Blog Post
PreK Bits - "N" is for NEIGHBORHOOD
by ryanikoglu
Ms. Rachel told neighborhood stories in Preschool Storytime.
The BIG ORANGE SPLOT is a classic by Daniel Pinkwater about how folks feel about their houses.
GOLLY GUMP SWALLOWED A FLY by Joanna Cole must be borrowed through MelCat. It is a silly fantastical story about a rural boy who keeps swallowing things in his neighborhood, which is his farm.
A similar story is I KNOW AN OLD LADY WHO SWALLOWED A FLY. Then there is the song “I Know An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly” which is sung on the
DVD The WHEELS ON The BUS: And More Singalong favorites and on the
CD TOM GLAZER SINGS HONK-HISS-TWEET-GGGGGG and Other Children’s Favorites.
For clapping action and rhyme we did “Dr. Knickerbocker” and got the rhythm going in different parts of the body. You can find versions of this rhyme on the
CD SINGING ALL The WAY HOME and the
CD LITTLE PEOPLE COUNTING SONGS.
For more NEIGHBORHOOD stories try these favorites:
SUGAR HILL: Harlem’s Historic Neighborhood … an historic neighborhood.
MAYBE SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL: How Art Transformed A Neighborhood
A GOOD NIGHT WALK … around the neighborhood at dusk.
KNUFFLE BUNNY: A Cautionary Tale … of loss and reunion.
SOMETHING ABOUT HENSLEY’S … the neighborhood shop.
GREEN IS A CHILI PEPPER: A Book Of Colors ... through an hispanic neighborhood.
CHESTER’S WAY … a story about old friends and new friends in the neighborhood.
Blog Post
PreK Bits - "F" is for Foolish FROGGIES
by ryanikoglu
It's time to feature froggy stories! Froggies are funny. They are fun to hear and watch. First-frogs-of-the-season time is near. We will soon hear spring peepers and croakers.
Ms. Rachel introduced GREEN FROGS thru MelCat loan. It is a Korean Folktale that explains why little children in Korea may be called "green frogs". Hint: It has something to do with "unruly".
We sang "5 Green And Speckled Frogs" ... a classic "counting and singing song" you can find on the CD LITTLE PEOPLE: Songs & Games For The Road.
The "Fireflies" song can be heard on the CD HAPPY AS CLAMS by Lena.
We discovered WHY The FROG HAS BIG EYES ... a "beginning Reader" folktale.
You may be able to read this one yourself if you have learned to read some words already.
For more froggy tales try these favorites:
Arnold Lobel Classic Readers ... with Frog & Toad
999 FROGS WAKE UP … in the springtime.
TOO MANY FROGS … at bedtime.
QUENTIN BLAKE’S TEN FROGS = DIEZ RANAS … counting in Spanish.
QUENTIN BLAKE’S TEN FROGS = DIS GRENOUILLE … counting in French.
I DON’T WANT TO BE A FROG … being green gets old.
The CROAKY POKEY … dance your froggy parts to Hokey Pokey!
TUESDAY … a frog fantasy that won the Caldecott Award for illustrations in 1992.
Blog Post
The Summer of Love Turns 50!
by amy
The Summer of Love’s foggy origins lay in the Bay area’s 1950s Beat culture, the merry pranksters’ 1964-66 acid tests, and politically disaffected Berkeley students. In January 1967, The Doors release their eponymous album in Los Angeles and the Human Be-In at Golden Gate Park promotes cultural decentralization, communal living, radical politics, and higher consciousness fueled by drug use. In February, Jefferson Airplane takes off with their breakout album, Surrealistic Pillow, and by May the Mamas and the Papas’ John Phillips writes “San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers in Your Hair)” whose Scott McKenzie cover will hit #4 on Billboard’s Hot 100 by July 1. As if all this wasn’t enough, the Beatles release Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band on June 1 and two weeks later The Jimi Hendrix Experience performs at the Monterey Pop Festival.
Meanwhile, in Michigan, the Detroit race riots at the end of July bring John Sinclair’s Trans-Love Energies commune (and future White Panthers) to Ann Arbor, and in August they stage a free concert by the Grateful Dead in Ann Arbor's West Park.
And this is how the summer of 1967 gave birth to the hippie!
Here are a few videos to help you make sense of all this hippie love:
Beatles Anthology
Berkeley in the Sixties
Complete Monterey Pop Festival
The Jimi Hendrix Experience live at Monterey
Blog Post
Pulitzer Prize Winners 2017
by lucroe
The esteemed Pulitzer Prizes have been awarded for 2017 and they should all be required reading. Here is the list:
Fiction: Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead: picking up numerous awards besides the Pulitzer, including the National Book Award & the Carnegie Medal. At the top of many best book of the year lists for 2016. Whitehead chronicles two runaway slave's trials as they attempt to allude their captors with allegories that resound into the present day.
General Nonfiction: Evicted by Matthew Desmond: additional honors include the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Carnegie Medal, & PEN award. Desmond followed 8 families in Milwaukee struggling with poverty.
History: Blood in the Water by Heather Ann Thompson: another that picked up numerous accolades and awards for telling the incredible story of the uprisings as well as the aftermath
Bio/Autobiography: The return by Hisham Matar: a deeply moving portrait of the author's continued hope of finding his father alive after his mysterious disappearance in Libya
Poetry: by Tyehimba Jess: Multiple award winning poet and Detroit native, Jess, deserves an even bigger following with this fascinating collection of poetry and narrative
Blog Post
PreK Bits - "B" is for BUGS
by ryanikoglu
Ms. Rachel brought Bug Stories to Storytime.
We counted bugs and sounds from the NOISY COUNTING BOOK.
We played “Eensy Weensy Spider” … you can singalong at home with CDs EENSY WEENSY CD Of LITTLE FINGERPLAYS and NURSERY RHYME TIME.
We danced Fast and Slow to the song "Fireflies". You can hear and learn the song from the CD HAPPY AS CLAMS by Lena.
Once there was a Bug who had a bowl of SOUP For ONE ... until more Bugs arrived!
For more favorite books with bugs in them try these:
MAMA LOOK! … Baby creatures and their mothers.
DU IZ TAK? … Learn how to speak in “Bug” language.
BUG BEAR … When a bug won’t leave you alone.
FLY! … Worm can wiggle. Ant can march. What can Fly?
SOME BUGS … Backyard bug behavior in rhyming text.
BUG IN A VACUUM … Oh my! A different view!
STEP GENTLY OUT … Magnified photos of bugs, and poetic text to describe the insect world.
1001 BUGS To SPOT … A picture puzzle book.
The ANT And The GRASSHOPPER … A fable.
BUGS 7 stories about bugs all in one bag … A set from the Stories To Go Collection.
BZzzzzz ... and away we GO !
Blog Post
PreK Bits - "G" is for Growing GARDENS
by ryanikoglu
Ms. Rachel, Banjo Betsy, and Ms. Allison brought garden stories to Preschool Storytime.
“The Garden” is a story within FROG & TOAD TOGETHER …Toad finds out that growing one IS hard WORK !
We danced to “Puddles” with Charlotte Diamond's song from her CD MY BEAR GRUFF.
INCH BY INCH … an inchworm meets a robin and the rest is taking measurements.
For more favorite Garden stories try the following:
INCH BY INCH: The Garden Song … the text is the classic folksong, accompanied by lovely pictures on every page. You can sing as you read.
“The Garden Song” is a classic folk song recorded with favorite performers on any of these CDs for children:
SING With FRED by Fred Penner; PICKIN’ & GRINNIN’: Great Folk Songs For Kids with Maria Muldaur and many more artists; PETER, PAUL And MOMMY, TOO with Peter, Paul and Mary; and OWL SINGALONG with Raffi.
MY BUSY GREEN GARDEN … a tribute to bugs, bees, and birds.
PANDORA … Pandora nurses a young bird back to health and notices how the bird changes her landscape.
THERE’S A TIGER In The GARDEN … the power of imagination.
DU IZ TAK? … a Caldecott Honor Book 2017 that teaches you how to speak in “Bug” language. There are fabulous illustrations too.
UP In The GARDEN And DOWN In The DIRT … especially fun for what goes on down-in-the-dirt.
Blog Post
More Than an Audiobook
by Lucy S
Narrated by George Saunders, Nick Offerman, David Sedaris and various others
7 Hours and 30 Minutes
Lincoln in the Bardo might well be on your hold list already. George Saunders’, first novel has received much publicity and praise, rightly so. But have you considered listening to the audio version? Even if you aren’t normally drawn to books on CD, this one is more theatrical production than novel. Read by a cast of some 166 people, many famous voices among them, George Saunders’ story brings to mind Our Town, A Christmas Carol, and As I Lay Dying. The cast does a stellar job in delivering a beautifully read, moving, intelligent, and highly entertaining performance.
Two main plot lines run through Lincoln in the Bardo. Both are suffused with sadness, though there is much humor in the narrations of certain characters from beyond the grave. Many of the voices in this book are residents of The Oak Hill Cemetery, where President Lincoln has interred his son, Willie. They reside in a kind of limbo, “the bardo,” with unfinished business on earth, unaware that they are dead. The chapters alternate between the “action” in the bardo, and the story of the what is happening on the night of Willie Lincoln’s death, as told by Hans Vollman (Nick Offerman), Roger Bevins III (David Sedaris), and the Reverend Everly Thomas (George Saunders). Interspersed with their escapades are chapters focused on the raw grief of a father and his newly departed son. This most poignant story of a man struggling to say goodbye, and his son’s difficulty in letting go of the earth, is particularly moving. Listeners get an inside point of view from Abraham Lincoln himself, burdened with his country’s present agony as well as his own personal bereavement, as "narrated by hans vollman in the body of a. lincoln...
“He is just one.
And the weight of it is about to kill me.
Have exported this grief. Some three thousand times. So far. To date. A mountain. Of boys. Someone’s boys. Must keep on with it. May not have the heart for it. One thing to pull the lever when blind to the result. But here lies one dear example of what I accomplish by the orders I …
What to do. Call a halt? Toss down the loss-hole those three thousand? Sue for peace? Become great course-reversing fool, king of indecision, laughing-stock for ages, waffling hick, slim Mr. Turnabout?
...What am I doing.
What am I doing here.
Lord, what is this? All of this walking about, trying, smiling, bowing, joking? This sitting-down-at-table, pressing-of-shirts, tying-of-ties, shining-of-shoes, planning-of-trips, singing-of-songs-in-the-bath?
When he is to be left out here?
Is a person to nod, dance, reason, walk, discuss?
As before?...
Was he dear or not?
Then let me be happy no more."
There are stand-out performances by many, most notably, David Sedaris, Nick Offerman, Julianne Moore as Jane Ellis, Kirby Heyborne as Willie Lincoln, Bill Hader as Eddie Baron and Megan Mullally as Betsy Baron
See more at: Penguin Random House Audio.
After two full run throughs, I had to return Lincoln in the Bardo for the next listener’s wonderment, but I miss the voices of Hans Vollman, Roger Bevins III, the Reverend Thomas Everly, and 163 others.
Blog Post
PreK Bits - "M" is for MOON
by ryanikoglu
This week at Malletts Creek Branch Ms. Rachel and Ms. Allison introduced stories "under the moon".
SLEEPYHEADS is a story of where to find all of the sleepyheads ...
For action and music with Ms. Banjo Betsy we played "Wake Up You Sleepyheads and Go and find the cattle!". It's a fast and slow action musical game.
JUST RIGHT For TWO is a sweet story of a new friendship.
For more stories with the moon in them:
OWL BABIES … When will Mama be home ?
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOON … Phases of the moon with little Moon Bear.
IF YOU WERE THE MOON … What would you do?
LITTLE WOLF’s FIRST HOWLING … Watch for this one. It is on-order and has not arrived yet.
MOONCAKES …a story of Chinese Moon Festival.
The MOON INSIDE … Ella overcomes darkness at night.
ARMSTRONG:The Adventurous Journey Of A Mouse To The Moon … A long time ago a mouse learned to fly.
The MOON’s ALMOST HERE … Creatures make their ways home as the day is ending.
SUN And MOON … be careful what you wish for.
YOU BELONG HERE … A rhyming bedtime story pace with all things in their places and “You belong here with me.”
FULL MOON LORE ... each month described by a phrase based on the full moon. Lovely illustrations too!
Blog Post
NEW Themes !! - Stories-To-Go 2017
by ryanikoglu
NEW SETS are ready for check-out !
There are 11 new Stories To Go THEMES, 4 sets of each theme ... added in 2017.
Each Themed set includes 5-7 books, 1-2 DVDs, perhaps a CD ... especially for use with kids ages 2-7 years old.
These sets are for easy "Grab and CheckOut" by Parents, Grandparents, Child Care Providers, and Teachers.
Every SET includes an Activity Folder with songs, fingerplays and activities to extend the theme with your children.
The NEW 2017 themes are as follows:
ALPHABET ABC-XYZ ... Reading Readiness.
COUNTING ... especially beyond 10. Math Readiness.
NIGHT TIME ... what's going on while I am in bed? Early Science.
UNDER your FEET ... what's going on underground? Early Science.
SEQUENCING & PATTERNS ... Math Readiness.
SHAPES & COLORS ... School Readiness.
GOOD MANNERS ... Early Social Skills.
HEALTHY HABITS ... food, activity, teeth, hygiene. Early Science.
BUGS ... small living things. Early Science.
MOVING DAY ... when you are moving to a different place it is a Big Change. Social Skills.
RECYCLING/ GARBAGE ... Reduce ... ReUse ... Recycle. Early Social, Science and Ecology.
Blog Post
PreK Bits - Stories-To-Go Kits 2016
by ryanikoglu
Preschool Kits launched in March 2016!
There are 10 new STORIES-TO-GO themes for 2016 that have been added to the Library Collections.
These kits have a pre-selected set of books and media especially for families, childcare centers, preschools, classrooms, home schools with kids ages 2-7 years old.
Every kit has an Activity Folder which includes songs, fingerplays and activities to extend the theme with our children.
The 2016 themes are as follows:
BIG MACHINES ... Diggers, Pushers, and more working machines.
OUTER SPACE ... Stars, Planets and space travel.
BABY SIGNS ... Nursery songs and DVDs for building signing vocabulary with your baby.
ANN ARBOR ... Books that link with major themes in our home town ... Ann Arbor, Michigan.
FAIRIES ... For all fans of fairy lore.
FEELINGS ... Stories about working with strong feelings.
LIBRARIES ... What goes on at the Library?
MONSTERS ... Friendly Monsters and monster fantasy.
SIZE & MEASUREMENT: Math Readiness ... How do you know sizes?
SEEDS to PLANTS ... What plants need and how they grow.