Monday, February 29, 2016

February Book Club

Just three of us this month.  I have been reading like crazy and had four books to share!

The War that Saved My Life
by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley


Ada was born with a club foot that her mother believes makes Ada “less than a person” and has physically and emotionally abused her while keeping her locked inside their one-room London apartment her entire life.  When WWII begins children in London are sent to live with families in small villages.  Here Ada has to confront her own fears and insecurities and learn to let others love and care for her and also to learn to accept herself as she is.


Reminded me of  Michelle Magorian’s 1981 Goodnight Mr. Tom.

NEED
by Joelle Charbonneau


What do you need?  What are you willing to do to fulfill that need?  Especially if you get what you need for free? 

Students at Nottawa High School are asked to join a social media site, made exclusively for them, called NEED.  This completely anonymous site allows students to ask for a need to be fulfilled, for free…with a few strings attached.  Like, invite 5 friends to join the site.  What an easy way to get a free brand new cell phone!  But as need requests continue coming in the actions required become more bizarre and questionable.  But if it doesn’t hurt them it’s no big deal, right?  Kaylee, our main character, tries to unravel the mystery of the NEED website, who’s behind it and why.

Goodbye Stranger
by Rebecca Stead


Newbery Award winner, Rebecca Stead, writes a realistic fiction book about middle school student, Bridge, short for Bridget, who survived a horrific accident and was told by a nurse, “You must be here on Earth for a reason!”  She ponders this as she and her friends start 7th grade.  This book is about growing up, loyalty, friendship, and family relationships.  She and her friends have to navigate new terrain when deciding what is and is not appropriate to text. 


This book is told mostly from Bridge’s point of view starting with the beginning of the school year, with short chapter written by her new friend, Sherm, in letter format to his grandpa, and chapters written in 2nd person—that take place on Valentine’s Day.  The book culminates on Valentine’s Day.

The Big Dark
by Rodman Philbrick


Remember the power outages from November’s wind storms?  Now multiple that many times over and you will have the scene of “The Big Dark”.  An extremely powerful solar flare disrupts the Earth’s magnetic field and all power shuts down—electricity, batteries, even magnets.   Cell phones don’t work, generators won’t start, cars don’t run, and airplanes fell from the sky.  The whole modern earth is without any of our modern conveniences.  Oh, and it’s WINTER!  Charlie and his mom and sister live in a small New Hampshire village and face trials beyond just the dark and cold including extreme neighbors and medical issues

Books my fellow children's librarians shared

Captain America: The First Avenger [and other Marvel superheroes] Novelizations
by Alex Irvine

The Nest
by Kenneth Oppeal

Forbidden
by Eve Bunting

Other Books that were mention

Scorpion Rules
by Erin Bow

The Testing Series
by Joelle Charbonneau

Spying on Miss Muller
by Eve Bunting

Carry On
by Rainbow Rowell

Thursday, February 25, 2016

30 Million Words

Internal blog post 

A few weeks ago, as I was “decompressing” after work, I followed a link on Facebook just for fun.  You may have seen it—“Mom delivers twins. 4 years later she looks at their faces and notices a STUNNING truth…”  It wasn’t about the babies being switched at birth or anything like that.  Instead it was a plea from one “ordinary” mother to another--children need to have their parents present instead of always being plugged in to a device.

Have you heard of the thirty million word gap?  Research has found that children in poorer households often hear fewer words spoken to them than children who live in more affluent homes.  Thirty million words fewer by the age of 3. 

Recently I have been reading a new book called “Thirty Million Words” by Dr. Dana Suskind.
Image result for thirty million words
It addresses the word gap but also expands the scope--the words spoken are not just about learning vocabulary or building a foundation for reading.  It is also about developing the whole child—validating their value as an individual, developing self-regulation, and acknowledging and exploring the child’s thoughts, ideas, and feelings.  Dr. Suskind explains this can be accomplished by doing three simple things:

·         Tune In
·         Talk More
·         Take Turns


What I love about this book is that it explains why early learning professionals need to teach and encourage the parents to do these things on a daily basis.  The gap will not, nor cannot, close without the daily influence of parents tuning in, talking more, and taking turns with their child. This is where the real difference is made—in engaging the parents to close the word gap by giving them the knowledge, skills, and desire to do so. 

Friday, February 19, 2016

Singing Baby Storytime

For the next several weeks we will be doing books that sing at our Baby Storytime!  I made a handout with information from NAEYC about the benefits of singing to babies.

We had several new babies this week!  AND we had three dads come!!  If we have one we're lucky, so to have three all in one day was amazing!  It was a large group, but it went well over all!

Song/Bounces/Rhymes

Clap, Clap, Clap Your Hands
Good Morning to You
Little Bear
When Cows Get Up in the Morning
Roly-Poly
Pat-a-Cake
Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star
Humpty Dumpty
Toast
If You're Happy and You Know It Parachute

Read {Sing} Aloud Book

The Babies on the Bus
by Karen Katz

Shared Reading {Singing}
A variety of board books based on songs including:

The Bear Went Over the Mountain
by Rosemary Wells

Knees and Toes
(Rookie Toddler)

Play and Learn
Babies and parents had a fun time playing.  With such a large group I am actually glad I didn't try a special activity today.  I think many of them would have stayed longer if we didn't have to vacate the room for tax aid!

Friday, February 12, 2016

One More Baby Love Storytime

Last week was going to be my last "baby love" storytime, but then the book "A Kiss Like This" came in and decided, since it is just before Valentine's Day, we'd do one more lovey storytime!

Songs/Rhymes/Bounces

Words for most of these can be found here

Clap, Clap, Clap Your Hands
Good Morning to You
Little Bear
Jingle Bells
Roly-Poly
Itsy-Bitsy Spider
Pat-a-Cake
Hey Diddle, Diddle
Pease Porridge Hot

Toast
Scarf Song
Tickle the Clouds

Read Aloud Book

A Kiss Like This
by Mary Murphy

Shared Reading

A variety of board books about love between parent and baby including:

Mommies and Their Babies 
by Guido Van Genechten

My Mom is the Best Circus
by Luciana Navarro Powell


Play and Learn
I haven't done anything "special" for our play and learn for a while.  I guess it's time to find something new and fun!

Thursday, February 11, 2016

Baby Love Storytime

I came across an adorable new book to share at my Baby Storytime!  It's fit the "theme" from the past several weeks about loving relationships.  This one is from the point of view of an older sibling.

Song/Rhymes/Bounces

Words for most of these can be found here

Clap, Clap, Clap Your Hands
Good Morning to You
Little Bear
Jingle Bells
Roly-Poly
Wheels on the Bus
(verses: wheels; babies--go bumpity bump; horn--goes beep, beep, beep (touch baby's nose on each "beep"); mommies--say "I love you!"; wheels)

Hickory Dickory Dock
Hey Diddle, Diddle
Toast

Tickle the Clouds
Read Aloud Book

I Love You Baby
by Giles Andreae; illustrated by Emma Dodd


Shared Reading

A variety of board books about loving baby including

I Love You More
by Sebastien Braun

You Are My Baby: Meadow
by Lorena Siminovich

Play and Learn
Now that tax season is here we have to hurry right out of the room so AARP Tax Aid can get in to set up.  It was kind of sad having everyone gone by 11:30!

Saturday, February 6, 2016

Hugs and Kisses Storytime

Since I will not be doing storytime next week (Valentine's Day) I decided to do my "love" storytime a week early (actually this storytime is appropriate for any time of the year!)

Books

Hugless Douglas
by David Melling

No More Kissing!
by Emma Chichester Clark

Songs

H-E-A-R-T
(tune: Bingo)

There is a shape that I can make that shows that I love you
H-E-A-R-T
H-E-A-R-T
H-E-A-R-T
A heart shows that I love you!

In my experience I have found that children are more successful when letters are taken from the end of the word.  Give it try sometime!

There is a shape that I can make that shows that I love you
H-E-A-R-(clap)
H-E-A-R-(clap)
H-E-A-R-(clap)
A heart shows that I love you!

There is a shape that I can make that shows that I love you
H-E-A-(clap)-(clap)
H-E-A-(clap)-(clap)
H-E-A-(clap)-(clap)
A heart shows that I love you!

There is a shape that I can make that shows that I love you
H-E-(clap)-(clap)-(clap)
H-E-(clap)-(clap)-(clap)
H-E-(clap)-(clap)-(clap)
A heart shows that I love you!

There is a shape that I can make that shows that I love you
H-(clap)-(clap)-(clap)-(clap)
H-(clap)-(clap)-(clap)-(clap)
H-(clap)-(clap)-(clap)-(clap)
A heart shows that I love you!

There is a shape that I can make that shows that I love you
(clap)-(clap)-(clap)-(clap)-(clap)
(clap)-(clap)-(clap)-(clap)-(clap)
(clap)-(clap)-(clap)-(clap)-(clap)
A heart shows that I love you!

If You're Happy and You Know It

Clap your hands
Stomp your feet
Shout "Hooray!"
Do all three

Play and Learn

I did this storytime twice.  Once with a large group and the next with a smaller group.  I tailored my activities for each group.

Large Group

Beads on a pipe cleaner
To shape into a heart or make into a bracelet.

Small Group

Conversation Heart Sort and Count

Both Groups

Heart Matching
Play and Learn toys such as: Train, wooden beads, blocks