School Age Storytime: Valentine’s Day and Friendship

In-school storytime for Kindergarten through 3rd graders.  Incorporates kindness, anti-bullying, Black History Month, monsters, humor, and a bit of wacky math! (40 min. long )

Somebody Loves You Mr. Hatch by Eileen Spinelli (how thinking someone cared for him helped Mr. Hatch come out of his shyness and friend and be befriended by his neighbors -- aside for brief discussion of stranger safety.)

One by Kathryn Otoshi (anti-bullying parable where the number one stands up for the color blue against the red bully and all the colors discover that everyone counts.)

The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson, Sister Anne's Hands by MaryBeth Lorbiecki or Freedom Summer by Deborah Wiles (mentioned that when I was their age, there were places in our country where black children and white children couldn't go to the same schools, playgrounds, libraries etc.  Vocabulary: "segregation" = separation.)

Leonardo the Terrible Monster  by Mo Willems (queried kids if they could name his other works: Pigeon, Knufflebunny, and Elephant & Piggie books)  Leonardo decides to give up being a terrible monster and be a wonderful friend instead.

Love Letters by Arnold Adoff (811.54) (amusing Valentine poems)

This Plus That, Life's Little Equations by Amy Rosenthal (clever look at how big and small moments add up in life.) or Chopsticks by Amy Rosenthal (after a pair of chopsticks get separated, each friends eventually learns to stand on its own.)



Additional Book Possibilities:
Bink & Gollie – Kate DeCamillo
Babuska Baba Yaga – Patricia Polacco
Alex & Lulu: Two of a Kind – Lorena Simonovich
One of Each –  Mary Ann Hoberman
Unicorn Thinks He's Pretty Great -- Bob Shea
2.12