FIZZ, BOOM, READ!

It's International Women's Day!

And I'm creating a blog post to focus on STEAM for young participants in our 2014 summer reading program:

STEAM - Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math are always a part of the library, but right now - it's the focus, big time!  * and we're lovin' it!*  The trend for the past 8-10 years is that GEEK is cool.  Amen!  Many of us in the library sciences field - full of detail, information, technology and literacy got here because we really like STEAM.  (Geek or not, it's what we love)

We're always incorporating learning in our story times and now...well, we're bringing it!  Rockin' it!  And the whole world is making sure that we are reaching our young girls as we spread the math, science, technology, engineering and art to our community.  So, I say...Full STEAM Ahead for International Women's Day!

This summer you will find all sorts of techie specials in our library system.  MaKey MaKey, Squishy Circuits, Goldie Blox, and so much more.

You'll also find me leading the group with techie art projects with school age children, because I just can't resist these sorts of displays around the children's department!

               



 And still there's more...the youngest participants in our Summer Story Times...they need BUBBLES and BOOKS and FLANNELS!  Here's a mini- how-to Fizz, Boom, Read your preschool story times: 

Use bubbles...we all love them.  Make it summer fun.  Kendra has a Hello Bubble song - check it out!  Piper and I will blow bubbles with all of our groups.  (actually, Piper's better at watching bubbles!)  Anyway...moving on to..
Dinosaurs.. are always big!  Yes, I wrote that!  BIG.  And yes, indeed some were little.  I know, I know!    Take a look here for Dinosaur Flannels and more dinosaurs for story telling.  Or let's make some robot flannels - look here @ Library Quine's!

    

Space ships, rocket ships are totally inter-gallactical-ly fantastic! (I wish I did not write that sentence!)  Storytime Katie made some beautiful rocket ships that I plan to flannelize very soon.  Take a look at her post. 

And if you are thinking rocket ships and aliens, please think: Mr Wuffles! by David Wiesner.  A cat, a space ship, aliens and even ants.  I haven't figured out how to share this book in story time, but I love it.  Any ideas?

If you made monster flannels...maybe you can use them as space aliens this summer.  

Or make a set of space aliens in their space ship - just like Katie's! 

I have ants!  Flannel ants, whew!  They work for science and singing!

And I have the science of the bird nest and the baby bird!  In My Nest by Sara Gillingham is a perfect story for little ones.  Click here!

No doubt there is plenty more STEAM if I go through all of my Flannel Board inventory. (math with Pete the Cat and his four groovy buttons! oh yeah!)   Look at your collection through your science safety goggles!  Pair up your flannels with different books.  I strongly suggest checking out the FIZZ, BOOM, READ graphics via the catalog or Google images.  It will spark your thinking!  Or maybe sparkle it!   Hmmm, glitter on my safety goggles?  why didn't I think of that before?  We may post photos, or not!  

P.S. (Piper Script):  More science with Swirl by Swirl, Turtle Splash, from Catch the Possibilities you'll find Butterflies , Oh Dear No Eggs Here features finding eggs on the farm.  Some engineering with Tip Tip Dig Dig - love this book!

...and you can always sing good bye with the song Wave Goodbye Like A Windmill  on the Little Green Music CD: 31 Exciting Earth Songs by The Fun Music Man

Pete the Cat and the Story Stones!

Pete the Cat 
and the Story Stones! 

We're rockin' with a follow-up to our previous Pete the Cat post. 
This summer, my library is offering a Pete the Cat Club.  Two children's librarians will be working together!  In tandem!  This never happens!  We're so excited to present together and have fun with the kids and Eric Litwin's books.  A giant shout out to Harper Collins for providing so many creative options on-line ((((((( Harper Collins )))))))

Today's post is all about how we will use story stones with Pete the Cat.

Here are the story stones I created for Pete the Cat

I Love My White Shoes!

Before I get started - think DIG into READING with story stones!

Rockin' that summer reading theme!

There are a variety of ways to use story stones.  Please keep in mind that these are specific to a particular book although we have the freedom to make the story different - sillier, shorter, longer, sad, cranky - anything we want.  (I know you can run with that)  But for this post - I will try my best to go along with the author.  

These story stones extend the story...so be sure to read the book with the kids before you spread out the story stones.  I prefer spreading them out for discussion and creative thinking.  Sort of like...brainstorming for script writing!  Some people prefer to have the kids pull a stone out of a bag and discuss that stone...or begin sorting them. (if you have dinosaur stones - you can sort by meat-eating, plant-eating, flying, etc.)

Here's a way to get things going:

Who is this story about?  Can you find the story stone to show me the main character?

What's the title of this book?  what does that look like in story stones?

Don't, DON'T, don't look at the stones right now....who remembers the last words in the book?

(okay, look if you have to)  Don't say anything yet...!!  

Our group will have readers and non-readers so this will be interesting.  

How do the sneakers change colors?  will you place those stones in a group?

And will you make a group of the sneakers too.

Now, can you make a pattern, red sneaker with the strawberries and blue sneaker with the ???

Will you do that again and place them in order.  Which color did Pete step into first?  And then second? 

(Of course you could make this a cause and effect display if you put the sneakers on the right side)

Oh, if we want to ask a question in our story...what do we use.  What is that called? 

Does Pete cry in the story?  Is there a stone we can use for that?  Maybe two stones? Or three?

Do you think we can re-tell this story with our story stones?  Would you like to do that?  Let me just say...we'll all have parts.  Really!   We'll share.

Before we do our fancy acting ...I will give you a minute to see if you can place those stones in sequence...you know...which part came first, then second, third and all the way to the end.  Please work with each other, be polite...please try to place them in order on the rug.  

Now, we don't rehearse!  We just go for it.  The story is whatever the story is!  As Pete says: "it's all good!" I plan to have at least two children for each sneaker stone.  That's a singing part - so it helps to have singing buddies.  

The kids holding the "stuff" Pete steps into will need to make some sort of "squelch" or "squish" sound as well as narrate/tell their part.  We all know that sound-making will bring giggles!

Because Pete's sneakers have 4 color changes...4 kids can play Pete's part if needed.  I strongly encourage very silly dance/walking for such a cool cat.  

The question mark gets used a lot - it can be passed person to person or a group of kids can ask (shout??),questions. Flexibility is good here.  Expect random questions to pop up...because we all enjoy getting goofy in our stories!

The "Goodness No" stone is very loud... a group chant for sure!    The stone with "It's all good" can be used many times in the story if you want.  Creativity is a bonus!!  Basically the kids hold the stones as a reminder of their part.  They can use their own words or Eric Litwin's.  Stories will take a curve, get silly by mistake or intentionally, and we laugh.  Better yet, the kids own it.  

It's always fun to introduce the kids to the authors and illustrators of the books they love.  We'll do that with a YouTube video.  Check it out.  It's great!  Our kids will be singing each week of Pete the Cat camp...so I decided they need a name...you guessed it "The Story Stones" !

F.Y.I. regarding the process:  With these story stones - I have asked the kids questions that guide them in both usage of story stones and a re-telling of this particular book.  If I were using a random set of story stones with sun, cloud, trees, cat, dog, house,mouse, boy, girl, baby etc. I would approach this differently.  My questions could be completely open-ended because we'd be creating an original story.  The brainstorming process would include "...and what can you do with that little mouse?"  and " why does he want to go there?"  "what would you do to make the story silly?  How would you do that with the stones?"  Get it?  Got it!  Good.  

Thanks for visiting.  We love comments.  ~ Piper and Jane

Pete the Cat is Groovy on Flannel Friday

Pete the Cat and his Four Groovy Buttons
Hurray for Eric Litwin and James Dean!

Yes! Pete the Cat showed up on my sofa last night.  I glued him today.  He is sitting right there...in that picture...drying!  Can't you tell by his Cool Cat expression?  Oh, and  I've been singing "my but-ens, my but-ens, my four groovy but-ens!" for far too many hours.  FYI:  I started singing "my but-tons", (because the nuns at the Immaculate Conception School taught me to eNUNciate), but when I checked out Harper Collins - Pete's publisher - to practice my groovy singing...I heard but-ens. I needed to switch things up a bit to get "in the groove." (as if anyone says that any longer!) 

All things Pete ...pattern, songs, videos, coloring pages and games are available at Harper Collins - just click here.  I know I added sneakers - I had to.  I just sort of ran with them last night.  I increased the pattern size to 135%.  I added whiskers.  And I backed it all in black felt.  My buttons are all the same because the rather hip tie-dye shirt is quite busy!!  I placed magnets on the back of the buttons because my flannel board is magnetized...love that. 

I plan to "DO THE MATH" with the kids in story time. I will create something similar to the book with the math pages, maybe a graphic for the flannel board or ??

...haven't quite figured it out yet.  But "it's all good" as Pete says!

If you haven't read this story about our hipster cat, the buttons on his favorite shirt pop off, one at a time.  Bummer? Not for Pete.  He doesn't skip a beat.  He'll always have one button!

Pete's shirt does open and yes, he has his belly button.  Uh-huh!  Check it out!

We're going to have a Pete the Cat Club as a three week summer special at the library, so stay tuned for more flannels and some crafts.  Oh yeah!

Thanks for visiting Piper Loves the Library.  And just so you know, Piper does not love Pete the Cat.  We've tried.  Piper has her own BFF cat...Speedo.  You'll meet him someday.  

In the meantime, think like Pete the Cat, don't sweat the small stuff...

rock on with a song and a smile!

Black Cat, Black Cat

What do you see?

Welcome to Piper Loves the Library as we approach Halloween.  Today's post started with the creation of a craft.... that was inspired by a Flannel Friday comment two weeks ago.  I am so sorry that I do not remember who mentioned that for Halloween stories they do" Black Cat, Black Cat, what do you see?"  You're brilliant!  You turned the light on to hundreds of possibilities for me...Butterfly, Butterfly what do you see?  Unicorn, Unicorn, what do you see?!!  Honestly - brilliant!!  Thank you.   

So I made  a black cat puppet. It is a paper cat on-a-paint-stirrer-puppet!  It does indeed resemble Pete the Cat.  Pete's popularity continues to grow ...just about everywhere!  Piper and I love Pete and we will be reading one of Eric Litwin's Pete the Cat books this coming Monday night for pajama story time.  And we'll make this craft. 

Here's a photo of the back of the paper puppet,  taped with painters tape, (have I mentioned that I have a Sherwin Williams Paint Store next door to the library?)

I knew right away that this cool cat needed to be made again, and this time with felt!  So here is the flannel board version:

I just love him!!

Now, I have absolutely no idea why I decided that everything the black cat would see should begin with the letter S but something sparked this in my brain!!  Why S?  Not a clue!  I only know that I didn't want to make this black cat Halloween exclusive. (yet I guess I was thinking seasonal stuff!!)

Black Cat, Black Cat what did you see? 

I saw a snake looking at me!

a squirrel

and...a spider!  

I am looking forward to the craft...we make our share of paint-stirrer-stick puppets in Pajama Story Time but this one feels extra special to me.  I think this black cat's personality is a combination of Pete the Cat and The Pigeon.  Really!  Take a look!

Hey!  How about we read a book?

Or maybe bake?  Look, a lemon bar recipe.  I like lemon bars.

and we could sit on the couch and read about Daisy while they bake.  

Wait!  Are you drinking chai?  

Are you taking a break without me?

Do you have a lemon bar in your mouth???

Help your children build their story telling, narrative skills.  Get out your smart phone, take some photos and have some fun!  They can review the pics and tell the story over and over!  (to daddy, to grammy, to auntie Dorothy) 

Please do not let Piper know that this happened at home today.  She will be sad.