Simple Crafts for Early Literacy

While searching around the web for some craft ideas, I came across this video and wanted to share it.  Some nice, simple ideas here!

Early Childhood Literacy Coalition / Early Childhood Literacy Coalition / Moms Everyday

A member of Lansing's Early Childhood Literacy Coalition talks to Kat Cooper from Moms Everyday about the importance of early literacy:

Early Childhood Literacy Coalition / Moms Everyday

House and Home Storytime

When I began my planning last fall, I was running out of ideas for storytimes.  I've covered so many themes, I simply could  not think of anything new!   So, what did I do?!?!  Why I asked my dear friend for suggestions; one of them being "houses".    "Hmmm", I thought.  "I can't remember the last night I did a storytime on houses."  And so the planning began.

Books were easy.  So many fun ones to choose from!   Here are a few of my favorites:

This Is The House That Jack Built by Pam Adams
*A fun version of this classic, cummulative tale

If the Shoe Fits by Alison Jackson
*The old woman who lives in a shoes wants to move out with her kids, but can't find an accomodating space in this tale featuring many nursery rhyme characters.

Duck at the Door by Jackie Urbanovic
*Max the duck doesn't want to fly south for the winter, so he ends up staying with the human Irene and her animal companions (picture book series).

A great felt board story to share is The Three Little Pigs.   Typically if you do this with a group of preschoolers they are going to know the story and be able to chime in.   Hmm did I say "chime in"???  they'll probably be shouting out the whole story with you.  That's good, active learning!

Next, I needed to come up with a craft project.  What could we do for houses?!?   Finally it dawned on me that we  could design (decorate) house shapes.  I folded over a piece of 9"X18" construction paper and cut out a basic house shape, leaving the folded side pretty much intact so that the house could be "opened" like a card.

To decorate, I left out magazines, markers and scrap paper.  They cut out doors and windows, made beds, and included lots of toys (every house needed toys in it!).   They turned out super cute and were so easy to do! 

George Washington's Birthday by Margaret McNamara

Margaret McNamara has penned a humorous "mostly true tale" about a young George Washington.  Though the truth is stretched a bit here and there, nice little facts can be found in information boxes on each spread. 

The story begins with George going to bed on a Friday night being 6 years old, but waking up on Saturday morning and he was seven!  That's magic any child can relate to!   As George goes about the day, he fears no one in the family remembered that this particular Saturday was a special day. 

Full of facts, as well as many myths, this is a delightfully entertaining story that should surely be shared this President's Day!  The pen and watercolor illustrations by  New  Yorker's Barry Blitt add to the humor and charm.

St. Patrick's Day Storytime

Top 'o the morning, to you!    St. Patrick's Day is a great opportunity for a fun storytime at home or at your organization.  Even if you're not Irish, anyone can feel as if they are from the Emerald Isle on March 17th!

To give your children some background information on Ireland and St. Patrick's Day, check our your local bookstore or library.  A few good books to look for are:

St Patricks Day by Mari C. Schuh

Ireland by Kay MelChisedech Olson

Look What Came From Ireland by Miles Harvey

Can I just say that I would love an Aran sweater?!  Anyway, these books do include some recipes, craft ideas and of course, lots of information.  The first title is best for toddlers and preschoolers; the middle title for Elementary. 

Now on to a couple of great read-a-loud story books!   Check out for these titles to share with your little ones:

The Luckiest St. Patrick's Day Ever by Teddy Slater

The Night Before St. Patrick's Day by Natasha Wing

Tim O'Toole and the Wee Folk by Gerald McDermott

Last year I was looking around the internet for a few St. Patrick's Day craft ideas and couldn't find anything that caught my eye.  So, I headed off to Michael's (craft store).  I'm not really sure where this idea came from, but I was thinking rainbows, shamrocks, gold... and then saw the ribbon for 99 cents a roll.  They had nice rainbow colors.  Then there were these packages of foam shamrocks for only $4.99.  Hmmmm?    And the rainbow shamrock was born.

For each I used two foam shamrocks (paper would work fine) and five 12" pieces of ribbon in any colors the child wanted to use. 

Using GLUE DOTS (I totally love the ease and quickness of using glue dots!), we attached ribbons on one side of one shamrock.  and then using more glue dots, we stuck another shamrock to the back so that we were covering up the stuck ends of ribbon.  

I had a hole-punch handy so that we could attach a ribbon so that the shamrock could be hung up in the house.

And there you have it!  A very easy, and very pretty, rainbow shamrock!   By the way, the kids LOVED this craft!

If you're are looking for other craft ideas,  here are a few websites to check out:

Disney's Family Fun Crafts

http://familyfun.go.com/sitesearch/results/q=st.%2520patrick's%2520day/

Fun Family Crafts

http://funfamilycrafts.com/category/seasonal-holiday/holidays/st-patricks-day/

Family Corner crafts, projects, foods and more

http://www.familycorner.com/family/st_patricks_day.shtml

Hello, Friends! board books by Emma Quay

I recently got my anxious little hands on a board book series by Australia’s Emma Quay and Anna Walker (illustrator). The four books currently available in the United States are:

Good Night, Sleep Tight: A Book About Bedtime

Let's Play House: A Book About Imagination

Puddle Jumping: A Book About Bravery

Yummy Ice Cream: A Book About Sharing

These delightful books center around the friendship of Panda, Sheep and Owl. This loveable trio of friends tackle typical preschool type issues in each book such as: bravery, sharing, bedtime, and imagination. Children will be able to identify with the with humor, creativity and teamwork. Charming watercolor illustrations by Anna Walker perfectly compliment the short, enjoyable, realistic stories. Check out this series now!

Neville by Norton Juster

Moving can be a rather traumatic experience for most young children.   Even if they are excited about a new house or new town, the idea of leaving all of their friends behind and having to make news ones can be completely overwhelming.

The boy did not want to move.  Everyone told him that he would "love it" and he was faced with having no friends and having to be the "new boy" at school.   His mother tries to console him, as mother's do.  Her words of encouragement were not helping, so she suggests that he take a walk down the block, "you might even meet someone".  (I'm guessing the boy must be in the 3rd grade).  

The boy walks down to the end of the block and then just sort of stands there like he wasn't sure what he was going to do next.   He tilts his head back, brings his hands up to his mouth and yells, "NEVILLE!" with all his might.   Another boy comes up, and offers to help, so they both begin shouting.   Then a girl joins them, explaining they are doing it wrong and need to shout in uninson, so she directs them in yelling.  Shortly, practically the entire block is looking for "Neville".

During the search, many kids and adults begin to ask questions about "Neville" - who he is, what he is like, will he come to sleep overs, does he have pets, etc.  After a while, they all give up the search for the evening, but promise to get together the next day to start in again.  The boy goes home and gets ready for bed.  As his mom tucks him in, you discover that he is indeed Neville.  In the process of looking for himself, he found many friends.

Great new view on a "moving" book, perfect to share.   Complimentary illustrations by G. Brian Karas add to the unique story.  Check it out!

Pirates Don't Take Baths by John Segal

This wonderfully funny book, features a rather feisty pig who most definitely does not want to take a bath.  Classic dialog between the wee pig and the mother pig rings true and will most assuredly elicit giggles from both child and reader.  Oh goodness, I could hear my son and I having a very similar discussion for certain!  

Wish I could share this during storytime, but unfortunately I don't think I can get away with saying "poop and pee" while reading aloud to a group of children, however I can at home and know my little boy will laugh and laugh!

The Family Storybook Treasury : Tales of Laughter, Curiosity, and Fun

If you're looking for a collection of contemporary classic children's literature to share with your wee ones at bedtime (or anytime really), then take a look at the Family Storybook Treasury published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 

The collection includes stories about Curious George, Lyle the crocodile, Tacky the penguin, Martha the dog (who's on PBS now too!), Sheep, monkeys, donuts and a classic steam shovel.  In addition, little shorts are included between each of the main stories. 

This is a wonderful collection to have  - not to sit on your shelf, but to read each day!

Valentine's Day Stained Glass Hearts

Yes, I'm at it again.  Along the same lines as my stained glass hand print turkeys and stained glass corn for Thanksgiving, we recently created stained glass hearts for Valentine's Day.  I needed a craft for a group of special needs kids who are older - so nothing too kid-like, but something fun, yet easy to do too, and let me tell you, they really got into making the hearts.

I used a roll of contact paper that I cut into about 12" wide pieces.  Each piece is big enough for one large heart and a couple small ones.  To give the hearts a bit more durability, you might use a second sheet to go over the back (we didn't).

I learned that the tissue paper can be any color... I tried at first to pick out "Valentine's Day" colors, like red, pink, white and purple, but soon learned the kids wanted to  use every and any color to make their hearts.  Square pieces are fine, or they can rip up pieces too, but I found that they also liked using tissue paper strips (see the photo for examples).

The kids covered the contact paper with bits of tissue paper, and when it was as close to completely covered as possible, I used the old "fold the paper in half and cut out half a heart shape" to cut out the hearts.  Some kids can do this on their own and others need help - but ultimately it didn't matter.  Everyone was thrilled with the results.

Simple curling ribbon can be attached (either through punched holes or just taped on) to use as a hanger, and TA DAAA!  you have a beautiful heart to hang in your window.   Have fun!!!

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

Nominated for an Oscar is this little short called The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore.  A co-worker told me about it this morning, for which I am very thankful.  Being about books, I had to check it out, but it really is so much more than that.  Any review I try to write will not do the animated short justice - take a few minutes and check out the review by the Huffington Post or better yet, spend 15 mins 7 seconds and watch it for yourself here:

And of course there's actually an app for that...  I don't have an ipad, but this app looks really cool:

Leap Year Story Time

It only comes around once every 4 years... what is it?!  Presidential elections?!?  Well, yes, but that's not what I'm talking about here.  Why it's Leap Year Day, of course!  The 29th of February.  If you were born on that day, why you would only age 1 year for every 4!  Ok, perhaps that's not true, but still, I think it would be cool to be born on a day that is only thrown into our calendar every 4 years. 

Because this is a leap year, I thought to do a special storytime on Leap Year Day (the 29th).   Little did I know that there are very (VERY) few picture books on subject of Leap Year!!!  In fact, none in our library system and only one available through the state interlibrary loan program!  That's it!

NOTE TO AUTHORS:   Please, we (librarians and others who work with children) need some good leap year stories!   You have four years to write one and get it published - GO!

Because of the lack of specific books, I had to get a bit creative and think out-of-the-box (plus search the internet a bit!).  Here are a few of the ideas I came up with:

1.  Calendars/Months of the Year
2.  Frogs or creatures that "leap"
3.  Birthday celebration
4.  Stories about strong/independent girls
5.  Favorite things

Out of the ideas I came up with, I decided to go with a frog theme, but also include at the beginning of storytime a little discussion about Leap Year and a short book on the months of the year.  My plan is that after the story on months, then we can segue in to the frog books by talking about when we start to see frogs around our state.   Afterwards we can also talk about other animals that "leap" (spiders, lizards, kangaroos, rabbits, crickets, etc). 

The books that I decided to share are:

Leap Back Home to Me by Lauren Thompson
Jump Frog Jump! by Robert Kalan
A Frog in the Bog by Karma Wilson
Chicken Soup with Rice: A Book of Months by Maurice Sendak
Rhymes and Riddles with Corduroy by Don Freeman

I found a neat coloring sheet to use from this site that also features a frog:

Leap Year Coloring Page
http://printables4kids.com/leap-year-coloring-page/leap-year-coloring-page-2/

We are making paper bag frogs as our craft (see photo) to go along with our leaping froggy books.  A little fold here and added paper there, and you've got a cute frog puppet!!! 

If you would like some more information on Leap Year and Leap Year Day, check out the Scholastic website:
Scholastic Leap Year info
http://www.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3749077

Meet Carol A. Grund! Author of the Anna Mei series

I'm proud to say that I know Carol personally and through her wonderful tween series featuring the remarkable and incredibly likeable Anna Mei.  Take a look at the following article.  Carol is the featured author this month on her publisher's blog.  She's an exceptional person!

Meet Carol A. Grund! paulinekids blog site

Spoon by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

Amy Krouse Rosenthal is one of my favorite writers for children (I haven't read her adult stuff yet!).   There is such an ease and light wit to her book that they become favorites of storytime and patrons alike.  I remember when Duck! Rabbit! came out; I read it at ever school visit I had, and even once with my daughter in front of her 5th grade class (she was "duck" and I was "rabbit").   Rosenthal's books are pure delight for most any age.   So, when I saw Spoon come in, I had to pick it up.

Now, I have to admit, I get a bit irked when, as a children's librarian, I am bombarded with a flood of similar books (we had a run on a billion different type of pet books for sale not too long ago), especially when I have a favorite thrown in to the mix.  

In 2010, I found Spork ; a very simple, unassuming book that once read, ended up firmly on my "favorite books of all time" list and I posted my review here for all to see (and hopefully read - the book, not my whole review).  It was clever; it was innovated - who would have thought a utensil could be used to tackle the subject of mixed race families?!?!   And then came Spoon ...

For as much as I love Rosenthal's books, I have to admit that my first thought was "et tu, Amy?"  But then I picked up the book and dove in head first - sort of like a spoon into a chocolate sundae.  Thankfully I was pleasantly surprised, much like when I dig into a sundae.  Again, another delightful read with the wonderful light wit I so enjoy with wonderfully funny and expressive (yes, a spoon can be expressive) illustrations by Scott Magoon.

It's the tale of a spoon who is envious of his friends, such as knife and fork, who seem to leave much more exciting lives.  Little does Spoon realize his friends envy his life too.  A nice, simple story that kids can definitely relate to, and get a good laugh while learning that lesson.

So, check it out!  And grab Spork while you're at it!  Oh, and Rosenthal has another book Chopsticks coming out in the near future... they first were introduced in Spoon , but it's not a sequel :)