August 8 - Z is for Zoo

Stories:

A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philip C. Stead; illustrated by Erin E. Stead 
Down by the Station by Will Hillenbrand

App activity:

Magnetic Alphabet - Find today's letter and spell the word of the day. 
ABC Learning Letters by A3BGameLab Di Redaelli Angela & Co. SAS (GooglePlay, iTunes)- practice writing today's letter on 'paper'. (Recommendation: use only AFTER teaching the proper way to write the letter). Add more fun by changing the color per each stroke of the letter!

Songs: 

"Let's Go to the Zoo" by Super Simple Songs (YouTube)

Closing song: "I Am a Mountain" (artist unknown)

Extend today's story time: Go to the Santa Ana Zoo, ride the "puffer belly" (train) and pretend to pick up the calf, joey, pup, chicks, and cubs! Pet and learn even more proper names of "baby animals" at the OC Fair! Learn more about animals here: www.animalfactguide.com

Additional Reads:

Put Me in the Zoo by Robert Lopshire
If I Ran the Zoo by Dr. Seuss

Today's App: Best if used in conjunction with a writing app that teaches how to write the letter. Children with older siblings may be more inclined to play with A3BGameLab's virtual "paper" version in order to imitate their older siblings writing. Recommended to first use Little Writer by Innovative Mobile Apps to teach the proper way to write the letters before they do it on their own. Add even more fun by changing the color per each new stroke of the letter build!

ABC Learning Letters Toddlers by A3BGameLab

Little Writer by
Innovative Mobile Apps

July 25- G is for Gift...or Giraffe

Stories:

One Word for Sophia by Jim Averbeck; illus. by Yasmeen Ismail.
A Giraffe Goes to Paris by Mary Tavener Holmes and John Harris; illustrated by Jon Cannell

App activity:

Magnetic Alphabet - Find today's letter and write the word of the day. 
Mobile Montessori's Continents and Oceans- learn the names of the 7 continents!

Songs: 

"7 Continents" by Lina Valery

Closing song: "I Am a Mountain" (artist unknown)

Extend today's story time: Talk about how letters make up words, how a name is a word. Things we name are words. Words are made up of letters. Find words that begin with the letter "G". The letter "g" makes 2 sounds. "gift" or "giraffe". Point out when a word starts with the letter of the day! Letters are "sound symbols". 

Additional Reads:

A Giraffe and a Half by Shel Silverstein

App of the day:

We used Mobile Montessori's Continents and Oceans to help children learn the setting for the story of A Giraffe Goes to Paris by Mary Tavener Holmes and John Harris.  Suggestion: When you read books with your child, reference a map and "pin" the book to a map. Today's stories took place in North America, and Africa and Europe.  iTunes $2.99, also available for Android.

If you attended today's story time, add these books to our online Summer Reading Program and collect prizes! Ends July 31st. Sign up now for the free online program here! Also available for year round tracking. Happy reading!

July 11 - L is for Lion

Stories:

Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen; illus. by Kevin Hawkes.

App activity:

Magnetic Alphabet - Listen for today's letter and word of the day. 

Music: 

"Dancing Bear" by Bari Koral

Closing song: "I Am a Mountain" (artist unknown)

Adapt from story time: Put a large-sized letter "L"on your refrigerator. Have your child raise their left hand (hey, left is an "l" word!) and make the letter "L" with pointer and thumb. Be sure the tail of the "L" (thumb) follows the picture. Have them trace their "L" with their right pointer finger, just like we did in story time. 

Additional Reads:

The Loud Book by Deborah Underwood

App of the day:

We used Axel Scheffler's Flip Flap Safari (story app) to begin having children share aloud in front of others about their crazy mixed creature creation. There is also a print book version which is a rhyming book. The app includes the rhymes and in addition includes added animal sound effects. 

This is a great book to have a child begin listening to pronunciation word breakdown. If we cross a lion with an elephant we get a "li•ant". But, perhaps since it is British English you get "li-ra" for a cross between a lion and a zebra (zeb•ra).  iTunes $0.99

Axel Scheffler's Flip Flap Safari

Did you enjoy this story time? Vote using "Today's Storyapptations Poll". 

Don't forget to sign up for the Summer Reading Program online! Sign up now for the free online program here! Happy reading!

June 27 - B is for Bird

Stories:

Home for Bird by Philip C. Stead
Something Extraordinary by Ben Clanton

App activity:

Magnetic Alphabet - Listen for today's letter and word of the day. Spell your name. Switch with your neighbor and learn what letters are in their name!
SmartBoard by Greengar Studios - Practice writing the letter B. Draw a Bird! 

Music: 

"Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes"  My variation for this week... "Beak, Wings, Tail and Feet"

"Dancing Bear" by Bari Koral

Closing song: "I Am a Mountain" (artist unknown)

Additional activities:

Look at an image of a real bird and review parts of the bird. Additionally, remark on the names of the different parts of your family pet. Do the "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" body parts naming song and my variation of the song, "Beak, Wings, Tail and Feet". 

Additional Read:

Petites Choses by C'est Magnifique (iOS only, $1.99)
This is a wordless story app--at least that is how I would describe. Part puzzle and part story, your child goes on an adventure foraging for 6 matching colored keys to unlock the trapped bird in the cage when you first open the app.  There are no instructions so, experimentation is the key, (no pun intended) to collect each key. There is no specific order either. This app is great for an adult and a child to sit together and discuss colors and plan what to do together. It also gives a child plenty of opportunity to discover and explain (narrate) what he or she thinks is going on. If unsure of what to do next, a hand periodically helps by pointing at something. And, if you can't figure it out the first time, there is always tomorrow to try again at how to approach the problem in a different way. And, isn't that a great lesson!
Petites Choses by C'est Magnifique (iOS only, $1.99) Link to app in iTunes

Did you enjoy today's story time? Tell us using "Today's Storyapptations Poll". 

Have you signed up for the Summer Reading Program (June 11th - July 30th)? Provide incentives to make your child a life long reader! For more information click here.

June 13 - M is for Make (and Magnificent)

Stories:

The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires

App activity:

Magnetic Alphabet - Learn your letters. (Consonants and vowels).  Listen for today's letter and word. Spell your name, count the letters in your name. Count the letters in words. How many letters are in your name?
MarcoPolo's Ocean  app- we build our submersible and we explore the ocean! 

Music: 

"The Construction Worker Song" 
"Dancing Bear" by Bari Koral
Closing song: "I Am a Mountain" (artist unknown)

Additional Activities for home:

1. Word awareness activities. 

Download the Ocean app by MarcoPolo (click on Ocean to learn more) and continue the journey of exploring the sea. Observe and talk about the differences of what you find at deeper levels in the ocean. (Don't forget to rebuild your submersible and name the parts, like "porthole" and "periscope" and materials like "metal".  Don't forget to mention how "magnificent" an invention such as a submersible is.

2. Build something at home. Use some of the tools we learned about: wrench, hammer, sand paper...

Here are some ideas from: Intstructables.com

http://www.instructables.com/id/Wind-Up-Plastic-Bottle-Submarine/

and for the more ambitious: http://www.instructables.com/id/Build-a-Baking-Powder-Submarine/

3. Use your library card to download ebooks and read on the go (for free) with the OverDrive App and your library card. For more information click here.

Summer Reading Program now online! Collect virtual badges, and earn tangible prizes by visiting the library during our Summer Reading Program! If you attend a story time, count it towards a book read! For Children 5 and under, set the books to count by "how many read". For children older than 5, set to "how many minutes" read. Sign up now for the free online program here! Happy reading!

May 23, 2016 - P is for Pets

Stories:

My Life With The Wave by Catherine Cowan 

Children Make Terrible Pets by Peter Brown

This Book Just Ate My Dog! by Richard Byrne

App activity:

Magnetic Alphabet - Learn your letters. Listen for today's letter and word.
iBook app - This Book Just Ate My Dog! by Richard Byrne 

Music: 

"Hand Clapping Rap" by Liz Buchanan ($1.99)
"Dancing Bear" by Bari Koral
Closing song: "I Am a Mountain" (artist unknown)

Additional Activities for home:

Identify words around the house that start with the letter "P".  (Petunias, patio, panda (stuff animal), purple, potato...).
Describe attributes of an object, (starting with the letter P). Have your child guess the object. Switch roles. "This object is: something green, it tastes sour, we put them in our hamburgers (or not put them on our hamburgers),--it's a pickle!

Additional Reads:

Sparky! by Jennie Offill 
What Pet Should I Get? by Dr. Seuss
Even Monsters Get Sick (story app for tablet/iPad $1.99) by Busy Bee Studios, written by by Michael Bruza.


Announcements:  We are having a Parent Workshop on June 2 @ 7 p.m. If you missed our last workshop in January, here's your chance to learn about how to use apps to encourage early literacy and learning. The workshop will be in the Talbert Room.

To download free ebooks with your library card, download the OverDrive App. For more information click here.

May 9, 2016 - W is for What and Wait

Stories:

"The Hunt for Spring" from Waiting-for-Spring Stories by Bethany Roberts

And Then It's Spring by Julie Fogliano
Waiting by Kevin Henke

App activity:

Magnetic Alphabet - used to emphasize each letter as we sing along with the "Letter Name Song" (a.k.a. ABC song) and to discover today's letter word! 
iBook app - read Kevin Henke's story on iPad. Each child turned the page on their iPad.

Music: 

"Seasons Song" by Dream English ($0.99). Check out his video too.
Closing song: "I Am a Mountain" (artist unknown)

Additional Activities for home:

Watch the short (1 minute) "Spring is Here" video song from Lost in the Woods movie by Laura and Robert Sams of Sisbro Studios. Help your child name all the woodland animals--that is if you both can keep from giggling. I saw a  squirrel, hatchlings, field mouse, wild turkey, ducklings, chipmunk, painted turtle, warbler?, grasshopper, deer, fawn, and a toad. 
(Rainy day activity): Pull out some different weather clothes and mix them up in a pile and either you or your child pick a season and have him/her dress up in the appropriate clothing for that season--don't forget the shoes!

Additional Reads:
The Wind's Garden by Bethany Roberts
When Spring Comes by Kevin Henke - not in collection yet

Bear Wants More by by Karma Wilson

Abracadabra, It's Spring! by Ann Sibley O'Brien  - not in collection