PPBF: Dinosaur vs. The Library

Posted on March 30, 2012 by viviankirkfield

Today is Perfect Picture Book Friday where I link up with Susannah Leonard Hill’s fantastic group of picture book writers, illustrators, librarians and others who contribute a picture book review and related resources for parents, teachers and children.

Before I get to the picture book review, please bear with me because I have three very important things to share.

Important thing #1:

I am donating twenty-five copies of my book to libraries across the country and around the world.

National Library Week starts on April 8^th. For me, the library has always been a place of wonder…as a child, I took out so many books that I looked like some alien being made of books as I walked along with my two little feet sticking out beneath the stack of books that rose higher than my head. During my years of teaching kindergarten and then while parenting my own young children, the library was a treasure-trove of early childhood resources and programs. These days, I keep busy doing the Show Me How Story-time program in local kindergartens, Pre-K’s and libraries, reading the classic picture books and doing the simple craft projects that are recommended in Show Me How! Build Your Child’s Self-Esteem Through Reading, Crafting and Cooking (MoneyPenny Press, Ltd. 2010).

Would you like your local library to receive a free copy of Show Me How?

Budget cuts drastically reduce the number of books our libraries can purchase and all you need to do is leave a comment on this post, naming the library and telling why the people in your community would benefit from having the book available to them. At the end of the month, twenty-five libraries will be chosen through Random.org and the people who did the nominating will get to present the book to their libraries.

Important thing #2:

If the library you nominate is chosen, would you also like to do a review Show Me How! on your website/blog site/newspaper/magazine? I will be happy to include a second copy in the package, just for you! So if you are interested in doing a review, please indicate that in your comment.

Did you know that the first public library in the United States was started in Peterborough, New Hampshire in 1833?

Did you know that Andrew Carnegie helped build more than 1700 public libraries between 1881 and 1919?

Do you know any other interesting facts about libraries?

I’m really excited about this…how many nominations will there be…and what states (or countries) will they come from? Does anyone know how to put up a graphic of a map and pin the locations of the libraries that are nominated?

Important thing #3:

Donna Martin over at On the Write Track also has some exciting news! She will be manning (or should I say womaning) a booth at the Children’s Festival of Reading in Knoxville, Tennessee on Saturday, May 19^th…and she is inviting authors and illustrators to donate signed copies of their books for her booth. I’m mailing out two copies of Show Me How to her today. This is an amazing opportunity to spread the word about your books…and, more importantly, encourage young people to become readers and lovers of books!

You can find out more about the event…and the giveaway she is hosting…when you visit her website.

Important thing #4:

Oh, that’s right! I said there were only three! But actually, Perfect Picture Book Friday is VERY important, so now, without further ado, my picture book selection! And with nominations for your favorite library now open, this was definitely the Perfect Picture Book!

Dinosaur vs. The Library

Written and illustrated by Bob Shea

Publisher: Hyperion Books (2011)

Ages: 2 and up

Themes: Behavior, friendship, dinosaurs, libraries

Synopsis:

Dinosaur is going to the library…one of his favorite places. As he walks along, he meets his friends…cow, chicks, turtle and owl, and he challenges them to a roaring contest (can you guess who is the winner?) and then invites them to come along with him.

At the library, he finds out that he must be quiet, especially during Story-time. Can Dinosaur hold in his roar?

Why I like this book:

It’s definitely hard to hold in the roar…and young children will identify with dinosaur immediately. What child has not been told, “Hush, be quiet!” in church or when an adult is on the phone or…at the library? All of the books in author Bob Shea’s Dinosaur series are wonderful…this book is funny, the illustrations are charming and any book that celebrates reading must be a winner!

Related Activities

Every child should have his or her own library card as soon as your local library will allow it. Make weekly trips to the library and check out the children’s programs that most libraries have going on…story-times for all ages, reading challenges with prizes, free movies and other special events.

HOMEMADE BOOKPLATES CRAFT PROJECT

Encouraging young children to love books and reading is one of the most important things a parent can do. Does your child have his or her own bookshelf? As parents, we know that we have to feed our children’s bodies. Next time your child has a birthday, choose a book and start a collection that will feed the mind and spirit as well!

Bookplates add a special touch…they let your child know that “THIS BOOK BELONGS TO ME”.

There are many instructions and printable bookmarks at the websites below. Here is a simple one you can help your child make.

You will need: White or light-colored cardstock paper (or you can use construction paper or copy paper), markers and/or crayons, scissors, tape or glue stick.

1. Cut the paper to the size you would like the bookplates to be (2 or 3 inches by 3 or 4 inches is a good size).

2. Write the words: This book belongs to…and then your child’s name.

3. Let your child decorate the edges and add his own design or pictures.

4. You can also cut pictures out of magazines and paste them on the bookplate or use stencils.

5. Roll a piece of scotch tape and use it to secure the bookplate in the book or use a glue stick.

6. Tip: you might not want to tape or glue a bookplate in a vintage collector book.

Here is a picture of a bookplate that my oldest son and I made together over 30 years ago. If the book looks familiar…it is! Gift-Bear for the King is the book I reviewed last Friday.

Some great instructions for bookplate making at these websites…also free printable bookplates:

Also at the Reading is Fundamental website: http://www.rif.org/kids/readingplanet/activitylab/color.htm

As well as at Dads Can Do

Other bookplate instructions are here.

And more are here.

And great info here

Did you know that someone has a blog devoted to bookplate collecting here?

I apologize for the length of this post…I hope you were all able to get through it!

This post is part of a series for parents and teachers called Perfect Picture Book Fridays hosted by Susannah Leonard Hill. Click on her link and find lots of other picture book suggestions with summaries and activities. And please don’t forget to leave a comment, nominating your local library to be the recipient of a copy of Show Me How!

Picture book review: a trio of library books (thelupinelibrarian.me)
Six Golden Sower Picture Book Nominees (allisonsbookbag.wordpress.com)
Welcome Spring with Crafts at the Libraries (rcpldigitalpressroom.wordpress.com)
You Belong @ Your Library (rochpublibrary.wordpress.com)

Celebrate Music in our Schools Month with Daria

Posted on March 21, 2012 by viviankirkfield

What a special treat I have for you today!

Daria, a gifted musician who believes that music is food for the body, mind and soul, shares her talents with children around the globe. Several weeks ago, she offered to do a guest post on my blog. As you can imagine, it took me less than a second to accept her offer!

Children love music…they enjoy singing and playing instruments and, if you’ve ever watched young children dance; you’ll have seen how their entire bodies are involved in the activity. Music is another tool we can use to help children develop a positive self-image. Thank you so much, Daria, for all that you do in your mission to spread music to children around the globe!

So, without further ado, Daria is sharing several awesome ideas to help us celebrate Music In Our Schools Month. Make sure you read through to the end…because she is also giving away several amazing posters.

MUSIC IN OUR SCHOOLS, PRESCHOOLS AND HOMES THIS MONTH

Making music is one of those wonderful “can do” activities to share with your children. Even the youngest toddlers can shake a rattle, clap to a beat or craft a simple instrument with you. Together you can do the simple actions of Itsy Bitsy Spider or the motions to Kumbayah. Or they can offer you the names of their friends to be used in a slightly different version of “Oh Susannah”. With very little work and a whole lot of fun, you can incorporate some great musical play into your home, school or home-school day. Check out some of the ideas below as well as DARIA’s fun KIDS MAKE MUSIC poster give-away!

THE QUIETEST RATTLE – SHARING MUSIC AND LEARNING TO LISTEN

Ask any pre-k or kindergarten teacher – mixing arts and crafts and music generally makes for a big hit in the classroom. One fun activity perfect for this age group is creating really quiet rattles.

The project is simple. Have each child bring in any recycled container, preferably a see-through one and have a few extra so no one is left out. You can decorate the outside with stickers or wrap a handle with pipe-cleaners or yarn before you are ready to fill them. Here’s the tricky part. You want to find lots of things to put in the rattles that are really quiet. The teacher can have some examples of rattles that are not so quiet for comparison (see our suggestions below) and then challenge the children to fill theirs with something that will make noise but still be very quiet. Q-tips, salt, tiny pasta, cotton puffs, confetti? Each makes a different quiet sound that helps kids practice the art of listening. When you’re done, make sure you seal each rattle with a strong tape (such as electrical tape) which ensures the contents will not get out. Then your class can use their new instruments to play along to quieter music. The kids can pay attention to how the rhythms of their rattles fit into the music they are hearing.

You can even have a contest in the classroom and reward all entries or ask the kids for their suggestions about which of the teachers rattles would win a “Quiet Contest”. Stack up a variety of rattles and the class can guess which might make the softest sound.

Here are some favorite choices for rattle-making:

Quiet rattles: sand, salt, sugar, confetti, cotton balls, craft puff balls, paper bits, Q-tips, tiny pasta (such as pastina or acine de pepe).

Medium Rattles: paper clips, small pebbles, birdseed, small beads, small dried beans, rice, smaller buttons.

Loud Rattles: dried macaroni/pasta, large pebbles, large beads, coins, large dried beans, and larger buttons.

BE A GUIRO HERO – MAKE MUSIC WHILE SHARING LATIN-AMERICAN CULTURE AND LANGUAGE

Creating a simple guiro can be a fun way to share Latin-American culture, a bit of Spanish language and music-making skills at the same time. A guiro is any small percussion instrument that has ridges which are scraped or rubbed creating rhythmic patterns. The craft below shows you how to make one from an unsharpened pencil, a recycled water bottle (with ridges) and some string or other decorating material. It’s easy, fun and sounds great! You can see, hear and color a guiro as well at the link below.

When you’ve completed your instruments, you can play them along with any simple songs in Spanish such as the counting song: uno, dos tres amigos (one and two and three good friends) or try the Spanish version of the Itsy Bitsy Spider (La Araña Pequeñita). Or what about La Cucaracha? Below you’ll find a link of a video of my version of La Cucaracha with Spanish and English lyrics, complete with dancing cockroaches (cucarachas) that actually play their guiros!

SEE, HEAR OR COLOR A GUIRO:

http://www.dariamusic.com/guiro.php

MAKE A GUIRO INSTRUCTIONS:

http://www.dariamusic.com/make_Guiro.php

La Cucaracha Video (with Spanish and English Lyrics)

www.vimeo.com/dariamusic/la-cucaracha

A WHIMSICAL WASHBOARD – FOR CREATIVE MUSICAL FUN

What can be used to make music? Practically anything! The musical washboard is proof that people have found creative ways to make music from all kinds of interesting objects. You can see, hear, color or find complete directions on making a kid’s size washboard from easy classroom materials at the links below.

Once you’ve made your own washboards, you can play along to any music but they sound particularly good with old-time music and classic songs like Grand Old Flag, You Are My Sunshine or This Little Light of Mine. And you can make some best-loved songs new. You can sing “Oh Susannah” with the names of your students instead (singing a different version each day or each time with a new student’s name so no one is left out).

Do you have a folksong or popular kid’s song that you want to teach your class? This is a great way that the kids can sing and play along with a favorite song at the same time.

SEE, HEAR OR COLOR A WASHBOARD:

http://www.dariamusic.com/washboard.php

MAKE A WASHBOARD INSTRUCTIONS:

http://www.dariamusic.com/make_Washboard.php

AN ALBUM OF FAVORITE SONGS FOR KIDS – GRANDCHILDREN’S DELIGHT

http://www.dariamusic.com/cd_grandchildren.php

Although March is Music In Our Schools Month, there are no limits to how this powerful and powerfully fun tool can be shared at any time of year. Feel free to inspire your children through song…chances are good that you will have a happy and harmonious day!

——————————–

Find Out More About MUSIC IN OUR SCHOOLS MONTH:

www.menc.org/events/view/music-in-our-schools-month

Check out DARIA’s World Music For Kids website:

www.dariamusic.com.

Check out DARIA’s Tiny Tapping Toes BLOG

(Music For The Very Young)

tinytappingtoes.wordpress.com

Check out DARIA’s Making Multicultural Music BLOG

(Sharing Diversity Through The Arts)

http://makingmulticulturalmusic.wordpress.com

A WORLD OF MUSIC FOR KIDS – POSTER AND POSTER GIVE-AWAY

To celebrate Music in Our Schools Month, DARIA has created a “WORLD OF MUSIC FOR KIDS” poster and poster give-away.

If you’d like to win, please leave two comments…one on Daria’s Making Multicultural Music Blog at www.makingmuslticulturalmusic.wordpress.com and one on this post about why you love music or the impact music has made in your life and/or your child’s life. Five lucky winners will receive a World of Music for Kids poster.

We also encourage you to sign up for Daria’s monthly e-newsletter (http://www.dariamusic.com/monthly_song.php ) so you can get free mp3’s each month, news of other contests, crafts, activities, and other musical fun.

Project 365 and the 2012 Positive Parental Participation Challenge

Posted on January 5, 2012 by viviankirkfield

Last year, bloggers on WordPress were given a challenge to write a post every day…it was called Post-a-day-2011.

This year, another daily post challenge has been issued by WordPress…Project 365. Why not Project 366 since 2012 is a Leap Year with 366 days? However, I guess if bloggers are able to write 365 posts in 2012, I’m sure they will consider themselves an unqualified success…I know I would.

I took part in the 2011 Post-a-day challenge and started out 2011 writing posts every day…this lasted about three months. After that I tried to post at least twice a week…sometimes I succeeded, but other times I didn’t. I take my hat off (or would if I wore one) to those bloggers who completed the task and made it to the end of the year, still posting every day.

For 2012, I am throwing my hat into the ring (even though, as I’ve already stated, I’m not wearing one) and will try to provide a post of value for every day.

In addition, I’m also issuing a challenge to every parent of young children. Make 2012 a year of engagement with your child! Read with your child every day! Be positive and consistent! Get back to the basics and spend time with your child doing fun-filled educational self-esteem building activities, like arts and crafts or simple cooking experiences. Keep a journal of the picture books you read and the activities you do. Share them here with us.

At the end of each month, there will be a prize of a picture book awarded to one family. During the year, any parent who is participating in the challenge and wishes to buy a copy of Show Me How! Build Your Child’s Self-Esteem Through Reading, Crafting and Cooking will receive an additional $5 off my website price. I’ll set up a special PayPal button to reflect that discount. This award-winning book is a unique resource for parents and teachers…it pinpoints 100 picture books every young child should hear and then provides a story summary, parenting tip, simple craft project and easy cooking activity for each of the recommended titles.

Why should parents use Show Me How? The author of the Angelina Ballerina series says, “Parents will find inspiration in this delightful guide to reading and planning activities with young children.” And the creator of the Clifford the Big Red Dog series adds, “Show Me How is a wonderful resource for parents who care for their children and hope to better their reading and learning experiences.”

Parents…make this a fun-filled self-esteem building year for your child!

Join the 2012 Positive Parental Participation Challenge!

A small investment of your time will bring a great reward for your child!

The Show Me How program requires no batteries!