Using “Twin Texts” to Get Kids Excited About Reading & Learning (Grades K-3)

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If you are trying to come up with fun strategies for getting children excited about learning you may want to use “twin texts.”  This term refers to the use of fiction and nonfiction books to increase comprehension and build a foundation for critical thinking.  Most think this only works with […]

Mother Daughter Book Club: The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle

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This month our Mother Daughter Book Club read The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi. We met tonight to discuss Charlotte’s persecution and trial, and the many claims made by men throughout the book that she is an “unnatural” woman for having picked up sailing so quickly. If you […]

Craig Newton’s Really Big Music Show

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On August 8th, 2015 we had a special guest, Craig Newton, put on a music show for families in our Donald Wright Auditorium! He brought a ton of instruments and demonstrated them all to the kids, teaching them about how musical instruments work, as well as giving them exercises in […]

Celebrating El Deafo part 2 — Sign language and clues

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continued from El Deafo Part 1   Sign Scavenger Hunt The program was geared toward kids ages 8-12, but all ages were invited to attend.  We started out in the Story Room where our Sign Language professional on staff, Tiffany Duenas, spoke a little about deaf culture and taught basic sign language. […]

Family Storytime: Dads!

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Today’s family storytime was about Dads! “What?” you ask.  “Father’s Day was three months ago!” Well, some really great books about Dads came out recently and I have been wanting to share them, and figured, Why should I wait for an excuse?  You never need an excuse to share a […]

Outer Space – Preschool Storytime

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Today we had an out of this world storytime as we explored outer space together! Books We Shared   We learned all about what astronauts do in I Want to Be an Astronaut by Byron Barton.  As one storytime kid noticed even when eating dinner, astronauts are upside down.  Later […]

Preschool Storytime, March 8, 2014: Ducks

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Today’s storytime was all about ducks!  We sang “Six Little Ducks” with Raffi, and “Five Little Ducks” with a felt board.  Parents, if you want to make a toy that will reinforce counting skills and pair with an excellent preschool song, you can create your own Five Little Ducks finger puppets (made […]

Infant & Toddler Storytime: Valentine Hugs and Kisses

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What better way to observe the upcoming Valentine’s Day than with a storytime! Books We Shared Animals kiss in so many different ways, and you can see many of them in Mary Murphy’s A Kiss Like This.  Parents and their little ones practiced all of them as we read the […]

Infant & Toddler Storytime: Music for Winter 2014 Session

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One of the most enjoyable things about providing storytime is seeing the kids learn the different songs and rhymes we do and then begin to do them on their own.  I know a lot of parents want to check out some of the cds with the music we use for […]

Infant & Toddler Storytime: Pigs

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Today we spent storytime with our friends of the porcine persuasion — pigs!  This was a really fun storytime to do, since so many of the books offer instances for interaction. Books We Shared For infant storytime, we started things off with a wonderful book by Audrey Wood and Don […]