We learned about bears this week and, as the weather gets colder, I'm about ready to hibernate just like a bear!
Books:
I'm Going to Give You a Bear Hug - Caroline B. Cooney
Chu's Day - Neil Gaiman
We're Going on a Bear Hunt - Michael Rosen
Big Bear, Small Mouse - Karma Wilson*
*I taught the kids the ASL sign for "Big" and "Small", and we signed throughout the book every time it said "big bear" and "small mouse".
New Activities:
1. Grrr, Grrr Went the Big Brown Bear One Day
Grrr, grrr went the big brown bear,
Grr, grrr went the big brown bear one day,
And they all went grrr, grrr, grrr.
BUT...
We know bears go huggy, huggy, hug,
Huggy, huggy, hug, huggy, huggy, hug.
We know bears go huggy, huggy, hug,
They don't go grrr, grrr, grrr.
Source: Jbrary
Repeat Activities:
1. Brown Bear, Brown Bear (from previous Bears storytime)
These are books intended for an older, more mature, audience (young adults). They feature themes and topics that are high interest for this age group while also being low readability (lower reading levels/Lexile Levels). This sets struggling older readers up for reading success.
Lexile 300's:
Alire-Saenz, Benjamin - Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe [HL 380]
Lexile 400's:
Alire-Saenz, Benjamin - The Inexplicable Logic of My Life [HL 450]
Napoli, Donna Jo - Alligator Bayou [HL 430]
Lexile 500's:
Asher, Jay - Thirteen Reasons Why [HL 550]
Blume, Judy - Forever... [HL 590]
Budhos, Marina Tamar - Watched [HL 550]
Cerrito, Angela - The End of the Line [HL 530]
Chapman, Erica - Teach Me to Forget [HL 580]
Colasanti, Susane - So Much Closer [HL 560]
Donnelly, Jennifer - Revolution [HL 560]
Evans, Richard Paul - Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25 [HL 500]
Fisher, Catherine - The Hidden Coronet [HL 580]
Fisher, Catherine - The Lost Heiress [HL 590]
Han, Jenny - It's Not Summer Without You [HL 560]
Jones, Carrie - Captivate [HL 530]
Jordan, Sophie - Firelight [HL 560]
Key, Watt - Dirt Road Home [HL 540]
Kropp, Paul - Caught in the Blizzard [HL 590]
Levithan, David - Another Day [HL 560]
Magoon, Kekla - The Rock and the River [HL 550]
McMann, Lisa - Wake [HL 530]
Napoli, Donna Jo - Storm [HL 520]
Napoli, Donna Jo - The Wager [HL 580]
Nielsen-Fernlund, Susin - Optimists Die First [HL 580]
Perkins, Stephanie - Lola and the Boy Next Door [HL 570]
Peters, Julie Anne - She Loves You, She Loves You Not [HL 510]
Proimos, James - 12 Things To Do Before You Crash and Burn [HL 540]
Rowell, Rainbow - Eleanor & Park [HL 580]
Sepetys, Ruta - Salt to the Sea [HL 560]
Stratton, Allan - Borderline [HL 560]
West, Kasie - P.S. I Like You [HL 570]
Williams, Carol Lynch - Waiting [HL 540]
Lexile 600's:
Armstrong, Kelley - The Awakening [HL 630]
Balog, Cyn - Unnatural Deeds [HL 630]
Brashares, Ann - The Whole Thing Together [HL 670]
Bray, Libba - Beauty Queens [HL 690]
Bray, Libba - Going Bovine [HL 680]
Chibbaro, Julie - Into the Dangerous World [HL 660]
Condie, Ally - Crossed [HL 630]
Condie, Ally - Matched [HL 680]
Cooney, Caroline B. - Janie Face to Face [HL 660]
Couloumbis, Audrey - Not Exactly a Love Story [HL 660]
Draper, Sharon M. - Just Another Hero [HL 660]
Draper, Sharon M. - Panic [HL 610]
Garcia, Kami & Stohl, Margaret - Beautiful Creatures [HL 670]
Gardner, Whitney - You're Welcome, Universe [HL 610]
Grant, Michael - Fear [HL 610]
Han, Jenny - The Summer I Turned Pretty [HL 600]
Hand, Cynthia - The Last Time We Say Goodbye [HL 680]
Hand, Cynthia - Unearthly [HL 600]
Hartinger, Brent - Three Truths and a Lie [HL 670]
Jones, Carrie - Entice [HL 660]
Keplinger, Kody - Run [HL 600]
Konigsberg, Bill - Honestly Ben [HL 660]
Konigsberg, Bill - Openly Straight [HL 680]
Konigsberg, Bill - The Porcupine of Truth [HL 670]
Levithan, David - Every Day [HL 650]
Lunetta, Demitria - Bad Blood [HL 630]
Mead, Richelle - Last Sacrifice [HL 690]
Mills, Emma - This Adventure Ends [HL 630]
Older, Daniel Jose - Shadowshaper [HL 690]
Polisner, Gae - The Memory of Things [HL 680]
Poston, Ashley - Geekerella [HL 660]
Rubin, Lance - Denton Little's Death Date [HL 660]
Rubin, Lance - Denton Little's Still Not Dead [HL 670]
Sanderson, Brandon - The Rithmatist [HL 680]
Schmatz, Pat - Bluefish [HL 600]
Simmons, Kristen - Metaltown [HL 690]
Stiefvater, Maggie - Blue Lily, Lily Blue [HL 690]
Stiefvater, Maggie - The Dream Thieves [HL 690]
Yoon, Nicola - The Sun is Also a Star [HL 650]
Zentner, Jeff - Goodbye Days [HL 620]
Lexile 700's:
Anderson, Laurie Halse - The Impossible Knife of Memory [HL 720]
Bracken, Alexandra - Brightly Woven [HL 760]
Bray, Libba - The Diviners [HL 730]
Bray, Libba - Lair of Dreams [HL 720]
Carson, Rae - The Bitter Kingdom [HL 760]
Carson, Rae - The Crown of Embers [HL 730]
Cashore, Kristin - Bitterblue [HL 790]
Cast, P.C. - Hidden [HL 740]
Clare, Cassandra - City of Bones [HL 710]
Clarke, Cat - The Lost and the Found [HL 720]
Crowley, Cath - Words in Deep Blue [HL 730]
Dashner, James - The Maze Runner [HL 770]
Delaney, Joseph - A New Darkness [HL 770]
Deuker, Carl - Gutless [HL 730]
Duff, Hilary - Devoted [HL 760]
Egan, Catherine - Julia Vanishes [HL 790]
Fortunati, Karen - The Weight of Zero [HL 740]
Gardner, Sally - The Door That Led to Where [HL 710]
Hirsch, Jeff - Black River Falls [HL 700]
Jones, Carrie - Endure [HL 700]
Kaplan, A.E. - Grendel's Guide to Love and War [HL 700]
Kaufman, Sashi - Wired Man and Other Freaks of Nature [HL 790]
Khorana, Aditi - Mirror in the Sky [HL 790]
Klavan, Andrew - Game Over [HL 720]
Klavan, Andrew - Hostage Run [HL 760]
Kontis, Althea - Enchanted [HL 770]
Kontis, Althea - Hero [HL 780]
Kozlowsky, M.P. - Frost [HL 710]
Maas, Sarah J. - Throne of Glass [HL 790]
McManus, Karen M. - One of Us is Lying [HL 730]
Miles, Elizabeth - Envy [HL 740]
Miles, Elizabeth - Eternity [HL 700]
Miller, Lauren - Free to Fall [HL 730]
Niven, Jennifer - Holding Up the Universe [HL 770]
Pearson, Mary E. - The Beauty of Darkness [HL 760]
Pearson, Mary E. - The Heart of Betrayal [HL 780]
Pierce, Tamora - Bloodhound [HL 730]
Powell, Patricia Hruby - Loving vs. Virginia: A Documentary Novel of the Landmark Civil Rights Case [HL 720]
Roth, Veronica - Divergent [HL 700]
Roth, Veronica - Insurgent [HL 710]
Shepard, Sara - Hide and Seek [HL 740]
Shepard, Sara - The Lying Game [HL 730]
Stiefvater, Maggie - The Raven Boys [HL 760]
Stork, Francisco - Marcelo in the Real World [HL 700]
Summerill, Erin - Ever the Hunted [HL 740]
Taylor, Whitney - Definitions of Indefinable Things [HL 730]
Yovanoff, Brenna - The Space Between [HL 760]
Lexile 800's:
Brant, Wendy - Zenn Diagram [HL 800]
With the leaves finally changing and a chill in the air, we talked about trees this week!
Books:
Tap the Magic Tree - Christie Matheson
Green - Laura Vaccaro Seeger
The Busy Tree - Jennifer Ward
Repeat Activities:
1. Five Little Monkeys Swinging in the Tree (from previous Jungle storytime)
New Activities:
1. The Leaves on the Trees (Tune: "Wheels on the Bus")
The leaves on the trees turn orange and red,
Orange and red, orange and red.
The leaves on the trees turn orange and red,
All through the town.
Repeat with:
The leaves on the trees come twirling down
The leaves on the ground go swish, swish, swish
Source: Jbrary
2. Apples in a Bowl
Three red apples in a bowl.
One fell out and started to roll (roll arms),
Where did it go?
It hit my toe! (touch apple to toe),
How many apples in the bowl?
Count down...
Source: I used a couple laminated apples I had on-hand and the Five Strawberries in a bowl rhyme and bowl from a previous Fruits and Vegetables storytime.
3. Bee Behind the Tree
Little Bee, Little Bee, are you behind the red tree?
Source: My library assistant made these GORGEOUS flannel trees and we have a bee that we Velcro behind them. It makes for a beautiful, and fun, hiding game!
This week our topic was pets!
Books:
Children Make Terrible Pets - Peter Brown
Fetch - Jorey Hurley
Hickory Dickory Dog - Alison Murray
Dino - Diego Vaisberg
Repeat Activities:
1. BINGO (from previous Pets storytime)
2. Little Mouse (from previous Letter "M" storytime)*
*and I hid different animals, as well as little mouse, behind the houses
New Activities:
1. "Dear Zoo" by Rod Campbell
This was a flannel of the well-known book by Rod Campbell. Instead of lift-the-flap pages, we had each animal hiding behind their flannel boxes and I lifted them to share what animal the zoo sent me.
2. "Bark, George" by Jules Feiffer
We have this as a flannel but I chose three animals that George "ate" and did it as a puppet show. We have a enormous dog puppet and then I used a mailbox, that we usually use to introduce the letter of the day, to hide the eaten animals inside of. I put the mailbox under the flannel board with the opening facing up. That way I could hide my hand behind the flannel board as I reached "inside" of George to pull out the offending noisy animals.
Last week we learned about Owls. It was not much different than the previous Owl storytime from a few years ago, except for a few new reads, so I am not creating a new post for it. And this week we learned all about pumpkins and Halloween.
Books:
Pete the Cat: Five Little Pumpkins - James Dean
Monster Trouble - Lane Frederickson
Plumply, Dumply Pumpkin - Mary Serfozo
Pumpkin Trouble - Jan Thomas
Repeat Activities:
1. My Little Pumpkin (from previous Halloween storytime)
New Activities:
1. Pumpkin Bread Chant
Pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin, bread,
Pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin, head.
Pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin, pie.
Pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin, eyes.
Pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin, cake,
Pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin, shake.
Pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin, stew,
Pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin, BOO!
Source: Jbrary
2. If You're a Ghost (tune: "If You're Happy and You Know It")
If you're a ghost and you know it, just say BOO,
If you're a ghost and you know it, just say BOO.
If you're a ghost and you know it, and you really want to show it,
If you're a ghost and you know it, just say BOO!
Other verses:
If you're a black cat and you know it, say MEOW
If you're a skeleton and you know it, SHAKE your bones!
Source: Sunflower Storytime
