Police Officers Storytime

We had an awesome guest today from the Fall Creek Police Department: Corie Zimmerman.

Good Morning Song

Book: The Police Cloud

Song: Beanbag Dance with bean bags

Visit with Corie! She showed us her belt, talked about what she does in the community, answered questions, then showed us her vehicle. She even handcuffed me... and the kids didn't want to let me out of them!!!

Next Week: The Wonder of Water

Reader's Advisory & Locator Sticks

New to our juvenile section: locator sticks!

In a rush? Want to know what's popular? Need help finding your next book?

If Jenna is not available or you are in a huge hurry or are just curious - use our locator sticks to help you find the some of the most popular series and authors in our chapter book collection. Each stick has a picture of the author or the series on one side and on the other side a list of other similar books, series, and authors that you might enjoy.

Come in to see them soon!

Being Bad Storytime

Last Wednesday was all about getting into trouble. Well, of course not our storytime kids! :)

Good Morning Song

Book: That Is Not A Good Idea by Mo Willems















 Fingerplay - 5 Little Monkeys Swinging From a Tree (borrowed from IFLS)

Book: I Ain't Gonna Paint No More

Song: I'm Filthy, I'm Dirty (from Take Me Out of the Bathtub by Alan Katz) - We (I) sang the song slowly the first time as we swayed to the beat with our ribbon wands. Then we (I) sang it faster and we clicked our ribbon wands to the beat. Of course we had a few minutes of free movement before putting them away :)

Book: The Boy Who Cried Wolf by Hartman

We ran out of time for both Monster Boogie and dancing with scarves and the book 17 Things I'm not allowed to Do Anymore. I had them in the list as stand-bys so it's okay.


Goodbye Songs

Play Group: Inspired by I Ain't Gonna Paint no more, I had a painting table where kids could paint on stuff you normally shouldn't.

I set out the 5 Little Monkeys fingerplay glove: 

 Put on a mask, look at books.

The Paperbag Princess felt pieces:

THIS WEEK: Instead of storytime, join us a half-hour earlier at 9:30am for SPOONMAN!!

Amazing Animals!

Storytime is back! Playgroup is back! I was actually, factually skipping around the house yesterday morning because I was so excited! Our theme for the week was "amazing animals" or animals who are heroes in one way or another. We borrowed the Large Motor Kit and the Build It Kit from IFLS.

Welcome Song: Hello Friends (tune of Goodnight Ladies) - found on this website

















Book: Paul Meets Bernadette by Rosy Lamb
(because a good friend is a hero)

Fingerplay: (introduction:) I know a story about a small guy who learned how to face his fears and be his OWN hero. I bet you know the story, too.. Can we sing The Itsy Bitsy Spider together?

Book: Domino by Claire Masurel








Movement Activity with shaker eggs: Animal Eggs Shaker Song (made up by ME!)

Book: Little Pink Pup














Interactive Story: Chickens to the Rescue by John Himmelman - We had pre-cut chicken finger puppets (no...not chicken fingers. finger puppets) and whenever I read "Chickens to the rescue!" they joined in and held up their puppets. During playgroup, they had the option to color them before taking the puppets home.














Poem: Flying Cows (i had them guess "What kind of gas made
them fly?" and then we talked about the last two lines)

Goodbye Song: Tickle the clouds - also from this website

(standby book was A Sick Day for Amos McGee)

Playgroup Activity: color your finger puppet

Playgroup activity: water play - wash plastic animals

Playgroup activity: bristle blocks and clear stackers

Playgroup Activity: put on animal masks and look at books with an adult (or on your own)

Children's Area Updates

Do you know the stories behind our former murals in the children's area? The Friends of Fall Creek Public Library came up with the idea for the paintings about 10 years ago. Working with a foreign exchange student and school staff, Clifford was painted.

Clifford the Big Red Dog, painted by a foreign exchange student 10 years ago

Michelle Kuehn and Karen Strasburg worked together to paint the caterpillars.

Warm Up to Books, painted by Michelle & Karen 10 years ago

But now it is time to say a loving goodbye and thanks for the long run to both Clifford and the caterpillars. Fall Creek Public Library strives to not just update our Library's materials and programming. We are also working towards a more usable space for staff, volunteers, and most importantly our patrons.

In place of Clifford, you will now see a blanker wall. With help from Michael Turner (Jenna's husband), the wall now boasts a clean color complete with a white board. The wall is usable for rotating displays, artwork done in the library by youth, and is white enough for us to project movies onto for your viewing entertainment. For a list of this summer's family movies, visit our website.

Throughout the summer, we will be replacing the caterpillars with another clean wall with bulletin board strips in order to display signs, program announcements, and neat things children have done in the Library.

We give our heartfelt thanks to all former and current volunteers who have appreciated our Library and have given their time, energy, and passion to maintaining a thoughtful and well-kept physical and emotional environments.

We could not do it without you.

Getting the primer on

First coat of primer!

First coat of eggshell white - Thanks, Mike!

Mike working hard and not getting paint anywhere except the walls!

Finished product: white wall with whiteboard paint

Current Display: Wall of Fame - bring in those comics you made and we will display them here!

Jenna's hero: her Grandma Mary Gilles

Jenna also (finally) finished painting the Young Adult Area sign!