Happy Easter... Cat?

Six eager young children participated in story hour this morning. We began with our usual sticker sign-in and then used our weather cards to post the morning's conditions on our bulletin board. Once again we took a trip up the stairs to see/feel the weather.

 We then moved into our story time [not all children are in the picture as some chose to sit by a parent]. We had a lot of fun listening and predicting as we read from the book, Here Comes the Easter Cat by Deborah Underwood. We also discussed emotions as shown by Cat's face. There were several moments of laughter as the kids made predictions [or gave silly responses to my queries] and we especially laughed when Fletcher said he would like a "hairball" as a gift from Cat!

Notice that we even had bunny ears worn to Story Hour today!

I stopped about two thirds into the book, and that brought about some shocked looks, but I assured the children we would return to the story after we worked on our project. We then started our Easter Bunny bags.

Today's project involved cutting six ovals, and the children were instructed to do some of the cutting on their own before an adult could assist. Surprisingly, most of them did all the cutting with limited help, and I can see progress in that skill. Good job, girls and boy! There was also a choice to be made today of whether to use a glue stick or bottled glue. Most chose the sticks, but a couple worked with bottled glue even though they didn't like it on their fingers. But everyone worked very hard!

We then returned to Here Comes the Easter Cat by Deborah Underwood, and found out that while Cat was very jealous of the Easter Bunny in the beginning things change as the story progresses and Cat becomes a helpful fellow. This book did have a very unusual ending though. Be sure to come to the library and check it out so you can find out all about Cat.

Our final stages of the project involved letting the children use a paper punch to punch out  a few parts for the bag bunny and also drawing on their own whiskers and mouth. As you can see below, Lauren's bunny [and all the others] turned out to be very cute.

Then came the really fun part! The Easter Bunny had left a basket of eggs for us, and the children got to count out the white chips they had earned for participation today and pick an egg out of the basket for each chip... and then a couple extras. [Thank you, Friends of the Library for being such a great Easter Bunny!]  Then I also had purchased several items to add to their bags. As one mom said, "I don't think the Easter Bunny needs to stop at our house this year!".  [I don't think the child agreed!]

Remember next week's theme is baby animals. And please leave a comment on our blog.

Happy Easter!

Children's Librarian,

Mitzi Manthey

Spring Rain [Would Have Been Nice Today!]

This morning four eager youngsters participated in Story Hour. Madelyn even came all decked out in a raincoat with a hood and her cute rain boots. Fletcher had his boots on also. I advanced our weather study by giving each child a pack of picture cards with related words at the bottom so they may begin to associate weather symbols with words. We first played a recognition game where I held up one of my cards and they had to find the matching one as we talked about that symbol. I then went to the weather board and asked them to find a card that told us about today's weather. As there was confusion over whether or not it was raining we decided to go outside and take a look [no windows in our basement room].  That was a good experience as the children could really look at the clouds and they also discovered it was still rather chilly outside.

We then hurried back downstairs to our room and we promptly produced correct cards to complete our  weather board. I also started another new idea to encourage children to participate; each time a correct answer was given, or full participation took place in an activity, the child received a token which their adult was allowed to hold onto for them. At the end of the morning we counted our tokens and they were redeemed for a small prize.

Our first book of the morning was Splish! Splash! : A Book About Rain by Josepha Sherman. 

I used selected pages of this book and the children learned how rain forms in the clouds, we discussed what rain does for the Earth, what sort of puddles it causes [I learned that some of the children don't like mud because it sticks to their shoes and hands [?] and is difficult to wash off!], and that all the water we use for baths/showers, cooking and to drink comes from rain. It was a bit difficult for them to figure out what rain does for the trees and flowers, but after some very quizzical looks I think some of them got the concept.

Next came the beginning steps of our project. On a blue sheet of construction paper we glued cotton balls that we gently pulled apart [another learning experience for some as they first tended to pull too hard and pulled the balls completely apart] to form clouds.  They were very cute once the children got the idea. We also glued on a cupcake paper umbrella with a pipe cleaner stem.

Fortunately I had a bucket of soapy water for those little gluey fingers!

Then came another book. This one was titled It's Raining! by Nadia Higgins.

Again I used just selected pages. It reviewed some of the concepts from the first book [had a great illustration of small droplets coming together and then falling as raindrops] and also added some new concepts, such as leaving a picnic because of rain, a thundercloud, and then reviewed a concept from our St. Pat's Day lesson by talking about a rainbow. The children remembered that quite well!

I then brought out some instruments and we made "rain music" with sandpaper blocks and maracas. We learned to rub the blocks in small circles and to gently shake the maracas side to side to create a rain sound. One of my children became quite enthused with the maracas and nearly clobbered another... so we had to refresh the idea of gently side to side.  But no one was hurt and it gave the adults a chuckle.
With our rain band accompanying us we used the tune of "London Bridge is Falling Down" and sang about the rain. The maraca players even became good at doing a "drip, drip, plop" rhythm at the end of the lines.  We then traded instruments, so everyone got to play the blocks and the maracas, and sang it again.

Lastly we finished our pictures by drawing ourselves [a bit of a challenge for some, but good fine motor skills development] by our umbrellas and then dipping our finger into some pearly blue paint and touching it to the paper to form raindrops. Two of the children chose to leave their pictures for the classroom bulletin board, but the other two wanted to share with someone at home.

After counting our earned chips they were turned in for prizes and then the children were given their "homework": a coloring sheet with a cute, smiling raindrop and another with a little child under an umbrella with falling raindrops.

Next week we will pursue the theme of Easter. Please bring anything that relates to that theme.

If you are reading the blog, please leave us a comment. Thanks!

Children's Librarian,
Mitzi Manthey

Meow!

After the toys were put away this morning, we had a visitor enter our room. Library Director, Cassandra Lull, brought in her three year old kitty, Shaye, a very small and friendly tortoise-colored female. Although Shaye preferred to check out the room, she did allow all the children to pet her. [To be safe I had asked each adult if their child was allergic to cats before having the cat come to the room.]

After Shaye was taken upstairs we discussed our weather board. Again, I was impressed with the children's awareness of the weather conditions. Besides receiving a sticker during our morning sign-in the children also had a cat paw print stamped on the back of their hand.

We then went to the craft table to make a kitty puppet that we could use during today's Story Hour. I am also noticing how much more of the cutting and gluing the children are now able to do by themselves.

Once all pieces were cut out and glued to the craft stick, along with a pipe cleaner tail that the adults help staple to the stick, we had a cute kitty puppet that was really more orange in color than the picture shows.

We then gathered on the carpet to talk about things cats do. We discussed the sounds they make and used our puppets to "meow" and "purr" and "sniff" about as cats do. We then went back to our tune from last week, "The Wheels on the Bus", and sang it as: "The cat in the house goes: meow, meow, meow...". We also sang it with "purr" and "sniff". Even my shy children are now participating.

The book we read today was So, What's It Like to Be a Cat? by Karla Kuskin. 

A little boy interviews a cat and asks him questions about why a cat is as he is. The book also gave us opportunities to use our puppets to do some acting, as well as times to discuss cats' behaviors. [Notice Madelyn's cute cat hat, it has a kitty face on the top, and matching jacket in the picture above.]

Our morning ended by talking about the letter "C" and how it is almost a circle that must be made by starting at the top. In the photo above you can see the letter "C" on the chalkboard. I printed the word "cat" with that and stated that "cat" starts with a "C". Our last activity was a sheet where we could trace letter "c" and then we took that sheet and a drawing of an adult cat and one of a kitten home to color.

If you join us next week, please bring items related to rain. Maybe a picture of someone playing in the rain, something special you wear when it rains, a photo of a rainstorm, or anything that relates to rain. I hope you join us next week. ;>}

If you are reading our blog, please leave us a comment.

Children's Librarian

Mitzi Manthey

Pigs, Pigs, Pigs!

In spite of the rather dreary spring morning, four children came to Story Hour. We started with the usual routine and the children could tell me it was Spring and had the weather "spot on" for this morning. We skipped our usual Wiggle Song and went right into a book about real pigs. Bryce brought a cute little, soft,  pink pig for us to look at. Thanks for sharing, Bryce!

Animals on the Farm Pigs by Wendy Strobel Dieker. 

From this book we learned that pigs can be pink and other colors too. They also have strong snouts [with nostrils] that help them snort and dig. Pigs like mud because it helps keep them cool. If you want to know about pigs' floppy ears and curly tails just look for this book.

Then we went to the craft table to paint our paper plate pig faces. The children are getting quite good at handling a brush and paint, but it was good that we had a tub of soapy water for clean-up! While they dried we learned and sang a pig song to the tune of "The Wheels on the Bus", but in this version the "Pigs on the farm go, oink, oink, oink; all the day long". In the following verses they go "Snort, snort, snort" and "Roll in the mud". Everyone seemed to enjoy the song.

Next I read the book Happy Pig Day by Mo Willems. 

Happy Pig Day by Mo Willems

In the story Pig is so happy to be celebrating "PIG DAY!", but his friend, Gerald the Elephant, becomes very sad because he is not a pig and doesn't look like one!  You need to check out this cute book to see how the story ends. It was a good book that even tied in to our piggy song, so we ended up singing a verse of that again.

Then we went back to the table and finished putting our pink pigs together. We used lots of cutting and gluing skills this morning, and we had to practice patience as we held things in place while the glue set.

Our guest, Ellie, happily shows off her finished pig [which has the piggy song glued to its backside.

Children's Librarian
Mitzi Manthey

Spring Is Coming!

Story Hour began in the usual manner, and we were happy to have our new member Victor join us this morning. The children are now getting to know each other a bit and are beginning to share toys during playtime. We are still working on left and right in our Wiggle Song.

At the weather board we finally got to take down Winter and put up Spring! One of my little girls quickly informed me that it is still cold! We discussed how seasons change slowly, but that we can watch for some changes. So we sat on our carpet and I shared pictures of baby animals that may soon be born and we discussed their names. Our morning laugh came when I asked for the name of a baby cow and received a chorus of "moos". We then learned a new word... calf! They also had trouble recognizing the calf as it was a reddish color. I guess we still have a lot of those black and white Holsteins in Wisconsin! The other animal baby that was unfamiliar was a colt. We will do more with baby animals in late April.

Instead of one book, we read parts of books this morning:

Our first one was First Comes Spring by Anne Rockwell. 

We only read the first 6 pages, but pages 5-6 had a great picture of activities that take place in spring and I had the children tell me about things they noticed were happening. They couldn't figure out what Mamma Bear was doing to the windows. Oh, how I wish I didn't know that Spring meant washing windows! But they did remember the rainbow in the sky from last week's discussion because someone thought it had a treasure with it!

Spring Thaw by Steven Schnur

Then we discussed some of the pictures from a beautifully illustrated book titled Spring Thaw by Steven Schnur. There were melting puddles, a raccoon coming out of his winter sleep, baby lambs cuddled up together while sleeping and a wonderful picture of a warm, golden sunset.

Next we went to our snowman board and discussed how the snowmen were now going to melt and what would be left if they did that. This was a rather difficult topic for the children, but once we got started they could pick out things that would be on the ground [a couple still kept thinking the snowballs would be there, probably because there is still snow on the ground around us].

Our project for the day was to create our own "melted snowman". I provided the children with a "puddle" and as they told me [sometimes with hints] what might be left we glued the pieces to the puddle. I am so pleased to notice how much better the children are getting at using the glue sticks. Most of them now do very well on their own.

Lauren and Sadie were happy to show you how their melted snowmen turned out.

Spring Snowman a story adapted by Jill Barnes and written and illustrated by Fusako Ishinabe

The morning ended with my telling them the basic story of Spring Snowman a story adapted by Jill Barnes and written and illustrated by Fusako Ishinabe. It is about a cute little snowman and his six animal friends who plan to tell him all about Spring, but can't find him. They finally discover that a patch of flowers in the shape of a snowman has grown where he used to stand.

If you come to Story Hour next week, and I hope you will join us, please bring anything with you that is pig related [pictures, a toy pig, a pig book, etc.]

Children's Librarian,

Mitzi Manthey

Leprechauns and Shamrocks!

After playtime we started the morning with our Wiggle Song using our left and right feet and arms. The children did much better this week. Then we moved over to the weather board and they also knew today's weather. One asked "Why is it still winter?", and everyone seemed to want to know the answer to that!

Instead of starting with a book today, I talked about symbols of St. Pat's Day. We had a large leprechaun hanging on our chalkboard that the children thought was a "clown". I told them a few things about tricky leprechauns and we talked about rainbows, pots of gold and shamrocks. 

Next we put together a four piece leprechaun puzzle and glued it to a sheet of yellow paper. Then we flipped the sheet over [a new concept for most of the children] and used 3 hearts to create a shamrock on the back.

Now it was time for a story! We read Good Luck! A St. Patrick's Day Story by Joan Holub. 

 

The children enjoyed following the chase for the green ant and guessing if he'd ever get caught. The clues along the way allowed us to again discuss St. Pat's Day symbols. The children also had fun finding other things that they recognized in the pictures.

We then got to play St. Pat's Bingo! A good game for recognition of the symbols we'd been discussing and learning to recognize a completed straight row and shout, "BINGO!".  There were also lots of prizes that were won.

As I turned to walk away from the table I noticed that a leprechaun must have visited while we were busy and he put a treasure box at the end of our rainbow. When I opened it there was no gold, but there were foil-wrapped chocolate coins to for everyone. What a "sweet" end to the morning!

It's All About Feet!

March is Dr. Seuss' birthday month.  So in honor of Dr. Seuss the Cat in the Hat paid us a visit today. The children and adults enjoyed some playtime before we started Story Hour. I even got asked to play for a few minutes! I am so proud of the way everyone picks up and puts away the toys when the bells jingle.

We began by talking about March's winter weather. The kids tried to trick me and tell me it was snowing outside, but then they giggled and decided it was sunny, but cold and still winter.

I had a lot of Dr. Seuss books on display and some of the children recognized them as ones they have at home or have "read".

We read:

The Foot Book by Dr. Seuss

The Cat in the Hat [better known as Mitzi] read Dr. Seuss' The Foot Book. We had so much to share as we read the book. We talked about the many colors of feet in the book. We worked on the concept of left and right. This was sort of tough; so it's a good one to keep talking about at home. We counted feet and found one page had 24 feet! We found out feet go many places and come in many different sizes and shapes. We also did some actions to go with the book as it was read such as kicking high, lifting our left leg, and stomping our right foot.

Our first activity was to select a colored paper and trace and cut out a left foot and label it with an "L", then we did the same with a right foot using different color of paper. We then took those feet and our adult helped us match our feet to them on the floor.

After a bit of practice we did the Wiggle Song using our left and right feet.

We ended our morning with a foot worksheet. I would ask the children to point to a certain foot on the sheet and then find its match. I would then ask them to color those two with a specific color. The children did very well at choosing red, blue, green, orange and purple, and I gave them a brown crayon for the final pairing of the horse feet.

Everyone left with a reminder to practice left foot and right foot, and they took home a sheet to color featuring the Cat in the Hat. Lots of polite "thank you's" and even a couple hugs ended the hour.