Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Boxes and Balls

I was thinking that this one was fun and clever. I even brought in a new game, which the toddlers LOVED!!! It's called Ms. Real's BOX OF MYSTERY!!!!! Good fun stuff!!!

Opening Song: If You're Happy and You Know It from Favorite Children's Songs CD.


Book: Meeow and the Big Box by Sebastien Braun


Game: Ms. Real's BOX OF MYSTERY!!! (To the tune of This is the way we wash our hands)
There's something in my box today, box today, box today
There's something in my box today, it must be...

An animal who lives on a farm and says moo...
(I put 3-4 stuffed animals in my box - including an ALIEN!! They LOVED the alien!!)

Book: My Book Box by will Hillenbrand


Pretend: Pretended to have different size balls. Pretended to bounce them - small bounce, big bounce).

Book: Bear Play by Miela Ford


Interactive Playtime

Growing a garden

Outside the window of my story room, they are about to start building a garden. I thought it would be the perfect time to read a couple stories about flowers and veggie gardens!!

Opening Song: Shake My Sillies Out by Raffi

Book: My Garden by Kevin Henkes


Song: There's Something in My Garden (from SurLaLune Garden story time page)
There's something in my garden, now what can it be?
There's something in my garden that I can't really see.
Hear it's funny sound...ribbit ribbit
It must be a ....... FROG!!!

thump,thump
squeak, squeak



Book: What Does Bunny See? by Linda Sue Park



Pretend: Farmer plants a seed. (pretend to dig a hole, plant the seed, cover the seed, etc.)

Book: Lenny in the Garden by Ken Wilson-Max


Craft: Flower gardens
I passed out a white sheet of paper, crayons, and 4-5 flowers each. Then they got to be creative with their gardens!!


I'm excited to say that FMRNS is back!!!! We had taken a couple weeks off for various reasons, but we are back on track!! Now that Shoobie is over, we will have to figure out what else we can watch in addition to our movie!!

This week, we watched Coma, a mystery/thriller from 1978 with Michael Douglas, Genevieve Bujold, and Rip Torn. Fabulous, as always!!

And we are back to using Netflix!! I had cancelled my subscription for a while during the move, and just hadn't started back up again. But, the number of movies that the library has left is starting to dwindle. So, we had to look at getting Netflix again. Coma was the first in what is sure to be many movies!! We have a couple library movies lined up after this one, though... Guess we'll just have to catch up on our Project Runway!!!

Monday, August 22, 2011

Review: Dear Bully: 70 Authors Tell their Stories

It didn't take much for me to say yes to reading and reviewing the very timely compilation, Dear Bully: 70 Authors Tell their Stories. This book compiles the stories of 70 successful and brave authors as they tell young adults of their own struggles with being bullied, being the bully, or watching as others were bullied. Authors like R.L. Stine, Rachel Vail, Carolyn Mackler, Daniel Waters and Eric Luper all participate in sharing their stories.

I feel like I can't review this book without sharing some of my own story. I, too, was the subject of bullying when I was in elementary school. I had 3 strikes against me - I was fat, I had glasses, and I had braces. Not only was I four-eyed metal mouth, but the kids also yelled BOOM, BABA, BOOOM, BABA, and pretended they were in an earthquake as I ran during forced games of kickball on the playground.

I remember the day in the 4th grade that I, all of a sudden with no explanation, wasn't even good enough to sit at the same lunch table with. In my class of 20, in my tiny little school - if I sat down first, then they all sat at the other end of the table. It was horrible and I went home from school every day in tears.

I remember the girl who used to be my best friend calling me up after school one day and telling me that she can't be my friend at school because of the other kids, but she would throw me a bone and talk to me on the phone after school. I remember crying with relief and being willing to let that be enough.

High school was better. I stopped caring as much what all my classmates thought of me. We traveled to other towns a lot for sports (I was a cheerleader for basketball and football and volleyball player), and I started making friends in other towns. I wasn't terribly athletic, but going to those games and being able to make (REAL) friends really got me through those years.

Wow - all these memories. Funny, I'm Facebook friends with most of these people. I doubt they even remember the torment they put me through...

After reading this book, and also seeing all the news media about bullying, I just want to shake all the kids who are tormenting others, and cry for the kids who have to deal with it. I personally think that this book should be required reading for all kids in the 7th grade. I'd even be so bold as to say a compilation for younger kids should be written as well.

One of the main themes running through the stories is "it will get better." In my experience, that's true. You find new circles of friends (REAL friends) to hang out with. You stop caring as much what those bullys think of you. You become a stronger you.

There are also lots of resources listed at the end of this book so one has access to the help they need. For more information, please visit the Dear Bully website. And while the book doesn't actually come out until September 6th, please know that a portion of the book’s proceeds will go to STOMP Out Bullying, a national anti-bullying and cyber bullying program for kids and teens.

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Back to School

The latest installment of the story time saga dove deep into the world of Back to School. Some of my kiddo's were just about to start school, others have brothers and/or sisters who are going to school. I found some books that were perfect for this theme!!

Opening Song: Shake My Sillies Out by Raffi

Book:
Llama, Llama Misses Mama by Anna Dewdney


Song: Wheels on the Bus

Book: How do Dinosaurs Go to School? by Jane Yolen


Song: Alphabet Song and Count to 10

Book: Cornelius P. Mud, Are you Ready for School? by Barney Saltzberg


Craft: School Bus craft from Family Crafts at About.com


Unfortunately, FMRNS was put on hold for another week. It's been a busy summer, but we're going to be back on track soon!!!

Puppy filled Monday

My toddlers are just too cute. My numbers have grown so much - it's great to see the community coming out and participating in story time!!! This week, I found some great books for the little ones about dogs!!


Opening Song: If You're Happy and You Know It from Favorite Children's Songs CD.


Book: My Dog Rosie by Isabelle Harper and Barry Moser


Song: 5 Little Puppies

Book: Maggie's Ball by Lindsay Barrett George


Song: I'm a Little Teapot

Book: My Friend Lucky by David Milgrim

Interactive Playtime

Monky-licious Wednesday

I just can't resist some good monkey stories. A good friend recently did a monkey story time, and one of the books he read was AH-MA-ZING, so I just had to read it to my kids.

Opening Song: Shake My Sillies Out - Raffi

Book: Mo's Stinky Sweater by David Bedford

Song: 5 Little Monkeys (Jumping on the Bed)

Book: Altoona Baboona by Janie Bynum (AWESOME - LOVE the rhyming in this one)

Song: 1 Little, 2 Little, 3 Little Monkeys

Book: Kiki's Blankie by Janie Bynum

Craft: Pipe Cleaner Monkey from Busy Bee Kids Crafts



Unfortunately, this week we didn't have FMRNS, but never fear - I promise this will return!!!

Bear-ific Monday

Happy story time day!!! This toddler time was great!!! I am so excited that my numbers are growing!!! I used to average 6-8 for my toddler story time, and my average since we opened the new building is 27!!! WHOOOOT!!!! This time, we read some fun stories about bears!!

Opening Song: If You're Happy and You Know It from Favorite Children's Songs CD.


Book: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin, Jr

Song: Twinkle, Twinkle

Book:
I Love My Daddy by Sebastien Braun

Dance: Hokey Pokey (in hindsight, this probably wasn't the best choice for the little ones. I just needed to get them up and moving around, and this was the first thing that popped into my head)

Book: You Are My Sunshine by Caroline Jayne Church


Interactive Playtime

Cow day!!

This story time was super fun!! I found some fantastic cow books, and the kids just loved them!!!

Opening Song: Shake My Sillies Out - Raffi

Book:
Millie Waits for the Mail by Alexander Steffensmeier


Song: Old McDonald Had a Farm

Book: Too Many Pears by Jackie French and Bruce Whatley


Song: Cows on the Farm (to the tune of Wheels on the Bus)

Book: The Cow Loves Cookies - Karma Wilson

Craft: Paper Plate Cows from All Kids Network


And, of course, we have FMRNS!!!! The feature film was a very intense 2007 drama called Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, starring Anna Paquin, Aidan Quinn, and August Schellenberg.


Wednesday, August 3, 2011

It's a new day!

Well, I'm a little behind in my blogging, but I promise to get all caught up soon!!! I had a NEW! story time - my very first preschool story time in my brand new fabulous library!! WHOOOT!!!! It was super fun, and my numbers skyrocketed!! YAY!!!

Opening song: Shake My Sillies Out by Raffi

Book: Little Quack's New Friend by Lauren Thompson


Song: 5 Little Ducks

Book: Ned's New Home by Kevin Tseng


Song: Hokey Pokey

Book: Pete the Cat - I Love My White Shoes by Eric Litwin


Craft: Library Lion from DLTK-Kids. (Sorry - I totally forgot to take pictures!!! But, instead of the brush, I gave him a book to hold!!

Then, of course, it was FMRNS!!!! I've been slacking on keeping up with the list, so here are the movies we've been watching...

Stepmom from 1998 with Julia Roberts, Susan Sarandon and Ed Harris (Mmm, Ed Harris - he has delicious eyes!!)

The Garden, a documentary from 2008 about the Community Garden in South Central LA.

X-Men from 2000 with Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan.

In the Valley of Elah from 2007 with Tommy Lee Jones and Charlize Theron.

Innocent Blood from 1992 with Anne Parillaud and David Proval.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

And the winner is...

Again, I have to apologize for my lateness in announcing the winner of my Jane Was Here giveaway!!! To make up for it, I decided to randomly choose TWO winners!!! And now...

CONGRATULATIONS to...


Susan Audrey
Linda Limbach

I've sent y'all an email asking for your snail mail address. I'll get the books out to you as soon as I can!!!

Thanks to everyone who entered my giveaway, and thank you to all who have been reading my blog!!! I have a bunch of story time posts I need to catch up on, and a few more patron stories!!

Until then, enjoy AUGUST!!!!