Wild About Animals- Week #6 Photos

A few of our book selections for the week- plus, a sneak peek at the craft.

Playing a lock-and-key color matching game to go along with Good Night, Gorilla.

Coloring our paper gorillas.

Cutting out our gorillas.

Working on the craft at Ste. Genevieve.

Working on the craft at Fredericktown.

The finished product!

Another colorful gorilla!

And now the best part... costumes!  Clark?  Is that you?

Costumes at Ironton.

More costumes at Ironton.

An unlikely pair :)

Power up!

Dr. Seuss is one of our favorites!  Check out that mischievous grin!

Costumed cuties at Steelville.

Costumes at Bourbon.

Strawberry Shortcake, showing us how story time is done.

Costumes at Fredericktown.

Even though you can't see her spider hat, Miss Pat is dressed up as the word-smithing spider Charlotte from Charlotte's Web by E.B. White.

I've been on a Mary Poppins kick lately, so I'm dressed up as the magical and kooky nanny from P.L. Travers' book.

Keep reading!

Shaen

Wild About Animals- Week #6

Fall Story Time (Week #6)
Weekly Theme: Gorillas

Books: Gladys Goes Out to Lunch by Derek Anderson, Goodnight Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann

Activity: lock-and-key zoo color game

Craft: gorilla with bradded arms

Pictures of the sixth week of story time are up in the next post, so... 

Keep reading!

Shaen

Saturday Fun!

Just for fun, I thought I'd post some instructions for paper airplane making (in case anyone's looking for a simple, non-messy craft project this weekend!).  Click the image below to bring up a larger copy of the instructions.  Happy flying!

Keep reading!

Shaen

Wild About Animals- Week #5 Photos

Our Week #5 Activity Table featured a Polar Bear Race, a counting game with a marshmallow igloo, and sensory play with cotton ball puffs.

After reading Kumak's Fish by Michael Bania (a tall tale about ice fishing in the Arctic), we tried ice fishing ourselves!

Using our "hooking stick" to catch fish!

Even more fish!

Aren't we great fisherpeople?

Then we used chalk and markers to color our polar bear pictures.

Grandpas are good at helping out.

Some pictures included aluminum foil icicles.

Pictures at Ste. Genevieve.

More creative pictures.  What a blast!

Keep reading!

Shaen

Wild About Animals- Week #5

Fall Story Time (Week #5)
Weekly Theme: Polar Bears

Books: A Splendid Friend Indeed by Suzanne Bloom, Tom Goes to Kindergarten by Margaret Wild, What About Bear by Suzanne Bloom, Little Polar Bear and the Big Balloon by Hans de Beer, Polar Bear Night by Lauren Thompson

Activity:ice fishing game

Craft: chalk polar bear drawings (with aluminum foil ice!)

And don't forget!  Next week is our party week at story time, so kids can feel free to dress up in costumes, and adults can bring wrapped candy.  

Pictures of the fifth week of story time are up in the next post, so... 

Keep reading!

Shaen

Belleview School Tour

We've been on break from story time this week, but that doesn't mean that we're not keeping busy here at the library!  Yesterday, the Ironton library staff enjoyed a visit from the Belleview school district's kindergarten through third grade classes (plus a few parents and teachers!).  After a fun (and noisy!) opening song and a brief tour of the library and children's collection, we all headed back to the conference room to read the ever-popular Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes...

and then used our imaginations and coloring skills to craft some cool kicks, just like Pete.

We Love Our Library Shoes!

Don't forget!  We're back for week 5 of story time, starting Monday, and we'll be focusing on polar bears (and going ice fishing for our game!).  Miss Pat and I will look forward to seeing you then!


Keep reading!

Shaen

Nonfiction Picks

Looking for a good book?

Book cover images and summaries from Goodreads.

Firefly July: A Year of Very Short Poems by Paul B. Janeczko- It only takes a few words, if they’re the right words, to create a strong image. Whether listened to in the comfort of a cozy lap or read independently, the thirty-six very short poems in this collection remind readers young and old that a few perfect words and pictures can make the world glow. Selected by acclaimed poet Paul B. Janeczko and gorgeously illustrated by Melissa Sweet, Firefly July: A Year of Very Short Poems invites children to sample poems throughout the four seasons.

The World Series: Baseball's Biggest Stage by Matt Doeden- Baseball has long been dubbed America's national pastime. When the top teams face off in the World Series each season, team legacies and fans' hearts are on the line. Author Matt Doeden covers the century-long history of the World Series, from its humble beginnings to becoming a worldwide sensation. Discover the drama behind the statistics and record books that keeps the crowd enthralled in their seats!

A Boy Named Beckoning by Gina Capaldi- At the end of his career, Dr. Carlos Montezuma tells his life story in the form of a letter that the author has pieced together from his writings: As young Wassaja, he was kidnapped from his Yavapai tribe by the Pima, a long time enemy of his people. They sold him as a slave and in 1871 he was purchased by Mr. Gentile, an Italian who actually made his living with an early camera. Together they traveled the nation, taking pictures all the way. Wassaja, now renamed Carlos, eventually enrolled in school in Chicago where he thrived despite difficult circumstances, eventually graduating from the University of Illinois, and Chicago Medical School. He devoted his life to lobbying on behalf of his people. The illustrator is a multi-media artist, and she has skillfully integrated her own paintings with Mr. Gentile's photographs of Carlos to give us a fascinating view of another era.

Keep reading!

Shaen

Teen Fiction Picks

Looking for a good book?

Book cover images and summaries from Goodreads.

Thirteen by James Phelen- Kidnapped from school and finding out his parents aren't who he thinks they are, Sam is suddenly running from danger at every turn. Nothing will ever be the same again.  With his life and identity shattered, Sam's salvation is tied to an ancient prophecy. He is in the final battle to save the world, up against an enemy plotting to destroy us all.  He alone can find the last thirteen.

Cinder by Marissa Meyer- Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

Liar & Spy by Rebecca Stead- When seventh grader Georges (the S is silent) moves into a Brooklyn apartment building, he meets Safer, a twelve-year-old coffee-drinking loner and self-appointed spy. Georges becomes Safer's first spy recruit. His assignment? Tracking the mysterious Mr. X, who lives in the apartment upstairs. But as Safer becomes more demanding, Georges starts to wonder: how far is too far to go for your only friend?

Keep reading!

Shaen

Graphic Novel Picks

Looking for a good book?

Book cover images and summaries from Goodreads.

The Titan's Curse: The Graphic Novel- Rick Riordan's internationally best-selling The Titan's Curse becomes a graphic novel in the hands of comic-book luminaries Robert Venditti, Attila Futaki, and Gregory Guilhaumond.

The Return of Zita the Spacegirl by Ben Hatke- Zita the Spacegirl has saved planets, battled monsters, and wrestled with interplanetary fame. But she faces her biggest challenge yet in the third and final installment of the Zita adventures. Wrongfully imprisoned on a penitentiary planet, Zita has to plot the galaxy's greatest jailbreak before the evil prison warden can execute his plan of interstellar domination!

Lunch Lady and the School Wide Scuffle by Jarrett J. Krosoczka- Lunch Lady and Betty have been unceremoniously cut from the school budget, and the timing couldn't be worse—the villains from all nine of her previous adventures are worming their way back into Thompson Brook with a masterfully devious plan. Will the Breakfast Bunch still be able to count on Lunch Lady's superhero gadgets and abilities to save the school, or are they on their own? Don't miss Lunch Lady's swashbuckling finale!

Keep reading!

Shaen

Wild About Animals- Week #4 Photos

Our lion-themed Activity Table featured animal cracker pattern matching, a post-it note counting game, and a lion grid game.

A few of this week's story time reading selections.

Miss Pat reading to an attentive crowd at our Bourbon branch.

The kids pretended to be lions performing in a circus for this week's game!  First, they crawled through the "Big Top"...

Then they navigated around the buckets...

Then they finished by jumping through our "hoop of fire"!

What fierce lions!

 

After our game and books, we got messy with paint!

Using forks to paint our lions' manes.

Little lions at Ironton!

More lions at Steelville.

A finished lion, mane and all.

What a blast we had this week, learning about lions!

Keep reading!

Shaen