Alphabet Soup Letter "B"

It has been a while since I've blogged. So I'm putting in a double post for the start of the year. I started out the month as I always do with our Early Literacy Series, Alphabet Soup. Last week's featured letter was "B".

I was getting a little nervous because I had requested one of the books I needed for the program from another branch weeks ago. It came in right on the wire, the morning of the program.

We started out with Baking Day at Grandma's by Anika Denise. It set an appropriate tone with it's wintery theme and repeating B words. It also has a great recipe for chocolate cake in the back that kids can bake with their parents. I used this as my take home activity for the back of my handout.

Then we jumped into an the action rhyme "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear." This kept the bear theme going but also gave us a chance to get up and move around.

Next was Miss Brooks Loves Books (and I don't) by Barbara Bottner. Library and bibliophile themes galore. Reluctant reader finds a book to love. I was sold. I worried that it might be a bit too long. But when we started to talk about warts and snorting, the kids were sold too. I'm planning on putting the sequel, Miss Brooks' Story Nook in next month's letter "S" program.

Then it was time for our letter sound identification activity. This time, I introduced the "Mystery Bag."  I filled a paper sack with objects. Some of them started with the featured letter. Some did not. I asked the kids to put their hand in the bag and pull out an object, then drop them into a basket. One basket was labeled with the letter "B", the other one was labeled "Non-Letter B".

They had a lot of fun closing their eyes and reaching in to feel around for the objects. Again, I think this may be a keeper of an activity. It was a lot easier to set up than the fish pond for "F" or the Sorting Hat for "H".

We finished up with a Venezuelan version of The Wheels on the Bus by By Melanie Williamson
and the Amador Family. The craft was Letter "B" Bear Bag puppets.

There was also a Winter Storm Alert in our area, and the windchill was dipping us into sub-zero temperatures. So preschool attendance was pretty low. But I was grateful that we had limited attendance for this, as the kids could take their time with the many small pieces, and there were lots of laughs with parents.

Frozen Science

Last week was cool, but holy crap you guys, this week I did my FIRST STEAM PROGRAM EVER!

Our Frozen Science program took a heck of a lot to setup and reset between my back-to-back morning programs. But it was totally awesome!

We started out with a Disney picture book adaptation of Frozen by Victoria Saxon. Again, I was worried it might be a little long. But apparently everyone in the room had seen the movie, so the kids were adding in parts of the story that were pared down in the book.

Then it was time for our first ice experiments. We discussed how ice is made by freezing water, how it occurs naturally in winter. I had a bowl of ice cubes ready and a bowl of water. I asked the kids if they thought ice would sink to the bottom or float on top of the water. Then each child got to drop an ice cube in to see if it would sink or float.

We talked about how in science, we use our eyes to observe things. I did another demonstration on melting salt where I set out ice cubes in three bowls and sprinkled cold water, hot water, and colored salt over some ice cubes. I asked them all which one they thought would melt fastest.

We let the cubes set and moved on to our action story, "The Snow Queen with the Cold Cold Heart" from Naomi Baltuck's Crazy Gibberish. This is a great resource for Action songs. There were specific actions associated with each character, that the kids would act out each time i said the character's name. This gave us just enough time to see what happened with our ice cube experiment afterwards. (Spoilers: the ice melts best with salt.)

I switched things up and got the kids and parents started on a simple fold-and-cut snowflake craft. This bought me time to set up the next ice activity, that I dubbed "Queen Elsa's Cold Cold hands." It was modeled after a wonderful activity from the Happy Hooligans Blog.

This is where setup got a bit crazy. I had three frozen hands containing beads, sequins, and glitter for each class. 

To melt the hands: I had multiple bowls of different colored salt, red tinged warm water (not too warm) and blue tinged cold water (not too cold). I used food color and kosher salt so everything was non toxic. I even made sure to get vinyl gloves for creating the frozen hands in case of latex allergies.

The kids had fun pouring the salt over the hands with spoons and dropping water over them with pippettes. I had two sets of each of the supplies and the larger groups had to share a lot more than the smaller groups. But the parents helped, and everyone had a good time. 

                               

One little girl even asked. "Are we doing science?" to which I replied an emphatic. "Yes you are!" 

Overall, two excellent programs to start the new year. And now just comes the clean up. Joy!

Sick Sucks

Due to a health issue I have not been up to posting about my programs over the last few weeks. My apologies.

I had a great Thanksgiving program where we made paper turkeys. We talked about cornucopias and I talked about it's origins in Greek mythology. I even made a flannel board, which I completely failed to take photos of for the blog, because I was tired. Ditto for the Christmas storytime and its Rudolph, Rudolph felt game.

Luckily I got most of my weekly  weeding done already. But still, I want to take a massive run at our juvenile nonfiction shelves in our slow December days.

I finally got a diagnosis this week, and am now properly hopped up on antibiotics. So yay!... in as far as yay means "I'm going to go take a nap."

More illustrated and enthusiastic posts to come.

Alphabet Soup Presents the letter F

Every month I do one program that focuses on letter sounds. It is part of the Early Literacy initiative that was established in my branch before I arrived. Planning activities, books, and crafts based on a single letter can get a little dry at parts. So I tend to go at it like my own personal episode of Sesame Street.

Learning and letter sound recognition are the goal, but I like to throw in a physical activity as well as a felt board activity. So we can get off our seats and jump around. I hate to be bored and I hate for the kids to be bored.

That is why I may have bitten off a little more than I could chew with our letter F program this week. I knew that I wanted to make a felt board story out of Fall is Not Easy by Marty Kelley. I love how the tree keeps trying to get his leaves to come out right. And, as stated by Abby the Librarian on her wonderful blog, it works reaally well as a felt story.

The kids were all staring blankly while I went through winter and spring. But as soon as I busted out the rainbow leaves, they broke into peels of laughter.

This is one of the many reasons I LOVE WORKING WITH PRESCHOOLERS! They have a sense of humor. And there is nothing funnier to them than finding a treetop that has turned into a cheeseburger...

Or the earth....

Or a jack-o-lantern...

So now that I had their attention, it jumped into the physical activity portion. Now this is where I may have gotten a bit too ambitious...or completely lost my mind. Take your pick.

Yes, Ylvis made a children's book based on the Youtube video What Does the Fox Say? Originally, I was just going to read the book. But then a coworker suggested that I play the song for the kids first. Then that degraded into a downward spiral, where I thought "Hey, this is a good dance song! Why don't we dance to the song while I read the book?"

Well the good news is, we mostly had fun. Many of the parents facepalmed when they saw the cover of the book. Which I chose to take as an amusement rather than a clue.When I told the kids that they could dance, many of them did.

But a lot just stood there confused. Were we reading a story or dancing to a song? And then Youtube decided it did not like my ipod dock. So I lost a lot of interest just in trying to get the thing back up and running. All in all, it was a learning experience.

We discussed what other animal names started with the letter F and read The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister.

We did an activity where we fished for paper fish with words printed on them. I attached paperclips to the ends of the fish, and we had a dowel rod with a magnet stringed onto it for a fishing pole. I got them to line up by designating a child to go first and telling them to "put their feet behind someone else's feet. The parents had to help a bit, but they got the idea fairly quickly.

TIP: When using this method, always keep track of the fishing pole. The kids don't have the spacial recognition to see that they are about to whack someone with the pole.

Some of the words started with F and some did not. So I asked the kids to show me their fish. I would read the word on the fish to them and ask if it started with F or not. The whole group can join in to sound it out and to answer. Then they got to put their fish on the felt board. (I have a blue sensory bin and a blue felt board to keep the ocean theme going)

Then we went to the craft table. Paper plate fish were easy enough and the kids had a lot of fun choosing the colors for their fins, tails, and eyes. We used googly eyes and paper plates for the bodies, but all the fins were precut from construction paper by me and some library staff, the week before. (Thanks, Brittany and Suzanne!)

I briefly toyed with the idea of letting the kids color the fish with markers. But I decided that the fishing activity took up too much time for that. So I told the kids they were welcome to color at home.

By the time I handed out stickers for their nametags at the end, they had forgotten our lining up skills. But I figure it is a work in progress.

Music Rules! Sink or Swim Week Part Deux

This week was PACKED with programs! My head is still spinning a little. My Partner In Crime K, is out for the week, recovering well from a health concern. So I was the only kid librarian on deck.

Of course, everyone in our baby and toddler times has inquired after her, because they all love her as much as I do. I assured them that she is doing well and will come back soon. And blessedly, I have not stuck my foot in my mouth, or annoyed anyone thus far! (At least that they've told me)

We had our regular schedule of one toddler program (packed attendance), three preschool programs (lower attended than previous weeks, but it is fall break and some families aren't into Halloween themes), and one baby program (lower attendance, due to many aging up into the toddlers, but also some new faces). The kickers were the addition of a Drop-In Teen demonstration of the Google Glass, and an all ages packed to the gills concert by Jim Gill. (pun most definitely intended)

The toddlers, for how many there were, were fantastic! I love their energy and the fact that I get to talk with so many parents and caregivers about their developing interests. The babies were adorable as always. They range in age and development from one little girl who is just starting to sit up, to a little boy who is auditioning for the next Houdini.

The preschoolers are, and have always been my favorite age group though. I love the fact that they can answer questions for themselves. They have developed interests and, given the chance, will tell you all about them. (Even in the middle of reading Strega Nona).

This week I decided that with the response I've had to the Music and Motion Dance Party, (thanks again Angie Manfredi!) I want to start incorporating dance and movement into my regular preschool time. We did the Spooky Pokey, and I set up an obstacle course game so we could "Go on a Ghost hunt." It was very similar to Susan Pearson's book, only adapted to our Community Room's layout.
 

I set out carpet squares to represent the Bridge, Tree, and stairs. We weaved in and out of chairs set up to be our "Field". We ducked under a table to "crawl through the Swamp."

The last part was the trickiest. Originally, I printed out a picture of a Dark Door to put on the outside of an actual closet door, with a goofy ghost to put on the inside. My boss pointed out, thankfully, that as the parent of a former preschooler, she thought that opening the door to reveal a ghost might be a little too scary.

So instead, I stuck the ghost to the back of the Dark Door picture and just flipped it over for the reveal. This got eye rolls from some of the older kids, but at least the younger kids got a kick out of it. And everyone loved hurrying back through the obstacle course to their seats. :)

The break-neck pace of the regularly scheduled children's programs would have been enough. But we had the two add on events. The Google Glass program went well. I explained the concept of wearable tech and demonstrated a few basic functions. We had more than one teen turn to a parent and beg for one. The invariable response was the parent asking me what the cost of the device runs, which is currently around $1.5K. Then the parent would turn to their child and say something along the lines of "Sure, you can have one. When you get a job and can pay for it out of your own pocket."

If the groans were any indication, I very much doubt an uptick in Google's sales.

The transport of the devices, which had to be hand delivered between staff members at our branches, was my turn to groan. Suffice it to say I had to drive the blasted things across town twice within 24 hours.

But we ended the week on a very high note. Jim Gill, a 20 year early childhood education veteran and children's performer brought down a house of 102 children and their adults. I say this literally, as one of his songs transitions from jumping around to sitting on the ground.

http://www.jimgill.com/

 If you've never had the pleasure to attend one of his concerts, I highly recommend it. He gave a seminar to the librarians at our system Children's Services meeting. He had a lot of great suggestions about keeping kids with various interest levels engaged through music. And he provided me an epiphany on how to get my parents/grandparents out of their chairs and actually interacting with their kids. REMOVE THE CHAIRS! It sounds obvious, but it never occurred to me. We had over a hundred people come to his concert at my branch the next day. Talk about ending on a high note!

Music and Motion Dance Party!

For those of you who have never read Angie Manfredi's fantastic blog, I highly recommend it. Both as a feminist, a lady of size, and a children's librarian. Seriously, she is awesome! (http://fatgirlreading.com/)

So, naturally, I have added her to my RSS feed. And I happened upon this great post about what she calls Music and Movement Dance Party programs. http://fatgirlreading.com/?s=music+and+movement

Her program was originally geared toward babies and grew into an all family type dealio. I used her structure as a template and adapted it to my preschool storytime crew. They loved it!

I do 3 preschool storytimes a week to accommodate all schedules. And I got comments in every one of them about how the kids had fun, and that it was a nice change of pace from regular storytimes. I am now planning on continuing the program in October, taking a break in November, and doing a Jingle Bell Rock Dance Party in December. If I keep getting the type of response I did this week, I may make it a monthly program henceforth.

A few things to note: Since this is a very physical program, the kids can get tired. I added a slow sit-down rhythm sticks song in the middle to keep up the energy and let everyone rest a bit. It's also a shorter program than storytime (I had 27mins of songs including an entrance and exit song, and pauses for instructions). But the parents and kids seemed fine with this, especially since the free dance song at the end was so much fun.

Some parents danced with their kids and some did not. I made sure to tell everyone that participation was entirely up to them. If they got tired and wanted to leave, or sit our the rest of the program with mom or dad, that was cool! Some kids sat and watched the whole time. Some came up and got scarves or rhythm sticks, but sat in the parent's lap to play with them. All this was totally fine.

They had a blast! I had a blast! One little boy came to all 3 programs. So if you like to try new things with your storytime group, I highly recommend this program, with all kudos due to Ms. Manfredi!

Sink or Swim week OWNED!

This week was a big week in my career as a Children's Librarian. It was my first program packed week of my professional career.I started my preschool programs,  which I have been planning since I started my current position in June.

Also as it happens, my Partner in Crime K was out this week on vacation.  She covered for me during the end of our prize distribution for Summer Reading, and I saw no problem in covering for her as well. So I was also in charge of her Baby Lapsits and Toddler Storytimes for the week. To top it off, I had the honor of attending a fancy schmoozing event on the clock. But more on that later.

I had my first of the six program stretch last week. It was my first Baby Lapsit since I was an intern several years ago, so I was a bit nervous. All and all, it went well, the moms were very gracious and bared through me looking down at my notes every so often during our bouncing rhymes.

I didn't run into many problems at all for any of the programs except for one day, in which I chose to pack my first Toddler Storytime since school, my first planned=completely-by-me Preschool Storytime, and the aforementioned fancy dinner. All this was accomplished by a split shift graciously granted by my manager. So any and all stress was my own damn fault.

The Toddler Storytime started swimmingly. I introduced myself and informed all the parents that I was subbing in for K. We put out toys for the babies and toddlers to play with, and there was some confusion between me and the moms as to when the kids could play with them, but we got it worked out.

My only bugaboo was one mom who decided that she knew exactly how the program should be going, and wanted to tell me in detail...repeatedly. Now, to her credit, she was a lovely woman. And I honestly think that she believed she was trying to help. But after the fourth or fifth criticism (with accompanying reminder that I was just a substitute this week and K would be returning next week) my smiling facade finally broke. She asked if we were going to sing the Clean Up Song and let the kids put away the toys (because that's what Miss K always does).

So I told her she was welcome to lead us in the song, because I had honestly forgotten the tune. She asked again. I responded the same. So we both hemmed and hawed our way through the song and all was well. Toys away. Toddlers adjourned. Apocalypse averted. Everything was hunky dory.

The Preschool Storytime went smoother. We had one little boy who simply could not sit still, or down, or stop grabbing things. But he was all of four years old, and that is to be expected. His dad was very gracious about retrieving him. And again, fun was had by all.

That evening I attended a fancy awards banquet as table filler for my library. Traffic getting there was not of the fun, but dinner was excellent. I had the privilege of meeting a number of our library trustees and sitting next to the CEO, who kissass-ery aside, is a really cool person. Listened to some good Motown music live. Chatted with co-workers about library stuff. Hobnobbed with movers-and shakers. Nearly got to shake hands with the Mayor. Even got to nerd out about Buffy the Vampire Slayer with one of the higher ups. All in all an awesome night!

The subsequent two Preschool Storytimes and Baby Lapsits went smooth except for the part where I misplaced Green Eggs and Ham. But I gave the kids some extra craft time after the felt story and they were cool with it. So long story short (too late) I'm starting to feel like a real Children's Librarian. I am no longer the the Programming Poser! Yay!