Storytime Cancelled Today, 10/26

My apologies for any inconvenience this may cause. We will be back up and running next week, 11/2. See you then...

Tuesday Morning Summer Break!

We will be on summer break from Tuesday mornings for the months of July and August.

During this time, Nancy and I will be at the following free, local, Saturday events...

July 31 at 1:30 pm - Neighborhood Share Fair festival, Corner of 73rd & Center

August 7th at 10 am - Tosa Farmers Market, Little Red Store

September 4th at 10 am - Tosa Farmers Market, Little Red Store

October 2 at 10 am - Tosa Farmers Market, Little Red Store

I hope everyone has a wonderful summer, and we'll return to our regular Tuesday morning schedule on September 7th at 10 am at Cranky Al's. Hope to see you then...

Tosa Farmers Market

Going to the market,
Leaving right away.
If it doesn't rain,
We'll stay all day...

-our adaptation of Raffi's "Going on a Picnic"

Join us this Saturday, June 5th at 10am in front of the Little Red Store for a Happy Hour for the whole family at the opening day of the Tosa Farmers Market! It was fun last year for the one day kickoff event, and it's sure to be a blast again this year! With 40+ vendors and a recently opened pedestrian bridge, come on down! The market runs every Saturday from 8am to noon, June through October. We will be there every first Saturday of the month (with no market on July 4th weekend) in front of the LRS at 10am. What will we doing? Reading, singing, and rhyming about GROWING of course! And if a train happens to go by, or even if one doesn't, there's sure to be a round of Little Red Caboose! Photo courtesy of Anne Ullsperger. Thanks, Anne!

Little Birds & Vigilant Sleep

Way up in the sky, the little birds fly.
Way down in the nest, the little birds rest.
With a wing on the left, and a wing on the right,
The little birds sleep all through the night.
Shhhhhh, they're sleeping ...
The bright sun comes up!
The dew goes away!
Good morning, good morning, the little birds say.

Thank you Cassandra and Alexander for sharing your bird song/fingerplay that Dad taught you!

I love how this song captures the magical moments of dawn and the important role that birds play in it. Cassandra mentions how much Alexander enjoys the anticipation in the song! Also a fun way to practice opposites: up/down, left/right, quiet/loud. This song also reminds me of an interesting bird fact I learned, that many birds use a form of sleep called "vigilant sleep" in which they have periods of rest with moments of "quick eye-opening peeks" to check for safety.

Then we talk about nests - how they come in different shapes and sizes (use your hand to make these shapes): some are like a little cup, some are like a bowl, some are flat like a plate, some are a mound, and others are a burrow. And some, like the albatross's nest, are simply a scratch on the ground (scrape foot on ground).

All this talk of birds coincides with some pretty interesting bird events in my life...

A mother mourning dove built her nest in my hanging Boston fern and laid two eggs! We've learned some pretty interesting mourning dove facts such as that the mourning dove is the Wisconsin State Symbol of Peace. And that the mother and father take turns keeping the eggs warm. The father usually has the morning shift and the mother takes over in the afternoons. They are dedicated parents and rarely leave the eggs unattended. We are excited when we see the ceremonial changing of the shifts. They have grown so accustom to us, I can even water my plant now without startling them. We will soon have squabs on our front porch!

Also, while we were gone camping a few weeks ago, there were reports of a wild turkey on our roof! The neighbor took a photo of it with its wings outstretched. Spring is a good time to see turkeys because it is mating season. I think it must've been eyeing our many ant hills for its morning "dusting."

And finally, while searching for the smallest eggs I could find in the aviary at the Milwaukee Zoo, I was handed a small, clear case with two tiny finch eggs no bigger than blueberries inside of it! The most beautiful and delicate little things I've ever seen.

The morning after a nice rain, we sit on the porch and watch the robins pluck their worms from our lawn. Exciting free entertainment right outside the door.

Kevin Henkes sure does have it right, BIRDS ARE EVERYWHERE!

photo credit

Birds

"If birds made marks with their tail feathers when they flew, think what the sky would look like...

Sometimes, in winter, a bird in a tree looks like one red leaf left over.

If there are lots of birds in one tree and they all fly away at the same time, it looks like the tree yelled, SURPRISE!"

- BIRDS by Kevin Henkes

Madison author, Henkes, collaborates with illustrator and mother of his children, Laura Dronzek, on this recently-published book that takes an interesting look at our fine feathered friends.

We may not be able to fly like most birds, but read this book to find out what we do share in common with BIRDS!

Join us this May as we read this and other books about birds...

BABY BIRD'S FIRST NEST by Frank Asch
WHOO GOES THERE? by Jennifer Ericsson
FEEDING THE GULLS by Deanna Calvert
THREE DUCKS WENT WANDERING by Ron Roy
PENGUINS, PENGUINS, EVERYWHERE! by Bob Barner
DO LIKE A DUCK DOES! by Judy Hindley
SILLY LITTLE GOOSE! by Nancy Tafuri
HAVE YOU EVER DONE THAT? by Julie Larios
OWL BABIES by Martin Waddell
ARE YOU MY MOTHER? by P.D. Eastman
WHAT'S INSIDE? by May Garelick

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

"When I got out of bed this morning I tripped on the skateboard and by mistake I dropped my sweater in the sink while the water was running and I could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day."
- Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst

I remember reading once that books can be like a good friend to a child. If so, this one was a friend to me. Even as an adult in the midst of a bad day I sometimes recite to myself, "I think I'll move to Australia." And as a parent now, I've relied on Alexander plenty of times to help soften the edges of my daughter's misfortunes. The more disappointing the misfortunes, the more dramatic the read aloud; and we both feel better for having read it. The power of literature!

So after countless readings for both of us, I can hardly wait to sit beside my child on Mother's Day and watch as First Stage Children's Theater brings it all to life for us!

Stay tuned for a review...

Above Us, in the Sky

The sun shines.
Rainbows shimmer.
Airplanes fly.
Rain drips.
Clouds float.
Snow falls.
The moon glows.

-from ABOVE US, IN THE SKY, part of the three never-before-published board book set, ALL AROUND US by Eric Carle

Inspired by the beauty and simplicity of this book, this month we look up to celebrate the SKY!

Other books we'll read:

LITTLE CLOUD by Eric Carle
WAITING FOR WINGS by Lois Ehlert
BIRDS by Kevin Henkes
GOODNIGHT MOON by Margaret Wise Brown
THE STARS WILL STILL SHINE by Cynthia Rylant
LIKE A WINDY DAY by Frank Asch
UP! by Kristine O'Connell George
FLYING by Donald Crews
RAIN by Manya Stojic
A RAINBOW OF MY OWN by Don Freeman
IT LOOKED LIKE SPILT MILK by Charles Shaw

Stars, birds, wind, and clouds... There's so much above us to read, sing, and rhyme about this April! Hope you can join us...