Have you noticed how busy that clever, fast talking pigeon has been?  He has his own fabric line.  A lot of children’s book illustrators have fabric made from their illustrations.  Most of it doesn’t appeal to me.  But the Pigeon fabric from Cloud9 Fabrics… pure love.  ♥  As soon as I saw it I knew that we’d have to make a dress for Miss Mouse.

I waited and waited and finally purchased a 1/2 yard of the Frenzied pattern.  We also bought one panel of the project panel.  I brought my sewing machine to the library and let my co-worker have at it.  She’s the talent that created the pattern for the dress…I knew I could follow her pattern and make a pretty dress, or I could let her design something special.  She did.  

Miss S took the border from the projects panel and made a wide ruffle.  I love that she left the black edge.  It looks really great, doesn’t it?  I’m advocating for a stuffed Pigeon fascinator hat.  I think it would make the outfit, don’t you?

Then, I decided to try my hand at a Vine video. Vine videos are the latest Twitter-based social media. Stop motion videos.  It’s not an awarding winning Vine…try not to be underwhelmed.

Great Job, Miss S…this dress is a work of art!!

Titles I didn’t use but intended to (Sometimes 30 minutes isn’t enough):

• Book: Owl Babies by Martin Waddell
• Song:  Mama Don’t Allow by Wiggleworms
• Flannel: M-O-M-M-Y the group was too young to sing a song of letters…

My post for 3.15.2013 is my first post in Flannel Friday.  Enjoy.

Let me explain.  In the summer of 2011, I was at the Iowa State Fair.  I had my phone out and I was checking my twitter feed.  Back then, Flannel Friday was mostly a community on Twitter.  It was a Friday and I wanted to check and see the different posts that were flying that week.  One of my friends said, “Oh, put your phone down and stop playing with your invisible friends.”  Little did he know.

The thing I value most about Flannel Friday is the real sense of community I feel within it.  These are my colleagues.  They know when I’m having a bad day, or that I’m about to have my gallbladder out.  We’re miles apart , yet I feel like I know these women. I’ve come to value their opinions.  And they’re funny and keep me current.  I knew about Pinterest months before my work colleagues, woot!  (Actually FFers helped me use “woot” properly in a sentence…)

And, like any friend, they’re there for me:   Late yesterday, someone told me the code for this round-up’s bling wasn’t working.  Pure panic.  I followed the instructions and it seemed to work for me… but not for others.  When they should have been sleeping, they fixed it.  That’s community.  Greg’s comment may have been a joke, but these are my invisible friends.  Invisibility doesn’t mean they’re absent,  they’re just not seen.

I value the community of Flannel Friday and I appreciate the vast amount of knowledge I’m exposed to weekly.

Two years ago my story times centered on the joy of the literature.  Our library didn’t really focus on early literacy.  Story time was about the fun.  We were definitely practicing early literacy elements, but we didn’t have the vocabulary.  Flannel Friday gave me the vocabulary.  For instance: my post about Make a Pig: In the comments Miss Mary elegantly explained the concept behind this fun activity: children using their expressive language.  I’ve always known I wanted them to use words while participating with Make a Pig, but expressive language just explains it better, doesn’t it?

In the two years since I’ve been a part of Flannel Friday, I have come to understand how story times can be a delicious blend of “the joy of literature” and helping children become life long readers.  It’s such a great job, isn’t it?

 Welcome to the round-up!

Next week we celebrate the second anniversary of Flannel Friday.  How are we celebrating?  By doing what Flannel Friday does best: this will be a regular “share your stuff” week.

However, in preparation of turning two, this week we are exploring “What Flannel Friday means” to each of you.  If you don’t  have a blog and want to share some love: you can do so in the comments below.

Regular Flannel Friday Posts:

Cate from Storytiming presents Feed the Cookie Monster.

Jane from Piper loves the Library has two posts today.  She’s putting the No is Snow (where it belongs in my opinion) with sNOw! sNOw! sNOw!

Katherine at Fun with Friends at Storytime is bringing us the sun with Here Comes the Sun…Flower.  A welcome theme after this long winter.

Kay at Storytime ABCs is Celebrating Dr. Seuss this week.

Lena from SixCranberries is celebrating Flannel Friday with Love is in the Air.  Lena is one of our international bloggers, she’s from Canada.  She’s getting married soon and wanted to share the joy with some chickadees.  Good luck!

Lisa from Libraryland is presenting Little Cloud by Eric Carle.  Stick around because Lisa has  second post in the next segment…

Mollie from What Happens in Storytime has dual posts this week as well. She’s sharing  Blue Bird Blue Bird.  Personally, I love all things bird and find this simple and cute.

Mrs. Shaia at Thrive after Three has a post that was inspired by a So Tomorrow post: Arthur’s Nose

Sarah at Read Rabbit Read is sharing Five Giant Pumpkins.  Stay tuned for her second post…

Special posts exploring the role of Flannel Friday in our lives (aka What Flannel Friday Means to Me)

See if you can catch the theme:

Amanda explains her relationship with Flannel Friday with a guest post on So Tomorrow’s blog.

Amy at catch the possibilities  explores what Friendship means.

Anna at Future Librarian Superhero shares her journey developing a PLN (new term for me).

Anne at So Tomorrow has something to say about Flannel Friday

Bridget at What is Bridget Reading gives us her Flannel Friday history.

Jane at Piper Love’s the Library talks to her diary of her love of FF.

Jen from Jen in the Library is one of our newest bloggers and sums FF up nicely.

Kendra at Read Sing Play explains her Flannel Friday journey and she has pictures!

Katie at Story Time Secrets is inspired by Flannel Friday…

Linda at Notes from the Story Room gave us a visual explanation and renewed her FF history.  It has a kitty.

Lisa at Libraryland shares her thoughts on Flannel Friday.’

LQ, our intrepid Scottish FFer, at Loons and Quines, has a wonderful visual represetation of Flannel Friday (think Wordle)!

Mary from Miss Mary Liberry has decided Flannel Friday means a whole Freakin lot to her….

Melissa at Mel’s Desk discovers what it means to find a hometown.

Mollie in What Happens in Storyime didn’t really have a blog until Melissa challenged others to join in the FF fun!

Sarah at Miss Sarah Storytime has an Ode to Flannel that cannot be missed!

Sarah at Read Rabbit Read has something to say about Flannel Friday….

Tracey from 1234 More Storytimes is letting the F words fly!

I’m Sharon and this is my blog.  I explain what I mean about Invisible Friends.

•  •  •  •  •  •  •

• Have you added your location to the Flannel Friday map? We need you!
• Want help with something Flannel Friday related?  Contact the current Flannel Friday Fairy Godmother
• Next week the round-up heads home at Mel’s Desk.

Will you be participating in next week’s special Flannel Friday round-up?

It’s in preparation of the second anniversary of Flannel Friday (3.15.13). We’ll accept flannel posts in addition to posts that reflect the importance of Flannel Friday to your professional and online life.

• If you don’t have a blog and want to share What Flannel Friday Means to Me (e.g. you), we have bloggers who are willing to guest host you. Let me know and I can set you up with someone.
• If you have a blog and will be participating and would like a little blog bling (though not the sparkly kind), refer to the code on the right side of this blog.

Letter of the Day: L
Miss Mouse: was hiding behind hearts
What is hiding in the sock?  Lock
Book 1:  Mouse’s First Valentine by Lauren Thompson
Fingerplay: hickory Dickory dock
Prop:  Mother’s Chocolate Valentine by Jack Prelutsky. We saved a big chocolate heart box from a past valentine’s day bribe from a book salesman.  It’s great to watch the different reactions to this poem.  Some younger kids really react strongly to eating all the chocolates.  It’s not sharing.
Prop story:  Four Valentine’s in a Rainstorm by Felicia Bond.  Until this very moment, I didn’t know Felicia Bond wrote this book.  It was released a few years ago.
Song: Knuckles Knees by Jim Gill.  After doing this song for five weeks, there seemed to be real improvement.
Flannel Board: My Froggy Valentine
Word of the day:  livid.  There are lots of good L words, but they’re generally known: laughter, lavendar, lively.  Livid is a good angry word.
The Alpha Boogie
Craft: 

Anyone who’s been a part of FF for even the shortest time always talks about the sense of community in our little band of storytellers.  Is that why you like FF?  Is it the bounty of ideas you’ve come across? The virtual library of flannel board ideas on Pinterest?  What exactly does Flannel Friday mean to you?

The second anniversary of Flannel Friday is coming in mid-March.  I’m hosting March 8th’s round up and we’re going to do something a little different; we’re asking you to answer that question.  If you’d like to be a part of this special round-up, but don’t have a blog, we can group you up with someone who does have a blog and would be happy to host you as a guest.

Leave a comment here on this blog or on the Facebook page, and we will set you up with someone who is willing to host your comments.  Be creative: make a video, take pictures.  We’re a group of 450+ librarians, care givers, teachers and others who care about bringing the joy of literature to children.  Let’s celebrate it.

Titles I didn’t use but intended to:

• Book: The Little Red Hen