Toddler Story Time: Poem Stories

I am in San Antonio enjoying time with my fellow librarians at Texas Library Association's Annual Conference. I left my friend Anna Farris with the task of entertaining my little friends this week with some fun Story Poems!

The books we read were:
 My Shadow by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Monique Felix

 The moon by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Denise Saldutti

 I see the moon and the moon sees me by Jonathan London, illustrated by Peter Fiore

 Wynken, Blynken, and Nod by Eugene Field, illustrated by Susan Jeffers

Toddler Story Time: Dr. Seuss and Girls

Last week we celebrated Dr. Seuss' birthday by reading:

And we sang "Shake my Sillies Out" with Miss Nina. It was a silly fun time!






This week we are celebrating the power of being a girl for Women's History Month! Here are some girls who can teach us a thing or two:

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Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon by Patty Lovell

 My name is not Isabella by Jennifer Fosberry

 The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires

And we sang "You are my sunshine" with Miss Nina because we can all add a little sunshine to each other's lives by being true to ourselves!

Skyping with Authors

I have recently discovered the power of Skype! I think I am going to find as many ways to use it in my library as I possibly can! Skype allows me to connect my students with experts and "real people" that they would not otherwise get to meet. 

I love the excitement I share with the students and teachers when preparing for our Skype time. When I recently told one fourth grader that we were going to Skype with Liesl Shurtliff, author of Rump: The true story behind Rumplestilskin, the girl gasped and said, "Oh, Mrs. Lewis that is going to be AMAZING! I love that book!" I also enjoy listening to the interaction and authentic learning that takes place during the Skype session. It doesn't matter how many times their teachers tell them to reread and edit a paper, when Ridley Pearson tells a group of fifth graders that, they listen!

Two classes of fourth graders recently had the wonderful opportunity to Skype with Liesl Shurtliff (@LieslShurtliff on Twitter). She was so kind to the students, and patient with me as my new Windows 8 laptop app did not want to show the video portion during our chat time, even though it worked perfectly the day before! If you don't know her book, check out the book trailer here:

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This is her first novel, and she talked about how long it took her to get a final draft ready to publish. Students had prepared several great questions, including how she got her idea, how she picked the names for the characters, and what her next book will be.

I also had the chance to Skype with some fifth graders and Ridley Pearson, author of the Peter and the Starcatcher series as well as the Kingdom Keepers series.


Meadow Wood students enjoyed joining in a group Skype chat where Mr. Pearson was talking with 5 classes at the same time! It was great to be able to share this interview with students across the United States in celebration of World Read Aloud Day! He shared the fact that he has a VIP Disney Pass that allows him access to behind the scenes areas, and access to the parks after hours so he can accurately portray the feeling of an abandoned theme park. He says he has seen parts of the rides move when they shouldn't be moving! (Could Disney Parks really  be haunted?) He was so enthusiastic about his writing and encouraged the students to build their writing skills. The take away tips he gave the students were, "Don't turn anything in unless you have edited it first." and "Keep a journal to write down ALL of your ideas in."

I can't wait to set up another Skype session soon! It is such a valuable tool! Teachers: check out Skype and Skype in the Classroom to get connected today!

Toddler Story Time: Cowboys

Howdy, Ya'll!! It's almost Go Western Day here in Houston! Time to get your cowboy hat and cowboy boots dusted off and ready to RODEO! Yee-Haw!

We read lots of books about Cowpoke today:

 Cowboy Small by Lois Lenski was read to us by Davy Jay Sparrow 

 Armadillo Rodeo by Jan Brett takes place in Texas!

 Armadilly Chili by Helen Ketteman was dee-licious!

This is my new favorite Josh Turner (*sigh*) song, "Alligator Stroll" from 
the Sandra Boynton book Frog Trouble:


All this talk of cowboys gives me a hankering for some Bar-B-Q!! 
Until next time, keep reading!

Toddler Story Time: BUGS!

Disney's "Ugly Bug Ball" was one of my favorite fun songs to belt out when my brother, sister, and I would sit and watch Sing-a-long videos on TV. And with our weather starting to warm up, we are starting to see some more creepy crawlies outside. So today I thought we would shrink ourselves down and play around with some of these smallest of small critters. 
What does the world look like from their point of view? What would it be like to fly or crawl like they do? Let's read and find out!

Our books from today:
 Bugtown Boogie by Warren Hanson - performed by Clint Holmes and Kelly Clinton on the website "Read to Me" 

 Step Gently Out by Helen Frost and Rick Lieder

  Bugs! by David T. Greenberg

 Bean Thirteen by Matthew McEllicott


 The Icky Bug Counting Book by Jerry Pallotta

The songs we sung today were:
"Shoo fly, don't bother me" 
and "Itsy Bitsy Spider" by Miss Nina

Keep your eyes out for our buggy friends this week as you play outside or help mom and dad in the garden! You never know what creatures you might find, and what fun they might be having!
Until next time, keep reading!

Toddler Story Time: Valentine's Day

I can't believe that I have been doing Toddler Story Time for a year now! This time last year was our very first community session, and it has been something I look forward to every week! Thanks to all my little friends and their moms, dads, grandmas, and caregivers for joining me for stories, music, and fun every week!
This week I found books about LOVE, and all of them have bears, because who doesn't LOVE bears!
The books we read today were:
 I Love you, Daddy by Jillian Harker

 I Love you, Mommy by Jillian Harker

 Love Songs of the Little Bear by Margaret Wise Brown

 Love is a handful of honey by Giles Andrea

The songs we watched and sang today were:
Give your heart a Valentine by Fizzy's Lunch on PBS Kids
The More We Get Together by Miss Nina
You have my heart with Miss Nina and Amelia Robinson
The Goodbye Song from Out of the Box

It is also Random Acts of Kindness Week, so be sure to be kind to one another! One great activity to do with your child is to send an electronic Valentine to a patient at Texas Children's Hospital by clicking here. What a wonderful way to share some love!

Inaugural Bookworm Festival 2014

Guess who I got to drive from the hotel to the Bookworm Festival? That's right!  It's Judith Viorst, the author of Alexander and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day! And that was just the beginning to a very enjoyable morning with some fantastic authors and illustrators!

Over 300 children and adults attended the first ever Bookworm Festival at Pine Shadows Elementary. First Judith Viorst shared many stories about her writing, her ideas, and how children and adults experience many of the same feelings from day to day.

Then three hilarious men shared their adventures in writing:

Bob Shea (Dinosaur vs. series), and team of Adam Rubin and Daniel Salmieri (Dragons love tacos)

 

Adam and Daniel talked about the inspiration for their book Dragons love tacos - a statue of a dragon holding a taco that Adam's dad had on his desk. Adam also gave advice to anyone who gets stuck when trying to think of an idea, "go take a walk!" Bob Shea showed how to draw Dinosaur, and said that to do your best drawing you have to make sound effects too! He also said he is talking to PBS about creating a show for PBS kids! How fun is that!? These guys were a lot of fun, just like their books!

Then three ladies talked to the creative teams of the future, our Bookworm kids!

Judith Viorst, Gwendolyn Zepeda, and Harper Paris

Children were asked to submit questions for the authors, and they asked some good ones! We found out that all these authors have new books coming out soon, all of them like to find quiet time by themselves to write, and that giving themselves an attainable goal for each writing session was important. Gwendolyn is the Poet Laureate of Houston, and is asked to write poems during her two year term for strangers she encounters in Houston. Harper Paris is writing a series of books for young readers about two children to travel to various places around the world and have to solve a mystery connected to that location. It sounds like a perfect series for students who loved the Magic Treehouse series!

Then they were whisked away to the library where boys and girls could have their books autographed by each of the authors and illustrators! I got the copies of the books I purchased for Meadow Wood autographed as well, and had a chance to share our students' enthusiasm and excitement over their books.

 Adam and Daniel signed Secret Pizza Party

 Harper Paris signed Greetings from Somewhere: The Mystery of the Gold Coin

  

Bob Shea signed Unicorn thinks he's pretty great, Dinosaur vs. the Library, and Don't eat your food!

And Judith Viorst signed 2 books from her new Lulu series.

It was a fantastic day for young readers, and I look forward to next year's event!