Books n Play for Pre-K 5/27/15

Hi! I wasn't going to write about Books n Play for Pre-K again for a while but since every session is so different, I felt inspired today. Last week my theme was dinosaurs and it included digging for "fossils" in a sandbox, which was really fun! This afternoon the theme was food, which is a theme I've done before but haven't done often or in a long time.

First, I read Hi, Pizza Man! by Virginia Walter. An oldie but a goodie... a greatie even. I've found this book to be successful every time I have ever used it in storytime. Parents like it too and most of them haven't ever heard it before. Then I followed it with the classic Pete the Cat, I Love my White Shoes by Eric Litwin and James Dean, which I guess isn't really that food-ish of a book, but kids aren't too critical about stuff like that... especially when it comes to Pete the Cat.

Next we sang "Picked a Strawberry" which tied in nicely with Pete the Cat, as seen on Jbrary below:



I started this song off by asking the kids what the first two things Pete stepped in were and I was happy that they remembered both strawberries and blueberries! Once we sang about picking those fruits, I asked what other berries we could pick and was met with raspberries, watermelon (we picked these from the ground), bananas, grapes, and apples. Berries shmerries, right? (Shout out to the awesome moms who jumped in and reminded me that bananas grow on trees. Shoulda brushed up on my fruit knowledge ahead of time! Also, shout out to the awesome kids who made sure to point out that we do not wash bananas.)

After the two books and the song, I had the kids break off to play at the craft table and the toy table.

Here's what was at the craft table:
1. Paper pizza collages. (See below)
2. Fruit and vegetable stamping. (See below)
3. This vegetable coloring sheet and crayons.

Here are the pizza collages:

And here is the fruit and vegetable stamping:

This is what was at the toy table:
1. Plastic fruit that velcros apart and together similar to this in a plastic "shopping basket."
2. A plastic scale that we had floating around and an assortment of foods from home for comparing weights. (See below)
3. This matching game I printed out from Life After C's "Free Food Pre-K Pack."

This is the scale and my array of food for weight comparison:

(Special thanks to my husband who didn't look at me too weirdly when I asked if I could borrow his grapefruit for work this morning.) And here are some of the kids learning that the can of corn always weighs the most:

I timed everything out really well today. I was able to cram so much in after toy/craft time. First I played the song Today is Monday by Greg & Steve as I showed them the the book Today Is Monday, by Eric Carle. I was afraid they'd get distracted for this but it was just the opposite. I can't believe how incredibly captivated they were as we looked through this book and listened to the song. They were like perfect, model three-to-five-year-olds. Maybe it was the book+song combo; I'm not really sure. But whatever it was, it worked great!

After this we did the Milkshake Song by Anne-Marie Akin (from the Wiggleworms CD), which was fun except that I'm pretty sure none of the kids were actually familiar with the concept of a milkshake.

Usually I like to end the class with both The Hokey Pokey and then my usual Goodbye Song (Laurie Berkner's Blow A Kiss) but this week I had a little extra time so I threw Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes in there also. By request, we did it again faster and then once more faster still. They're a funny age.

What worked best: The book Hi, Pizza Man! This book is great because it's funny, clever, and interactive. It gets kids to first greet the pizza man (Hi, pizza man!), then the pizza woman (Hi, pizza woman!), and then an assortment of animals who all deliver pizza while also looking super-posh (Meow meow, pizza kitty!, Mooooo, pizza cow!, Ssssss, pizza snake!, etc.) Overall this is a really great storytime book. Here's the pizza kitty:

What worked least: Probably the Milkshake Song, although I wouldn't call it a total bomb or even write it off as something I'm going to stop doing. It fits into the food theme and provides some variety, but it isn't a song that really gets the kids excited like Rocketship Run (Laurie Berkner) does or even the way Picked A Strawberry did this afternoon.

That's it for today! But on a finding-the-silver-lining note: The regular moms have continued (still!) to tell me that I was missed during my time out on disability. I think the whole incident has not only made them super-appreciative of what I do, but it's made me super-appreciative of how supportive and kind they are. I'm a lucky librarian! Until next time!

Books n Play for Pre-K 5/13/15

A few days ago I had my first week in a new session of one of my favorite weekly programs: Books n Play for Pre-K! I do this program about every other month in three or four weekly sessions, each 45-minutes long. The kids are ages 3-5 and I do a different theme with them each week. Generally, the time is broken down like this:

~15-20 minutes: Hello song, two books/three books, two/three songs
~15-20 minutes: Open play with toy table + craft/coloring table (with music)
~5-10 minutes: One more book or song, Goodbye song

This week, I decided to make bugs the theme even though I'm not exactly a fan of bugs. However there are just so many great bug books that it would be a shame to pass them over! Plus we happen to have a small supply of awesome buggy-type toys floating around the library, allowing bugs to be a really good and fleshed-out storytime theme.

My books were:
1. The Very HungryCaterpillar by Eric Carle (with this activity kit)
2. Yoo-Hoo, Ladybug! by Mem Fox
3. Big Bug, Little Bug by Paul Stickland

If you've never read Yoo-Hoo, Ladybug!, it's a super-fun book for kids of this age. Here's a page from it.  It's like Where's Waldo for storytime! Can you find the ladybug?

It's a challenge even for adults! (Hint: She's in a yellow car.)

This book mesmerizes the kids as they stare at the spreads, searching for that tiny, red ladybug. It's so cool and kind of under-appreciated in the library-world (but may not work with a group of more than ten kids).

We also played shakers to Laurie Berkner's "Bumblebee" and then the kids broke off to play at the toy table at the craft table. Here's what was there:

Craft table:
1. Pre-cut butterflies folded in half with the bottom glued to yellow paper. This allowed the kids to finger paint one side and then fold in half to create symmetry (See below).
2. These cute ladybug counting and number writing practice sheets from Child Care Lounge.
3. These Very Hungry Caterpillar coloring sheets from Eric-Carle.com.

This is the pre-cut butterfly for finger paint symmetry:

And for the toy table (such good stuff this week!):

1. Kiddie microscopes with bug viewing-blocks (See below).

2.  This Bee Hive sorting game, which is good for sorting and fine motor skills and fun to boot!

3. The Very Hungry Caterpillar board game.

4. Bugs-eye-view kaleidoscopes (See below). 

As I'd predicted, the kids really liked the microscopes:

And here's a symmetry butterfly and a ladybug counting worksheet:

What worked best: The Very Hungry Caterpillar activity kit. I gave the giant drawings of fruit out to the kids and I kept the caterpillar puppet for myself. When I got to the part about the caterpillar eating through each piece of fruit in the story, I took the puppet and "chomped" through the holes as the kids held them out, half scaring/half tickling each kid. They all loved this! They all shrieked with glee! Then I collected the fruit pictures back as I went along. I will totally be doing The Very Hungry Caterpillar with this kit again.

What worked least: Me trying to explain the concept of opposites (for Big Bug, Little Bug) without planning out what I'd say ahead of time. It's not that easy! I hate awkwardly stumbling!

Like I said in an older post about Books n Play For Pre-K, this is the kind of program that almost 100% depends on the kids who sign up. The group is usually on the smaller side (5-10 kids) so each child really helps create the mood and vibe of the room. It's always a good time though! What are your favorite buggy books for pre-k?

Musical Kids (for ages 17-35 months) + Back to work Update

Hooray! I am finally blogging about my Musical Kids middle age-group! And not only that, I am doing it from work!

It feels great to be back. It's been two weeks now and I am pretty much completely adjusted. My first day back was awesome! The first thing I saw when I came in was a huge, colorful sign that said "Welcome back, Laura! We missed you!" taped to my desk. Then there were hugs galore, both from staff members and wonderful patrons. People from all around the library stopped by my desk to greet me. And I even got some little presents! Then my favorite 3-year-old came in and, when she saw me, we locked eyes, paused, and then she ran to me and hugged me like we were in a movie. I couldn't have imagined a more perfect first day!

The days since have been great too. Reuniting with my regular storytime moms was both exiting and humbling. Seriously, the fact that these moms care even at all about their kid's librarian's car accident is amazing! They're all so sweet and appropriately sympathetic. This is why I missed work so much while I was out!

Anyway, this morning I had week 2 of my current session of Musical Kids, and as I promised back in early February, I am now going to discuss it on my blog!

The middle age group are 17-35-months-old. This is always my most well-attended of the three classes. Today I had 26 people, which is actually less than my usual crew (but also it's absolutely incredible outside so it's to be expected). These were a lucky 26 though because I'd consider this to be one of my best Musical Kids classes ever! It just worked.

Here's my playlist:
(red = ipod, blue = sing)

1. A New Way to Say Hello by Big Jeff
2. Tapping On My Sticks by Kathy Reid-Naiman (sticks)
3. The Tempo Marches On by Jim Gill (sticks)
4. Ain’t Got No Home by "Frogman" Clarence Henry (drums)
5. The Fly is on my Foot * See below
6. Rocketship Run by Laurie Berkner (rockets)
7. 5 Green and Speckled Frogs (monkey mitt)
8. We’re Going To Kentucky by Bob McGrath (shakers)
9. No More Monkeys by Asheba (shakers)
10. The Goldfish by Laurie Berkner
11. Blow a Kiss by Laurie Berkner

* The fly is on my foot was a total score that I found on Jbrary. It worked really well. We had the fly land on our feet, knees, stomachs, elbows, and noses. Here's the video for how it's done:

What worked best: Always Rocketship Run! In fact I almost can't not do Rocketship Run. These kids are obsessed with it. A while back I made rockets-on-sticks to give out to the kids, as well as signs that I hold up. Here's a picture of them:

The kids are so funny when we do this song. When I hold up a given sign, they all run up and touch their rocket to the sign, like they're really going to the sun/moon/etc. I've never told them to do this yet every week it happens. They totally invented it and it's continued on from week-to-week. IT IS ADORABLE. Additionally, this song always gets the loudest end-of-song cheer from both the children and the adults. So basically, it's always a hit.

What worked least: It's minimal but sometimes the giving out and returning of instruments can be chaotic. This group is large and they sometimes get eager and crazy. However, it always works out. The kids really like to run up and choose their instrument from the bin, so there can be a lot going on at once. But after about two-minutes of what seems like chaos, it's done and everyone has an instrument.

It's so great to be back! And even greater to know (really know) that I was missed. I'll post again soon!

Collage Workshop + BONUS Happy News!

Last week I missed out on yet another program that I was really looking forward to. This one is super easy and also super Earth-friendly. Plus it's even a crowd pleaser! I bring you Collage Workshop.

I did this program once last summer and I was really excited about bringing it back. It's genuinely as easy as this:

Old magazines + scissors + glue + blank paper.

There's not a lot to say-- that's the whole program, but it's great! You get to go green by reusing your old magazines after you weed 'em! It's a win-win and requires almost no preparation. Give me one good reason NOT to do this program.

As far as my progress... BIG NEWS. I am going back to work one week from today! I'm actually kind of nervous. My first program will be Friday, May 1 and I'll be diving right in with Musical Kids. Maybe I'll even blog about the middle group, like I kept meaning to do!

Either way, the next post on this blog will be from a back-to-work, full-time children's librarian (me)!

If You Give a Cat a Cupcake (complete with cupcake bar)

From the (not very) mixed-up files of LibraryLaura... If You Give a Cat a Cupcake!

First, I think Laura Numeroff's whole "If You Give a..." series is cute, funny, and great for subtly teaching kids about sequence. However, they're not my favorite for storytime groups. For whatever reason, I find that I tend to get lost in them, losing the whole "If this, than that" concept. Yet, when I saw this Decorate Your Own Cupcake worksheet from Harper Collins not only was I sold, but I decided to up the ante. Here is my cupcake bar:

From left to right: Cupcake Holders (these are made from different kinds of interesting and colorful fabrics, pre-cut to look like cupcake tin liners), Cupcakes (pre-cut felt in different colors [flavors?]), Frosting (pre-cut white cardstock), Decorations (self-adhesive jewels similar to these), Cherries (pink and red pom-poms). Back row: Tacky glue, stamping markers, and these self-adhesive magnet coins from S&S).

This is another program from my days at the Brentwood Library. It probably doesn't need to be said that I began this program by reading the book, If You Give a Cat a Cupcake by Laura Numeroff. I had convinced my department head that this If You Give a Cat a Cupcake Puppet and Props set from Kaplan Toys (also seen to the left) was crucial in making the storytime portion of this program just as good as the craft portion. This probably stemmed from my personal hang ups and squirminess with reading this book to a group. At the time, I really though this props set would help alleviate my discomfort and also help the kids keep track of the events going on in the story. But looking back, it didn't. In fact, I think if anything, it was distracting for both the kids and for me-- especially the part where you dress the puppet up in a karate suit. However, I do think it was successful overall anyway. And actually, it seemed like the kids had no trouble following the sequence of events in the book. (Just me, I guess? Hm.) In fact, at the end of the book, when I asked, "And all that happened because the cat asked for what?" the whole group very matter-of-factly answered, "A cupcake!" So I'd say yep, they got it.

Here are some of the colorful cupcake magnets and their creative designers:

I also thought I'd put out a bunch of the Decorate Your Own Cupcake worksheets as a second, quick craft. I really didn't expect them to be just as enthusiastic about this as they were about my cool cupcake bar, but they were! They wound up getting really creative-- sticking jewels and pom-pom "cherries" to those also. Here are a few examples:

I guess that's proof that you just never know what will and won't work! And speaking of working and not working...

What worked best: They loved the style of just having a bunch of cupcake related things to be creative with. If I was lazier, probably could have saved myself a lot of time and just put out the printed worksheets, the adhesive jewels, and the pom-poms, but I definitely think it was nice having a variety of different things out for them to work with. This particular group was great too, just really enthusiastic and appreciative of the whole program.

What worked least: I don't know if I'd go as far as to say anything didn't work here, but I definitely think using a book that I wasn't 100% comfortable reading to a group was a challenge for me. And it probably came through, subconsciously, as I read. Also the puppet and props set, while cute, didn't really aid in my telling of the story.

Hoping I am in the final stretch of my time out on disability now. Until next time...

The Jolly Postman

As I'm still home, it's time for me to write about another program of the past. Today I bring you The Jolly Postman...

I was in first grade the first time my teacher read The Jolly Postman by Allan Ahlberg to my class. I can still remember it really well-- not just sitting on the red storytime rug, totally entranced by the collection of pretend letters my teacher displayed and read to us, but going home that day, sitting down with my mom's scrap paper and making my own Jolly Postman-inspired book of fake mail. Fake mail between fake people, I just loved it.

As an adult, I guess I hoped other kids would feel the way I felt-- enamored with the book and inspired to make their own. I wanted to design a program that allowed them to do it more easily and more cohesively than my stapled-together-scrap-paper. Putting this program together was a lot of work, but I wound up running it three times in three different libraries, so I guess I achieved whatever the work-load equivalent is of getting my money's worth. Plus, it's been at least 5-years since I did it at Huntington, so I could probably run it again in a few months.

Anyway, of course, we started off by reading The Jolly Postman. Even so many years later, I think the kids really enjoyed this book. Then we moved on to the activity: Personalized Jolly Postman books (made by me).

YOU CAN DOWNLOAD MY FULL BOOK TEMPLATE (PDF) HERE!

Binding the book was the biggest challenge. At Huntington, we had one of those long-reach staplers and that worked pretty well. In another library, I closed the book and put staples down the outside, close to the spine, then covered the staples with duct tape for safety. That's the one shown above. In the third library, we had a print shop. Those looked the nicest because someone else did them, but they appeared to have been done with a stronger, better quality long-reach stapler.

Other book-making supplies: plain envelopes, different kinds of stationary (I made my own in Publisher), stamp stickers (I also made these in Publisher: I found images of old stamps online, shrunk them down so I could fit 2 on a label template, printed the labels, then cut each in half--viola!) + markers, pencils, and glue sticks.

I also put out a list of people that the kids might want to write letters to, to help inspire them. The list included things like mom, dad, sister, brother, grandma, grandpa, favorite book character, favorite toy, best friend, pet, favorite teacher, and of course, librarian. (No takers on this one. Hm.)

Then the kids got to work! They filled in their books with letters and drawings of the people who received the letters.

The groups were all in grades 1-5 and (after the story) had about 45 minutes to work on their books. As usual, this probably wasn't enough time for most of them to really do a great job, but for a few, it was more time than necessary. I think this is just the case for all programs all the time when you're working with kids. 

Do you know how sometimes you get one child in a program who, for whatever reason, you just find yourself helping and chatting with the most? The third time I ran this, it was a girl named Alanis, who, at the end of the session (when everyone else had finished and she was the only one left in the room) asked me to help her write as she dictated and also to help her draw a picture of a family. She'd always been a kid I really liked but if she hadn't been, her adorably sweet letter would have won me over. I wanted to share:

The Jolly Postman, ladies and gentlemen, helping children thank their parents since 1986!

Anyway, as the children finished writing each letter, it was slipped into an envelope. Then that envelope was glued, open, onto the page. It ultimately looks like this:

Apologies for this terrible drawing of my parents.

Overall this was a fun program! I don't know if these Jolly Postman books ever became the treasured keepsake I had originally envisioned them becoming, but I absolutely think every child who made one had fun doing so. And I also think it was a nice opportunity for them to be creative, practice writing, practice drawing, and hear one of my favorite childhood books.

What worked best: The reading of the book was definitely a hit. Also, I think the kids enjoyed the idea of writing letters to people and then drawing whoever the letter was for. However...

What worked least: I think the way the whole book worked was kind of lost on some of the kids. Several had trouble understanding how to follow it along-- filling in where there were blanks, what to do with their letters, or where to draw which picture. Many at the younger side of the age group also had thad trouble writing.

A possible solution: In one of the libraries where I did this, many of the parents joined their children for the program. (A side note: Most of my programs for this age group are designed for the children to attend without their parents but, personally, I have always been pretty flexible about this. While every librarian is different and some libraries are more strict than others, if I have the option to, I will always say "Sure, it's up to you" if parents ask if they can come in.) Anyway, I think in this case, the kids who had their parents with them were at an advantage because the adults were able to help the children follow along through the pages of the book. The kids were still able to do the actual writing and drawing, but I think having the one-on-one help allowed them get more out of the activity. So perhaps, for next time, this would be better marketed as a "Family Program" or "Grades 1+ with family" instead of just "Grades 1-5."

I'm counting down the weeks until I return to work, but I should have a few more programs of the past to write about before then. Stay tuned!

Discover Picture Book Art

Hey again! Yesterday afternoon I missed out on yet another program that I enthusiastically planned out and was looking forward to doing. Yet, despite that, I'm feeling pretty good! I think I can finally see a light at the end of the disability tunnel. I've still got a few weeks to go, but the light is finally, a little bit, shining.

Anyway, I wanted to share my plan and the details of yesterday's program, even though I wasn't actually there to see it through. It was called Discover Picture Book Art. The inspiration for it came from when I saw the great Lois Elhert speak at a conference last October.

She spoke with her editor, Allyn Johnston. The dynamic between them and the stories Ms. Elhert told us about her childhood were so interesting and inspiring. I also attended a Lois Elhert book discussion at this conference, where we had the chance to create Lois Elhert-inspired art using what was basically scraps and junk. Here are three of our creations (mine's the cat all the way on the right):

After this, I had it in my head that I would do a Lois Elhert program, where I read a few of her books, then let the kids craft with leftover old craft scraps.

I guess it was some time during my description of enthusiastically reusing garbage, when my colleague suggested taking it up a notch and including other illustrators too. Well, to that I say... Consider it done!

I decided to pick 4 illustrators who's art, to me, had a particular kind of distinguished style. First, of course, was Lois Elhert, but deciding on three more was hard! Eventually I chose Michael Hall, Mo Willems, and Jean Marzollo (I Spy) to complete the list.

Like I said, I'm out on disability, but my colleague executed this program so beautifully. She is incredibly artistic and a talented librarian; the kids were almost lucky to have her fill in for me. There is no way I would have pulled this off as well as she did.

I'll take credit for the plan though. I envisioned this:

4 stations set up around the room-- one for each artist: Lois Ehlert, Michael Hall, Mo Willems, and Jean Marzollo. I planned to put books from each illustrator on the tables and briefly go through the different art techniques they used with the kids. Then the kids would get a chance to create art in the style of each illustrator.

On the Lois Ehlert table: MISCELLANEOUS JUNK AND SCRAPS (with a side of enthusiasm)!

On the Michael Hall table: I'd envisioned this being somewhat similar but instead of just junk, there would be die-cut shapes.

On the Mo Willems table: These "How To Draw Pigeon" sheets from Classymommy.com and, of course, paper and pencils.

On the Jean Marzollo table: A bunch of little toys and miscellaneous things and some kind of trays or plates. Then have the kids create a "scene" by arranging the stuff and then choosing one random item to "spy".

Here is how my colleague set up the room. I love how she put everything around the perimeter of the room, like an awesome, creative buffet. Did I mention she's wonderful?

Lois Elhert Table

Michael Hall Table

Mo Willems Table

Jean Marzollo Table

Here are some of our creative young patrons making really impressive art (I shouldn't be surprised):

These photos were sent to me along with a text saying, "The program was a great success. Some kids were asking if we would have it again." 

So great to hear! But, of course, the big question is, can I think of 4 more illustrators? (Anyone have any ideas?)