fairy tales galore

Today we delved into the world of fairy tales with "Goldilocks and the three bears" and "The three billy goats gruff" by Janet Stevens, then we heard the whole story about Hansel and Gretel by James Marshall. Boy oh boy were there some bad characters in those stories! Between the woodcutters wife, the troll and that little Goldilocks there was some real trouble in fairy-tale land. We also had some fun with the feltboard and our new feltboard stories. We acted out the three billy goats gruff on the feltboard before we read that story, and talked a bit about how our story was similar to the book. We also had the Itsy Bitsy Spider for the feltboard, and used those pieces with the song, so we got to do the rhyme three times! The kids all had a really good time with the feltboard. Then we had a lot of fun making our own books! Miss Joy had it all ready so the pages were all cut out and counted out so that we only had to get a cover page, have her staple them together, and write our stories. One little boy wrote and drew out the whole story of the Itsy Bitsy Spider, another one drew pictures of his mother and his brother. One girl wrote out and drew pictures for the story of Goldilocks and the three bears and another made up her own story! Everyone made something they really liked! I think since it's getting close to halloween we will have pumpkin stories for the next few weeks! I love Halloween!
Carrots and Broccoli,
and Yogurt kisses,

Dewey Pig

ps, see you next week!

Busy busy busy!

Hi Everyone,

It's been so busy in here with school back in session that I didn't even get a chance to write last week! We've had a program where everyone came and made ponchos like Ugly Betty, there were nearly 90 people here for that one and they ate up 8 large pizzas and 72 cans of soda in under 5 minutes! Then we had to spend some time cleaning up all the things we used to decorate our ponchos, we had sequins, pom poms, beads, felt, buttons and all kinds of other things too. There are lots of photos of the Ugly Betty program on our Flickr account, under the name seminarylibrary, you should go see them, they are awesome.

We had a great storytime last week too, we read Clarence the Copy Cat by Patricia Lakin, The Pink Refrigerator by Tim Egan, and Grandma Lena's Big Ol' Turnip by Denia Lewis Hester. We had a really good time watching Clarence find a way to get rid of the mouse without hurting him, then we helped Grandma Lena pull up her gigantic turnip, and we learned new things with Dodsworth thanks to the notes on the pink refrigerator. After all that we traced our hands and made the cutest cats I've ever seen. There were cats of every color and stripe.

This week in storytime we read all new books. We started with Bear Feels Sick by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman, probably because Miss Joy has been a little bit sick with her asthma lately. She didn't want the kids to worry that they would get sick from her coughing. Then we read Library Mouse by Daniel Kirk. I think next week the kids are going to get a chance to write their own stories just like Sam did in that book. Then we read "Mind your manners, B. B. Wolf" by Judy Sierra. It's about Mr. B. B. Wolf and his experience at the library. He learned to mind his manners and even said "excuse me" when he burped. Of course he almost blew down the library when he burped, but at least he excused himself! I'm thinking that later in the month there might just be a storybook parade, wouldn't that be fun? Maybe next week we will have some more fairy tales, I sure hope so!

See you then!

Carrots and Spinach,

Dewey Pig

Resident Guinea Pig

Seminary South Library

Cows and Cowboys! Yee Haw!

We heard some great cowboy stories today! It was awesome to hear all about cows going to the moon, stubborn longhorn steers and their cowboys and even a cowboy made from gingerbread!
First we read Texas Zeke and the Longhorn (since we are in Texas, after all!) and sang "Old McDonald had a farm", then we read about "Two Cool Cows" who take a trip to the moon wearing the black button-back boots of the Huckabuck kids. That was a really fun story and had a lot to do with the nursery rhyme about the cow jumping over the moon. Next we did "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" which is always entertaining to try to keep up with. The last one we read was "The Gingerbread Cowboy". This is the story of the gingerbread man, only this time he's not just a man but a cowboy, hat, boots and beltbuckle included! That silly gingerbread cowboy leads the rancher and his wife on a merry chase through the desert southwest, but gets gobbled up by the smart foxy coyote in the end.
After we were done we took some fun foam and made little pins to wear on our shirts, they look like cowboy boots!
Next week I think we will have some traditional fairy tales, so stay tuned!

Dragons, Flying Cows and Magic Crayons

Boy oh boy did we go deep into fantasyland this week in storytime! First we heard about Puff the Magic Dragon and his friend Jackie Paper, then we listened to the song about them. It was a very calm and peaceful song, and made me feel all warm and fuzzy...wait a minute, I am warm and fuzzy! Anyhow, it is a beeeeeautiful book and a great song. Then we went on to read about flying cows. I didn't know cows could fly! You will have to read the book to find out for yourself if they really can fly.
After that we read Harold and the Purple Crayon. Harold has a magic crayon and goes on a little adventure...he gets into all kinds of fun then has some trouble finding his way back home. Come check out the book to see if Harold manages to get home!
After all the books were done we got out the rubber stamps and made some bracelets for ourselves! Everyone had a good time today!
Here's a coloring page for you all, feel free to print and color, just make sure you never charge for it!
Thanks,
Dewey

It's Thursday Again!!!!!

Hey Everyone, it's Thursday again and we had storytime today! You should have seen all the kids coming in, all ready for some great stories!
Today was all about "back to school" stories, so we started with "The Wheels on the School Bus" by Mary-Alice Moore, and learned all about the teachers, kids, coaches, and lunch ladies on the bus. Then we sang the song "The Wheels on the Bus go Round and Round". After thatwe read "Don't be Silly, Mrs. Millie!" by Judy Cox. Mrs. Millie uses all kinds of silly words like 'gorilla cheese sandwich' and 'hang up your goats'. The last one we read was "Kindergarten Rocks!" by Katie Davis, where Dexter learns to like kindergarten.
Then we made these cute little bears to wear on a string like a necklace. Everyone had a really good time. I'll put up a picture as soon as Miss Joy gives me one.

Best Fuzzy Friends Storytime!

Hi Everyone, you should have seen the parade of stuffed animal friends coming in the door last Thursday! Nearly everyone remembered to bring their best bedtime fuzzy friends with them to hear our stories about bedtime and best friends. There was a bright pink strawberry bear, a colorful clown and a black and white horse as well as an armadillo with a red bandanna. Of course Miss Joy brought her teddy bear too. We read Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems. Did you know that he has been writing stories for Sesame Street since the 1970s? This one is about his daughter Trixie when she was very small. Then we heard about Daisy and her bed full of stuffed animals that wanted to have a picnic instead of going to sleep, that book is called "Bedtime, Everybody!" and it's written by Mordicai Gerstein. I liked Mouse the best, he tells great stories.
Then we listened to "What! cried Granny" an almost bedtime story. A lady called Kate Lum wrote that one and Patrick, the boy, is visiting his grandmother when bedtime comes around. She says he's supposed to go to bed...but he doesn't have a bed here. I'm not going to spoil the story by telling you how Grandma solves that problem though, you have to read the book to find out for yourself!
Then we celebrated having our best friends with us by drawing a picture of them!
Everyone had a really good time! We will have storytime again next Thursday morning at 10:30am, you should come join us!

very long summer this year

Hi everyone, it's Dewey again!
it's been a really long summer here! We had a great Pirate-themed summer reading program and lots of kids read lots of great books. We had clowns, singers, storytellers and snakes too! we had storytimes and crafts, we had ArtKids and stories, we had lots and lots of fun all summer long.
Now our kids are all getting ready to go back to school and I'm looking forward to seeing the little ones during the day while the older kids are at school. Storytime this week should be pretty good, there are three brand new books all about finding your own happiness. they are Princess Pigsty by Cornelia Funke, That Rabbit Belongs to Emily Brown by Cressida Cowell, and The Perfect Nest by Catherine Friend. I think they are going to make a rabbit stick-puppet for the craft. You all should come and hear these stories, I was listening when Miss Joy was practicing the other day and they are all really good stories! Soon she will be looking at stories for "back to school".