We had a school tour scheduled for this fall that asked at the last minute for a dedicated storytime with the theme of "Community Helpers" and I came up with a small program for them with some books we had on-hand. This is my regular reminder to be grateful for a library system that keeps the branch locations well-stocked with new and updated children's nonfiction and picture books that can be used (by patrons or staff) on a moment's notice.
All of these were EXCELLENT books, and I was so proud of our library selectors that I could just swoop in and grab them immediately when they were needed.
Officer Buckle and Gloria
Peggy Rathmann
ISBN: 9780399226168
Show Me Community Helpers: My First Picture Encyclopedia
Clint Edwards
ISBN: 9781620659182
Helpers in My Community
Bobbie Kalman
ISBN: 9780778794882
Whose Hands Are These? A Community Helper Guessing Book
Miranda Paul, illustrated by Luciana Powell
ISBN: 9781467752145
Showing posts with label special program. Show all posts
Showing posts with label special program. Show all posts
Friday, December 16, 2016
Special Program Review: Agricultural Nonfiction
This fall, I teamed up with a local historic agricultural museum to work with their volunteers to create a STEAM*-based reading program for kids in K4-3rd grade, to introduce them to basic concepts in natural history, agricultural and farm life, and animal husbandry. We had three programs over the course of the fall, and focused on different topical themes each time.
*Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math
In October we covered harvest and orchards/farm-keeping with "Apples and Pumpkins."
In November we moved on to discussing farm chores and the water cycle with "Pumping Water."
In December we finished with a discussion of farm animals and winter changes "Chickens and Changes."
I'm not going to offer reviews of all of these, but I will specify whether I used them as display/take-home/reference materials (we made bookmarks with the titles listed for the kids to guide later check-outs at the library for further interest or research) or actually read them during the program. Like my storytime, I tried to present at least three books during each program, and managed to get four read each time, which was gratifying.
Apple Farmer Annie, by Monica Wellington
Strega Nona's Harvest, by Tomie dePaola
Pumpkin Cat, by Anne Mortimer
Seed, Sprout, Pumpkin Pie, by Jill Esbaum.
On display, in addition to those books, I had the following:
Picking Apples and Pumpkins, by Hutchings
Apples and Pumpkins, by Rockwell
The Apple Pie Tree, by Zoe Hall
Apple, by McClure
Pumpkins, by Jacqueline Farmer
While I'm not going to give specific reviews for all these (mainly because I'm still trying desperately to catch up from all the fall books I have to cover) I do want to give specific recommendations for a few of them:
Seed, Sprout, Pumpkin Pie is a delightful nonfiction that would be perfect for a storytime program. It's clear, beautifully photographed, and short enough for the youngest audiences. Please use more nonfiction in storytimes and programs: it's really good quality now, and it really begs to be used and brought to caregivers' attentions.
Tap the Magic Tree didn't make the cut as one of the books that I read, because we wanted to focus more on actual naturalist and reality-based representations of nature, but it's a really lovely interactive book in the same vein as the equally delightful but more abstract Press Here, by Herve Tullet. I really enjoy reading this type of book with a small audience or even one-on-one, and watching the child really feel like they're influencing the outcomes of the page-turns.
Pumpkin Jack is one of the best stories about the circle of death and life that I have ever found, and I will recommend it until I am dead myself. It's simple, it's sweet without being treacly or maudlin, and it's beautifully illustrated.
*Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math
In October we covered harvest and orchards/farm-keeping with "Apples and Pumpkins."
In November we moved on to discussing farm chores and the water cycle with "Pumping Water."
In December we finished with a discussion of farm animals and winter changes "Chickens and Changes."
I'm not going to offer reviews of all of these, but I will specify whether I used them as display/take-home/reference materials (we made bookmarks with the titles listed for the kids to guide later check-outs at the library for further interest or research) or actually read them during the program. Like my storytime, I tried to present at least three books during each program, and managed to get four read each time, which was gratifying.
Reading List and Program Books for "Apples and Pumpkins"
During the program, I read the following:Apple Farmer Annie, by Monica Wellington
Strega Nona's Harvest, by Tomie dePaola
Pumpkin Cat, by Anne Mortimer
Seed, Sprout, Pumpkin Pie, by Jill Esbaum.
On display, in addition to those books, I had the following:
Picking Apples and Pumpkins, by Hutchings
Apples and Pumpkins, by Rockwell
The Apple Pie Tree, by Zoe Hall
Apple, by McClure
Pumpkins, by Jacqueline Farmer
Reading List and Program Books for "Pumping Water"
During the program, I read the following:
It's Fall, by Linda Glaser
The Leaves on the Trees, Thom Wiley
Pilgrim Children Had Many Chores, Lem-Tardif
All the Water in the World, by George Ella Lyon
On display, in addition to those books, I had the following:
The Water Cycle, by Purslow
How Did That Get to My House? Water, by Masters
How Things Work in the Yard, by Ernst
Historic Communities: Tools and Gadgets, by Kalman
Awesome Autumn, by Bruce Goldstone
Farming, by Gail Gibbons
Tap the Magic Tree, by Matheson
Reading List and Program books for "Chickens and Changes"
Pumpkin Jack, by Will Hubbell
A Chicken Followed Me Home, by Robin Page
Big Red Barn, by Margaret Wise Brown
On the Farm, a book of poems, by David Elliot
On display, in addition to those books, I had the following:
Working Animals: Farming, by Martin
Hello, Harvest Moon, by Ralph Fletcher
A Chicken's Life, by Nancy Dickmann
Leaf Man, by Lois Ehlert
Fall Leaves, by Loretta Holland
While I'm not going to give specific reviews for all these (mainly because I'm still trying desperately to catch up from all the fall books I have to cover) I do want to give specific recommendations for a few of them:
Seed, Sprout, Pumpkin Pie is a delightful nonfiction that would be perfect for a storytime program. It's clear, beautifully photographed, and short enough for the youngest audiences. Please use more nonfiction in storytimes and programs: it's really good quality now, and it really begs to be used and brought to caregivers' attentions.
Tap the Magic Tree didn't make the cut as one of the books that I read, because we wanted to focus more on actual naturalist and reality-based representations of nature, but it's a really lovely interactive book in the same vein as the equally delightful but more abstract Press Here, by Herve Tullet. I really enjoy reading this type of book with a small audience or even one-on-one, and watching the child really feel like they're influencing the outcomes of the page-turns.
Pumpkin Jack is one of the best stories about the circle of death and life that I have ever found, and I will recommend it until I am dead myself. It's simple, it's sweet without being treacly or maudlin, and it's beautifully illustrated.
Tuesday, May 10, 2016
Tuesday Storytime: Banjo Granny special program (on Monday)
We're closed today, so our "Storytime" was on Monday instead, with a special local guest banjo player. The program was sponsored by a grant from the county, gotten by a local music-appreciation and education society. They selected the main book, and I chose the others to fit the theme, and we had a nice musical interlude in our regular storytime program.
Here Comes Grandma!
Janet Lord, illustrated by Julie Paschkis
ISBN: 0805076662
Vibrant exaggerated environments and an old-fashioned paisley folk-tale grandmother.
I purposefully picked VERY short stories to go along with our feature book this week, because the program involved stopping for a song several times through the book, and that makes it right on the cusp of too long for my tiny kids. This story shares the same plotline and vibrant feeling, but is very short, very snappy, and gets the idea of the storytime across quickly while the late-comers are still filing in.
Banjo Granny
Sara Martin Busse & Jacqueline Briggs Martin, illustrated by Barry Root
ISBN: 9780618336036
Sweet homespun watercolors contrast Granny's epic trek with Owen's idyllic life at home.
Banjo Granny has heard she has a new bluegrass loving banjo desiring grandson, and she packs up her trusty banjo and heads over to see him, across a river, over a mountain, and through a desert. The story begins with "Owen's Song" which we actually sang and learned the end as a group, and then Granny uses the song to soothe the rough turbulent river, to settle the high steep mountain, and tame the wild hot desert - so we sang the song three more times for each of those scenarios - and each time we flip back to little Owen who is impatiently waiting on Granny to arrive. Once she does, we got one more repeat of the song, and then the story concludes pretty quickly after that. I did a coloring sheet with a picture of a banjo and some basic history and construction/playing information, and we called it a success!
Our last story was again a quick one, just to get the kids back into the usual routine after the oddness of having a musical book (and such a very long one) in the middle of the program.
Nana in the City
Lauren Castillo
ISBN: 9780544104433
Blocky wood-print-ish looking scenes full of color and weight show a city in two different lights.
Our narrator is visiting the "busy and loud and scary" city where his Nana lives, and he is not pleased. Nanas should not be in scary places like that. But Nana assures him that the city is extraordinary instead of scary, and he dons a cape (knitted by Nana overnight) and ventures out for her to show him the lovely city she knows. A really good story, and an excellent difference to most which show grandparents in suburbs or country settings, or have all of the characters as city natives. A good simple reminder that visits go both ways, and that people live happily in all sorts of places. Also, very very short, and very clear and easy to read.
Here Comes Grandma!
Janet Lord, illustrated by Julie Paschkis
ISBN: 0805076662
Vibrant exaggerated environments and an old-fashioned paisley folk-tale grandmother.
I purposefully picked VERY short stories to go along with our feature book this week, because the program involved stopping for a song several times through the book, and that makes it right on the cusp of too long for my tiny kids. This story shares the same plotline and vibrant feeling, but is very short, very snappy, and gets the idea of the storytime across quickly while the late-comers are still filing in.
Banjo Granny
Sara Martin Busse & Jacqueline Briggs Martin, illustrated by Barry Root
ISBN: 9780618336036
Sweet homespun watercolors contrast Granny's epic trek with Owen's idyllic life at home.
Banjo Granny has heard she has a new bluegrass loving banjo desiring grandson, and she packs up her trusty banjo and heads over to see him, across a river, over a mountain, and through a desert. The story begins with "Owen's Song" which we actually sang and learned the end as a group, and then Granny uses the song to soothe the rough turbulent river, to settle the high steep mountain, and tame the wild hot desert - so we sang the song three more times for each of those scenarios - and each time we flip back to little Owen who is impatiently waiting on Granny to arrive. Once she does, we got one more repeat of the song, and then the story concludes pretty quickly after that. I did a coloring sheet with a picture of a banjo and some basic history and construction/playing information, and we called it a success!
Our last story was again a quick one, just to get the kids back into the usual routine after the oddness of having a musical book (and such a very long one) in the middle of the program.
Nana in the City
Lauren Castillo
ISBN: 9780544104433
Blocky wood-print-ish looking scenes full of color and weight show a city in two different lights.
Our narrator is visiting the "busy and loud and scary" city where his Nana lives, and he is not pleased. Nanas should not be in scary places like that. But Nana assures him that the city is extraordinary instead of scary, and he dons a cape (knitted by Nana overnight) and ventures out for her to show him the lovely city she knows. A really good story, and an excellent difference to most which show grandparents in suburbs or country settings, or have all of the characters as city natives. A good simple reminder that visits go both ways, and that people live happily in all sorts of places. Also, very very short, and very clear and easy to read.
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