Miss Becca's Storytime Mixer

I've been waiting for a few books to come in that I've inter-library loaned specifically for storytime, so I decided this week would be a good time to have another storytime mixer. A storytime mixer is when I read some of my favorite books and also a few brand new books that I think the storytime kids would enjoy. It has also been a very busy couple weeks with the start of Read Across Lawrence for Kids, so a mixer and a simple craft were the perfect remedy.

Miss Becca's Storytime Mixer:

My No, No, No Day! by Rebecca Patterson

I decided to share a recent favorite in our house. The kids and parents were rolling with laughter.

King Bidgood's in the Bathtub by Audrey Wood, illustrated by Don Wood

I remember this book being read to me in grade school. It's rhythmic tone and hilarious pictures continue to capture the imagination of kids today.

Olivia and the Fairy Princesses by Ian Falconer

Love me some Olivia! Other than the first Olivia book, this newest addition to the series is by far my favorite to date!

Press Here by Herve Tullet

After writing about Press Here here, I made a note that it might make a nice read for a future storytime. Press Here is an interactive book that encourages children to be apart of the story by pressing, rubbing, tapping, shaking, and blowing on the book. I stood up to read aloud and had all the kids sitting close to me help with the prompts. I've added pictures of the first few pages, so you'd get the idea. It was a hit!

Press Here Book Craft:

I came across this wonderful dot collage idea inspired from the Press Here book featured on Share & Remember and thought it was so creative! Using Stacy's idea of a dot collage with color coding labels, the storytime kids made their very own mini interactive dot books.

Materials used: colored cardstock/construction paper, white printing paper, color coding labels, scissors, stapler, and a sharpie.

Before storytime, I halved a stack of white printing paper. Enough for 4 sheets per book for 35 kids.

I halved red, green, yellow, and blue cardstock and construction paper for the covers.

If you want to write on the covers with sharpie, I recommend you do so before you staple them together so that the sharpie doesn't bleed through. I ended up not writing on them and leaving the covers blank.

Take two halves of colored paper and sandwich four halves of white paper.

Staple together to make books! That was the extent of my prep for storytime. 10 minutes tops! Love a quick craft prep.

Using colored label dots we already had on hand from our library's craft supplies, the kids used the sticker dots to make their own interactive Press Here book. If you'd like to do this craft at home or in your library or classroom, you can purchase color coded labels here or at your local office supply store.

Below is the example I made for the kids... Of course they did a much better job than I was able to do.

Since September 19th is "Talk Like a Pirate Day", next week is Pirate Storytime! Aye aye!

68 Tiny Distractions

Those rooms you breezed through just now... they're miniature.

Go ahead, scroll up, and take another looksie.

Incredible, right?

These pictures above are only a sampling of a permanent gallery of miniature rooms called The Thorne Rooms in the Art Institute of Chicago. A few weeks ago, I read The Sixty-Eight Rooms by Marianne Malone, a children's middle grade fiction book about two friends, who discover they can shrink themselves to the size of the miniature Thorne Rooms. It isn't long before they also learn the Thorne Rooms are even more real than they appear.

Have you ever heard of the Thorne Rooms? I never had until reading this book. After I finished The Sixty-Eight Rooms, I immediately loaned Miniature Rooms: The Thorne Rooms at the Art Institute of Chicago, a large book about the rooms and how they came to be, to put their reality to what I had envisioned while reading. Per The Art Institute of Chicago:

"The 68 Thorne Miniature Rooms enable one to glimpse elements of European interiors from the late 13th century to the 1930s and American furnishings from the 17th century to the 1930s. Painstakingly constructed on a scale of one inch to one foot, these fascinating models were conceived by Mrs. James Ward Thorne of Chicago and constructed between 1932 and 1940 by master craftsmen according to her specifications."

The book is truly a fascinating story of Mrs. James Ward Thorne and her love off all things miniature. She collected many of the pieces while traveling abroad in Europe, and commissioned dozens of craftsmen to create rooms to house her findings. The rooms she sketched were inspired by historic castles, museums, and homes of Europe and North America.

 

After flipping through the book I went to The Art Institute of Chicago's website to look through the rooms there, but I also came across Escape From Thorne Mansion, an interactive way to tour the rooms virtually. So fun!

 

Every person I talked to about the Thorne Rooms are unfamiliar with their existence, so I thought I would pass on my indulgence so you could explore their master and magic.

This one is my favorite...

 

South Carolina Ballroom 1775-1835, c. 1940, American, Created by Mrs. James Ward Thorne. Can't you see this room in candle light with a a waltz softly playing? The furniture pushed to the side and people dancing or mingling out on the terrace. A grand southern soiree with a warm breeze and flushed faces.

Then I remember this room is only a little larger than a breadbox....

image sources: thorne rooms:  Tennessee Entrance Hall, 1835, French Dining Room of the Louis XIV Period, 1660-1700, c. 1937, English Reception Room of the Jacobean Period, 1625-55, c. 1937, English Drawing Room of the Georgian period, 1770-1800, c. 1937, French Salon of the Louis XVI Period, c. 1780, c. 1937, French Dining Room of the Louis XIV Period, 1660-1700, c. 1937, New York Parlor, 1850-70, c. 1940,   Virginia Drawing Room, 1754, c. 1940, Massachusetts Bedroom, c. 1801, c. 1940, mrs. thorne, South Carolina Ballroom, 1775-1835, c. 1940

Read Across Lawrence for Kids

 

After months and months of preparation, I'm so excited to share with you a community-wide reading event with the goal of getting kids "on the same page".

For 10 years, the Lawrence Public Library has been hosting a city project, Read Across Lawrence, where everyone reads the same book at the same time. This year will be the very first year we also have a parallel program for kids, Read Across Lawrence for Kids, featuring the highly acclaimed, bohemian fantasy, The Cabinet of Wonders by Marie Rutkoski.

 

Yesterday, over 200 kids attended our Read Across Lawrence Pizza Party Kick-Off to enjoy delicious Wheat State Pizza, pick up a FREE copy of the book, watch the offical book trailer, and learn about the variety of events offered throughout the month of September. Lots and lots of events!

• Cover Art Workshop: Local cut-paper artist Angie Pickman will be hosting an art workshop inspired by the cover art of The Cabinet of Wonders.


• Book Trailer Workshop: Kids will learn how to make a stop-motion claymation movie and create a book trailer for The Cabinet of Wonders to premiere at the Read Across Lawrence for Kids Author Talk Finale


• Tour of the City's Own Cabinet of Wonders: Watkins Museum in Downtown Lawrence is going to grant access to library patrons to explore their attic, which looks like a cabinet of wonders. There will also be a short book discussion and craft activity following the tour.


• Cabinet of Wonders Scavenger Hunt: Using pre-programed GPS devices and clues based on the book, kids can navigate downtown Lawrence in search of hidden treasures.


• Cabinet of Wonders Installation: The library is creating it's own community Cabinet of Wonders!


• Book Club: Our monthly children's book club, The Secret Book Club, will be reading and discussing The Cabinet of Wonders for their September meeting.


• Teens Read it First: Drawing in the Teen Zone for advanced readers copies of Marie Rutkoski's YA novel, The Shadow Society, due out this October.


• Read Across Lawrence for Kids Author Talk Finale: Kids will have the opportunity to virtually meet The Cabinet of Wonders author Marie Rutkoski. The book trailer for The Cabinet of Wonders made by the kids of Lawrence will also premiere. Attendees also have a chance to win a copy of the next book in The Kronos Chronicle Series, The Celestial Globe.

The whole month is chock full of activities that take the reading experience one step further.

 

Along with promoting the events in the library with displays and word-of-mouth, the local teachers and school librarians have been the BIGGEST advocates. Twenty classrooms ranging from 3rd-7th grade have either already started or soon will start reading the book as a part of their language arts curriculum. School librarians have been encouraging their students to read the book and continuously keep them updated on upcoming events. They've been a dream to work with! Gotta love teachers and librarians!

With the kids program underway and the adult Read Across Lawrence program kicking off later this week, I feel confident in saying it's going to be a great month of reading here in Lawrence, Kansas.

Stay tuned...

On The Road Storytime

 

Hello Sunday Storytime readers! Yesterday's storytime theme is a tried and true favorite... Cars, Buses, Trucks, and all things that go on the road!

I have to admit... I was completely uninspired for this weekend's storytime. But when that happens, I'm so very lucky to have my "storytime gurus", a couple co-workers who have been doing storytimes for decades, to turn to. With a few of their suggestions, and combining two of their crafts ideas into one, On The Road Storytime was a hit!

On The Road Storytime Line-up:

 

Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle, illustrated by Jill McElmurry

Being kind and having friends gets you far, especially when you need a helping hand.

 

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! by Mo Willems

Whatever you do, don't let the pigeon drive the bus! The Sunday storytimers never tire of Mo Willems. Who could?

 

Bunnies on the Go by Rick Walton, illustrated by Paige Miglio

A rhyming read-aloud about different modes of transportation.

 

Green Says GO! Flannel Board

I had all the kids stand up and march in place for the different traffic light commands for this interactive flannel board.

Green Says GO!

 

Green Says, "Go!" (march fast in place)

Go! Go! Go!

Yellow says, "Slow." (march slow)

Slow... slow... slow...

And Red says, "Stop!" (freeze stop)

GO! GO! GO! (march fast)

Slow... slow... slow (march slow)

STOP!!! (stop)

 

Toot Toot Beep Beep by Emma Garcia

Love Emma Garcia's books. I like them so much, the craft was inspired by this book.

On The Road Collage Craft:

Our library will be re-locating for a renovation in the very near future. To prepare for the move there has been a cleaning (and purging) of our craft supplies. This craft was inspired by two separate crafts we had leftover supplies from.

It was also inspired by Emma Garcia's collage work in her book Toot Toot Beep Beep.

The materials used for this craft include leftover dye-cut cars, traffic signs, and roads, scraps from the Piet Mondrian craft, wood peices, cardboard scraps, magazine clippings, large sheets of bright blue paper, glue sticks, and scissors. To recreate at home, all you need is some construction paper, magazines, glue and scissors.

First, they kids glued the road down. If you don't have an accucut machine handy, cutting strips of black paper works just as well.

After the road was laid down, various rectangle magazine cut-outs, colored construction paper, and cardboard pieces were glued to the paper to act as a cityscape. These were cut out before storytime, so the younger kids wouldn't have to use scissors.

Paper street signs and cars were also glued on as roadside additions.

Or not.

The majority of the kids chose to not glue their paper car on so that they could move it up and down along the road. In the future, I would love to get a huge sheet of butcher paper some time and assemble a city with the kids. Hmmmm..... I think I see a "Big City Storytime" in the near future...