It's a Mystery!

Last night's storytime theme was "It's a Mystery" and the kids had a good time guessing the ending of books along the way. We read:

Detective Small in the Amazing Banana Caper by Wong Herbert Yee
Dot and Jabber and the Big Bug Mystery by Ellen Stoll Walsh
Who Took the Cookies from the Cookie Jar? by Bonnie Lass
Moose Tracks by Karma Wilson

The kids also had a good time with the flannel boards "It Looked Like Spilt Milk" and "What Did You Put in Your Pocket." Storytime ended with a mustache disguise craft. I got the template from http://www.tiffanykelley.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/mustaches-template.jpg

Here is the end result:

Happy Birthday! Storytime

I currently conduct family storytimes that are meant for children of all ages, although I find most of them are ages 4-10.

This week in honor of my birthday, I had a birthday themed storytime. Here are the books I read:

Happy Birthday, Hamster by Cynthia Lord

Don’t Spill the Beans! by Ian Schoenherr

Happy Birthday, Moon by Frank Asch

Moira’s Birthday by Robert Munsch

 This was their favorite book! Lots of laughter during the telling of this story! 

Picture from:

 http://childrensbooksguide.com/general/moira%E2%80%99s-birthday

I used two flannel boards this week, one about cupcakes and the other about birthday candles. For the candles flannel board, I put a cake on the board and passed out ten candles to the kids. I sang a rhyme, and when I called the color of the candle they were holding, they had to place it on the board. The rhyme went like this:

"If you have a blue candle, blue candle, blue candle,

If you have a blue candle, put it on the board."

The kids were very creative and made a cake man out of the candles. I was impressed!

Our craft was a birthday card made with construction paper, a cupcake die cut, and sequins.

 

"One choice can transform you. Pass initiation. Do not fail! Thrilling urban dystopian fiction debut from exciting young author. In sixteen-year-old Beatrice Prior's world, society is divided into five factions -- Abnegation (the selfless), Candor (the honest), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent) -- each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue, in the attempt to form a "perfect society." At the age of sixteen, teens must choose the faction to which they will devote their lives. On her Choosing Day, Beatrice renames herself Tris, rejects her family's group, and chooses another faction. After surviving a brutal initiation, Tris finds romance with a super-hot boy, but also discovers unrest and growing conflict in their seemingly "perfect society." To survive and save those they love, they must use their strengths to uncover the truths about their identities, their families, and the order of their society itself." - from http://www.amazon.com/Divergent-Veronica-Roth/dp/0062024027

I finished this novel over New Year's weekend, and it was amazing! If you like Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, Pretties by Scott Westerfield, or The Maze Runner by James Dashner then this is the book for you. Tris has a wicked time in this novel, and I am scared for her the whole way. Be warned that the Dauntless beat, maim, and kill each other to reach the top and this book describes those things in detail. Thanks to my Mom for suggesting this one to me!

Today I put up my January bulletin board celebrating Lunar New Year.