YAAS: Black History Month

If you want to learn about the original conception and mission of this program, read my What is YAAS? post. TL;DR: It's a weekly group for youth age 14-24 where we'll be doing community service work, library programs, hosting guest presenters, and making connections with peers in a safe and welcoming environment.

This week, we welcomed Professor Rod Golden from Mesa Community College to do one of his signature interactive lectures. I've had Professor Golden as a program guest before, but it's never gone quite as well as it did tonight. The YAAS members are smart, thoughtful, and insightful, and they really seemed to get a lot out of his presentation. The presentation focused on black inventors, and the professor took care to list many inventions and scientific innovations made my black people over the last several centuries. 

One part of the presentation that seemed to especially strike a chord with our kids was the below list of "cardinal virtues to students" made popular by one black inventor and teacher in particular (forgive me, I don't remember the person's name and wasn't able to find it online). The group spent a large part of the time on these virtues, examining each one individually and applying them to their own lives. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say these virtues could be an entire program in and of themselves. 

Professor Golden has so much knowledge to share. I envision his brain like a big encyclopedia. He can flip to the page for Hariet Tubman, Jimmi Hendrix, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, Rosa Parks, George Washington Carver, or any influential African American in any historical time period, and teach you something about that person you didn't know before. He is a joy to speak to, a joy to listen to, and a joy to welcome into our library every once in a while. He says he'd like to come back in the summer, and I can't wait!

Baby Lapsit February 2019

New member (2 months old!) with a triangle on their head 2/5/19

My Baby Lapsit formula is:

Intro and hello
Board Book #1
Lap Bounce Journey ("Bumpy Road/Smooth Road" and two recorded songs)
Board Book #2
Movement song or another lap bounce song (optional, depends on time)
Peek-a-Boo
Goodbye
Bubbles and Community Playtime

February 5th

Board Book #1

The Night Night Book by Marianne Richmond 

Lap Bounce Journey

"Bumpy Road/Smooth Road"

"Bumpy Road/Smooth 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)

"Gregory Griggs"

THIS IS NOT A DRILL! I HAVE A NEW LAP BOUNCE CHANT! I'll let the ladies of Jbrary explain...

"Pop Goes the Weasel"

"Popcorn"

Board Book #2

Little Truck by Taro Gomi

Movement Song

"One, Two Hands" by Laurie Berkner

February 12th

Board Book #1

Corduroy's Colors by Don Freeman

Lap Bounce Journey

"Bumpy Road/Smooth Road"

"Gregory Griggs"

"Humpty Dumpty"

"Hurry, Hurry, Drive That Firetruck"

Board Book #2

Clive and His Babies by Jessica Spanyol

I'll never be able to express just how much I love Clive. There's a whole series of Clive books and they all challenge traditional gender roles and are very racially inclusive with their characters. I hope Jessica Spanyol never stops writing about Clive.

Movement Song

"Happy and You Know It" by Mr. Jon

February 19th

Board Book #1

Grandma Calls Me Gigglepie by JD Lester

This book is a little long for babies, so I taped a few of the pages together to make it shorter. Don't worry, the tape didn't hurt the book! If it was a book with paper pages, not shiny treated cardboard, I'd use a paperclip. 

Lap Bounce Journey

"Bumpy Road/Smooth Road"

"Gregory Griggs"

"Walkin' Ol' Joe"

"Shake My Sillies Out"

Board Book #2

Maisy's First Numbers by Lucy Cousins

This counting book is great for babies because it only goes up to 5, whereas most kids' counting books go up to 10. Before 36 months, you just want babies to develop a basic understanding of the concept of counting, so going up to 5 is more than enough.

Movement Song

"Baby, Put Your Pants On"

February 26th

Board Book #1

Love is a Truck by Amy Novesky

Lap Bounce Journey

"Bumpy Road/Smooth Road"

"Gregory Griggs"

"This is the Way the Ladies Ride"

"Noble Duke of York"

Board Book #2

Ball by Dr. John Hutton

Movement Song

"Wheels on the Bus" by Mr. Jon

Saturday Storytime February 2019: Rainbows

This storytime is for ages 0-5, but I've decided to structure it as a combination of Toddlertime and Preschool Storytime.

My formula for Saturday Storytime is:

Intro and Hello
Learn Theme Signs
Book #1
Movement Songs
Felt Story/Song
Book #2
Movement Song
Goodbye Song
Bubbles
Take-Home Craft

Intro and Hello
Hello Song
"Hello Friend"
Before turning on the music, I teach the kids (and grownups) the American Sign Language sign for "friends." Then we boogie, wave, and sing hello to all our friends!

Friend

Warming Up Motor Skills

"Open, Shut Them"

Stretching
"Tall/Small"
This is a short, easy stretch the preschoolers especially get a kick out of.

Learn Theme Signs
Our theme this week is rainbows, so we learned the signs for "colors" and "rainbow."

Rainbow

Colors

Book #1
Hideaway Hedgehog and the Magical Rainbow by Lisa McCue
A super cute tale of a mama hedgehog who stumbles into a leprechaun's golden pot to have her babies, this story can easily be brought to a toddler or preschool level depending on how much dialogic reading you incorporate. It's also adorable that each baby has a different magic power corresponding to their unique color.

Movement Song

"I See Something Blue"

I like to play this song and encourage the kids to find things around the room that match the color the singers mention. This song is pretty mellow and slow-moving, which is good for two reasons. One, it gives even the youngest storytimer a chance to find something of that color and point it out. Two, we all get a chance to practice the signs for the four colors named in the song as well as "color" and "rainbow" at the end.

Felt Story/Song

Today we did a felt story that I didn't make up myself, but tweaked from Rainbow Stew and made my own version. I'm probably over-analyzing, but it really bugged me that everything going into the rainbow stew pot was, in fact, a fruit. So Rainbow Fruit Salad was born. Since the chant was the same for each verse, I encouraged everyone to chant and do the motions along with me.

Red fruit: apple

Orange fruit: orange

Yellow fruit: banana

Green fruit: pear

Blue fruit: blueberries

Purple fruit: grapes

(Put apple and red part of rainbow on felt board)

Chop up an apple, put it in the dish. (mime chopping fruit)

Stir and stir as much as you wish. (mime stirring a large bowl)

Look inside, what color will it be? (hand above your eyes as if looking)

The prettiest red that you ever did see! (ASL sign for "red")

~repeat with all other fruits in rainbow order~

(All fruits and rainbow pieces should be on the board)

Chop up all the fruit, put it in the dish. (mime chopping fruit)

Stir and stir as much as you wish. (mime stirring a large bowl)

Look inside, what color will it be? (hand above eyes as if looking)

The prettiest RAINBOW that you ever did see! (ASL sign for "rainbow")

Movement Songs

Today we did our movement songs with scarves, starting with an a cappella rhyme that ends with everyone throwing their scarf into a pile to make a rainbow:

Wave your scarf high, wave your scarf low.

Wave your scarf fast, wave your scarf slow.

Crumple up your scarf and throw it on three.

One, two, three, whee!

"Color Song"

(vid to come)

"The Freeze" by Greg and Steve

This one has nothing to do with colors, but it was so much fun to make up dances with scarves in between freezes!

Goodbye Song

"Until We Meet Again" from Out of the Box
When we sing this song, I help them recall the sign for friends, and teach them a couple others as we sing. After a while, storytime regulars start to look like native signers!

Goodbye

Friend

Meet

Bubbles
I like to play the two following songs while I blow bubbles for the group.
One Little, Two Little, Three Little Bubbles
Yo Gabba Gabba Bubbles Song

Take-Home Craft
Since this is a monthly storytime with a theme, I thought it would be fun to provide families with a craft based on the theme to work on when they get home. I put everything needed for the craft in baggies, including an instruction sheet so they know how to do the project once they get home. It's a rainbow fish that helps the child's fine motor skills develop as they practice going over, under, and over again.

Giving a take-home craft as families leave the storytime room is a good way to extend the learning experience after families have left the library. Also, it's a great way to provide a literacy-based craft without having to clean up afterward.

Books to Display:

• How the Finch Got His Colors—Guertin
• Princess Rosie’s Rainbows—Killion
• Elmer and the Rainbow—McKee
• Ava and the Rainbow (Who Stayed)—Adamson
• Curious George Discovers the Rainbow—Cherrix
• The Leprechaun Who Lost His Rainbow—Callahan
• The Greedy Rainbow—Chandler 

YAAS: African American Art History

If you want to learn about the original conception and mission of this program, read my What is YAAS? post. TL;DR: It's a weekly group for youth age 14-24 where we'll be doing community service work, library programs, hosting guest presenters, and making connections with peers in a safe and welcoming environment.

Tonight was the first night of the Young Adult Action Society that I didn't lead the program. I was lucky enough to find two guests who presented very different programs for Black History Month including our first-ever guest presenter, Antoinette Cauley. She did a fantastic presentation about her work and work that inspires her, mostly focusing on an upcoming black artist Kehinde Wiley. 

Kehinde Wiley did Obama's presidential portrait, and has been on the rise in the art world for quite a while. Antoinette explained that he usually paints portraits of people with a bold floral background. His art is unique because he brings the bold, noticeable background into the foreground, instead of letting your eye focus only on the subject of the portrait. 

After the 20-ish minute presentation and a quick Q&A, the youth were turned loose at a table of art supplies to create their own Kehinde Wiley-esque portrait! Their subjects were people or other living things (we had one cat and one human with their entire upper half covered by flowers) from magazines, and then use collage, pastels, and acrylic paint to make their backgrounds. 

Here are some pictures I snapped of Antoinette teaching and the youth working on their art...

And here are the amazing finished products displayed in our library entryway along with info about the program. 

Antoinette was a fantastic guest and I'd have her back any time!

YAAS: Origami Star Jar

If you want to learn about the original conception and mission of this program, read my What is YAAS? post. TL;DR: It's a weekly group for youth age 14-24 where we'll be doing community service work, library programs, hosting guest presenters, and making connections with peers in a safe and welcoming environment.

This week we met in our library's makerspace to learn how to make tiny origami stars. These were the main slides of my PowerPoint...

And then we watched these two videos to learn how to make the stars:

While the videos were helpful, I found that most of my group are one-on-one learners when it comes to something this complicated. I was too bust walking around helping people to take many pictures of the youth crafting! The only picture I have from tonight is my own star jar that I made as an example. I wrote happy memories on mine, so that I can open the stars when I'm feeling overwhelmed and remember a happy time in my life.

Overall, this program was not a total bomb but also not one that I'd do again unless I had more time. After we got through introductions and explaining what we'd be doing, there wasn't much time to make the actual stars. I sent a lot of kiddos home with empty jars and multi-colored half-inch strips of paper. Some of them got frustrated with the complexity of the craft also, so this will probably be the last time we do a maker program this advanced. But, live and learn. Several of them got the hang of the stars right away, and one even had her friends write encouraging messages on hers so she can open them when she's feeling sad, which I thought was super sweet and creative. 

Music Lab for Kids: Balloon Cup Shaker Drums

The Project: Drum/Shaker Instrument
This was an instrument that I kind of cobbled together from several different ideas of DIY instruments from household objects. I found a very cool drum made from a balloon stretched over the opening of a plastic cup, and that was going to be the project.

Think these, but made with Solo cups because tin cans are hard to find
these days and the edge can be dangerously sharp.

After I thought about the cup drums for a while, I thought about the big empty space inside the plastic cups. We had the large size already in the supply cabinet so that's the size I planned to use (think college dorm party Red Solo Cups), and that seemed like a waste of materials. So, I delved deep into the same closet and found a giant bag of uncooked rice. I figured if you add a handful of rice before stretching the balloon over the cup's opening, you'd have a drum AND a shaker!

The supplies for this project ended up being uncooked rice, large plastic cups, and balloons. We also needed scissors to cut the ends off the balloons. The picture shows rubber bands to keep the balloons on, but I didn't find rubber bands necessary when using plastic cups. Tip if you're thinking of doing this project: HAVE EXTRA BALLOONS AVAILABLE! I didn't realize it when I made my demo drum, but balloons have a tendency to break if you're stretching them in unnatural ways. I ended up having to leave the room during the program to grab more balloons, which is something I try my best not to do. 

Another tip that never even crossed my mind until it was a real-life situation: beware of latex allergies when working with balloons. There was one child who's mom had to do some quick redirecting when they realized the craft involved balloons because of skin allergies. I try to remember food allergies, but often forget there are other types of allergies that can be just as serious. Luckily, this particular mom was very adept at redirecting her kiddo without any kind of tantrum or hurt feelings. In the future, I plan to announce the supplies aloud in case a kiddo has an allergy or sensitivity.

Program Structure

I was much happier with the Music Lab program this month. In January, I structured it more like an instructional program where we made our instruments and then learned chants together as a group. Today, I put out a couple containers of instruments as well as the instrument-making station and structured the program as a drop-in. This worked better for me since Music Lab happens directly after Learn and Grow with Rhythm and Flow (LGRF) and it sometimes takes a few minutes to recover from high-energy storytimes like that. 

It also worked great for this craft in particular since it involved loose rice. I forgot that toddlers and any tiny, loose craft supply (rice, glitter, etc.) equals a big mess. Structuring the program this way allowed me to be in slightly more control of the rice and keep the mess in one area of the room for easier clean-up.

Before this morning, I was seriously considering cancelling future occurrences of program because it didn't have a solid direction and I wasn't sure it was a good library program. However, I got some great positive feedback from parents, singing the praises of the two programs together for their mix of education and entertainment. That coupled with a participant number over 70 has inspired me to keep Music Lab for Kids going for a few more months and see if it works out as a companion to LGRF. 

I wasn't able to take many pictures because the morning was very busy, but I did get these two. It was a fun morning and another learning experience as a still-pretty-new programming librarian!

 

Playing the drum!

Instrument free-play