Family Story Time, 6/13

Oh, Monday story time. It never fails to perplex and frustrate! This week I had a good-sized audience, but very little participation. Again. I even increased the number of books, thinking maybe they'd prefer stories over songs, but that didn't seem to make any difference either. So... we press on. But here's what we tried out for today: 

Song: ABCD Medley by The Laurie Berkner Band (from Whaddaya Think of That?)

 Book: Daddy Makes the Best Spaghetti by Anna Grossnickle Hines (1986)
This was one of my favorite books to read to the preschool kids I worked with when I was in college. Corey is the only child in a family with two working parents, but when he goes home from daycare, he and his dad make spaghetti together, and then Mom and Dad both tuck him into bed. I love little slice of life stories like this, which affirm the love of a child's parents. And I love Anna Grossnickle Hines!


Song: Daddy's Ties
I forgot how hard this tune ("Mary Wore Her Red Dress") is to sing! I started too low and sounded like I was grumbling. I'll do better tomorrow.

Book: Mitchell's License by Hallie Durand, illustrated by Tony Fucile (2011)
I feel like this story went on a tad too long, overusing its one punchline, but the premise is great. Mitchell hates going to bed, so his dad gives him a license to drive himself to bed each night. With Dad serving as his car, Mitchell honks the horn (dad's nose), uses blinkers (a flashlight), and  has a collision (with Mom!) The Dad-as-car concept was a difficult one for the smaller kids to catch onto, but the preschoolers definitely enjoyed the humor.

Song: The Wheels on the Bus

Book: We're Going on a Lion Hunt by David Axtell (1999)
This is very similar to Michael Rosen's We're Going on a Bear Hunt but with a different setting, and an African-American cast. The kids enjoyed the various sounds of the different obstacles encountered on the hunt, but I think we scared a couple of the little ones with the lion.

Song: Monkeys on the Bed

Book: Anansi the Spider by Gerald McDermott (1972)
This is a book I remembered from my own childhood. I love the story, but really makes it is the bright color scheme in the illustrations. I also love the way the spider children come together to save their father - I'd forgotten anything beyond the vaguest gist of the story, and enjoyed revisiting it!


Song: Moon Moon Moon by The Laurie Berkner Band (from Victor Vito)

Goodbye Song: Skinnamarink

Summer Reading Program 2011

I've noticed that Abby and some other librarians whose blogs I read have been sharing their summer reading plans, so I thought I'd join in, too.

System-Wide:

My library system is centralized, which means that my instructions regarding major programs like summer reading come from administration, or, in the case of summer reading, a designated committee. This year, though I had the opportunity to join the summer reading planning committee, I didn't take it because I'm new and still learning how things work at my own branch. So my summer reading experiences so far have been shaped by the decisions made by the committee.

Here is how it's working:

Children birth to age 5 must come into the library to register. At that time, they receive a passport as their first incentive. The passport contains 7 pages, one for each continent on our globe. Each page has a series of circles on it, and one circle represents 15 minutes of reading. Their object is to fill in four circles on each page. When they have read for two hours, they win a coupon for a free donut from Dunkin' Donuts. At four hours, they receive a second coupon for a second free donuts. When they have read a total of 7 hours, they complete the program. The grand prizes are a picture book from Scholastic for kids up to 2nd grade, and a blank journal with the library's logo for 3rd grade through age 11. (Teens ages 12 and up have a separate program, but the entire thing takes place online.)


In addition to the reading contest, we also have a series of performers coming in to present musical programs, story times, and craft projects.

When it comes to all of this stuff, I am just a  representative of the library. I make sure the information is presented accurately to our customers, and take the registrations at the children's desk. But my own creativity only comes into play at the branch level.

At my branch: 

We kicked off the summer reading program last weekend - going on two weeks ago, already! - with a story time for birth to age 5 and a quilt craft for school-age kids. We handed out felt squares to the kids who wanted to participate, and they decorated their square with images and words that represented their interests, cultures, and personalities. We are currently brainstorming how best - and where best - to hang it, and then we'll give the kids their squares back when the summer comes to an end.

We've also added additional story time sessions to accommodate our growing crowds. My Tuesday morning Baby/Toddler story time has increased from two sessions, to three, and we've added a Tales for Fours and Fives on Thursday mornings for those Pre-K and K kids who will be out of school and in need of their own story time.

What we don't have is a regularly scheduled program for school-age kids, and that's because no one has come to any of  the programs we have tried to do - book discussions, movie showings, etc. - and we didn't know what else to try. We are doing one tween program to see if we get a turn-out, but I have no idea who or what to expect. That's the one thing I miss about my previous job - we did programming for every age group during the summer, and because we were so small, and served such a small population, we could afford all the supplies we needed. I'm probably going to be shelling out some of my own money to fund my tween program, and as much as I'd love to be able to do that all the time, I know I simply can't afford it.

But this is my first year here, and it's going to be a learning experience. I learn best by jumping in with both feet and figuring things out as I go, so by this time next year, I might feel more comfortable implementing my own ideas, and thinking outside the system's pre-determined framework. But for this summer, I'm just trying to get my bearings and draw as many kids into the program as I can.

What are you doing for summer reading? Feel free to share your plans in comments, or link to your own post!

Baby Lap Time, 6/10

I feel like such a liar every time I type the name of this story time. Half the time, the audience is less than 50% babies, and more than half the time, no one actually sits in a lap.

A lovely group today - a few of the moms and nannies discovered that their little ones were all born in the same week, and had a great time making friends and getting to know each other. Later on, a baby tried to climb my leg, and a four-year-old brought me her shoe just to make sure I saw it. Good times all around.

Here's what we had on our agenda:


Opening Song: Clap Along With Me (from Wee Sing for Baby) 

Rhyme: Dance Your Fingers

Rhyme: This is Big, Big, Big

Book: Hooray for Hands! by Begin Smart Books (2009)

Song: Los Pollitos by Elizabeth Mitchell (from You Are My Little Bird)
I have been singing this song non-stop whenever I'm not at work, to the point that I'm sure my boyfriend is sick of it, and/or ready to perform it for an audience. So many of the nannies who attend my story time are native Spanish speakers, so I wanted to make sure I had it down before I shared it with them. It didn't go quite as well as I would have liked, because remembering the Spanish and doing the hand motions is tricky, but it will get better as I do it more in front of a group.

Also, the Elizabeth Mitchell version has different lyrics than the ones I found in a quick Google search. Even the liner notes for her album, which I also found online, are not correct.  Here is what they should be:

Los pollitos dicen,
pío, pío, pío,
cuando tienen hambre,
cuando tienen frío.

La gallina busca
el maíz y el trigo,
les da la comida
y les presta abrigo.

Bajo sus dos alas
se están quietecitos,
y hasta el otro día
duermen los pollitos.

And here is the English version, which follows the Spanish:

All the little chicks say

pío, pío, pío,

When they are hungry

When they are cold

Mama chicken looks for corn and some wheat

To give them dinner

To give them heat

Underneath her wings, 

her chicks she'll keep

Until the morning, 

little chickies sleep.

Book: Bird, Fly High by Petr Horacek (2005)
A little bird hops, hops, hops, flaps, flaps, flaps, and cheeps, cheeps cheeps. Just the right amount of text for babies, and perfectly bright and colorful illustrations. I don't like it as much as Horacek's Butterfly, Butterfly, but it worked well.

Song: Chickadee by Lisa Monet (from My Best Friend)
I knew this song as a kid, but it wasn't until I found it on iTunes the other night that I remembered it. The Latin rhythm and catchy tune had everyone in the room singing and flapping their arms.

Song: I'm a Little Teapot

Song: Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes (from Wee Sing for Baby)
I am amazed every week at the number of kids who pat their heads when they hear the opening chords of this song. 

Book: Hola, Jalapeno! by Amy Wilson Sanger (2002)
Quesadillas, tamales, and guacamole make your mouth water on the unique and colorful pages of this celebration of Mexican food for babies and toddlers! My tongue tripped over some of the Spanish, but most of it's pretty simple, and the back cover offers a pronunciation guide. I especially love "Senorita Quesadilla's" dripping cheese, and the ending, where we're too full to take another bite!

Song: One, Two, I Love You (Numbers Are Our Friends)

Song: Where is Thumbkin?

Song: Old MacDonald (a cappella sing-along with puppets)

Song: ABCD Medley by The Laurie Berkner Band (from Whaddaya Think of That?)


Goodbye Song: We Wave Goodbye Like This

I'm starting to realize that more rhymes and fewer books and songs works best, but I don't have enough rhymes memorized to actually make that happen yet. I'll have to work on that this summer!

Flannel Friday: Daddy's Ties

Father's Day is coming, and I have all my books picked out for next week's story times, but couldn't find a Dad-themed rhyme or song that I really liked. So I came up with my own, and made a flannel board set using clip art to go with it.

Daddy's Ties  

(sung to the tune of "Mary Wore Her Red Dress")

 Daddy wore his purple tie,

purple tie, purple tie.

Daddy wore his purple tie

All day long.

 Daddy wore his yellow tie,

yellow tie, yellow tie

Daddy wore his yellow tie 

All day long.

Daddy wore his blue tie,

blue tie, blue tie

Daddy wore his blue tie 

All day long.

 

 

Daddy wore his red tie,

red tie, red tie

Daddy wore his red tie 

All day long.

 

I think this is my best flannel board set so far - and it has a lot of possibilities! I just made simple, plain-colored ties because I didn't have the time or supplies to get fancy, but I think it would be fun to make polka-dotted ties, striped ties, plaid ties - even bow ties. It's also the kind of idea that can be extrapolated to other things. I'm already thinking of making a similar set for a grandma or grandpa and who wears many different-colored pairs of glasses.

The clip art I used for this is in a pdf file here. Ties were tricky to find on Google, and I had to recolor the ones I did find in Word. If you're a fan of actual felt, it might be easier to just use a template and make your own cloth ties.