• Lifestyle

    Groundbeaking News… or maybe not!

    There is an article in The New York Times today titled “Pediatrics Group to Recommend Reading Aloud to Children From Birth.”  The American Academy of Pediatrics is officially weighing in about the importance of early literacy, announcing a new policy today that will encourage doctors to offer advice and become…

  • Activities

    Story Time Theme: Talking

    Today began our the first week of storytime for our summer session.  As you can see from my notes below, I’m offering a traditional toddler storytime for ages 2 – 3 1/2 and a parachute storytime for the same age group.  I decided to focus on the 5 early literacy…

  • Activities

    Story Time Theme: Fruits & Veggies

    I just found this blog post that somehow got lost in the shuffle!  So even though this is from a few months ago, I’m going to post it so everyone can see the books I used. ____________________________________________________ Although I had a small crowd (only 7!), we had a great time in…

  • Activities

    Story Time Planning

    I’m not one to fish for compliments, but I really enjoy when a parent in my story time truly enjoys the 30 minutes we spend together.  Because, contrary to what I feel some believe, I actually spend a considerable amount of time planning my story times “lessons.”  I’m a “theme…

  • Activities

    Story Time Theme: Green

    This was our last week of story time before summer.  We tend to end rather early in May because kids get really busy and we do too!  We visit a number of schools gearing up for summer reading during the month of May and having a more open schedule allows…

  • Activities

    Story Time Theme: Rain

    It worked out perfectly!  Without changing my plans, my “rain-themed” story time actually occurred on a rainy day!  Normally, it’s a sunny 80 degree day when I try and do a rain theme in the spring.  The kids really liked this theme with the stories that had all different activities…

  • Activities

    Story Time Theme: Chicks

    My story time kids seem to have a little spring fever recently so getting them to sit quietly (just to read the stories) has been difficult.  But they have absolutely loved singing and dancing and can’t get enough of the 5 Little Monkeys!  I think next week we’ll add some…

  • Activities

    Story Time Theme: Bunny Rabbits

    Rather than creating a strictly “Easter” story time, I went with a much broader spring theme for this week with books all about bunny rabbits.  Little White Rabbit and Rhyming Dust Bunnies were both really big hits in each of the classes.  I chose Rhyming Dust Bunnies for my older…

  • Activities

    Sensory-Friendly Story Time Theme: Snakes

    I love having the opportunity to outreach to the Early Intervention classrooms in our community.  I got the chance to visit four classrooms yesterday – reaching out to 50 children and 31 adults.  The classroom children have a range of disabilities from visual impairments, to developmental disabilities, to the autism…

  • Activities

    Story Time Theme: Pennsylvania One Book, Every Young Child

    Pennsylvania is trying to encourage early literacy by providing copies of the same book to libraries, child care centers, and families across the state every April with a program called Pennsylvania One Book, Every Young Child.  This year’s book was Stripes of All Types by Susan Stockdale.  At our library,…