Theme Thursday: Clothes

And we're back after our two week planning break!  The crowd was a little restless today so I switched out one of the books I had planned on doing (I Had a Favorite Dress by Bonnie Ashburn) for a few more action rhymes and silly songs.

Song: Good Morning Dear Earth

Song: If You're Wearing Red Today

Book: Clothesline Clues To Jobs People Do

Flannel: Mitten Mates

Song: Open, Shut Them

Song: Jumping and Counting from Jim Gill's Irrational Anthem and More Salutes to Nonsense 

Song: Shake My Sillies Out from Raffi's The Singable Songs Collection (20th Anniversary Special Edition) 

Action Rhyme: Big, Big, Big

 

Puppet Story: Joseph Had A Favorite Coat

Song: Wheels on the Bus

Song: Turn Around from Hap Palmer's Getting to know Myself

Make and Take Craft: Your Favorite Shirt

Joseph had a favorite coat, but we made our favorite shirts!

Supplies:

-construction paper

-glitter glue

-crayons

-tissue paper

-sequins

Process: 

Before story time I cut the construction paper into shirt shapes and cut the tissue paper into other shapes like circles, triangles and ruffles. After story time we sued the glitter glue to both decorate and glue down the sequins and tissue paper to make the prettiest shirts anyone had ever seen.

Time: 

Prep took 10 minutes, craft took 25

Top Five Children's Books in 2012

Lions of Little Rock by Kristen Levine

I loved this story, and over identified with Marlee, when I first read this book back in May and nothing's changed since then. I worry a little bit about kid appeal- I've been trying very hard to make this book a thing in the children's room and while every adult that I've booked-talked into it come back with rave reviews, no kids have taken it yet- but I'll just have to love it enough for all of us.


Remarkable by Lizzie K. Foley
Jane Doe is the most ordinary girl in the world and she has the misfortune of living in a town where everyone is remarkable in some way. But when the REMARKABLY bad Gimlet twins get kicked out of the gifted school (and join Jane as the only students in the regular, public school) and a mysterious pirate captain (who doesn't seem to like his job very much) shows up at the same time as the city is getting ready to celebrate a new milestone, it may be up to Jane to save the day in her ordinary way.



Stonewall Hinkleman and the Battle of Bull Run by Sam Riddleburger and Michael Hemphill



Video games and time travel don't really mix. Neither do skeptical teenage boys and evil senators hell-bent on reversing the course of history and ensuring that the south wins the Civil War this time around. But sometimes you're just minding your business, looking for a new bugle to blow at your parents dumb civil war battle reenactment, and all of a sudden you're back in 1861 looking for a way home, a way to save your ancestor (not to mention the entire course of history), and maybe impress the girl. You know, if you have time.  

Wonder by RJ Palacio

This book has had a lot of press and some pretty beautiful book trailers. There's not much that I can add to the discussion about this beautiful book about a boy with a severe facial deformity joining society for the first time. EXCEPT I read Wonder on a plane to a job interview and, like Code Name Verity, I started crying on the plane, freaking out the guy sitting next to me. Then I book talked it during my interview without having finished it and every single person on my panel wrote down the title and author to go check out later.




The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom by Christopher Healy
 You hear a lot about Cinderella and Snow White and Sleeping Beauty, you know, the princesses in the stories. But when was the last time you heard a proper story about Frederic, Liam and Duncan, the princes that saved? Come to think of it, when was the last time you heard anything about what went down after Happily Ever After? Not too often by my count, but here comes Christopher Healy and The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom to remedy both of those issues at once.

Flannel Friday: Talking 'Bout Flannel

About a month ago Katie from Story Time Secrets and I presented a workshop for some of our co-workers on using flannel boards in story times.  

We talked for a little while about why flannel boards are so awesome, when we use them and how to know if a story or song will be easily translatable. We gave tips for keeping little hands away from the pieces and talked about how to use them with a wider age range than regular story time kids. And then... EVERYONE MADE A FLANNEL BOARD SET! I mean, that was the most exciting part for me.

I like to use actual flannel for many reasons- they're more durable and the kids can play with the sets themselves. I think aesthetically they look nicer and it's fun for me to make the sets. So I brought a pattern and the felt needed for everyone to make their own version of the Little Mouse game.

 

 

Everyone got out their scissors and glue and got to work cutting out houses and mice. Here's the pattern if you want to make your own as well. Ignore the fat arm, you can always trim it down to size later.

Katie likes to use clip art, contact paper and velcro for a variety of her own reasons: There's no artistic ability required, you can make sets more quickly and as test versions- if they work you can always make them into flannel sets later and it's easy to make replacement pieces if needed. She brought the supplies and clip art necessary to make Daddy's Ties (or Baby's Bows).

Since we were short on time, most people made the Little Mouse game at the workshop and took the pieces for Daddy's Ties back to their branches to make at a different time.

Katie also made an fantastic handout with links to clip art sites, different ways to participate in Flannel Friday and posts from other blogs about flannel philosophy. 

At the end of the day 15 or so librarians left with the makings of two new flannel sets and a deeper appreciation for one of my favorite parts of story time, I'd say it was a success!

Happy Flanneling!

Flannel Friday is hosted today by Lisa at Libraryland. You can always find out more about Flannel Friday by visiting the official Flannel Friday website.

Top Ten YA in 2012

 

 

 

Happy New Year! I've been planning ahead with this blog for 2013 and I want to let you know that there is some seriously awesome stuff coming up. Right now though I'm still playing catch-up from my unplanned hiatus back in October and so the first few weeks of the new year will be dedicated to looking back at 2012 and the best it had to offer.

 Without further ado, here is a round-up of my ten favorite YA books from 2012.

10. Unbored: The Essential Field Guide to Serious Fun by Joshua Glenn and Elizabeth Foy Larsen

I haven't read this entire book, but it's not really a page by page read. Instead it's a book full of things to do. I had one kinda like it that I loved when I was younger, but this has been updated for the information age while maintaining the retro illustrations that were half the fun of my old book. In addition to awesome sounding activities like making a remote controlled water blaster, illusion knitting and brewing solar ice tea it has loads of book and movie lists, by categories (like everyone, I love super specific lists) and book excerpts from classic literature.

9. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

I had more problems with this book than anyone I know, but the scene where we find out how Hazel used her wish basically guaranteed it a spot on my list. That John Green, he's a funny guy.

8. UnWholly by Neal Shusterman

This is the first of four sequels on my list this year, which is unusual since I really like a good stand alone and rarely bother to follow up for fear of disappointment. But this? This was totally worth it. My favorite part of the Unwind trilogy (and it's going to be a trilogy!) is the world. It's creepy and dystopian and honestly, it's not that far removed from where we are now.

7. Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler

Lemony Snicket and Maira Kalman's illustrations? I would have followed this book off a cliff even before I read it. It's been months and I still can't get the last three pages, a breathless rant about self worth and loosing your identity in a significant other, out of my head. I want to know who let Daniel Handler read my high school diaries. And again, can't let this one go without a plug for the book's tumblr where you can submit your own break up story.... And I just got side tracked for half an hour.

6. Necromancing the Stone by Lish McBride

Fierce garden gnomes, strange things afoot at the Circle K and Sexy Gary. The sequel to Hold Me Closer Necromancer (seriously, these are great titles) doubles down on the action and humor of the first book and adds that emotional gut punch I was not expecting, because seriously? James? Slayed me every single time.

5. Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson

If you'd told me that I'd end up picking a re-telling of a classic tale for my top 10 list, I'd have called you crazy. I do not like this trend of re imagining stories to give depth to side characters or make villains more sympathetic. Nope, ick, yuck, come up with your own idea, thank you very much. But this story of Tiger Lily, the boy she loves and the girl he loves is, in a word, lush. It also deserves a place alongside The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks  as a book every budding feminist should read.

4. Fire in the Streets by Kekla Magoon

The Rock and the River was by far my favorite non-2012 book that I read this year (subtle plug!) and when I found out there was a companion/sequel, I was nervous. Could anything live up to the sweep and importance that I felt while reading The Rock and the River? In a word, no. But Fire in the Streets took the grandness of the first book and brought it down to a much more personal level and gave me a different side of the story, one I didn't even realize I'd been missing until I read it.

3. Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley

You know that part in Perks of Being a Wallflower  where Charlie says "I feel infinite"? Well, this entire book is the feeling of being infinite without anyone ever having to say it.

2. Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

This was a decent book that I was going to like just fine but nothing special until part two when, with just one sentence, it became the BEST. THING. EVER. I was on an airplane when that happened and said out loud "Oh holy moley, I cannot handle this right now" and started hyperventilating a little bit. The 7th grader sitting next to me got very concerned for my well-being. And probably hers as well since I was trapping her in on the window seat.

KISS ME HARDY!

1.Froi of the Exiles: The Lumatere Chronicles by Melina Marchetta

Another year, another Melina Marchetta book at the top of my list.

Oh my beloved. I just want to hug this book, and everyone in it, and never stop. This book is responsible for the fact that I only read about 18 unique books this year, I was too busy finding something new in Froi to look at anything else.

Theme Thursday: Wheels Roll

For our last story time before winter break- a two week stretch where we don't have any programming so we can plan for story times and elementary programs into the next year- we focused on wheels. A surprise visit from a local school group doubled our story time size.

Song: Good Morning Dear Earth

Flannel: Little Mouse

Finger Play: I Had a Little Turtle

Book: Bicycle Race by Donald Crews

Action Rhyme: Big, Big, Big

Song: Jumping and Counting from Jim Gill's Irrational Anthem and More Salutes to Nonsense

Song: Open, Shut Them

Flannel: The Wheels on the Bus

Book: What Do Wheels Do All Day?

Song: Itsy Bitsy Spider

Song: Turn Around

Make and Take Craft: Color Wheels

These little guys are great for hand eye coordination and if you launch them just right they'll fly like helicopters too!

Supplies:

-card stock

-straws

-masking tape

-hole punch

-markers

Process: Before story time I cut the cardstock into circles just larger than a normal jar lid. I also punched one hole in the center of each circle. After story time we colored the disks, stuck a straw through the hole and taped it in place. When you roll the straw back and forth between your hands, the colored disk spins and the colors blur together.

Time: Prep took 10 minutes, the craft took 15 to make and another 20 to get over how cool playing with it was.

I Could Have

I could have spent the time in between story time and the kids getting out of school shelving books. I could have spent it weeding the 900s. I could have been planning programs for the new year. I could have been cleaning off my desk.

There were a whole lot of thing I could have done with that time. I made this instead.

Happy Holidays Y'all.

Theme Thursday: Hej Denmark

Let's take a trip across the ocean to Denmark, home of the Little Mermaid, trolls and very fat cats.

Song: Good Morning Dear Earth

Flannel: Little Mouse

Flannel: HEJ (Hi)

Finger Play: I Had a Little Turtle

Flannel/book: Fat Cat: A Danish Folktale adapted by Margaret Read McDonald

Baby Bounce: Criss, Cross, Line, Line

Finger Play: Two Little Blackbirds

Song: Shake Your Sillies Out from Raffi's The Singable Songs Collection (20th Anniversary Special Edition)

Song: Head, Shoulders, Knees, Toes

Flannel: Let's Go Out on a Starry Night

Flannel: Alphabet Soup- FARVEL (good bye)

Song: Turn Around from Hap Palmer's Getting to know Myself  

Make and Take Craft: Little Mermaid Coloring Sheets

Even though we didn't hear her story during story time, the Little Mermaid is one of the most famous stories to come out of Denmark. For our craft, I drew up some mermaid coloring sheets.

Supplies:

-coloring sheets (I didn't save any of the one I drew, but here are some from the internet)

-crayons

Process: You know how this works.

Time: Prep took about 5 minutes to draw and run off copies of a mermaid, the craft took 10.