LAST Week at the Library

Sorry! I'm late posting about last week's Storytimes. Can I blame it on the weather? Sure, why not!

Preschool Storytime

We learned about Eric Carle last week. He's a perfect author to introduce the idea to kids that certain authors have certain types of books. His books have similar colors, identifiable styles of illustrations, even the same sun shows up in almost every book. His books all teach the children something, and his "Very" books, as I like to call them, each have something unusual about them, like holes in the pages, texture you can feel, lights or sound, as well as a sentence that can be repeated. Most of his books have beautiful end pages too. There are so many wonderful titles to choose from, but the ones I picked were:

'>The Very Hungry Caterpillar, which most of the children were familiar with. "But he was still hungry!" In this book we learn the days of the week, counting to five, and that a caterpillar turns into a butterfly.
'>The Very Busy Spider, which gives us the opportunity to make lots of farm animal noises and repeat "The spider didn't answer. She was very busy spinning her web." We learn the names and sounds of farm animals, and how a spider spins a web. Plus we get to feel the web on each page.
'>From Head to Toe. Here we learn the names of cool animals, and we get to name and move our body parts like them. Our repeating sentence is "I can do it."
'>Rooster's Off to See the World. This one again shows counting up to five, and then back down again. It also teaches a simple lesson of planning ahead!
'>The Mixed Up Chameleon. Chameleon thinks he's not as cool as the animals at the zoo. He wishes he could be like them, but finds when his wish comes true that he's all mixed up and can't eat his dinner. I asked the kids "What did this book teach you?" One girl answered, "That you should be the way you are." Perfect!

Toddler Time

Wow! Small groups lately! Maybe you've been afraid it would be too hot in the Community Room, but actually, when it's hot enough outside for the building's air conditioning to come on it's quite pleasant inside. The problem is when it's cool outside, but sunny. Then it's a greenhouse.

Our books were:

Opposites, by Robert Crowther. I love this book! The moving parts are fascinating, and it manages to hold the kids' attention an amazingly long time.
Slop Goes the Soup, by Pamela Duncan Edwards. Let's see if we can get the kids to say "onomatopoeia." Slop, whoosh, clatter, rattle, swish. Great words!

Baby Time

Our next to the last time with a pair of adorable twin boys who are moving away! And again we're finding connections between relatives and friends. We had fun with finger puppets, a lift-the-flap book, bubbles, Looby Loo, and toys. Bring your friends!