Toddler Story Time: Snowy Days

Texas doesn't get much snow, but it is fun to think of what fun we could have when the temperature dips below freezing!

The books we read today:
The First Snow by David Christina

 The Snowman Storybook by Raymond Briggs

 One Snowy Night  by Nick Butterworth

The songs we shared today:
"Walking in the Air" (from "The Snowman")



"Snow Song" (from Thomas and Friends)

"Little Snowflake" by Super Simple Songs

Stay warm and snuggle up with a book this week! Until next time!

If you are in need of books for gifts, please shop at Blue Willow Bookstore (14532 Memorial Dr) and mention "Meadow Wood" to help us raise money for the Meadow Wood Library.

Toddler Storytime: Holidays are coming!

Can you believe it is December? That holiday feeling is in the air, even though it is not very cold this week! I just love the anticipation and joy that children share during the holiday season.  What better way to experience that with your child than with a great holiday book? 

Today's books:
 Little Miss Spider: A Christmas Wish by David Kirk

 llama llama holiday drama by Anna Dewdney (also found on We Give Books online.)

 Bear Stays Up for Christmas by Karma Wilson

Today's songs:


"Let you light twinkle" - Click "Browse", then click on "Topic", and then "Winter Holidays" (Under Holidays) to find Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood: "Let your light twinkle" song.

Need more books to read? Here are a couple more to check out from The Children's Book Review blog.




Please support the MWE Holiday Book Fair at Blue Willow December 9-13! You can find lots of great reads there, and the proceeds will go to support new books at Meadow Wood!
Until next time, my little readers!

Toddler Story Time: Family means...Hugs

Thanksgiving is not too far away. And when I think of Thanksgiving, I think of family, and when I think of family, I think of HUGS!

It is National Picture Book Month and National Young Reader's Week! Enjoy a free book from the One More Story website each day this week.

The books we read today were:
 How to babysit a Grandpa  by Jean Reagan - read to us by our W.A.T.C.H. Dog Bernie McCabe (grandpa of Mac K. in 4th grade), which was a special treat!

 Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear by Michael Hague - we had such fun acting out Teddy Bear's day!

 How do you hug a porcupine? by Laurie Isop (Spoiler alert: Very carefully!!!)

 Time for a Hug by Phillis Gershator - we all practiced giving our best "I Love You!" hugs as we went through this bunny's day!

 A Book of Hugs by Dave Ross - did you know there is a hug for everything? Even hugging like an octopus?

We sang a silly song today with Miss Nina called "John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt", and it was so much fun to sing it soft and loud!

Next week will be a Book Fair Story Time! Until then, keep reading!

Toddler Story Time: Picture Book Month

November is National Picture Book Month!
Picture books are still some of my most favorite pieces of literature to read! They can touch your heart, make you laugh, make you cry, and are SO MUCH FUN to read out loud!

Here are the titles I read today for Toddler Story Time:
 Chu's Day by Neil Gaiman

 I want my hat back by Jon Klassen

 That is NOT a good idea! by Mo Willems

 Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld

 Swim! Swim! by Lerch

 This is not my hat by Jon Klassen

I had so much fun reading today!
If you need help finding more great books to read with your kids, check out the School Library Journal list of Best Books 2012 and then come to MWE next week for Mrs. Lewis' picks!
Until then, keep reading!

Pumpkin Contest 2013

There were 70 entries that we divided into 20 categories with first, second, and third place winners. Great Job everyone! Click here to see close-ups of all the pumpkin characters!

Happy Halloween Fun!

Here's a little spooky fun for your Halloween ...


"Monster Mash"


"Creeper" (A Mincraft Parody based on "Thriller" by Michael Jackson)

Toddle Story Time: Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween to all my little ghosts and ghouls! What spooky fun we had at Story Time today!



We read some fun Halloween stories:
 Two Little Witches by Harriet Ziefert - we counted everything fun about Halloween night!

 There was an Old Lady who swallowed a Bat! by Lucille Colandro - We really don't know why!

 H is for Haunted House by Tanya Lee Stone - thanks to We Give Books for the digital edition! You can find Goodnight Goon there too!

 Where the Wild Things are by Maurice Sendak - Read by the author on Barnes & Noble Online Storytime

We also played along with The Wiggles and learned "Incy Wincy Spider" finger game.
Keep it spooky until next time!

Do Gooder Day Celebration

Fifteen third, fourth, and fifth graders completed the challenge to "Do Good" in your community!  We celebrated their efforts with games, treats, and Dork Diary goodies in the library!  Keep it up girls! Doing Good is always a good idea!

Thanks to Dork Diaries Publisher for the great prizes! See more about the Do Gooder Day Campaign at http://www.dorkdiaries.com/dorkdogooder/ !

Toddler Story Time: Pumpkins

Do you see what I see all over my neighborhood? PUMPKINS!

 

(pictuer from http://www.calloways.com/texas-best-pumpkins-and-gourds)

Our books today were all about pumpkins and the places we find them!
The books we read were:
How big could your pumpkin grow? by Wendell Minor (ebook version available on www.wegivebooks.org.

pumpkins by ken robbins

Barn Dance by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault (video from "Reading Rainbow")


The songs and videos we watched were:
"Alpha Pigs Pumpkin game" from "Super Why"
"Five Little Pumpkins" by Miss Nina
We played "Carve It" on abcya.com to make a virtual Jack-o-lantern!
Then we created one of our own using shapes and markers!
Make sure to get your pumpkins ready for Halloween next week!

Toddler Story Time: Dinosaurs

Did you know October is International Dinosaur Month? There are so many fascinating things about dinosaurs! While we waited for friends we looked through some BIG books about these BIG creatures!

There are SO MANY great books about dinosaurs, so I picked out a few fun ones for us to share:
 Gigantic: How big were the dinosaurs? by Patrick O'Brien - REALLY big!!!!

 Skippyjon Jones and the Big Bones by Judith Schachner - we used the copy on We Give Books. (To view books on We Give Book, create a free account, and you will be helping give books to children across the world every time you read one!)

 Dinosaur Cousins by Bernard Most - many dinosaurs seem like familiar animals we know today!

 My Dinosaur by Mark Alan Weatherby

 I wonder why: Dinosaurs by Judy Allen and Tudor Humphries - we read a few questions and answers, but really I think it just made us think of more things we wanted to know about dinosaurs!

The new songs and videos we watched today:
"The More We Get Together" by Miss Nina - we were doing such a great job singing, that I thought it would be fun to add more hand motions!  Thanks Miss Nina!
Skippyjon Jones and the Big Bones webisode
"We are the dinosaurs" by Laurie Berkner - what a fun song to help us move like a dinosaur

For more dinosaur fun, check out some ideas from the blog Rue lala!

Toddler Story Time: Fall

SO SORRY THIS IS LATE!

This week's theme was the season of Autumn (or Fall). I decided to take advantage of the unusually cooler weather (for Texas) we were having to remind us of the changes happening around us in nature.

The books we read we're:

 Fall is not easy by Marty Kelley. Our favorite part was how the tree's leaves made funny pictures on the tree before turning the right colors!

Animals in Fall by Martha E H Rustad

George Flies South by Simon James. A fun book about a bird who is a little unsure about leaving the nest!

New songs and videos we shared:

Fall:a heart-warming animated short film by Adam Parker http://youtu.be/-yt7hUci82w

Sesame Street song: "Guess the season" http://youtu.be/R_tadm4uaQ4

Husky playing in the leaves http://youtu.be/7xEX-48RHCY

Until next time, my friends! Keep reading!

Toddler Story Time: Trucks

On Thursday, October 3rd, the MWE Primary Grades are invited to participate in the JumpStart "Read for the Record" day, which features the book "Otis" by Loren Long.  So, I decided to take our theme of "trucks" from this little tractor who learns to be a good friend.

The books we read about trucks today were:
 "Otis" by Loren Long

 "Demolition" by Sally Sutton

 "Little Blue Truck" by Alice Schertle

 "Smash! Crash!" by Jon Scieszka on Barnes & Noble Online Story Time

The songs we sang today were:
"The More we Get Together" by Howcast group
"Big Truck" Music Video by Rebbecca Frezza
"The Good Bye Song" by Out of the Box

We also watched a "Bob the Builder" short called "Muck's Train to Trouble" and  we colored an Otis sign to remind us to be a good friend.

Parents....

For additional "Demolition" fun, try the following activities suggested by the Texas 2x2 Book Committee:

• Demolition is a story about reusing materials; it is a lot like 
recycling! Do you recycle at your house? 
• Go build something (blocks, rocks, sand) and then knock it 
down and rebuild. Remember, nothing lasts forever. 
• Next time you take a car ride pay close attention to any 
construction on the road, a building, a garden, or even parks 
and playgrounds.
• Do you have a box, crayons, and scissors? Well, recycle 
that cardboard into just about anything you can imagine. 
Websites: 
http://spoonful.com/crafts/recyclable-projects
http://www.creativegamesforkids.com/design_building.htm

http://thinkgreen.com/recycle-what-detail

Keep on trucking, my friends!  Until next week!

ebooks at MWE

This week students have been learning about 2 sites that provide MW with some wonderful ebooks! Students who were trained came home with instructions on how to access these books on computers, tablets, and phones! Overheard by students looking at ebooks:
"Whoa! This is so cool!"
"Can I stay here and read this some more?"
"Can I read these at home?"
"I love this!  It's so neat!"

Favorite titles were:
from eSebco 
  

from Capstone: (these books will track the words and read aloud the text, too!)

  

More to come about our digital titles next week...