A Memory Journal is kind of a mix between a scrapbook and a journal where you can keep all of your good memories from throughout the year. When New Year’s Eve rolls around, you can look through your Memory Journal and enjoy all of the awesome things that happened in 2021!!!
This Memory Journal is super simple to make. Kits are available at the library while supplies last.
Kit Supplies:
30 pieces of paper (with 2 holes punched)
2 binder rings
1 piece of cardboard
1 envelope
Home Supplies (as needed):
Glue
Scissors
Extra Paper
Gift Bags
Art Supplies – Crayons, Colored Pencils, Markers, Watercolor Paint
Hole Punch
Memories
Instructions:
Using the paper from the kit
Arrange the paper the order that you want it in the journal. You can rearrange the pages anytime you want to.
Put the piece of cardboard on the bottom of the paper pile.
Line up the pre-punched holes
Slide the binder rings through the holes
Clip them closed.
Adding more paper
It’s easy to add more paper of your own.
You can use any kind of paper: scrapbook paper, colored cardstock, notebook paper, pages that you cut out of an old book, gift wrap, newspaper.
Punch 2 holes in the paper to line up with the binder rings.
Open the binder rings.
Insert the new pages.
Clip the binder rings closed.
Need some ideas of things to include in your memory journal?
Pictures of people, places, and things
Programs from events that you attend
School papers: projects, essays, tests with good grades
Postcards, flyers, pamphlets
Art projects
Birthday cards
Notes
List of Goals
Fun quotes, jokes, or stories
Thoughts and dreams
Don’t forget to check out our other DIY journal videos on YouTube:
Hi everyone! Thanks for joining me for story time at the Fondulac District Library. My name is Miss Alice and I’m so excited to meet you! This story time includes a couple of my favorite stories and songs so you can get to know me. I hope to see you at the library sometime soon!
Song: Hello, Friends (using American Sign Language)
Hello, friends! Hello, friends!
Hello, friends! It’s time to say hello!
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Song: Open Them, Shut Them
Open them, shut them, open them, shut them.
Give a little clap, clap, clap!
Open them, shut them, open them, shut them.
Put them in your lap, lap, lap!
Creep them, creep them, slowly creep them,
Right up to your chin, chin, chin!
Open wide your little mouth,
But do not let them in!
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Song: Ten Little Fingers
I have ten little fingers, and they all belong to me. (point to self)
I can make them do things. Do you want to see? (point to eyes)
I can squeeze them up tight. I can open them up wide. (squeeze hands shut, then open them)
I can put them together. I can make them all hide. (clap, then hide hands behind back)
I can make them jump high. I can make them jump low. (wiggle fingers above head, then reach down)
I can fold them up quietly and hold them just so. (fold hands and place on lap)
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Song: Bread and Butter
Alternate patting your lap and clapping your hands.
Written by Jessie Sima and published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.
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Craft: Heart-Shaped Penguins
Craft kits are available to pick up from the atrium and the drive-up window while supplies last. You will need glue for this craft. I recommend liquid glue.
Instructions:
Step 1: Glue the white heart to the middle of the black oval to create the body of your penguin.
Step 2: Glue two orange hearts to the bottom of the oval to create two feet.
Step 3: Glue one orange heart near the top of the white heart to create a beak for your penguin.
Step 4: Glue two googly eyes near the top of the white heart so your penguin can see.
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Goodbye Song: I am Special
(to the tune of Frere Jacques)
I am special, I am special, (point to self)
You can see, you can see. (point away from self)
Someone very special, someone very special, (hold hands out in questioning motion)
If your child hasn’t already read Diary of a Wimpy Kid, they’re missing out! Cindy shares why she recommends the series in our latest book talk. Jeff Kinney’s best-selling series is available at FDL in all formats, so place a hold through our catalog or one of our digital apps!
Hi! Welcome to today’s story time about yarn! Let’s get started with our hello song!
Song: Clap and Sing Hello!
We clap and sing hello.
We clap and sing hello.
With our friends at story time.
We clap and sing hello!
(Wave and sing hello; stomp and sing hello.)
Fingerplay: The Itsy-Bitsy Spider
The itsy-bitsy spider,
Went up the water spout.
Down came the rain,
And washed the spider out.
Out came the sun,
And dried up all the rain.
And the itsy-bitsy spider,
Went up the spout again.
Movement: Little Lamb, Little Lamb
Little lamb, little lamb, turn around (turn around) Little lamb, little lamb, touch the ground (touch ground with hands) Little lamb, little lamb, jump up high (jump) Little lamb, little lamb, reach the sky (stretch with arms overhead) Little lamb, little lamb, sit right down (sit down) Little lamb, little lamb, get ready to listen now (say this line quietly)
Written by David Elliott, illustrated by Christopher Denise, and published by Candlewick Press.
Craft: Yarn Butterfly
Kit Supplies:
Craft sticks
Yarn
Chenille Stem
Beads
Googly Eyes
Home Supplies:
Glue
Scissors
Directions:
Glue two popsicle sticks together to form an “X” and let the glue dry completely.
Glue the end of one piece of yarn to the middle of the craft stick “X.” Wrap the yarn around one end of the “X,” until you get to the end. Glue the end the yarn to the craft stick. Repeat on the other side of the “X.”
Fold the Chenille stem in half, into a “V.”
Open the “V” and wrap it a couple of times around the center of the butterfly.
Twist the chenille stem together and then curl the ends to form the antennae.
Slide beads on to the end of the pipe cleaner.
Glue two googly eyes to the front of the butterfly.
It’s always interesting to see what your neighbors have been reading and watching… Take a look at our most popular titles for 2020, and then check them out for yourself! Reserve your copy though our online catalog or RSAcat app and pick up your holds from the drive-up window or atrium!
Adults
The 20th Victim by James Patterson (Fiction)
Caste by Isabel Wilkerson (Nonfiction)
Hideaway by Nora Roberts (CD Book)
Untamed by Glennon Doyle (Biography)
Contagion (Blu-ray)
Fat (Documentary)
John Wick (DVD)
American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins (Large Print)
Taste of Home (Magazine)
Ride Me Back Home by Willie Nelson (CD)
Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon (Playaway)
White Pines Summer by Sherryl Woods (Paperback)
Gunsmoke (TV)
Doomsday Clock by Geoff Johns (Graphic Novel)
Young Adults
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins (Fiction)
Ten Kings by Milton Meltzer (Nonfiction)
Brave Face by Shaun David Hutchinson (Biography)
Brisingr by Christopher Paolini (Playaway)
Naruto by Masashi Kishimoto (Graphic Novel)
El hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien, translated by John Ronald Reuel (Spanish)
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling (CD Book)
The Legend of the Cherry Tree that Blossoms Every Ten Years (Game)
Kids
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett (Fiction)
Awesome Science Experiments for Kids by Crystal Ward Chatterton (Nonfiction)
Explorers by Nellie Huang (Biography)
Frozen II Soundtrack (CD)
Dora and the Lost City of Gold (Blu-ray)
Dog Man Unleashed by Dav Pilkey (Graphic Novel)
The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog! by Mo Willems (Picture Books)
National Geographic Kids (Magazine)
Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney (Playaway)
Build It. Fix It. Fun! (Launchpad)
Olaf’s Night Before Christmas by Jessica Julius (CD Book)
How to Train Your Dragon (DVD)
Golden Retrievers by Chris Bowman (VOX Books)
Bad Kitty: Camp Daze by Nick Bruel (EZ Chapter Books)
FDL is now offering Book Bundles by request! This means that you can request a book bundle for your kids at any time, with more than 20 topics to chose from! Each bundle contains 5 library books that share a theme for a specific age group, along with a toy or activity to keep. (Please note the books are checked out using your library card and must be returned.) Bonus bundles will still be announced on the library’s Facebook and Instagram pages each month, but the bundles on our website are available all the time. Visit the Book Bundles page, located under the Library of Things tab from the main menu, to see the list of available topics and the online request form. Book bundles can also be requested by email or phone, and you’ll be notified when your bundle is ready to pick up from the drive-up window or the atrium. Ask a librarian for more information, and try a book bundle today!
FDL is excited to introduce Alice Mitchell, our new Youth Services Manager! She has worked as a children’s librarian for a number of years, along the shore of New Jersey and most recently in northern Illinois.
Alice says can’t wait to meet all of you! “I hope to see some of you for our virtual programs and our online story times. We’re planning some great things for you, and I’m enjoying being part of the team here at FDL! I love talking to kids about what they like reading and playing, and helping them find their next favorite book. I spent a lot of time in the East Peoria area growing up, and I look forward to rediscovering everything there is to do around here. I spend my free time reading anything I can get my hands on, playing with my rambunctious cats, and thinking up fun stuff to do at the library!”
Alice will share some of her favorite books during her first Story Time (Online) on Thursday, January 28, at 10 a.m. – live on our Facebook page!
Welcome to story time! I’m Miss Sharon and today’s story time is about YOU! Before we start we’re going to talk about how everybody is unique, meaning there is only one you. The special talents and abilities that help to make you who you are. Everyone is unique in their own way. Maybe you have a name no one else has, and that makes it unique. Or you’re great at drawing while someone else likes to dance. When you feel special you have confidence in yourself, believe you can do anything, and feel proud of the things you do. Think about what makes you unique.
Song: The More We Get Together
The more we get together, together, together,
the more we get together, the happier we’ll be.
Cause your friends are my friends,
and my friends are your friends,
the more we get together the happier we’ll be!
Written by Kristen Bell and Benjamin Hart, illustrated by Daniel Wiseman, and read with the permission of Penguin Random House.
Flannel Story: How Kind!
Based on the book How Kind by Mary Murphy
HEN gave PIG an EGG.
“How kind!” said PIG.
PIG kept the egg safe and warm.
“HEN is so kind,” he thought. “I would like to do something kind too.”
PIG gave RABBIT a CARROT.
“This is for you,” said PIG.
“How kind!” said RABBIT.
“PIG is so kind,” thought RABBIT. “I will do something kind too.”
He picked some flowers.
“These flowers are for you, COW,” said RABBIT.
“How kind!” said COW.
“RABBIT is very kind, thought COW. “How can I be kind too?”
COW gave CAT some milk.
“How kind!” said CAT.
“COW is so kind,” thought CAT. “I want to be kind too.”
She looked for DOG.
“Let’s play your favorite game, DOG,” said CAT.
“How kind!” said DOG.
They chased around… and around.
“CAT is so kind,” thought DOG. “I want to be kind too.”
DOG fetched a stick. He scratched PIG’s back
“How kind!” said PIG. “Would you like to see my egg, DOG?”
PIG showed where he was keeping the egg. But the egg was gone!
In its place was a CHICK.
“Hello you pretty little chick!” said PIG and DOG.
They brought the chick back to Hen and Hen said, “How kind!”
Craft kits are available to pick up from the drive-up window or atrium while supplies last.
Kit Supplies:
Rainbow Template
Clouds Template
Hot Air Balloon Template
Yarn Pieces (8)
Supplies you will need from home:
Scissors
Crayons, Colored Pencils, or Markers
Directions:
Color the rainbow, clouds and hot air balloon templates. Rainbow colors are Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Indigo (dark blue) Violet
Cut out the templates.
Write on each cloud and hot air balloon how you are unique.
Using the yarn, hang the clouds and hot air balloons from the rainbow.
NOTE: The yarn will have to be cut to size.
Closing Song: Thanks for Coming
(Tune: Oh My Darling Clementine)
Thanks for sitting, thanks for listening,
Thanks for coming here today!
Now that story time is over
Hope you have a lovely day!
(Sung to the tune of “Six Little Ducks”)
Colorful mittens for me and you
Red ones, yellow ones, blue ones too.
But the one pair of mittens
that rhymes with fellow,
They’re my favorite mittens,
they’re the color yellow!
Continue with rhymes pairs for each color:
bed/red
shoe/blue
bean/green
crown/brown
sink/pink
track/black
Associating pleasurable things with reading helps kids who may not LOVE reading see that it can be fun. This is not a new idea, we can do this every day by making a cozy reading nook for kids to read in and creating opportunities where reading is pleasurable. Book choice is a huge help with this too. During this winter season, you might choose a summery book, a heartwarming book, or revisit old favorites. Some other cozy suggestions include: reading in bed, cuddle with a pet, wrap up in a cozy blanket, sit by the fireplace, curl up in a big rocking chair or wear fuzzy socks.
(to the tune of “Head and Shoulders”)
Hat and mittens, coat and boots, coat and boots,
Hat and mittens, coat and boots, coat and boots,
Scarf and snow pants, warm socks too,
Hat and mittens, coat and boots, coat and boots!
Why do so many kids love unicorns? A lot of the time, they’ll say it’s because unicorns are pretty and sparkly or because they can do magic. Maybe they like that unicorns are often portrayed as being special and different from other creatures. Whatever the reason, unicorns are really popular, and there are all kinds of stories about them. If you know someone who’s a big unicorn fan, it might be fun to introduce them to some of the not-so-magical unicorns that have been appearing in books lately. These books are great for teaching kids that it’s okay to not be perfect and sometimes feel grumpy or act silly. Even kids who don’t love unicorns will find something to like about these books. Check out these examples:
