As I mentioned previously, I have specific mornings dedicated just to the kids and spending time with them. One of the activities we do every week without fail is visit the library. I try to time our visits with designated reading times. A couple weeks ago we went to a puppet show. However, every Monday morning is Toddler Tales reading time. The librarian, Ms. Tammie, always has a theme for the stories and she is just amazing with the kids. This past week the theme was "frogs". The mascot for toddler story time is Freddie the Frog. T Rex LOVES him and after every week's story time he wants to see Freddie (he's a puppet) and talk with him. Plus, he always has some kind of tale for Ms. Tammie, his favorite librarian. Always before we leave he asks her if she can please order more Thomas the Tank books and then hugs her telling her, "See you next time. Thanks for the stories."
It's a wonderful reading time. Generally there is a pretty good turn out of kids in attendance. I do like how our local library is very kid friendly and has areas where the kids can play and read and can browse through the books on their own.
I believe story time has really made my kids love reading even more. Of course, they don't watch TV and only rarely see some videos like old style Thomas the Tank. Bebe Sister still rarely sees any kind of shows. Because of this, I believe it has really impacted their desire for reading. Plus, they see their father and mother reading all the time and we always read to them - it's the first thing they do in the morning and the last thing at night.
Me? I'm looking forward to some lighter reading days - something somewhere between "Good Night Moon" and Pediatric Primary Care (20th edition). I did just submit my presentation on pediatric urinary tract infections. If there is any interest I might post some of the highlights from that presentation here.
For this weekend, though, we're painting my mom's house and canning pears. Sigh...I guess my entertainment reading will remain with "Big, Little", "Little Quack", and "James and the Red Balloon" as well as some Dr. Seuss mixed in. (I think T Rex thinks it's funny to hear me try to read some of those tales fast and get tongue tied.) I'll just have to keep living vicariously through Jenners and her Life with Books.
6 comments:
We were just at the park in your top picture yesterday for my son's cross country meet. Even though we've lived here for a decade, we've never been there.
I wouldn't mind you sharing some of what you've learned about UTIs on your blog. =)
We love books and library time too!
I wouldn't mind hearing about UTIs either :)
Ms. Tammie sounds wonderful!! And I think it is great that you take time out to get them excited about reading. I think the greatest way to teach children to love to read is to love to read yourself.
And you've got quite a wide gap between your reading!! HAHA! You need something light and fun that is between Good Night Moon and the textbooks.
And isn't Dr. Seuss dangerous? The one book that always gets me is Fox in Socks.
We love the library, too. Not so keen on our local one (they've got a toy library there, and all the toys are out, but kids are not allowed to play with them), but there is another library close by.
Our library is similar to yours. There is a huge area for the kids to play and explore and there are computers for them to use. Mostly Deaglan wants to play with the trains - even though there are trains at home. I hope you get to take it easy soon.
I love story time at the library. It's such a rich experience for both the kids and the parents. Enjoy these moments now before you know it your kids are in high school. I can still remember bringing my oldest to story time...sigh
Post a Comment