• Lifestyle

    2014 CLEL Bell Award Winner Announcement

    Yesterday, February 5, 2014 the winners of the CLEL Bell Picture Book Awards for Early Literacy were announced.  If you didn’t even know this award existed, have no fear!  CLEL stand for Colorado Libraries for Early Literacy and it’s mission is,  “All children deserve the joy of reading and the skills in…

  • Activities

    Story Time Theme: Winter & Snow

    I was able to get to work today!!!  It probably snowed about 8 inches yesterday with more snow expected tomorrow and a Nor’easter expected to tear through our area on Sunday.  I’m tired of the snow, but couldn’t help but have a snow themed story time for my kids in…

  • Activities

    Storytime Theme: Shapes

    Identifying shapes is so important to a child’s development, it’s the beginning of understanding letters and words and an important early literacy skill.  My first storytime of the session focused on shapes, but in a much more abstract way than identifying squares, circles, triangles, and more.  The kids did a…

  • Activities

    Story Time Planning

    I’m always curious when a new session of story time comes around to see how the adults react in story time. I am much more patient with children in story time, than I am with their caregivers. Children, especially the toddlers I hang out with, (2 – 3 1/2 year…

  • Lifestyle

    My Musings on Story Time

    I’ve been a storyteller (I use this term lightly, because I’m more of a story time leader, than actual storyteller) for over five years now and I LOVE it!  I love interacting with the kids, trying new things, and just having fun with books – it’s what I went to school…

  • Reviews

    How to Train a Train

    Chugga-chugga chugga-chugga choo choo! If you’re looking for the perfect gift this holiday season for the train-lover in your family, you’ll definitely have to pick up How to Train a Train! Jason Carter Eaton’s text is full of fun and humor and pairs perfectly with John Rocco’s illustrations. Using pet…

  • Activities

    Storytime Theme: Imagination Station

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    This is the second Saturday storytime I’ve tried this fall and it’s great to see some regular faces, but also some new faces who can’t come in during the week! I had about 20 kids show up which worked really well and before we began I explained to parents the…

  • Activities

    Story Time Theme: Mo Willems

    This week was probably one of my favorites – Mo Willems Week for story time!  Willems is an amazing author/illustrator in the children’s literature world and his books are geared perfectly to my crowd of 2 – 3.5 year olds.  We shared Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus with…

  • Activities

    Story Time Theme – Amy Krouse Rosenthal

    This week’s story time author/illustrator was Amy Krouse Rosenthal – another favorite author of mine whose books are funny, poignant, and can help children learn valuable life lessons.  Again, I think these books may have faired better with a little older audience (I’m thinking preschool age), but they are still…

  • Reviews

    Pumpkin Trouble

    It’s that time of year!  No, not Christmas (yet!), but Halloween and there are some great books out there for the holiday.  Kids around here are ready to go trick-or-treating and have been talking about costumes for awhile now.  I thought I’d post this great holiday book as it fits…