By Tara Lazar, illustrated by Ross MacDonald Detective Library showed up for this one: This book is brilliant! “As a Private I, I’m used to his type–numbers. They’re always stuck in a problem. But I knew this 7 fella. He was odd.” Yes, most of that goes right over the children’s head, but as an… More SEVEN ATE NINE
Look at Miss Library dancing as a ballerina…(totally not me, but I convinced at least a few of the children – hahahah): When I was a child, our family went to the Nutcracker every year. I did not know there was a story until I was much older, which is why I love this book.… More THE NUTCRACKER by Susanna Davidson, illustrated by Anna Luraschi
It was raining in the library too: The text builds upon itself, and the children are always surprised when the flea bites the mouse and everything unfolds into pure fun: Retelling the story: “Snoring Granny”: Granny was “baking” a pumpkin pie: For my afternoon class we made “napping houses”, cut out the characters from the… More THE NAPPING HOUSE by Audrey Wood, Illustrated by Don Wood
This book not only has wonderful rhymes, but the vocabulary is remarkable. I just love the amount of words in this book that a far from everyday words, but are used in perfect ease in this story. What a fantastic way to introduce children to new words. Our broom is looking pretty heavy…. Oh no….… More ROOM ON THE BROOM by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Axel Scheffler
I use sounds from Spotify to add to this story. A fire alarm, the sound of a fire engine, the sound of a dog barking and the sound of glass breaking (when he uses his ax to break the window). It really seems to pull the children into the story. They especially love to follow… More FRED THE FIREFIGHTER by Felicity Brooks, Illustrated by Jo Litchfield
A Caldecott Medal book from 1996. It seemed like a fun pick for “police week”. Safety tips… We decided to write up our own safety tips: We watched police cars on the projector: October smells: We made police officer badges, and solved a crime during my after school class: Another Beatrix approved book…. For ideas… More OFFICER BUCKLE AND GLORIA by Peggy Rathmann
Illustrated by Gabhor Utomo. Yes, another Jack and the Beanstalk story. I still have a “Jack” “climbing down the beanstalk”, and the Giant looking down in the library. The children love it, they want to know everything. So of course I have to read Jack and the Beanstalk….again… but it is a different version than… More FEE, FI, FO, FUM…AGAIN!
By Lois Ehlert Another Beatrix approved book! Such a beautifully illustrated book: There is no better way to review the stages of a butterfly than THE BUTTERFLY SONG(I promise your children will LOVE it!): Eggs: Caterpillars (eating green leaves): Chrysalis: They look just like these don’t they? 😉 Our butterflies finally hatch, let their wings… More WAITING FOR WINGS…
Mother Goose flew in on her big goose to fill in for her sister, Miss Library, this week. (Miss Library went to Hawaii to surf). Mother Goose introduced the children to some of her many geese: The illustrations in this book are so beautiful: So many good stories and rhymes! Mother Goose gave the children… More MOTHER GOOSE AND FRIENDS by Ruth Sanderson
By Frank Asch Every day should be EARTH DAY right? We listen to birds and frogs from a recording when we get to this page: What an amazing gift when we get a rainbow! We play with our earth, our earth helps us grow, and she sings to us! Pollution and garbage are sad: The… More THE EARTH AND I
By Janet Schulman, illustrated by Linda Davick Did you know that Beatrix and the Easter Bunny are best friends? The children were able to see the Easter Bunny (on the projector): It is fun to look for the hidden eggs in this story. Can you find the two hidden eggs on the following pages? Hahah… More 10 EASTER EGG HUNTERS – A HOLIDAY COUNTING BOOK
PIRATES GO TO SCHOOL by Corinne Demas illustrated by John Manders The children were met at the door by “Captain Library” and asked to “walk the plank”(over sharks) into the library: They were met with more sharks (on the projector) when they got into the library: This is a cute and funny book. The pirates… More YO HO HO, WE’RE SO COOL, WE ARE PIRATES AND WE LOVE SCHOOL!
By Pat Hutchins Mmmmmm… can you smell the cookies? This book is a wonderful way to practice counting for the younger children and for practicing math for the older children. It also has a wonderful theme of sharing throughout the book. Do the cookies smell good? 6 cookies on two plates: Doorbell sound( Spotify): The… More THE DOORBELL RANG…
It was ON TOP OF SPAGHETTI all covered with cheese…. Written and illustrated by Paul Brett Johnson. Sometimes you just have to be silly…. This book takes the old classic song and just makes it silly fun. The children love it, and it is a great way to teach them the song. I turned the… More ACHOO…ON NO! WE LOST OUR POOR MEATBALL!
We had such a fun Dr. Seuss week. How do you not love these t-shirts all of the children received? We kicked everything off with a Dr. Seuss parade! We had “wear stripes and/or your hat day”, Wacky Wednesday, green eggs and ham day (wear green) and crazy socks day (Fox in Socks): We had… More “WHY FIT IN WHEN YOU WERE BORN TO STAND OUT!” -DR. SEUSS
By Anita Jeram This is a sweet, beautiful illustrated book. Perfect for “love” week. The children got very concerned about the lost bunny: And are SO happy about this: Who will you whisper “I love you” to? After the story we all acted like bunnies with the help of this song: Sleeping bunnies… “Hop little… More BUNNY, MY HONEY
This week, all of the students worked on part of a collaborative dragon for the Chinese New Year, which we will be learning about next week. So we read about dragons this week! THE PAPER BAG PRINCESS by Robert Munch, Illustrated by Michael Martchenko and IF I HAD A DRAGON by Tom and Amanda Ellery.… More Dragon Fun in the Library…
What does a bad mood look like or feel like? We stomped our feet too! We tried to shake it off too… Grumpy underpants? Hahah – you know the children love this page. Then we all take a deep breath. Reading always makes Miss Library feel better! What do you do when you are feeling… More GRUMPY PANTS
By Margaret Wise Brown During this busy time, this story is always calming and focuses on the wonder of Christmas. I love how these illustrations challenge the “traditional” Jesus, Mary and Joseph, and so beautiful. The children really love to play with this nativity set. This is what was playing on the projector: Super secret… More A CHILD IS BORN
By Anna Dewdney Make sure to watch until the end – where you will get to say hi to Moses! 🙂 I am going to admit I can relate to Llama, llama. I sometimes find it hard to wait, and have had meltdowns too. Hahah – we probably all have! This is a great book… More LLAMA LLAMA HOLIDAY DRAMA
By Leslea Newman, illustrated by Kyrsten Brooker We had so much fun learning all about Hanukkah this week. This book is a clever story about a runway dreidel similar to The Night Before Christmas. It has wonderful rhymes and colorful illustrations. I dear friend lent me one of her menorah’s – how cute is this?… More RUNAWAY DREIDEL!
Henny Penny by Paul Galdone This book is so wonderful for preschool. Just getting the children to repeat the names of the characters is so great for their speech. It is also repetitive, which helps the children remember the story. Even nonsensical rhyming is helpful for emerging readers and for language. What does it feel… More THE SKY IS FALLING!!
by Mercer Mayer Haven’t we all been afraid of a monsters at some point in our lives? I wonder if Mercer Mayer knew what was in my head when I was a child? These illustrations are the best. But what I really love about this book is the power this little boy gains over the… More THERE ARE MONSTERS EVERYWHERE
by Linda Hayward, for POLICE WEEK in the library. We had fun putting on “our safety vests” and trying to direct traffic in the library: We also thought about what mode of transportation we would like to use if we were police officers: This part of the book always gets their attention, they all want… More A Day in the Life of a Police Officer…
By Lauren Thompson and Buket Erdogan We are all so excited to be back in the library this year! I seriously think B the Book Bunny might be the happiest. He loves all of the attention from the children. Mouse’s First Day is a colorful book about all the things that mouse finds in a… More MOUSE’S FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL
Bunny Bus by Ammi-Joan Paquette, Illustrated by Lesley Green Withrow This Easter book has colorful pictures, and some nice rhyming words for the children to listen for. It is an easy book to incorporate some physical activities to go with it. During the week before Easter, Easter egg hunts and lots of excitement, it is… More Hop on the BUNNY BUS!
For Dr. Seuss week! We love to CELEBRATE READING with Dr. Seuss week! MONDAY: We started the week off with a parade. The Transitional Kindergarten class made a wonderful “birthday cake” for Dr. Seuss during their maker space time in the classroom. To see the parade go here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CLMnEszH8–/ Look at all of the green… More GREEN EGGS AND HAM
Mrs. Claus, Miss Library’s sister, was at school this week to read to the children! It gave Miss Library some much needed time to Christmas shop. Mrs. Claus read a book based on a true story. The book was Santa’s Stuck by Rhonda Gowler Greene, illustrated by Henry Cole. Mrs. Claus said it really did… More Mrs. Claus!
You can’t catch me. I’m the Gingerbread Man! Why do I love this book so much? Well to start with, it is just fun and engaging, and the children love it. There are also so many teachable components that can come out of this book. The first one is repeating and memorizing phrases. This is… More RUN, RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN!
Please say Please! Penguin’s Guide to Manners by Margery Cuyler, Illustrated by Will Hillenbrand. What better time to talk about manners than right before we all sit down to a Thanksgiving dinner? I like this book, because not only is it funny, but it gives the children a chance to participate. I usually change out… More Please Pass the Bananas!!