Toddler Time
by Bethany Thomas
Today at Toddler Time we read Can I Play, Too? by Mo Willems. Piggie and Gerald make a new friend, Snake, who wants to play catch with them. But don’t you need arms to catch? The friends try to find a way to include Snake in the game, and ultimately learn how they can all be included. This is a great story about inclusion and working through problems with your friends.
We are big fans of Mo Willems here at Donnelly Public Library and have many books in our collection. Take a look at our Mo Willems books here
Miss Bethany’s shirt says “Read ‘Mo’ Books” and shows the Pigeon carrying a stack of books.
Miss Sherry read the kids her favorite birthday book; Happy Birthday to You by Dr Seuss.
Michelle and Moose brought delicious cupcakes to celebrate our recent library birthdays.
Today, the After School Program kids are learning about Minnesota, the land of 10,000 lakes. Toddler Time has been following along with the states and we planned to read Discovering Sharlie by Craig Vroom, a story about our local mythical creature living in Payette Lake. But the time with our toddler families is flexible based on different needs and play…. So we will read “Discovering Sharlie” next week. It is a wonderful book by a local author. If you haven’t read it; we highly recommend it!
Every Toddler Time provides kids with time to play and interact with each other and for adults to visit. Join us from 10 – 11am every Friday!
Toddler Time patrons are welcome to check out books and more while they are here! Did you know we have puzzles, games, and much more to check out? Follow this link to see the list of games in our catalog.
Other patrons are welcome to visit the Library beginning at noon on Fridays: Library Hours
At Dragon Readers Club we read about the Winter Carnival in Minnesota, in Saint Paul Winter Carnival Wonders by Kris Haslund.
In this book, seven friends learn about the seven values of Winter Carnival: kindness, humility, respect, honesty, generosity, empathy, and gratitude. They find these values in each other in tangible ways, like returning lost money and making others feel better after having a bad day.
For snack we had soup and hot chocolate–good treats on a cold day!
hidden coin clues
1. If you give a Pig A Pancake 🥞
2. Lord of The Lake
3. Lady of The Lake
4. Wings Of Fire
5. Repunzel
6. Dinosaur 🦖 Mardi Gras Parade
7. Cinderella
Originally published on May 17, 2020
Minnesota
- Book List: EPIC Minnesota
- Science: The Land of 10,000 Lakes. Why does Minnesota have so many lakes? The lakes of Minnesota
3. Math: Check in. Make sure the Census in your home has been filled out and sent in. Minnesota Census
4. Art: Power of Play
The Minnesota Children’s Museum believes in the power of play.
“Play helps us cope. Play helps keep us happy.
Our doors are closed for now, but our playful spirits remain wide open.
We’re sharing ideas and inspiration to help parents and other caregivers maintain joy and reduce stress in their homes as our community bands together in a time of crisis.” From homemade laser tag, to painting with shaving cream; the Minnesota Children’s Museum has a great website designed to help with distance learning and give you some creative ideas from home.
5. Writing: The Valley Fair is one of the biggest fairs in the World.
Valleyfair features a full list of unique events all Summer long, including Minnesota Eats, Corn Feast, Food Truck Festival and more.
Fairs are such a wonderful thing to look forward to each summer. The Valley Fair is world famous. They have a wonderful idea for writing. FAIR WRITING PROMPTS
“To help kids keep up their penmanship and work on their storytelling skills, we’ve put together a few Valleyfair-inspired writing prompts for them to try at home. Once a day, have them sit down in a quiet place and write about one of the scenarios here!
For younger kids, remind them to use these narrative structures:
Opening sentence
Story progression with “First…/ Then…/ Next…/ Finally….
Closing sentence
Don’t forget fun details!
For older kids who could turn these into fictional narratives, have them consider their key story elements:
What’s the setting? (Time, season, place?)
Characters (How many and who are they?)
What’s the problem? (How will the characters solve the problem, will they change?)
WRITING PROMPTS
a. What’s your best memory of Valleyfair? What happened, when was it and who was there? Why is it your best memory?
b. Valleyfair’s first mascot was Colonel Oompahpah. If you were chosen to create a mascot for Valleyfair, what would its name be? What does the mascot look like?
c. You hop behind the steering wheel of one of our Antique Autos and suddenly you’re transported to the North Shore! Where else are you traveling to on your Minnesota road trip? What do you get to see? Who are you bringing with you?
d. You’ve been asked to design a ride for Valleyfair. What kind of ride will you create? What will it look like and how will it work? What will it be made of? What will it be called?
e. What’s your favorite food to get at Valleyfair? Talk about why you like it. If you don’t have one, make one up! Get creative and give it a fun name!
f. You come to the park one day and pick up a park map, only you discover it’s a very special map – a treasure map and the treasure is here at Valleyfair! X marks the spot. Where is it and what do you do? Is someone else looking for this treasure, too?
g. Write a story combining these things: Wild Thing, funnel cakes and Snoopy.
h. You can visit Valleyfair at any time of the year you want! When do you choose to visit – in the summer or is it the winter with snow? Is it a holiday? Your birthday? Describe how the park looks in the season you’ve chosen to visit!
i. You go to take a ride on the Carousel but before getting on, the ride attendant tells you that you have magical powers to change the horses into any animal you want! What animal would you choose to ride on the Carousel and why? What’s the name of your animal?
j. What’s your favorite ride at Valleyfair and why? What does it feel like to ride it? Were you ever scared to ride it? How did you overcome your fear?
Share your wonderful story creations with us on social media! Be sure to tag us @ValleyfairMN and we will share your thrilling tales on our channels.”
If you have never been to a fair or an amusement park use the prompts to trigger your imagination just the same.
6. History: Minnesota has a great resource for kids to look in to the history of the state. Minnesota History
7.Book Pick: I have been trying to choose a Young Adult book for my book pick. We received so many great books from the Minnesota State Library.
I wanted to encourage you to read some of our numerous Minnesota books we received. I also wanted to tell you about an author from Minnesota that I love.”As the seasons change, so too does a young Hmong girl’s world. She moves into a new home with her family and encounters both birth and death. As this curious girl explores life inside her house and beyond, she collects bits of the natural world. But who are her treasures for?
A moving picture book debut from acclaimed Hmong American author Kao Kalia Yang” A Map Into The World. 
8. Bonus: The kids loved the National Geographic Rap for the states we completed at the Library.
Instagram: Minnesota