PK

     HAPPY SUMMER READING!  A BOOK IS A GREAT COMPANION AT HOME, ON THE ROAD, or WHEREVER YOU FIND YOURSELF.  LOVE YOUR PUBLIC LIBRARY AND HAVE FUN!


May 25th - Animals are always fun!  We shared the books Puppies! Puppies! Puppies! by Susan Myers and David Walker and Marc Brown's Arthur's New Puppy.  They showed how well PK has learned to participate at just the right times and how well they can sit and listen. There are also very good at reading the pictures and noticing things the illustrators do to add to the story.  We then sang a polite version of Barry Louis Polisar's song "I Wanna be a dog"  with great PK panting and howling.

                       

May 11th - The story of One Little Chicken was a new way of thinking about what a person should do with something they find.  It shows just the opposite of the rhyme we all knew - "Finders keepers, Losers weepers".  It is a retelling of a story from the Talmud with lovely illustrations.  We followed the book with a song by Nancy Cassidy called "Chicken" and held up letter cards to spell part of the chorus.

May 2nd - It is spring and our thoughts are turning to the garden.  We read about the trouble that bunnies can be in the lively and irresistibly paticipatory story of Muncha! Muncha! Muncha!  by Lois Ehlert.  We talked about what vegetable we love to munch and sang Dave Mallet's "Garden Song" aka "Inch by Inch".

April 27th - Even though the official voting is over, PKers wanted to hear a couple more Black-eyed Susan nominees.

        

April 18th - we read as many as we could since this was the last day we meet before the votes need to be sumitted.  Then we voted.  Dog vs. Cat got two votes.  The other titles that children chose each got one vote:  The Tooth Fairy Wars, Elizabeth the Queen of the Seas, and Lost and Found.

               

April 13th - We continued on with Black-eyed Susan nominees.  Eric Carle  collaborated with other well known illustrators who each picked wrote about and illustrated their favorite animal.  Tooth Fairy Wars was about a boy who didn't want to trade his baby teeth for money, but rather keep them forever. He had to try a lot of  things before he could convince, the magical authorities.

         

April 4th - Two more Black-eyed Susan nominees were enjoyed.  Carnivores by Aaron Reynolds, illustrated by Dan Santat .  Peanut Butter and Cupcake by bent objects project originator Terry Border always gets the same response from listeners - "Why is it called Peanut Butter and Cupcake?!"  (A very good question.)

           

March 30th - It's Black-eyed Susan Time!  For the next several weeks we will be looking at the 15 picture books nominated for the Maryland state kids' choice award.  Which one will be the winner?  We started out with Dog vs. Cat by Chris Gall and Julia's House of Lost Creatures by Ben Hatke, two stories full of imagination by talented author/illustrators.

                   

March 14th - while Elizabeth was away in Britain with intersession, Aldona took over storytelling.  She shared 10 Apples Up On Top by Dr. Seuss (writing as Theo LeSeig (that is Geisel backwards) as he did for books he didn't illustrate). Another funny book What's So Terrible about Swallowing an Apple Seed?  engendered a discussion about siblings and telling the truth

Could a tree grow inside you?

March 9th - Now that we know the original, it was fun to look at a story that carries on the situation with a girl and a wolf.  In Lisa Campbell Ernst's telling, it is the first Red Riding Hood's granddaughter on a bicycle who outsmarts the wolf, but he does get to eat all the muffins he wants.  Little Red Riding Hood: A newfangled prairie tale is a  new way to look at an old story.

And it has a recipe, too.

February 29 - Continuing our look at classic story we enjoyed the story of Little Red Riding Hood with an upside down storytelling doll that has the wolf, Little Red AND the Granny all in one piece.  Then we heard a rhyming version in the little picture book by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers.

Add caption

February 24 - We shared some stories with scary (well, not very) monsters.  First was a telling of The Gunniwolf, a folk story available in several picturebook versions including the classic one by Willemina Harper.  It's good to know that if you just sing, monsters fall asleep.  Then we read Monster's Monster by Patrick McDonnell, another story where the monster isn't just what you would expect.  Keep on reading and bringing in your slips to get the wildebeest to Ghana.

Not quite what they expected

Bring in your slips each Friday so we can fly the wildebeest to Ghana!

February 10th - To celebrate Valentine's day we read The Day it Rained Hearts by Felica Bond.  Cornelia Augustus used the hearts she collected falling out of the sky and thoughtfully made the perfect valentine for each of 4 friends.  We sang Malvina Reynold's classic song "Magic Penny" and made a valentine with a puffy paper heart (could they ever fall from the sky?).

January 13th - We blasted off into space today (in stories).  First was Mousetronaut by Mark Kelly (a real astronaut), beautifully illustrated by C.F.Payne.  Based on a partially true story about mice in space on the shuttle it is a fun story.  Then we went to the realm of the imagination with Nancy Coffelt's Dogs in Space. There are some advantages to space for dogs - no cats, no fleas, but our lonely hounds decide to return to earth for the company.  After some technical difficulties were resolved, we looked a the BrainHive version of Space Cat by Jeff Dinardo and Ken Bowser, a quick fun-to-look-at tale of perseverance and not taking to heart the doubts of others.
       

January 4th, 2016 - Happy New Year!  We looked at the amazing photographs of Teruyuki Komiya in his book Life-Size Zoo.  It contains lots of information and facts about the animals as well as the beautiful photographs.  We had some great practice listening, raising hands and taking turns. And wonderful singing as we sang the Peter, Paul and Mary classic " Going to the Zoo".

December 16th - The book we shared in our short class visit was a Golden book title from 1988 called The Golden Christmas Tree by Jan Wahl, illustrated by Leonard Weisgard.  The beautiful illustrations took us through the decorating of a tree in the woods by the animals that ended with "The beautiful fir stood flickering all night.  And they danced -- they danced -- they danced until it was light of morning."  So we danced, too.

December 7th - We enjoyed an Eric Kimmel book called The Magic Dreidels.  It featured a very helpful Goblin (G is the sound of the week) and a very greedy neighbor and has one of those satisfying endings where the wrongdoer gets caught and punished, but not too much and they stay included in the community.

November 23rd - With Thanksgiving on our minds we sang the text of  One little Two Little Three Little Pilgrims by B.G. Hennessy illustrated by Lynne Cravath.  The book shows the work that both pilgrim and Wampanoag children did in the 1600's to help grow what they needed to eat for a feast as well as every day.

November 18th - We shared the story of Joseph Had a Little Overcoat and then sang the song that inspired Simms Taback to write and illustrate his charming book.  The first page and last week's story inspired us to sing "Up on Grandma's Farm", one of those fun songs that lets you make lots of animal sounds.

November 9th - We each had an animal to add to the scared little boy's bed in the Margaret Read MacDonald version of The Squeaky Door.  There was lots of  participation in the repeating refrains of the story and lots of good animal noises.  Fun!

November 4th - We shared the new book, The Incredible Book-Eating Boy by Oliver Jeffers,  We talked about whether eating books was a good idea (No!), but what a good imagination the author/illustrator has.  Then we watched a silly video about the author.

October 26 - We  celebrated Halloween a bit early by sharing a flannel board version of Hallowhat?  Each child had something to put on the board to complete the riddle.  We also sang the "5 Little Pumpkins" fingerplay and song with a flannel board illustrations - "we're ready for some fun"!

October 21st - We talked about getting dressed and how we all know how to do that now (except for a few pesky shoes and socks).  Today's first story was Shigeo Watanabe's How do I put it on?, told with a bear and some baby clothes and the kids reveled in setting me straight whenever I tried to dress the bear in the wrong way.  We then shared the dressing rhymes in Catch me and kiss me and say it again by Clyde and Wendy Watson.  We ended class time with Jesse Bear what will you wear? by Nancy White Carlstrom, illustrated by Bruce Degen.   This brisk rhyming story follows Jesse from the time he wakes up to the time he goes to bed and, in addition to his clothes, he wears some pretty funny things - for example, rice in his hair, his chair ("'cause I'm stuck in there"), sand on his arm and hand and dreams in his head.







October 9th - Since Community day and the fall break both fell on PK library days,we met on Friday to make up for missing library time.  We shared another classic title, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, one of Eric Carle's great creations. Then we told it again using a puppet and props for the many things the caterpillar ate, with a lot of chewing sound effects and the repeating chorus, "But he was STILL hungry!".  There were even beautiful butterfly wings to add to the hand puppet to show his metamorphosis.  Our PK kids were very clear about the difference between a cocoon and a chrysalis.

"He wasn't a little caterpillar anymore"

September 28th - After hearing the excited commentary about the bugs seen on the way to library, we enjoyed the classic Hand, Hand,  Fingers Thumb by Al Perkins.  Then each child added to the flannel board face of Aiken Drum - "his eyes were blueberries, his eyebrows were string beans, his ears were potatoes, etc." and we all played upon the ladle!

September 14th
We shared Time for School: Help Billy and Benny to Get Ready for School, a fun story about going to school. This book has characters that need to be placed in pockets on each page.  Each PKer had an animal to put in the right place as Billy and Benny bear went through a day of sharing, recess, art, nap, dress-up and snack with the teacher.  After that we sang and did the motions to Wheels on the Bus while looking at the Paul Zelinsky book with moving parts.  Lots of good listening, participating and singing!

 

September 9th
PK came to the library for the first visit of the year.  There is so much to see and talk about!  They shared that the first rule they agreed on in the classroom was LISTEN! , and I allowed as how that was a great thing to do in library as well as life!  We read Maisy Goes to the Library and sang "I know an old Lady who swallowed a fly", just like the Maisy and her friends in the book.  Then we checked out books from the picture book section.  The next visit will be next Monday, September 14th.

WELCOME TO THE 2015-16 SCHOOL YEAR!

PK LIBRARY TIME WILL BE GREEN WEEK MONDAYS FROM 2:15-2:45 AND GOLD WEEK WEDNESDAYS FROM 9:30-10:00.  LET'S GET READING AND SINGING AND PLAYING!

Did you enjoy reading about William and his windmill?   What else did you read this summer?

What would you like to invent?

__________________________________________________________________________
June 2015 - What are we reading?
We talked about our own families and learned that they are all different.  Then we read Todd Parr's Family Book and sang the complete version of Family Tree.

 We had fun with The Great Big Book of Families by Mary Hoffman with great pictures by Ros Asquith- we have lots of kinds of families, too!  And then we sang some of Tom Chapin's Family Tree song.












The characters of many nursery rhymes and classic stories appear in the pages of Each Peach Pear Plum by Allan and Janet Ahlberg, but you have to look close!  The rhyming text was just the thing for National Poetry Month.  We kept up the rhyming by reading and then singing Fiddle-I-Fee Paul Galdone's version of the folk song.  Fun for all!



After reading the Black-eyed Susan titles that worked for PK  over the course of several weeks- Stuck by Oliver Jeffers,  The Day the Crayons Quit by Daywalt, Spike, the Mixed-up Monster by Susan Hood, Lion vs. Rabbit by Alex Latimer, and The Invisible Boy by Trudy Ludwig - PK cast their votes and the winner was- The Day the Crayons Quit!

We had a rousing participatory telling of the famous folktale, The Bremen Town Musicians - and continued our animal noises in the song "Up on Grandpa's (or Grandma's) Farm".  Here's a picture of a statue of our heros as they stack up to scare the robbers.