Preschool Pretend and Play - Dots and Spots

Dots and spots can be anything when we use our imagination!

10 Black Dots can be eyes on a fox, a sun, a moon, wheels on a train, soldier's heads, marbles and more! Donald Crew's book showed us that! So, did Dot by Patricia Intriago and Lots of Dots by Craig Frazier!


We counted dots on our chocolate chip cookies that Cookie Monster ate! We counted dots on our cards and found a library friend with a card with the same number of dots!


We danced to Shake a Friend's Hand from the Stinky Cake cd and Root-chy-cha from the Laugh and Learn Silly Songs cd.


Our take home crafts were animals that have dots or spots, a Where is Dot book to teach positional words and of course, some connect-the-dot pictures!


Dots and spots are everywhere! Take a look around!

Caldecott Honors 2012

One hot summer night in the city, all the power goes out. The TV shuts off and a boy wails, "Mommm!" His sister can no longer use the phone, Mom can't work on her computer, and Dad can't finish cooking dinner. What's a family to do? When they go up to the roof to escape the heat, they find the lights--in stars that can be seen for a change--and so many neighbors it's like a block party in the sky! On the street below, people are having just as much fun--talking, rollerblading, and eating ice cream before it melts. The boy and his family enjoy being not so busy for once.

Grandpa Green wasn't always a gardener. He was a farmboy and a kid with chickenpox and a soldier and, most of all, an artist. In this captivating new picture book, readers follow Grandpa Green's great-grandson into a garden he created, a fantastic world where memories are handed down in the fanciful shapes of topiary trees and imagination recreates things forgotten.

In his characteristic heartwarming style, Patrick McDonnell tells the story of the young Jane Goodall and her special childhood toy chimpanzee named Jubilee. As the young Jane observes the natural world around her with wonder, she dreams of "a life living with and helping all animals," until one day she finds that her dream has come true.

Caldecott Medal 2012- Best Illustrations

Here's a story about love and loss as only Chris Rashcka can tell it.  Any child who has ever had a beloved toy break will relate to Daisy's anguish when her favorite ball is destroyed by a bigger dog. In the tradition of his nearly wordless picture book Yo! Yes?, Caldecott Medalist Chris Raschka explores in pictures the joy and sadness that having a special toy can bring.  Raschka's signature swirling, impressionistic illustrations and his affectionate story will particularly appeal to young dog lovers and teachers and parents who have children dealing with the loss of something special.

More New Picture Books

The Messy One

Very cute! I can relate to the mess! Has anyone ever seen my office?

Vivienne is a messy girl, but it doesn't seem to bother her. But when Vivienne loses her favorite necklace, she must evaluate her messy ways and do the unthinkable. Vivienne must finally clean her room!

My Plate Materials

There are many new books for children about food and nutrition. This book is the first book out about the new MyPlate icon that replaces the Food Pyramid.

This is the first book out for parents that covers the new MyPlate guidelines!



Great New Books!

I love David Melling's Douglas the bear books! They are adorable. I used Hugless Douglas in our Hugs&Kisses program. Here is his new book! Douglas gets a new wool hat from his dad and something goes terribly wrong!

I LOVE Jan Thomas' books!!! They are simply hilarious! And she has a new one out! Love, love, love the silliness!

Cookie Monster and 10 Fluffy Chicks

Here is the cookie monster puppet I will be using for our activity, but you can make one of your own at home!


Linda, one of my wonderful volunteers, made a cookie monster out of felt and a couple out of paper! Fun and easy!

Preschool Pretend & Play (ages 3-5) MyPlate

This week's theme is the new MyPlate food icon. This replaces the Food Pyramid. MyPlate really makes meal planning easier. Just by looking at the icon, you know right away that vegetables and fruits should take up half the plate (with the veggie portion being a bit bigger), and grains and protein foods should take up the other half (with more grains on this side). And with a side helping of dairy, you're reminded that kids also need a serving of milk or another dairy food (like cheese or yogurt) at each meal.

Five Green and Speckled Frogs- Ideas

We are using "Five Green and Speckled Frogs" for our '5' song this session of Tales for Twos. Here are some early literacy props that you can make for free almost to enjoy the song and activitities at home!

Here is the big one we are using at the library.

And here is the smaller version you can do at home with a paper towel tube!

Here is the monkey mitt we use at the library. And here is one with all the supplies from the $1 Store!

Tales for Twos (Age 2 with an adult) Please and Thank You

Mon. 9th through Wed. 11th at 10:30 - Same program each day

This week's theme is Please and Thank You. It's important as your ABCs. You must remember to say "thank you" and "please".

I will be introducing a new "5" song- 5 Green and Speckled Frogs. We've used Alice the Camel and 5 Little Ducks before and now we will have fun this session with frogs! Ribbit!

To help learn my LLFs names, I will use my bumblebee puppet and this little rhyme:
Tickle, tickle bumblebee, won't you say your name for me? It's great when we learn our library friends' names.

Happy New Year 2012- Here We Go!

I took a little break from posting during the holidays, but now I am ready to again.

We have lots of new books coming in and I will highlight a few of the ones that I really like in the next week or so. So, make sure to check the New Materials Link to see what's new!

The Winter/Spring Program Booklet is available at the library and on our website. Check out all the programs for birth through 12th grade from Jan. through May!

I finished the library website! Check it out! Hope you like it!

Preschool Programs begins this week with Tales for Twos! If you have a 2 yr.old, hope to see you there!