Toddler Story Time: Dream Life (March 25 post)

Today felt like a dreamy day... We just finished Spring Break and weather outside is just about perfect! Plus everyone is growing up so fast! We are learning about so many things! 
Who knows what we will be when we are really big!

Stories we shared:
When I was a girl... I dreamed (Read to Me website)

One world, One Day by Barbara Kerley

When I grow up by Al Yankovic

Dreams by Ezra Jack Keats

Songs:
A dream is a wish your heart makes from Disney's Cinderella



One thing I hope every one of my little friends will do when they grow up is KEEP READING great books! 

Toddler Story Time: Cats

I am catching up on posts for my toddler story time from February 18th!

My choice of topic for this week's stories came after taking this picture of our family cat, Luna. Luna loves our feet, especially after we just come out of a nice warm shower! She also loves our shoes, and this night she laid down on my daughter's slippers and crawled as far into them as she possibly could! We love our "crazy cat"!

Which led me to think that there are lots of cat lovers out there with funny stories to share, so why not read about some of them!


Books we read:

 A Cat's Day by Rebecca Rissman

 Cat Tale by Michael Hall

 Chester by Melanie Watt

 Cat Secrets by Jef Czakaj

Songs we sung:

Mickey's Mousekersize: "Minnie the Cat": http://youtu.be/EmQYF1kjj44

"Everybody wants to be a cat": http://youtu.be/JI7cIYcnTRU

Until next time, cozy up with a purring cat and enjoy a good book!

Unwrap a new book to love!

Testing season had hit, and it is so hard to keep students excited about reading through it all! But I love how simply wrapping books from my library shelves creates such excitement! 

My wonderful volunteers wrapped hundreds of books in categories such as "if you like..." Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Magic Tree House, Ivy&Bean, Wonder, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and other popular types of books. Kids pick one from the shelf and wait to unwrap it when they get back to their class. This builds the excitement and enthusiasm. 

I love hearing, "I can't decide!" "I wonder what it will be!" and "Can I pick another one? I loved the last one I unwrapped!"

Toddler Story Time Valentines

Today's story time was all about the special people we love and celebrate on Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day Books:




 The Valentine Contest

We LOVED singing these songs together too!




Enjoy the rest of the week sharing extra hugs and lots of stories to love!
Try some of these activities from Scholastic too! 

Bookworms 2015

Toddler Story Time Bookworm Festival: Dan Santat

THE BOOKWORM FESTIVAL IS THIS SATURDAY, January 31st from 9:30am to 11:30am at Spring Oaks Middle School! I am super excited to get to meet these great authors and hear them speak to the children they write and illustrate for!

Here is the Google Slideshow from this week's Toddler Story Time about Dan Santat!

And here are my Kindergarten friends playing "Musical Chairs" to look at all the wonderful books by our talented authors:




I hope you can join us for a Saturday morning that will be time well-spent!
Until then, keep reading!

Toddler Story Time - Bookworm Illustrators

Authors and Illustrators are my ROCK STARS, so I am so excited that BOOKWORM Festival is only 2 weeks away! I have the prestigious job of picking up some of our guests of honor from their hotel and bringing them to the site of the festival. It is quite fun to talk to authors and find out, that like you, they are real people with real lives and real families! So when authors are willing to spend a morning in our community talking and sharing with our emerging readers and their families, I just can't help but get excited!

Please visit the Bookworm website for the day's schedule.

This week our story time will focus on two of the talented illustrators coming: Deborah Freedman and Dan Hanna.

Deborah Freedman wrote and illustrated:

 Blue Chicken

and

 The story of Fish and Snail

Both stories mix whimsy, friendship, and creativity to make for wonderful stories to share with your favorite little reader.

Dan Hanna is the creator of the character Pout-Pout fish, found in the books by Deborah Diesen. Today we read:

 The Pout-Pout Fish

and 

 The Pout-Pout Fish in the Big-Big Dark

Pout-Pout Fish learns many lessons about never giving up, finding the bright side of the situation, and being a good friend.

Our songs today included:

"The Fish Song" by Fun Songs for Children - make your fishy hand move along with the words!

"Chicken Bop" by StoryBots - you can't help but dance along to this beat!

To see all the songs Miss Nina sings, visit her YouTube Channel here or her website.  She has so many of our favorite songs and she just makes me smile!

Until next time, my friends remember to keep swimming and reading and smiling your days away!