In The City

School vacation is this week so we had some "big kids" come to Storytime with their parents or younger siblings. We read stories about the city, then had some craft fun making a city of our own.

Our books were City Dog by Karla Kuskin, about a dog from the city who experiences the country for the first time. In The Bear Ate Your Sandwich by Julia Sarcone-Roach, a dog who told a tall tale involving a missing sandwich. Bear's Day Out by Michael Rosen told about a bear who lives by the sea but longs to explore the city.
Finally, Round Trip by Ann Jonas showed a child's car trip from the country to the city and back home again.

We had several different demonstrated ways to make a city scene, but in the end, everyone chose to make a cityscape in the same way. But some had their own embellishments. Can you see the outside elevator on one of the buildings?

Rawr!!

Yesterday was Dinosaur Day at Storytime! We read fiction and nonfiction about these giant creatures. Dini Dinosaur by  was a funny story about a dinosaur taking a bath. What the Dinosaurs Did Last Night by Refe Tuma was about toy dinosaurs who came to life and made huge messes all over the house while the family slept. In T. Rex by Vivian French, a boy learns interesting facts about dinosaurs while he and his grandfather visit an exhibit at a museum. Our final book, When Dinosaurs Came With Everything by Elise Broach, told of a child's glee at getting a free dinosaur with every purchase or service. Wow!

For our craft, we made our own dinosaur. Green or brown (or both!) papers were collaged onto both sides of a cardstock dinosaur shape, then googly eyes were added. We stood him up on toilet paper roll feet, then attached clothespin spikes to his back. 

RAWR! This was such a successful session that it will be repeated tomorrow as this month's Storytime Saturday!

Happy Heart Day!

Valentine's Day is coming soon so we celebrated it today by reading several stories about the day. Three of the books had a mouse celebrating Valentine's Day - Happy Valentine's Day, Mouse by Laura Numeroff featured the same mouse who wanted a cookie - do you know that book? Mouse's First Valentine by Lauren Thompson was about Mouse watching is big sister make a valentine card. In Little Mouse's Big Valentine by Thacher Hurd, Mouse makes a valentine so big that no one wants it! The Valentine Bears by Eve Bunting, Mrs. Bear wakes Mr. Bear in the middle of their hibernation so they can celebrate the day together. 

At craft time, we made our own valentines with heart tracers, stickers, stamps, and crayons. No two were alike - and we <heart> them all!

STEM Saturday: Hearts & Valentines

At our STEM Saturday today, we investigated hearts - the real ones and the Valentine ones!

We talked about our hearts, and what they do to keep us alive. We felt our heart beating in our chests. Then we listened to another person's heart using a paper towel tube. To amplify the sound, we duct-taped a hollow plastic cup to the tube to make a pretend stethoscope - and it worked. Our last heart experiment involved a feather stuck in a mini-marshmallow. We gently place this on our wrists to see if we could notice the feather moving up and down from the blood pulsing through our veins. Some of us could!

Next, we made predictions about what would happen if we put small candy hearts into hot water and cold water. After we wrote or drew our predictions, we watched for a while as hearts reacted to the hot and cold liquids. What surprised us most is that the color came off the candy and tinted the water, and this happened faster when the water was warmer!

Next, we put water into tall containers and added a little baking soda. After we stirred it up, we added a handful of candy hearts. We watched as they bubbled up a little bit. Then we added some vinegar, and the reaction made the hearts dance up and down in the solution. Afterward, we continued to add more vinegar and sometimes it even bubbled up over the top of the glass!

Finally, we made simple catapults from popsicle sticks, spoons, and rubber bands. We flung conversation hearts all around the Children's Room!

Of course, we ate some candy hearts, too. We ❤ STEM!

Cookies & Cakes

What fun we had reading stories about cakes and cookies! We read A Piece of Cake by Leuyen Pham about Mouse, who tries to deliver a beautiful cake to his friend Little Bird. In The Cow Loves Cookies by Karma Wilson, the farmer feeds expected foods to all the animals - except the cow! The duckling gets a cookie? brings back Mo Willems' pigeon, who now wants a cookie. Our last book was the favorite If You Give A Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff. This week, our Storytime books were so popular, they were borrowed before I could even get a photo!

Our craft was fun, too! We "frosted" an upside-down bowl with tempra paint, and when it dried, we glued on sparkly bits and foam pieces, stuck on stickers, and finally poked holes in the top for straw "candles". Very festive!