Celebrating Picture Book Month

Today is the start of Picture Book Month.  As you probably can guess by my frequent book reviews, reading updates, and blog posts, I am a huge fan of picture books.  I will most definitely be celebrating Picture Book Month.  Yay!  Having the realization that Picture Book Month protocol may not be clear and we may need guidance for how to celebrate, I’ve come up with ten ideas to celebrate Picture Month Book in your classroom, in your home, on your own, or with others. 

1. Read lots of picture books.  Make a goal of reading at least one picture book a day or one new picture book each week.

2. Visit your local libraries. Pull picture books off the shelf and discover new authors and illustrators!  Ask the librarian for assistance in find the right book for your and your child/students.

3. Find your favorite picture books from when you were a child.  My husband recently found his two favorite childhood picture books online.  Thanks to the selling power of Amazon, he found Disney Classic Button Soup.  It was such a pleasure to see Nana reading Button Soup to our Lil Guy.  (The Big Guy was listening too!)

4. Visit book blogs that are celebrating Picture Book Month.  There are so many amazing book blogs out there that may cater to your picture book tastes.   You can easily blog hop from one book blog to another just by checking for ‘blogs I follow’ links.

5. Check out past Caldecott winners.  The Caldecott medal is given to picture books by a committee that recognizes excellence in story and illustrations.  Click HERE for the official Caldecott website with a lits of previous winners and honor books.

6. Stock up on picture books as gifts for birthdays, holidays, or give them as children (or adults) just because.  I love giving (and receiving) books as gifts. Work a book into a themed gift! (Give sporting goods plus a book about a favorite character playing sports.)

7. Visit a local book store.  Book stores are one of my true vices.  I love seeing the full book shelves and new books ready to be discovered.  I also love used book stores where I can grab a stack of picture books from the clearance section for a steal.  Try local indie book stores for unique local reads!

8. Participate in PiBoIdMo.  Picture Book Idea Month was started by Tara at Writing For Kids.  You can sign up on her blog.  The idea is simple.  Get your ideas for picture books out of your head and into notebooks, onto paper, write, sketch, and get organized.  If you are the writing type, check out herideas along with the other participants HERE.

9. Reread your favorite picture books.  Grab those favorites off the shelves.  Enjoy them or look at them critically for a new perspective.  Use fun voices for the characters or read a book in the dark with only a flashlight.  (Kids love that!)  Try reading book for younger students to an older audience and see their reaction!

10. Join a reading community.  Connect with other readers of picture books online at GoodReads or on twitter.  Check for your favorite author or illustrator’s website.  Go to story time with your children or encourage older students to share non-fiction picture books in the classroom.  (It’s worth it, I promise!) 

Overall, have fun and enjoy picture books.   

Have a great Picture Book Month and for more information, 

visit Picture Book Month Blog HERE.   

Anyone else planning to celebrate 

Picture Book Month?

More Storytime Tales

I first started talking about storytime here on my blog, but I thought I would update, since my Lil Guy has turned 3 and we are now doing storytimes more than ever.  In our area, storytimes are usually geared for the under 3, pre-school, and then multi-aged groups.  That means that at age 3 we can attend both lapsits (where children and care-givers both sit on the floor to listen to stories) and more independent storytimes where kids sit in groups and care-givers get folding chairs in the back of the room.  The pre-school storytimes feature more and more early literacy activities.  I can see that Lil Guy is showing more interest in sitting with the big kids instead of me (gasp), participating in answering questions and repeating phrases from the reader, and recognizing connections between the books, songs, and activities.

We’ve been to story times with color themes, themes such as dogs, circus, weather, and holidays, and even one storytime that focuses on a letter of the alphabet.  The alphabet letter is previewed by showing all of the books that we will be reading and talking about 3 or 4 words that start with this letter.  There is even a alphabasket that has small pictures or items beginning with this letter. Finally, one lucky child gets to reach into a mystery box and pluck out the felt letter which remains on the felt board during storytime.  Since we are at the beginning consonant sounds phase with Lil Guy, he likes this part!  Overall, these storytimes are doing a great job of introducing early literacy activities to little listeners.  

We also attend some story times that have activities built into them.  Almost like a hybrid class to get toddlers moving, one class has the adults sweating as we do head shoulders knees and toes and other clapping, singing, dancing, and stretching moves.  I sometimes count this particular class as my exercise for the day.  I should also point out that sitting still during this class never feels like an option, since Lil Guy grabs my hand and forces me to participate, yelling my name and loudly shouting, “Come on Mommy, get up and dance!”  :)  I know these sessions help make reading an active (not passive) activity for children. 

 

Most of all, storytime seems to be just about making reading fun, making it a shared experience, and giving children a chance to explore books.  How about you?  What do you think of storytime?  What’s your best experience with your Lil One and storytime?

The Story-Time Scene

I am quite new to the StoryTime scene.  I have read stories in school to children for years, but now that my Lil Guy is ready to sit and listen to stories we have been going to bookstores and local libraries to for storytime.  I wasn’t sure what to expect at first, but was happy to hear the kids sing a few songs, stand up and do motions, and some other really cute little activities.  The past few weeks I have been trying a new storytime at a new library that really hits my fancy.  At this storytime not only do we get to sing songs and hear stories but we also get play things.  I admit, before these story times I didn’t really understand the merit of felt boards (gasp!) or props that help children interact.  Now though, I am won over to the interaction with books, stories, and music that can come together during toddler storytime.

My Lil Guy is 2 and ½.  He loves books but sometimes storytime can be overwhelming with unruly tots and long stories that take too long to tell to a group since everyone really wants to see the pictures.  He also loves to sing-along (my fault, since I constantly sing at him) and is an enthusiastic singer for favorite songs like Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes or Row, Row, Row Your Boat.  All of this being said, he would still ask after each story, after each song or chant, “Are we finished yet?” Meaning he was just read to go home.  I was beginning to worry that storytime was more for me than him.

Well, a few props, felt board activities, and interactive songs later, and we both are enjoying storytime more.  Imagine a room of 10 to 15 toddlers sitting on a carpet in the library on a rainy day.  What do you think would be a great prop for them to play with?  How about umbrellas?  I wasn’t sure when they started passing out the umbrellas to the kiddos and expected them to all control themselves.  What I discovered was that every child wants to hold an umbrella, twirl it around, pop it up and down, and it is a perfect prop when tied to a song or story.  Another surprise was when our storytime leader turned off the lights and passed out flashlights to sing Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.  Lil Guy loved this!  Egg shaped shakers, sticks to hit together in rhythm, puppets and stuffed animals, feathers, and rubber duckies in the hands of toddlers all inspire imagination and play.  

So, maybe every storytime has these creative and fun interactions, or maybe I just lucked out and found a great storytime with nice kids, fun interaction, and good stories.  How about you?  What do you think of storytime?  What’s your best experience with your Lil One and storytime?

Story Time

Today I took Lil Guy to the bookstore for story time.  It was our first outing like this going to the bookstore for a story time and this was a special story time with a guest from a story character, Biscuit.  Lil Guy was super excited when the giant Biscuit character started walking toward the crowd.  Lil Guy kept jumping up and waving at Biscuit and saying hello.  I have to admit it was super cute.  Everyone at the bookstore was super nice and most of the children were really excited to see Biscuit.  My Lil Guy had 'read' his Biscuit book all the way to the store so he was already pumped and added his 'woof, woof' as the storyteller read the books.

Biscuit books by Alyssa Satin Capucilli are an adorable set of books that I have loved both in and out of the classroom.  The earliest of readers love the predictability and sweet stories about this little pup.  My own Lil Guy loves the 'woof, woof' part the best.  I just think these books are perfect for read alouds and for Lil Ones who are just starting to explore books.  Throughout the series, Biscuit visits school, a farm, and the doctor.  He also makes friends and gets into a little mischief.  If you haven't checked these out, check for them at your local library!

While at the bookstore today, I also finally checked out It's a Little Book by Lane Smith.  I had read his original It's a Book and thought it was a hoot, so I was excited to read this one.  I had read a few other blogs about the book so I already knew it was sweet and funny, and it didn't disappoint.  The ape and donkey are cute as can be!  Lil Guy crawled up on my lap so read the book and he knew it was a 'monkey' and was excited when I told him it was a donkey friend too.  He was able to pick up on the pattern of the book answering, "No." after the first few pages.  It's a perfect book for the under 3 crowd.  I also really like the illustrations and think they would be cute for decorating a nursery.

Also at the bookstore we checked out the shelves.  It's not surprising that Lil Guy always wants a book.  What is always funny to me, is that he wants to buy books that we already own at home.  I must have said ten times, "We already have that book at home."  Finally, I convinced my Lil Guy to choose a new book for purchase.  Our book shelves are getting a little full these days.  (and by shelves I mean, bookshelves, toyboxes, baskets, piles, and hallway bookcases.)  I have been contemplating pulling out some of the simpler books and packing them away.  While sentimentally this has me feeling a little sad, I also know that these are the books that Lil Guy will soon be reading on his own.   I guess that we will keep the book shelves  stuffed a little while longer.  We also, of course will continue to visit our local bookstores, libraries, and such.  

What are your visits to the book store like?  Do you browse?  Are you the type who grabs a coffee and a magazine?  Do you only visit the store when you found a book you need ASAP?