LibraryAdventure.com: Five Ways to Use a Flannel Board

Not sure what to do with a flannel board? Visit my post at the Library Adventure today to learn five ways to use one with kids.

Ten Holiday Activities for Story Time

Thanksgiving - which is also the first night of Hanukkah - is just over two weeks away, which means the holiday season is upon us! Below are ten of my favorite activities to share at holiday-themed story times. (I have never worked in a library where the community celebrated Kwanzaa, so these activities pertain to Hanukkah and Christmas only.)

I Am Lighting all the Candles 

This song is sung to the tune of I've Been Working on the Railroad. (I wrote the lyrics.) Start with an empty menorah, then place the blue candle in the middle position. Explain that this is the candle used to light all the others. Then sing the first verse of the song, which goes like this:

I am lighting all the candles
On this Hanukkah night.
I am lighting all the candles
To see them shining bright.
Flicker, flicker little candles,
Fill me with your glow.
Now the time has come to count them

Ready, set and go
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8.

As you count to eight, place one candle in each space on the menorah.  Then sing the song again, with one change. Instead of "Now the time has come to count them," sing, "Now the time has come to blow them out." Then as you count, remove each candle from the menorah until none are left. Then remove the middle candle to signify the end of the song.

One Menorah Candle

Another menorah counting activity is this rhyme, which celebrates each of Hanukkah's eight nights. Add one candle at a time, until all eight are present, then recite the final verse.

One menorah candle
burning oh so bright.
Now we'll add another one -
it's Hanukkah's second night!

(Repeat, counting up to eight candles.)

Eight menorah candles
burning oh so bright.
We're celebrating Hanukkah -
the festival of lights!

Spin Little Dreidels 

Two years ago, when I was desperately seeking an action rhyme to accompany some Hanukkah books, Lisa from Story Time with the Library Lady shared a great one called Spin Little Dreidels. It was a huge hit with all the kids at my holiday story times that year, whether they celebrated Hanukkah or not. It will work with any Hanukkah-themed book, but I especially recommend it to accompany picture book versions of I Have a Little Dreidel.

Rudolph, Rudolph

Rudolph is a little bit confused. He's supposed to guide Santa's sleigh, but his nose is the wrong color!  So begins this silly rhyme:

Rudolph! Rudolph!
What will you do?
You can't guide Santa
If your nose is blue!

Rudolph! Rudolph!
Santa gave a wink.
But what will he think
If your nose is pink?

It's a long one, but the full text of the rhyme is available here. It concludes with the following:

Rudolph! Rudolph!
The children are in bed.
 And now I know you're ready
‘Cause your nose is red!

Ten Little Reindeer

For babies and toddlers, I like to incorporate some simple fingerplays into story time. I found this song, to the tune of Ten Little Indians, on this website, then wrote a second verse. At the end of  the second verse, kids love to point to their noses.

One little, two little, three little reindeer
Four little, five little, six little reindeer
Seven little, eight little, nine little reindeer
Pulling Santa's Sleigh

Ten little, nine little, eight little reindeer

Seven little, six little, five little reindeer

Four little, three little, two little reindeer

Rudolph leads the way!

Five Little Presents

Place five presents on the flannel board, with something hidden behind each one. Then reveal the presents one by one using this rhyme.

Five little presents underneath the tree
Five little presents  - could these all be for me?
I unwrap the red one to find out what's in there
I open up the box and it's a... TEDDY BEAR!

Click here for the rest of the gifts!

Christmas Alphabet 

The Christmas Alphabet is an old song, a version of which is available on YouTube. To perform this song at last year's holiday story time I created a set of letters that appear in the word CHRISTMAS, which, when reversed, revealed the image of whatever object corresponded to that letter in the song. I mounted them on red and green construction paper, then lined them up along the edge of the whiteboard and sang the song a cappella.

Download the letters CRSMS (red letters with a green border), here.

Download the letters HITA (green letters with a red border), here.

Download the objects for each letter (with labels) here. 

Let’s All Do a Little Clapping

This is an action song to the tune of We Wish You a Merry Christmas, which doesn't specifically refer to any holidays by name.

Let’s all do a little clapping
Let’s all do a little clapping
Let’s all do a little clapping
to spread holiday cheer.

You can replace "clapping" with almost any action - or ask the kids for suggestions.

Five Little Snowmen Riding on the Sled 

This is a great song to sing with kids who are familiar with Five Little Monkeys. You can also sing it about penguins.

Five little snowmen riding on the sled
One fell off and bumped his head
  Frosty called the doctor and the doctor said
"No more snowmen riding on that sled!"

At the Children’s Desk: “Is this book appropriate for a third grader?”

One of the most commonly asked questions I have encountered at the children's reference desk over the past three years is from parents wanting to know if a given book is appropriate for their child, based on his or her grade level. This could be a tricky question to answer, but over time, I have found ways of tackling it that satisfy parents and fulfill my desire to provide quality library service.

When dealing with a question like this, it is important to first identify what the parent actually wants to know. Some parents define appropriateness in terms of content. Are the action sequences violent? Do the characters in the book curse? Are there scary sequences that are likely to cause nightmares? When other parents ask about the appropriateness of a given book, they aren't concerned with content at all. Rather, they want to know if the book in question is too easy (or too difficult) for their young reader. Asking a few questions up-front goes a long way toward making sure librarian and parent are on the same page and having the same discussion.

Once I establish what the parent is actually concerned about, I do my best to answer the question they have asked with objective information. If the parent is worried about content, my answer would include everything I know about the book's subject matter, either from my personal reading of it, or from review sources. I might say, “Well, the story contains a sword fight, a rabid dragon, and some swear words. If you’re concerned about exposing him to those things, you might want to read the book first and see how you feel. I also know of two other books on the same subject that don’t include those things, if you’d like to see those.” Instead of deciding for the parents whether the book is appropriate for the child, I present the facts and let them make the call.

If the parent is worried about level, again, I can supply the facts that will help the parent make a decision. The local schools here use the Fountas & Pinnell Guided Reading system. There are several decent resources online for finding out a given book's guided reading level, and I let parents know which level is listed for the book in question and where I found it. Sometimes, kids attend private schools or come from out of town, and they prefer to know the Lexile number, or another system's reading level, and I do my best to look those up, too. By providing a reading level from an objective leveling system, I'm able to assist the parent without passing my own judgment on the book or the child's reading ability.

I know that public librarians feel strongly about promoting a blind love of reading, and some would go so far as to tell patrons they can't help them with questions about reading levels, or that reading levels don't matter. It's true that the public library generally doesn't support a prescribed curriculum, but it is still part of our job to support the users of our libraries by providing the information they truly need. However we feel about the reading level obsessed parents and teachers in our community, we need to be able to provide them with the information necessary to decide whether a given book is going to work for a given child.

I have found the following resources to be especially useful in assisting parents with questions regarding appropriateness:

• CommonSense Media's Book Reviews
  The reviews on this site are designed to inform parents about the content of books. The reviewers assign a particular age to each book, which represents when the book is most appropriate for kids to read.
• StorySnoops
  This site features a group of parents who blog about kids' books. It was "founded to [...] help [parents] seek out books that may reflect the experiences, interests, strengths or weaknesses of their own children."  
• Novelist K-8
  This subscription library database provides access to professional reviews of children's books, as well as subject headings indicating what is covered in a given book.
• Scholastic's BookWizard
  This tool allows users to search for a given title, and it will provide the Grade Level Equivalent, Guided Reading level, DRA level, and Lexile measure for the book. Some more obscure titles might not be in the database, but it is not restricted to just Scholastic's publications.
• Lexile.com
  Search for a given book's Lexile number and create reading lists.
• Local schools' websites
  Many school librarians and classroom teachers provide leveled reading lists for students and parents to access online. These are not always readily available, but many times they are right there for the taking and the parent just hasn't been made aware of them. It helps to bookmark pages for quick and easy access whenever a question comes up.

In the Story Room: Fighting Story Time Burnout

No matter how much you love story time, you are bound to get burned out now and then. Some libraries have the luxury of taking breaks from story time, or offering seasonal sessions, and these are great opportunities for those who can take them. Unfortunately, though, for those of us whose systems require year-round story time offerings, or for solo librarians who are the only story time providers for their libraries, it might not be that easy to simply take a break. Below are five other ways to break out of a story time rut.

• Visit another branch, or another library, and look for books you’ve never used before.
  For me, the greatest source of new story time books was always the main branch of my library system. My branch had a great collection, but the main library’s collection is both larger and deeper. Sometimes just browsing the shelves will spark a series of new ideas for themes or songs. Sometimes just finding one new book on an old familiar theme is enough to rejuvenate the entire concept and renew your excitement. Repetition is wonderful for kids, but if you’re sick of the books you’re reading, your audience will pick up on that in a heartbeat. Better to find some new favorites than to make yourself nuts with your 400th reading of Bark, George.
• Revamp your songs and rhymes library.
  There was a period of time where I sang The Wheels on the Bus three times in a row every Tuesday morning and twice more on Friday morning. I sang it because the kids loved it and the nannies responded to it, and I could count on at least five minutes of uninterrupted participation if I sang every verse I could think of. After a while, just the thought of turning my hands around and singing those opening lines was enough to make me want to stay home in bed. It was time to branch out. Thankfully, there are lots of resources for finding songs and rhymes for story time that will excite the kids without making you pull your hair out. Some of my favorites are:
  
  • King County Library System's Tell Me a Story Wiki 
  • Perry Public Library's Story Time Themes Page 
  • Preschool Express
  • Ladybug Magazine
  • Highlights High Five Magazine Audio Edition
  • My story time wiki (which includes songs and rhymes from many sources, including some I have written)
  Another great approach that has worked for me is writing my own piggyback songs based on familiar tunes the kids know and love. Sometimes just a new set of lyrics is enough to make an old favorite bearable once again.
• Change the structure of your story time.
  I like structure when I’m planning story time, and I think it helps the kids to have a predictable pattern they can anticipate. Unfortunately, though, a strict story time structure can sometimes become more of a burden than a blessing. For example, during the 2012-2013 school year, I introduced a letter of the day at every story time. It was a great way to add variety to story time without necessarily having to read more books, and it provided a nice opportunity to work in some of the flannel boards and fingerplays I had learned but not yet shared with kids. After twice through the alphabet, however, I began to dread the letter of the day. My audiences, too, had begun to fidget and squirm during this portion of story time. They’d seen it all. It was old news. I sat down with an outline of a story time and made some changes. I added an additional book, threw in a couple more songs, and added a magic envelope activity. Suddenly, what had seemed stale had a new lease on life and story time was once again a fun time for everyone.
• Ask colleagues for their favorites, and if possible, observe colleagues performing story times.
  Children’s librarians are such creative and giving people. If you ask them for new story time ideas, they will provide more material than you can ever possibly use - and they’ll have brand-new approaches to old favorites that you never imagined in your life. If you’re the only children’s staff person at your own branch, try getting in touch with other branches, by phone or by email, or at monthly meetings. If your system is small, or you’ve tapped out its resources, or you’re just shy, there are also great online communities, such as the Flannel Friday Facebook page, where you can ask questions and receive instant advice. Sometimes just seeing how someone else performs a song or acts out a story can change your whole perspective and get you excited about trying something familiar in a new way.

Performing story time is a fun job that we are lucky to have, and you don’t want to let yourself get so burned out that you stop enjoying it. When you find yourself in a rut, take the extra time to analyze what is causing you to grow weary of story time and give yourself permission to make the changes necessary to restore your sanity. Your story time audiences - and you - will be happier for it!