Adventurs as Annie in EGYPT

This was the last Magic Tree House Adventures session until the school year picks up again in the fall. I now feel that I have a small understanding of how a teacher feels on their last day of school. Going to miss those kids. We didn't have a crazy 50+ group like in the past few sessions. It was graduation weekend and being a university town, everything is affected by what's going on with the school. But we did have our tried and true core of 30 kids in attendance.

Off we went to the marvelous and mysterious Ancient Egypt...

Where Are We? Who Are They

Just like in the previous Magic Tree House Adventure sessions, our first activity is "Where Are We? Who Are They?", a slide show guessing game about the place and time period we're visiting for the day. We discussed the pyramids, famous pharaohs, the culture, the religion, mummies, tomb raiders, King Tut's discovery, and so much more. If you'd like the full presentation outline, please feel free to email me.

Mummy Wrap Race

I have to start by saying this did not go as expected.. but the kids still had fun nonetheless.

We divided the group into teams of 5. 1 person was the mummy, 2 were the mummifiers, and 2 were the excavators. We handed out 2 rolls of toilet paper to each mummifer. With the mummies and the mummifiers in each group standing and the excavators sitting we timed how long it took for the mummifiers to wrap their mummy. The toilet paper was thin and kept tearing, but the kids were laughing and didn't seem to care. The first group to finishing wrapping their mummy won. Then the excavators/tomb robbers were next. Their job was to see own fast they could unwrap the mummy carefully with as few toilet paper tears as possible.

Masks, Cartouches and Gold!

There were so many inspiring crafts for Ancient Egypt, that my partner"Jack" and I decided to make three, so we set up three rotating craft stations around the room in which the kids had 10 minutes at each station.

Cartouche Creations: There was a cartouche station where the kids learned about how to write their name in hieroglyphics. A co-worker found some awesome Egyptian stamps downstairs that we used as well.

Golden Jewels: We made necklaces of "lapis" and "gold" (my favorite of the crafts) were they strung together spray-painted rigatoni noddles on elastic string. I'm pretty sure all the kids ended up wearing their necklaces around.

Mummy Masks: The third station, was King Tut mask making. We pre-made and cut out the masks by tracing an image of King Tut's mask from a book and enlarging it onto 11x14 paper using our printer. After the copies were printed, we cut the eyes and shape out. All the kids had to do was color! The below image of King Tutankhamun's burial mask was left up on the projector from "Where Are We? Who Are They?", so the kids could use it as a guide. We also encouraged them to color their masks in whichever way inspired them. This idea was inspired by Imagine Explore Create.

The crafts were a big hit! They liked making them so much that they didn't want to stop when time was up. They finally let up on their crafting when I let their parents in to pick them up. As they were leaving, they were allowed to select as many Ancient Egypt books to check out from a table display in the back.

Among them were a couple books we used for the craft ideas:

The Ancient Egyptians by Fiona McDonald

The Egyptians by Ruth Thomson

Magic Tree House Adventure Journal #4:

As always, along with whatever the kids made that day and library books based on the theme, they also took home their Magic Tree House Adventure Journal. Here's an abbreviated peak at what's inside. Continuing the learning and the fun.

5 minutes after the kids were supposed to be released from the session they insisted on staying! We had to invite the parents and caregivers to come in the auditorium to collect their children.

I'll take that as as sign that they liked it.

Looking forward to continuing the adventures in the fall!

image sources: pyramids, king tut

Waiting For Wings Storytime

Last week, I came across this article in the Lawrence Journal World about an early abundance of caterpillars this year, which will naturally lead to an abundance of butterflies in the Lawrence area.

It was my inspiration behind last Sunday's caterpillar and butterfly storytime...

Waiting For Wings Storytime Line-up:

Waiting for Wings by Lois Ehlert

A colorful and educational book about the butterfly life cycle.

Butterfly Life Cycle Flannel Board

Adapted from  In the Children's Room

First comes a butterfly and lays an egg

And out comes a caterpillar with oh so many legs.

See the caterpillar spin and spin,

A little chrysalis to sleep in,

Now we wait and see, shhh...

When out of the cocoon, my oh my,

There comes a beautiful butterfly.

 

The Caterpillow Fight by Sam McBratney, illustrated by Jill Barton

A goofy book about a group of rowdy caterpillars.

Caterpillar, Caterpillar Hand Rhyme

Adapted from Jane Johnson

Caterpillar, Caterpillar brown and furry,

(Hold hand out with pointer finger out sideways)

Winter's coming and you'd better hurry.

(Move pointer finger in and out)

Find a leaf under witch to creep,

(Hold out other hand flat like a leaf and move caterpillar linger under it)

Spin a chrysalis in which to sleep,

(Spin caterpillar pointer finger around leaf hand, then grab caterpillar finger with leaf hand to make a chrysalis)

And when warm weather comes your way,

(Keep holding caterpillar finger with other hand.)

You'll be a butterfly and fly away!

(Lock thumbs and flap hands upward.)

 

Farfallina & Marcel  by Holly Keller

This is such a darling book and the kids really enjoyed it. Had to find extra copies of Farfallina & Marcel for a few families to take home with them that day.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

We ended storytime with everyone's favorite. I had the kids join in whenever we came to the phrase, "...but he was still hungry!"

Butterfly Crafts:

We made two very similar butterfly crafts. The first one, tissue paper butterfly rings, I thought might be too girly for the boys, so I also had a magazine butterfly station. I don't know why I thought that would be less girly than the rings and even so, the boys ended up making the rings after all. Lesson learned.

Materials used for both crafts: Colorful magazines, pipe cleaners, tissue paper, and scissors.

Butterfly Ring Craft:

First cut pipe cleaner in half. Save both halves.

Bend one of the pipe cleaner haves into a "v".

Scrunch a small square or two or three of tissue paper into a bow shape.

Slide bow into pipe cleaner "v",

Twist the ends of the pipe cleaner a couple times,

And then bend butterfly antennae into desired shape.

Using the other pipe cleaner half for the ring, cut in half again.

Push one of the pieces underneath the bottom of the butterfly.

Wrap into a ring shape.

Voila. Butterfly ring.

Magazine Butterfly Craft:

Found this craft idea here. The magazine butterfly is very similar to the butterfly ring. Only slightly more difficult.

Tear out colorful magazine pages.

Cut into squares about 5x5 inches.

Fold into thin strips.

Using a full length pipe cleaner, shape into a "v" shape, and twist the bottom twice.

Pinch one or two folded magazine pages in the center and slide into pipe cleaner "v" and twist the pipe cleaner ends together two or three times, securing the wings.

Shape antenna.

image sources: waiting for wings, caterpillow fight, farfallina & marcel, the very hungry catterpillar

To Mom:

When I look back and think about who was the major motivator behind getting me to read when I was young, it was you.  A journey that if I remember correctly, wasn't always a walk in the park. But there were always an abundance of books in our home and the encouragement to nurture whatever our interests may have been with an emphasis on the importance of reading. Now that I'm a mother, I can only hope to be that source of support for my daughter. Now that I work in a library, I can only hope to be that source of support for each child that walks through that door.

I know you've been itching for book recommendations lately, (especially after reading The Hunger Games), so this Mother's Day I put together a few recommendations as a reference for when you're looking for your next good read.  It isn't much, but I know if I could give you anything that you'd really enjoy... This would be it.

To you:

A Mother's Day Reading List:

1. The Guensey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Borrows

2. The Glass Castle by Jeanette Wells

3. Divergent by: Veronica Roth

4. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

5. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

6. Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt (I stayed up all night reading this book)

7. The Scorpio Races by: Maggie Stiefvater

8. State of Wonder by Ann Patchett

9. The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty

10. Delirium by Lauren Oliver

 

Happy Reading!

Happy Mother's Day!

 

Love, Becca

 

 

 

Reading Together

A lot of new picture books seemed to made their way into our regular reading rotation this month, especially the first four listed...

Between Winnie the Pooh and the books below, here's what we've been reading together:

Boy + Bot by Ame Dyckman, illustrated by Dan Yaccarino

(In robot speech)

You Much Check Out This Book. You Will Love This Book.

Oh No, George! by Chris Haughton

The latest from author of a previous favorite, Little Owl Lost.

One Special Day by Lola M. Schaefer, illustrated by Jessica Meserve

A sweet story about becoming a big brother along with outstanding illustrations by Jessica Meserve.

You Are a Lion! And Other Fun Yoga Poses by Taeeun Yoo

A fun, simple picture book about yoga poses easy enough for the youngest yogis.

We're Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rose, Helen Oxenbury

A classic read aloud, perfect for toddler age children.

Cake Cake Cake Pie by Sally Kahler Phillips

Rhythm and rhyme all about cake and pie.

The Duckling Gets a Cookie?! by Mo Willems

Been enjoying Mo Willems latest edition in his Pigeon (and Duckling!) series.

Ann Likes Red by Dorothy Z. Seymour

Independent Ann and her deep affections for the color 'red'.

Gem by Holly Hobbie

A wordless adventure by the author of Toot and Puddle.

Brian Wildsmith's Animals to Count by Brian Wildsmith

A simple counting board book we've been reading a lot of lately, paired with Brian Wildsmith's fanciful illustrations.

Duckie's Rainbow by Frances Barry

We take a walk with Duckie through a world of color on a daily basis.

Ten Apples Up On Top! by Theo LeSieg, illustrated by Ray McKie

What starts with one turns into fun with this ridiculous story about a few cooky animals who like to put apples atop of their heads.

Pouch! by David Ezra Stein

Kangaroos have been an animal of interest in our house lately (prime reason: "Kanga" and "Roo"). This is a fun book about a little joey afraid of everything outside of his pouch.

In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak

In memory of the late Maurice Sendak, I've been reading In the Night Kitchen and Where the Wild Things Are to L. It seems to be the only thing to do... continue to read and celebrate the work of great imagination.

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

What have you been reading together?

***’Reading Together is a sampling of picture books I’m currently reading aloud to LBD (also known as L or Little L), my toddler daughter. As a children’s librarian, I’m always bringing home stacks and stacks of books to share together. Old and new. These are our favorites. Some of which have been read over and over and over again…. Times thirty. To the tenth power.***

image sources: boy and bot, oh no george, one special day, you are a lion, we're going on a bear hunt, cake cake cake pie, duckling gets a cookie ann likes red, gem, animals to count, duckie's rainbow, ten apples up on top, pouch, in the night kitchen,  where the wild things are