Storytime: Opposites

I'm currently doing a 2s Storytime at one library, and a 3-5 Storytime at another. So in order to maintain some sanity, I'm trying to pick one theme for both each week and adapt it for the different ages. Some of my 2s are REALLY little and some of my 5s are already in school.

Opposites is a favorite theme for 2s because there are so many options. In and out of things, day/night, open ans shut, up and down.

Books:

 Stanley's Opposites by William Bee
Outdoor Opposites by Brenda Williams, et al.
Stop, Go, Yes, No! by Mike Twohy
A Garden of Opposites by Nancy Davis
Up! Tall! and High! by Ethan Long 
Octopus Opposites by Stella Blackstone




Songs/Fingerplays:

'Great A, Little a, Bouncing B'
Itsy Bitsy Spider
This is Big

'Roly Poly'

Roly poly, roly poly, Up, up, up! Up, up, up!
Roly, roly poly, Roly, roly poly, Down, down, down. Down, down, down.
(Repeat with in/out, fast/slow)

Flannelboard:

You can find many games on Pinterest that work for this - just print, cut and laminate and then match during storytime. Search Pinterest for "opposites puzzle".

2s Activity:
In and Out of the Barn
I found this fun activity left by a previous librarian, but I don't know where she found it so I will describe as best I can. Print out a bunch of farm animals - we also have a tractor (one for each storytime kid). Use tape or whatever you have to mark off an area in the storytime room - that will be 'the barn'. Tape works best because the first time I tried it I used a hula hoop and they kept wanting to pick it up, duh!) In storytime, pass out one animal (laminate!) to each child. Then sing "The Farmer in the Dell" but with the words changed to:
"The pig is in the barn, the pig is in the barn, hi-ho the derry-o the pig is in the barn" and use that for each animal. Have the child with that animal stand in the 'barn' area during their part of the song. Now, not all 2s will actually do that, so we had fun also singing "the pig is out of the barn..." "the dog has returned to the barn", etc.

3-5s Craft:
I didn't end up doing this theme with the 3-5s because the way the calendar fell, but I think any craft with a paper door for "open/close" would work well. I automatically thought of one I've done before with a dog on a ice cream stick that you push up through a slot in a bathtub, "in/out". Alternatively, a chick hatching from an egg would work too!

Storytime: Big, Bigger, Biggest!

I'm currently doing a 2s Storytime at one library, and a 3-5 Storytime at another. So in order to maintain some sanity, I'm trying to pick one theme for both each week and adapt it for the different ages. Some of my 2s are REALLY little and some of my 5s are already in school.

I wasn't sure how much of this concept my 2s would understand. As usual, the barely-2s had a hard time even with 'big and little' and the almost-3s had a way better grasp. So I just tailored it as best I could!

Books:

Big, Bigger, Biggest! by Nancy Coffelt
Bigger! Bigger! by Leslie Patricelli
Big Box Little Box by Caryl Hart
I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean by Kevin Sherry
Up! Tall! and High! by Ethan Long 

Songs/Fingerplays:

'I'm a Little Pumpkin' (to the tune of I'm a Little Teapot)
'Great A, Little a, Bouncing B'
Itsy Bitsy Spider

'I Love to Row in My Big, Blue Boat'

I love to row in my big blue bloat, my big blue boat, my big blue boat, (show 'big' with your arms)

I love to row in my big blue boat, out on the deep blue sea. (make waves for 'sea')

My big blue boat has two red sails, two red sails, two red sails,

My big blue boat has two red sails, out on the deep blue sea. (make a triangle with arms for sails)

So come for a ride on my big blue boat, my big blue boat, my big blue boat,

Come for a ride on my big blue boat, out on the deep blue sea.

Flannelboard:

We have a pseudo-flannelboard set for I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean that I used. You can find nicer flannel ones on Pinterest - ours is just the animals on paper with velcro. It's nice b/c there's enough of the animals for each child to add one to the board as you read the story.

2s Activity:
I found this free farm printable at Buggy and Buddy and adapted it to make 1 large and 1 small barn. I also made large and small animals and laminated them all. I taped the barns to red buckets and had the children find the animals around the room. Then were then to place the animal in the appropriate bucket - large or small. It sort of worked!
Free Farm Printable

3-5s Craft:
I used the same printable for the older kids. Instead, we attached the animals to Popsicle sticks, colored the barn (and animals) then made a slit in the hay window (print the barns on cardstock). The kids had their own little play set!

Storytime: Clothes

I'm currently doing a 2s Storytime at one library, and a 3-5 Storytime at another. So in order to maintain some sanity, I'm trying to pick one theme for both each week and adapt it for the different ages. Some of my 2s are REALLY little and some of my 5s are already in school.

I often do a 'clothes' storytime in Winter, when we can talk about LOTS of different clothes and hats, etc. But I came across the book My New Shoes by Leilani Sparrow and thought it was so adorable for my 2s that it warranted a Fall clothes storytime. Plus, the weather in New England has been crazy! 80 degrees one day and 50 degrees the next. And to be honest, what kid do you know that doesn't like to show you their shoes???

Books:

My New Shoes by Leilani Sparrow
Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes by James Dean & Eric Litwin
Vegetables in Underwear by Jared Chapman
Whose Hat Is That? by Anita Bijsterbosch

for the 2s I added these as options:

Maggie and Michael Get Dressed by Denise Fleming
Who's Under That Hat?: a lift-the-flap pop-up adventure by David A. Carter

Songs/Fingerplays:

'Grandma's Glasses'
'I'm Going to Take A Sweater' (found on Storytime Katie)
'If Your Clothes Have Any Red'

(No idea where this is from but I found in a file at one of my libraries from a previous librarian. The 2s thought it was great!)

'Baby Shoes'

(use your hands to cup together very small for baby, then larger and larger til your arms are huge)

Baby Shoes

Children Shoes

Mama Shoes

Daddy Shoes

HUGE shoes!!!

2s Activity:
We have different giant articles of clothing laminated and velcro'd for the felt board so we talked about which ones you could wear on that day. You can also sing 'I'm Going to Take A Sweater' as you use the pieces.
We also used our scarves and danced with them to a few songs on the 'Scarves' playlist.

3-5s Craft:
Since it's fall in New England I figured what better to make than a hat for a scarecrow? I used a FREE scarecrow hat pattern from Teachers Pay Teachers to make this:

Saying Bye to Summer

I can't say we are totally sad to see summer go. It was a bit of a rough one here at RML. Between the road work for the new grocery store in town, and the paving of our driveway, I think some of our patrons decided to avoid the center of town altogether! But we did have some highlights:

MS. PATTY'S MUSICAL EXTRAVAGANZA!

Working with the summer reading theme of music, Ms. Patty offered some fun ukulele classes that were so popular, she had to add more sessions of lessons! We now have a bunch of ukulele's available for checkout that go out with the case and a lesson book - donated by the Friends of RML. Try one out!

NEW COMPUTERS!

While the upgrade was a little inconvenient for a week or so, the new computers we have are worth it! Not only are they shiny and new, but it's much easier for patrons to scan and print documents, and they are faster!

TIME TO WEED
The only good thing about the times we were closed or slow was that it gave the staff time to weed a lot of materials that weren't circulating or in bad condition. While it can be a sad process, getting great new titles is the reward! Here are some of the fun, new non-fiction titles we've recently acquired:

ROCK STAR READERS

Our latest statistics show that circulation of children's materials has been up! That's evident by the families that we saw week after week, checking out their stacks of books to prevent the 'summer slide'. We had an awesome group of kids participate in the Summer Reading Program by completing our Challenges and attending programs like Lunch Bunch with Ms. Nancy, Juggler Bryson Lang at the Blish Park pavilion (co-sponsored by Marlborough Park & Rec), Food Explorers, and our kick-off Dance Party with DJ Red Supreme!

TRAVELING ROCK STARS

After a few patrons requested it, we brought back our traveling friends in the form of cave people this summer. Six friends, including Bruno Marbles and Katy Quarry had some fun adventures around the state, country and world this summer.

TERRIFIC TEENS!

We had a HUGE increase in the number of teens taking part in Summer Reading this year. We also had great fun at Teen Trivia Night and were treated to a performance by local group Modern Riffs, which features some teen patrons and brought out many of their friends to the show! Also shown are our Teen and Elementary winners of our Harry Potter 20th Anniversary Party Essay Contest!

Libraries Will ROCK this Summer

Our formal storytimes have ended and we are in summer planning mode! (There is still plenty going on, however. Bedtime Stories in May and Lunch Bunch in June! Neither require registration.) 

This year, the Summer Reading theme is Libraries Rock!

We are still preparing our programs but here's something to get you in the spirit! These two blog posts were written by Rebecca Scotka, the Child/YA Librarian at the East Lyme Public Library, for the ALSC (Association for Library Services to Children) blog. They talk about the connection between books and music and how inspirational the both can be.

If you have any great ideas for programs you'd like to see at the Library, for children, teens or adults, please contact us through the emails listed on this website or call 860-295-6210. 

Libraries Rock, Part 1 – Musicians

Libraries Rock, Part 2 – Authors

Take Your Child to the Library Day!

Saturday, February 3 is take Your Child to the Library Day! I can't believe it's the 7th year we've been participating in this great event. Not familiar with it? Here's the press release basics:

Public Libraries Across Connecticut Celebrate Take Your Child to the Library Day

with Free Family Events

 

On Saturday, February 3, 2018, public libraries throughout Connecticut and beyond will celebrate the seventh annual Take Your Child to the Library Day with free events and activities for children and families. 

Launched in Connecticut in 2012,Take Your Child to the Library Day has blossomed into an international celebration with nearly 1,000 participating libraries from 49 states and 5 countries. The brain child of retired Waterford children’s librarian Nadine Lipman, the event was developed to spotlight libraries as vital community resources that enrich, educate and entertain - and to encourage families everywhere to take their children to their local libraries. 

Children’s book illustrator/author Nancy Elizabeth Wallace of Branford created the event’s now iconic artwork showing a family of bunnies heading to the library. The statewide nonprofit Connecticut Library Consortium, which coordinates the event, reports that nearly every town in Connecticut hosted free activities for families during last year’s celebration.

So be sure to stop by the Library (almost any library!) with your kiddos and enjoy some fun events. We've got a scavenger hunt all day, a raffle to win 2 tickets to see Mr. Popper's Penguins at the Jorgensen Auditorium (and see real penguins with a before-the-show bonus!) plus a storytime/craft with MaryJo Maichack at 11am titled "The Lengend of the Silver Pinecone" - registration requested.

Great Gift Books to Inspire Creativity

Of course we at RML are always pushing kids to read more and find a balance with their screen time, but we also love to encourage them to be CREATIVE. In our preschool storytimes all the way up to our programs for teens, we love to give kids creative ideas that they can expand on at home - whether they are crafts, imaginary play, or ideas from our STEAM programs - legos, building, experiments, etc.

2017 Gingerbrary!

So alongside the gifts of warm clothes and toys this season, remember to take some time to inspire and encourage CREATIVITY in your children and teens! Here are some great gift ideas:

All Ages:

 Preschoolers:
Check out the Tinkerlab website for tons of great things from it's creator Rachelle Doorley, including this hands-on book. Board books by Herve Tullet just OOZE imagination, and one of my all-time faves for inspiration is Lunchtime for a Purple Snake by Harriet Ziefert! Of course there's also Beautiful Oops! DePaola's The Art Lesson, all of Lois Ehlert's books and....

  

Elementary:
Depending on what your child is interested in (this month!) you can find a creative companion book for it. Drawing books are always great at this age, but there's also paper airplanes, sewing, photography...etc!

 Teens:
Chances are that teens already know (and have no problem telling you) what they like and want. But sometimes they don't speak and don't tell you the secret stuff, so why not surprise them with one of these?! (You can always return it). 
Doodle art, 'adult' coloring, bullet journaling and decorative calendars/planners are all hot this year.