Happy Thanksgiving

Library Holiday Hours:
Wed., 10/27 Close at 6pm
Thur., 10/28 Closed
Fri., 10/29 Closed
Sat., 10/30 Normal hours resume

Opening Song: The More We Get Together 

*We sing and clap to our opening song.  All Stillwater Public Library story times start with this song and the children learn that song means story time is starting.

Book: The Perfect Thanksgiving by Eileen Spinelli

Song: We Eat Turkey (tune: Are you sleeping?)

We eat turkey, we eat turkey
Oh so good, oh so good
Always on Thanksgiving, always on Thanksgiving
Yum, yum, yum
yum, yum, yum

Mashed potatoes, mashed potatoes

Oh so good, oh so good
Always on Thanksgiving, always on Thanksgiving
Yum, yum, yum
yum, yum, yum

*Add your own favorite Thanksgiving feast foods.

Book: Run, Turkey, Run! by Diane Mayr

Flannelboard: Five little turkeys
5 little turkeys standing by the door,
one waddled off, and then there were 4.
4 little turkeys under a tree,
one waddled off, and then there were 3.
3 little turkeys with nothing to do,
one waddled off, and then there were 2.
2 little turkeys in the noon day sun,
one waddled off, and then there were 1.
1 little turkeys better run away,
For soon will come Thanksgiving Day.


Book: I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie by Allison Jackson

Craft: Turkey hats.  Using a brown piece of construction paper, cut a strip that will circle around the child's head.  Add a turkey face to the front and feathers in the back.

Beyond Storytime: Looking for an alternate perspective on Thanksgiving Day and its representation in today's culture? Check out this commentary by Debbie Reese (post on Nov 7, 2013).

Other books to checkout:  
Gobble, Gobble by Cathryn Falwell
This is the Turkey by Abby Levine
The Very First Thanksgiving Day by Rhonda Gowler Greene

Toddler Opposites

Toddler Time is on Thursday at 9:30am and 10:30am and geared towards little ones age 12 months to 36 months.  What we did at Toddler Time:

Enter the Storytime Room and say hello to our doves.
Get your name written on a shape to put on our flannel board to show who is here today
*I am trying out keeping the names on the wall and asking the child their name.  This should help limit the temptation to grab lots of name cards plus it gives them practice telling an adult their name. :)

Start with our welcome songs

Sing "Mary Had a Little Lamb" aka song of the month!

Sing *opposite* songs -
Itsy Bitsy Spider/ Giant Big Spider
This is big/ this is small

Read Yes by Jez Alborough

Sing songs-
Row row row your boat (fast/slow, high, low)
Giddy up (fast/slow)

Read Opposites, Kaleidoscope Book which is kept with our Storytime books

Shakers - shake: fast/ slow, high/ low, quite/ loud, in front/ behind, stop/go

Everyone is then welcomed to stay and play with our baskets of books, toys, and stuffed animals.

Early Literacy Tip
Books about opposites are a great way to introduce new concepts, and the library has lots of opposite books! But kids really learn by doing! Acting out opposites helps them understand their meaning.
Understanding differences is the first step to being able to recognize and understand the differences in how the letters look. Try shapes and then move on to letters. 

Birds Storytime

Opening Song: The More We Get Together 

*We sing and clap to our opening song.  All Stillwater Public Library story times start with this song and the children learn that song means story time is starting.

Book: Albert the Albatross by Syd Hoff

Fingerplay: Two Little Birds
Two little black* birds... siting on a hill
One named Jack... one named Jill
Fly away Jack... fly away Jill
Come back Jack... come back Jill
*can use a variety of colors

Book: Whose Chick are You? by Nancy Tafuri

Song: Chicks on the farm (sung to the tune of Wheels on the Bus)
The chicks on the farm go cheep, cheep, cheep....
The hens on the farm go cluck, cluck, cluck....
The ducks on the farm go quack, quack, quack....
The geese on the farm go honk, honk, honk....
The roosters goes cock-a-doodle-doo...
    ....All around the barn

Book: Little Green by Keith Baker

Craft: The children made bird feeders using cereal-o's strung on a pipe cleaner that was then shaped into a circle and hung with a string.
Other types of bird feeders include:  http://www.ehow.com/info_7747006_homemade-bird-feeders-craft-kids.html

Beyond Storytime: http://web4.audubon.org/educate/educators/younger_children.html


Other books to checkout:  
Seven Hungry Babies by Candace Fleming
Birds by Kevin Henkes
The Happy Owls by Celestino Piatti
General bird books can be found in 598 section of the nonfiction books.     

Toddler Time, Nov 14

Toddler Time is on Thursday at 9:30am and 10:30am and geared towards little ones age 12 months to 36 months.  What we did at Toddler Time:

Enter the Storytime Room and say hello to our doves.
Get your name written on a shape to put on our flannel board to show who is here today

Start with our welcome songs

Sing "Mary Had a Little Lamb" aka song of the month!

Sing songs

Read A Fawn in the Grass by Joanne Ryder
*We shortened the story based on the attention of the group. This is a good book to start noticing animals in nature.

Flannel Board: I spy with my little eye...
... animal who's big, brown and furry and who loves honey (bear)
... animal who's long and green and slithers on his stomach (snake)
... animal who stays up at night and says 'whoo' (owl)
... animal who has a big, bushy tail and who loves to eat nuts (squirrel)
*I spy games can be played anywhere and at anytime- a great way to help build vocabulary and engage children in the world around them

Sing Songs

Read Wake Up, Big Barn! by Suzanne Tanner Chitwood
*Rhyming text and animal sounds entertain younger children, while older children can look closer to figure out what type of material and objects were used to make the pictures.

Made lots of noise with our shakers, including singing along with the shaking song


Everyone is then welcomed to stay and play with our baskets of books, toys, and stuffed animals.


Early Literacy Tip
When you say animal sounds with your child, what your child is really learning is the sounds WE say in our language! This will help them become a good reader because they'll need to hear all those sounds in order to sound out words when they read. Talking with your child will help them get ready to read!  (Practice: Speaking)

Forest Animal Storytime

Opening Song: The More We Get Together 

*We sing and clap to our opening song.  All Stillwater Public Library story times start with this song and the children learn that song means story time is starting.

Book: A Fawn in the Grass by Joanne Ryder

Flannel Board: I spy with my little eye...
... animal who's big, brown and furry and who loves honey (bear)
... animal who's long and green and slithers on his stomach (snake)
... animal who's white and has long ears (rabbit)
... animal who's small and brown and has quills on its back (porcupine) 
... animal who stays up at night and says 'whoo' (owl)
... animal who has a big, bushy tail and who loves to eat nuts (squirrel)

Book: One Magical Morning by Claire Freedman

Song:  Bear Went Over the Mountain

Book:  The Happy Hedgehog Band by Martin Waddell

Craft: The children made a hedgehog by gluing on brown construction paper spines to a hedgehog body.

Beyond Storytime: http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/animals/creaturefeature/

Other books to checkout:  
Porcupining: A Prickly Love Story by Lisa Wheeler
Forest Bright/ Forest Night by Jennifer Ward
Bedtime in the Forest by Kazuo Iwamura
At the Edge of the Woods: A Counting Book by Cynthia Cotten
Nonfiction books about forest animals can be found throughout the 500's. Ask your librarian to help find books about about your favorite forest animal.

Tuesday Movie Night

Tuesday Movie Night continues with a PG rated film that shows a young girl working her way to the National Spelling Bee competition. This movie is apart of our Dewey Decimal Theater and highlights the 400s section.  The 400s are the language section.

Popcorn and water provided.  Movie starts at 6:30pm on Nov 12th in the auditorium.

Fall Leaves Fall storytime

 I think everyone remembered to change back their clocks as we had great groups of kids at Monday storytimes!

Opening Song: The More We Get Together

*We sing and clap to our opening song.  All Stillwater Public Library story times start with this song and the children learn that song means story time is starting.

Book: Fall Leaves Fall! by Zoe Hall

Rhyme: Four Little Leaves
Four little leaves hanging from a tree,
Looking lovely as can be.
Whoosh went the wind and one leaf said,
"I'll meet you on the ground. I'm the color red."

Three little leaves hanging from a tree,
Looking lovely as can be.
Whoosh went the wind and another fell down.
This little leaf was the color brown.

Two little leaves hanging from a tree,
Looking lovely as can be.
Whoosh went the wind. Oh my, it was cold!
Another leaf fell: it was the color gold.

One little leaf hanging from a tree,
Looking lovely as can be.
Whoosh went the wind and it started to sway.
But it was still green, so it had to stay.

Book: Leaves by David Ezra Stein

Song: Leaves Come Falling Down (tune: Shoo Fly)
Red leaves,
Come falling down.
Orange leaves,
Come falling down.
Brown leaves,
Come falling down.
Show us autumn's come to town.

Book:  Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert

Craft: Autumn wreath. Using a paper plate the children glued on leaves and squirrels and tied a string to hang the wreath.

Beyond Storytime: http://www.abchomepreschool.com/Crafts/LeafCrafts.htm

Other books to checkout:     
A is for Autumn by Robert Maass
Leaves! Leaves! Leaves! by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace
Autumn Leaves by Ken Robbins 

Clifford Halloween Party

Hi! My name is Emily Elizabeth (but you may know me as Ms Elizabeth).  My red dog Clifford and I had a great time with the Toddlers on Halloween 2013.

Toddler Time is on Thursday at 9:30am and 10:30am and geared towards little ones age 12 months to 36 months.  *The 9:30 session tends to be much smaller so if you have a child who is shy or unsure about being in a new place this may be a better option.

What we did at Toddler Time:

Enter the Storytime Room and say hello to our doves.
Get your name written on a shape to put on our flannel board to show who is here today
Start with our welcome songs
Sing "Old McDonald" aka song of the month!
Sing songs such as Itsy Bitsy Spider
Read Clifford the Big Red Dog by Norman Bridwell
Sing more songs and dance around
Read/ Picture walked through Clifford's First Halloween by Norman Bridwell

I think Clifford has his eyes on a pile of treats!

For our Clifford Party we tossed bean bags into Clifford's dog house, got out the shakers, and played with the toys.

Early Literacy Tip
The more children know and understand about their world, the more background knowledge they will be able to bring to the books they read. This helps them become good readers because what they already know gives them context for the new ideas that they read, and makes it easier to make sense out of what's on the page. Talking while you play with your child starts to build their understanding. Example- "Oh look the ball can't roll because it's stuck in a little hole. Balls can only roll when the ground is flat and smooth." (Practice: Playing)