8/10, 8/11 Story Hour

Theme: Cows

Rhyme Dice: The Button Factory and the letter "B"

Book: Click Clack Moo by Doreen Cronin

Activity: Animal Charades (act out different animals and guess whether they live on a farm, at the zoo, or are kept as pets)

Activity: Make butter and try it on bread and crackers. Recipes can be found here. Helpful hint: let the heavy whipping cream sit at room temperature for several hours to make butter in just a few minutes. The process can also be sped up if you add a marble to the jar or bag you are shaking. Just be sure to take it out of your butter before eating!

Craft: Make cow masks using the template here. Decorate with black or brown spots.

Next week we will be learning about pigs! Ms. Megan will be on vacation, but come ready to give Ms. Donna your best "oink!"

8/3, 8/4 Story Hour

Theme: Horses and Cowboys
Rhyme Dice: Baby Bumblebee and make the letter "C"
Story: Cowboy Camp by Tammi Sauer
Song: I’m a Little Cowboy (to the tune of I'm a Little Teapot)

"I'm a little cowboy (point to self)

here's my hat (pat head).

Here are my spurs (touch feet)

and here are my chaps (hands hit thighs).

I wake up in the morning (stretch and yawn)

and I work all day (pretend to shovel hay).

I get on my horse and ride away (pretend to ride in place)."
Activity: Use a lasso, wear a cowboy hat, and get your picture taken in saddle. Ride stick horses.

Craft: Color a bandana

Next week we will be learning about cows, making butter, and decorating cow masks. Hope you enjoy this next trip to the farm!

NEW EXTENDED LATE LIBRARY HOURS!!!

Effective August 1, 2009 we will be open LATER hours to better serve you!!

Monday 9:00 am to 8:00 pm

Tuesday 9:00 am to 8:00 pm

Wednesday 9:00 am to 8:00 pm

Thursday 9:00 am to 8:00 pm

Friday 9:00 am to 5:00 pm

Saturday 9:00 am to 3:00 pm

Sunday CLOSED

7/27, 28 Story Hour

Theme: On the Farm

Book: Big Chickens Fly the Coop by Leslie Helakoski

Flannelboard: Old MacDonald

Craft: Make a farm picture frame

Activity: Pet one of the chickens that came from the farm to visit us today!

Next week, saddle up for a story hour about cowboys! Try your skills at roping, sit in a saddle, and make a cowboy bandana to take home.

7/20, 21 Story Hour

Theme: County Fair

Book: Minerva Louise at the Fair by Janet Stoeke

Activity: Kids "judged" their own fair categories such as horses and vegetables.

Craft: Make a blue ribbon pin

Activity: Play fair games like a beanbag toss.

Hope you all enjoyed the Meade County Fair and were able to stop by the library's booth!

Summer Reading: Drama Lesson for ages 3 - Grade 2

We used our imaginations to "visit" a farm this week and got ready for next week's County Fair with this lesson based on Charlotte's Web. We also talked about drama, pretending, and movies based on books.

Wiggler: Baby Bumblebee, Shake Your Sillies Out

Book: Celestine, Drama Queen by Penny Ives
Read scene from Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White and watch clip from the movie. Discuss how books inspire movies and name examples.

Visit the Library: while one group went, the other made hand puppets and played with the puppet theater

Craft: Paint a pig with "mud!" Using cardstock with a picture of a pig, children colored their pig and then added chocolate pudding to make their pig muddy.

Activity: Make ice cream. Kids partnered up to make and decorate their own ice cream.

Recipe:

1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup milk or half and half
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
6 tablespoons rock salt (or regular salt if you can’t find rock salt)
1 gallon size Ziploc bag
1 pint size Ziploc bag
Ice
Fill the gallon size bag (the larger bag) with ice about half way and add the salt and seal it.
Mix the sugar, milk and vanilla in the small pint sized bag and seal it.
Open up the large bag and put the small bag inside and seal the large bag again.
Shake the bag and you’ll see your mixture in the small bag turn into ice cream! (It will take about 5 minutes of shaking) Open up the small bag and enjoy!!

Games: Spider web toss and egg races

Activity: Do the chicken dance!

Thank you all for participating in Summer Reading! If you couldn't attend our weekly programs it's still not too late, as we will be offering more activities for the rest of the summer. Join us to celebrate your accomplishments at Summer Reading with a Family Fun Night at Riverfront Park from 5-9PM on Friday, July 17th. SRP participants and their families can receive a free dinner (hot dog, popcorn, and drink) from 5:30-6:30PM and extra meals will be available for purchase. We will be announcing contest winners, enjoying a band, inflatables, games and more, so be sure to stop by!

Summer Reading: Dance Lesson for ages 3-Grade 2

Wiggler: Shake Your Sillies Out

Book: Hilda Must Be Dancing by Karma Wilson

Activity: Dance the limbo, play Twister to get loosened up for our dance instruction!

Activity: Dance class lead by Kim Myers of Dancetime Studio, Brandenburg

Preschoolers learned a dance to "We're Going to the Zoo" and Grades 1-2 learned steps to "Yankee Doodle Dandy." The children also learned about the history of dance, it's styles, and more.

Craft: Dance streamers. Each child received a paper plate with the center cut out and they added different color streamers around the sides. These look lovely when waved while dancing!

If you liked our dance unit, you'll love Dance Day! This event will be held on Friday, July 10th at David T. Wilson Elementary from 1-3 and features the Wulfe Brothers and Dancetime Studio Dancers. Crafts and dance activities will follow the performances. Hope to see you there!