PreK Bits - "P" is for PERFECT PLANs

Wed, 11/22/2017 - 8:02pm by ryanikoglu

Ms Rachel brought African tales to Storytime.
Following troubles ... Each tale ended with a PERFECT PLAN.
HEAD, BODY, LEGS is a tale from Liberia. Head makes a perfect plan that gets all the body parts working together.
WOODY'S 20 Grow Big Songs has a recorded version of the song/game “Pick It Up”. We dropped our noses (and other parts) by accident. How embarrassing !! But we put othings back together. Knowing how to fix things is a good plan too!
LEOPARD’S DRUM is an Asanti Tale from West Africa. Tiny Turtle was the one who made a PERFECT PLAN.

For more tales with PERFECT PLANS try these favorites;
DOG And BEAR: Three To Get Ready … three plans that make good friends.
The SECRET PLAN … for bedtime.
SHH! WE HAVE A PLAN! … sometimes they work and sometimes you need to revise.
OH NO GEORGE! … sometimes it’s a poor plan.
JETHRO And JOEL WERE A TROLL … a Troll with two heads? Hoo boy! Who’s in charge? They need to make a better plan ….
The CARPENTER ... what do you do with a measuring tape? Make plans !!
OLLIE And CLAIRE ... hohum turns into fun when Claire makes a new plan.

PreK Bits - "Q" is for Quiet

Wed, 11/08/2017 - 8:37pm by ryanikoglu

This week Ms. Rachel presented stories that needed quiet.
SLEEPYHEADS ... where every quiet creature lays their sleepy head. Wait! One little sleepyhead is not in their bed!
Ms. Betsy played guitar and Ms. Rachel led the Quiet/Loud action song "Wake Up You Sleepy Heads".
You can hear the "Sleepy Heads" song on the recording SING IT! SAY IT! STAMP IT! SWAY IT! ... along with more favorite childhood songs!
The SQUEAKY DOOR had a Grandma putting her Grand-children to bed in the big double bed. It was time for quiet.

For more books that find "quiet" try the following favorites:
QUIET BUNNY'S MANY COLORS ... find them in the garden.
The QUIET BOOK ... very thoughtful, lovely prose, and beautiful gentle illustrations.
SHH! WE HAVE A PLAN ... who needs to be quiet?
TIPTOE JOE ... tiptoe to be quiet.
HANK FINDS AN EGG ... on a quiet walk in the woods. What shall he do?
The FAMILY BEDTIME TREASURY: Tales For Sleepy Times and Sweet Dreams ... a treasure trove in one book!
BEDTIME FOR BEAR ... with a "small but effervescent" overnight guest. Delightful storytelling and illustrations!
Find a cozy space.
Good Night!
Sleep Tight.

When you wake up the next day .... sing along with Joanie Bartels and MORNING MAGIC songs.

"F" is for FOX

Wed, 11/01/2017 - 8:43pm by ryanikoglu

Ms Rachel brought FOX tales to Storytime.
In FLOSSIE And The FOX ... Flossie has to get her basket of eggs safely to Ms. Viola’s house.
Flossie doesn’t know what a fox looks like but she figures it out.
During “A-Hunting We Will Go” we found many rhyming things ... "And We Always Let Them Go!"
Finally .... we sang along with the GINGERBREAD GIRL … as she planned a more successful ending to the classic story of the GINGERBREAD BOY.

For more FOXES and more fun tales try these favorites:
HOW TO FIND A FOX ... can she do it?
LITTLE FOX In The FOREST ... a book without words. You use your own to describe the "magical world" the fox leads you to.
APPLES For LITTLE FOX ... This little fox's first mystery!
MY LITTLE FOX ... little fox's first year in the woods.
ROSIE'S WALK ... a classic. Watch the pictures as you read the story....
The TOMTEN And The FOX ... another classic. The little gnome-like Tomten is there to protect the hen house.
SHELTER ... a proverb, as well as a "fox story".
PANDORA ... an imaginary world grows around Pandora the fox, and Pandora gently tends to it.

PreK Bits - "T" is for TOOLS

Wed, 10/25/2017 - 6:37pm by ryanikoglu

Ms Rachel and Banjo Betsy worked with TOOLS today.
OLD MacDONALD HAD A WOODSHOP ... and she built a toy farm for the animals to play with!
"Camille (and Johnny) Worked With One Hammer" ... and then they worked with more ... until they went to sleep.
THREE LITTLE PIGS ... each little pig built their own house ... with TOOLS of course!
"Screw it down. Hammer it tight. Built it up. Make it right!"

For more stories with TOOLS try these favorites:
GOODNIGHT LAB: a Scientific Parody ... if you know GOODNIGHT MOON you can love this too.
MY FRIEND ROBOT
TOOLS RULE
MONKEY WITH A TOOL BELT
FROGGY BUILDS A TREE HOUSE
STANLEY The BUILDER
FORT-BUILDING TIME

There are so many parodies of The THREE LITTLE PIGS ... you might like to compare the stories:
THREE LITTLE JAVELINAS ... a bilingual story.
THREE LITTLE PIGS And The SOMEWHAT BAD WOLF.
The THREE LITTLE DASSIES.
Richard Scarry's BEST NURSERY TALES EVER ... and "Three Little Pigs" is one fo the tales.
THREE LITTLE PIGS: An Old Story.
THREE LITTLE PIGS COUNT TO 100.
The THREE LITTLE RIGS.
The THREE LITTLE PIGS ... a turned story by James Marshall.
The TRUE STORY Of The THREE LITTLE PIGS ... from the Wolf's point-of-view.
Who's afraid? Not ME !!

PreK Bits - "A" is for APPLE

Wed, 10/04/2017 - 7:52pm by ryanikoglu

Ms. Rachel presented an apple theme in Storytime this week.
GOBBLE GOBBLE MOOOO TRACTOR BOOK … the day Farmer Brown slept-in, the animals drove the tractor!
We clapped out letters to the “Apple Bingo” song … A-P-P-L-E !!
APPLE PIE … "Botheration!" That enormous juicy apple is up so high. However can we get it and put it in our pie?"

Fall is apple season and here are more apple books:
APPLESAUCE DAY ... this is the day that comes after you visit the orchard and bring home apples. One more kind of busy....
TEN APPLES UP ON TOP ... a "beginning Reader" title.
FROM APPLE TREES TO CIDER PLEASE ... "Grab the wagon. It's a bright autumn day!".
A APPLE PIE … a traditional apple pie alphabet with illustrations by Gennady Spirin.
APPLES A to Z … and apple alphabet and primer.
TEN RED APPLES .. a counting book.
The SEASONS Of ARNOLD’S APPLE TREE … one year.
FLORENTINE And PIG ... includes recipes for a fine fall picnic!
The APPLE ORCHARD RIDDLE … the class field trip to the orchard.
LITTLE APPLE GOAT … how the trees were planted.
For more Fall related titles … see PreK Bits – FALL stories for 1-6 yrs. Old … an AADL Public List of titles for preschool and young elementary ages.

New Monster Books!

Wed, 09/27/2017 - 6:00pm by manz

It’s that time of year when requests for spooky and fall books happen! Check out this new batch of monster books for kids. There are such cute monsters out there!

An A to Z of Monsters and Magical Beings offers fascinating facts about some of the most talked about mysterious beings! Everything including an alien, cyclops, dragon, kraken, minotaur, troll, werewolf, and more! Beautiful illustrations!

What Makes a Monster: Discovering the World’s Scariest Creatures is a nonfiction book that explores a variety of real animals that dare to scare. Read facts about the fangtooth moray eel, komodo dragon, and the Portuguese man-of-war, to name a few. Great photographs!

And don’t forget to check for:
If Your Monster Won’t Go To Bed
There’s a Monster in Your Book
I’m Not Little
I Want to be in a Scary Story

If you need even more, here’s a list of monster books, and here’s whole bag of Stories To Go: Monsters that features a stack of some classics.

PreK Bits - "H" is for HOUSE and HOME !

Wed, 09/27/2017 - 5:03pm by ryanikoglu

Ms. Rachel's Storytime Theme this week was House and Home.
First ... WE WERE TIRED Of LIVING IN A HOUSE ... "so we moved out!"
psst! The books are wearing out ... but you can still get a copy from another Library through MelCat.
We sang "Wheels On The Bus" ... for our "action song".
SHOE TOWN ... Mama Mouse moved into a shoe, once her babies were all grown. Folks began to knock. "May I come in?"
Mama Mouse suggested, "If you find your own shoe it could go there and you could be my neighbor"!

Here are more stories of "HOME" for you to check out:
LITTLE HOME BIRD ... Little Bird loves everything about his home. He's surrounded by his favorite branch, his favorite food, his favorite view and his favorite music. =-)
HOME FOR A BUNNY ... a classic by Margaret Wise Brown!
The BEAR And The PIANO ... home is where you are happy.
The NOT-SO-FARAWAY ADVENTURE ... with grandfather.
WELCOME HOME BEAR: A Book Of Animal Habitats.
HOME LOVELY ... moving to a new home and making it "lovely".
LITTLE HOUSES: A Counting Book.
JULIA'S HOUSE FOR LOST CREATURES ... and everyone has a job to do to make it work well.
All BECAUSE "Home is where the HEART is."

PreK Bits - "P" is for PETS ... particularly puppies!

Wed, 09/13/2017 - 6:39pm by ryanikoglu

Ms. Rachel and Ms. Betsy brought songs and stories about pets to Storytime.
DOGGIES ... Stuffed dogs act-out the story and the audience barks along. The book is a modern classic by Sandra Boynton.
We sang “B-I-N-G-O” ... which can be found on youth CDs SONGS & STORIES For KIDS, BABY BOOST: 48 Interactive Sing-a-longs For Your Little One and LITTLE PEOPLE: Songs From The Farm.
To celebrate the theme we found our puppy parts and played the "Puppy Pokey" together.
ANY of these CDs will have the original song "The Hokey Pokey" ... AND you'll find more fun songs to dance and sing along with too!
15 ANIMALS ... another modern classic by Sandra Boynton. Now we know how to spell "Bob" !

For more famous DOG stories try the following favorites:
RAGWEED’S FARM DOG HANDBOOK by Anne Vittur Kennedy ... Learn From The Best!
HARRY The DIRTY DOG and NO ROSES For HARRY ... old dog classics by Gene Zion.
BUDDY And EARL and BUDDY And Earl And The GREAT BIG BABY ... new dog classics by Maureen Fergus.
MISS MOON: Wise Words From A Dog Governess by Janet Hill ... wise words for All with beautiful illustrations!
ZORRO GETS AN OUTFIT and MR BUD WEARS The CONE by Carter Goodrich ... a pitch-perfect dog point-of-view.
BARK GEORGE by Jules Feiffer... a dog fantasy.
The DOGHOUSE ... critters go in but they don't come out. Surprise?
WE LOVE YOU ROSIE! ... Oh Yes! We Do!
SIMON'S NEW BED ... Simon gets a new bed and someone else is in it!
For screen-time try the DVD BARK GEORGE And More Doggie Tails by Weston Woods Studios.
WOOF! ... snooff snurff ... doggie treat, Please.
... pant ... pant ...
Wooff !!

Preschool ArtStart

Monday February 19, 2018: 10:30am to 11:00am
Pittsfield Branch: Program Room
Ages 2–5, Siblings Welcome