This Week at the Library

First - There will be no Toddler Time or Baby Time on Thursday, February 10. I'm sorry I wasn't able to announce it last Thursday. If anyone reading this post knows someone who attends on Thursdays, please let them know.

Baby Time

Wow! Our group is growing! 20 babies, plus some siblings and grandparents along for the ride. We had such a good time singing and bouncing our babies. After the guided portion, everyone had a great time visiting and letting the little ones explore the toys and each other.

Toddler Time

We sang "I'm Bringing Home a Baby Bumblebee" this week, and for some reason, more than any other time, the kids thought it was hysterically funny when we said "Ew, it's yucky!" and then noticed the squished up bumblebee on our clothes. A few of them just laughed and laughed. (Sorry, PETA) Check the labels for "Baby Bumblebee" on the right to see all the verses we sing.

We read:

Two Bear Cubs, by Ann Jonas. Besides the actual story, the children enjoy trying to find Mother Bear on each page, and knowing that she's always watching her cubs, even if they don't see her.

No Biting!, by Karen Katz. Biting, hitting, kicking, pushing, all are powerful things for a toddler. This book channels that desire in a positive direction. Feel like hitting? Hit a drum! Feel like kicking? Kick a ball!

Preschool Storytime

"Colors" is one of my favorite themes. I have a fantastic book by Ruth Heller called Color that I love to bring in. I don't read the text, but I show them the transparent layered pages that show how only four colors, yellow, cyan blue, magenta and black, make up all the color they see in the illustrations. It never fails to elicit "Show me that again!"

I also love the "science experiment" we do for this theme. I bring in four clear plastic cups of water and mix food coloring into three of them - red, yellow and blue. Then we do some pouring back and forth to create orange, green, purple and brown. I recommended they do the same in their bath water. It really is fun, and I promise if you use regular food coloring, it won't dye their skin!

We also read:

The Blue Balloon, by Mick Inkpen. Fold out pages make this book extra fun. We even learned to say "indestructible."

White is for Blueberry, by George Shannon. Once they "got" this book, they had fun trying to figure it out before I turned the page. They loved it.

Lemons are Not Red, by Laura Vaccaro Seeger. Cut-out pages and the silliness of blue grass hold the attention in this one.

Winnie the Witch, by Valerie Thomas. Winnie can't see her black cat in her black house, but hates making her cat unhappy when she turns him multi-colored. So she leaves her cat black and changes her house! One insightful child noticed that this showed how much Winnie loves her cat.

We also sang the "Colors" song off the Wee Sing Games CD.

This Week at the Library

First of all, I have to tell you my incredibly exciting news! Scholastic Professional is going to publish my book! And Then...Cliffhanger Stories to Ignite the Imagination has been under development for about four or five years, percolating through my brain and going through several incarnations. I submitted it to Scholastic as a professional resource book in January and got a phone call yesterday that they were interested. I spoke to an editor this morning and it all looks good! No contract signed yet, but I'm very encouraged! Say a prayer for me!

Back to Library news:

Baby Time

What a nice big group we had today! Lots of regulars, a few newcomers, and adorable babies from seven weeks old to one year. The main topic of discussion today seemed to be sleep habits. I guess my main bit of advice is "This too shall pass." Whatever phase they're in right now, they won't be in a little while. I don't know of too many five-year-olds who still wake Mommy up every couple of hours.

Toddler Time

I'm beginning to see a pattern with the children who have graduated from Baby Time to Toddler Time. Most little ones who start coming when they're about 14 months old spend several weeks just watching and adjusting before they're ready to dive in and participate. The ones who started with Baby Time and then graduated to Toddler Time seem ready to get in there right away. They're doing the hand clapping and Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes like old pros right off the bat. So cool!

Our stories this week were:

How Do I Put It On?, by Shigeo Watanabe. They loved the ridiculousness of the images of the bear putting his cap on his foot or his shoes on his ears.

Spots, Feathers and Curly Tails, by Nancy Tafuri. I wish you could have seen their proud faces when they guessed right which animal was in the picture.

Preschool Storytime

Our theme for the week was "Mothers" in honor of Mother's Day.

Just For You, by Mercer Mayer. Little Critter has such a hard time doing his mom a favor!

A Mother for Choco, by Keiko Kasza. Choco discovers a true mother is one who acts like one, not just one who looks like one.

Love You Forever, by Robert Munsch. I read recently how some adults hate this story and think it's creepy. They obviously don't understand Robert Munsch's writing. It's meant to be silly, and I don't think the mom crawling across her grown son's bedroom floor and rocking him in the middle of the night is supposed to be taken seriously. I mean really! That needs to be separated from the touching "moral of the story," that a mom (or a dad) is a mom forever, and your child is your child forever, no matter how many years pass. And yes, one mom admitted that she wiped a tear away at the end of that book.

Only My Mom and Me, by Alissa Capucilli. The fold out pages really hold the kids' attention, as well as guessing which season comes next.

Is Your Mama a Llama?, by Deborah Guarino. We talked about rhyming words to help us guess the name of the animal with this Big Book.

We sang the Baby Bumblebee song:

I'm bringing home a baby bumblebee.

Won't my mommy be so proud of me.

I'm bringing home a baby bumblebee.

Ouch! He stung me!

I'm squishing up the baby bumblebee.

Won't my mommy be so proud of me.

I'm squishing up the baby bumblebee.

Ew! It's yucky!

I'm wiping off the baby bumblebee.

Won't my mommy be so proud of me.

I'm wiping off the baby bumblebee.

There! That's better!