Sunday, February 16, 2014

Storytimes and More Saturday Share: February 15, 2014


Hope everyone had a very



Let's continue the "heart-felt celebration" by sharing some super sweet shares this week!

~ Amazing Activities Shares ~

Lisa's afterschool gang is "tired of not being able to go outside after being stuck inside for over a week. Dang weather!" So they decided to do their own indoor soccer tournament! Lisa found a how-to post for a DIY Pom Pom Soccer Game and her kids have had a "super blast" with the game! In addition, Lisa has been able to include some incidental learning about the Winter Olympics. Yay for incidental learning opportunities!
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Ann has another awesome resource for all of us who are interested in a Storytime Yoga at our libraries. The link is to the yoga resources page on ALSC Matters! The resources include a list of books to read at storytime, print resources for planning a storytime, and web resources, too. I just want to mention that Ann has inspired a number of our readers! I have received several emails from moms and grandmothers who said they are sharing these Yoga Storytime resources with their own librarians ~ in hopes of having such an unusual program at their local libraries. These ladies asked me to pass on a huge "Thank you!" to Ann for all time she has been spending on researching and sharing this wonderfully helpful information. 
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Our Google Guru, Carrie, decided that if you can't beat the wintry, cold weather then why not include it in your learning activities? She googled "winter play for kids" and found this learning activity, Ice Ice Baby suncatchers, that is "quite beautiful and artistic as well as science-y, too". All you need is a few shallow containers, a few sparkly things, some yarn pieces, and some freezing weather ~ or a freezer, "if you are lucky enough to live where it is warmer".
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Another wintry weather idea is being shared this week by Pam. She and her boys decided to do a learning activity from Pam's past teaching experiences. While learning about where birds go in the Winter, they decided to make some Birdseed Ornaments. They are "quick, simple, and inexpensive to make but they provide hours of fun and learning as you watch for birds to stop by for a nibble".  Very cool!
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Claire made a fun discovery while looking for birthday party ideas for her friend who is planning a Candyland party for her soon-to-be 3 year old. Claire discovered that February 15th is National Gumdrop Day! How fun is that? She also discovered a blog post completely full of "deliciously sweet ideas" for her friend's party. Claire's favorite is the Licorice Limbo.
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When Claire first started looking for ideas, she contacted me and asked if my library had ever done a Candyland program before. We haven't done that particular program but we have done some fun candy activities for other programs. My favorite was the Gumdrop Dome science experiment ~ i love it because it includes gumdrops and books! The scientific question is ~ "Do you think gumdrops can support a stack of books?" Well, click on over to the Zoom section of the PBS.Org site for my share this week. Learn how you can conduct an experiment to find out!
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~ Creative Crafting Shares ~


Anne from The Library Adventure is back this week with with a plethora of crafting ideas! She mentioned that over the past few weeks she has seen a lot of requests for Storytime craft ideas so she has put together a list of "101 Story Time Crafts for ages 1-6". According to Anne, the listed crafts are "age-appropriate, easily adapted, food-free, washable, easy to prep, non-toxic, non-choking hazard, crafts that are not overly messy and cost very little!" Plus, she lists them by themes.
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Artsy Mommas is sharing a "Valentine's Day storytime theme-books and a recycle craft." All you need is some "painted cardboard and yarn". Looks like lots of fun!
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Cheryl, also known to us as JacksNana, brings us a creative recycling project this week that actually turns into a wonderful prop for pretend play! She is linking us to the Lightning McQueen Cardboard Car Tutorial (from one of her favorite sites ~ Green Acres Hobby Farm). The post is a step-by-step DIY project that cost the creator only $4.00 and a little time. Jack is so lucky to have such a fun Nana!
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On our "sister page" (see Fun Facebook Shares below for more information about the page), there was a link to a craft that is complimentary to one shared a few weeks ago. I thought many of you would be interested in How to Make Band Bracelet Charms. These are charms that can be added to the Rainbow Loom Bracelets which were shared in a past Storytimes and More Saturday Share . Most kids know what these bracelets are but I have not seen any of the charms in my area yet. I think my library friends will be very surprised and very excited to learn how to make these charms!
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~ Fun Facebook Shares ~

Looking for a good Facebook page to follow? Why not try our "Sister page" ~ Storytime Families and More? It is a community page that provides resources for parents and schools to "help promote early literacy inside the home and school".
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~ P-interesting Shares ~

One of our weekly contributors, Elena, is treating her first grade students to a fun book and art project that she came across on Pinterest. The book is I Ain't Gonna Paint No More by Karen Beaumont. This looks like a possibly messy but extremely creative and colorful art project. Just perfect to pair with this particular book! I know Elena's students are going to enjoy the book and the art!
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Here are a couple more of our Storytimes and More on the Go group members that you might want to follow:

Just click on the name and you will be taken to their Pinterest accounts. If you would like to have your account shared next week, please email me at storytimesabcs@gmail.com ~ be sure to put "Pinterestin the subject line so that I don't miss it

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~ Spectacular Storytime Shares ~

Chantelle is sharing a Storytime post from her "wonderful colleague David". It is a Pram Jam with David storytime and is "for the teeny tiny ones". The post includes two sweet touch and tickle rhymes along with a suggested "textured" book title.
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Jennifer from In Short, I Am Busy brings us a Valentine storytime that she "can live with" which according to her is really saying something since she "hate(s) holiday-themed storytimes". So for those of you who agree with Jennifer, be sure to click on over for a storytime that you just might be able to live with, too. By the way, it has a Cupcake flannelboard!
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Travis is back with a Feelings storytime them this week because she is "allergic to Skinnarinka's sweeetness". (I guess she agrees to some degree with Jennifer.) Due to her allergy, Travis made up her own Godzilla Version of Skinnarinka which includes a dinosaur puppet with a deep scary voice and a fairy with a squeaky little voice. As Travis says, "Just goes to show you can make anything work!"
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After years of tweaking (one of my own favorite things to do), Lisa at Thrive After Three is sharing her expertise on kids' book clubs in her post titled Rethinking Book Clubs for the School Age. I love the "tricks" she shares and, judging from the picture of her book club members, they are extremely successful!
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~ Terrific Twitter Shares

From Twitter this week, I am sharing a tweet from Shannon (@shann1189) because I was impressed with how some students extended the reading of a newer book, Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett. Here is the tweet ~ 

"@macbarnett @hcpslib K-2 Ss work together to take something ehhh and make it WOW #extrayarn #kidschangetheirworld "
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I quickly want to mention ~ for anyone not familiar with Twitter yet ~ @macbarnett is the Twitter account for the author of the mentioned book. You can actually make connections with this author and many. many other children's authors on Twitter which is something fun to share with your children or students or even your colleagues. By following these author accounts, you are also kept up-to-date on the latest news about their books. Plus it is fun to learn a little about them as they tweet everyday stuff! ;o)


~Wonderful Website Shares ~

Jennifer is bringing us a second share this week! She recommends that we all check out the website for the Cybil Awards to learn more about them. The 2013 Winners were announced on Friday!
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Mollie, one of our homeschooling Moms, confides that she is "not musically inclined and struggles with making sure that her homeschool curriculum (for her four children) includes some kind of music lessons." While exploring a popular homeschooling site, A2Z Homes Cool, she came across their section on Free Music Lessons for Kids. There are lots of links for things like lessons on Music and History or Learn an Instrument. For Mollie, this is a valuable resource and she "hopes it is useful to anyone else who struggles with sharing music with the children in their lives." She has found it to be "very helpful in her lesson planning".
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We have another homeschooling Mom joining us this week for the first time with another website share. A warm welcome to Brigit, the mom of very active twin boys whom she is homeschooling for their Kindergarten year. Brigit and her boys have been studying the Pioneer era and reading the Little House on the Prairie books together. As part of their hands-on learning style, they made homemade applesauce together by following the recipe on one of Brigit's favorite websites, The Pioneer Woman. What an awesome activity to pair with the Little House on the Prairie books! Brigit highly recommends that everyone "click around the whole site because there are all kinds of goodies on there. From recipes to articles on homeschooling to even crafting ideas!"
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Finally, this week I am replacing a past section ~ Yearnful Youtube Videos. {I hated that title anyway! ;o) } From now on, we will just have a video section since not all videos on the web are actually from Youtube anymore. So...drumroll please!

Here is our new section!

~Valuable Video Shares ~

or maybe it should be

~ Versatile Video Shares ~

or maybe

~ Vibrant Video Shares ~

Which should it be?!??!!??!

Why don't you guys vote?

Leave a comment below and let me know what our new section should be called.

In the meantime, I found a totally AWESOME video to share this week! It will surprise and delight you. It will make you want to laugh outloud and cry at the same time ~ if you are a silly goofball like me, that is.

Enjoy!


You can also find the video on Youtube 
but I wanted to link to the place where I first saw it. 
(I hope you will click on the link above.)


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