Sign up and take a look at all of the diverse funding options. Make your proposals, get your grant funding, and make sure to share the awesome programs you put on with that financial support!
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
STEM Grants for 2013
Sign up and take a look at all of the diverse funding options. Make your proposals, get your grant funding, and make sure to share the awesome programs you put on with that financial support!
Monday, October 14, 2013
October Milk & Cookies Story Morning
I took a detour from my usual Milk & Cookies Story Morning for this month. My planning process was starting to feel a bit too formulaic, which was harshing my story time juju. I decided to go ahead and put together a story time with a different set of goals for myself: use picture books of the "new books" shelf at my library and sneak in early literacy messages about all five practices. The challenge was invigorating for me, with fun interactive results for the kiddos.
Opening Song: "Open, Shut Them"
Story: Ghost in the House by Ammi-Joan Paquette, illustrated by Adam Record
This rhyming counting story is excellent for those looking to add a spooky story to story time without being explicitly Halloween. A ghost starts out in a house all alone, but he hears various eerie noises--a groan, a growl, and shriek--and one by one he's joined by other monster characters. Don't worry, though; the illustrations are cartoonish and not frightening. The kids had lots of fun mimicking the sounds of the monsters, especially the click-clack of a skeleton. This is a great story all on its own, but it would pair really well with Go Away, Big Green Monster to emphasize monsters are nothing to be afraid of.
*Talking Tip: Imitating the creatures we see in books helps children become familiar with the range of sounds that occur in spoken and written language; their familiarity with all sorts of sounds will help them when it comes time to sound out words.
Song: "Monster Boogie" by Laurie Berkner
We danced around like monsters to this fun, silly song from one of my favorite musicians for story time. RAWR!
Song: "Dancing Scarf Blues" by Carole Peterson (with scarves)
I handed out scarves to all the kiddos in the room, then we shook those scarves with gusto as suggested by the song. What a great way to get the energy pumping!
*Singing Tip: Singing repetitive songs with children is great because they reinforce new and important vocabulary. Our song included lots of words about directions: around, side, front, back, high, low. We learned all those words while having fun!
Story: Tea Party Rules by Ame Dyckman, illustrated by K.G. Campbell
It's no secret that I loved Dyckman's Boy + Bot, and her newest story is another great look at an unlikely friendship. Cub, a young bear, stumbles upon a tea party table with lots of cookies, but the tea party hostess--a young girl--has several rules to which Cub must adhere before he can get to the cookies. The expressive pictures add to the humor of this story. I wrap up the story by asking the kids what they would like to play: tea party or bear.
*Playing Tip: When children play, they get to experience the world and how it works in a safe space. Playing tea party or pretending to be a bear is really a learning exercise; they get to practice table manners, try out having claws, and use all sorts of words that go with special scenarios.
Song: "I'm a Little Teapot"
After three tosses and a roll of the song cube, we were prompted to sing this classic song which paired perfectly with the preceding story. Serendipity!
Song: "Five Little Ducks"
Another toss of the song cube led us to sing the fingerplay of "Five Little Ducks." We worked on getting our fingers to show the appropriate number of ducks, and we had plenty of fun quacking loudly as the mamma duck.
Story: I Spy on the Farm by Edward Gibbs
This companion to I Spy With My Little Eye contains a great variety of farm animals to spy and guess. Kids are prompted to guess the spied animal by its color and the sound it makes, just like in the companion book, with one great addition: the text says the letter the animal begins with. When sharing this story, I like to say (for a duckling, as an example): "This animal starts with 'D.' Can you use your finger to draw a 'D'? The 'D' makes a 'duh' sound." I love the added element of drawing letters.
*Writing Tip: Writing together doesn't have to mean using pencil and paper. Your child can draw in the air, in bubbles in the bathtub, or in a pan of uncooked rice--these are all great ways to get familiar with creating and recognizing letters.
Song: "We're Going to Kentucky"
What can I say? I just love this song, and so do the kids, and thus I will happily repeat it a second month in a row.
*Reading Tip: Don't forget that there are lots of books on display next to me that you can check out and read at home! Reading together with your child is a great way to have fun together, and it also promotes a love of words and reading in your child. If you show that you enjoy reading together, your child will love it, too!
Milk and Cookies Time!
Honey Teddy Grahams and 2% milk. Mmm.
Free Play Time
I set up four free play stations on the play side of our meeting room: vehicles and garages; play food; puzzles and writing; and science, with magnets, scale, and creature building. One mom in attendance told the whole group that our local fire house was having an event that same day: all the fire trucks would be out of the station and kids could tour them and find out more about being firefighters. That tip meant most of the families didn't stay to play for much longer than 20 minutes--they all wanted to head over to the first station. We had a great time while the kiddos were in the room, however, and I engaged in quite a few conversations with the children about what they were doing. I got plenty of insight into how a child works through a puzzle. Fascinating!
Opening Song: "Open, Shut Them"
This rhyming counting story is excellent for those looking to add a spooky story to story time without being explicitly Halloween. A ghost starts out in a house all alone, but he hears various eerie noises--a groan, a growl, and shriek--and one by one he's joined by other monster characters. Don't worry, though; the illustrations are cartoonish and not frightening. The kids had lots of fun mimicking the sounds of the monsters, especially the click-clack of a skeleton. This is a great story all on its own, but it would pair really well with Go Away, Big Green Monster to emphasize monsters are nothing to be afraid of.
*Talking Tip: Imitating the creatures we see in books helps children become familiar with the range of sounds that occur in spoken and written language; their familiarity with all sorts of sounds will help them when it comes time to sound out words.
Song: "Monster Boogie" by Laurie Berkner
We danced around like monsters to this fun, silly song from one of my favorite musicians for story time. RAWR!
Song: "Dancing Scarf Blues" by Carole Peterson (with scarves)
I handed out scarves to all the kiddos in the room, then we shook those scarves with gusto as suggested by the song. What a great way to get the energy pumping!
*Singing Tip: Singing repetitive songs with children is great because they reinforce new and important vocabulary. Our song included lots of words about directions: around, side, front, back, high, low. We learned all those words while having fun!
It's no secret that I loved Dyckman's Boy + Bot, and her newest story is another great look at an unlikely friendship. Cub, a young bear, stumbles upon a tea party table with lots of cookies, but the tea party hostess--a young girl--has several rules to which Cub must adhere before he can get to the cookies. The expressive pictures add to the humor of this story. I wrap up the story by asking the kids what they would like to play: tea party or bear.
*Playing Tip: When children play, they get to experience the world and how it works in a safe space. Playing tea party or pretending to be a bear is really a learning exercise; they get to practice table manners, try out having claws, and use all sorts of words that go with special scenarios.
Song: "I'm a Little Teapot"
After three tosses and a roll of the song cube, we were prompted to sing this classic song which paired perfectly with the preceding story. Serendipity!
Song: "Five Little Ducks"
Another toss of the song cube led us to sing the fingerplay of "Five Little Ducks." We worked on getting our fingers to show the appropriate number of ducks, and we had plenty of fun quacking loudly as the mamma duck.
This companion to I Spy With My Little Eye contains a great variety of farm animals to spy and guess. Kids are prompted to guess the spied animal by its color and the sound it makes, just like in the companion book, with one great addition: the text says the letter the animal begins with. When sharing this story, I like to say (for a duckling, as an example): "This animal starts with 'D.' Can you use your finger to draw a 'D'? The 'D' makes a 'duh' sound." I love the added element of drawing letters.
*Writing Tip: Writing together doesn't have to mean using pencil and paper. Your child can draw in the air, in bubbles in the bathtub, or in a pan of uncooked rice--these are all great ways to get familiar with creating and recognizing letters.
Song: "We're Going to Kentucky"
What can I say? I just love this song, and so do the kids, and thus I will happily repeat it a second month in a row.
*Reading Tip: Don't forget that there are lots of books on display next to me that you can check out and read at home! Reading together with your child is a great way to have fun together, and it also promotes a love of words and reading in your child. If you show that you enjoy reading together, your child will love it, too!
Milk and Cookies Time!
Honey Teddy Grahams and 2% milk. Mmm.
Free Play Time
I set up four free play stations on the play side of our meeting room: vehicles and garages; play food; puzzles and writing; and science, with magnets, scale, and creature building. One mom in attendance told the whole group that our local fire house was having an event that same day: all the fire trucks would be out of the station and kids could tour them and find out more about being firefighters. That tip meant most of the families didn't stay to play for much longer than 20 minutes--they all wanted to head over to the first station. We had a great time while the kiddos were in the room, however, and I engaged in quite a few conversations with the children about what they were doing. I got plenty of insight into how a child works through a puzzle. Fascinating!
Saturday, October 12, 2013
Happening this Week -- The Digital Shift: Reinventing Libraries
If you're in the mood for some free, during-the-workday, thought-provoking professional development, it's my pleasure to direct you to The Digital Shift: Reinventing Libraries, a free online conference-style event from Library Journal and School Library Journal. The event will take place this Wednesday, October 16, from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. EST.
The event formally kicks off with a keynote panel moderated by Rebecca Miller, the editor in chief of both libraryland publications. From there, attendees have a number of options for how to structure their days: there are a variety of sessions across three broad categories (instruction, community, and collections); virtual poster sessions; and virtual exhibits open throughout the day. There will also be a closing keynote on connected learning to bookend the day. Don't forget there will be plenty of opportunity for networking and talking shop--virtually, of course--on Twitter! All sessions will be archived for later viewing by registered participants, so sign up even if you're busy on Wednesday.
I will be co-presenting one of the sessions in the community category. During "The Community Joins In: Library Maker Spaces," which starts at 12:15 p.m. EST, Justin Hoenke of Chattanooga (TN) Public Library, Michelle Cooper of Henderson High School, and I will be talking about the maker movement and how it ties into youth services for both children and teens. Our goals are to unpack the maker movement and demonstrate strategies for libraries to engage in that movement in a way that benefits young library users. I've got some awesome co-presenters, and I hope you'll check out what they have to say.
Check out the webpage for The Digital Shift: Reinventing Libraries to see the full scope of content that will be shared this Wednesday. If anything seems of interest to you, go ahead and register--you can plan to attend the live event, or instead wait for the archived sessions to watch at your leisure. Either way, you've got some great professional development coming your way.
I will be co-presenting one of the sessions in the community category. During "The Community Joins In: Library Maker Spaces," which starts at 12:15 p.m. EST, Justin Hoenke of Chattanooga (TN) Public Library, Michelle Cooper of Henderson High School, and I will be talking about the maker movement and how it ties into youth services for both children and teens. Our goals are to unpack the maker movement and demonstrate strategies for libraries to engage in that movement in a way that benefits young library users. I've got some awesome co-presenters, and I hope you'll check out what they have to say.
Check out the webpage for The Digital Shift: Reinventing Libraries to see the full scope of content that will be shared this Wednesday. If anything seems of interest to you, go ahead and register--you can plan to attend the live event, or instead wait for the archived sessions to watch at your leisure. Either way, you've got some great professional development coming your way.
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
My Favorite Takeaways from MLA #molib2013
For Immediate Implementation:
Get/Make a sensory blanket for babies. This simple and brilliant idea was shared, as a brief part of a larger idea, by Stephanie Smallwood of Springfield-Greene County Library District during her session on taking early literacy to outreach. Sensory blankets are soft quilt-like blankets, with patches and sections of fabrics with different textures and sensory features sewn into the main blanket fabric. Think a touch-and-feel board book in quilt form, ready to be taken anywhere, laid on the floor, and machine-washed when needed. Genius.
Create a designated science area for children, and operate it thoughtfully. I'm taking Stephanie Smallwood's broad preschool STEM idea and applying in more broadly and with more specifics. In my carved-out science space in the branch, I'll keep the science items/theme consistent for an entire month. Use rocks as an example: rocks will by at the science station all month long. For the first two weeks of the month, the station will be about engaging with rocks: lots of varieties so kids can explore what they look like and how they feel, and also including books on the topic to help kids (and caregivers) answer questions they may have. During the second two weeks of the month, the rocks will stay the same but additional elements will be added for experimenting with rocks: a scale to weigh, magnifying glasses to look closer, a tub of water to test buoyancy, for example. Over the course of a month, when a child may visit the library two or more times, he or she gets to first engage with the STEM concept and then experiment with it, allowing for deeper concept learning. There's no reason this strategy would apply only to preschoolers--I can think of many a school-age child who would be fascinated by said science station.
Use the Recaptains (recaptains.blogspot.com) for help catching patrons (or myself) up on series backstory before reading a new release. Enough said.
Keywords for database instruction with school partners are "easy" and "visual." Teachers are super busy with nary a spare moment in their schedules; if we want to entice them with databases and all they can do, we need to emphasize that we can provide tools to make aspects of their jobs easier. For students, be they elementary, middle, or high schoolers, visuals are important. Share the databases with visual interfaces and they'll be much more open to learning how to use them.
For Storing In the Library Brain Until a Later Date:
Partner with lots of community organizations to support early literacy initiatives, even those organizations that may seem less obvious. Stephanie Smallwood talked about some of her library's community partners, ranging from the traditional (WIC) to the less common but really smart (The Doula Foundation). There are many, many community organizations with potential to impact families in a positive way; the library should work with them.
Provide early literacy training for the staffs at partner organizations. The library has the potential to interact with families who utilize these organizations only while a library staff member is present and conducting outreach. Organization staff, on the other hand, have much larger windows of opportunity for interacting with these families--basically, anytime they visit. By providing early literacy training to the staff at partner organizations, not only do these staff get a greater understanding of why the library is involved, but they also develop their own skills and knowledge to share early literacy messages and resources with families during the course of their regular interactions.
~*~
Have you been to a conference lately? What were your favorite takeaways?
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Guerrilla Storytime at the 2013 MLA Conference #molib2013
I recapped for Storytime Underground the Guerrilla Storytime that took place last week at the 2013 Missouri Library Association Conference in St. Louis. Between the twenty-odd participants, great questions and idea-sharing, and recycling bin filled with ice and beer, it was a mighty productive evening. Check out the recap on the Storytime Underground blog!
Monday, October 7, 2013
Digital Story Times: A Presentation at the 2013 MLA Conference
Last Thursday afternoon, I spoke to a room (which was quite full, excitingly!) of librarians and library advocates on the topic of digital story times. As my slides indicate, we touched on quite a few important topics with regard to new media in a story time setting. Some of our big topics:
At the end of the session, in addition to answering some questions about the logistical aspects of using new media in the library and our state's great tech mini-grants, I mentioned my handout. This handout is packed with resources for finding helpful app reviews, useful program plans and ideas, and apps that promote the 5 early literacy practices. If you're interested in seeing this handout, complete with links to everything I mention, click here.
- joint media engagement and the growing consensus that the "screen" part of "screen time" isn't as important as the intentionality of use;
- the importance of finding the appropriate balance of digital elements in a program, all based on your library's needs, audience size, audience age, program goals;
- the fact that a tablet in story time isn't a crazy, anomalous contraption, but just another tool for the toolkit;
- and ways to use digital media in story time settings, both in existing programs and in new initiatives made possible by new media.
At the end of the session, in addition to answering some questions about the logistical aspects of using new media in the library and our state's great tech mini-grants, I mentioned my handout. This handout is packed with resources for finding helpful app reviews, useful program plans and ideas, and apps that promote the 5 early literacy practices. If you're interested in seeing this handout, complete with links to everything I mention, click here.
Thank you to everyone who attended my Digital Story Times session; I hope anyone with an interest in the topic of new media and early literacy will get in touch with any questions or follow-up thoughts.
Without further ado, my slidedeck:
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
STEAM in October's SLJ
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| Wonderful, whimsical cover art by Andy Ward |
The fact that I'm just one voice in a growing community of STEAM practitioners leaves me feeling incredibly humbled by a recent opportunity: to talk STEAM in SLJ. The cover feature for October's issue is titled "Full STEAM Ahead: Injecting Art and Creativity into STEM," and I sincerely hope the article will facilitate conversation about STEAM in library services for youth. We all have lots to learn from one another, as well as plenty of ideas to share.
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