New Story Time Programs!

Parents/Caregivers,

    As many of you know, we have been trying to decide how to make our Story Time programs more enjoyable for everyone involved.  We have found that the best way to have a successful program is to divide the children into age groups.  By doing this, we will be able to ensure that each child has a happy learning experience at the library during Story Time.  

Peek-a-boo Baby Time
Tuesdays at 10:30 a.m.
At Peek-a-boo Baby Time we will sing songs, read short board books and do bouncing rhyming games that will help your baby learn to love the library from the start.  This program is for ages birth-24 months.

Read, Make & Take Story Time
Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m.
At Read, Make and Take we will read a picture book, sing songs, discuss our book and do a craft that accompanies the story.  This is for ages 3-6 years.

Move and Groove Toddler Time
Thursdays at 10:30 a.m.
Toddlers are meant to move!  On Thursday mornings we will be embracing this.  Join us for action songs, short stories and interactive activities!  Ages 18-36 months.

    Starting on November 1st each child will need to be signed up to attend a Story Time program.  There is limited space so please sign up as soon as you are able.  Signing up does not mean you cannot miss sometimes; this is just so we know how many plan to attend regularly so that we can have the correct amount of snacks and other materials. You may sign your child up by visiting the children's area in the library or by calling us at 256-386-9212.  Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or comments!

    I would like to thank everyone who has been attending our Story Time programs.  It is because of you all that we have been able to grow so much!  Ms. Kay, Ms. Andrea and I are hoping that by adjusting our Story Time programs to fit each specific age group we will be able to help you and your children have the best library experience possible!

-Ms. Kelsey

The Chocolate Chip Ghost Story Time

Everyone had so much fun this week at Story Time!  We sang songs about autumn, pumpkins, and Halloween, watched a puppet show, had a snack, and made our very own puppets!

Our puppet show was called The Chocolate Chip Ghost Story.  Miss Andrea read our story and the children got to watch the puppets act it out.

We found this story last year on the blog Sandy Toes and Popsicles.  Click here to see the full story and free puppet printables!

I just love this story!  It has a very valuable lesson:  listen to your mother because she probably knows what's best!

 

These are the puppets I made to accompany the Chocolate Chip Ghost Story.

"the five little ghosts were all white again to go out haunting and spooking and shouting “BOO!” And they never again ate something they shouldn’t."

For our songs we continued the Autumn/Halloween theme.  Here are the links to three of our favorite fall songs!

Autumn Leaves are Falling Down
by the Learning Station.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPm7JTGIHcA

I'm a Little Scarecrow

by The Kiboomers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suFeMe8ocAc

The Pumpkin Chant
This chant comes from http://wordwindpublishing.blogspot.ca/2014/10/halloween-night-starts-with-halloween.html
You can see it performed by Jbrary here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NaLzr3w6Oo

Ghost Puppet Craft

The children all made ghost puppets to accompany the story we read.  Some used white paper bags and some paper and craft sticks.  

 I would like to thank everyone who came to our Story Time programs this week! 
Hope to see you all next time!

Story Time October 4th-6th, 2016

Thank you everyone who attended Story Time this week!

Our book was What Was I Scared of by Dr. Seuss.

What's a pair of empty green trousers doing standing by itself in the woods? Or riding a bike in Grin-itch?  Or fishing on Roover River?  The narrator certainly doesn't want to find out but wherever he goes, he's haunted by the spooky empty pants. Finally, when the two find themselves hiding from each other in a Snide bush, the terrified narrator realizes, "I was just as strange to him as he was strange to me."  This little Seussian gem, plucked from the back of The Sneetches and Other Stories, shines on it own as it delivers a timeless message about fear and tolerance. 

Since Halloween is right around the corner, we chose to read this spooky story by one our favorite authors.  This fun book was filled with Dr. Seuss's usual rhyming and humor and taught us a beautiful lesson about judging others because they may be different than us.

Speaking of Halloween, we will be having a Halloween Fall Festival on October 25th at 5:30 p.m.  This program is for ages 12 and below.  Everyone is welcome to wear a Halloween costume but this is optional.

 We are going to have so much fun at our Halloween Fall Festival!  We hope to see you there! 

If you have any questions concerning Story Time or the Halloween Fall Festival feel free to stop by the library or call us at 256-386-9212.

Dragons Love Tacos Party!

Last Thursday, September 22nd, we had a Dragons Love Tacos Party for tweens (ages 9-12).

This event was based on the bestselling book Dragons Love Tacos by Adam Rubin.

To kick off the party, everyone decorated sombreros made from paper.  

After all the sombreros were finished, we read the story Dragons Love Tacos.  This hilarious book was filled with fantastic illustrations and funny text that kept everyone listening.  This book is now available to be checked out at the library!  I definitely recommend this book for children of all ages; even adults will appreciate the humor this story has to offer!

After the story was over, we played a dragon/taco trivia game.  Each tween was given a sheet with questions about dragons and tacos.  The person with the most correct won a gift card to Dairy Queen!  We ended up with a tie and had to settle it with an intense game of paper, rock, scissors!

During the trivia game, everyone got to enjoy delicious tacos and cookies!

Overall, our tween Dragons Love Tacos Party was definitely a success! 

Thank you to all the tweens and parents who participated.  

Be sure to come by and see us or check our blog or Facebook page for our next tween event!

Butterfly Story Time

This week at Story Time and Toddler Time, we learned more about the life cycle of butterflies!

On Wednesday at Story Time, we read Elmer and Butterfly by one of our favorite authors David McKee.  This is just one of the numerous Elmer books we have here at the library.

One day, as Elmer is strolling through the jungle, he hears a cry for help. A butterfly has been trapped in a hole by a fallen branch. Elmer rushes to the rescue and frees her with ease. In return she promises to help Elmer should he ever need it. Elmer cannot imagine how a tiny butterfly could ever help him, but he finds out sooner than he expects.

On Thursday at Toddler Time, we read Caterpillar Dance written by Will Grace and illustrated by Scott McBee.  This short, sweet story had very beautiful illustrations and was told in a fun rhyming pattern.

Five sleepy caterpillars--yellow, purple, green, blue, red--
All snuggled up on a soft leaf bed.
Yellow caterpillar wiggle jiggle wiggle free.
Yellow caterpillar, what will you be?

Both of these wonderful books are available to check out today!

Releasing the butterflies!

We released half our butterflies on Wednesday and half on Thursday.

Each day before letting our butterflies go, we talked some about the life cycle a butterfly goes through.  We used this poster to show the children the four different stages of the life cycle.  One child got to come up and put each piece in the spot it belonged on the poster.

 

After we discussed the life cycle of butterflies, we looked at our butterflies in the net and then watched them fly away one by one!

Craft

Both Wednesday and Thursday we made coffee filter butterflies.  The children got one butterfly made from a coffee filter and a pipe cleaner and decorated it with washable markers.  After they were finished, we sprayed the butterflies with water.  This made the colors run to create a design that resembled watercolor painting.  Some of the children took their butterflies home and some chose to leave them at the library to display.

We had a fantastic group of children and parents both Wednesday and Thursday.  We would like to thank all of you who were able to be here!  We truly appreciate all the support we get for these programs.

Story Time and Toddler Time are open to the public; everyone is welcome!  We would love to have you and your children join us next week!

Story Time is on Wednesday mornings at 10:30 a.m. for ages 3-6.

Toddler Time is on Thursday mornings at 10:30 a.m. for ages 0-3.

 

Today at the library we are celebrating National Read a Book Day!

There is no better way to celebrate than to stop by the library and check out a new book!

Here are a few of our many new arrivals in the children's library.

For one young boy, it’s a perfect summer day to spend at the beach with his family. He scours the high tide line for treasures, listens to the swizzling sound of barnacles, and practices walking the plank. But mostly he waits for high tide. Then he’ll be able to swim and dive off the log raft his family is building. While he waits, sea birds and other creatures mirror the family’s behaviors: building and hunting, wading and eating. At long last the tide arrives, and human and animal alike savor the water.

Mr. and Mrs. Watson have a pig named Mercy.  Mercy is a porcine wonder.  One night, Mercy hears a noise.  An unlikely thief soon discovers, crime doesn't pay.  Not when there is a very large pig involved.

Failing to get the attention of her busy father, a lonely girl turns back to a fantastic world for friendship and adventure. It’s her third journey into the enticing realm of kings and emperors, castles and canals, exotic creatures and enchanting landscapes. This time, it will take something truly powerful to persuade her to return home, as a gripping backstory is revealed that will hold readers in its thrall. Caldecott Honor winner Aaron Becker delivers a suspenseful and moving climax to his wordless trilogy, an epic that began with the award-winning Journey and continued with the celebrated follow-up Quest.

A 2016 Caldecott Honor Book and Coretta Scott King (Illustrator) Award Winner
Hailing from the Tremé neighborhood in New Orleans, Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews got his nickname by wielding a trombone twice as long as he was high. A prodigy, he was leading his own band by age six, and today this Grammy-nominated artist headlines the legendary New Orleans Jazz Fest.
Along with esteemed illustrator Bryan Collier, Andrews has created a lively picture book autobiography about how he followed his dream of becoming a musician, despite the odds, until he reached international stardom. Trombone Shorty is a celebration of the rich cultural history of New Orleans and the power of music.

A 2016 Caldecott Medal Winner
Before Winnie-the-Pooh, there was a real bear named Winnie.  In 1914, Harry Colebourn, a veterinarian on his way to tend horses in World War I, followed his heart and rescued a baby bear. He named her Winnie, after his hometown of Winnipeg, and he took the bear to war.  Harry Colebourn's real-life great-granddaughter tells the true story of a remarkable friendship and an even more remarkable journey--from the fields of Canada to a convoy across the ocean to an army base in England...  And finally to the London Zoo, where Winnie made another new friend: a real boy named Christopher Robin.  Here is the remarkable true story of the bear who inspired Winnie-the-Pooh.

 These are just a few of the many wonderful books available today!

Celebrate National Read a Book Day on social media with the hashtag #NationalReadABookDay.   

Learning About Butterflies!

At the beginning of the school year, we began Story Time and Toddler Time with The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.  We also decorated our children's library with colorful butterflies to go along with our theme.  

 On August 11th, we began raising our very own caterpillars! 

Everyone was amazed at how much the caterpillars grew in only one week!

  Around August 18th, our caterpillars began to make their cocoons.  During this time we read Don't Worry Bear by Greg Foley.  This wonderful book showed the children how the caterpillars stay in their cocoons until they have grown enough to become butterflies.

After about two weeks of waiting, our caterpillars all climbed to the tops of the cups and created their little houses.

After each cocoon was complete, they were transferred to a net.   This morning, after only one week of waiting, all the butterflies broke out of their cocoons!

The butterflies love sweet fruit and sugar water.  They get their nutrients from drinking the liquid from the fruits.

Next week during Story Time and Toddler Time, we will release our butterflies outside in our fairy garden.  Story Time is every Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. and Toddler Time is every Thursday at 10:30 a.m.  We will be reading more about butterflies and learning about their life cycle.

You can come by the children's area in the library now to check in on our butterflies!  While you are here, be sure to check out one of our wonderful books about butterflies!

Don't Worry Bear by Greg Foley
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
The Furry Caterpillar by Felicia Law
Butterfly House by Eve Bunting