Gingerbread Geometry

Another awesome winter program!

Also, another program that I did not technically plan, but did help out with the staffing. Sara planned this one with another staff member who got sick unexpectedly, so I jumped in to help pass out materials and answer questions. It ended up being a total blast; we took the tradition of making gingerbread houses and added a mathematical twist!

Materials:

• Graham crackers (6 per child)
• Icing (Can be store bought, or made using powdered sugar and water)
• Assortment of candy for decorating
• Plastic table covering
• Plastic knives (one per child)
• Ruler (one per child)
• Disposable trays (one per child)

Using graham crackers instead of gingerbread was key for this program, for a couple of reasons. One, easier to find and cheaper to purchase. Two, they are perfectly rectangular.

Step one: Give each child six graham crackers.
Step two: Cut one inch off of two of your graham crackers.
Step three: Using icing, form a rectangle with the graham crackers to be the walls of your house.

At this point, there was a discussion about area. The audience was slightly younger than I think Sara was anticipating. She was planning to have tweens who would understand math concepts, but we ended up with a couple of tweens and the rest under five years old. So she skipped having them write down the wall measurements and then multiplying those measurements to find the area of the house. She also briefly explained what the volume of a shape is, but skipped the written part of figuring out the volume of our houses. In case you want to do this with an older age group, here is that information (the inch measurements are not exact, just examples. As a group you can measure your crackers and figure out the exact measurements).

Area: The side of a surface
Area = width x height; A=wh

Long sides of the graham crackers are 5 inches (length). Short sides are 4 inches (width). The area of the gingerbread houses are length times width, or 5x4=20. The area of your house is 20 inches.

Volume: The measure of the amount of space inside a solid figue
Volume = length x width x height; V=lwh

Long sides of the graham crackers are 5 inches (length). Short sides are 4 inches (width). When standing up, the crackers are 2 inches tall (height). The volume of the gingerbread houses are 5x4x2=40. 

Instead of doing the math with pencils and paper, we moved on to the next part of the building.

Step four: Use your remaining two graham crackers to add a triangular or flat roof
Step five: Decorate with icing and candy!

While we had a few families attempt the triangular roof, the icing dried too slowly and most of the kids opted for the easier flat roof.

Before we started, I made 12 individual cups with some of each kind of candy: Twizzlers, Red Hots, those buttery dinner mints, individually wrapped peppermints, and gum drops. This way there was no fighting over candy because each participant had the exact same thing in their cup, and everyone had the same amount of icing (a powdered sugar/water mixture in baggies for easy piping) to decorate with. Check out their amazing creations!

The roof is a monster face eating candy!

East Valley Children's Theater Presents "The Tortoise and Mrs. Claus"

Today, the amazing East Valley Children's Theater (EVCT) visited our library with their original holiday play, "The Tortoise and Mrs. Claus." I wasn't sure how many people would show up for a straight-ahead play with no interactive aspect, but was pleasantly surprised with 48 audience members. The actors were all between the ages of ten and thirteen years old and much of the audience were their family members, but I also spotted some new library patrons and some storytime regulars in the mix.

Before the production, one of the kids (possibly the stage manager) came up and explained how EVCT writes their shows. They begin by picking a title as a group. Without any other information, this group picked "The Tortoise and Mrs. Claus" for their December show. Then, they collectively did a lot of writing exercises and improvisation activities, under the guidance of an their adult director, until the premise of the show was born. They formed their own characters, wrote their own lines, and completely created the 30 minute show we saw! The group mostly tours retirement homes and libraries, and do all their performances for free. It was a great program to add to our December calendar, and I would definitely have them back again when they are touring their next show!

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!

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!

Mad Science: Cranberry Chemistry and Architecture

Once again, in today's Mad Science we had two experiments. The first one focused on chemical reactions, and the second was a hands-on skill builder to practice spatial relations and exercise motor skills. I should note, I did not plan this program on my own. My partner youth librarian Sara is out with an unexpected illness this week, and I have been taking over her programs. She planned this and left me all the materials, so this morning my only job was to read up on the scientific concepts and carry out the program. We did cranberry-theme experiments today, to be festive and Thanksgiving-y.

Here is experiment one: Cranberry Chemistry.

Materials needed:

• Cranberry juice (unsweetened or no sugar added)
• Lemon juice
• Baking soda
• Clear plastic cups

The lesson for this experiment is to learn about the chemical reactions between acids and bases. It helps to have the visual aid of a pH scale on the wall, and talk to the kids about acidic, basic, and neutral liquids. It also helps to label where the liquids you'll be working with fall on the scale. I labeled where baking soda (9, very basic) and lemon juice (2, very acidic) are. I drew one on the white board, based off this picture:

First, we poured some cranberry juice into our cups and noticed that it is a dark red color. We talked about the fact that cranberries are an acid because they contain anthocyanins. We repeated that word a whole bunch, because it's long and hard to pronounce. I also wrote it on the board so they could sound it out if they were visual learners.

ANTHOCYANINS!

Anthocyanins are pigments that change color depending on whether they are reacting with an acid or a base. Cranberries, and therefore cranberry juice, naturally contain anthocyanins. 

After the cranberry juice was poured, we added a small amout of our base: baking soda. The juice is supposed to turn bright blue; we got as far as a half-hearted purple color. So technically the experiment worked, and it worked well enough to prove the scientific fact of anthocyanins true, but it was not the exciting and vibrant color I had hoped for.

The next step was to add another acid, lemon juice, back to the solution and watch it turn back to it's original red. This also pretty much worked. We did end up with cups full of red liquid again, and were able to discuss how the ANTHOCYANINS reacted with the acid in the lemon juice. 

Here is experiment two: Cranberry Architecture.

Materials needed:

• Fresh cranberries
• Toothpicks

The lesson for this experiment was mostly just to have fun. I demonstrated making a simple cube with the cranberries and toothpicks, then invited the kids to make one too. After they all mastered the cube, I gave them about 10 minutes to make whatever they wanted. 

Source: Little Bins for Little Hands

Then, I issued the kids a challenge: build the highest structure you can that will support the weight of a jumbo marshmallow. I gave them 10 more minutes to alter their creative structure, or tear it down and start something brand new. Then, after everyone was done, I balanced a marshmallow on the highest point of each one. Here is our winner with her giant cranberry tower! If you look closely, you can see that there are actually TWO marshmallows nestled in between the toothpicks. (I did get permission from her guardian for the picture to be posted).

I liked the cranberry architecture because it helps kids of all ages and developmental stages enhance their fine motor skills, motor planning, and spacial relations. It also helps them gain patience with manual projects and maximizes finger dexterity, which will come in handy for crafting, playing musical instruments, and typing. 

Here is the hand out that I sent home with each child, telling them about the experiments we did in case they want to recreate them at home. Click the image for a closer view.

Mad Science is a challenging program for me to host. I have never been very science-minded, so all my scientific information comes from Google and all my ideas for this program come from Pinterest. However, I had a great time working with these kids doing the cranberry experiments today. Programs like this, with more structure and smaller groups of participants, are great because you get more one-on-one time with the patrons. It's more like being a classroom teacher. I've said it before, but that's one big reason why I love being a librarian: you get the best of all educational worlds!