Presenting: Library Village!

About a month ago, Library Village was lucky to have the opportunity to give a poster presentation at the Ohio Library Council's Convention and Expo. None of us had ever presented before, so this was a nice little baby step toward giving real presentations some day. And it was a lot of fun, too!

The theme of the conference was "bridging the past with the future", and our poster was all about how using felt boards in story times can do just that! Even though felt is an older medium, it has stood the test of time because of all the wonderful things you can do with it to improve your story times. And yes, while it may be less sexy and flashy than using, say, an iPad in story time, there are just so many ways that felt board activities can promote early literacy and sensory development, and can provide a captivating visual for children that isn't screen time. (But that's a rant for another day!)

Without further ado, here is our table: Felt It Again!: Fresh Ideas for a Classic Storytelling Method

 

(Do you earn extra points for being colorful?)

This took some serious teamwork! Let's break it down:

Miss Sue's tasks: Create a felt set that could work for three different age groups: baby, toddler, and preschool.  She decided it would be more fun to make two. Overachiever. You can read her blog post about those cute duckies (including templates!) here.

She also made this nice display with one of her favorite felt sets, "That Apple is Mine!":

 

Miss Kristie's tasks: Show three different ways to make a felt piece (with paint, with marker, or all felt).

(Painted puppy was still wet! He got added just in time!)

She also compiled this awesome binder of some of our favorite felt sets (smaller ones) just so we could show off our skills:

AND she made this colorful display of one of her favorite felt sets, "Rainbow Stew":

Miss Kristen's tasks: Make the handout - highlight how using felt sets in story time can promote each of the five practices of Every Child Ready to Read (2nd edition): reading, writing, talking, singing, and playing. Provide a list of resources and helpful tips for beginning felt-ers.
You can download the handout here:

I also assembled the enormous tri-fold boards, which was a labor of love:

 

(I also made the two small displays in the front - the Maisy Mouse and the three doghouses.)

And then we actually got to talk to people and share our ideas!:

And get into some general silliness:

And to top it all off, we got to meet The Very Hungry Caterpillar!!!:

This was such an amazing experience for us. We loved meeting other professional children's librarians who were as passionate about story times as we are, and who were interested in our work and our ideas.  All of our handouts were gone after the first day, and we received such positive feedback from everyone we talked to.  So with our inflated egos (just kidding!), we'll just end this by saying Thank You to OLC for giving us the opportunity to present, and we sincerely hope to do it again some day!

Flannel Friday Series - Felts3Ways! Ducks!

Today was a big day!   Library Village had the fantastic opportunity to present at this year's Ohio Library Council's Convention and Expo.  We created a poster session on how to re-consider felts and bring them back into story time.  We explained various techniques on making felt sets, and showed how to use them in baby, toddler, and preschool story times.  I'll let Kristen blog about the OLC Convention, and of value of felt sets to young children (which is very rich!), but suffice it to say that all three of us are strong advocates for the use of different mediums in story time.  Felt is our favorite medium!

One of the main ideas we presented is how to save time and money by creating ONE felt set that can be used in various ways for different age groups.  We found in our department that we were creating many sets with only one use each.  We all enjoy felting, but this just was not efficient.  With just a small amount of planning our sets became far more versatile, and they still cost far less than store bought sets!  

Just like Iron Chef, this Story Time Ninja (see Storytime Underground for more information about Story time Ninjas) would like to present the first in my series called "Felts 3 Ways."  Today's edition: Ducks!!


Here the the entire set.

Some of the images were inspired by a kit for purchase on Cambridge Educational Toys http://www.cambridgeeducationaltoys.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=173_64_79
In addition, we have created similar sets for our story times before!  See Kristen's Where's Duck felt set post for more on her baby set!  Here is the link to my original Ugly Duckling set for Preschool which is much larger and different from the set here.
Want even more ducks?  We have SEVEN DUCK POSTS for you to see!

NOW, what can you do with this amazing set?

For Babies, you can use these pieces to create an activity to demonstrate for the caregivers called "Where's the Baby Duck?"  Mama calls 'Quack Quack' looking for her baby!  Is he behind the fence?  No?  Is he in the pond?  There's the baby duck!

For Toddlers, what is more fun that the 5 Little Ducks Song?

5 little ducks went out one day
over the hill and far away.
Mama duck said 'quack, quack, quack, quack'
But only 4 little ducks came back.
4 little ducks.....(until you get to no ducks left and then...)

One Mama Duck went out one day,
over the hill and far away
Mama duck said 'quack, quack, quack, quack'
And all 5 of her little ducks came back!

And for Preschool and Early Elementary, here is the Ugly Duckling story.  While the original tale can be embellished and extended with other forest animals, I created only enough felts for a preschool-length story time.  I imagine you could add any other creatures in the original to make it longer for school age story telling.  You could even use the pond, log, and tall grass as more scenery for this story.  Remember the ugly duckling hides himself away in the tall grass by the pond until one day he sees the swans soaring overhead and wishes he was as beautiful as they are.

As an added bonus, I have templates for you.  We created these templates as a handout for the OLC so I thought I would add them here for those of you who couldn't make it this year.

***Please remember that if you use these templates or re-blog about them, credit the original author or get permission for anything but private use. None of the images on the first page are mine to sell.  The second page is just hand drawn shapes and you are free to use those.

And with that, you have "Felts 3 Ways."  I hope you enjoy this series and stay tuned for more!


Special thanks to Kathryn at Fun With Friends at Storytime for hosting this week's Flannel Friday.  If you would like to learn more about Flannel Friday and how you can participate, Click HERE.

Thanks for stopping by!

Flannel Friday - Halloween Extravaganza 2014

We could not be more excited to share this Halloween edition of Flannel Friday.  Everyone has been working so hard!  This post is LOADED with amazing felts, songs, draw & tells, dancing, and just about everything you need for a great Halloween Story Time!  You all deserve a round of applause!  Let's start this Halloween Party!

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Lisa at Thrive After Three couldn't WAIT to show you her Ten Little Goblins!  Based on the book by Pamela Jane, this one could very easily become a staple in your Halloween story time!

Kathryn at Fun with Friends at Storytime is sharing her post from last year called Going Batty!  I remember these adorable bats from last year and loved the poem it came with. So cute!

Kathryn was SO excited to participate this week, she added a second post!  Not Halloween themed, but very versatile and could be used all year, check out her Morning on the Farm!  Thanks, Kathryn!

SQUEE!!  Scott at Walls Became the World shares a story I have never seen before called Humbug Witch!  I love when felts can support a story with so many layers and surprises.  I might have to make this one for my collection!

Kelly at Practice Makes Perfect shows a different approach to the Five Little Monsters Poem. She shows that to have a great flannel story, you do not need to use all felt.  These pop sticks will be sturdy (and not too scary) for many story times to come. Great idea!

Bridget at What is Bridget Reading shares not one, but SEVEN ideas for Halloween! Seriously! Just check out her owls!  Owls are perfect for Halloween! 

Lisa at Librayland tells me "Not Halloween, but still Fall"....well, Lisa, I think fall leaves are perfect for October as a break from all of the witches and goblins.  Check out her counting and matching activities!

Monica at Ram Sam Storytime also says "not Halloween" but good golly would you look at this beautiful Apple Tree set?  I can see so many story times that can use this set.  And check out the detail.  Just beautiful!

Linda at Notes From the Story Room has a Draw and Tell!  These add a great new dimension to your story time and can be used in a wide range of age groups too.  Here's The Halloween Hike! 

Carol at Program Palooza brings us a Plethora of Perfect Posts.  Her Halloween Hootenany has more ideas than I can count, with songs, fingerplays, books and more.

And just when you thought that was it, Carol has ANOTHER post on the theme of Monsters!  Enjoy! 

Jane at Piper Loves the Library brings us a fantastic HOW TO on Tunes for Tots.  Have you heard of Tunes for Tots before?  No?  Well, go check it out!  See their "recipe for success!"

And Jane has one more!  As she says, "No such thing as Halloween without this book."  I agree.  This is a great book for Halloween, and it works very well as a story board.  Jane uses sandpaper backing here....fascinating!   Here's The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything.

As for me, I am reposting my last year's Halloween Flannel Friday for any newbies.  I had a pretty shy story time group and was worried about a lot of the books I was finding at the time, so I wrote this poem and created felts to show the little ones that a costume is just fantasy play and not really scary.  Check out my "That's a Costume" set.  I do not have a story time this year for Halloween, but Miss Kristen is using my set for hers.

WHEW I am exhausted!  You guys are AWESOME!  I am so proud of you all.  It's a Halloween Celebration.  Thanks to everyone who participated.  If you would like more information on how YOU can take part in Flannel Friday, make sure you visit the Blog or Facebook page.  Thanks to all of the hosts, fairy godmother's, pinners, and bloggers.  Happy Halloween!!

Flannel Friday Placeholder - The Halloween 2014 Edition - October 3rd, 2014

We can't believe it's here!  Flannel Friday - the Halloween Edition!  WHOOT!

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Place your links in the comments below by Friday 10pm.  This is the Halloween Edition, but please feel free to blog any of your ideas, or even re-post a favorite Halloween Post from the past.

If you have trouble posting or need us to host your post, just write that in the comments below and I will get a hold of you.

Note: We get a lot of spam, so we moderate the comments here.  Don't worry if you do not see yours right away.  We will have the Flannel Friday post LIVE on Saturday morning for all to see!

Baby Story Time - On the Farm!

Welcome back to Baby Story Time! I did story times all summer, but didn't really have a chance to write about them, so I've got a lot of catching up to do! Let's jump right in with a fun Farm theme!

OPENING SONG: "The Hello Song" *

GREETING SONG: "Hello" (Name Song) *

WAKE-UP RHYME: "Mother and Father and Farmer John"
(traditional lap bounce; it's supposed to be "Uncle John," but I changed it to "Farmer John" to match the theme)
Mother and Father and Farmer John went to town, one by one.
     (bounce baby)
Mother fell off,
     (tip baby to one side)
And Father fell off,
     (tip baby to the other side)
But Farmer John went on and on and on and on...
     (bounce slowly and then get faster and faster!)

1st Book: Giant Pop-Out Farm from Chronicle Books

Simple nonfiction with wonderful, truly giant pop-up images! This book was perfect!

ACTION SONG: "Old MacDonald Had a Farm"

Old MacDonald had a farm, E-I-E-I-O.

And on that farm he had a cow, E-I-E-I-O.
With a "moo-moo" here, and a "moo-moo" there,
Here a "moo," there a "moo," everywhere a "moo-moo."
Old MacDonald had a farm, E-I-E-I-O.

I love using puppets with this song. These are the animals I used this week:

I love that beautiful chicken!

BABY PARADE: "Walkin' Old Joe" (from the cd Songs for Wiggleworms by Old Town School of Folk Music)

Old Joe, the horse, moseys, walks, and gallops! It's fun for parents to dance and bounce with their babies to this quick, energetic little song!

NURSERY RHYME: "One, Two, Buckle My Shoe"

(A classic, and one of my favorites! It's so important to pass classic nursery rhymes along to the next generation!)

One, two, buckle my shoe.
Three, four, shut the door.
Five, six, pick up sticks.
Seven, eight, lay them straight.
Nine, ten, a big fat hen!

I found this template in a book. I photocopied it onto card stock, colored it in, and stuck Velcro on the back! Voila!

2nd Book: Where Is My Baby? by Harriet Ziefert

Turn the flaps to find each baby animal. Great for making animal sounds, and Taback's illustrations are so engaging. We are lucky to have a class set of this book, so everyone could read along together.

ACTION RHYME: "Ten Fluffy Chickens" (borrowed from Mel's Desk - thank you!)

Five eggs and five eggs, that makes ten.

     (hold up both hands)
Sitting on top is Mother Hen.
Crack, crack, crack, crack! What do you see?

     (clap hands to "crack" eggs)

Ten fluffy chickens, yellow as can be!

This was 100% stolen from Mel's Desk. Her's are actually much more clever - they are eggs on one side and chicks on the other! I was in a super hurry so I just stuck tape on the backs of mine. I may remake this later in felt, though. It is super cute!

ACTION SONG: "Los Pollitos" (from the cd You Are My Little Bird by Elizabeth Mitchell)

(This is a traditional Spanish children's song. You could play the cd, or just sing it a capella.)

All the little chicks say, "Pio, pio, pio!"

When they are hungry, when they are cold.
Mama Chicken looks for corn and some wheat.
That will give them dinner, that will give them heat.
Under her wing, her chicks she'll keep,
Until the morning, the little chickies sleep.

We waved little chicks on craft sticks during this song. The tune is very simple, so a lot of the parents picked up on it and sang it with me the second time through.

3rd Book: Baby at the Farm by Karen Katz

We had to skip this one on Wednesday, they were a wild group! The Friday group heard it, though. There's not a lot to it, just another good opportunity to reinforce animal sounds.

CLOSING SONG: "If You're Happy and You Know It" *

GOODBYE SONG: "Babies, Bye-Bye" *

CLOSING RHYME: "Thank You" *



*Check out my Baby Story Time page for the words to all of my weekly songs and rhymes.

We had a great time on the farm! See you next time!