Book Day!–Celebrating Books and Reading

Ages 3-6 and 7-12 in two groups: Children (and some adults) wore costumes celebrating characters from their favorite books

Opened by asking kids to tell what character/book they came from. Then said we were going to read a book about a superhero Librarian --

 

Read: Library Lil – Suzanne Williams (a librarian with superhero strength revitalizes the towns library even convincing the head of the town’s motorcycle gang to become an avid reader)

 

Sing: R.E.A.D. (lyrics here: http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2015/04/celebrating-libraries-books-and.html) (did the letters in sign language alphabet – could also do with full bodies – similar to Y.M.C.A.)

(Age 7-12 only): The Book with No Pictures by B.J. Novak – read by the author here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cREyQJO9EPs (kids love this silly silly book!)

Miss Smith's Incredible Storybook by Michael Garland  When the teacher is late for school one day, all the storybook characters escape from their book!

Booktalked the sequel: Miss Smith Reads Again

(3-6 only) Flannel: Just Use Imagination (lyrics here: http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2015/04/celebrating-libraries-books-and.html)

or Throw it Out the Window -- an action riff on nursery rhymes (lyrics here: http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2017/07/hands-across-world.html)

followed with:
Humpty Dumpty Sat on a Wall eating black bananas
Where do you think he put the skins? – Down the king’s pajamas!

Pirate Treasure Hunt by Jan Peck -- pajama-wearing pirates follow their captain in this rollicking action book

Action Song: I'm Being Swallowed by a Boa Constrictor (or Big Alligator) <– I had a green scarf so did the former

 

 

(Ages 7-12 only) Asked whether the first book we read was true or fiction – then showed the following title and asked the same question – kids astonished, this one is true!

Read: Librarian on the Roof: a TRUE story – M. G. King (librarian spends a week on the roof of the library to raise funds for a children’s room - now that is my kind of hero!)

 

 

Sing: Joe Scrugg’s “Read a Book” (lyrics here: http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2015/04/celebrating-libraries-books-and.html)

 

 

(Ages 3-6 only) Read: Reading Makes You Feel Good by Todd Parr

(Ages 7-12 only) Book: The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore -- William Joyce (story that inspired this Academy Award-winning short film: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJvSXQwBBQg, also any iPad Ap)

Then taught silly Humpty Dumpty variant:

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Eating black bananas.
Where do you think he put the skins? Down the king’s pajamas!

(refreshments inspired by books were served afterwards)

Muslim Homeschooling Co-op 3/29/2018

More ideas here: http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/search/label/Books%20%26%20Reading

 

Bedm SRC 2018 – K-2, selections differed. Found giving them two selections for each book & having them vote worked well!  Librarian on the Roof, Flying Books, Throw it Out the Window (action + Humpty Dumpty black bananas) and Book with No Pictures did well. 

School Age Storytime: Women’s History Month

 

Girls Can! Determination Succeeds.

A storytime for grades K-3 encouraging girls and boys to go beyond their comfort zones,
to take risks and make history!
Featuring women who overcame gender, racial, and religious prejudice and even powered through disability to do things that they were told they couldn’t.

Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman 
(Grace loves acting out stories. Told by her classmates that she can’t play the part of Peter Pan because she’s a girl & black, she learns that she can do anything she puts her mind to.)

“Grace is a fictional character (book in Picture Book/Easy Fiction section) but many real women overcame prejudice…(the next books all in the Biography section – non-fiction (true))”

Who Says Women Can’t Be Doctors? The Story of Elizabeth Blackwell by Tanya Lee Stone

(Elizabeth Blackwell gets 28 rejection letters but perseveres and when a medical school accepts her,  overcomes the teasing of her classmates and hostility of the townspeople, studies hard and graduates first in her class -- becoming the first female physician in America!)

Asked how many have a woman doctor? (about 1/2)
“next book is about a girl who would have to have many encounters with doctors…”

Wilma Unlimited: How Wilma Rudolph Became the World’s Fastest Woman by Kathleen Krull

(Splendidly written inspiring story of a tiny, sickly black girl stricken by polio who overcame her disability and ended up winning 3 gold medals in track at the 1960 Olympics!) 

“Wlima made her mark on the race course. Ruth has made it in the court house…”

I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsberg Makes Her Mark by Debbie Levy

(Debbie Levy’s wonderfully-written new biography of America’s first Jewish woman Supreme Court Justice vividly shows young readers how Ruth’s early exposure to racial, religious, ethnic and gender prejudice made her decide to become a lawyer and become a lifelong trailblazer and leader in the courts to fight for those rights. It also notably includes Ruth’s lifelong friendship with Antonio Scalia and how their deep disagreements over legal issues did not keep them from talking about these issues and traveling together around the world. It is a message of talking tolerance deeply needed in these divided times.)

My Name is Not Isabella: Just How Big Can a Little Girl Dream? – Jennifer Fosberry

(Over the course of a day, a little girl pretends to be Sally Ride, Annie Oakley, Rosa Parks, Marie Curie, Elizabeth Blackwell, and her own Mommy – concluding “It’s me Isabella, the kindest, smartest, bravest, fastest, toughest, greatest girl that ever was”…dreaming about who she would be…tomorrow.)  
Great book to use to see which of these women the kids recognize – and as a lead in to a show and tell of other biographies for them to read themselves.

More ideas for Women’s History Month: http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/search/label/Women%27s%20History%20Month

3.2018 Bedm.