper in half

Next, take both sides of the construction paper and fold them toward the middle.

What you now have is an accordion shape that you can decorate in any fantastic way you choose. Miss Julie brought a whole plethora of fun components, such as stickers, tissue paper and cotton balls for the children to choose from.  You could even cut out holes in the paper and glue pictures on so they would show through the cut outs. Here is an example of a vacation panel I assembled.

For this panel I chose pictures of a seashell, hibiscus, Christmas tree and dog (hidden behind a flap at the bottom). Each picture represented something I did over my Christmas vacation such as visiting the beach and decorating my tree.

The wonderful thing about this craft is the versatility. It can be used with magazine photos, family photos, or, as many of the children chose, hand drawn pictures. Also, the panels can be used to tell stories, talk about events that happened during vacations or special trips or to commemorate events such as birthdays.

As Miss Julie pointed out to everyone, once folded up, they fit perfectly in an envelope and can be mailed to family who live in another city or state.

The children took the initial idea and created many varied panels, each unique to them. A good time was had by all.

Miss Julie also does an After School craft every Tuesday at 4 pm at the Countryside branch. Below is the Vacation Panel craft at Countryside!

Please join us the first Monday of every month at the Main Library when Miss Julie and I will have more exciting and stimulating After School Art projects

-Miss Jessica

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10 Reasons Why You Should Go to Story Time

This great list is from the Library Adventure’s blog site written by Anne McKernan.

10. GET OUT OF THE HOUSE.

This is especially important for new parents.  Even infants get bored.  Swap the scenery, try something new. As the saying goes, ‘sometime a change is as good as a break.’ (I know we all really need a vacation, or at the very least a nap, but let’s take what we can get.)

9. Meet other grown-ups with young kids.

My son and I have both made friends through Story Time.  It’s win-win!  He gets to hang with kids and I get to talk to  grown-ups.

8. Library Literacy.

Many older kids have no idea how to navigate a library, find resources, ask for help, or even check out books. Budget cuts have meant that many schools have no library staff or curriculum. Early library exposure ensures kids will learn how to use the library -  a great FREE resource they can use throughout their lives.

7. Language Development.

From the minute they are born, babies are learning to connect meaning not only to sound, but also to symbols.  In other words, they are learning to talk and also how to read! The more language they are exposed to, the greater their chances of developing these skills.  Story Time is a great place to hear and see LOTS of fun, engaging language!

6. Phonological Awareness.

Ideally we all learn that words are made up of sounds. According to Mirian Trehearne, author of Comprehensive Literacy Resources for Kindergarten Teachers  “A student’s level of phonological awareness at the end of kindergarden is one of the strongest predictors of future reading success” (ERA Cuisenaire, 2003). Playing with language through songs and rhymes from Story Time is a fun way introduce this skill.

5. Phonetic Awareness.

Hopefully, kids learn that letters correspond to sounds and have meaning. Making learning fun makes learning easier!  (See #1).

4. Literacy and Pre-reading Skills.

When we are exposed to language in books we begin to learn that words rhyme, pictures have clues and word sounds can add meaning and richness to a story.  These skills are essential to learning how to read and are all reinforced at Story Time.

3. Your kids will learn how to handle books and you can avoid overdue fines!

I constantly hear that grownups are reluctant to check out children’s books for two reasons:  they are worried the books will be damaged, and, they are worried they will forget to return the books.

Teaching babies and toddlers how to care for books, turn pages and focus on the book can be taught if you take the time to share the library book together, just like we model at Story Time.  Make reading library books a supervised activity until your youngster learns to stop chewing and tearing books. Leave independent book exploration for age-appropriate books from your home collection.

A regular Story Time schedule can help busy grownups stay on top of library returns! In our house we have a basket where we keep our library books when we aren’t reading them. We take the basket to the library for Story Time so we remember to return our books.  Put the due date on your calendar or ask if your library offers email return reminders!

2. Instill a love of books and reading early on.

Kids have a better chance of becoming life-long readers when reading is associated with positive experiences from an early age.  Trust me, one day you will be thrilled your teenager enjoys reading.

This September, The University of London’s Institute of Education released a study showing that students ages 10-16 who read regularly for pleasure scored significantly higher on standardized tests than their peers who did not read for pleasure.  Children with caregivers who read to them regularly at the age of five, also did better on standardized tests when they turned 16, as compared to peers who had not had this experience at a young age.

Source

1. Story time is FUN!!

Singing silly songs, playing games and dancing is much more fun (and much less intimidating) when you are surrounded by other families enjoying literature with you.  Story Time can help you establish good daily reading habits, give you ideas for books, songs, rhymes and games. Most importantly, Story Time lets your kids see that YOU value books, libraries and reading!