Lincoln Book Buzz

The session started pretty small, with about 5 kids there at 3:00. I began with Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek, (Hopkinson and Hendrix) This is a pretty long story-- and it's a bit confusing because the narrator "breaks the fourth wall" and asks questions directly of the reader. I was a bit worried if the younger kids would understand what was going on. I edited out a bit of those types of details just in case. The gist of the story is that, as legend has it, Abe's childhood friend Austin once saved him from drowning, and Abe remembered him for the rest of his life. One of the kids happened to be named Austin, and was pretty chuffed to know that "his name" had rescued the President. I was happy that everyone really paid attention and seemed to definitely enjoy a complex story. We talked a little about what it means to be a friend, which was very sweet.
Then-- on to the chocolate...
Thanks to Gus at the grocery on OP Ave., I was finally able to come up with milk cartons for the log cabin craft. The kids LOVED it, and it was actually less messy than I had feared. There were two helpful moms who helped me wrangle, and Jenny helped too. (thanks Jenny!)
I decided to forgo the Abe Lincoln beard /hat craft today. The cabins took longer than I thought they would, and when I tried out the craft yesterday I found it more appropriate for older kids with more developed small motor skills. I'm going to think about how we might market this craft to older kids around President's Day.... any thoughts?
In any case-- I'm proud to say I survived my first Book Buzz!

Wednesday Two's

I started with my surefire hit, Walking in the Jungle, which is one of our big books. The kids love the suspense and the sound effects and I really ham it up with dramatic play. We put on our pretend jungle hats, bug spray, sunscreen, boots, and take nets and binoculars and I repeat the refrain so everyone joins in the fun. Next, I read Pip & Squeak, which is rather bland. I tried it twice and while the pictures are great, the kids just didn't get into the text. Annie's Chair was fantastic and when both Annie and the dog are crying the kids are riveted. Both dog books--Desmond the Dog and Hunky Dory Ate It were popular and I matched up the fingerplay, "Rags the Dog" while we pretended to be puppies. The "Milkshake Song" always rocks and I passed out the egg shakers for it. The Wiggleworms version of "Row Your Boat" is my absolute favorite, and I introduce music time by playing the harmonica--THAT gets everyone's attention instantly! The flannel 5 little snowmen was a hit, and 2 more snow rhymes "Snow Angels" and "I'm a Little Snowman" rounded out the weird dog-snow hybrid theme. If you want me to demo the rhymes, let me know. Overall it was a great session.

Babies

My first ever Baby storytime. I started with Come along and Sing with me. I like that one as an opener. A couple babies from ones were also in babies. I had a baby doll in my lap and a couple of babies loved that, they were right up in front. Again, I could have had these memorized better but I felt I had them in my head better than with the ones. I did a face rhyme from Japan and there was actually a woman there from Japan and she had a big smile on her face.

Wonderful One's

Well ,my first foray into baby land. Help! I liked the beginning songs I did - Up, Down, Turn Around and Higgelty Piggelty Bumblebee. The rhymes went quicker than I thought, kids wandering around taking the ducks off the flannel board for Five Little Ducks, parents leaving me singing all alone or very quietly singing. I read "The Baby Goes Beep" and "Big Fat Hen" we did Ring Around the Rosie and ended with The More We Get Together. They did sing that one. I felt I could have done a better job at memorizing the rhymes. It's a hard age I think. One little boy loved the Jack in the Box. After they played with the balls & blocks I had Paul helping and I named the colors of the balls as he put them in emphasizing they were IN the box and that was cute. Some one on one time.

PJ storytime 1/12

I was very excited / a little nervous about doing the winter pajama storytime, but I think tonight went really well overwell. However, I was a little shocked when, during the middle of Dinosaur Vs. Bedtime a little girl got up and asked her dad if they could go to Blockbuster to rent a movie, and he said yes, and they left. I mean I was roaring like crazy, kid!

Other than that, I was very surprised that the children were riveted by The Napping House, especially when everyone starts to wake up. Once the flea bit the mouse, I looked at a little boy, and he actually said with genuine excitement, "What's gonna happen next?" Loved it! Also, I was again surprised by the absolute focus and quiet while I read Goodnight Moon. Either they were sleepy or mesmerized by the book. I also read How do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight? and did the 5 little snowmen felt board story which was really fun. I had a decent turnout for a snowy night (11/7) and while the kids weren't super vocal, they were still interested.

Royal Reading "Knight"

Last Thursday evening I had the pleasure of doing a special storytime for Longfellow school's Royal Family Reading "Knight". It was a blast. I was amazed at the turn-out-- especially for a cold, snowy night. I estimated at least 150, if not 200 people were in attendance, most in royal attire. (Kudos to school librarian Sharon Pearce!) Parents and kids spent about 15 minutes at three separate "stations" which included a skit in the auditorium, quiet reading in the library, and my storytime in the "pod." I wore my "Fancy Nancy" crown, and read Princess Penelope (Todd Mack) which was a huge hit. The kids were very enthusiastic and yelled along to the "I am a PRINCESS!" refrain. My other book was de Paola's The Knight and the Dragon. I encouraged the kids to explain out loud what was happening in the wordless parts of the book. They were very well-behaved and took turns describing the action, although one boy threw me for a loop when he claimed that the jousting scene "probably looked a lot like the fighting going on in Iraq." (!)
Needless to say we moved on to the BBQ scene hastily!
All in all, it was a very positive outreach experience...

Monday Twos

My Monday 9:30 ST kids really did have a case of the Monday Blues. There was no singing along, no attempts at finger movements, no facial expressions or reactions of any kind to what I was reading. Of course, then I really ramped it up. Even the stickers and turtle kisses fell flat. Luckily, I had a 10:30 ST to try and regain a bit of self-esteem.

This session was packed and also had several older siblings in it which is always good to get things rolling. The energy was great. Snowbaby Could Not Sleep, in particular, was solid, and they enjoyed my new flannel snowman face that I made to go along with "Two Little Eyes." Yes, I'm back in love with my twos--at least my 10:30 twos.

One love

I'm happy to have a storytime break, but I think having this long stretch of storytimes really helped me to build relationships with my Wonderful Ones. The last few weeks have been particularly joyful as the kids seem to light up with recognition at some of the routine activities we do.



Liam learned how to point to his cheeks and Sadie through up her arms and shouted Hooray during If You're Happy and You Know It, Braden and Michael gently rocked their stuffies during Rock a Bye Your Bear, and Cameron made sure everyone cleaned up and brought the box to me. Most of my Ones would smile big, when I would say their name during Hickledy Pickledy Bumblebee, and moms, dads and tots seemed to perk up whenever we did Open them Shut them.



If you've done Ones before, you know how the littlest thing is worth celebrating. They start off so deadpan, that you're sure that everything you're doing is just wrong and you're the worst storyteller ever. So when they start to imititate Where is Thumbkin by putting their whole hand up and trying to make their fingers move one at a time, it's immensely gratifying. Twos have always been my favorite, but now I love my Ones.