Write Your Own Picture or Comic Book - Week Four

Today was the final session of our four-week writing program for tweens age 8-12.
Week One
Week Two
Week Three

Much like our first session, today was very free form. Some of the kids who were absent last time came back (we took a week off since last Thursday was Thanksgiving Day and the library was closed) so we rounded out the class with a solid ten tweens.

As I promised last time, this week they got to physically make their own books! I was aware of these blank books at Michaels, and bought a bunch of them ahead of time. They were very reasonably pried, $2.99 plus tax for a pack of three books. (Warning, sarcasm ahead) And I definitely didn't spend my own money on them, because that would be crazy and is something no educator does ever, because they are always provided with an adequate budget (end sarcasm).

We did not do a warm up activity today, because after four sessions all the kids know each other and I have learned almost all their names. I wanted to give them as much time as possible to work on their final products, so I set out art supplies, passed out blank books, and made myself available for help!

Some of them brought the story ideas they started last time, and others made up a brand new story. I noticed that I got a lot of "Can I do this?" questions. I did my best not to say yes or no; instead my answer was, "You can do anything you want, it's your story!" After the seventh or eighth "Can I..." question, I realized that many of these kids had never sat down and tried to compose their own 100% original story before. Whether they had never thought of it, or there isn't enough time with school work, or no one in their life had ever suggested they try it, this was the first time they had ever had zero guidelines before! In the last session of this workshop, it hit me how important it was for the kids who came. Best of all, everyone left today having created something gorgeous and original. Here are some pictures of their books:

Most didn't finish their books completely, but I encouraged them to finish at home or come back to the library and use our supplies to finish them here. I had so much fun with this workshop. I will be running monthly drop-in Tween Writing Time programs in 2018, which I am excited to report on, and my partner Youth Services librarian and I might even be starting a tween book club for ages 8-12. It's such a fun age group to work with because of their creativity and willingness to try anything. That's why being a children's librarian is so much fun; you can have fun at storytime with the babies and preschoolers, then turn around and put on your classroom teacher hat for a tween educational workshop. When the paperwork and meetings get overwhelming, I remember that I also get to do amazing things like this. Programming for these kids makes the rest of the hard work completely worth it!

November 2017 Display: Intrigued by the First Line?

I have to admit, this display was not my original idea. I got lost in a Google search loop of amazing library didplays, and these ones especially stood out to me:

Source: Google Images

Source: Google Images

Source: Brooklands Primary School, UK

I like these clever displays because they get patrons to read the first sentence or first few lines of a book, and judge it solely on its actual content rather than how it looks or how popular they've heard it is. I have been learning for years that "don't judge a book by its cover" is actually incorrect because merchandising techniques matter, and this is true to an extent. However, I think it's fun to pick up a book and just start reading without knowing anything about it. So, I made this display for my library using 8.5x14" sheets of paper wrapped around YA fiction books.

The best part about making this display? You can use ANY book! I didn't have to place holds on materials or spend hours making a list of themed books (which I actually enjoy, but they are incredibly time consuming when my other work is piling up). I just grabbed a pile of books from the YA section, making sure to have a good mix of genres and authors, and typed and printed out their first lines. 

It is very easy to make and maintain this display. Another plus is that it's not oriented toward any specific time of the year or holiday, so I will be able to keep it going through the end of the year. Once 2018 hits, I'll update the YA display again, but this one has been going strong for a month and will continue to be an easily maintained, eye catching display through the end of December. 

Baby Lapsit 11-28-17

Today was my last time with the babies for two months! I'm really sad about it and going to miss seeing their adorable, squishy faces every week. Since we have three children's librarians at our branch, we decided to rotate monthly between the three storytime age groups. This way all the storytime families will get to know all three of us, and the kids won't have the shock of a stranger running storytime if one of us needs to call out sick.

It's a good idea with great reasoning behind it, and I'm sure I'll have a great time with the preschoolers in December and the toddlers in January. Even so, I'm gonna miss my babies!

After saying good morning, the first book we read was My Heart is Like a Zoo by Michael Hall. This is one of those board books that doesn't have an actual plot. Instead, each page shows an animal and the narrator describes what characteristic of their heart matches that animal (for example, "brave like a lion"). At the end, your heart is "tired as a zookeeper who had a busy day," and all the animals are gathered together in the zookeeper's dark bedroom. It's super cute, and a fun way to practice the names of animals.

 

Our lap bounce portion began, as always, with "Bumpy Road." Grownups are instructed to seat their baby facing forward on their laps and bounce along with me as I demonstrate with a roughly baby-sized teddy bear. Here is the chant:

Bumpy road, bumpy road. (Bounce baby on lap)
Smooth road, smooth road. (Move baby smoothly back and forth)
Bumpy road, bumpy road. (Bounce baby on lap)
Smooth road, smooth road. (Move baby smoothly back and forth)
Rough road, rough road! (Bounce baby higher than before)
Bumpy road, bumpy road. (Bounce baby on lap)
Rough road, rough road! (Bounce baby higher than before)
Hole! (Hold baby under armpits and let them fall between your legs)

AND NOW I HAVE BREAKING BABY LAPSIT NEWS! I USED A NEW SONG TODAY! After we bounced up and down in our little red wagon...

...we bounced our babies to this bluegrass tune, "Bounce Your Baby" by Caspar Babypants.

As always when you introduce a new song to a group of regular storytimers, there was some uncertainty on their part and mine. I didn't realize until the song was halfway over that there really are no movements built into this song. We ended up simply lap bouncing the whole time, with the option to turn the baby to face us and interact with them while bouncing. I would use this song again, but not very often as there's not really enough other movement for it to be interesting on a recurring basis.

Our second story was The Mommy Book by Todd Parr. I've raved about the wonder that is Todd Parr before, but I really can never sing his praises to a wide enough audience. Todd Parr is an absolute champion for diversity, tolerance, and acceptance. The best part is, these complex topics are explained in a way that young kids actually understand and respond to. Plus, the art is really colorful and pleasing to the eye. I love, love, love Todd Parr, and if I could get him as a storytime guest I'd probably die of happiness. 

Today, since it was my last time with this group of babies until they're all in college, I did two movement songs with them. We did my favorite version of "Wheels on the Bus," and then what has become a regular Baby Lapsit standard, "One, Two Hands."

Click here to listen to my version of "Wheels on the Bus"

Then we did our usual goodbye song, "Skidamarink," blew some bubbles, and played with toys. In the next couple months, I might try to poke my head into their community playtime even though it's not my Baby Lapsit rotation anymore!

Preschool Storytime 11-28-17: Feelings 2.0

I did feelings again, and it was a success this time!

Not sure if that's because I'm a more seasoned storytime presenter than I was in June, or I chose better books, or what, but I felt much more accomplished walking out of the room today than I did the last time we tackled feelings.

The idea to try again came to me by accident when I was browsing the stacks, looking for good storytime books. I came across the Sesame Street book We're Different, We're the Same by Jim Henson, which was our first story after saying hello. This book acknowledges that while people's physical features might be different, we are all the same on the inside and all deserving of respect and love. There is even a part that acknowledges that while we all feel them differently, our feelings are basically the same. I love this because it teaches young readers that their feelings are not only valid, but normal and nothing to be ashamed of.

After the story, we danced to "Clap Your Hands" because it is, in my opinion, a storytime classic.

Click here to listen to the version of "Clap Your Hands" that I use. 

Our second story today was Too Shy for Show and Tell by Beth Bracken. I fell in love with this story about a shy giraffe navigating preschool immediately, which is why I'm surprised it wasn't better received by the group. No one hated it, but the kids were wiggly and a little bit louder than they would have been if they were truly engaged.

Next, staying in the theme of feelings, we sang two versions of "Happy and You Know It." The first one was a capella, and corresponded to some felt faces that my partner youth services librarian made last summer:

(pic to come)

After identifying the emotions each face seems to be feeling, we sang " If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands" for the happy face. Then we made up our own verses for the other faces:

If you're sad and you know it, say boo hoo. BOO-HOO!
If you're angry and you know it, give a growl. GRRR!
If you're scared and you know it, give a shriek. AAHHH!
If you're silly and you know it, make a face. (make silly face)

The kids had a great time with this spin on the classic song. After that, we danced to the Mr. Jon version of "Happy and You Know It."

Before saying goodbye, we had a few extra minutes so I tacked on an extra movement song: "Can't Sit Still" by Greg and Steve. I love this song because it presents loosely guided movements like wiggling your fingers, nodding your head, and waving your elbows, but also gives the kids plenty of opportunity for free dance time and burns off some of their seemingly endless energy.

Preschool Storytime 11-21-17: Puddles the Raindrop

We had a special guest at Preschool Storytime today, the author of the self-published Puddles the Raindrop series!

Louise Gabriel has published three adventures of Puddles the Raindrop so far, and has plans for a lot more. They are nonfiction workbooks coupled with the story of Puddles as he travels through the stages of the water cycle. 

As a lot of guest presenters do, Louise asked me to kick off the storytime the way I usually do so the kids have the same structure they are used to. So I did my three-song introduction, which you can view in full here. When I was done, Louise read her Arizona story, Puddles the Raindrop Explores the Grand Canyon State, Arizona. 

In the book, there is an illustration of the water cycle that I recreated out of felt and put up on our giant felt board. So after she was done reading the story, we went over the stages of the water cycle with the kids, moving our little felt Puddles as we talked about each one. 

I made this!

Finally, we passed out a coloring sheet and put crayons out, and gave the kids about 10 minutes to color. The sheet was in the theme also: a rainy desert scene. 

At the end, we sang our goodbye song and had the ritual bubbles. Then Louise stuck around to speak to parents about her book series, sell copies of her book and Puddles plushies, and take pictures with/of me:

Me, Louise, and Puddles

Me and Puddles in front of the water cycle

Having guest presenters in storytime can be fun if they are comfortable in front of large groups of children, skilled at public speaking (loudly) and controlling a crowd, and not afraid to get a little silly with us. You would be surprised how many people, even children's book authors, do not possess even one of those three qualities. Luckily, Louise was an excellent storytime guest. We had a lot of fun, and might even have her back when her next Puddles adventure is published!

Baby Lapsit 11-21-17: Autumn

I tend to repeat songs from week to week in storytime, especially when I do the same age group for weeks or months in a row. It does help brain development and lets them expect patterns and schedules, but it can get repetitive for a regular reader of my blog. That being said, I feel like there is use in repetition as well; these posts are based off my lesson plans, and might be helpful to you if you are a homeschooling or stay-at-home parent, if you run a daycare or preschool class, or if you are new to library storytime and need some ideas.

So without further ado, here is our semi-fall theme Baby Lapsit for today.

First, as always, we said hello, warmed up our motor skills, and did some stretching. 

The first story we read was Fall is Here! by Frankie Jones. This book doesn't really have a plot, but it's full of cute vignettes of a puppy experiencing the joys of autumn.

Our lap bounce portion began, as always, with "Bumpy Road." Grownups are instructed to seat their baby facing forward on their laps and bounce along with me as I demonstrate with a roughly baby-sized teddy bear. Here is the chant:

Bumpy road, bumpy road. (Bounce baby on lap)
Smooth road, smooth road. (Move baby smoothly back and forth)
Bumpy road, bumpy road. (Bounce baby on lap)
Smooth road, smooth road. (Move baby smoothly back and forth)
Rough road, rough road! (Bounce baby higher than before)
Bumpy road, bumpy road. (Bounce baby on lap)
Rough road, rough road! (Bounce baby higher than before)
Hole! (Hold baby under armpits and let them fall between your legs)

The unofficial theme of our lap bounce music today was food. First we did "Pop Goes the Weasel" (mulberries), where grownups are encouraged to lift their baby up high at the ending POP. 

Next we pretended to be popcorn with Raffi, which I always like to play twice through because it's so short. Plus, the sizzle-sizzle-sizzle anticipation before the big dramatic POP always gets babies laughing. 

Finally, we finished up with "Milkshake," one of my all-time favorite storytime crowd pleasers. Here is the version of the song I use, followed by an a capella version by Jbrary.

Sticking with the fall theme, our second board book of the day was This Little Turkey by Aly Fronis. A variation on "This Little Piggy," I like this one for its jaunty rhythms and jauntier art.

Our last gesture/movement song was, once again, "One, Two Hands" by Laurie Berkner. Body part identification is one of the most important early learning skills, and I love this song to start kids learning the names of their facial features, hands, legs, and feet. 

After that, we said goodbye until next time!

Kids-Giving Day 2017

This program was the brainchild of my wonderful and talented partner in crime, the other youth services librarian at my branch, Sara. She conceived, named, and planned this whole thing. Hopefully she will have her own librarian blog soon so that I can link to her entry about Kids-Giving Day and give her all the recognition for this incredible event. Until then, here is my take as one of the staff members who helped set up and run it......

Since Thanksgiving is coming up, we thought it would be a good idea to do some sort of large charity event to teach our younger patrons how to give back to the less fortunate or struggling their community. Three organizations that Sara found out are always accepting donations were Child Crisis Arizona, the Phoenix Children's Hospital, and Operation Gratitude.

Child Crisis Arizona requested donations of new containers of baby wipes, so we announced that people could bring their donations to the library in our newsletter, and set up a small area to collect them. We collected 9 packages by the end of the day.

Operation Gratitude is always accepting donations of cards written to active duty troops and veterans, so we also set up a card making station. One of our staff members donated a large stack of blank greeting cards, which were at the station if anyone wanted to write a note in a card. We also set out art supplies for kids to make their own cards. By the end of the program, we had a box full of 114 cards, which we will send to Operation Gratitude to be dispersed to the troops. 

Finally, Phoenix Children's Hospital is collecting activity bags to be given to their patients who need extended hospital stays, and their siblings. Their guidelines were very specific, so we made exactly what they asked for: bags containing a pack of crayons and several coloring sheets. These were very easy to assemble, and the real charm of this particular donation came from the decorations on the bags. We set it up so that the bag decorating station came first; patrons were encouraged to use crayons, markers, and stickers to jazz up plain paper bags as much as they wanted. Then, a volunteer helped them stuff their bags with one pack of crayons and 3-4 coloring sheets that we printed out before the program. Kids and grownups alike had a great time writing inspirational messages and drawing colorful pictures on the bags for the PCH patients. By the end of the day, we had collected 82 bags!

Here are some patrons (photographed with permission) working on their bags.

And here is Sara and me collecting all the wonderful donations while cleaning up!

The total number of participants was counted as 109! We also got lots of positive verbal feedback from parents about the purpose of the event. Apparently our community here in Mesa wants more opportunities to give back, and teach their children about giving back as well. I think we will definitely be doing another community service-based program in the future!

Write Your Own Picture or Comic Book - Week Three

This is week three of a four-week writing program for tweens age 8-12.
Week One

Week Two
Week Four

We only had six participants today, which was a large drop from last week's twenty. Even though the drastic drop was surprising and disappointing, I found that the smaller group was easier to manage in an instructed program like this one. Today's session was also the most regimented so far, and it's much easier to get six kids to listen to you than it is to quiet and focus a group of twenty. 

For today's ice breaker/warm up activity, we did another Wacky Web Tale. Today's was called "Summer Fun," and I asked that their own names appeared in the tale. After the 15 minutes to fill out the Mad Lib-style tale, I had each child share theirs since the group was so small. 

As I said above, today's lesson was the most structured we've had so far. Since they will be creating their own books next week, I wanted to make sure all the kids have a strong grasp on the concepts of character, setting, plot, etc. The best way to do that, I think, is to have them relate these elements to stories they already know. So, I actually made and presented a short PowerPoint today. I made sure it had a lot of places for the kids to interject their comments and questions, as well as read aloud to me. 

As you probably noticed if you saw the week two entry, I used the same green chart again this week to teach them the plot diagram. 

Each time I clicked to a new slide, I picked a couple of readers to read the info from the slide aloud to the group. Then, I asked a different child to name that element in a book they had read lately. For example, "Who are the main characters in Alice in Wonderland?" "Alice, the White Rabbit, the queen, the Mad Hatter, the March Hare," etc. 

I left the final slide, "Now it's your turn," up after we were done discussing all the story elements. I wanted it to serve as a reminder as they broke up to work on their individual stories. At this point in the session, I let the kids choose if they would rather type on the computer or write with a pen/pencil and notepad. I asked them to make up the story they wanted to "publish" next week, using the story elements and plot diagram we just talked about. I made myself available for questions, and they had lots! Each child left today having worked on something, so I can't wait to see the final products next week!