Mice Eat Cookies???

For yesterdays' Stories for Young Children* we read A Dog's Life by Caroline Sherman and If You Give A Mouse A Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff. We also created our own mouse with our favorite cookie and glass of milk. Everyone loved their mouse so much that they decided to take them home. But if you would like to learn how to make your own this is where you'll find the instructions.

Hope to see you in one of our story times in the near future! ;o)

*Stories for Young Children is held every Wednesday at 11:00 am. This program is for children birth to 5 years with an adult caregiver. The program includes stories, books, finger plays, nursery rhymes, and songs that promote language development, vocabulary building, and comprehension. Attendance is limited.

And the Cow Says, What?

Mooo! Farm animals was the subject of yesterday's Stories for Young Children.* We read Dog's Noisy Day: A Story to Read Aloud by Emma Dodd and Let's Go Visiting by Sue Williams. Afterward, we created sheep out of a paper plate, construction paper, and some cotton balls. Everyone loved their creation so much that they decided to take their sheep home! So here's mine:

 If you would like to know how to create your own cotton ball sheep, you can find the instructions here.

Oh! By the way, we still have Chameleon Colors from last week on display if you haven't had the chance to stop by. ;o)


*Stories for Young Children is held every Wednesday at 11:00 am. This program is for children birth to 5 years with an adult caregiver. The program includes stories, books, finger plays, nursery rhymes, and songs that promote language development, vocabulary building, and comprehension. Attendance is limited.

Chameleon Colors

Last weeks' Stories for Young Children* we read Leon the Chameleon by Mélanie Watt and Lemons Are Not Red by Laura Vaccaro Seeger. After the stories and the songs, we made our own multicolored chameleons!

Don't forget to stop by and take a look! :o)

*Stories for Young Children is held every Wednesday at 11:00 am. This program is for children birth to 5 years with an adult caregiver. The program includes stories, books, finger plays, nursery rhymes, and songs that promote language development, vocabulary building, and comprehension. Attendance is limited.

The VERY Hungry Caterpillar

Last weeks' Stories for Young Children* was all about gardening and what you can find in garden. We read Bumpety Bump! by Pat Hutchins and The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. Afterward, we made our own caterpillars. Stop by to take a look!

See you soon! ;o)

*Stories for Young Children is held every Wednesday at 11:00 am. This program is for children birth to 5 years with an adult caregiver. The program includes stories, books, finger plays, nursery rhymes, and songs that promote language development, vocabulary building, and comprehension. Attendance is limited.

Not-So-Angry Birds

Wednesday, April 3rd, we held our Stories for Young Children* program with Ms. Angela and the topic for that day was Birds! We read Birds by Kevin Henkes and Little White Duck by Walt Whippo. Afterward we "feathered" our own birds.

Our feathered creations will stay in our display until next week.

*Stories for Young Children is held every Wednesday at 11:00 am. This program is for children birth to 5 years with an adult caregiver. The program includes stories, books, finger plays, nursery rhymes, and songs that promote language development, vocabulary building, and comprehension. Attendance is limited.

It's Winter Break!

Stop by and pick up one of our Winter Break Happenings Brochures during your next visit to any of our 21 libraries. Every brochure highlights Children's and Teen programs, crafts, contests, and includes a suggested circus reading list. 

Speaking of the circus, kids can earn a FREE ticket to the circus by reading five books and letting their local library know. For more details call 630-BOOK or stop by your local library.

Have any fond memories of the circus? Let us know in the comments below :o).

Snowmen in Florida

Early release crafts are back and we brought snowmen to Florida.

Check them out!

Have any winter/Christmas/Chanukah crafts or memories you would like to share? Post them in the comments below :o).

Goodbye... (but Not Really)

Ms. Sara, family preschool storytime conductor, blog author, tea party giver, and paint thrower extraordinaire has been transferred to the Willowbranch Branch of JPL. 

She will miss everyone @ the WRL children's department, especially her Wednesday morning preschool crew! 

You can visit her at her new library on the corner of Park and Cherry Streets if you happen to be in the Riverside/Avondale area.  She would be most glad to see you (and Granny Alfie would too)!

Ms. Sara and Alfie Bette Frahmatozy

More Spring Fling Pics

The Fling Has Been Flung

At our spring art fling, we had a blast!!! We made muse of chance collages....

We tried Warholizing dogs, cats, and other creatures.

And, of course, we action painted to our hearts' content!

Action (Painting), at Last!

We were finally able to try our hand at some Jackson Pollock inspired action paintings.

One

Two

Y is for...

yak, and for yuck, and for you
    For yap, and for yard,
     And for yam and yip too.
     For yoga, for yogurt,
     for yodel, and yoke.

     We have two y's in yo-yo

     And that's not a joke.

     Y is in yank.

     Y is in yarn.

     Y is in yonder,

     But isn't in barn.

     Y is in yip

     And also yokefellow,

     Yummy and yurt

     And, best of all, yellow!

We hope you enjoy our hastily written poem!  We read about all things yellow during today's storytime:  a very special yellow fruit in Beautiful Bananas (Elizabeth Laird/Liz Pichon), a adorable yellow animal in Hoppity Skip Little Chick (Jo Brown), and something not only yellow, but also round, in Louella and the Yellow Balloon  (Molly Coxe).  [We couldn't find a pic of that last one!]

   

For our art project, we made one of the most important yellow things of all:

the sun!!!!

Hooray for Spring!

These little birds just hatched from their eggs and wanted to say hello!

Storytime Time was Eggs-cellent This Morning

We had 45 kids and parents in storytime this morning!  That is so awesome!!!!  (There we go with the exclamation points again!)  We had such a crowd it was hard to take pictures of the kids individual crafts, but you'll see some samples in our next post.

Our favorite egg story was EGG-napped! by Marisa Montes and illustrated by Marsha Winborn.


We also had fun pretending to be birds in an egg.

I'm a Little Birdie
[tune of "I'm a Little Teapot]
I'm a little birdie
ready to hatch,
(squat down as if
inside an egg)
pecking my shell--
scratch, scratch, scratch!
(pretend to peck shell
with hand)
When I crack it open,
Out I'll leap,
(jump up)
Fluffing my feathers--
Cheep, cheep, cheep!
(fold arms like wings
and flap them)

So...Much...Fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, we went a little overboard with the exclamation points...but making a "muse of chance" collage inspired by techniques of Hans Arp really is awesome. You can find out how to make one and join in the fun during our Spring Art Fling.

Spring Art Fling

got art?

Come to our Spring Art Fling and create your own masterpieces in the styles of three famous artists.

 Saturday, April 30, 2011 §  12:00-3:00

West Regional Branch Library

1425 Chaffee Rd. S., Jacksonville, FL 32221, 904-693-1448

Spring Art Fling

Saturday, April 30, 2011

12-1:00 pm—Hans Arp Paper Drop

1-2:00 pm—Andy Warhol Picture Repeat

2-3:00 pm—Jackson Pollock Paint Fling

*Kids 12 and under can participate in one or all events!

Children under age 8 must be assisted by an adult.*

[Be sure to wear old clothes as some of these art projects will be quite messy!]

Library Card or Work of Art?

In preparation for our Spring Art Fling on April 30th, a library card has been Warholized!

You can create your own masterpiece in the style of Andy Warhol and two other artists two weeks from today!  

Z is for...

zebra, zither, zigzag,

zipper, zap, and......ZOO!!!!!  

We read three books during storytime today.

Yes indeed! It's true!

 

We also made paper plate lions! 

You can make one too!

His mane is shredded brown paper.

Buy it at a craft store near you.

U is for...

U, u, u! What begins with u? Unicorn, ukelele, and umbrella too!

Before the preschool storytime crew made these watercolor masterpieces, we shared several stories and songs about rain and umbrellas.

Our favorite umbrella-themed book was:

Our favorite umbrella-themed song was:

We Put Our Umbrellas Up

[tune of "Looby Loo"]
We put our umbrellas up.
Arch arms overhead.
We close our umbrellas down.
Lower arms to side.
We give our umbrellas A shake, shake, shake
Shake hands.
And turn them all around.
Roll hands.