Category: Grade School Stories

Pesky Second Grade Visits

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Garbage and Pests = a fun theme! I’ve had a great year sharing 20-minute story breaks with second graders. They’re so appreciative and make me feel like a million bucks when I walk into the room 🙂 Claps and hugs and declarations of book love!

Poem: “Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out” from Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein
Book: Great, Now We’ve Got Got Barbarians! by Jason Carter Eaton
Nonfiction Book Bite: read/showed snippets from National Geographic Kids’ This Book Stinks!
Storytell: Storytelling: “At Midnight” (I learned this “boo baby” story from storyteller Priscilla Howe)

Cute Second Grade Visits

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Book: Rot by Ben Clanton
Nonfiction Book Bites: read/showed snippets from 125 Cute Animals by National Geographic Kids, Cute as an Axolotl by Jess Keating*, and How to Draw Cute Animals by Angela Nguyen
Storytell: “Chickens!” (I learned this “boo baby” story from storyteller Priscilla Howe)

*Jess Keating has a fun “draw your cutest critter” handout on her website that I gave to the teachers to distribute to the kids

When I repeated this visit in 2020, I replaced the Nonfiction Book Bites with World’s Cutest Animals by Lonely Planet Kids, How to Draw a Unicorn and Other Cute Animals by Lulu Mayo, and This Book is Cute! by Sarah Wassner Flynn

Valentines Kindergarten Visit

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Opening: If You Want to Hear a Story
Book: Groggle’s Monster Valentine by Diana Murray, illustrated by Bats Langley
Book (with swallowing old women prop and laminated visuals): I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Rose by Lucille Colandro, illustrated by Jared D. Lee
Book: Here Comes Valentine Cat by Deborah Underwood, illustrated by Claudia Rueda
Dancing Song: “There’s a Little Wheel A-Turnin’ in My Heart” from Laurie Berkner’s Favorite Classic Kids’ Songs
Closing: We Wave Goodbye

BAM! POW! COOKIES! First/Second Grade Visits

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‘Tis the season for baking cookies!

Book: The Ninjabread Man by C.J. Leigh
Nonfiction Book Bites: read/showed snippets from Baking Class by Deanna F. Cook (the cookie section), A World of Cookies for Santa by M.E. Furman, and You Wouldn’t Want to be a Ninja Warrior! by John Malam
Storytell: The Ghost with One Black Eye (I learned this “boo baby” story from storyteller Priscilla Howe)

Creepy Cryptids First/Second Grade Visits

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It’s that spooky time of year again! I prefer to do more of a “monster”-type theme than straight-up Halloween.

Book: The Boy Who Cried Bigfoot! by Scott Magoon
Nonfiction Book Bites: read snippets from Monsters: Myth or Fact? by Thea Feldman, The Legend of Bigfoot by Thomas Kingsley Troupe, and What Makes a Monster? by Jess Keating
Storytell: Now I’ve Gotcha (I learned this “boo baby” story from storyteller Priscilla Howe)

Schools visited: Heritage

Weird Summer

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Here’s another summer school/camp program:

“Weird” books are always popular!

Storytelling: “At Midnight” (I learned this “boo baby” story from storyteller Priscilla Howe)
Nonfiction Book: Weird But True! 9 (National Geographic Kids)
Fiction Book: If… by Sarah Perry
Fiction Book: Rot by Ben Clanton

Reminder: I’ll be performing at the Streamwood Farmer’s Market this Friday, July 27th at 11:30 am at the Poplar Creek Public Library. I’ll be repeating my farm-themed Story Sparklers program.

The Dog Days of Summer

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So, this summer, I’ve been keeping busy reading stories to kids visiting the library as part of their summer school program and also to kids participating in an apartment community summer camp. I’ve been repeating some old programs, but I also came up with some new ideas, too.

Here’s my “Dog Days” theme:

Nonfiction Book: “Hank’s Home Run” from Five-Minute True Stories: Animal Rescue by Aubre Andrus (plus book talk other animal books including National Geographic’s 125 True Stories of Amazing Animals and Five-Minute True Stories: Animal BFFs)
Fiction Book: Dog Breath by Dav Pilkey
Activity: My Dog Spot! Mad Libs

April 2018 “Outer Space” Second Grade Visits

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Sigh. It’s my last month of class visits for this school year. I’ve really enjoyed sharing stories with these enthusiastic and appreciative second graders. I hope that many will come visit me at the library this summer!

Song: Boom Chicka Boom
Book: The Three Little Aliens and the Big Bad Robot by Margaret McNamara
(Poetry Book Bite: “The Earth” or “Pluto” from Comets, Stars, the Moon, and Mars by Douglas Florian)
Nonfiction Book Bite: booktalked various “space” books (such as 50 Things You Should Know About Space by Professor Raman Prinja, Eclipses by Martha E.H. Rustad, and Astronaut Handbook by Meghan McCarthy)
Storytell: “At Midnight” (I learned this “boo baby” story from storyteller Priscilla Howe)

Schools visited: Heritage, Laurel Hill

March/April 2018 “Road Trip” Kindergarten Visits

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And now for the Kindergarten version of the “Road Trip” theme I’m doing for my visits this month (and part of next month)…

Opening: If You Want to Hear a Story
Book: Moo! by David LaRochelle
Book (and Nursery Rhymes): Motor Goose: Rhymes that Go by Rebecca Colby [This is a really fun picture book that puts a “vehicle” twist on classic Mother Goose rhymes. I shared 3 of the rhymes with the kids… but before each rhyme, we would recite/sing the familiar (non-vehicle) rhyme together (ex. Humpty Dumpty and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star). This strategy worked really well with the kindergartners and was really fun.]
Book: Let’s Go for a Drive! by Mo Willems
Flannel Song: The Wheels on the Bus
Dancing Song: “Face the Facts” from Jim Gill Sings Moving Rhymes for Modern Times
Closing: We Wave Goodbye

Schools Visited: Parkwood, Heritage

February 2018 “Animal Friends” Second Grade Visits

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My third round of second grade visits started last week!

Poetry Book Bite: “I Made My Dog a Valentine” from It’s Valentine’s Day by Jack Prelutsky OR “My Dog Has Got No Manners” from If Pigs Could Fly… by Bruce Lansky
Nonfiction Book Bite: read a 5-minute story from Animal BFFs by Aubre Andrus (and book-talked other animal nonfiction books)
Book: Big Mean Mike by Michelle Knudsen OR Children Make Terrible Pets by Peter Brown
Storytell: Monkey and Frog (West African tale as told by Laura Simms on her Four Legged Tales cd)

Schools visited: Heritage, Laurel Hill