What's in an Egg?

It's feeling like Spring, and it will soon be time for new life to come from eggs. We read An Egg is Quiet by Dianna Hutts Aston and looked at all the different sizes, shapes, and colors of eggs. We talked about the many creatures who lay eggs and how some are cared for. Next we read An Extraordinary Egg by Leo Lionni, about three frogs who find what they think is a chicken egg - and what happens when it's not! Our last book was Duck & Goose by Tad Hills. The two birds find a ball that they think is an egg and learn to cooperate and share while they're waiting for it to hatch. 

We decorated a paper egg shape, then cut it to look like it had broken in two. We used a brad to attach the two pieces on the side so the egg could open and close. Then we designed a creature to hide inside the egg. We had lizards, tadpoles, dinosaurs, and snakes. No one made a bird! What clever kids! 

Tweet-tweet!

Have you heard the birds singing in the morning? It's a sign of Spring! Today we read about birds and the nests they make for their eggs. We read Nest by Jorey Hurley, about the year in the life of a bird and Birds by Kevin Henkes, about all the things that different birds have in common. We read a funny Elephant and Piggie book by Mo Willem's book called There Is A Bird on Your Head. And we read parts of Mama Built a Little Nest by Jennifer Ward, about the different kinds of nests that birds can make to raise their babies.

For our craft, we made paper nests by gluing "nesting materials" - yarn, paper scraps, basket filler, pine needles, string, cotton, and more - to a paper plate. Then we colored a bird, gave it some feathers, and added a few paper eggs! Building a nest is tricky to do!

Pancakes!!

We love pancakes, especially in March with Spring maple syrup made from the sap of maple trees. We started with a funny book about Curious George. George loves pancakes too and, when he used up all the maple syrup, he tried to learn how syrup was made. We laughed when Curious George put sap on his pancakes instead of syrup. In the end, George had the sap boiled, and then he had more syrup. When we read If You Give a Pig a Pancake by Laura Numeroff, we all knew what the pig would want next!

Look! Here are our pancakes! Thick, thicker, and thickest brown paper circles were the pancakes that we glued to paper plates, one on top of the other. Some of us added colored blueberries or chocolate chips. A square of yellow paper butter sat on top and some yarn male syrup drizzled over the stack. 

Next we made pancakes with brown clay. It was fun, and sometimes tricky, to try to make the clay as flat as a pancake! 

A Colorful Storytime

Instead of just St. Patrick's Day green, today we read about all colors! We read Lunch by Demise Fleming about Mouse, who had a colorful and messy meal! We read Dog's Colorful Day by Emma Dodd, about a white dog with a black spot. As he went through his day, he contacted more and more spots in very funny ways! In Chameleon, Chameleon by Joy Cowley, we learned about the many moods and colors of a chameleon. Wed watched a video of a real chameleon and were astonished as it changed from one color to the next, like magic!

Then we made our own colorful chameleon by gluing tissue paper squares inside an outline of a chameleon. It was so much fun, we forgot to take photos of the process. But here's a finished product!

Bears, Everywheres!

Yesterday, we read three stories about bears, then added the books to our Bears We Love display. First we read Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson, where Bear slept through his friends' visits, even when they had a party! We read Bear and Chicken by Jannie Ho about Bear's friendship and how Chicken misinterpreted it. Finally, we read Horrible Bear! by Ame Dyckman about a misunderstanding involving a girl, a broken kite, and a Bear who's not horrible after all! 

Then we used paper bags to make a bear's body and paper circles to make his head, snout, ears. Long strips made arms and legs, either straight or cut or folded. Every bear was different!

Some bears even turned out to be mice!

The Best Things About School-Vacation Storytimes

School-vacation Storytimes are often theme-less, and we read old and new favorites.

There are so many different levels of ability and creativity as "older" patrons work with "younger" ones. See this simple paper hand puppet? Everybody folded one and started with the same "base" puppet - but the differences in product came from age, ability, experience, personal preference. 

Sometimes others read their favorite books - and I get to watch the listeners!

And we always have lots of fun at School Vacation Storytimes!

Read Across Newfound

This week, I was invited to Bridgewater-Hebron Village School as part of their annual Read Across Newfound week celebrating books and reading. I was a guest reader in Mrs. McLean's second grade classroom. I read two books to the second graders, both about animals. The Circus Ship by Chris Van Dusen is one of my favorites, based on a true story about a ship full of circus animals that sunk in the North Atlantic. This book is fiction, though, and we talked about what made it so - the funny animals, the humorous story, the characters in the book. Next we read Out of the Woods by Rebecca Bond, also based on a true story from the author's family. It involved humans and animals seeking shelter in a lake, and we briefly talked about the likelihood of such an event happening as depicted in the book. Before I left, I gave each student an animal bookmark to color. The students were a wonderful audience with good insights into each story. Thanks to B-HVS for giving me this outreach opportunity for fun with great kids!

Valentines! ♡

How lucky are we that Valentine's Day was on a Storytime Thursday? We read books about Valentines and love, then made cards and greetings for those we care about. There was lots of busy cutting and glueing going on today! And a bit of dark chocolate for all!

2019 Caldecott Award

The Caldecott Medal is awarded annually by the American Library Association to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children. This year's winner is Hello Lighthouse by Sophie Blackwell. I took this beautifully illustrated book to the NHCS Kindergarten this month and we read it together. 

The book tells the story of a lighthouse keeper and his mission to keep his light lit. Children were surprised and delighted to see that the lighthouse keeper lived in the lighthouse. Several liked the idea that a tender came to the lighthouse regularly to deliver food, mail, and even visitors! Kids noted that the lighthouse keeper and eventually his family took good care of the lighthouse and some were sad when they all had to leave. But everyone agreed that the ending was satisfying and happy. You will have to read Hello Lighthouse yourselves to see why!

January's Storytime Saturday

January's Storytime Saturday was all about winter. We read Jan Brett's newest book, The Snowy Nap, about Hedgie, who wants to stay awake so he won't miss all the winter fun. We also read one of my favorites, Over and Under the Snow by Kate Messner, which shows a child and parent having fun cross-country skiing in the woods where animals are hibernating. This book is full of facts about the ways that woodland animals survive during the cold winter months.

We made snowmen from felt and decorated them with paper and ribbons. With white crayons, we drew snowflakes on white paper, then washed over them with blue watercolor paint. We added shaving cream to baking soda to make a snowy mixture. And, because we read about it in Over and Under the Snow, we watched this video of a fox leaping high into the air to catch his lunch.