I Went Walking in West Hartford

Will you walk with me?

A long time ago I made a set of animals for my flannel board to go with Sue William's lovely book:   

Years later at the suggestion of my friend/librarian/former blogger, Kari Ann St.Jean, I added black felt to the back of these laminated animals and now, they are better than new.  

I went walking, right here in West Hartford, and what did I see?

...I saw a cow following me. 

I went walking, right here in West Hartford, and what did I see? I saw a cat following me.

I went walking, right here in West Hartford, and what did I see?

a horse...a pig....a duck

and a dog following me

I love this set and it has served me well for more than 25 years.  It also inspired the Dinosaur bucket of I went walking - always a hit at the library.

But we didn't stop at Dinosaurs...we added a supply of bugs for our bucket.  Take a look! I went walking, outside and around the library, and what did I see...whoa!

And then we have the Zoo animals in the bucket - that gets really loud in the library!

I went to the zoo and what did I see?  

I also created an "I went swimming and what did I see?" set of animals for the bucket.  Perfect for summer story times.  You'll have to wait for that photo!  

Alas the snow is melting in Connecticut and taking a walk in the sunshine will soon be a reality.  We'll tell Sue Williams story on the flannel board in story time and the little ones will guess the animals, and make their sounds.  I'll ask if anyone ever saw a cow on their West Hartford street. Sometimes they say yes!  I love it.   Imagination, creativity, books and storytelling - they rock our world.  

Amen ~ Piper & Jane

Counting With Your Preschoolers!

This Old Man is still counting!

This song is truly a classic, finding it's way to the forefront of popularity every decade or so.  It often reminds me of "The Ants go marching" and "London Bridge," songs from my youth.  We can march with the ants, lock people in the tower bridge and do the knick knack, paddywack motions to this great counting song without even thinking.  Second nature!

I published a blog ...Once upon a time... about this book, the flannel board pieces, the song and promised to get the motions on line asap.  The promise was long ago forgotten, til now.  We did this song in Tunes for Tots recently and I realized that many of the mom/tot pairings did not know the motions - so now is the time for all good children's librarians  to review!

Here's a video!  Just published it.  I am a beginner at these Youtube videos.  I think this will help.   Keep singing!

Here'a the link.  Have fun!  Come back soon.  ~ jane

P.S.(Piper Scipt): Here's our previous post on this book

Ten Timid Turtles

Turtle Splash!
Some people just love turtles - my daughter is one of them.  Maybe because an ancient turtle once crossed into our yard to get to the brook out back.  Oh, and Piper loves turtles too!  Of course she can't figure out where they go when they tuck into their shell.  And then...why do they move so slowly...Piper would like to know!

Perhaps I should read Fun Facts About Turtles to Piper.  

But first we'll take a look at Cathryn Falwell"s Turtle Splash! Countdown at the Pond with a few of my flannel friends.  Look!

Oh but there's more!

Yes!  Ten timid turtles bask in the sun and one by one they splash into the pond .  This gentle book, written in verse has clear numerals followed by the written word and the matching number of turtles on the page.  I love this for teaching counting and numbers.  

5

Five

idle turtles

lolling by

the shore.

Polliwogs

swirl by

their log...

Now there are four

4

I haven't had a chance to read this book in story time yet, but I am looking forward to doing the countdown to one last splash and then where do we find the turtles?  Under the water, all 10

Ten

 tired turtles

  settle for

the night.

Sleep tight.  

The final pages are filled with facts on the animals we encounter around the pond throughout the book - butterflies, chickadees, rabbits, deer and more.  This is an excellent bedtime story and no doubt it compliments the Common Core teaching method.  

It will be fun to see the turtles up on the flannel board when I return to regular hours in the library.  But for now, they are quite comfy at my house where Piper and I can keep a close eye on them!  

Oh, one more book!

p.s. good night turtles, good night moon!