Spokane Interstate Fair Visit to the Library

 

Clover, the Highland Cow (calf)

Storytime--Cedar's Adventure

Big Blue Blocks and Dino Bones

Spooktacular Storytime!

A Halloween storytime and play event for preschool and early elementary students.

A few Halloween stories and a halloween magnet board (This is the House that is Haunted)

And lots of fun afterwards!

Catch and graph the spiders!

A Fall Wreath

Tube Halloween Friends

Disappearing Monsters

Outreach Storytime--Doris Morrison Learning Center

The Doris Morrison Learning Center had its Grand Opening on Saturday, April 22 - Earth Day!  The library was invited to have a booth and to do four (20 minute) storytimes each hour. 

Theme:  Outside!

Books

Outside, You Notice

by Erin Alladin, illustrated by Andrea Blinick

Let's Go Outside!

by Ben Lerwill, illustrated by Marina Ruiz

Look and Listen

by Dianne White, illustrated by Amy Schimler-Safford

Songs and Movement

I Can Walk on Two Feet

There's a Ladybug in the Air

Two Little Blackbirds

Magnet Board

There's Something in the Garden

Little Bird, Little Bird

Additional Titles

Would You Come Too?

by Liz Garton Scanlon, illustrated by Diana Sudyka

The Whole Wide World and Me

by Toni Yuly

Hello, Puddle!

by Anita Sanchez, illustrated by Luisa Uribe

The Looking Book

by P.K. Hallinan; illustrated by Patrice Barton

Sesame Street Storytimes

Our local PBS station received a grant to celebrate Sesame Street's 50th birthday in some our our rural communities.  I presented three storytimes at three different libraries on three different Saturdays in October.  We had one of three different Sesame Street characters come to our event:  Cookie Monster, Abby, and finishing up with a HUGE storytime--Elmo!
  
Books
(At each storytime I read two books--choosing from the following depending on the age of the children in attendance)

Elmo's Super-Duper Birthday

by Naomi Kleinberg; illustrated by Joe Mathieu

Love from Sesame Street

by Sesame Workshop

Abby

by Andrea Posner-Sanchez

Can You Tell Me How To Get To Sesame Street?

by Eleanor Hudson; illustrated by Joe Mathieu

Elmo's Book of Friends

by Naomi Kleinberg

Magnet Board Activities

One of These Things

One of these things is not like the other
One of these things just doesn't belong
Can you tell me which thing is not like the other
By the time I finish this song?

(I used random clipart from my other magnet board sets)

Find the Monster

Cookie Monster, Cookie Monster come out and play!
What color house are you in today?

Songs and Rhymes

Elmo is looking all around
Elmo can spin 'round and 'round
Elmos is looking at my toes
Elmo can kiss me on the nose
Elmo is whispering in my ear
What's he saying? Can you hear?
Elmo can hide behind me
But wherever I go, Elmo will find me!

Celebrating Sesame Street
(tune: Old MacDonald had a Farm)

Celebrating Sesame Street

Hip, hip, hip, hooray!

And at the party there were some games

Hip, hip, hip, hooray!

With a run-run here and a run-run there

Here a run, there a run

Everywhere a run-run

Celebrating Sesame Street

Hip, hip, hip, hooray!

And at the party there were some balloons

Pop-pop

And at the party there were some presents

Hip, hip, hip, hooray!

Rip-rip

And at the party there were some candles

Hip, hip, hip, hooray!

Blow

And at the party there was some cake

Hip, hip, hip, hooray!

Yum-yum

Celebrating Sesame Street

Hip, hip, hip, hooray!

Play and Learn

Duckies and Water

Cookie Matching Game

Decorate Party Hats!

Pin the Nose on Elmo

One of these things is not like the other...using Discovery Boxes from Lakeshore Learning

Grace Lin

On Thursday, August 8 we hosted the awesome author/illustrator Grace Lin for our Family Summer Reading Event!  Her presentation was awesome and my daughter was so excited to get her favorite book (Dumpling Days) signed by the author!

On the day of the event Grace was going to read aloud to our kids at Camp Read-A-Rama before lunch, however, her plane was delayed.  So I got the opportunity to read aloud from Grace Lin's books!  I have read all of her books so it was hard to choose but I finally decided to read a few of her Chinese Folklore stories.  Here is what I choose:

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon

The Story of the Old Man of the Moon

The Story of the Paper of Happiness

Starry River of the Sky

The Story of the Old Sage

When the Sea Turned to Silver

The Story of the Ginseng Boy

Children's Book Week

Children’s Book Week is May 1-7.  I know, for us doing stoytime every week is Children’s Book Week!  But it does give us a reason to celebrate the wonderful books out there with great stories, great illustrations, and a great way for adults and child to bond.

Children’s Book Week is an annual celebration of books for kids and teens.  It was launched in 1919 and is the longest-running national literacy initiative in the country. This year is its 98th anniversary.

In connection with Children’s Book Week they have a Children’s Choice Book Award through The Children’s Book Council!  I love looking at books that children have chosen as their favorites!  Although they start with K-2^nd many of the books are appropriate for storytime. Here are some from the past few years that I have used (or would be fun to use) in storytime.  

Don’t Wake Up the Tiger 

by Britta Teckentrup

Peep and Egg:  I’m Not Hatching

by Laura Gehl; illustrated by Joyce Wan

Monkey and Duck Quack Up!   

by Jennifer Hamburg; illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham

Found 

by Salina Yoon

The Pigeon Needs a Bath!

by Mo Willems

 You can find full lists on Children’s Book Council here.   

Celebrate Any Day at Storytime!

I got an awesome calendar for Christmas called “Every Day’s a Holiday”.  

It has been fun to explore all the weird, wacky, and unique holidays out there!  I’ve found that some of these “holidays” can easily translate into a fun, interactive storytime theme!

April 10th is Sibling Day so I’m putting together a storytime about brothers and sisters.

When was the last time you did a storytime featuring turtles?  Well, Turtle Day is May 23rd! 

There are lots of fun pirate picture books out there, so why not celebrate Talk Like a Pirate Day on September 19th?

Some holidays lend themselves to multiple possibilities such as Lost Sock Day on May 9th.  You could do a “Shoes and Socks” theme or a “Lost Items” theme.

And don’t forget all those yummy food “holidays”! 

  

January 27th is Chocolate Cake Day (Whopper Cake by Karma Wilson)

Watermelon Day is August 3rd (Watermelon Seed by Greg Pizzoli)

Cookie Day on December 4th (Mr. Cookie Baker by Monica Wellington).

Check out this website for lots of other interesting “holidays” you could celebrate!

What days will you be celebrating in storytime this year?