Flannel Friday: Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr.

I love reading Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. to my storytime kids. So I wanted to freshen things up a bit and try it as a prop story!

I had seen another librarian years ago present the book in a similar way, which is where I originally got the idea. They used a cookie sheet, but I have this awesome felt/dry erase/magnet board that I purchased from Discount School Supply, so I utilized that.

I used both the book art as well as Google Image searching for palm trees to create my coconut tree out of construction paper. I just free-handed everything so I don't have a pattern to share. Then I laminated it with contact paper and stuck a couple of magnets on the back.

I purchased some magnetic letters from Amazon and used an egg carton to organize the letters in order beforehand. Then I could just keep the carton in my lap as I told the story.

When the letters fall down the tree in the story, you can either shake your magnet board to make them all fall, or I just pushed them down with my hand. Easy peasy!

Mel's Desk is hosting this week's Flannel Friday. You can find the round-up over on her blog! For more information on Flannel Friday, check out their website, Facebook group, or Pinterest page.

Storytime - Pizza

Books: 

Pizza at Sally's by Monica Wellington - This is a colorful, fun book that introduces kids to how pizza is made, from the flour for the dough until it's delivered to their doorstep. As I read, I asked the kids if they knew that things like tomatoes and flour went into making pizza.

Hi, Pizza Man! by Virginia Walter - Oh my goodness, this book was such a hit! A child waiting for the pizza man is asked what she'll say to him when he comes to the door. Then, things turn hilarious as the child is asked what she'll say if a pizza cow, pizza duck, pizza dinosaur, etc. comes to the door. You can have the kids guess and repeat after you for the various greetings.


Songs/Rhymes:

Pizza Man

Pat-a-cake (clap hands)
Pat-a-cake, pizza man
Bake me a pizza as fast as you can!
Roll it (roll hands)
Knead it (make kneading motion with hands)
And sprinkle it with cheese (make sprinkle motion w/ fingers)
Put in the oven (make a pushing motion)
And bake it fast, please! (rub tummy)
Source

Baking Pizza

(Tune: Shortnin' Bread)

Every little baker loves mixing, mixing
Every little baker love mixing dough! (Roll hands)

Every little baker loves kneading, kneading
Every little baker loves kneading dough! (knead hands)

Every little baker loves tossing, tossing
Every little baker loves tossing dough! (throw arms up in the air)
Source

Flannel Friday: Bark, George by Jules Feiffer

Wayyyyy back when I was still in library school, I took a children's materials and services class where our assignment was to tell a story using props, flannels, etc. I was also working part-time in a library and I knew about their storytelling kit for the book Bark, George by Jules Feiffer. It consisted of a cardboard box made up to look like George the dog along with a lab coat, yellow rubber glove, and puppets.

This past year, I decided to do a pet-themed storytime and wanted to create something similar. It was relatively painless and cheap to do!

1. I grabbed a cardboard box (about the size of a Baker & Taylor shipping box for reference) from our ILL department and taped it closed on both sides.

2. Then I drew a marker line across the "front" of George about 6 inches up from the bottom.

3. Next, I drew 2 diagonal lines on George's "sides" that began at the top corner and met at the straight front line.

4. I used a box cutter to cut along my lines. Then I used packing tape to tape down any cardboard flaps on the inside.

Please forgive the blurriness. I was trying to take the photo with one hand.

5. Then I cut up some paper grocery bags (I cut off the bottoms and up on one seam) and used them to cover the box and make it look more like dog fur.

6. Lastly, I used construction paper for the eyes, nose, ears, tongue, etc.

For the rest of the kit, I just added Folkmanis puppets. You can set the puppets in the box in reverse order and just pull them out during the story. They end up looking like they are coming out of George's mouth!

Storytime Katie is hosting this week's Flannel Friday. You can find the round-up over on her blog! For more information on Flannel Friday, check out their website, Facebook group, or Pinterest page.

Pizza and Pages: Reckless by Cornelia Funke

Type of Book: Fantasy

Plot Summary:
(From Goodreads):

"Ever since Jacob Reckless was a child, he has been escaping to a hidden world through a portal in his father's abandoned study. Over the years, he has made a name for himself as a finder of enchanted items and buried secrets. He's also made many enemies and allies--most important, Fox, a beautiful shape-shifting vixen whom Jacob cares for more than he lets on.

But life in this other world is about to change. Tragedy strikes when Jacob's younger brother, Will, follows him through the portal. Brutally attacked, Will is infected with a curse that is quickly transforming him into a Goyl--a ruthless killing machine, with skin made of stone."

Average Teen Rating: 3.3

Oh man, my teens did NOT like this book. The most common complaints were that it was too confusing and too slow. I had one upper middle school girl that loved it. She is a massive fantasy fan. I was actually quite surprised because the majority of my book club teens are fantasy fans. I decided to post my questions anyway in case any other book clubs out there think their teens might like the book better.

Discussion Questions:

1. What do you think about Jacob? Is he a good person? Would you be friends with him?

2. Which fairy tales did you recognize in the book? Snow White, Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty, Hansel and Gretel, The Frog Prince - Funke concentrated on the Grimm German fairy tales in this book.

3. What did you think about Mirrorworld? Would you rather live in a place like that, with magic and no technology? Or do you prefer this modern real world?

4. Did you have a favorite part of Mirrorworld? (i.e. the fairy realm, the Goyl city, the Empress’s palace)?

5. Do you think the characters were fleshed out enough? Is there someone you wanted to know more about?

6. How do you feel about Fox? Why do you think she is so protective of Jacob? Why do you think she prefers her fox form over her human one? (Did you know that foxes are often found as supportive characters in the Grimm’s fairy tales?)

7. Who in the story do you think is the strongest? Why?

8. Why do you think Jacob decided to free The Dark Fairy? Was that a mistake?

9. Does your opinion of the book change knowing that it was first written in German and then translated?

10. Where do you think Jacob and Will’s father is? Do you think he’s alive?

11. Will you read the sequel, Fearless? What do you think happens?

Anime Club: Manga Duct Tape Wallets

Our first anime club meeting of the fall was this afternoon and I wanted to have an open-ended kind of craft since I wasn't sure a.) how many teens would show up or b.) what their interests are. I had a ton of leftover duct tape from my tween duct tape program and a stack of discarded old manga from a big weeding project of mine. So I decided to combine the two and have the teens make manga duct tape wallets!

I basically just used this duct tape wallet tutorial and then altered it a bit. Here's what you need:

• Old discarded manga
• Duct tape
• Scissors
• Rulers
• Clear packing tape

Basically, you just have the teen take 2 manga pages and cover both sides with clear packing tape like so:

Then just trim the edges of the tape and follow the rest of the instructions from the link above.

Some of the teens got really creative and made the wallet entirely out of duct tape and then use the clear packing tape to attach cut-outs from the manga!

We also watched some anime, had a snack, and I set out some paper/pencils so they could doodle.

This activity had very little prep time or costs. I highly recommend this for any anime club!