Toddler Story Time - December 2015

December brought thoughts of the holidays, so we read Christmas stories and sang songs to help us Countdown to Christmas!

Our stories this month were:
 Bear Stays Up by Karma Wilson
 Click, Clack, Ho! Ho! Ho! by Doreen Cronin

And then we listened to "Up on the Housetop" while looking at the wonderful pictures in this book:


We ended our time by making a Christmas paper chain to count down the days until Christmas was here!

Click here to see the December Story Time slides.

Keep reading, friends! I hope you get lots of books as presents this holiday season!

Toddler Story Time - November 2015

In November we focused on being thankful for everything around us, from the trees to our friends to our bodies!

Our stories this month were:
 little tree  by Loren Long

 all of me! a book of thanks by Molly Bang

 Splat says Thank you! 

Our song was "Skinamarink" by Miss Nina:

Click here to see the entire November Story Time slideshow!

Keep reading and being thankful for all the stories we have to share!

Toddler Story Time - October 2015

October was our first monthly Toddler Story Time session. 
We read stories and sang songs to get us ready for Fall in Texas.

Our books were:
 Maple by Lori Nichols

 Little Owl's Night by Divya Srinivasan

Our song was "One Little Owl" from Muffin Songs:

To continue the owl theme we made these super cute owls:

(from Kids Actvities Blog)

Click here for the October Toddler Story Time slides!

Keep reading, friends!

Toddler Story Time 2015 Update

I have loved my Wednesday mornings with my littlest readers joining me in the Meadow Wood Library from the community to share 30 minutes together with stories, songs, and crafts. I have seen many of my little readers move from story time to Pre-K and Kindergarten students at my school. I have seen babies grow into toddlers and then into preschoolers. It has been one of my favorite times of the week for the last 3 years, so it is with much consideration that I am changing our story time schedule.
As of this month, due to scheduling conflicts, MWE Toddler Story Time will only be offered on the first Wednesday of the month from 8:15-8:45 AM. I hope I am able to bring more to these special days, and that more families will be able to join us!

So, in case you missed any of our September Story Times, here are the slides with our books and songs that we shared so far this year:

Mac Barnett Day

Friends to the End

Dot Day

Don and Audrey Wood Day

Kevin Henkes Day

Fall Story Time

As you can see we have been very lucky to have so many great authors visit our local bookstore, Blue Willow Bookstore, here in Houston. I love being able to share their stories with not only my students, but my community as well!

Please remember to keep reading to your children everyday!

Toddler Story Time: Feelings

Sometimes we feel happy. Sometimes we feel sad. Sometimes we feel scared. Sometimes we feel mad. Sometimes it's hard to know exactly how you feel. Which is what Grover and Dave Mathews sing about in this Sesame Street video:



Lots of people use colors to express how they are feeling, like the characters in the new Pixar movie, "Inside Out":



   The same is true for the main character in our first book (a Texas 2x2 book) My Blue is Happy by Jessica Young.

Sometimes colors just make you feel better, like in Mix It Up! by Herve Tullet.

  Sometimes you just feel cranky! Crabby Pants by Julie Gassman 

 Sometimes you just need to color! Skippyjon Jones: color crazy by Judith Schachner (on We Give Books)

And sometimes you just have to sing! "Happy Llama, Sad Llama" by Miss Nina

Keep reading lots of books... happy ones, sad ones, funny ones, silly ones.

Toddler Story Time: Bunnies

Today we read stories with bunnies to help us get ready for the Easter Bunny!

 The Black Rabbit by Phillipa Leathers

 My Blue Bunny Bubbit by Maggie Smith

 Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

 Scuba Bunnies & Cowboy Bunnies 
by Christine Loomis



Songs we danced to:
BunnyTown Hop: we followed the directions and started our time with a great dance session!
Little Bunny Foo Foo from Speakaboos and Miss Nina 

We also used the pieces from this DLTK Rabbit Paper Craft page to make a bunny puppet out of a white paper bag. 

I think everyone is ready for some bouncy fun this weekend! And remember, books make a great Easter Basket present!

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!

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!

Bookworm Festival 2015 - Tad Hills

I am so excited about the wonderful authors and illustrators coming to the Bookworm Festival to visit with our emerging readers! It is on Saturday, January 31 from 9:30-11:30 am (doors open at 9:00) at Spring Oaks Middle School.

TAKE A LOOK AT ALL THESE WONDERFUL AUTHORS AND ILLUSTRATORS!

We will be reading books by many of the authors and illustrators from the festival over the next few weeks. Today we sampled some of the books by TAD HILLS:

          

See what kids have to say about How Rocket learned to Read HERE.

Watch as Tad Hills draws Rocket at the Gaithersburg Book Fest 2014:


We also practiced our ABCs with Miss Nina so we could learn to read with Rocket too!

For more information about the Bookworm Festival 2015, please visit http://bookwormbookfest.com/

Toddler Story Time: Stories we Love!

I love looking through the shelves of any library or bookstore! I almost always come across a book I remember fondly and think, "Wow, I really love this book!" Some are books my parents read with me, some are books I read on my own, and others are books I have read with my own children. 

Books create wonderful memories when shared, and so I am sharing some of my favorite stories with you all today. Some are brand new "favorites" and others are those that have stood the test of time. I hope you enjoy them all and I encourage you to find some of your favorites to share with your children as well!

Stories I love:
 The Book With No Pictures by B.J. Novak is a read-aloud like no other! It was an instant "favorite" when I first heard of the book! Our principal, Ms. Redd, shared this book with our group today!

 Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak is one of my favorite stories to read aloud. Every child has had a moment when they wanted to sail away from the "troubles" at home, and the sound effects and rollicking fun can't be beat! Listen to the author read it to you here (from Barnes and Noble.)

 Brown bear, brown bear, What do you see? by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle is a book that many children learn to "read" on their own simply because the repetition and predictable text are great for developing readers.

 Flip-a-Face Series: big little by SAMi Niko's mom brought his favorite book to read to us today! We got to see BIG and little parts of a face!

If you want to read one of my favorite holiday stories, try this one!  The Hat by Jan Brett is one of my favorite stories to read during the holiday season. It doesn't matter what holiday you celebrate, all friends enjoy the happiness they bring to one another by sharing something special.

Songs and videos:
Read a book today from Between the Lions
Brown Bear Rap by Miss Nina: what a fun way to experience this song in an interactive way!
One Fine Face was a favorite song at our house when my children were little, and Niko's book made me think of it so I had to share!

Until next week, keep reading some special memories with the children you love most!

Toddler Story Time: Thanksgiving

The Kingdom of Reading book fair has come to Meadow Wood this week! And with it there are several great holiday books, including some great Thanksgiving books! I am so thankful for my little reading buddies who come join me every week to read, sing, and share time together. I hope you enjoy time with your family and find many things to be thankful for!

Books:
 Pete the Cat: The first Thanksgiving: you can make this fun Thanksgiving activity to share with your family! 

 llama llama home with mama

 Splat says Thank You!

Suggested title: Pinkalicious: Thanksgiving Helper

Videos:
Miss Nina: "The more we get together"

Kimboo Kids Songs: "Over the river and through the woods"

Out of the Box: "Goodbye Song"

Until later, friends. Be sure to spend time reading with someone you are thankful for in your life!