Summer Reading Week 4

This week I had 24 events with a total attendance of 492.

Here's a breakdown of the week:

• 5 community story times
• 4 community school age events
• 2 day camp story times
• 8 day camp school age events
• 2 movies
• 2 special events (last 2 Peter Rabbit Parties)

This week the story time theme was Getting Dirty. The school age event theme was Dig Into the Earth--Rocks.  Links are to my wiki for full agendas. The Getting Dirty theme was fun and I enjoyed using my clean & dirty pigs. Here's a fun fact for you: I was so enthusiastic in applying the brown paint to dirty my pigs that it bled through to the other side and I had to add another piece of felt to cover it up. Loved using the "Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's Off to Read We Go" game suggested my the CSLP manual with my older kids. Playing it made me want to read fairy tales and watch fairy tale films. We played a life size version. Each space was an 8.5x11 piece of paper. Depending on the number of kids we either played in groups or as individuals.

The last two Peter Rabbit Parties had small attendances (10 kids and 13 adults total), but everyone had a great time. I might even try the program again in the spring. A Peter Rabbit Party post will be coming your way next week.

Next week will be an easy week with only 8 events owing to the holiday and my day camp groups being on break. I'm looking forward to a 4 day weekend.

Flannel Friday Round-Up for June 28, 2013

 

Here's the Flannel Friday Round-Up for June 28, 2013:

Mrs. Shaia of Thrive After Three brings us (Fill-in-the-Blank)'s Colorful Day. This is a variation of Dog's Colorful Day. Mrs. Shaia used a dinosaur which makes this a perfect set to use during this year's summer reading program...Dig Into Reading. Not to mention, dinosaurs are highly popular with kids of any age. But she doesn't stop there! She offers a mouse and rabbit as well as a chart that lists the colors of many different foods and plants. This is a fantastic post with a ton ideas. Please check it out.

Kathryn of Fun with Friends at Storytime shares her Construction Vehicles. One set to go with Tip Tip Dig Dig by Emma Garcia and a set of dump trucks. Another idea that would work well with year's summer reading theme.

Miss Meg of Miss Meg' Storytime brings us Johnny's Hammers. This set is perfect for the summer reading theme  and a construction theme. Even better...Miss Meg shares her original pattern with us.

Lisa of Libraryland shares three different ways to use a set for the nursery rhyme One, Two, Buckle My Shoe. They ways are a felt set, stick puppets, and a lift the flap folder story. I love using nursery rhymes in my story times and this one has a lot of great books to go along with it. I love to use Big Fat Hen by Keith Baker.

We have a brand new contributor this week, Joy Walk of Librarian Walk. She brings us an innovative idea to update our cars story time theme. Using the song "Drivin' in My Car" by Ralph Culvert, she discusses traffic lights with the kids.

Miss Mary of Miss Mary Liberry shares her version of My Hat Has Three Corners. I've seen this rhyme before, but don't think I've used it before. Having a flannel set would be great. I haven't done a hats story time in awhile. Maybe I need to add one to the schedule.

Linda Meuse of Notes from the Story Room brings us a prop story, The Proud Artist and the Clever Boy. The worms in the story makes it ideal for sharing during this year's summer reading program. I'm doing an underground insects program in a couple of weeks. I might just have to add this to my repertoire.

Amy at Catch the Possibilities shares Butterfly Matching File Folder this week. Beautiful clipart images and a great idea to add to your bug story time theme.

Madigan of Madigan Reads brings us a set of Flowers. Love the layered look!

And this week, I bring you Beatrix Potter's Animals...a set of 11 animals that helps me introduce kids to Beatrix Potter's books and talk about Peter Rabbit's friends.


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Our Flannel Friday Fairy Godmother is K Leigh (@storytimefun).
Next week's host is Amy of Catch the Possibilities.

#FlannelFriday: Beatrix Potter's Animals

 

After I did my first Peter Rabbit & Friends Party, I knew I needed a way to both introduce all the little books by Beatrix Potter and talk about Peter Rabbit's friends. The flannel board seemed the logical place to turn. I reviewed Potter's books and came up with this list of animals: rabbits, squirrels, mice (and rats), hedgehogs, dogs, cats, ducks, foxes, pigs, badgers, and frogs. I decided not to make a rat because they look so similar to mice. I used coloring pages from Super Coloring as templates. Puff paint details as usual.

Here's how I use this set: I place each animal on the board asking the children what it is. After they respond, I mention the books by Beatrix Potter in which each animal appears. As the children leave, I give them a Beatrix Potter book list that is separated into animal categories.

#FlannelFriday: I Know a Wee Piggy by Kim Norman

I was inspired by Lisa of Libraryland to make this felt set. I Know a Wee Piggy by Kim Norman is a great book, and, like Dog's Colorful Day by Emma Dodd, begs to be a felt set. I used a clipart image for the pig. The details are puff paint. This would be a good set to use if you're doing a dirty story time theme during this year's summer reading program. After using this set with my story time kids, I decided to go back and make some water and a blue ribbon. It's on my to do list. Maybe after summer reading is over.

 

 

Summer Reading Week 3

This week I had 19 events with a total attendance of 460. Numbers are a little down this week for two reasons. I didn't have one of my day camp groups and the local folk school is having a kids camp this week.

Here's a breakdown of the week:

• 5 community story times
• 4 community school age events
• 1 day camp story time
• 6 day camp school age events
• 1 movie
• 1 special event (2nd Peter Rabbit Party)
• 1 teen event (Mad Hatter Tea Party)

This week the story time theme was Digging Up Dinosaurs. The school age event theme was Dig Into the Past--Dinosaurs. Links are to my wiki for full agendas. Both went really well although I stumbled a bit with some of the dino names. Favorite books of the week were Dinosaurs Galore by Giles Andreae and Prehistoric Actual Size by Steve Jenkins. For the school age groups, we made pasta dino skeletons and raced dinosaurs. I got this ideas from the 2009 CSLP manual. It was a sea serpent race, but I couldn't find sea serpents back then so I used dinosaurs. Basically you put small plastic dinosaurs in an ice cube tray and fill it with water. The dinos will not be all the way covered. You then make your race track by propping a cookie sheet on a chair. Great fun!

The 2nd Peter Rabbit Party went much better than the first. I tweaked the agenda and made a new felt set. One of the games confused the youngest kids so I may be changing that up before next week. I promise a post on the Peter Rabbit Party will be forthcoming. THe agenda that the link takes you to is very rough. I haven't had a chance to revise it.

The Mad Hatter Tea Party was great fun! We had 8 tweens/teens which is a good turnout. A few came in costume (it wasn't required.) We had the dormouse, the White Rabbit, Tweedledee, and Tweedledum. I came as the Cheshire Cat (pictures will be forthcoming!) I can usually guarantee 5 will show up. Although I really need about 2 hours to prep for an event like that and I only had 1 hour and 15 minutes. I like to decorate the meeting room and fix the food. Both require time. A post about the event will be coming soon I promise. I wrote my very 1st scavenger hunt for the tea party and the teens seemed to like it. We also had a few more teens sign up for the reading contest during the tea party. I'm hoping our next teen event (a movie night) will have a even bigger attendance.

Next week, I have 24 events including the last two Peter Rabbit Parties.

Summer Reading Week 2

This was the first week of story times and events at the branch libraries. I survived, but just barely. I presented 22 events with a total attendance of 531.

Here's a break down:

• 5 community story times
• 4 community school age events
• 2 day camp story times
• 9 day camp school ages events
• 1 movie
• 1 special event (1st Peter Rabbit Party)

This week the story time theme was Digging Up Vegetables. The school age theme was Dig Into the Past--Pyramids. Links are to my wiki for full agendas. The story times went very well. The books were interactive and the flannel board sets well received. At two of the branches, story time attendance swelled to 43 and 56. The branch that had 43 usually only has 10 during the school year.

The pyramids (and Egyptians) event went well. I don't really read so much with this age as I share information, but that varies week to week. This week I shared, next week I'll read some. The activities (mummy wrap and writing their names in hieroglyphics) were fun...at least the kids seemed to like them. I had a hard time getting them to "Walk Like an Egyptian." Kids hit a certain age and don't like to dance in public anymore.

The first Peter Rabbit Party went okay. I had some rambunctious children who made things interesting. I'll definitely be improving my plan before the next one on Tuesday. We didn't get to half the things I had planned. I hope to post about it by itself at some point, maybe early July.

Registration for the reading contest ended for all age groups except teens this week. I have 245 kids & teens registered at my four branches. That's a 55% increase from last year's number. We'll continue to register teens until about July 18. (This is because they could still read 5 books in 2 weeks. The younger groups are counting days so keeping registration open is not possible.)

Next week, I have 19 events including my first teen event of the summer, a Mad Hatter Tea Party.

#FlannelFriday: "Gopher in the Garden" by Jack Prelutsky

I stumbled across this poem in Prelutsky's collection Zoo Doings. As soon as I read it, I knew it would be perfect to use with this year's summer reading theme: Dig Into Reading. The first line reads, "There's a gopher in the garden, and he's eating all the onions." As usual, I used a mixture of clipart and coloring pages for patterns.

The pieces are all felt with puff paint details. The pieces are gopher, onion, broccoli, beet, bean, carrot, corn, cauliflower, parsley, peas, pumpkin, radish, greens, cabbage, and watermelon.

White Fur Flying by Patricia MacLachlan

Zoe and Alice live in a world where white fur flies. Their dad is a vet and their mom rescues Great Pyrenees dogs. When a boy who doesn't talk moves in next door, Zoe and Alice make it their mission to draw him out...with a little help from the dogs.

What I thought: Only 112 pages, White Fur Flying is a quick read and a charming book. The story is uncomplicated yet powerful. I like all the characters. As a dog owner, I understand the power of canine therapy. Everything is better with a dog!

(Margaret McElderry Books, 2013)

Bears in Beds by Shirley Parenteau

Time for bed, bears! Big Brown Bear leads the way and soon all five bears are in bed. But a noise in the night disturbs them. Will they ever get back to sleep?

What I thought: This follow-up to Bears on Chairs is delightful. It will be a nice addition to my bedtime story time theme. I can see it as a flannel board story. I love the pastel colors and soft lines of the illustrations.

Story Time Themes: Bedtime, Bears

(Illus. David Walker. Candlewick, 2012)

Summer Reading Week 1

June 3-6 was registration for the summer reading contest at my four branch libraries. I had 9 registration sessions and registered 176 kids for the contest. Including adults, I saw 279 people last week. Registration will continue through June 10-13.

I divide the contest into the following age groups: 0-2 years, 3-5 years, 6-8 years, 9-12 years, and 13-18 years. The 0-2 group complete and early literacy log and receive at rubber duck at the end of the contest. I was inspired by Marge Loch-Wouters' post about her library's Rubber Ducky Club to start doing something for this age group.

The 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12 groups all read for at least 20 minutes per day for 48 days. Each day they read, they color off a clipart image on their log.

I used the "additional" clipart from the CSLP Early Literacy and Children's manuals to create the logs.

 

Ages 13-18  read 5 books in a specified length of time.

 

Two of my branches are showing children's, family, and/or teen movies to correspond with the Summer Reading Program theme and dates. We had 2 movies during registration week with an attendance of 19.

 

Even in the midst of the chaos that is Summer Reading, I find myself looking ahead to my fall story times and programs and even next year's Summer Reading Program. I think the science theme is going to be very fun.

 

Events start this week. I'm having 5 community story time sessions, 4 community school age events, 11 day camp groups, a Peter Rabbit Party, and 2 movies. I'm hoping to post a Summer Reading Update every week during my program. I'm enjoying reading about other libraries' and librarian's events this summer. 

Black Dog by Levi Pinfold

The Hope family has a visitor, a huge black dog. Every member of the family is afraid, but one.

What I thought: I like this book. It's something different and that is always refreshing. Love the page layouts--text and small sepia colored illustrations on one side and full color, full page illustration on the other. My favorite illustration is of mom. Notice the owl figurines. Black Dog will be a great book to share with elementary students.

Picture Yourself Writing Fiction: Using Photos to Inspire Writing by Sheila Griffin Llanas

Another title in the Fact Finders: See It, Write It series suggests using photos as writing prompts to write fiction.

The Organization-
Introduction: A Fairy-Tale World
Chapter 1: All About Character
Chapter 2: Setting & Genre
Chapter 3: The Plot Thickens
Chapter 4: Shaping a Story

What I thought: Very interesting approach to creative writing. Like Picture Yourself Writing Poetry, this title offers photo prompts as well as an introduction to writing creative fiction. As you can see from the chapter titles above, the book covers the following topics: characters, setting, genre, plot, and story arc.

There is one statement in the book that I could not agree with: "Scary description work for horror, but not for fairy tales" (16). I couldn't disagree more and cite the original Grimm's Fairy Tales and Adam Gidwitz's A Tale Dark and Grimm and In a Glass Grimmly as evidence to refute the statement.

My favorite photo is of the camels "talking" (11). I could make something of that.

(Capstone, 2012)