All About Owls

It's school vacation this week and we had record attendance at today's story time! Our featured story was Owl Moon by Jane Yolen, the story of a child and her father who visit the woods at night in search of owls. We also read Owl Babies by Martin Waddell, about three baby owls waiting for Mother Owl to come home. We referred to two nonfiction books, Owls by Gail Gibbons and All About Owls by Jim Arnosky, where we looked at the pictures and read owl facts. Did you know it's against the law to hurt or to bother an owl?

Here's our craft! The body is a paper lunch bag stuffed with old tissue paper and folded down. Brown paper wings and big yellow eyes make the bag look owl-ish. Feathers on the front could be drawn with markers or glued with paper scraps - or both! Each of our owls looked different and unique!

The Big Snow!!

We have had so much snow these last few weeks! The weather has been so stormy, there were days when even the library was closed! So today we listened to the old favorite, Katy and the Big Snow, by Virginia Lee Burton, a story about how Katy the snowplow dug out the city of Geopolis after a huge snowstorm. Then we made our own snowplows from precut shapes. Some of us pu-l-l-l-led cotton balls and glued them under the plow for snow.

We also read Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? by Bill Martin Jr., a story with lots of animal noises. 

Our last story was Over and Under the Snow by Kate Messner. This book shows a little girl and her father skiing through the woods over the snow, while under the snow all sort of animals are spending the winter. Did you know foxes can not only hear mice under six feet of snow, they can capture them and eat them to survive! This video shows how that happens! I love this book because the animal facts are true!

We also had a good time choosing books and visiting with old friends. After a two week absence, it was nice to have Storytime again!

For Valentine's Day

I ♥ books, on Valentine's Day and every other day, too! Here are parts of illustrations from four well-known pictures books. Do you know them? First person to post a comment with the correct titles of all four books wins a lovely heart box of chocolates! Also, I'll throw in all the conversation hearts we would have used for today's snowed-out Valentine Story Time!

Click on the speech bubble next to the post title to leave your comment! (BTW, don't worry if your comment doesn't appear right away - it needs to be approved first!)

A Zillion Valentines

NHCS StoryCrafters [heart] Valentines! We read the book A Zillion Valentines by Frank Modell, about two boys who make valentines for everyone in their neighborhood! Then, we made valentines ourselves, with handwritten messages of love and thanks - and a zillion stickers!

We found that if we folded a piece of paper in half, then cut in the shape of the top part of a 2, the paper would be in a heart shape when it was opened! Short and squat, tall and thin, tiny, huge - we had all shapes of hearts, and all were symmetrical!

Valentine's Day

Don't forget the special Valentine Story Hour after school this Thursday! Details in the sidebar, just under the BIG red heart! We hope you can come!

(Yes, we will still have our regular Thursday Story Time at 12:45, too!)

Winter Olympics 2014!

Are you ready for the Olympics? The Winter Games began last night and run for the next two weeks, ending on February 23rd. Here are two websites for kids who want to learn about the Olympics and this year's events and athletes.

Time for Kids
Lots of Olympic facts and photos here, as well as quick information about Russia, the country hosting the Olympics, and a neat feature that shows some of the USA athletes when they were kids!

Sports Illustrated for Kids
This website has interviews and articles about the athletes and the sports. It looks like the page will be changing as the games continue.

Click here for the list of the New Hampshire athletes at this year's Winter Olympics!

Finally, here's a really neat website from the National Science Foundation that shows the science, math, and physics behind the sports in the Olympic Winter Games. My favorites: the one on the bobsled and curling!

Fifth Grade Book Projects: Fantasy or SciFi!

NHCS's fifth grade teacher, Karen Downing, has provided The Gordon-Nash Library with a list of the genres of books students are required to read monthly for their "book reports". February's project is a character puppet based on a science fiction or fantasy book. We always provide shelf space for a selection of these monthly books. Here's the display for February. Of course, these are not the only titles we have that are sci-fi or fantasy - there are lots more! If you need help finding the perfect book for your project, just ask a librarian! We're always happy to help you!