Countdown to 2015 -- December 30, 2014

The Turning of the Year by Bill Martin, Jr.
Let's learn the characteristics of each month of the year!

Calendar by Myra Cohn Livingston
Take a trip through the months with this beautiful poem about the activities of the seasons.

Get ready for New Year's Eve with these fabulous party hats!

Reindeer Games -- December 23, 2014

Froggy Gets Dressed by Jonathan London
Rambunctious Froggy hops out into the snow for a winter frolic but is called back by his mother to put on some necessary articles of clothing.

"I'm Not Santa!" by Jonathan Allen
When Baby Hare mistakes Baby Owl for Santa Claus, it takes a visit from St. Nick himself to straighten things out.

Craft Time was all about this guy...  Rudolph!

Opera To Go! -- December 16, 2014

We had a very special guest at storytime today:  Houston Grand Opera's Miss Sandy joined us as a part of the library's Seasons Readings series!  And we SANG the following books...

Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson
One by one, Bear's friends come to his lair to enjoy snacks and tea.  Through it all, Bear remains asleep... Until a little pepper wakes him up with an ACHOOOOOO!  Will he be sorry he missed the party?

Muncha! Muncha! Muncha! by Candace Fleming
After planting the garden he has dreamed of for years, Mr. McGreely tries to find a way to keep some persistent bunnies from eating all his vegetables.









What a treat to have such a talented presenter with us today!

Para los Ninos: How Children Learn -- December 9, 2014

We love having Miss Tiffany visit from the Children's Museum!  She discussed strategies for helping your child learn based on his/her strengths:

Picture Smart is the ability to perceive the visual and spacial world accurately.
Music Smart means your child is sensitive to rhythm, pitch, melody and tone.
Nature Smart involves an understanding of the natural world of plants and animals, noticing their characteristics and categorizing them.
Self Smart includes having an accurate picture of one's own strengths and limitations, feelings, needs, desires and a capacity for self-discipline.
People Smart is the capacity to perceive and distinguish differences in the moods, intentions, motivations and feelings of others.
Number Smart means your child has an awareness of logical patterns, functions and cause and effect.
Word Smart involves the ability to manipulate the structure, sounds and practical uses of language.
Body Smart includes skills such as coordination, balance, dexterity, strength, flexibility and speed.

Then we read:

Don't Worry Bear by Greg Foley
A caterpillar reassures a worried bear that they will see each other again when the caterpillar emerges from its cocoon.

Ten Black Dots by Donald Crews
A counting book which shows what can be done with ten black dots -- one can make a sun, two a fox's eyes, or eight the wheels of a train!








After our books, it was time for some accompanying activities:

We made these wheels to show how an egg becomes a caterpillar
who builds a cocoon where it transforms into a butterfly!

Let's practice counting and estimation by predicting
how many seeds it will take to outline our hands!

Get Cozy! -- December 2, 2014

Bundle up for the holiday season!

Three Little Kittens by Jerry Pinkney

Careless with their mittens, these three kittens are punished with no pie!  Will they find their mittens?

Snowballs by Lois Ehlert

Put on your mittens, and let's head outside to make a snow family!  What will happen when the sun comes out?

We decorated these awesome mitten ornaments for the craft today!

Let's Talk Turkey -- November 25, 2014

Bear Says Thanks by Karma Wilson
Bear thanks his friends for bringing food dishes to his dinner party and finds a way of sharing something of his own!

The Thankful Book by Todd Parr
There are many things to be thankful for every day...  From underwear to music to bubble baths!










Today, the kiddos got to choose a craft.  They could either make a...

Thankful Banner,

Thankful Turkey (with gratitude feathers!), or...

A Simple Turkey!

Para los Ninos: Math at Home -- November 18, 2014

Thank you, Miss Tiffany, for coming to see us today!  We love having the Children's Museum visit our library.  Miss Tiffany shared strategies to make children aware of the math present all around them:

• Talk Math  -- Use math terms in daily life.  Explore vocabulary such as greater than, less than, addition and subtraction.
• Number Symbols -- Have kids look for street and building numbers, explore signage for phone numbers, dates, etc.
• Number Sense -- Use playing cards to help your child learn basic addition and subtraction.
• Measurement -- Explore measurement and estimation by guessing how much a  container will hold, then testing to see if you were right!
• Money -- Look at coins and discuss their characteristics.  Have your child separate coins by type.
• Sorting and Classifying -- How are objects alike?  Different?  
• Geometry and Patterns -- Identify shapes in the environment.  The sidewalk is made of squares, ice cream is in a cone, a ball is a sphere!
• Graphing -- Get to know members of your family by collecting information and depicting it on a graph.
• Estimation -- Practice your skills in the produce section!  Guess how many items are in your shopping bag or estimate how much a head of lettuce will weigh.

Then we practiced counting as we read...

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

Follow the progress of a hungry little caterpillar as he eats his way through a varied and very large quantity of food until, full at last, he forms a cocoon around himself and goes to sleep...

Five Little Ducks by Ivan  Bates

One by one, five little ducks wander away from their mother until her lonely quack brings them all waddling back!

One of today's math activities was the Pom Pom Toss!  (Try to toss the poms into the yarn circle, then graph how many landed inside vs. outside.)

The next station gave us a chance to make a small, medium and large caterpillar!  We used them to practice measuring.

And finally, we practiced making patterns by creating these super-cool Fruit Loop bracelets! Stylish and delicious!

Bookworms! -- November 4, 2014

The Wonderful Book by Leonid Gore
When various forest animals discover a mysterious object in the woods, they each use it for a different purpose, until a boy reads stories aloud from it, much to the animals' delight!

Lola Loves Stories by Anna McQuinn
Lola loves to hear Daddy read a new library book each night, an activity that spurs her imagination and results in inventive play the next day!

Keep your place with these super-cool Bookworm Bookmarks!

Pumpkin Spice Latte -- October 28, 2014

Let's celebrate the season!

Can You Make a Scary Face? by Jan Thomas
Join the ladybug in a game of pretend...

Pumpkin Trouble by Jan Thomas
When Duck decides to make a jack-o-lantern, he and his friends Pig and Mouse are in for a scary adventure.

Pumpkin Hats created many a photo op for our kiddos at Craft Time!

Monster Madness -- October 14, 2014

Your Pal Mo Willems Presents:  Leonardo the Terrible Monster by Mo Willems

Leonardo is a terrible monster -- he can't seem to frighten anyone. When he discovers the perfect, nervous little boy, will he scare the tuna salad out of him? Or will he think of something better?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Love Monster by Rachel Bright

A googly-eyed misfit struggles to find a place among the adorable and fluffy residents of Cutesville, an effort that compels him to search high, low, and middle-ish to find a friend who will accept him just the way he is.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was great fun to scare Miss Dinah with these spine-tingling
Monster Masks!

 

It's a Bird! It's a Plane! -- October 7, 2014

Little Cloud by Eric Carle
A little cloud becomes all sorts of things -- sheep, an airplane, trees, a hat -- before joining the other clouds to make it rain!

A Plane Goes Ka-Zoom! by Jonathan London
Let's explore all the different kinds of planes!  They make many different sounds and have a number of uses.

Story Time Tower, request approach instruction and landing.
Soar with these airplane magnets for your refrigerator!

Hello, Fall! -- September 30, 2014

Mouse's First Fall by Lauren Thompson
Mouse and Minka experience the delights of nature on a windy autumn day!

The Little Yellow Leaf by Carin Berger
The little yellow leaf is not ready to fall from his tree when autumn comes, but finally, after finding another leaf still on the tree, they let go together.

We created these awesome fall trees at craft time.
Thank you to the Pikadilly Charm blog for this fabulous idea!

It's All Good... -- September 23, 2014

Pete the Cat:  I Love My White Shoes by Eric Litwin
Pete the Cat gets into some colorful adventures when he goes out walking in his white shoes!

Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons by Eric Litwin
Pete the cat loves the colorful buttons on his shirt so much, he sings a song about them.  And even when the buttons begin to pop off -- one by one -- he still finds a reason to sing!

"Buttons come and buttons go..."
This Pete the Cat craft helps us remember, "It's all good!"

Para los Ninos: Raise a Reader -- September 16, 2014

Thank you Miss Gloria from the Children's Museum for visiting with us again today! Hooray! She spoke briefly with our caregivers on the topic of raising a reader.  Ideas to try include:

• Labels -- Label familiar items around your house!
• Puzzles -- Work puzzles with your child, using positional words (top/bottom, above/below, left/right) to help place the pieces.
• Art Projects -- Utilize creative art projects to provide a storytelling tool.
• Manipulatives -- Nested measuring cups, peg boards, shape blocks and other manipulatives help teach reading skills such as putting things in order and grouping by variables.
• Puppets, Stuffed Animals, Flannel Boards and Computer Games -- Help your children learn to tell their own stories through the use of these tools.
• Discover Your World -- Explore museums, zoos, parks, farms, live theatre... Talk about what you see!

Then we read...

The Three Little Pigs by Paul Galdone

A retelling of the fatal episodes in the lives of two foolish pigs and how the third pig managed to avoid the same "pigfalls."

Silly Sally by Audrey Wood

A very silly girl named Sally went to town, walking backwards -- upside down! Along the way she met several friends...

After the stories, we had the chance to make letters out of Play-Doh and go on an Animal Dig (animal figurines hidden in a tub of rice)! For the Make and Take we created these stylish...

"Cat in the Hat" Hats!