Celebrating Water Awareness Month

So, our city water department offers to send goody bags out to libraries who schedule a story time to promote May as water awareness month...and offer that I couldn't refuse, once I made sure I could find enough suitable titles for my preschool audience. I did find plenty and I also stumbled upon some story time kits that our Central Library Children's staff have put together. What a wonderful resource. They include a music CD in support of the theme, books, song and rhyme suggestions and in one case a glove puppet set and in another character cards from one of the books that I was able to use as a flannel board story. So, on Saturday I presented this at a branch of the public library in front of fifteen or so kids and their parents and today, I repeated it at the base library for a group of three children and parents. The three are a core of regular attendees and we have so much fun together - I have watched all of them grow and change over the last six months or so and it has been a great journey!Here is a picture of the glove for "The Itsy Bitsy Spider and Friends" for after we sang the song through using the glove, we sang again about a GREAT BIG SPIDER and again with a teeny tiny spider. Many smiles and giggles!

We did other rain rhymes and with the larger group we "made" rain - first a gentle drizzle (rub hands together) then gentle drips (slow quiet hand claps) getting faster and louder as the rain increases - at the height of the storm everyone is slapping their thighs and stomping their feet. Again lots of smiles.

Here are the books we read:
Precious Water by Brigitte Weninger
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This book's simple engaging text and lovely illustrations really struck a chord with both story time audiences as it discussed the importance of water to all living things. There is a sweetness and light humor in the illustrations that the kids really seemed to enjoy - the cat's eye being magnified by the glass of water...a frog happily sitting in the pouring rain. There were counting opportunities as well as pages where my audience took great delight in identifying what they were seeing. Very engaging and lead easily into a discussion of all the ways we use water in our every day life.

Hey, Frog! by Piet Grobler
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This tale of a greedy frog is filled with detailed pictures filled with all sorts of animals. When frog drinks up all the water, all the other animals plot to get him to give it back. One by one they put their plans into action - but frog keeps his lips clamped shut. But the eels know a secret about frog...and their plan is successful in returning the water to the puddles, the brook, the river and even the big, blue lake.
Listen to the Rain by Bill Martin Jr.
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a gentle, beautifully illustrated book filled with wonderful language to describe a rainstorm from the first gentle whisper of the rain through "splash and splash and splatter, the steady sound of the singing of the rain" through to the "quietude, the silence and the solitude, of after-rain". My story time audience hung on every word and studied every picture - and this book seemed to have very broad age-appeal.

Cloud Dance by Thomas Locker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Simple text and beautiful full page illustrations describe the beauty of all types of different clouds. There is a glossary in the back with the scientific names and descriptions of clouds, but my audience enjoyed the poetic descriptions while looking at the beautiful cloud portraits.

Ten Little Fish by Audrey Wood
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a fun counting book with big beautiful illustrations. Nice real aloud, even with a large group because of the illustrations. One by one the line of fishes gets shorter, until there is only one left...then there are two, who fall in love and then start a family...of ten little fishes. The colorful character cards made this a fun flannel board story and both audiences loved helping to count the fish.

Rain by Manya Stojic
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Through simple, repetitive phrases and big, bright bold illustrations, we see how the animals of the Savannah sense an approaching rain storm using all of their senses. At first, porcupine smells the rain and rushes off to tell zebra, who see the lightening of the approaching storm...and so on...until the rain passes and then the animals use their senses to enjoy the gifts the rain has left behind...the taste of the cool water, the lush green leaves, the tasty fruit. We leave the animals happily anticipating the next big rain.

A Salute to Mothers

The theme of this week's story time was celebrating Moms. There are so many wonderful children's books out there that focus on mothers and the bond they have with their youngsters, that it wasn't difficult to find great books to read. The problem was limiting it to three or four! I'm not sure whether it was the books I chose, or the make up of my audience, but the kids were much more interactive and engaged with the books than they usually are. I was a little frustrated by the lack of good rhymes and finger plays that fit - but we did sing My Mommy Plays With Me (Tune: "The Wheels on the Bus") with the additional verses of "My mommmy reads to me" and "My mommy loves me so" and using the line "all through the year" to end each verse. We read four books for the kids - and one for the moms. Although the kids and moms enjoyed all of today's selections:

Hugs and Kisses by Christophe Loupi
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I fell head over heels in love with little Hugs the dog in this story. Early one morning he sneaks away from his sleeping family because "there was something he had to find out." He wanders around the farm asking all the animals for a kiss. The descriptions of all of the kisses he receives are wonderful - and the illustrations are filled with tenderness and emotion. I just wish there were more than five stars to give this book! My story time audience fell in love with Hugs as well - and the kids loved pointing to the spot on their bodies, where Hugs had just asked for a kiss (check, nose, top of the head...) as we turned the page.

Does a Kangaroo Have a Mother, Too? by Eric Carle
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Eric Carle is such a gifted artist that I would recommend any of his books for story time. The pictures in this book are bright and tender and the kids, predictably, loved them. The text is very simple and repetitive - asking if a particular animal has a mother, too - and then turn the page for the answer, "Yes! A has a mother. Just like me and you." The kids at story time would try and answer the question each and every time. Some even answered, "no" all the way through the book. It was wonderful to see every child in the audience earnestly try and answer each and every page. My audience, predictably, did engage with the illustrations. They also surprised me by interacting more with the text. This was a great story time read aloud.

Is Your Mama A Llama? by Deborah Guarino
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a sweet book with a highly engaging "guess the mom" rhyming text. Lloyd the llama approaches all his friends asking, "Is your mama a llama" and each responds with a two line description of his or her mom and the kids call out a guess as the page is turned. Even young ones can guess and do. Steven Kellogg's illustrations are lovely. This one was also a big hit.

Leap Back Home to Me by Lauren Thompson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

With beautiful and fun watercolor illustrations and bouncy rhyming text this is a great story time read aloud. Little frog "leap frogs" over increasingly bigger things and has ever bigger adventures and then leaps back home to mom. Mom is always waiting with a hug, crayons, a snack or a story. The kids hung on every word, and stared at every picture with smiles on their faces. Definitely a hit with my audience.

I Love My Mommy by Sebastien Braun
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

We all loved this book. The illustrations are big, bright and filled with love. The text is very simple and describes all the ways that moms show their love. Although the moms in this book are all animals the things they do for their young are the same things my story time audience look to their moms to do. This book is all about mom knowing just what we need at any time and being there to give it to us - from climbing lessons to a cuddle. I really liked that one of the pages talked about one mother (a beaver) who works very hard. These days not all mothers are able to play games with their children, or "stay by their side" as much as they might like to. Wonderful read aloud in celebration of mothers.

Five Minutes' Peace by Jill Murphy
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I discovered this book many years ago when I was home raising three young children and wondering if I would ever enjoy a hot meal or converse with an adult in full sentences ever again. Mrs. Large yearns for just 5 minutes peace. So she sneaks off to the bathroom to enjoy a soak in the bath with tea and the paper...and enjoys about a minute of "heaven" before, one by one, her three youngsters invade the bathroom, and finally end up in the tub with her. She sneaks back down to the kitchen where she enjoys three minutes and forty-five seconds of peace before her three wet young find her, wrapped in towels. This is my mother's day gift for the moms in my story time audience, and every single one can identify with Mrs. Large and her desire for just a few minutes of peace. But they can also identify with the love and humor that fills this book about that very special bond between mothers and their children.

Happy Mother's Day to all you Moms out there. May you enjoy some special time with your children...perhaps snuggling up together with a good book?