Friday, July 28, 2017

Ages 7-8 Week 1: Oh Canada!

For week 1 we explored all things Canada!
The question I asked the children at the start of the class was: What is it that you think makes Canada so great?
I received some very good answers, most kids appreciate that in Canada we have lots of open space. Others appreciate the diversity that Canada has to offer.

Books:
We read two books. The first book we read was 50 Below Zero by Robert Munsch.
The second book we read was C is for Canada by Mike Ulmer.
Activity:
 After reading our stories we went outside and played the Canadian Symbol game to play the Canadian symbols game have the children run around. While they're running call out a Canadian Symbol. If a symbol is called participants must arrange themselves in a group to correlate with the symbol called. The symbols I used were:

Moose: Group of 1, children must place hands on head like moose antlers
Canoeing: Group of 3, children must sit on the ground in a line and pretend their in a canoe rowing
Mountie: Group of 2, children must find a partner, one partner pretends to be a horse, the other partner pretends to sit on their horse (make sure children are gentle when doing this)
Beaver Dam: Group of 5, all members must lift their arms and join in the center in an attempt to make a "beaver dam"
Sheep: Group of 1, children must get on all fours and walk around like a sheep


Thursday, July 27, 2017

2-6 Week 1 Summer Reading Program


All about Canada!
Question:
·        What is your favorite thing to do in winter? How about in the summer?
The kids liked telling me what their favorite things to do were, the answers I received were pretty cute.

First book to read:
·      C is for Canada by Michael Ulmer


This was a fun books for the little ones! It allowed us to explore so many different things that we have here in Canada. 

Game:
·        What time is it Mr. Bear
I   How to play: What time is Mr.Wolf with the name changed. Have one person stand on the opposite end of the other participants, have the other 
The kids really enjoyed the game it was simple enough for them to follow along and they had lots of fun.

Craft:
·        My Flag





Materials: 11x17 flag, red items (foam stickers, feathers, pompoms, petals), wax crayons, and glue.
Instructions:
  1. I had the children take a white flag 
  2. After taking the white flag, I had them decorate how they pleased, only using red items
  3. After decorating their flag the children took their flags home to display

The children enjoyed touching the different objects, they seemed to enjoy gluing on the different objects, and were quite pleased with their results. 

Snack:
·        Cookies
·        Apple
           Carrots 

Wednesday, July 12, 2017

Under the Sea with Sea Stars

This week we explored more sea creatures, including sea stars!

For stories this week, we read:

Poor Little Guy, by Elanna Allen


One Nighttime Sea, by Deborah Lee Rose


Jellyfish, by Lloyd G. Douglas


Hello Ocean, by Pam Munoz Ryan


Baby Beluga, by Raffi


Ocean Hide and Seek, by Jennifer Evans Kramer


Join the Zoo Hullaballoo! by Jan Ormerod


For our craft, we decorated some very colourful sea stars!






The kids got very creative with their buttons and markers! Every sea star was unique! 
Next week is all about jellyfish!

Under the Sea with Sea Foam!

Our next six weeks are all about water! We'll explore things that live in it, and even play with it! This week, we played with Sea Foam!

For this week, we read:

Little Moon, by Megan Padalecki - this book isn't in our system! I (Miss Corrie) was fortunate enough to meet the author in Seattle this year, and bought a copy of her wonderful book. We read my copy during story time!


This is Not My Hat, by Jon Klassen


Mister Seahorse, by Eric Carle


The Shark Who Was Afraid of Everything, by Brian James


Lost and Found, by Oliver Jeffers


How Deep is the Sea? by Anna Milbourne and Serena Riglietti


Rather than a craft this week, we played with Sea Foam! We swished and played with the foamy sea water, and then scooped fish and other creatures out of the murky deep!







To make the sea foam, we poured water, dish soap, and corn starch into large bins. Then we used a hand mixer to stir up the foam! So much fun!

Next week is all about sea stars!

6 Weeks of Kindness: Diversity

Our last week of kindness took a look at diversity.

All of our story time books have an underlying theme of kindness. This week we read:

You Be You, by Linda Kranz


If Kids Ran the World, by Leo & Diane Dillon


What Is Peace? by Wallace Edwards


Jazz Baby, by Lisa Wheeler


Maybe Something Beautiful: How Art Transformed a Neighborhood, by F. Isabel Campoy


Whoever You Are, by Mem Fox


Red: a Crayon's Story, by Michael Hall


After stories, we played with playdough. Rather than bright, vibrant colors, we used skin tones. There was plain white, a couple light browns, a couple dark browns, and a pitch black. The kids chose whichever colors they wanted to use.




The kids were encouraged to make anything they liked, and keep one creation to take home. 




Some kids kept their colours separate, and others mixed them. 





The playdough were all made from different ingredients, so they had different colours, textures, and even smells. The favourites were the gingerbread playdough, and the chocolate playdough. 

Thanks for helping us spread a little kindness into our community with our Kindness Project. We reached so many people in town, and even affected programming outside of our country! Others libraries around the world took our ideas for Random Acts of Kindness, and began implementing it in their Summer Reading Programs, under the theme "Build a Better World".

Our next six weeks of story time dives deep under the sea! See you next time!

Tuesday, July 11, 2017

Kindness Project: Friendship Bracelets

Our fifth week of kindness was all about friends! We made friendship bracelets - one for us, and one for a special friend!

All of our story time books have an underlying theme of kindness. This week we read:

Strictly No Elephants, by Lisa Mantchev


Hey, Little Ant, by Phillip and Hannah Hoose


Time to Say "Please"! by Mo Willems


Llama Llama and the Bully Goat, by Anna Dewdney


That's Not Funny! by Jeanne Willis


Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon, by Patty Lovell


The Duckling Gets a Cookie!? by Mo Willems


We used some fun and colourful beads, buttons, and even noodles to make our friendship bracelets:



Some of the kids traded their bracelets with friends some story time, some of them made them for siblings and parents, and some had other friends in mind. What a wonderful experience :)

Next week wraps up our kindness project, and we're finishing with a foray into diversity.