Miss Michelle @ MPL: Fun and Learning @ the Library

Ants in the Pajama Pants

2013-06-15T07:00:00.000-04:00

We discussed insects, specifically ants, in Pajama Time this past week. I'm sure insects are called creepy-crawlies for a reason, but I didn't get into the yuck factor with the kids...other than the little gal who told us all about how her mom hates spiders. Mom was not happy.

Anyway, we kicked off the program with Ant, Ant, Ant! (An Insect Chant) by April Pulley Sayre. It's an epic ode to insects and fun to read. We had an in-depth conversation on how stinkbugs do not actually emit a green cloud when they let loose the stank. The kiddos were really into this one and I'll definitely use the book again.

We then did "The Ants Go Marching" up to number 5, because the kids were tired of marching by that time. The next book was The Ant and the Grasshopper by Rebecca and Ed Emberley. This story is loosely based on the Aesop fable of the same name, however the Grasshopper is in a band that helps the ant carry on her daily work by playing music for her. No hard feelings or hunger at the end. The kiddos were less impressed with this book, but I had a pretty young crowd. I really like this one.

Obviously.

After a rousing rendition of "A Bug is on My Toe," we did our craft. The original idea I found on Pinterest. The text says "If you were as small as a little red ant, what would you do that big people can't?" Supplies used: construction paper (green, red, black), googly eyes, black pipe cleaners (chenille stems for all you early childhood people out there), glue stick, tape, crayons. The kiddos had fun putting this together. Minimal parental help was needed, which is a good thing when we're trying to work on fine motor skills (you're welcome, early childhood people).

Last but not least, I read Hey, Little Ant by Phillip and Hannah Hoose. I enjoy this book and like the way it ends, because you don't know if the turd of a kid steps on the ant. I saw the wheels in the kiddos little noggins turning as we read this book. Good stuff.

We rounded out the PJ Time with a bit of parachute, and I showed them the fly swatting game I made...but that's another blog.

Next Post: Ready, Set, Read! Summer Edition

Dig into Gardening! Part Two: Is Poop Appropriate?

2013-06-14T12:27:00.000-04:00

It has been a fun week here at MPL. On Monday, I had an outdoor program that was totally awesome, and extended the Dig into Gardening theme to story time on Tuesday and Wednesday. We read two books, did some vegetable painting, and played Ring Around the Rosy with the parachute. A serious question resulted from the book A Garden for Pig by Kathryn K. Thurman: Is poop appropriate?

Here's the story: Pig lives on an apple farm. Mrs. Pippins, Pig's owner, makes Pig many delicious apple dishes for him to eat. Pig, however, is definitely over the apple monotony that is dinnertime, so he decides to be sneaky and works himself into Mrs. Pippins' garden and eats some GLORIOUS squash. Mrs. Pippins is upset with Mr. Pig and decides to put him back in his pen. Pig is totally bummed out that he doesn't have any squash, but he is patient. THEN HE POOPS, AND WITH IT COMES SQUASH SEEDS THAT GERMINATE INTO LOVELY SQUASH FOR PIG. Pig eats squash. Pig is happy. The end.

How's that for a great gardening story?! Seriously, I die.

Here's the super-crazy-sad part NONE OF THE KIDS I READ THIS BOOK TO UNDERSTOOD WHAT HAPPENED (except my son who has an impeccable sense of humor). I even gave them a heads-up to PAY ATTENTION because if they didn't, they would totally miss it. I got a bit of a rise from the caregivers, who were like, "Oh. Ohhhhh...chuckle chuckle." The part of my heart that secretly loves a good dookie joke died a little.

So, Libraryland, is poop appropriate for storytime? I think so, but I'm all about putting everything out there for discussion. I mean, this book makes pig poo an integral part of the story, and none of the kids even realized what was happening. Do we not talk about our bodies, folks? How many times have we sang Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes? So can't we talk about poo? Maybe even just for ha-has? Perhaps I should break out the Everybody Poops by Taro Gomi to remind everyone that IT happens.

Next Post: Ants In Our Pajama Pants (and no poo, I swear.)

Dig into Gardening!

2013-06-11T16:01:00.000-04:00

I got to wear my turquoise Crocs to work yesterday. No one questioned my fashion faux pas because I was doing an outdoor gardening program. Little do they know that I'm a closet Crocs fan. Fashionable? No. Comfortable? As a pair of stirrup stretchy pants, no doubt.

Don't Judge.

Anyway, I had a great turnout for Dig into Gardening yesterday. 33 kids and 20 adults hung out in MPL's courtyard with me while I muttered prayers of please Mother Nature keep us dry until 11:15. We stayed dry and everyone had a great time...huzzah!

Nom Nom Nom

I kicked it off with a book: Growing Vegetable Soup by Lois Ehlert, one of my all-time picture book author crushes. (Even though all the books I used were by Ehlert, I actually chose both books because we have giant copies of each, which was really nice for the large crowd's outdoor viewing pleasure.)

After our first story, I taught the kiddos a motion song to the tune of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" called "Dig, Dig, Dig the Earth." I think I found it in The Mailbox Magazine, but I honestly can't remember. Here goes:

Dig, Dig, Dig the earth (digging motion)

Plant your seeds in rows (drop those seeds)

A gentle rain (rain with fingers)

And bright sunshine (arms over the head)

Will help your flowers grow (make arm into flower growing)

Then we sang "A Bug is on my Toe" to the tune of "The Farmer in the Dell." This is from Storytime Magic by Kathy MacMillan. I gave out little plastic bugs from Oriental Trading for keepsies and we placed them on body parts while singing along. I move from top to bottom and then we squash the bug with our feet at the end. Violent, I know...but some of those plastic bugs were ticks, and I'm gonna squash those until I die. Just saying.

And now for the pièce de résistance: playing in the dirt!

Can you dig it?

I filled two baby pools with potting soil and let the kiddos go to town. I supplied them with small pots, lettuce seeds, and stickers to decorate their pots. Why lettuce? The germination time for mesclun mix is about 15-30 days. I'm pretty sure most kids don't want to wait 60 days for their plants to grow. At least I don't, and I'm ten times older than some of these kids, so, you know. Anyway, again with the exclamation points, they loved it!!! There were kids still digging with the trowels 20 minutes after the program officially "ended."

I wrapped up the program with Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert (swoon). I announced that we would be reading one last book, but the kids who were still highly involved in digging could keep on going. I didn't want to be that guy who said "Hey, stop playing you kids! We're gonna read now!" Nope. Dig your little hearts out. I still had a crowd for the book, however, and kids really like this one because of the rainbow theme.

I'll definitely keep this on the list of summer programs to repeat. Success!

Next post: Dig into Gardening, Storytime Style

Camping at the Library

2013-06-10T16:46:00.000-04:00

For the first Pajama Time of the summer, we discussed camping. I went camping many times when I was younger. I have fond memories, but now my favorite outdoor activity is reading a book on the porch, with a beverage that may or may not have an umbrella.

Anyway, we started off with an amazing snack of no-bake s'more bars. The library's administrative assistant is the Martha Stewart of our staff, and I asked if she would bust these pseudo-camping treats out for us. Man, they were delicious. I would have taken a picture, but we ate them all.

Whist pigging out on s'more bars, I read Little Critter at Scout Camp by Mercer Mayer. I got a great response to the critters finding a skunk in the woods, but the rest of the book was lukewarm. I like the dry humor in Mayer's Critter books, but I guess the kids aren't into it. That, or they were too loopy on sugar to make any sense of the book.

After Little Critter, I went right into Camping Day by Patricia Lakin. I like this book because of the rhyming lilt of the story, even though it's a bit tongue-twisty. The dinosaur family decides to go camping, sets up, has some fun, then gets scared of a shadow (actually one of the dinosaur's), and drives home to camp in their own backyard. I'm not sure if there were any umbrella drinks, but there should have been.

Whooooo didn't change the empty roll?

The library staff has been wondering why they have been saving toilet paper rolls for me (thank you!). Here's one of the reasons: toilet paper roll owls. Super cute, eh? My superheroine volunteer, Beth, pre-painted these lovelies for me with tempura. I stuck the eyes and paper beak onto sheets of glue dots and let the kiddos stick and color in feathers and whatnot. One of the little boys wouldn't talk for the rest of the program, he just hooted via his owl. It was kinda adorable to me...not so much to Grandma.

We ended with a nice fishing expedition. I found the idea for this game in The Mailbox. I printed, laminated, and cut a fish template. I used transparent circle label stickers that we use to label some of our materials (thanks workroom stash!) to add lowercase and uppercase letters to the fish. I then attached paperclips so we could "fish" for them with paint stirrer+string+tape+magnet fishing poles. The object of the game is to catch a fish, recognize the letter, and placing it in the large bucket for uppercase, or the small bucket for lowercase. The kids did a great job. The only drawback is the inevitable tangle of the fishing lines. At least there aren't hooks to deal with!

Gone fishin'.

Next Post: Dig into Gardening!

Dig into Construction!

2013-06-06T17:21:00.000-04:00

Ever since I started driving, I have really disliked construction. I mean, I understand why stuff needs to be built/fixed and whatnot, but golly gee...why does half the highway need to be closed all summer? I digress...this week was the first week of summer storytime, and we talked about construction!

Thank you, Mr. Obvious.

I started storytime with some "Storytime Suggestions" for my patrons: i.e. be on time, interact with your kid, leave if your kid is acting a fool. We moved on to I'm Dirty by Kate and Jim McMullan. I like this as a read aloud because the text is very conversational. Here I am reading it aloud for your pleasure. I was hungry at the time, so I say "flatbread truck" instead of "flatbed truck," but I know you'll understand.

Then I led a rousing rendition of "Ten Little Dump Trucks." You know: one little, two little, three little dump trucks? It was cute. I gave the kids a laminated handout of ten dump trucks and we counted our little heads off.

Next we did an action song to the tune of "Wheels on the Bus" taken from Storytime Magic by Kathy MacMillan called "At the Construction Site." The kiddos really liked this because of all the movement. I really liked it because it tied in really well with the next book: Tip Tip Dig Dig, by Emma Garcia.

Build Build

This book appeals to every age group and gender. The ladies especially liked the purple concrete mixer. All the machines are vividly painted, which makes this a wonderful book to practice colors as well.

If you look closely, you can see me taking a picture of the picture! Ooh!

Our craft was this spiffy bulldozer that I found on this blog via Pinterest. I had the shapes cut so we didn't have any "dreaded scissors" on the table, but the kids glued them onto the paper, then tore paper to make the rocks.

Nothing runs like a plastic Deere.

I have retired the toy box, at least for the summer, if not for all time. I made cool totes with river rocks complete with bulldozers that the kids could play with. In early childhood speak, these would be "sensory bins." I also put a couple tubs of Legos on the tables like I did at the Summer Reading Kickoff so everyone would have something to play with if they weren't keen on the rocks. The kids LOVED this stuff!!! (I use exclamation points sparingly, so you know this means business.) I'm definitely going to work in more of these kinds of things to my story times. *High five!*

Summer is off to a rockin' start. (See what I did there?)

Next post: S'more Pajama Time

Summer Reading Kickoff!

2013-06-03T13:42:00.000-04:00

MPL's Summer Reading Kickoff Party was Friday. I woke up early Friday morning, thinking about all the stuff I still needed to do, and then I heard it.

RAIN. BOO.

The party was supposed to be outdoors. With our quick-like-bunny thinking skills, Casey (mah boss lady) and I decided that it was indoor party time. Instead of a dinosaur dig, I whipped up a quick dinosaur craft and busted out the trusty Lego box.

DIG INTO LEGOS!

The craft table before it got REALLY messy.

Noodlesaurus, with coffee "dirt."

I was stationed at the craft table. I smelled like coffee for two days afterward! We also had a Game Truck, which is a giant truck that kids can board and play video games inside! Whoa, right?

Objects in the picture are larger than they appear.

The only line that formed was for Face Painting. Look at the serious face our teen volunteer is wearing. Strictly business!

We signed up over 150 kids for summer reading on Friday! Wahoo! Everyone had a great time and is ready to read!

Casey Explains It All.

Next Post: Dig Into Reading: Construction!

Getting (un)Schooled @ The Library

2013-05-22T13:59:00.000-04:00

I am not a teacher by profession. I do not have a teaching license, teaching degree, or even a desire to have any of the above. However, I find that since the library, my workplace, is a learning space, many people decide that I'm here to teach them something.

I have started my journey in Libraryland at a time when early literacy library programs are "research based" and "helping kids get ready for school." I'm all about research, when left to the professionals, and helping kids get ready for school is great, but I guess I'm wondering, where's the fun in all of this?

I don't see any fun here.

My colleagues and I have been thinking about what we want our children's department to be. I think we have overwhelmingly agreed that we are not here to do alphabet flashcard drills, or do STEM programs with massive experiments for the sake of saying "Oh yeah, we do lots of educational programs. Drop your kids off and we'll teach them something."

I don't think kids want that kind of experience at a library. I think the library, unlike school, is a place where kids should be free to choose what they want to read/watch/experience. Your kid likes to read Captain Underpants: He's reading. Get over the subject matter and let the child read. Reading is fun, don't mess that up for him by saying "No, I'm sorry. You can't read that. It's not educational enough."

On the flipside, there are parents that make their kids go to library programs, whether the child is interested in the subject of the program or not. For the sake of the sanity of everyone involved, parents, please don't do this. If little Jenny doesn't like dinosaurs, please don't force her to sign up for a prehistoric dinosaur adventure. She's not going to learn anything, OR have fun.

I was one of those kids that loved going to school. I know that many kids don't, which makes me feel sad, but I hope that the library can be the place that they like to stop by, check out a book, and learn something that they care about without feeling pressured that they should learn something (OR ELSE!).

I think if we as residents of Libraryland make programs fun-focused, we'll be giving ourselves, and our schoolteachers, the job security that we all deserve. And more importantly, we'll be giving the kids the fun (and learning) they deserve.

Read Along With Me! Volume One

2013-05-20T08:56:00.000-04:00

This is the first installment of Read Along With Me!, a read aloud series I'm putting together for our Summer Reading Program. Many of the books I'll be reading will be used in story time, but I will be throwing in some longer, too-good-to-miss stories that wouldn't work in my programs.

What do you think? Any suggestions from Libraryland?

Still Swamped.

2013-05-14T11:57:00.000-04:00

There are 17 days left until Summer Reading starts. (Hold on while I go find a paper bag to hyperventilate into. Thanks.)

Much better.

Summer Reading isn't really the issue for me, as I work with preschool kids. I have all that stuff lined up and ready to go, except for the copies of the reading logs, and the swag bags, and the sand/bones/brushes for the dinosaur dig happening on May 31st. Oh God, nevermind. Evidently I don't have my stuff ready to go.

Panic!

What is really giving me the fits is planning my programs. I have everything written down, well almost everything. I have storytime done. Half of Pajama Time is done. All of my "special" programs are pretty well nailed down. For Baby Time, I have decided to unveil the new Very Ready Reading program that I snagged from Upstart. I was going to wait until fall, but by golly, I need to make things a bit easier on myself.

My computer was gone for almost a whole week, so I have "binders full of programs." (Is that still a relevant joke? I dunno. Anyway...) I also cleaned the program room, which isn't done yet, even though I started almost two weeks ago.

I guess the Reader's Digest version of this post is: Have you ever been so busy you feel like you haven't gotten anything done? Holy cow.

Swamped!

2013-05-08T15:36:00.000-04:00

I'm swamped with summer reading planning, AND my computer has been down for two days.

I have nothing witty to say, I'm just making sure I can still write coherent sentences.

Maybe next week I can write an entire post!

Morris the Gnome

2013-05-01T11:19:00.000-04:00

My fabulous boss had a great idea for a fun summer reading activity. The CSLP theme this year is "Dig Into Reading" and evidently gnomes fall into the category, as they are believed to guard underground treasures. (Thanks, Wikipedia, for giving me a connection between gnomes and digging. I was mystified.) Most of us know The Roaming Gnome from those funny Travelocity commercials, and we have taken it a step further and made our own Library Gnome.

Story Time!

Meet Morris. I Googled "gnome with book" so I could find an appropriate image for our Library Gnome. I then laminated him (and his twin brother, just in case Morris goes missing!) He's hanging out in the display case, reading a story to the hedgehogs. The sign behind him says that Morris is taking a vacation this summer and that starting June 1st, kids can find him in the library and enter a drawing to win a weekly prize. I'll be making a box soon for kids to put entries with their names, phone numbers, and the location they found Morris.

Gnome, Sweet Gnome

I used materials I had on hand for this display: brown packing paper for the "tree bark," green paper/plastic leaves/floral moss/aquarium rock for the "ground." Here's a close-up of the door. It's quite cute!

Complete with Snail Mail box.

What kind of passive programs are you doing for summer?

Pajama Time!

2013-04-30T15:02:00.000-04:00

When I first started at my library, I was bequeathed a program called Pajama Time. I have to work one evening a week, Thursday, and I have PJ Time that night. This past week was the last PJ Time until June, and we had a lot of fun! Our theme? Pajamas!

The books: Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney, Pajama Time by Sandra Boynton, and Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown. The PJ kids range in age from 0-6, so I try to pick a wide array of books. I feel I did a pretty good job this time around: tons of rhyming, simple stories, and very sing-songy as far as read alouds go.

The program: We had snacks tonight for the first third of the program. It was a par-tay atmosphere since it was the last PJ Time of the semester. I led them in a jovial round of 'Open Shut Them' which you can watch me do here:

Between books, we also did The Animal Alphabet and Five Little Monkeys with monkey stick puppets. Three of the kids' favorite songs that I'm going to retire for the summer. Sorry, my lovelies: Miss Michelle has an Animal Alphabet hangover. Y'all can YouTube it for the next four months, mmmkay?

The craft: I thought it would be cool for the kids to design their own pajamas. I encourage them to wear their jammies to PJ Time, so it's pretty apropos to have a jammy craft, right? They certainly liked the craft, and I'll definitely do it again. I couldn't find a good pajama template online, which was the complaint on this website for their Llama Llama craft, so I drew my own. I'll be good enough to share it with you. Yes, yes, you're welcome.

Looks like PJs, right?

My finished product...complete with fuzzy slippers.

As I said earlier, this was the last Pajama Time until June. Today marked the last programs I'm doing until summer reading starts. Whew. I need a break. Which I'm really not going to get because I'm going to be busy planning thirty different summer programs. Um yeah. I need to find a paper bag to hyperventilate in now.

Anyway, anyone else do a PJ Time? Have any favorite bedtime stories to share? Let me know!

First the...

2013-04-25T17:39:00.000-04:00

eggchickeneggchickeneggchickeneggchickeneggchickeneggchickeneggchickeneggchicken!

We read First the Egg this week. The kids really liked the simplicity of the pictures and story. It's a story time keeper, as well as a Caldecott and Geisel Award winner!

Then we read There Is a Bird on Your Head!, another Geisel winner. Finally, a Mo Willems book that 90% of the kids laughed at. Hooray! I love all of Willems' stories, but I think most of them went over the heads of my story time groups. It's alright...I'll save them for the school visits.

For our extension activity, we made this adorable bird craft. I don't have a picture of mine, the teen librarian stole my camera for the day, so follow the link for the original idea. The kiddos really liked this craft, even if their caregivers did most of the work. (I'm totally going to process art for the next set of programs!)

Whew. This upcoming week is the last week of story time until June. I'm on the cusp of spring storytime and summer reading, so I feel like I'm doing ten million things at once! Fortunately, I'm throwing parties this week, so a third of my planning has been done for me, factoring in fifteen minutes of snacks. Pajama Time is this evening, so I'm off to make sure everything is squared away.

Next Post: Pajama Time Pajama Time

I'm a Poet and I Know It

2013-04-22T14:30:00.000-04:00

April is Poetry Month. I used to really dislike poetry when I was a student, because I could never understand what the heck was going on in any of the poetry I was forced to study. Fences make the best neighbors? Huh?

On the other hand, I have always wanted to like poetry. My junior year of high school, I had to do a writing project on Gulliver's Travels, and I chose to rewrite the story in haiku. I wish I could find the floppy disk with that paper still on it. My teacher made me read it in front of the class. I was confused because I felt like I didn't put as much effort into the project as other kids did. Dude...All I wrote was poetry. But, Dude, writing poetry is seriously hard! (Note: I'm patting myself on the back 13 years later...)

Anyway, like all writing, one has to find something suitable for herself. As an adult, I have discovered the poetry of Roald Dahl, James Stevenson, Shel Silverstein, and Jack Prelutsky, to be more than fitting for me. My son and I picked up a book at a yard sale called Big, Bad, and a Little Bit Scary: Poems that Bite Back! by Wade Zahares. It's a collection of poems by different authors, each about a 'scary' animal. I have grown to like poems with animal themes because of this book...and because my son is obsessed with animals, and it's great to have something on hand to read with him.

Chomp!

My favorite in the Big, Bad...collection:

The Panther
By Ogden Nash

The panther is like a leopard,
Except it hasn't been peppered.
Should you behold a panther crouch,
Be prepared to say Ouch.
Better yet, if called by a panther,
Don't anther.

Poetry, books that rhyme, tongue twisters: They are all great for kids learning how to read. Rhyme, rhythm, alliteration, assonance, cadence, rich vocabulary, and on and on, are used in poems. I recommend reading poetry aloud any time you have a spare moment!

I did a poetry reading in Ready, Set, Read! the other night. The weather was bad, so only a few kiddos showed up. I think they were more excited about the fruit snacks than the poetry, but I also think I hooked the parents, since many of the poetry books on display magically disappeared at the end of the program. High five!

What is your favorite poem or poetry collection? If you can't answer that, stop by the library, check out our poetry display, and ask for suggestions! Happy Poetry Month!

Books Not Bombs

2013-04-20T10:06:00.000-04:00

[Disclaimer: This post, and frankly the blog in general, is chock full of my personal opinion. I do not speak for my library. No letters to the director, please. Unless they're full of praise and admiration. Thank you.]

When I woke up this morning, aside from dreading getting out of bed, I had a thought: "Books, not bombs."

And then I thought, "Wow, that's some deep s***."

Anyway, I hadn't Googled the saying (I actually just did, and yes, it's a 'thing') but I figured I wasn't the first person to use the phrase as a slogan of sorts. I then thought about what it means to me and why it popped into my wee little brain at 6:30 am on a Saturday.

I have been thinking about the world a lot lately. I have two (adorable!) children, and want them to grow up in a world I can be proud to hand them. This past week, and this week in history, has made me quite upset to be an Earthling. Shootings, bombings, violence against others. To paraphrase Rodney King, "Why can't we all just get along?"

I think we're scared. I think we're ignorant. I think we're close minded. All of us. There, I said it.

"How does this relate to the library, Miss Michelle? What the heck are you talking about? I'm not ignorant!"

Well, let me explain using an example: I have been going through the picture book collection at my library. Book by book, page by page, deleting damaged copies and checking circulation. Most of the copies that have not circulated but are in great shape feature "people who don't look like me." These "people who don't look like me" are from other places in the world. They have different customs, languages, holidays, as well as different trials and tribulations. What great things to learn about! What excitement to travel the world through books!

But again, these are "people who don't look like me," so the books stay on the shelves. Unread. Unlearned.

Okay, so I'm not saying you're a racist for not reading every Ezra Jack Keats/Rachel Isadora/insert multicultural authors' names here book. I'm not saying you have to check out every Chanukah book when you really want to read The Night Before Christmas. I get it. I'm saying we're scared. We're afraid of learning about new people, new things. I think this breeds the misunderstanding, hatred, and ultimately violence that runs rampant through our world.

I challenge each and every one of you to go outside of your comfort zone and read something different. Read about different cultures. Read about the stuff happening in other parts of the world. Read a picture book with "people who don't look like me" to your kids. Cook a meal from another part of the world and talk about it. Steal a tradition from another culture. Watch a Michael Moore documentary if you are a staunch Republican. Read Ann Coulter if you are Karl Marx's cousin.

In short, show your kids, and yourself, that we're all people. Humans. Not black/brown/white/yellow/female/male/Jewish/Christian/Muslim/Buddhist/Mexican/British/Swahili/Australian/American/Samoan. We're different: we have different skin, hair, languages, ideas, politics, and on and on, but we're essentially the same.

I think that reading can open up the world to everyone. Reading is a highly personal thing. No one can make you read anything (except for your reading teachers, you've got me there.) But do yourself a favor and read to open your mind. Learn a different perspective, and maybe one of these days, we will all get along.

Humor Me

2013-04-16T13:34:00.000-04:00

I continued the Mo Willems theme in Pajama Time last week by reading Knuffle Bunny, Knuffle Bunny Too, and Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late. As discussed in my last post, many of the kids didn't quite understand the humor of the books. I have thought about this extensively, and have concluded: Even if the kids don't laugh, even if they don't get it, I'm the one exposing them to this type of fabulous humor and hopefully they'll get a head start on developing their senses of hilarity.

And furthermore, I hope they turn out just like me...with a rich, dry sense of humor that makes the Sahara jealous. A friend of mine remarked that I could probably pull the moisture out of a sponge with my dryness. I never thought of it that way; I just like to make people laugh. There are times, however, that people don't understand what I'm saying or that I'm joking. I'm sure I make more than one person uncomfortable, but honestly, if you don't get it...you won't ever get it, and I have to be okay with that.

Speaking of humor and children's books, I wrote a blog post at my previous job about children's books for an adult audience. You can find the link here if you're interested. There are plenty more, but this is a start for all the adults out there who enjoy the hidden humor.

What is your favorite funny "adult" children's book?

Just Say No to the Pigeon!

2013-04-12T11:11:00.000-04:00

Mo Willems books are pretty rad. If you have never read them, please *ahem* get on the bus.

He's too short to reach the pedals anyway.

My theme for April is Mo Willems books. His books are well written, hilarious, and illustrated simply. The first selection of the week was Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! The bus driver has to leave his bus and asks the reader to watch things for him while he's away. Oh, the most important thing: don't let Pigeon drive the bus.

As a storyteller, this book is fun to do because it allows you to banter back and forth with your audience. I encouraged the kids to say NOOOOO when the pigeon asks to drive the bus. I know that 99.9% of kids are able to say NOOOOOO, but on the whole, most of the kids in story time were like this:

Seriously. Even caregivers were afraid to say NOOOOOO to the Pigeon. Perhaps we need a bit more practice?

Nancy Reagan wants you to say NOOOOOOO.

Anyway, I think the book went over some (most) heads. I really need to implement the KISS method when picking out books. This is my shortcoming when it comes to story time: being too darn mature. Anyone got a good fart book?

For our craft, we made Pigeon puppets. The two's class made these toilet paper tube puppets. They were precut, much to the delight of parents. In the 3-4-5 class, we made pigeon stick puppets, in which they had to cut out the pigeon and glue him to a craft stick. My dying words: "Let them cut paper."

Overall, story time was great this week. I jam-packed our 45 minutes with songs, books, fingerplays, parachute, games, and more. AND I just got a bubble machine for pre-class bubble popping fun! It was a definite squeeeee moment for the kiddos.

Next post: Knuffle Bunny Pajama Time!

Story Time Rocks! Volume One

2013-04-11T19:53:00.000-04:00

I have decided to go a different route with our YouTube videos. Here is our first installment of "Story Time Rocks!" I use "Open Shut Them" by Hap Palmer as our opening song in story time. Parents told me that they couldn't find this version on YouTube...and I aim to please! Here I am in all my spunky-cheerleader glory, dancing and doing the motions to the song. Tell me what you think! (But be gentle...)

New at the Library: Early Literacy Calendar!

2013-04-09T15:39:00.000-04:00

I borrowed this amazing idea from Amy at The Show Me Librarian. In the library world, we don't "steal" ideas, we borrow them. Thank goodness, because I'd be thrown in biblio-jail if it was considered stealing.

Behind bars with yellowed, stinky books. Not fun.

This is the new Early Literacy calendar! I thought Amy's calendar is so great that I had to make my own. In May, I'm taking a break from programming, so I figured it would be the perfect time to hand out a month's worth of things to do. There is one specific activity listed each day that falls under a certain category in the Every Child Ready To Read 5 Practices: reading, writing, singing, talking, and playing.

Get your learn on!

I will be using the back of the calendar as a platform to explain what we'll be doing in story time for the month: names of books and authors, lyrics for songs, extension activities, and more. I think this will open a line of communication and convey that I put thought into these classes...not just busting out Little Bunny Foo Foo for my own health.

You can pick a calendar up at the children's desk. If you are an educator or librarian and interested in making your own early literacy calendar, please email me at michellep@mooresville.lib.in.us, and I will send you the file. Sharing is caring, you know.

Children and Repetition, Children and Repetition

2013-04-05T15:15:00.000-04:00

Man, I'm so witty. Sigh.

Children learn through repetition. Their little neural pathways are growing every second of every day, and repetition of songs, books, tasks, rhymes, helps reinforce the "stickability" of what they're learning.

Science!

For example, if you listen to a certain song over and over again, you'll most likely memorize the words and tune. I'm not advocating listening to Now That's What I Call Music #79 a million times, but if you want your kiddo to learn nursery rhymes, songs, or fingerplays, you have to repeat them.

No. Just no.

I'll admit, story time can get a bit stale after six months of the same structure. I switch up books and crafts on a weekly basis, fingerplays and songs on a monthly basis. I do plan some "repeats" for patrons favorites, such as Animal Alphabet, and I have been starting each group with "Open Shut Them" for continuity. (Be on the lookout for my "Open Shut Them" music video that is in the works!) However, the structure of my weekly storytimes is the same, simply because it's what the kids expect: repetition!

I know parents get bored with the same stuff. Kids LOVE it and NEED it. Even when I do activities out of sequence, such as doing our glue-filled craft first, instead of last, so the glue can dry, story time is a bit wonky because of the shift.

I hear people say all the time, "If I have to read that book ONE MORE TIME," or even worse "I swear, if I have to watch Lalaloopsy ONE MORE TIME..." I get it. I really do (especially the television part.) I'll go into more detail about the reading though:

No one picks up on every nuance of a book the first time around. I read story time books at least 3 or 4 times before I ever read to anyone else. I read books to my own kids as many times as they want me to, until I have to go do something else. I cannot tell you how many times this week I have read a board book called Babies to my two year old. He's obsessed with it, and it's okay. He's learning about what babies need. He's looking at the pictures. He's learning how to turn the pages. He's learning how to sit and listen (sometimes!). He's learning that those little squiggles at the bottom of the page are words, and much, much more.

Reading is important. Repetition is important. Have fun with it, and don't wince if your kiddo asks to do "Itsy Bitsy Spider" 84 times in one day. He loves you for it!

Spring Break: Library Style

2013-04-04T17:40:00.000-04:00

This week is Spring Break for the local school system. The library programs during other school breaks have not been well-attended, so we're taking a break this week as well. I'm glad that we are, because I need it!

I wish this was real life.

It has been quiet here, but a nice quiet...not an eerie quiet. I have been working on my April programs, which (!) feature author Mo Willems. I have planned a Pigeon week, a Knuffle Bunny Pajama Time, a We Are In a Book week, and an Elephant and Piggie party. Exciting!

April will be the last month of regular programming, then the Summer Reading Program (SRP) begins in June. I'm excited for summer programs, because I'm starting a new program schedule and I'm hoping it works out better than what I'm doing now. I just finished with my program flyer for June and July and I'm stoked!

This week has been a time of reflection for me as well. I have been at my job for six months, and I sent out a terrible, not-thought-out-whatsoever, survey the other day and was very surprised by the results. It's my fault for opening the floodgate to open, anonymous, comments. Hopefully once I start to make my programs exactly what I want them to be, I'll feel a bit more at ease with my job/myself/life in general. Life is one long learning process. Haters hate (even children's librarians, seriously).

Anyway, I also weeded books. We're in the middle of an RFID changeover...which means we are retagging every piece of library material. I'm getting rid of the yucky books so we don't have to retag them. I'm halfway done with picture books, so yahoo for that!

I'm off to set some goals, listen to a TED Talk, and read some James Stevenson poetry. Sounds like a nice evening at work!

Next post: Children and Repetition. Children and Repetition.

Ready, Set, Read! Wordless Books

2013-04-01T10:16:00.000-04:00

Wait, what? Books with no words? Miss Michelle, have you been messing around with the glitter again? Nope, none of that. This past week in Ready, Set, Read! I introduced my patrons to wordless picture books. The kids gave me the confused puppy look when I told them that some books don't have words.


Yup. Just like that.

One of the parents even confessed that she had never seen a book with no words. Well, Yahtzee, I guess I had a fabulous idea! I explained to the crowd that wordless picture books are great for kids who are learning to read, simply because it helps with learning visual cues that pictures give us. One has to be able to use these cues to 'put two and two together' so to speak with many stories. (Think This Is Not My Hat) Wordless books focus on the idea of learning to use these cues without having to read those pesky words.

What a cryptic cover!

For the first read aloud, I chose Chalk by Bill Thomson, a Young Hoosier Book Award nominee. The cover is hilarious to me, because you can't really tell what the book is about until you open it. Not to spoil the book, but some kids find a bag of sidewalk chalk in the mouth of a playground dinosaur. It's raining, and one of the girls decides to draw a sun, which turns into the real sun, and it stops raining. I won't give away the rest, but it was a big hit in the program!

Meow.

After the group hit the stations for about a half an hour, I read the 2010 Caldecott winner: The Lion and The Mouse by Jerry Pinkney. This is a beautifully illustrated version of the Aesop fable of the same name. Most of my Ready, Set, Read! kids are boys, and they really enjoy an action-packed book...so I'm glad that I picked this. In the beginning, Lion looks like he's going to eat Mouse, but then lets him go. Mouse tells his friends about it and is super happy about not being eaten. Lion then gets trapped in a net, and Mouse, remembering his debt to Lion, gnaws through the net, setting Lion free.

I displayed other wordless picture books for the kids to read during the program and check out to take home. Arthur Geisert's books were popular picks. I especially like Lights Out and Oops. In Oops, a kid spills his milk, and consequently his house falls down. You just have to get the book to understand.

Don't cry over spilled milk.

Overall, the program went very well. I'm happy I could expose people to a great genre of picture book.

Next Post: A Day in the Life of a Children's Librarian: Spring Break Edition

Brown Bear, Brown Bear

2013-03-30T09:22:00.000-04:00

This past week was a shortened work week for me, as it snowed like crazy last weekend and I was unable to get in on Monday. It was business as usual Tuesday and Wednesday, and the kiddos enjoyed a rousing read of Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr./Eric Carle. In Baby Time, I normally don't read aloud, but we have a 'share the book' time when the caregiver can read a board book to her baby. This week, we did a read along with Brown Bear board books. The kiddos really seemed to like when I read to them, so I may do the read along in Baby Time more often.

I see a red bird looking at me!

I enjoy reading this book aloud because it has the concepts of color and different animals, therefore I can get the kids to make the animal noises. A group visited the library a couple of weeks ago, I read the book and then I asked them to act out the animals as I went through the book again. They did a great job hopping, flying, growling...but the best part is when they had to act like a teacher! They stopped running around, busted out their best pointer finger wag, and said "NO NO NO YOU STOP THAT." Not sure how well that reflects on their daycare providers...but it was hilarious nevertheless.

I gave a coloring sheet as an extension activity. You can find it via my Pinterest board here. Even though I hesitate to give coloring sheets, the activity was guided simply because the animals had their specific colors printed on them. Not that we didn't have monochromatic outcomes at times (BLUE FOR ALL OF THEM! BLUUUUE!) but many of the kiddos understood the correlation between the sheet and the book.

In this video, Queenie (my dear cow friend) reviews Brown Bear, and is disappointed that there are no cows in the book. Sorry Queenie, I'll do a cow book one of these days!

Next post: Ready, Set, Read! Wordless Books (Really!)

Children's Music and Why I Hate It

2013-03-28T19:35:00.001-04:00

Let me explain.

Music marketed only to children is terrible. Listening to recorded music sung by a group of children is akin to medieval torture to me. Listening to an English school-marmy-type singing "I'm a Little Teapot" makes me want to crawl into the rack.

Yes. Just yes.

I do like children's music that isn't solely for children. Classic example: They Might Be Giants. Do you remember the Particle Man sketch from Tiny Tunes? No? I'll enlighten you...

One of my favorite albums is SnackTime! by Barenaked Ladies. I can't listen without singing along.

And that's just the first song. Crazy good, right?

I recently picked up Ozokidz by Ozomatli. I think of this band as a mishmash of Marley/The Roots/Black Eyed Peas (pre-Fergie)/Raffi. It's a pretty crazy album. My kids and I enjoy "Moose on the Loose," "Balloon Fest," and "Exercise."

This is by no means an extensive list. I just want parents to know that there are alternatives to Radio Disney. Really.

Next post: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, Do You See a Cow?

Special Guest: The Tooth Fairy!

2013-03-27T09:00:00.000-04:00

I pulled some strings and got the Tooth Fairy to make a guest appearance at Pajama Time last week. The place was packed and ready for fun!

Throw your hands in the air, Open Shut Them style...

I came up with the idea to invite the Tooth Fairy because I needed a schtick so I could read The Tooth Book by Theo. LeSieg (Dr. Seuss) because it's fun. Not that the book couldn't stand on its own, but I wanted a bit of oomph to PJ Time and I didn't want to be the weird lady who wanted to read a book about teeth. I guess? Anyway...

Ready to Rock!

The Tooth Fairy answered some questions and participated in story time with us. She took some time out of her teeth gathering schedule to hang out. The kids had a great time trying to punch holes in her story, but I had prepared Ms. Fairy before the kids got to her. What I learned about the Tooth Fairy that night: She uses her magic only at night. She can fly, but is a bit afraid of bedrooms with bunk beds and ceiling fans. She put on faux wings for story time because she can only use her real wings when she's tiny. She prefers clean teeth, so brush your teeth and you'll get more cashola for your trade!

What big teeth you have!

I don't think I can come up with a caption for this.

We read The Tooth Book and Andrew's Loose Tooth by Robert Munsch. The former is about different animals, people, and things (think jack o'lanterns) with and without teeth. The Munsch book demonstrates how terrifying having a loose tooth can be when everyone wants to pull it out. The dentist ties the end of a rope to the tooth and the other end to his car. Thankfully his car is totaled because the tooth doesn't want to come out. No wonder kids don't like dentists.

Brusha Brusha!

Our craft was a cute little toothbrush. The bristles are from card stock, and are simply glued to a decorated craft stick. After we finished the craft, we sang the song "You Brush Your Teeth." You know, the one with the ch-ch-ch-ch, ch-ch-ch-ch-chhh sound? The craft toothbrush made a great visual for this song and the kids were pretty hypnotized by the ch-ch-ch-ch, ch-ch-ch-ch-chhh part.

What's a special story time without swag bags? I asked Miss Beth, my fabulous volunteer, to make tooth pouches for the kids who attended the program. I had this tooth-printed fabric in my craft stash for almost ten years, and wanted to get rid of it! She did an awesome job, as shown here:

Just add tooth, and place under pillow!

I bought the kiddos some toothpaste and brushes too, for maximum effect.

Just add floss!

The room was at fire-marshall-capacity for this program. Evidently I need to make a bigger hoopla more often. The only money I spent for the program was for the swag bags, and it totaled just under $35. Not too shabby for one of the biggest turnouts for me thus far!

Next post: Children's Music and Why I Hate It