Ah, memories of the Burbank Public Library! Thanks for an enjoyable three-and-a-half years!
Here’s me doing “Hands Up High” and “Blackbirds” (from the Spring 2010 Rhyme Sheet) at toddler storytime at BV….
P.S. Thank you, thank you to my brother for recording this video!
I’m moving… in two ways…
1. The time has come to move this blog over to my new domain: sillylibrarian.com! I will now be updating the blog at sillylibrarian.com/blog. Please update your bookmarks, links, etc. and head on over to my new site! This is the first of many fun changes I hope to make with this blog. I also changed to my favorite color purple! Wahoo!
2. I’m physically moving from Burbank, CA. to Elgin, IL.! My husband and I bought a house and will be back in Illinois the first week of September. No job yet… but, hopefully, I will find a library, bookstore, museum or school to do storytimes at very soon.
In the meantime, head over to my new site! I’m posting a video! and a transportation-themed preschool storytime!
P.S. Please pardon some dust during this moving process. For example, my search box has disappeared on my new site. Mysterious… I’ll resolve that asap!
Hello friends! I hope that you are all having a very fun summer. I haven’t totally forgotten about this blog. Actually, I am working on changing domains, redoing the design, and adding some nifty features. It’s going to be awesome! Hopefully, I’ll be back to posting every Friday (and maybe even more often!) really soon.
I have a bittersweet announcement to make… next week will be my last week working at the Burbank Public Library. I am inching my way back home to my native Illinois, and I will hopefully be moved there by the end of this summer or early in the fall. It’s been a wonderful privilege to share stories and sing songs with Burbank’s children and to see them grow these last three and a half years. I will miss you all very, very, very much!!! Please come to my final storytimes this week (on Wednesday at BV and Friday at Central) to exchange good-byes. Did I mention that I will miss you?!
I intend to continue posting to this blog. I have some ideas of pages that I could add (including how I format storytimes, favorite preschool books, and fingerplay videos or podcasts). I also have a backlog of some of my preschool and baby storytimes from previous years. I hope to find a new library, bookstore, or school “home” to present storytimes again very soon! (Any Chicago suburb libraries looking for a storyteller? Hehe.) I love storytime!
Thank you so much to Donna and Cathleen for filling in for my storytimes this week while I’ve been out sick. I’ll be back ready to dance, sing and read stories next week! See you then, friends!
Our flyers aren’t out yet, but here is the toddler tales storytime schedule for the Burbank Public Library for 2009-2010:
Fall Program: Sept 28-Nov 20 (Signups begin Sept 16)
Winter Program: Jan 18-March 12 (Signups begin Jan 6)
Spring Program: March 29-May 21 (Signups begin March 17)
Central will continue to do storytimes on Friday mornings (10 and 11 am) (That’s my regular time!) No registration will be required.
Buena Vista will continue to do storytimes on Wednesday and Friday mornings (10 and 11 am) AND will now be offering two additional storytimes on Thursday mornings (10 and 11 am). (Right now, it looks like I will be presenting the Wednesday morning storytimes.) Registration will absolutely be required, and it is likely that the storytimes will be limited to Burbank residents only.
Toddler Tales runs about 20-30 minutes.
I am also looking into doing monthly PJ evening family storytimes at BV.
That’s all I have for now… Stay tuned!
Besides doing regular toddler storytimes, I also do programs for grade school children from time to time. These past two weeks, I have run a couple of writing workshops. In these workshops, we tried out a couple of fun writing activities and let our imaginations run wild! I’ve now uploaded some pictures from our events onto my flickr page. So, if you were one of the kids at my workshops and have been wondering where those photos were…they’re up and ready to go! Write On!!!
Storytime sign-ups for both our Toddler and our Preschool Storytimes are now going on at all of our Burbank Libraries. I (Miss Jennifer) will again be presenting the Toddler Tales storytimes on Friday mornings at 10am and 11am over at the Central Library starting Friday, September 26th. I am really looking forward to seeing old friends as well as meeting new ones! New posts and new ideas will be coming soon.
Looking for something to do this summer? Looking for different ways to share books with your child? Do you miss storytime? (I do…)
The Burbank Public Library (as well as many other public libraries across the nation) offers its patrons an excellent electronic resource that can help get kids excited about books and reading: TumbleBooks!
By clicking on the library’s website and then following the link for “TumbleBooks” found on the homepage, our library users can gain access to an online collection of animated, talking picture books and games. From the comfort of your own home, you can gain unlimited remote access to this FREE program. [This is available to Burbank Public Library cardholders. People in other communities will have to check with their own local libraries to see if this service is available.]
**Here are some of the great features of TumbleBooks…**
Story Books: This is the collection of animated picture books that include favorite titles such as “Jack and the Beanstalk”, “The Paperbag Princess” and “Dairy of a Worm”. Users have the option of having the book read aloud to them or reading the book independently (without audio narration). (This collection is especially geared for toddlers, preschoolers and beginning readers.) There are also corresponding electronic puzzles and games to go with the books.
Tumble Readables: For older, more established readers, there is a collection of e-book classics such as “Anne of Green Gables” and “Black Beauty” for students to read independently (without the bells and whistles of animation and sound effects).
Language Learning: There is also a growing collection of books in Spanish and French as well as bilingual titles. (You also have the option of viewing the website in these languages.) This collection could be useful for ESL, bilingual, Spanish and French language learning and instruction.
Audio Books: Also for older students, there is a collection of full length, unabridged, streaming audio books for listening.
**Another website for free Virtual Storybooks**
Storyline Online: Online videos of actors reading picture books aloud.
Hello Everybody, How Do You Do?
I just finished writing a new page for my blog. Under Pages, you’ll find “Storytime Resources”. Here, I share my favorite books and websites that I use for storytime planning including resources on program planning, puppets, flannels, props, nursery rhyme coloring sheets, Mother Goose, music, storytelling and early literacy. Throughout the years, I’ve received many questions from parents, teachers and fellow librarians about where I purchase my “toys”, how I get my ideas, and where one can find out more about early language development. Hopefully, this new page will help answer some questions and also inspire more fun with language. Storytime is a wonderful way to help get young children excited about books, reading and learning…not to mention it’s a lot of fun! I am sure that I will continue to update this Resources page as new resources come to my attention.