Yes, I know it’s not springtime, but bunnies are cute and fun all year long! Today we opened our storytime with the song “Clap Your Hands” from the Wiggleworms Love You album, and then talked about things that begin with the letter B: Then we read a book called Big […]
Kids’ Writing Workshop: Overcoming internal censorship and silencing your inner critic
Published on :Next week happens to be Banned Books Week, held nationwide in libraries and bookstores every year on the last week of September to remind people that restricting and censoring books that you might find “offensive” actually harms people because it restricts people’s freedom to read whatever they want. All that follows is a less-informed, […]
Preschool Storytime–Fruits
Published on :This week we learned about fruits–the colors, whether they’re good as homes, and as snacks: watermelons, apples, lemons, blueberries, cherries, oranges, pears, grapes, and kiwis. Stories we shared Odd Dog by Claudia Bolt: Peanut, an odd dog who doesn’t like bones, but apples, worries that his next-door neighbor, Milo, might steal […]
Curiosity Machine: Magnet Structures!
Published on :Everybody knows magnets are FUN, but did you know scientists use magnets when making certain kinds of polymers? Did you know that magnets can help chemists to sort out the tangled mess of molecules that most polymers consist of? Today’s Curiosity Machine class focused on Making a Self-Assembling Structure […]
Mother Daughter Book Club: The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle
Published on :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 […]
Creative Writing for Beginning Readers: School Stories
Published on :Yesterday children between the ages of 5 and 8 got practice putting together stories using creative tools we gave them. First, we discussed a famous quote by John Le Carré: The cat sat on the mat is not a story. The cat sat on the other cat’s mat is a […]
Family Storytime – Cakes & Cupcakes – September 5
Published on :We read some funny stories about EATING and BAKING cakes & cupcakes (but not necessarily in that order). Here are some of the books & activities we shared: OPENING SONGS: Welcome, Welcome! Welcome, welcome everyone Now we’re here, let’s have some fun First we clap our hands just so Then we […]
Lucha Libros Kickoff
Published on :We had lots of fun at our Lucha Libros Information Night yesterday! Kids made masks, wore capes, and took lucha libre photos. Then they lined up to get their official lucha libre name (usually something very silly making very little syntactical sense in Spanish–but fun anyway!) and got their copies […]
Kids’ Writing Workshop: Writing Style and Voice
Published on :On Friday, our Kids’ Writing Workshop discussed the elements that give a writer his or her unique “voice.” Voice is a difficult thing to define, but we read a capable definition of it in this article by Dave Hood: Developing Your Writing Voice. Hood writes that voice is composed of […]
Infant & Toddler Storytime: Chickens
Published on :For the last storytime of our Summer Infant and Toddler Session, we shared stories about chickens! Books We Shared With so many new friends made through ten weeks of storytime, it seemed fitting to start infant storytime with Pepo and Lolo are Friends by Ana Martín Larrañaga. The pig and chick are […]