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 "Pinterest" in the subject line so that I don't miss it

 .
~ 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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Monday, February 10, 2014

Storytimes and More Saturday Share: February 8, 2014

***My sincere apologies for the lateness of this Saturday Share post. 
The internet was not cooperating around my house this weekend...


HAPPY 
(almost) 
Valentine's 
Day!

This week's Storytime's and More Saturday Share is chock full of wonderful Valentines ideas, as well as lots of book-related happenings that are exciting and fun to read about! 

While pulling together all the shares, I was reminded of this book by Amy Krouse Rosenthal:


Each share has the potential to become something bigger ~ something so much more ~ as it becomes a part of each of us ~ as we all tweak it in our own way to share with those around us.  I love that! And I hope you do, too! 

So... once again, I have to give a tremendous "Thank you!" to everyone who took the time to share this week.  YOU are the ones who have made this adventure such a success and so much fun to be a part of each weekend!

From one little kiss... endless bliss!

Enjoy!


~ Amazing Activities Shares ~

Carrie, our Google-ing Guru, has a new share! She enjoys giving healthy, but fun items to her little friends on holidays so she Google-ed "healthy Valentine snacks" and found this blog post, How to: Healthy Valentine Treats to Give Away, which shares 7 ~ yes, 7! ~ healthy and inexpensive ideas. Carrie especially likes the "Let's Stick Together, Valentine!" one since cheese sticks are one of her favorite snacks!
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Pam, a former preschool teacher who is now a stay-at-home mom, is sharing a learning activity that involves most ~if not all ~ of our senses. It is Painting with Flower Petals! Pam found the activity on the blog, Fantastic Fun and Learning, but she used to do this activity with her 5 year olds when they were studying a 5 senses unit. Pam always brought in pots of several different kinds of flowers. Then she and her students "used their eyes to describe the flowers before picking them; their sense of touch as they crushed the petals to paint with them; their nose to smell the different scents when they crushed them against the paper; and most of the children even tasted the edible ones!" Sounds like a very interactive learning activity with lots of opportunity for unusual explorations!
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JacksNana recently started playing Tic-Tac-Toe with her grandson, Jack, who can't get enough of the game. Imagine her delight when she came across a blog post about making an XOXO Valentine Tic-Tac-Toe game! She immediately started making plans with her husband to create a similar game for Jack. They hope to have theirs ready for a lively game of Tic-Tac-Toe when Jack arrives at their house on Valentine's Day. How fun! I look forward to hearing about Jack's surprise over such a special gift!
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 Travis is sharing a creative way to catch the attention of the toddlers in her Baby Storytime. She says, "I reach into my storytime apron and pull out a pitch pipe bell with a striker. The kids are mesmerized by the sound of the clear bell when I strike it, and we all sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. It's the only thing I've found that stops everyone in the room. I envy you ukelele players!"
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For my share, I am presenting a Blast from the Past with some H-E-A-R-T-felt Songs. A Blast from the Past is just an old post from some time ago but it still has lots of fun Valentine songs that were very easy to flannel-ize. The felt sets are very versatile and can be used for many different learning activities. Enjoy!
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~ Creative Crafting Shares ~

Elena, a first grade teacher, is back again this week to share an unusual Valentine craft idea that she got from another first grade teacher's blog, First Grade Learning Stars. Elena mentioned that she loves the idea that each heart is BIG and that each student makes one for another student so they all have a beautiful, one-of-a-kind poster to take home for Valentine's Day.                                                           What a fun idea!
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A warm "welcome back" to Molly, a homeschooling mom of 4. This week, Molly is also sharing an idea for Valentine's Day learning and crafting fun ~ "I Feel Love When...". While this is a craft, Molly mentioned that she actually chose it for "the focus on learning about love and good character".  As the mom of four young children, Molly is always searching for age-appropriate ways to teach about good character and she feels that this craft/activity is perfect for the lesson and for the crafting fun.
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~ Fun Facebook Shares ~

From our Facebook group ~ which you can find at Storytimes and More On the Go ~ we have a resource share by Sara. She shared a link to a new children's book award, the CLEL Bell Picture Book Award, which is "an annual recognition of five high-quality picture books that provide excellent support of early literacy development in young children." The 2014 Winners were announced on February 5, 2014. Be sure to check them out!
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~ P-interesting Shares ~

Lisa's share this week is another unusual Valentine craft that she came across on Pinterest. It is a String Art Heart! Lisa is planning to make this creative art project with her afterschool group on Friday because it is a smaller, older group. She usually has 5 to 6 kids who are 4th and 5th graders. She feels that they will be able to handle the nails with a little extra supervision.  Plus they love doing "totally rad" crafts!
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 I hope Lisa will share her group's experience with us because I love this idea!
But I need a little bit more courage to try it with a group of youngsters.

Claire, Mom to Zoe, brings us another pin from Pinterest. Her daughter, Zoe, has so much fun last week learning about groundhogs that she asked to learn more about other hibernating animals. Here is Zoe and Mom's adorable Pinterest find ~ a hibernating bear cave! 
"And it is portable, too!"
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This week's list of Pinterest Accounts to follow:










Donna's library ~ Kenosha Public Library ~ http://www.pinterest.com/mykpl/



Chantelle's Library ~ Cockburn Library ~ http://www.pinterest.com/cockburnlibrary/







~ Spectacular Storytime Shares ~

One of our group members ~ Thrive Thursday ~ has a wonderful monthly round-up of school age programming ideas on her blog, Thrive After Three. Her Thrive Thursday Round-up of cool ideas is very similar to our Saturday Share posts in that there is a wide variety of ideas shared by many different people. It is a wonderful resource for anyone looking for program ideas for older kids!
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Be sure to join in on the next Thrive Thursday Round-up 
with your own school age program ideas!

Last week, Ann, provided us with a helpful resource for starting a Yoga Storytime. While continuing her research on this new programming style, she came across an on-line article, Classroom Yoga Helps Improve Behavior of Kids with Autism, which she found interesting. She highly recommends that you read through the comments for "a more interesting discussion" on a topic that she herself was "unaware of being so controversial in nature."
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Even though Anne's storytimes got cancelled this week due to Winter Storm Nika, she turned her plans into "a suggestion to try some of these ideas at home". On her blog, itsybitsymom, she shared her plans for an Olympic-themed storytime which includes several book suggestions and some fun ideas for "events" that will allow you to have some sporting fun at home or at your library program. 
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Sara from the blog, Bryce Don't Play, is sharing her second grade outreach program ~ Robots vs. Aiens! Sounds exciting, doesn't it? I know my 4 boys would have loved this type of introduction to the Library in second grade. 
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We have a new friend sharing with us for the first time this week. A warm welcome to kjoshi1242! She is sharing a "Winter storytime featuring Snowballs and The Mitten, and shaving cream and glue puffy paint." What a fun combination!
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Carrie from The Lion is a Bookworm is back again this week with her storytime ~ O is for Olympics. I love seeing the similarities and the differences in all of these awesome Olympic-themed programs! Carrie has several active things like marching and a snowball ring toss. I will certainly be "stealing" some of these fantastic ideas for my own upcoming Olympic events!
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Also sharing a storytime is Chantelle from Kids @ Cockburn Libraries. Chantelle's theme this week was Silly with an elephant or two thrown in for some good fun!



~ Terrific Twitter Shares ~

Kelsey (@LibraryBonanza), one of our Twitter followers, shared this tweet:
"Fairy tales can be a great way to talk about tough issues. I present The Ugly Duckling during storytime: http://librarybonanza.wordpress.com/2014/01/23/the-ugly-duckling/http://"
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I would like to share a tweet from one the people that I follow on Twitter ~ @MrsBTodd. 
She tweeted, "USA #Flannel Map, worth the work! #tlchat#edchat http://lessordinarylibrarian.blogspot.com/2014/02/labor-of-love.html" 
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Beautiful!
I would LOVE to have a felt map like this one for my library friends to explore and play with!

This week's list of Twitter Accounts to follow:
(Just click on the name to be taken to the person's account.) 
Remember  ~ before following someone on Twitter, it is always best to read through some of their tweets.)

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~ Wonderful Website Shares ~

Missy is sharing an article for getting older children involved in volunteer work. She feels that "volunteering should be a major part of everyone's life because it brings with it such beautiful feelings of accomplishment and joy." She recently started looking for volunteer opportunities for her own family and came across the Care.com website and this particle article, 6 Tips For Getting Your Kids to Volunteer. She especially found the last 3 suggestions helpful with her own children. "Volunteering is a good thing!"
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Jennifer, of Jean Little Library fame, has "a new blog series - RA RA READ". It is the reader's advisory and read-alikes that she distributes to her staff every week. This should be helpful to anyone who has ever wondered what book to read after finshing a Rick Riordan book or what books are there that would be good to recommend to a child who likes the Animal Ark series. I am definitely bookmarking this new resource and I recommend that you do, too!
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***If you enjoyed this share post, I hope you will consider joining in the sharing fun on Saturdays in the near future. The more people who share, the more resources we will all be aware of!


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