Officer Buckle and Gloria

Spring Break seemed to put us out of sorts.  We were not able to post as much as we would have liked and so we need to catch up on some Dewey stories.

Right before we headed off for Spring Break, we had the great pleasure of being invited down to Lower Division to read to the Kindergarten.  We had a special book picked out: Officer Buckle and Gloria. It's about a safety officer who gets a service dog to help him with his school visits.  Little does he know just how much Gloria the dog is doing to rev up his speeches!

Dewey contemplating the book Officer Buckle and Gloria.

Dewey was very excited about going down to Lower.  Well, Dewey doesn't get charged up about anything, but he did seem very happy about the opportunity.  He loves the little kids.

Some of the students pointing at Dewey. 

The students were VERY excited when they saw that Dewey was part of story time.

Dewey and I at the front of the class with Mrs. Edwards to the left.

I had to explain that Dewey was going to listen to the story. We were HOPING that Dewey was going to be a good boy and listen quietly.

Dewey sitting in front of me as I explained to the students about the story time rules.

Dewey sits down very politely in the front row.  All of the kids in the first row are SUPER excited as they are the closest to Dewey. We start the book.

Dewey is sitting in front of me and staring up.

I start to read with lots of animation, after all, I am a frustrated actress living inside of a librarian.  So, my many dramatic voices come pouring out in the different characters of the book.

Dewey gets very interested and gets up to take a look

Dewey sits up to take a closer look at the book.

I tone it down a bit.

I go back to reading, Dewey sits by my side.

Dewey sits down at my side, but soon, I have reached a crisis in the book and Dewey becomes worried for the characters.

Dewey is standing and looking at me wondering why I am so worried.

Officer Buckle has reached a crisis in the book!  I tell Dewey that he is just going to have to sit down and wait to hear the end like everyone else.  The students laugh.

Dewey making sure I am ok.

Dewey slowly goes into a sit. Then into a down.   He is waiting for the story to calm down.  What will Officer Buckle do? What will Gloria do?

Everybody is looking at the book to see what Gloria is going to do, including Dewey.

In the end, Officer Buckle makes the right decision and he and Gloria become partners again and save the school from safety disasters.

View from the back of the story time of everyone watching me flip the pages.

And Dewey? Well, Dewey got to dream about being the best guide dog ever because he had fallen asleep. Finally.

Reading To Lower Division

Last week we had a great change of pace: we got to visit the lower division library!  I was going to read the story, but Coach decided that he was going to be a wiggle worm and was just to wiggly to let be alone by my side, so the lower division librarian Kathleen Edwards read the stories to the kindergarten classes while Coach and I listened with the children.

Kathleen reads a story in her rocking chair while Coach gnaws  his nylabone beside her in coat.

I must say though, I am not an idiot.  I was prepared for something like this: the 10 am twisties. I had brought a nylabone and his linus blanket with us.  He finally settled into the nylabone and was very calm. 

Shot of Coach with his bone and the children looking up at Kathleen.

The kids were thrilled to see him.  Even with him given them the brush off and chewing his toy, they were still excited to be in the same room with him, such is his celebrity.

Coach in front of the rocking chair with a sassy look on his face.

Sometimes I worry that it gives him a big head.

A more subdued closeup of Coach, he's feeling more relaxed after some bone chewing.

Mostly, though, he was a good boy.  Because he was wiggly, we didn't allow any petting.  Instead we gave out our brand new Coach storytime stickers!

The sticker that we gave out: it has a closeup of Coach with storytime with Coach printed over his head and a small Southeastern Guide Dog logo on it.

They were a big hit with everyone!

Halloween Reading!!

This week Coach and I had some dates.  We had dates with kindergarten and first grade for reading time!  Being a librarian in the upper division doesn't allow me many opportunities to show off my dramatic flair, so every now and then Mrs. Edwards, our super fabulous, lower librarian invites me down to read a story and I bring Coach along.  (I think they all prefer Coach! I, however, like to think it is my wonderful story telling skills! 8-)  

So on this day I was set to tell the story of Miss Smith and the Haunted Library!  Yikes.  Seems like rather a scary book.

I am sitting in an upholstered rocker with Coach in coat at my feet.  Mrs. Edwards is on my right hand side and the children are seated in front of me.

I liked this book because it had a character with red hair (I have red hair).  The librarian was wacky and had a funny voice (so I got to do a funny voice).  And there was a dog in the story: the hound of the baskervilles jumps out of the book.  So I could point to Coach and yell, "OH NO, the Hound has escaped!"  Or something silly like that.  Coach would run with it.   

This photo shows the whole group watching me read the book .  You can see the backs of the students and me and Mrs. Edwards facing them.  

 So I started telling the story and immediately all the kids got really into it.  It's a very enthralling tale.  Coach wasn't so enthralled.  He rolled over.  He tried to bite someone's shoe.  Then he did a flip.

Here I am showing them a page in the book and reading something dramatically.  Coach is yawning and Mrs. Edwards is smiling.

Still, I continued with the story and the kids stayed with me.  Thank God for small children and their love of stories.  I would ask, "Where is Frankenstein?" and they would yell, "Over there behind the bookcases!"  I love little kids.

Coach decided he loved the story time rug.  He took a bite.  Mrs. Edwards, who was in charge of Coach wrangling, pulled him back to the center.  He sighed.  The story ended.

Then everyone lined up to pet him.

One little girl told me in a very serious voice, "You have the most beautiful dog."

"Why thank you.  I agree."  There were several who told me about their dogs as they gave Coach a body pat and moved on (they were in a single file line).  Then there were three little girls at the end and they didn't really want to pet Coach, but they also didn't want to not pet Coach.  It was a dilemma.

Finally, the one girl came up and put three fingertips on his thigh.  "Thank you," she whispered. Her friends followed quickly: one fingertip, then four fingertips.  Then they were gone.

Story time was over.

Until next week.  We have one more command performance.