• Activities

    Toddler Storytime Theme: Animals

    Books: Animal Boogie by Debbie Harter Old Mikamba Had a Farm by Rachel Isadora Señor Pancho Had a Rancho by René Colato Laínez Fingerplays, Flannelboards, Rhymes & Songs: Song: “Put Your Hands Up In the Air” Fingerplay/Flannelboard: 5 Little Monkeys “No More Monkeys” by Asheba, Putumayo Kids Presents: Animal Playground Flannel Board/Movement Song:…

  • Activities

    Toddler Storytime Theme: Spring Animals

    Opening: “Put Your Hands Up In the Air” Puppet Meet & Greet: Meet Woolly (monkey puppet) Early Literacy Tip: “Read at least three stories a day: it may be the same story three times.  Children need to hear a thousand stories before they can begin to learn to read.  Or…

  • Activities

    Family Storytime Theme: Noses

    Nose Storytime Opening: “Hello” with sign languageHello, friends. (x3)It’s time to say hello. Puppet Meet & Greet: Meet Woolly (monkey puppet) Early Literacy Tip: Rhyming books are awesome to share with kids, especially when they can start figuring out the rhymes themselves! Book 1: Whose Nose is This? by Peg…

  • Lifestyle

    Library Pets

    There’s been a story crossing my Facebook and Twitter feeds about a cat in White Settlement, Texas (a real place!) about a cat that has lived in the public library for six years.  The city council just recently “fired” the cat and amidst public outrage, the cat is back in…

  • Activities

    Blogging A to Z: Zoo

    During the month of April, I’ll be participating in the Blogging From A to Z Challenge.  My theme for the month is Storytime Plans From A to Z.  Each plan will have eight stories as well as four songs, fingerplays or rhymes to match the theme!  As you can see,…

  • Activities

    Blogging A to Z: Jungle

    During the month of April, I’ll be participating in the Blogging From A to Z Challenge.  My theme for the month is Storytime Plans From A to Z.  Each plan will have eight stories as well as four songs, fingerplays or rhymes to match the theme!  As you can see,…

  • Activities

    Toddler Storytime Theme: Winter Animals

    We had a really heavy downpour this morning, after a two-hour school delay so needless to say I only had six little ones in my storytime.  The show must go on and the kids that were there got a little more individualized attention which they all really liked.  They really…

  • Activities

    Parachute Storytime Theme: Zoo Animals

    These are some of my favorite books!  And unfortunately, I had a very small crowd to share them, I only ended up with seven kids, and I think I’m picking books that are too advanced for them.  These books would probably work really well with preschool age kids, but my…

  • Reviews

    Book Review: When Lunch Fights Back

    When Lunch Fights Back: Wickedly Clever Animal Defenses by Rebecca L. Johnson is the fascinating story of a number of animals that have really cool defenses that prevent from, basically, being eaten for lunch.  As soon as I opened the book with dripping colors and splotches all over the pages,…

  • Lists

    It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 8/24/15

    I don’t know what happened this week, but I got very little reading accomplished.  I was expecting to read a lot on Monday (I had the day off) but instead ended up at a pop-up concert with Stevie Wonder in Philadelphia.  It was a lot of fun, very hot, and…