Let's Go Fly a Kite!

Spring - time for kites! At Storytime, we read several books with kites in them. In The Wind Blew by Pat Hutchins the wind blew so hard, it took many different items away from the unsuspecting townspeople. When the Wind Blows by Linda Booth Sweeney told a funny story about a boy and his grandmother and their fun with a kite on a windy day. Stuck by Oliver Jeffers was about the process a young boy went through to get his kite out of a tree. And Princess Hyacinth (The Surprising Tale of a Girl Who Floated) by Florence Parry Heide was a wonderful story about a girl who floated and the adventure she had over her castle.

Of course, we made kites as our craft. After decorating with crayon, stickers, and stars, long tails were added with a string to hold on to. And our kites sailed!

Rain, Rain

We've had some rainy and wet days this week, so today we read stories about the rain. One Rainy Day by M. Christina Butler was about a great adventure Little Hedgehog had while trying out his new raincoat, boots, and shiny umbrella. Split! Splat! by Amy Gibson was  funny book about a girl who played outside on a rainy, muddy day. Raindrops Roll by April Pulley Sayre was a beautiful nonfiction picture book with photographs that showed rain in the natural world. Our last book, In the Rain with Baby Duck by Amy Hest, told about Baby Duck who did not like to get wet and his wise Grampa who found a solution to Baby Duck's problem.

Then we made rainsticks from paper towel tubes. We covered the tube with decorated paper, then taped up the bottom. Into the tube, we stuffed some aluminum foil and then poured in bird seed using a "fun" funnel to help with pouring. More tape on the top kept the bird seed inside the tube when we bent them and shook them to hear the "rain" inside.

Some of us wanted a rainstick parade around the library - so we did!

Crazy 8s Club: Glow-in-the-Dark Geometry

Today the Gordon-Nash began a new outreach program with the New Hampton Community School’s After School Program. For the rest of the school year, I will be working Tuesday afternoons with a group of upper elementary students, assisted by Mr. McCann. Together we will be facilitating fun and innovative math activities as part of a library program funded by the Bedtime Math Foundation. This club is called The Crazy 8s Club!

Our problem-solving meeting today involved building plane and solid shapes using styrofoam balls and glowsticks in a darkened classroom. As we worked, we looked for patterns and made predictions about numbers of balls we'd need or had used. 

Then we worked together to make a glow-in-the-dark series of repeating regular polygons, in this case, hexagons.

One fourth grader said he never knew math could be so much fun!

Time for Nests!

On a beautiful spring morning, we read about the change in seasons and how it can affect living creatures. In Bear Wants More by Karma Wilson, Bear wakes up very hungry after his long winter's nap. First the Egg by Laura Vaccaro Seeger showed cut-outs that were one thing on the first page and something else on the next - and the book began and ended with the egg! In Fletcher and the Springtime Blossoms by Julia Rawlinson, Fletcher the fox races around trying to warn his animal friends that it's still winter, when it really is not! And the beautifully illustrated Nest by Jorey Hurley shows, with minimal words, the life cycle of a robin, and like another of our stories, begins and ends with an egg.

From a crumpled paper bag and some leftover Easter grass, each child made a nest, then filled it with baby birds made of paper, with colorful feather wings, pointy beaks and bright googly eyes. Peep! peep!

Books about Bunnies!

The Easter Bunny has come and gone, but there are still lots of stories to read about rabbits, so today we read four. Really Rabbits by Virginia Kroll was about two bunnies, Tulip & Snuggle who escaped from their cage night after night and help their owners with jobs around the house. Listen Buddy by Helen Lester was about a bunny who didn't listen and the trouble that he found because of it! In The Best Place by Susan Meddaugh, a wolf tries to find a better place than the porch he loves. There was a nice message for us all at the end of this fun book! No Bunny's Perfect by  Anna Dewdney was a very good book about manners - for bunnies and for children!

When stories were over, we made our own bunnies - from envelopes! Ears, nose, and whiskers were added, then a spring message or picture was made to put inside! We used stickers and crayons for these secret messages and made them look as spring-like as we could.

Cute bunnies!

"Eggs"cellent Stories

It was a nice warm day when we read these books about eggs, just in time for Easter! Hurry! Hurry! by Eve Bunting showed a hen calling all her barnyard friends to her nest to meet her new chick. It's Quacking Time by Martin Waddell was about a family of ducks patiently waiting for their newest member. In Duck & Goose by Tad Hills, two acquaintances become friends as they wait for their "egg" to hatch. And The Perfect Nest (my favorite!) by Catherine Friend told about Tom the cat trying to lure birds to his nest to lay eggs for his meals!

Next, plain paper eggs for everyone - to color, decorate, and cut.  Inside, a cute chick with a single feather. Open the egg to see! 

 

Here's a link to some good information about eggs - all kinds of eggs! 

An Egg Is Quiet.