International Dot Day

For the first time, we will celebrate International Dot Day at Hawthorne.  Dot Day is a celebration of courage, individuality, and creativity.  I have sent out lots of emails to classroom teachers and fellow librarians in the district to help me celebrate. In addition to the Dot by Peter Reynolds, here are the books we will be using:

I am very excited about blowing my student's minds with the CoLar augmented reality app and the special page they made just for Dot Day!



And here are some activity ideas I sent my teachers:

Balancing Butterflies

In addition to all the fabulous nonfiction butterfly books in the 595 section of the library, I have some favorite works of fiction as well, some fanciful, some realistic.  After the story, students enjoy coloring and cutting out magical balancing butterflies to rest on their fingers.  These butterflies enchant my 1st & 2nd graders.  Kinders are a little too young to make these without help. download the template HERE

Bunny Stories

Oh my goodness, there are so many wonderful bunny stories to tell. Obviously, the rabbit books are popular with little ones at Easter, but how about reading Guess How Much I Love You for Mother's Day, or Muncha Muncha Muncha in late spring when the garden starts to sprout?  Finish up the story hour with a cute wiggle-ear toy paper rabbit.

Owl Babies

I've tried checking books out to students for the summer, and with my school population, it didn't work out too well. Too many of my kiddos move unexpectedly, or travel long distances between family members. As a result, I must find interesting and meaningful activities for the kids to complete during the times when they would ordinarily be browsing. One such project is making these cute Owl Baby puppets out of envelopes. The kids love puppets of any kind, and these are fun to color and personify. I use them with the following books:

And here's how to make the owl handpuppets:

You can download the envelope file for printing HERE (microsoft Publisher) or HERE (PDF)