Why I love Leslie Patricelli

If you have read my "About Me", you know I have a baby girl and a toddler son. My husband has been sick this week, so I took the kids to the bookstore to get them out of his hair... so he could wash his hair and start feeling like a human being again. Well, I hadn't read Leslie Patricelli's board book Huggy Kissy yet, so I read it aloud to M. This is the first book she actually giggled at when I read it aloud. She loves books (especially the way they taste), she loves looking at the illustrations and snuggling while we read together, but she has never quite responded to a book with actual glee before. I just had to write about it because it made my heart melt and I feel gratitude to Leslie Patricelli for creating these books. My sons' favorite was/is Yummy Yucky (he laughed aloud to this one when he was a baby).

   

Toddler Books: Greg Foley

I love Greg Foley's mouse and bear books for toddlers. They are simple and sweet. They pass on a great message about friendship and the parents always say "awww" when I finish reading one. My heart always feels happy when I finish reading one of these books to myself or to a group of kids and parents. My favorite is I Miss You Mouse because it promotes writing with the lift-the-flap note at the beginning and it is also a fun book to read aloud because it is a lift-the-flap book. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

               

What Flannel Friday Means to Me

Flannel Friday is the reason I started blogging. I started this blog in April 2011 after I found out about Flannel Friday. I got so many ideas the first month of Flannel Friday, that I felt I needed to give back to the community with some of the visuals I had successfully used in storytime.

Although I have aspirations of expanding my blog, I have yet to consistently post on anything but Flannel Friday. So, this keeps me blogging and hopefully someday I will share some of my library programs, the books I love to share with the kids at the library, the books I love to share with my kids at home and everything about early literacy that makes me excited to do my job every day.

Any time I need a storytime idea, the first thing I do is look at some Flannel Friday posts. Flannel Friday has kept me motivated, made me more creative in my storytimes and has challenged me to get  better at making my own storytime visuals. I get wonderful ideas for books, rhymes, visuals and storytime resources from everyone. I owe a lot to everyone who posts every week and those who host the round-ups. Thank you for all you do. I look forward to more posts as Flannel Friday continues to grow.

To participate in Flannel Friday, visit the website http://flannelfridaystorytime.blogspot.com/.
This week's round-up is being hosted by Rain Makes Applesauce. Thanks Sharon!

In addition to this post about why I love Flannel Friday, I did my normal flannel board post too- Five Giant Pumpkins.

Flannel Friday: Five Giant Pumpkins

It is a little early to be thinking about the fall, but I try to make visuals as I come across rhymes so I won't forget to do them before my storytime comes up. I am going to use this one next fall for a pumpkin storytime with the toddlers. I got the rhyme from Children's Programming Monthly- Vol. 1, No. 2. I used clipart and images I found online to make the visual. The flannel board is double sided, so when I am reciting the rhyme, I can just flip the card over.

Five Giant Pumpkins

 Five giant pumpkins sitting on the floor

One became a pumpkin pie, and then there were four.
Four giant pumpkins, orange as they can be,

One became a jack o' lantern, and then there were three.
Three giant pumpkins, enormous, it's true,

One became a carriage for Cinderella, and then there were two.
Two giant pumpkins underneath the sun,

One got first prize at the fair, and then there was one.
One giant pumpkin sitting all alone.

I picked one up, and carried it home.