Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Pre-School Storytime: Cats & Kittens



Cats & Kittens (Ages 3-6) 
This storytime incorporates current and classic stories, nursery rhymes, 
sign language, letter, number, and color identification, 
music and movement (including yoga)  and a bilingual story.
(Note, this is a long program, may need to pick and choose or if in a child-care setting, 
use the elements over the course of a week.)

Sign Language Song: “Hear the Little Doggie” – song from Pick Me Up, Fun Songs for Learning Signs

Flannel: Hey Diddle Diddle (classic nursery rhyme)

Book (4’s &5’s): It’s a Secret by John Burningham (wonderful fantasy that answers why your cat might sleep all day!)
Book (3’s & 4’s) Kitten Tale by Eric Rohmann (if not used for winter storytime) or Kitten’s First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes (if not used for moon storytime) (booktalked this to the older groups)

Flannel Song: “I Know a Cat” (K-I-T-T-Y)– letter identification, listening skills, rhythm practice
 (tune:  "B-I-N-G-O")
I know a cat with perky ears
And Kitty is her name-o.
K-I-T-T-Y, K-I-T-T-Y, K-I-T-T-Y,
And Kitty is her name-o.
(Repeat, dropping one letter from K-I-T-T-Y and replacing that letter with a clap with each verse.  Ultimately, five claps will replace the five letters.)

Action Song: Paws, Whiskers, Ears and Tails  (tune:  "Head Shoulders Knees and Toes")

Paws,                      (curl hands in front)   Whiskers,     (make whiskers on sides of face, = sign language for cat)
Ears                        (touch ears)          and Tails,              (touch tail)
Ears                        (touch ears)          and Tails,              (touch tail)
We’ll lick our fur (pretend to lick) and nap right here (hands together by side of head to pretend to sleep)
Paws, whiskers, ears and tails, ears and tails.                 (repeat actions as before)

Book: How to Be a Cat – Nikki McClure (beautiful woodcuts, simple text  -- kids can read out letters – and  read some words, acted out the actions -- unusual words àvocabulary development)

Book: Three Little Kittens (both Jerry Pinkney & Paul Galdone versions are lovely)  (classic nursery rhyme, vocabulary “soiled”)
Glove puppets/numeral cards: Five Little Kittens (subtraction, numeral identification, numeral orientation with older groups – I put numeral card sideways or upside and kids love to fix it!) 

Five Little Kittens (source unknown)

Five little kittens sleeping on a chair.
One rolled off -- Leaving four there.

Four little kittens -- One climbed a tree
To look in a bird's nest -- Then there were three.

Three little kittens wondered what to do.
One saw a mouse -- Then there were two.

Two little kittens  playing near a wall.
One little kitten left -- To chase a red ball.

One little kitten With fur soft as silk.
Left all alone -- To drink a dish of milk.


Book: (4’s & 5’s): Tiger in My Soup by Kashmira Sheth (great book emphasizing reading & imagination)

Action Book  (Yoga poses): You Are a Lion & Other Fun Yoga Poses by Taeeun Yoo (Alternative: Pretend You’re a Cat by Jean Marzollo
Bilingual Book : Miaow! by Alankrita Jain (read English text, asked if we had anyone who read Tamil (didn’t) but gave me a chance to promote our World Language Collection)

Singable Book: Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes by Eric Litwin

Beautiful books but no time: The Cinder-Eyed Cats by Eric Rohmann, Rumble Tum by Stephanie Peters

Video/DVD: Splat the Cat (Weston Woods)  (Alts: Hondo & Fabian, Three Legged-Cat, Cat and Canary, or Here Comes the Cat.  Didn’t use: Millions of Cats – music too loud, overpowers narration)

3/2014



Monday, March 24, 2014

National Poetry Month–Poetry Treasure Hunt


April is National Poetry Month…Celebrate with our Poetry Treasure Hunt!
(Poems are posted around the children’s room…find the poems, answer the questions, solve the puzzle and bring it to the Youth Services Reference Desk for a prize!)
We created a treasure hunt for our kids in order to generate some excitement about poetry in our library – and maybe generate some circulations of our wonderful poetry books!  In case anyone wants to do this at their library, I am sharing the materials we created.  Here’s a sample:
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Click here for the complete set of materials.

School Age Program: “You’re a Poet Though You Might Not Know It!” Grade K-6 National Poetry Month Program


“Every day when I go out, I fill my shoes with sauerkraut....”
Come read and create some wild, wacky,
and wonderful poems with us!   
(If you have a favorite poem, bring it along!)  
Special guest: local writer Randi Clarken.


This was a program to encourage kids to play with poetry then write some of their own.  We had a local poet join us, but that portion could be omitted.

Poetry Program – You’re a Poet though You May Not Know It  “Today we’re going to write some poems of our own -- but first we’re going to hear some poems to get our own creative ideas flowing and get some tips about poetry-writing…”

Poetry Warm-up:

2011: Introduced a “Real Live Poet” Randi Clarken author of Mugging for the Camera (her poems indicated by RJC below)

Shared these tips from Jack Prelutsky Pizza, Pigs, and Poetry – anyone know of him (show his books) –keeps writing notebook (used page numbers below -- 2015 during spring break, kids a bit antsy so I only some of these))

1. Write about something that really happened (ok to exaggerate though!):
Ø p.5 “I Wonder Why Dad is so Thoroughly Mad”
Ø p.18 “My Mother’s Rules”
Ø another poem about his mom’s rules: p.23 “Deep in Our Refrigerator”
Ø RJC p. 17 “Under My Bed”

2. Brothers, Sisters, Pets, Friends and Toys make good subjects:
Ø p.30 “My Baby Brother” (also “Brother” p. 65 in Sunflakes selected by Lilian Moore)
Ø p.58 “Oh, Teddy Bear”
Ø p.64 “My Brother Shaved His Teddy Bear”
Ø RJC p. 32 “Rock Paper Scissors”

3. Poems don’t have to be long:
Ø p.33 “Oysters”
Ø (also “The Tickle Poem” p.14 in Sunflakes )
Ø RJC p. 115 “A Very Tiny Poem”
Ø RJC p. 123 “Little Willie Number 7”

4. But you may revisit a subject if you find you have more to say:
Ø P.35 “Do Oysters Sneeze”
Ø RJC p.27 “Closet Avoidance”

5. Images can inspire poems:
Ø p.43 “We’re Fearless Flying Hot Dogs”
Ø p.39 “Forty Performing Bananas” (re-writing playing with language – read section),
Ø p.53 “I’m Building a Bridge of Bananas”
Ø p.74 “The Turkey Shot Out of the Oven”
Ø RJC p. 69 “Were Rabbits”
Ø RJC p.72 “Speaking Of…How to Make a Dust Bunny Happy”

And poems can inspire images:
Ø Show Shape/Concrete Poems from Doodle Dandies by J. Patrick Lewis & A Poke in the Eye by Paul B. Janeczko

2011: RJC talked a little more about writing poems…
2015 added instead:
6. Surprise ending fun:
from Lunch Money and Other Poems About School by Carol Diggory Shields
p. 16 "School Daze Rap"
p. 35 "Clock Watching"

Hands on – Writing our Own Poems – Options:

o Using what we just discussed, write a poem
o If you need ideas, try: “I am” poem (handout below, more at: http://www.pinterest.com/teaching101/writing/)
o Poetry Starter (source unknown): “Every day when I go out, I fill my shoes with sauerkraut…. (supply a page with these two lines as the starter )
o Acrostic Poem (Handout below)
o How to Write an "I Can't Write a Poem" Poem (Handout http://ettcweb.lr.k12.nj.us/forms/cantwrite.htm)
o Write a Structured Poem – ideas from the book “A Kick in the Head”



 
2017 added:

o Write a Shape Poem|

Image result for concrete poems bicycleThis and many more here: https://www.pinterest.com/ginger9892/concrete-poetry/
o Write a Blackout Poem

from: http://learningparade.typepad.co.uk/learning_parade/2011/07/newspaper-blackout-poems.html


Additional Resources:
http://teacher.scholastic.com/poetry/index.htm  Jack Prelutsky and others
www.hmhbooks.com/poetrykit/  lots of poetry ideas based on HMH books
http://www.gigglepoetry.com Bruce Lansky’s poems, contests, ideas
www.poetry4kids.com poems, contests, ideas + a rhyming dictionary
www.poetryzone.ndirect.co.uk/index2.htm place for kids to publish their own
www.teacher.scholastic.com/writewit/poetry/jack_home.htm (jack prelutsky’s writer’s workshop)

Display books: Imagine a Day …Night… Place – Sarah Thomson & Rob Gonsalves,  A River of Words JB Williams, Sad Underwear Judith Viorst, lots of other poetry books…You might also share some other fun poetry collections -- I love Lunch Money by Carol Diggory Shields (lots of funny poems about school -- they love the surprise ending to "Clock-Watching") , Dinosaur Dinner by Dennis Lee (try having them make up new verses to "Alligator Pie" (Judy Freeman put it to music -- feel free to give me a call if you want the tune)), and the collection Sunflakes (try the poem "Brother" for some sibling laughs!) 

Handouts:

Acrostic Poem  (I wrote these instructions out for the kids)
An Acrostic Poem is a poem that uses a name or a word to begin each line in a poem. Write your name or a word vertically down the left side of this sheet of paper. Begin each line of the poem with each letter of your name and write about yourself. After you are finished, decorate the page with your favorite things. (If you would like to get your poem back, please write your name & phone number on the back.)


clip_image002
4.2011
4.2015 -- did without special guest poet, deleted RJC poems above, added 2015: notes.

image


4.2017: opened with Prelutsky’s “I Told the Wizard to His Face,” did “Yankee Doodle” rhyming game, talked about different kinds of poetry. Read some family exageration poems from Pizza, Pigs & Poetry, and “Brother” and “Spring Is” from Sunflakes, expanded upon “Alligator Pie”, shared some shape poems from Doodle Dandies and A Poke in the I and showed some examples of blackout poems.  Kids then created poems of their choice – shape poems, black out poems, rhyming poems or acrostic poems.

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IMG_2000IMG_2001

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new in 2016 Daniel Finds a Poem – Micha Archer

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Pre-School Storytime: Everything Green

 
 

Everything Green (Ages 3-6)
Celebrate St. Patrick's Day and the beginning of spring with this storytime incorporating color identification, music and movement, participatory storytelling,
rhyming practice, and non-fiction elements.
(Note, this is a long program, need to pick and choose or if in a child-care setting,
use the elements over the course of a week.)

Opening Music: Hap Palmer's "Sally the Swinging Snake" (from album of the same name)

Book: Little Blue and Little Yellow by Leo Lionni (2016) or  Green by Laura Seeger
Action Song:  “If your clothes have any green” (tune “If You’re Happy & You Know It”)
If your clothes have any green, any green (3x)….stand up  so you’ll be seen…
                                             red…tap your hands upon your head, 
         blue…touch your shoe,
         yellow …jump up & down like a happy fellow,
         grey..sway, black..clap, pink…blink, brown…sit down!
 
Book (non-fiction) : Green: Seeing Green All Around Us by Sarah L. Schuette (2016) – read main text and ask kids what it is – good for listening skills since the last 2 are tricky.
Action/Music:  dance with Hap Palmer's "Sally the Swinging Snake" (from album of the same name) and have the children "dance" swinging pieces of green yarn to the musical instructions (listening skills)
image_thumb[6]
 
Book: Little Green by Keith Baker (2016 a.m. only  - might save for Spring next year)  or Little White Rabbit by Kevin Henkes
 
(omitted this 2016 – saved for spring storytime)
Song Flannel: “And the Green Grass Grew All Around” (echo song: children repeat each line) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_the_Green_Grass_Grew_All_Around
 
Book: Green Wilma by Tedd Arnold (2016) or  Moonbear’s Pet by Frank Asch (arrived too late 2016, sweet story of tadpole growth and friendship) or Scoot by Cathryn Falwell (6 turtles, beautiful torn paper illus) or Ribbit! – Bender (flip book –no longer in system, Folgiera, lovely but long) or Frog Song -- Brenda Z. Guiberson 597.89 GUI - non-fiction)
 
Song/Puppets/numeral cards: “5 Little Freckled Frogs” (sat on a speckled log)
http://www.nurseryrhymes.org/five-little-speckled-frogs.html

Book: Wide Mouthed Frog by Keith Faulkner (pop-up)

Interactive Song/Flannel or Puppets:  “Deep in the Jungle” from Joe Scrugg’s album by the same name. (clever variation on the 3 little monkeys teasing the crocodile rhyme, I have child volunteers handle the monkey puppets/flannels, I handle the croc.) http://www.hellojoe.com/lyrics-ditj.html 
 
City Dog, Country Frog by Mo Willems (beautiful story of friendship & loss, seasons of the year)
 
Song: “Make New Friends But Keep the Old”
 
Video: A Boy, A Dog, and a Frog (live action film by Weston Woods based on the book by Mercer Mayer)
 
Hand-stamping Music:  “Deep in the Jungle” from Joe Scrugg’s album by the same name.
 
Not used:

Video: There’s an Alligator Under My Bed – Mayer
   Alts: Green Eggs & Ham or “Deep in the Jungle” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0t7RUnF41g
 
Silly Song: Alligator Pie  http://barney.wikia.com/wiki/Alligator_Pie (only with older groups, sometimes make up additional verses e.g. “alligator cheese…I think I’m going to sneeze”)
Puppet/Action/Song: “I’m Being Swallowed by a Big Alligator” before goodbye song

Hand-stamping Music:  “Deep in the Jungle” from Joe Scrugg’s album by the same name.
 
Youtube “Yertle the Turtle” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqjEsttx-IU

Optional (2014 saving for "eggs" storytime later this session):

Interactive storytelling: Dr. Seuss’s Green Eggs & Ham I hand out picture/word cards to the kids for all the places the green eggs & ham are refused (here, there, house, mouse, box, fox, car, tree, train, dark (or use flashlight), rain (or use umbrella), goat, boat) and have extra laminated green eggs & ham pieces so everyone in the room can have a part. If you have another adult you can use laminated neck cards with pictures of Sam-I-Am and the friend (picky eater) --  Script here:  http://files.havefunteaching.com/fun-activities/readers-theater/green-eggs-and-ham.pdf or you can read the book aloud and have kids hold up the cards as the words are read.  The kids holding green eggs & hams are the enthusiastic chorus waving them about… and everyone chimes in on “I will not eat them anywhere!”
 
Take home rhyming practice activity –from http://www.obseussed.com/2012/03/green-eggs-and-ham-activities-and-free.html
 
Additional Material:
Songs:            There’s a Little White Duck (flannel)
Gary Rosen's  "Kelly the Caterpillar
Books:  One, Two, Three Jump – Lively
Spring Green – Selkote
Picasso the green tree frog
I'm green and I'm grumpy
Five green and speckled frogs by Priscilla Burris
Grandpa Green – Lane Smith
Green Queen – colors, ok for young groups
Finn McCool & the Great Fish 398.209415 Bunting (great Irish folktale beaut illus)
 
3/2017: Storytime/Craft:
 
image
 
Book: City Dog, Country Dog – Mo Willems (dialogic reading, act out actions, anticipate seasons, text to text frog on head in river and gingerbread man)
Sing: “Make New Friends but Keep the Old” (made a circle and circled round, then fell down at the end!")
image
Book: Green – Sarah Schuette (guessing game book)
Flannel/Song: “And the Green Grass Grew All Around” (echo and response)
 
image
Green Wilma – Tedd Arnold (asked if they thought it was a girl dreaming she was a frog or a frog dreaming she was a girl!)
Glove w/ Frogs: “5 Little Freckled Frogs”  (number cards)
Puppets/Song: “Deep in the Jungle” (child volunteers)
Action/Music:  dance with Hap Palmer's "Sally the Swinging Snake" (from album of the same name) and have the children "dance" swinging pieces of green yarn to the musical instructions (listening skills)
DVD: Mercer Mayer’s wordless live action “A Boy, A Dog, and a Frog”
 
Craft – talked about all the different colors of green we see around us. We had snow last week but some spring green returning – make spring green pictures – B&T cardboards, scrap colored papers of various tones of green, glue sticks, scissors, markers, tissue paper squares of various colors for squishing into flowers… 

 

Picture This: April Fools! Yellow Cows, Green People, Red Trees, and Blue Horses: The surprising art of Wassily Kandisky, Paul Klee, and their friends.




Picture This: April Fools!   Yellow Cows, Green People, Red Trees, and Blue Horses: The surprising art of Wassily Kandisky, Paul Klee, and their friends. (Grades K-5)

“Come hear the story of these expressionist painters and create your own brilliantly-colored paintings.”

·         Read aloud:  The Blue Rider: The Yellow Cow Sees the World in Blue (Adventures in Art Series)  (J759.0642 KUT)  (Kandinsky, Klee, Alexej Jawlensky, August Macke, Franz Marc and Gabrielle Munter) and/or The Noisy Paint Box*  by Barb Rosenstock (JB Kandinsky) (Mentions Kandinsky's synesthesia)

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·         <!--[endif]-->Showed:  Wassily Kandinsky (J759.7 FLU)  and  Paul Klee (J759.91 VEN)  (both Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Artists)  Paul Klee (J759.91 RAB), Paul Klee (J759.91 CON)

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·         <!--[endif]-->Made tempera paintings – expressionistic designs with vibrant colors, -- Usborne Art Treasury J750.11 DIC p/52-55 Kandinsky – Squares with Colored Circles – Color Contrasts,

·         Other ideas: Start with Art: People (J704.942 LAC) p. 12 pattern and color, p22 abstract portraits, Magical Fish Klee – The Golden Fish  Usborne Art Treasury J750.11 DIC p/28-31, The Art Book for Children v.2 (J709 REN) “Music to My Eyes” – Kandinsky p.46-47  http://thechocolatemuffintree.blogspot.com/2014/03/how-to-make-abstract-kandinsky-painting.html
 
4.08
*more ideas  from: http://www.slj.com/2014/03/collection-development/jlg-booktalks/stellar-nonfiction-for-young-readers/:

4.15:
Open with this showing:  Kandinsky moody music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5wqlj2nmcs
Then read:
Noisy Paintbox Stellar Nonfiction for Young Readers│ JLG’s Booktalks to GoROSENSTOCK, Barb. The Noisy Paint Box: The Colors and Sounds of Kandinsky’s Abstract Art. illus. by Mary Grandpré.Knopf. 2014. ISBN 9780307978493. JLG Level:  E+ : Easy Reading (Grades 1–3).
Vasya Kandinsky’s proper life would never be the same after his aunt gave him his first paint supplies. The colors seemed to whisper to him―what a noisy paint box! He worked until the colors went quiet. But no one understood what his paintings said, so he began to paint like everyone else. It would take a trip to the opera for the artist to unleash the power of his work. And he would never paint “properly” again.
Resources abound for this beautifully written and illustrated work. A Pinterest board features Kandinsky lessons. The Classroom Bookshelf published a post of the new title with resources for teaching. Watch a book trailer on Rosenstock’s website. You can invite the author to your school, visit via Skype, or follow her on Twitter or Pinterest. Harry Potter fans will recognize Mary Grandpré’s artwork and may want to visit her website. Perhaps you can’t take a field trip to the New York City art museum, but your students can view the Kandinsky Guggenheim exhibit online. http://www.livebinders.com/play/play/1198808

Briefly discussed synesthesia and showed pictures of some of his abstract paintings.  Then put on album "Jazz Playground" (Putamayo international music) and had kids use tempera paints to "paint what the music sounded like." (multicultural album provides lots of variety)  (Supplies: large paper, paint, brushes, water cups)


Saturday, March 8, 2014

Picture This: "Play With Art"


“Play with Art” (Ages 3-10)



What can you do with a dot, a line, a shape, a pair of scissors, a dab of paint and your imagination?  Anything you want!  Come “Be Creative @ Your Library” and “Play with Art” as we kick off a summer of creative fun at the library.

This is a program which incorporated many of the materials prepared for other programs in the "Picture This" series.  
(Detailed descriptions of each project can be found in those other program plans.  Different stations based on some of the programs we’ve held -- stations with self-directed instruction sheets – contact me if you want these.)


Read “Bear’s Picture” – Pinkwater and/or “The Dot”  - Reynolds

Stations:
·         "What can you do with a line?" -- Squiggle pictures to get those creative juices flowing. (inspired by the book: Harold & the Purple Crayon)
·         "What can you do with a dot?" -- Pointillism with Q-tips in the style of Seurat.
·         "What can you do with a dab?" -- Watercolor painting in the style of Monet.
·         "What can you do with a pair of Scissors?" -- Cut-up collages in the style of Matisse or mixed-up faces a la Picasso.
·         "What can you do with some magazine pictures? -- Picturing the impossible -- Surreal pictures a la Magritte & Dali.
·         “What can you do with a wall & chalk?” --Cave Painting in the style of the first artists 32,000 years ago.

·         “What can you do with your imagination?” – anything you want!

Picture This: Art Exploration For Kids: Gods in Color – New views of the Art of Ancient Greece

 

Picture This: Art Exploration For Kids: Gods in Color – New views of the Art of Ancient Greece


(Program for Kdg-5th graders)
 
“Travel back in time with us to Ancient Greece, meet the Gods from Mount Olympus, and hear about a surprising discovery scientists recently made about the sculptures there – then create a statue of your own! “
PowerPointpresentation available.


  • Display books: Rick Riordan (Lightning Thief ) , Joan Holub (Goddess Girls), Carolyn Hennesy (Pandora), Greek Mythology (292.13), Ancient Greece (938), Ancient Greek art (709.38)

  • Open by reading Mount Olympus Baskeball by Kevin O'Malley  -- surprise! never thought of basketball and Greek Gods together!!

  • Ask what they know about Greek mythology --  Have they seen statues from Ancient Greece?  What do they look like?
·        Mention even grown-ups surprised sometimes  – I went to an art museum in Boston and discovered that Ancient Greek statues weren’t the white marble I’d always thought!  Research is ahead of most books – most of our Ancient Greek Art books don't show what scientists now know (Ancient Greek Art -- 709.38 Hodge, c2006 mentions it on some of the pages but has no pictures of the reconstructions, nor do any other books to my knowledge!)  Internet sights with pictures & information: http://harvardmagazine.com/2007/11/dazzlers-html

·       Powerpoint presentation featuring pictures from the “Gods in Color” exhibition.  Talk about how scientists discovered remnants of ancient pigments.

·       Craft: Have kids make Greek sculptures out of playdough (since we didn't have time to make sculpture one day and paint or color it the next, we used colored dough -- available very inexpensively at dollar stores).  Some kids sculpted free-form 3D statues, others made a freeze on a cereal box type cardboard base.  Others used the photocopied line drawings of Greek Statues (from the Museum's Family Guide) as a base and used flattened playdough to add pattern & color.  (If you have a multi-day program, you could have them sculpt one day and then paint or color the next day. -- Crayola Model Magic is one possibility for this.)

Music during craft (and while kids arriving): Mosaic: the Music of Greece (Nick Stoubis)

·         Additional resources:  http://christogenea.org/resources/Harvard%20gods%20in%20color%20gallery%20guide.pdf, coloring sheets & handouts from the kid’s guide to the exhibition (not available online unfortunately), books of Ancient Greek sculpture.


Painting of sculpture-- from Wikipedia

By the early 19th century, the systematic excavation of ancient Greek sites had brought forth a plethora of sculptures with traces of notably multicolored surfaces, some of which were still visible. Despite this, influential art historians such as Johann Joachim Winckelmann so strongly opposed the idea of painted Greek sculpture that proponents of painted statues were dismissed as eccentrics, and their views were largely dismissed for more than a century.
It was not until published findings by German archaeologist Vinzenz Brinkmann in the late 20th and early 21st century that the painting of ancient Greek sculptures became an established fact. Using high-intensity lamps, ultraviolet light, specially designed cameras, plaster casts, and certain powdered minerals, Brinkmann proved that the entire Parthenon, including the actual structure as well as the statues, had been painted. He analyzed the pigments of the original paint to discover their composition.
Brinkmann made several painted replicas of Greek statues that went on tour around the world. Also in the collection were replicas of other works of Greek and Roman sculpture, and he demonstrated that the practice of painting sculpture was the norm rather than the exception in Greek and Roman art.[4]Museums that hosted the exhibit included the Glyptotek Museum in Munich, the Vatican Museum, and the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, et al. The collection made its American debut at Harvard University in the Fall of 2007.[5]
 

9/08, 9/11, 10/14
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