The Week at the Library

First off, I want to remember the people of Haiti. While we enjoyed a wonderful time with our children at the library, many Haitian parents were mourning their children, or children were trying to understand that their parents were gone. I encourage you to contribute to a relief organization. I recommend Medical Teams International, based in Tigard, and you can make a contribution here.

Preschool Storytime

This week our stories were about "Rocks." That subject brought some looks of "okaaaay" from the kids, but actually there are some really fun stories out there. I started off with the Aesop's fable "The Crow and the Jug" in which a thirsty crow figures out he can reach the water in a jug by dropping stones into it to raise the water level. The moral of the story, is "Where there's a will, there's a way." You've probably heard that before, but now you know where it came from!

The only book I read was Lizard's Home, by George Shannon. Lizard figures out how to trick the nasty snake into giving up his favorite rock.

We also looked at some pretty rocks and especially enjoyed the state rock of Oregon - the geode, also known by it's much more fun name "Thunder Egg."

I told two stories on the flannelboard. The Stone in the Road is an old fable about a king with lazy, selfish subjects. Anansi and the Moss Covered Rock is an African folk tale. I love telling this story! The kids always laugh and try to remember the "magic words" so they can go KPOM! There are many Anansi trickster stories, but this particular retelling and the storyprops come from Eric Kimmel's book.

Toddler Time

Our new 9:30 Tuesday time was a little bigger this week. There's lots of room there for those of you feeling squeezed at the other times!

I read From Head to Toe, by Eric Carle. We love getting up and moving while we read this book. Also How Many Bugs in a Box by David A. Carter. That one is a huge hit!

Baby Time

Lots of babies this week! I'm excited about a new support service being offered by the Washington County library system. They will be sending sets of Baby Board Books at my request so we can discover more great books for our littlest ones. When I set up the Baby Time program, the budget was pretty slim, so we have only a few titles for me to use. Now there are dozens for us to explore!