Parkland Reads!

Parkland Libraries took part in the first "Parkland Reads". Participating libraries read the book "The Strongest Man This Side of Cremona" by Georgia Graham.  The Sylvan Lake Library delighted a Cards for Kids tour with this fantastic story.

Summary:  Matthew's dad is the strongest man this side of Cremona. He can lift Matthew over fences, and when he shouts at the cows, they scatter. But while helping repair a fence on their dairy farm, Matthew encounters something stronger than his dad: a tornado sweeping a path of devastation across the prairie. Thanks to his dad's quick thinking, they survive the tornado. But it has left Matthew shaken, and their beautiful farm has been damaged almost beyond recognition. While friends gather to help rebuild, Matthew discovers that the love he and his father share must be the strongest thing of all.

Letter G

Letter G –Geese, gorillas, grasshoppers, goats, grandmas, giants, gardens, grapes, gum, glasses, guitars, grass and giraffes

Storytime – Welcome Song and Storytime is Starting song.

Read first story Ghost in the House, We're going on a ghost hunt or There's no such thing as ghosts!

Action Poem: Grandma's Glasses Fingerplay
These are Grandma's Glasses (make glasses with fingers over eyes)
Here is Grandma's cap (make triangle with hands and put on head)
This is the way she folds her hands (fold hands together)
And puts them in her lap (put hands in lap)
These are Grandma's glasses (make glases with fingers over eyes)
These are grandpa's hat (pretend to pull down a big hat over head)
And this is the way he folds his arms (fold arms over in front of body)
Just like that! (Shake head) 

Song: Grand Old Duke of York

Oh, the Grand Old Duke of York, (march in place) He had ten thousand men.
He marched them up to the top of the hill, ( reach arms up high) And he marched them down again. (lower arms)
And when they were up, they were up. (reach arms up high) And when they were down, they were down. (lower arms)
And when they were only half way up, (hold arms at waist height) They were neither up nor down. (reach up and down again)

Additional Verse:
Oh he marched them to the left.  And he marched them to the right.
Then he marched them round and round
And marched them out of sight.

 

Fingerplay: Five Big Giants

Five big giants stomping on the ground

Five grouchy giants pushing trees down.

One got hungry and went to find food.

How many giants were in a bad mood?        (count down to five)

One big giant stomping on the ground

One grouchy giant pushing trees down.

He got hungry and went to find food.

How many giants were in a bad mood?

 

Read second story Oh dear, Geoffrey, Little Beauty

Fingerplay: ONE LITTLE GHOST

One little ghost flew down the street. (Wave hand through the air.)

"I wonder," he said, "what I will meet-- (Place finger to temple, thinking.)

One hairy spider, (Hold up one finger, then move hand like spider.)

Two black cats, (Hold up two fingers, then put two fingers from each hand on head for cat ears.)

Three wild witches with pointy hats, (Hold up three fingers, then place fingertips of hands together to form hat.)

Four old owls in a hollow tree, (Hold up four fingers, then form an oval with both hands for eyes to look through.)

And five brother bats to fly with me! (Hold up five fingers, then hook thumbs of both hands together and flap fingers for bat wings.)

Read third book Let's count goats, Little Goblins ten

Song: The Haunted House (Tune of "Wheels on the Bus")

The ghost in the house goes "Boo! Boo! Boo!"

"Boo! Boo! Boo!, Boo! Boo! Boo!"

The ghost in the house goes "Boo! Boo! Boo!"

On Halloween.

The steps in the house goes "Creek, creek, creek..."

The cats in the house go "Meow, meow, meow..."

The mice in the house go "Squeak, squeak, squeak.."

The people in the house go "Eek, eek, eek..."

Crafts:  Paper Plate Ghost

Materials: paper plates, markers, scissors, hole punch, ribbon.

Draw spiral from outside of plate going in to the center, leave small blank circle in the center. Have children cut on the line. Draw face in the middle. Hole punch and string ribbon.

Idea from happenstanced.com

1000 Books Before Kindergarten: Love You Forever

How many books did you read last week? The 1000 Books Before Kindergarten program is a home-based, passive reading program. Just keep track of the books you're reading, and bring in the completed sheets for prizes. Once you get to 1000 Books, you get a grand prize (and bragging rights)! 

Our last Star Reader of the Week was Wyatt! Congratulations! 

This week's Star Reader is Liam! 

Our Book of the Week is "Love You Forever", by Robert Munsch. 

"Love You Forever started as a song.

“I’ll love you forever,
I’ll like you for always,
as long as I’m living
my baby you’ll be.” 

I made that up after my wife and I had two babies born dead. The song was my song to my dead babies. For a long time I had it in my head and I couldn’t even sing it because every time I tried to sing it I cried. It was very strange having a song in my head that I couldn’t sing.

For a long time it was just a song but one day, while telling stories at a big theatre at the University of Guelph, it occurred to me that I might be able to make a story around the song.

Out popped Love You Forever, pretty much the way it is in the book.

My regular publisher felt that it was not really a kid’s book and I ended up doing it with another publisher.

One day the publisher called up and said “This is very strange. It is selling very well in retirement communities in Arizona. It is selling in retirement communities where kids are illegal. This is supposed to be a children’s book. What is going on?”

“Grownups are buying it for grownups!”

In fact, it turned out that parents buy it for grandparents and grandparents buy it for parents and kids buy it for everybody and everybody buys it for kids.

As a matter of fact, everybody buys it for everybody. That’s why it sells a lot of copies. I think it’s my best book. So far it has sold about 15,000,000 copies.

Everybody makes up their own song for this book. I would like to put different versions of the song up on this site, now that the site has sound on it. If you send me your version, either as a tape or an audio file or a MR3 file, I will try to put it up in the LOVE YOU page. If lots of people send me their versions, I will not be able to put them all up, but I would like to hear them even if I can’t put them on the site.

The way I sing it in the story is just MY version. You are supposed to make up your own." - Robert Munsch

Stay tuned for our next Star Reader and Book of the Week!

Letter F

Letter F –Fish, frogs, fingers, fox, feet, fire, forks and flowers.

Storytime – Welcome Song and Story time is starting song.

Read first story One Spotted Giraffe, Beware of the frog, Jump!

Song: Five Green and Speckled Frogs

Five green and speckled Frogs (Hold five fingers (frogs) on top of your other arm (log). Sat on a hollow log eating the most delicious bugs. Yum! Yum!
One jumped into the pool (jump a finger off the log into the pool) where it was nice and cool. Now there are four green speckled frogs (Hold up four fingers)

Four green and speckled Frogs. Sat on a hollow log eating the most delicious bugs. Yum! Yum!
One jumped into the pool where it was nice and cool. Now there are three green speckled frogs

Three green and speckled frogs. Sat on a hollow log eating the most delicious bugs. Yum! Yum!
One jumped into the pool where it was nice and cool. Now there are two green speckled frogs

Two green and speckled frogs. Sat on a hollow log eating the most delicious bugs. Yum! Yum!
One jumped into the pool where it was nice and cool. Now there is one green speckled frog

One green and  speckled frog. Sat on a hollow log eating the most delicious bugs. Yum! Yum!
It jumped into the pool where it was nice and cool. Now there are no more speckled frogs

Song:  Slippery Fish

Slippery fish, slippery fish sliding through the water (put two hands together and glide them through the air)

Slippery fish, slippery fish, Gulp, gulp, gulp

OH NO! He's been eaten by an

Octopus, octopus squiggling in the water (Wave your arms up and down like the flailing arms of an octopus.)

Octopus, octopus, gulp, gulp, gulp

OH NO! He's been eaten by a

Tuna fish, tuna fish flashing in the water (two hands fingertips touching to give impression of bigger fish)

Tuna fish, tuna fish, gulp, gulp, gulp

OH NO! He's been eaten by a

Great White Shark, great white shark lurking in the water (Place one hand, with fingers straight upwards, on top of your head.)

Great white shark, great white shark gulp, gulp, gulp

OH NO! He's been eaten by an

Enormous Whale, enormous whale spouting in the water (Make big upward motions with your arms to resemble the spouting of water by a whale)

Enormous Whale, enormous whale, gulp, gulp, BURP!

Excuse ME! (Cover your mouth)

Read second story The Monkey goes bananas, There was an old pirate who swallowed a fish, Dinosaur farm

Song: Little Green Frog (Action Song!  Actions in [ ]'s)

Mm, Mm went the little green frog one day, [stick tongue out on 2nd "Mm"]
Mm, Mm went the little green frog,  [stick tongue out on 2nd "Mm"]
Mm, Mm went the little green frog one day,  [stick tongue out on 2nd "Mm"]
And they all went Mm, Mm, Aahh!  [stick tongue out on 2nd "Mm" and open mouth wide for Aahh!]
But!
We all know frogs go, [CLAP] Lahdeedahdeedah! [CLAP] Lahdeedahdeedah! [CLAP] Lahdeedahdeedah!
We all know frogs go, [CLAP] Lahdeedahdeedah!
They don't go [stick tongue out on 2nd "Mm" and open mouth wide for Aahh!]

Read third story That is not a good idea!, Outfoxed

Crafts:  Cupcake Liner Fish

Materials: Construction paper, cupcake liners, glue, markers, googly eyes

Flatten one cupcake liner and snip to make mouth. Glue onto construction paper. Cut one liner into chunks and use for tail, fins and scales. Glue pieces onto the construction paper. Glue on googly eye. Draw on bubbles and seaweed. 

 Idea from 4 Crazy Kings

What The Fox ACTUALLY Says!

What does the fox say?!

Engaging Media 104 Remediation- 'Edward the Emu'

Emus - with Dr. Dave

Engaging Letter E

Letter E –Elephants, eyes, ears, eggs, eels, earth, emus, eagles.

Storytime – Welcome Song and Story time is Starting Song.

Read first story The cow that laid an egg, Let's go for a drive!, Edwina the emu

Action Poem: Five Little Elephants

Five little elephants rowing toward the shore,
One fell in and then there were four.
Four little elephants climbing up a tree,
One slid down and then there were three.
Three little elephants living in the zoo,
One walked away and then there were two.
Two little elephants playing in the sun,
One fell asleep and then there was one.
One little elephant isn’t any fun,
Abra-ca-da-bra! Then there were none!

Song:  Do your Ears Hang Low

Do your ears hang low?
Do they wobble to and fro?
Can you tie them in a knot?
Can you tie them in a bow?
Can you throw them o'er your shoulder
Like a Continental Soldier?
Do your ears hang low?

Read second story I dream of an elephant, Edward the emu

Counting Rhyme: Ten Fluffy Chicks

Five eggs and five eggs, that makes ten.  (Hold up both hands, fingers spread apart.)

Sitting on top is the Mother Hen.  (Fold one hand over the other.)

Crackle, crackle, crackle; (Clap hands three times.)

What do I see?

Ten fluffy chicks, (Hold up ten fingers again.)

As yellow as can be!

 

Read third story Whose ears?, Whose ears are these?

Song: Head and Shoulders

Head, shoulders, knees & toes, knees & toes
Head, shoulders, knees & toes, knees & toes
Eyes and ears and mouth and nose
Head, shoulders, knees & toes, knees & toes.

Crafts: Paper Plate Emu

Materials: paper plates cut in half, point circles, black construction paper strips, brown tissue paper, glue, markers, googly eyes.

Glue 2 black strips for legs and one for the neck onto the paper plate. Glue head shape onto neck strip. Glue tissue paper on the emu to give it feathers. Glue on googly eye.

Idea from honeybeesbookblog.com

Would you like to use series and parallel circuits
just like Electronics Engineers do?

We have three Snap Circuit kits available for in house use. 
You can build and modify projects over and over again!
Ask library staff for details.

 Discovery and exploration await you at the library.

1000 Books Before Kindergarten: We Have a Winner!

Drum-roll please! ................. Eleanor has read 1000 Books!!! Hooray! 

We are so proud of Eleanor! 

Keep up the awesome reading everyone! You too can make it to 1000 books before Kindergarten! 

Our first Fall 2014 Book of the Week is A Library Book for Bear, by Bonny Becker. 

"Bear does not want to go to the library. He is quite sure he already has all the books he will ever need. Yet the relentlessly cheery Mouse, small and gray and bright-eyed, thinks different. When Bear reluctantly agrees to go with his friend to the big library, neither rocket ships nor wooden canoes are enough for Bear’s picky tastes. How will Mouse ever find the perfect book for Bear? Children will giggle themselves silly as Bear’s arguments give way to his inevitable curiosity, leading up to a satisfying story hour and a humorously just-right library book." - Candlewick

Our Star Reader of the Week is Wyatt! Congratulations! Come into the Library this week to pick up your prize! 

Stayed tuned for our next Star Reader and Book of the Week!

Letter D

Letter D – Dogs, Donkeys, Dragons, Ducks, Dingos, Dragonflies, Diggers, and Dinosaurs.

Storytime – Welcome Song and Storytime is Starting Song

Read first story Digger Dog, Yikes!!!

Nursery Rhyme:  The Paws on the Dog [Tune: Wheels on the Bus]

The paws on the dog go trot, trot, trot.
Trot, trot, trot, trot, trot, trot.
The paws on the dog go trot, trot, trot.
All through the town.

The ears on the dog go flop, flop, flop…
The nose on the dog goes sniff, sniff, sniff…
The tongue on the dog goes lick, lick, lick…
The bark on the dog goes woof, woof, woof…
The tail on the dog goes wag, wag, wag…
The people with the dogs go, “SIT!”

Read second story Oh no, George!, We're going on a dinosaur dig

Song: Five Little Ducks
Five little ducks went out to play Over the hill and far away

Mama duck said "Quack, Quack, Quack" And four little ducks came waddling back.

Four little ducks went out to play Over the hill and far away

Mama duck said "Quack, Quack, Quack" And three little ducks came waddling back.

Three little ducks...

Two little ducks...

One little duck went out to play Over the hill and far away

Mama duck said "Quack, Quack, Quack" And no little ducks came waddling back.

No little ducks went out to play Over the hill and far away

PAPA duck said "QUACK, QUACK, QUACK" And five little ducks came waddling back!

1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

5. 

Read third story Dino bites!, If you happen to have a dinosaur or How do dinosaurs say I'm mad?

 

Crafts:  Duck Puppet with pond

Materials: Paper ducks cut out, popsicle sticks, paper circles with slit cut in the center, glue, markers, blue tissue paper squares, feathers, and tape.

 

Colour and decorate the duck. Tape to popsicle stick to make a puppet. Glue tissue paper onto paper circle to make a pond. Slide the puppet into the slit and the duck will swim on the pond.

 Idea from hiddenponies.com