Flannel Friday: Llamas

I used this template from Wild Olive to make my llamas. The blankets I did freehand.

I use this set when singing "Five Little Llamas Jumping on the Bed" and the fingerplay "This little llama" (replace cow with llama).

My storytime kids and I also talked about what color the llamas and their blankets are.


Important Links:
Flannel Friday Blog/Website
Flannel Friday Tumblr
Flannel Friday Pinterest
Flannel Friday Facebook Group

Song of the Wild: A First Book of Animals by Nicola Davies

Animals and poetry are two of my favorite things and I love that this collection brings them together. The illustrations are bright and colorful and the text is large. The facts the poems introduce are interesting.

I liked all the poems and look forward to using this collection both in storytime and outreach to elementary school. This collection is perfect for sharing with preschoolers. Davies is right up there with David Elliott in terms of the best poetry for preschoolers.

Illustrated by Peter Horacek. Candlewick, 2017 (USA)

Leaf Play

This program was a lot of fun. I really enjoy doing a short storytime and pairing it with sensory bin activities and play dough play.

I read If You Give a Moose a Muffin by Laura Numeroff, Counting Crows by Kathi Appelt, and Sneeze, Big Bear, Sneeze! by Maureen Wright. On the flannel board, the kids helped the squirrel find his acorns.

Activities
Pumpkin Scented Cloud Dough
Apple Scented Play Dough 
Fall Sensory Bins (black beans, popcorn, artificial leaves and sunflowers, plastic bugs, jumbo kid friendly tweezers)


Here's a link to my Fall Sensory Bin Pinterest board.

Lois Ehlert Art Program

I was inspired by Laura's Discover Picture Book Art program and Jennifer's We Explore Art: Lois Ehlert program.

I've always admired Lois Ehlert's illustration style and thought it would be fun for kids to explore.

(Sadly, this was a no show event for me this summer. I'd like to try it again at a different library in a different season.)

Here's my plan.

Read The Scraps Book by Lois Ehlert. Share a few pages from Lots of Spots and Oodles of Animals to show off her illustration style.

Let the kids explore her illustration style by 1) looking at books she's illustrated [display of all the books we have that were illustrated by Lois Ehlert] and 2) creating their own collage style illustrations.

I had the following supplies out: pipe cleaners, pompoms, buttons, tissue paper, construction paper, scrapbook paper, index cards, foam shapes, ribbon, glue, and scissors.

Last Laughs: Prehistoric Epitaphs by J. Patrick Lewis & Jane Yolen

This hilarious collection has tons of kid appeal. Dinosaurs and death--what could be better? The dinosaur/creature names are fun. Some of the poems have a modern hip hop/rap vibe. The organization by time period oldest to newest appeals to my type a personality and it just makes sense. These poems will make you laugh.

I love the note at the end (A Little about Layers) and the invitation to readers to write their own epitaphs.

My favorite poems by J. Patrick Lewis are Pterrible Pterosaur Pterminated and Iguadon, Alas Long Gone.

My favorite poems by Jane Yolen are Terror Bird Kicks the Bucket, Scat Old Saber Toothed Cat, Crying (Dire) Wolf, and Holy Moly Woolly Mammoth.

Illustrated by Jeffrey Stewart Timmins. Charlesbridge, 2017

Bravo! Poems about Amazing Hispanics by Margarita Engle

The title does a fabulous job of telling you what this poetry collection is about.

I learned so much from these poems and was glad to discover more information at the end. I had never heard of most of the people in the book. Bravo! would make a great jumping off point for a biography project.

This book flowed extremely well. I liked that Engle organized the poems by the birth year of the subject.

My favorite poems are First Friend, Let the Birds Live, Pura Belpre, Helping Wild Animals, and Brave Music.

The illustrations are gorgeous. Bright, colorful, and the portraits of the people are amazingly life like.

Illustrated by Rafael Lopez. Godwin, 2017

Titanic Program

I was inspired and borrowed from programs hosted by several awesome librarians.

My inspirations:
Jenni's Science Club: Titanic 
Abby's What Sank the Titanic? and Titanic at Your Library
Amy's Sink or Float: Titanic Edition
Pamela's I Survived Program

I really like the flow of Abby's What Sank the Titanic/ program. Like her, I read passages from Titanic: Voices from the Disaster by Deborah Hopkins and did activities from Titanic Science The Teacher's Guide.

Here's the basic outline of how the program went.
Read p. 16 (about the cat)
Buoyancy Activity (p. 5 of teacher's guide) [This failed miserably!]

Sink or Float Activity (p. 4 of teacher's guide)

Read pp.73-74 (impact)
Iceberg statistic & Making an Iceberg (pp. 10-11 of teacher's guide)
Read pp. 84-85 (damage)
Titanic Compartments demonstration with ice cube tray (Abby & Amy)

Build a Boat that Floats (p. 7 of teacher's guide, Jenni, Abby, Amy, & Pamela)

Book Display & Book List: Books About the Titanic

I think the kids most enjoyed building and testing their boats. Some of the kids knew more about the Titanic than I did. I would definitely do this program again.