Dance!

Everybody loves to dance! This week our story time featured books about dancing. We read Giraffes Can't Dance by Giles Andreae, a funny book about a giraffe that thought he couldn't dance (there's a wonderful video of the story here). We also read Hop, Jump by Ellen Stoll Walsh, about dancing frogs and Dancing Feet by Lindsey Craig, about lots of different dancing animals and the sounds their feet make.

For our craft, we colored and decorated a puppet! Stickers and dots, foam and felt pieces all adorned the plain puppet, which could have become either an animal or a person! Little fingers through the two holes at the bottom made the legs and feet for the puppet. 

Dancing puppet!

We also did a fun fingerplay called "Dance Your Fingers Up" that goes like this:

Dance your fingers up, dance your fingers down

Dance your fingers to the side, dance them all around

Dance them on your shoulders, dance them on your head

Dance them on your tummy, and put them all to bed!

Winners!

Congratulations to the kids in Mr. McCann's class at NHCS for correctly identifying all the Dr. Seuss titles in this month's puzzle. Their prize did include Red and Blue Fish, after all! Thanks for taking the challenge. Way to go, 4Mc!!

For the Birds

There was another big snowstorm overnight! But snow did not stop us from holding this week's storytime. We read Birds by Kevin Henkes, Have You Seen Birds? by Barbara Reid, and Crinkleroot's 25 Birds Every Child Should Know by Jim Arnosky. We identified birds like owls, seagulls, goldfinches and blue jays.

Even though it's the first day of Spring, birds must still be having a hard time finding food. So we made some bird feeders to help out. First we smeared peanut butter on a tube, then we rolled it and rolled it in birdseed. Finally we tied it up with some yarn and put it in a bag to take home and hang up. Some of us made another kind of feeder - cheerios threaded onto a pipe cleaner!

We had such a good time today, I forgot to take pictures of the finished feeders! 

Dinosaurs With Everything!

NHCS StoryCrafters tell me they all love dinosaurs, so today we read When Dinosaurs Came With Everything by Elise Broach. The story is about a boy and his mother out for a day of errands. But instead of getting stickers after a doctor's visit and balloons after a haircut, on this particular day children are getting a dinosaur - with everything! It's a pretty funny story!

We made three dimensional dinosaurs from heavy cardstock. There was a lot to cut out, and we needed to cut slowly and precisely to make the dinosaur fit together right.

When the cutting was finished, we assembled the dinosaur so we could see how and why it stood on its own. Some of us needed to do some trimming so it would stand up! Then we disassembled the creature into the five individual pieces so we could color and decorate it. 

Finished!

Dr. Seuss

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss! Because his birthday was last week, during March we'll have a large display of his books on top of the shelves. How well do you think you know his books? I took pictures of details on several of the covers. Can you name the books that they come from? Answers in the comment section, please! The winner will get a package of colored fish - I can't promise they'll be Red Fish or Blue Fish, but there will definitely be more than One Fish, Two Fish!

Green

After the snowy and cold winter we've have had, I thought it might be nice for NHCS StoryCrafters to see a little spring color! So we read St. Patrick's Day, by noted nonfiction writer Gail Gibbons, and Green by Laura Vaccaro Seeger. The second book featured shades of green and their color names. Also, each page had a small cut-out that impacted the artwork on the following page. It was interesting to watch one hole on a page turn into something very different on the next page. I love this simple picture book! Here's the video - watch for the cut-outs!

After the books, we made a spring bookmark to go along with NHCS's current One Book/One School program. We decorated green paint cards with tiny drawings, designs, and words, all the while discussing the many different color and color names for green. Then we punched a whole in the top and threaded our choice of green ribbon through it to mark the place in our books. 

Today's StoryCrafters session sure put me in the mood for Spring!

Marty Kelley

Yesterday afternoon, I saw NH author Marty Kelley give a talk to New Hampton Community School's third, fourth, and fifth graders about what it's like to write and illustrate books. I have read most of his picture books, but I was very interested in hearing him talk about how long and hard he had to work to write and illustrate his first chapter book, Fame, fortune, and the bran muffins of doom. If you want to read all about Marty Kelley's talk, check out Mr. McCann's Fourth Grade blog post here. If you want to view the book trailer for Fame, fortune, and the bran muffins of doom, or read the first chapter, links are here, on the main character's blog page. And if you want to read Marty Kelley's new book, I bought it and it's here - in our library! Well, it's not really here - someone borrowed it as soon as we opened the doors this morning! But we have it now in our collection, so call us and we'll save it for you!

Dr. Seuss Week

Sure, I knew it was Read Across America Week at NHCS and that the theme of the week was Dr. Seuss and his work. Imagine my surprise, though, to find that today was Hat Day at NHCS! And I had brought both The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins and Daisy Head Mayzie to read. And our craft? A 'Cat in the Hat' Hat! It surely was my lucky day!

Raw materials for hats were paper plates, red construction paper, repurposed computer paper, glue sticks, and tape - lots of tape! Students were given free reign to construct their own hats, knowing that it needed to have a brim and have a tall red and white striped crown. One of the biggest challenges was getting the tall red cyclinder attached to the white paper plate brim. There were several different methods, and they all worked!

 I love what kids can do with a little imagination and book for inspiration!

Fifth Grade Book Projects: Mysteries!

NHCS Fifth Graders - it's March and time for a new Book Project for Mrs. Downing! Here at the library, we have on display several of our most recent mysteries - and someone is always available to help you find more! If you would like to use your computer to check on titles from home or school, look in the sidebar (over there --> ) for the link to our online catalog.

Have a good time reading this genre - it's one of my favorites! Hope I see you at the Library!

A Good Read: The Beginner's Guide to Running Away From Home

If you're planning to run away, the first thing you need is a reason, and this book outlines some. The new baby, early bedtimes, your mom ruined your whole life. It suggests places to run away to. It tells you what to pack and how to pack it. It tells you how to write a note before you leave.

Imagine your parents' faces when they read it. If it looks like they're about to burst into tears, you'll know your note is perfect. 

The Beginner's Guide to Running Away From Home by Jennifer Huget is illustrated by Red Nis. This is a very good story, full of bravery and suspense. And the illustrations are fabulous! The illustrator built all the characters, then set them up in settings with real objects, and photographed them. It's a very unique and interesting way to illustrate a book!

Even if you're not planning to run away from home, I think you'll enjoy this book. It's in the library, in the picture book section, with a spine label that says H for Huget.