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Picture Book Month: Cats
Observation is the name of this game in this creative picture book when one cat is shown in a variety of ways from the perspective of different animals. I think this is a great title for preschoolers and early elementary school age children to look at the world in a…
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Picture Book Month: Shapes
This is an adorable story of a perfectly happy, perfect square until it goes on an adventure! Each day of the week the square finds itself changing in color and shape as it is cut, crumpled, ripped and put back together into beautiful illustrations. And in the end, the perfect…
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Book Review: The Bone Sparrow
The Bone Sparrow by Zana Fraillon is the story Subhi, a refugee born in an Australian permanent detention center after his mother and sister fled the violence of their homeland. Subhi’s world is only what he knows inside the fence of the detention center, but his imagination allows him to…
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Book Review: The Land of Forgotten Girls
I’ve been in a bit of a book slump for the past few months. A lot of it has to do with a new position at work sucking up all my time and brain power. That being said, I actually physically and mentally feel different if I’m not reading enough…
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Blogging A to Z: Imagination
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,…
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Picture Books that Spark Imagination
Where’s Walrus? by Stephen Savage Press Here by Herve Tullet Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson Journey by Aaron Becker Chalk by Bill Thomson Skippyjon Jones by Judy Shachner This is Sadie by Sara O’Leary Not a Box by Antoinette Portis The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires Higher! Higher! by Leslie…
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Lego Block Party – One of the Easiest Programs You Can Do
We don’t have a dedicated Lego Club, but we bust out our Legos, especially when the kids don’t have school. We’ve tried different approaches – themes, no themes, read alouds, games, etc. And I really enjoy dumping the Legos on the floor and letting the kids go to town. A…
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Toddler Storytime Theme: Imagination & Pretend Play
One of my most viewed posts is my Imagination Station storytime theme, so I decided to give the people what they want and did another storytime theme this week about imagination and pretend play. These are some of my most favorite themes because the research shows (and I strongly believe)…
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Sunday Storytime Challenge #2
I’ve done a couple of wordless picture books in my storytime so to varying degrees of success. I think by far my most effective wordless picture book in storytime was Where’s Walrus? by Stephen Savage. The kids adore helping me and the zookeeper find the escaped walrus from the…
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Mythology for Grades K – 2 and 3 -4
Today I did a very quick program for children entering Kindergarten – 2nd grade in the fall. I read aloud “Bellerophon and the Flying Horse” and “Theseus and the Minotaur” in Usborne Greek Myths for Young Children by Heather Amery. This group of myths are written for younger children and are…