Summer Storytime Themes- Worms and Ants

At the Franklin Public Library, we have our Tales for Twos program (age 2 with an adult) and our Preschool Pretend & Play program (age 3-5 with an adult). This summer, I used the same themes each week for both programs and just changed the books and activities.

TT
In Tales for Twos, we concentrate on the number 5. So, we begin with a "5" song. In the past, we have used Alice the Camel, 5 Green & Speckled Frogs, 5 Little Ducks, etc. This session, we are using 5 Little Hot Dogs.

I use the rhyme "This is Big, Big, Big" from Mel's Desk.
Books: Ants and Bob and Otto

Listening Station

We have a new listening station in the children's area.

"Hearing a book read on tape helps her see how the words on the page can come alive in a fluid, expressive way. It helps her focus on the sounds of words read without interruption and provides a model of fluent reading. Audio books also give her an important introduction to listening — a skill that she must master in order to learn to read."

Here's a great SHORT article on the benefits of listening to books...
http://www.scholastic.com/parents/resources/article/developing-reading-skills/literacy-benefits-listening




Puzzle Table

We provide new puzzles on our puzzle table 3 times a year. Although the puzzles provides enjoyment and entertainment for our families when they visit, the puzzles also provide an important educational opportunity.





These skills are enhanced by playing with puzzles:

Cognitive skills:

•  they help improve problem-solving and reasoning
• they help a child see whole-part relationships
• they help increase a child's visual spatial awareness
• depending on the subject matter, can teach a variety of subjects like shape, letter and color recognition

Fine Motor skills:

• fine motor manipulation is the key to writing which begins long before a child holds a pencil

Hand-Eye Coordination:

• through the trial and error process of manipulating puzzle pieces into the proper spot, a child is strengthening their hand-eye coordination

Social Skills:

• these are great tools for fostering cooperative play- discussing where the next piece will go or asking for a piece to be passed to them
• it also can help a child learn to handle the frustration when a piece does not fit

http://sensoryedge.hubpages.com/hub/Educational-Toys-for-Kids-The-Benefits-of-Puzzles

2013 Summer Highlights

Zoophonics

Using an animal alphabet helps children remember the shapes and sounds of the letters which are aspects of letter knowledge, one of the six skills of early literacy.

Letter sounds are taught before letter names. Lowercase letters are taught before capital letters. And including body movement for each animal letter helps to reinforce the connection between letter sounds and letter shapes. Learning is greatly enhanced when movement is involved.

Zoophonics helps close the gender gap when it comes to learning language. Boy's brains are wired in a way that makes language a more difficult skill to acquire and use effectively. Studies show that early childhood language and learning activities must be paired with movement and the use of manipulatives.

The Zoophonics materials will be available for checkout at the library soon!


http://www.zoo-phonics.com/ Visit the Zoophonics website to learn more about their products!

New Board Books

Wow, I can't believe how I have lost my blogging mojo! I think because I didn't do any preschool programming this year, I haven't been on top of my blogging. Time goes by so fast and it is already June soon! Summer is coming and, of course, that means the Summer Reading Program! So, I am getting back into the swing of things! I will be doing the preschool programming for summer, so hopefully that will keep me in the groove!

We have a ton of new board books come in to support our new 6 Skills of Early Literacy handouts that we created. They are available in the library near the kid's desk.

I would like to highlight a few...

These new "You Are My Baby" books are just adorable. It is a book within a book! The mama or papa animal is the larger book and inside there is a smaller book with the baby animal!

These new books are meant to tackle the difficult lessons to learn of not hitting or biting or pushing...

And finally, these cute books feature the most adorable monsters to teach shapes, colors, abcs and more!

 

Check out ALL these new board books and so many more at the Franklin Public Library!

 

Soup for One by Ethan Long

Shoo, fly, shoo! One little fly thinks he’s getting a big bowl of hot soup all to himself. Little does he know, interlopers wait around every corner. Help him to count the unwelcome pals that join him for lunch—one after another after another—up to ten! Who will get the last slurp of soup? Does the ravenous chef have a chance against ten hungry flies? Or will the sneaky spider hiding on every page be the one to triumph?

This is a very cute concept book. We have it in the NEW Picture Book section at the library! So, check it out!