Penguins: Storytime Week 5/6

I realized when I came to post this that I've gotten a bit off with my counting, what with blizzards and sickness and all.  This week we are doing some make-up storytimes, as well as a Mom's club event and the final Thursday drop-in, all with a penguin theme.  Ms Eileen devised a sweet torn paper penguin craft and we'll be sharing some our new and old favorite penguin books.  You just know that Ms. Patty's book of the year, "Penguin and Pinecone" by Salina Yoon, will be making an appearance, along with sibling-themed "Flip and Flop", by Dawn Apperley, and Oliver Jeffers's adorable "Lost and Found". The little ones and I will likely waddle like penguins for a bit and may even check out the cool Penguin Cam. See you there.

February is Black History Month

 http://www.readingrockets.org/calendar/blackhistory/

I've been meaning to share this great resource for books and other media for Black History Month. It's compiled by the great site Reading Rockets (we always have a link to them from our Links list) and is way more comprehensive than anything I would put together. That being said, here are a few books that have recently been added to the collection at RML:

All the Right Stuff by Walter Dean Myers (YA Myers)
Belle, the Last Mule at Gee's Bend by Calvin A. Ramsey (JE Ramsey)
Hand in Hand: ten black men who changed America by Andrea Davis Pinkney 
Heart and Soul: the story of America and African Americans by Kadir Nelson 
(J 973.04 Nelson)
I, Too, Am America by Langston Hughes
The Mighty Miss Malone by Christopher Paul Curtis (JF Curtis)
Never Forgotten by Patricia McKissack (J 811 McKissack)
Unspoken: a story from the Underground Railroad by Henry Cole (JE Cole)
The Wonder of Charlie Anne by Kimberly Newton Fusco (JF Fusco)

Funny Friday (a few hours late!)

It was another busy Friday at RML, with two storytimes and our Next Chapter reading club for kids in grades 2-4, hence a slight delay in our Funny Friday post.

The other day I was at the Library Service Center in Willimantic, (a great resource for libraries that we are lucky to have) and chatted very briefly with Linda Williams who is in charge of the childrens collection there.  She does so many wonderful things to serve the children of Connecticut, mostly behind the scenes but everyone involved with libraries and children in the state know of her and are appreciative of her.  She happened to have a book on her desk by Jan Thomas and thus we arrive at the funny for the day: the hysterical, kid-approved humorous books of Jan Thomas.

With titles like "Rhyming Dust Bunnies" and "What Will the Fat Cat Sit On?", you just know she's a hoot and a half.   Click here for a great interview with her.    The article is also full of Jan's silly illustrations, like the one below.

Still Having Mardi Gras Fun!

I was recently in Boston and got to see a tiny bit of the Chinese New Year celebrations that were going on in Chinatown. Had it been warmer, we would have stopped to watch the fabulous dragon dancers but as it was, those poor people were braving their way thru cold winds and snow and I was content to stay warm!
But it got me thinking how fun this time of year can be (even here in the cold Northeast) with Chinese New Year and Mardi Gras, both if which we have celebrated recently at RML. So to keep the celebrations going, I'm posting some of the pics from our last Not-too-old-for-Storytime! So "laissez les bon temps rouler" or Let the Good Times Roll!

Ms Patty reading in her Cajun accent!

Here's our silly game of pass the baby doll!

 

 

Hats: Storytime Week 4

It's hats off this week in storytime...or should I say hats on because we'll be making a hat at the craft table.  Plus we may dance around to the Mexican Hat Dance (re-interpreted as "I Love My Little Hat" by The Wiggleworms).  Other music for crafting and listening fun includes Laurie Berkner's "This Hat" and Maria Muldaur's "Old Straw Hat". 

This week's books include two new and noteworthy books by Jon Klassen, "I Want My Hat Back" and "This Is Not My Hat" (the brand new Caldecott Winner!), as well as old classics like "Caps For Sale", by Esphyr Slobodkina.

Finally, we'll share this classic action rhyme:
These are Grandma's glasses, and this is Grandma's hat
And this is the way she folds her hands and puts them in her lap
These are Grandpa's glasses and this is Grandpa's hat
And this is the way he folds his arms and takes a little nap (snore!)

p.s. Ms. Eileen may be filling in for Ms. Patty on Wednesday

 

Funny Friday (and exhausted too!)

This Friday was another installment in that chaotic, riotous, delightful, energetic good time known as Not-Too-Old-For-Storytime!  We celebrated Mardi Gras appropriately for 5,6,7 and 8 year olds with purple grapes, green grapes, and glazed doughnut holes.  We read stories, played a fun pass-the-baby game to earn beads and finished off with spectacular masks.  I'm sure Ms. Eileen will post some images in the future. 

Thanks to all our teen helpers (THANK YOU!!!) and to all the kids.  For now, Ms. Eileen and I are exhausted so here's our funny for the day:

MORE DRAGONS! GUNG HAY FAT CHOY!

Just wanted to share a few pictures from our 4s/5s storytime yesterday - we had a parade around the Library for Chinese New Year!  Here's two of my kiddos with their "dragon breath" craft that Ms Patty came up with, as well as a new friend who was donated to RML on Take Your Child to the Library Day!

Snow Day Fun

Okay, who's getting a little stir crazy what with the blizzard and the rain and the 6 foot piles of snow?!  If you and your little ones are looking for something to do other than another round of Crazy Eights, head on over to Spoonful, a website that now incorporates all the great ideas from Family Fun magazine plus lots of other great ideas.  This link will take you to winter games for inside and out.  Spoonful Winter Fun and Games

Love and Dragons: Storytime Week 2/3

Before we were  interrupted  by the blizzard, during week 2 of storytimes the 2s, 3s, and 4s were celebrating Chinese New Year with a fire-breathing dragon craft, while the 4, 5, and 6 year-olds were reading books of love and making book-page valentines.  Both are very cute and worth a look-see into the storytime room to check them out.

While celebrating Chinese New Year the kids and I danced around to this song (set to the tune of Mary Had a Little Lamb)

Little dragons dance and prance, dance and prance, dance and prance
Little dragons dance and prance on Chinese New Years Day

Little dragons hop, hop, hop
Little dragons twirl around
Little dragons go to sleep 

Books shared this week include:
Dragon Dancing, by Carole Schaeffer
Dragon Dance, by Joan Holub and Benrie Huang
The Paper Bag Princess, by Robert Munsch
The Pet Dragon, by Christoph Niemann
Never Too Little to Love, by Jeanne Willis, I'll. by Jan Fearnley
Valentine Frineds, by April Jones Pierce

In Week 3 some of the "love" books will make an appearance in Ms. Patty's storytimes and some of the "dragon" books will show up in Ms. Eileen's storytimes as we swap themes.

Funny Friday!

The Library remains closed thru Storm/Blizzard Charlotte/Nemo/Blizzard of 2013, but we can still enjoy a Funny Friday!
It doesn't get much better or heartwarming on a cold day than to enjoy some Calvin & Hobbes ~ courtesy of Nerd Approved.com ~ Stay warm (and click the link below!)

Calvin & Hobbes Adventures

Love is in the Air...and so is SNOW!

Seems Mother Nature is nowhere near done with Winter yet - the Town of Marlborough has closed all town buildings including the Library for tomorrow, Friday Feb 8 and Saturday Feb 9.  This means Ms Patty and I won't get to see our Friday storytime kids, but we will likely have a makeup class at the end of the session.
This week my Tuesday kids got to hear some ***LOVE**** stories! Ok, age appropriate stories about love of course! One that both Ms Patty and I like to do is a book we have in our storytelling collection (yes, the secret books that aren't for circulation that we stash in our office!) In our defense, this one has some 'flap' pages so it could easily get destroyed - that's why we keep it in the back for the kiddos to enjoy at storytime.

In Never Too Little to Love, a persistent mouse just has to reach his beloved, who is waaayyyy up there! Just shows you that when you give love, you get it in return, even if you have to climb a cupcake and matchbox and thimble for it! 

Here's a bad pic of the Valentine craft that we made - and yes, I did destroy an old and yellowing paperback for this (it was on the sale rack anyway and not in the collection!) It's a great way to recycle and those book print pages just evoke a feeling of love in us book people anyway!

Stay safe during this storm and RML will close tonite (Thurs) at 8pm and reopen on Monday!

Take Your Child to the Library Day 2013

It was the second annual Take Your Child to the Library Day and, WOW, what a lot of fun we had. A great number of folks stopped by to join our guest readers, Representative Pam Sawyer and our First Selectman Catherine Guadinski for storytime. And even more came by during the day to make a colorful craft, to search for monkeys in the library to earn a treat, and to be photographed by our own Ms. Heidi for a keepsake bookmark.  I can say that all the staff here at RML enjoyed the day and we hope you did too.

If you had your photo taken, remember to stop by after Tuesday to pick up your bookmark. And stop by any time to YOUR library.  We always have something fun and interesting going on, plus a wonderful expansive collection and a staff eager to help.

Funny Friday

This week, a classic: Cookie Monster at the Library.

Enjoy!
And don't forget Take Your Child to the Library Day tomorrow, February 2.