App Chat on Little eLit

Today I am over on Little eLit for the first time!  I am recapping the App breakout from MiKidLib last Friday.  Stop on by to check it out!

Hello Iowa!

This past Thursday I presented "App Up Your Story Times" at ISLOC 2014.  This was a really neat experience for me, because not only was I talking about one of my favorite subjects (apps!), but I could give the whole presentation from my office to librarians 3 states away.  This was awesome, because we all know (or can guess) what traveling through the Midwest is like in the beginning of January.  This type of conference gave me a reason to love technology more, even though there are still hiccups (yes, my mic did go out for 5 minutes in the middle of the presentation).

For those of you who attended the conference (or who are just interested in apps), here is more information:

• The powerpoint presentation will be live, along with an audio recording, early next week on the ISLOC web site.  I am not going to post a copy here, because I am doing a very similar presentation to Michigan librarians in March and I would like them to come!
• Check out the handout, either on the ISLOC web site or here.  This includes a lot of great information, such as the apps discussed, review sources, article citations, and more.
• For those who are interested in an all app story time, check out two of my past programs here and here.
• I had also mentioned the possibility of putting curated apps on your library's web site.  If you would like to see an example of ours, check out ours for ages 2-5 and ages 6-12.  Another library that really does this well is the Darien Library.

Thanks for attending and I hope to see you soon!

 

 

Tablet Tales-Colors

One of my new favorite things to do in my programming schedule is to run an iPad story time.  We call ours Tablet Tales.  It is extremely popular (like the program will fill up in 30 minutes or less when we open registration).  In addition to doing it as a story time, which I love, I am modeling ways for caregivers and their children to use tablets.  We follow each program with an app explore time and it is so much fun watching the parents use my examples to play with their children.

If you are looking for information about how to set up a story time like this, check out my original blog post, which includes information about the equipment and registration.

Today's program was about Colors.  I start every program by showing everyone where the Home button is on their iPad, along with the volume button.  Every participant gets a handout which lists the apps used, along with recommended apps on the same topic.  As I start each app, I explain why I picked it-is it early literacy, do I like the interactivity, etc.  

We started off today with Blue Hat, Green Hat by Sandra Boynton.  With this app, it is important that you show the participants how to swipe across the screen to turn the page.  The kids pick it up right away, but sometimes the adults have problems.  While I have a small group and they might be able to hear the narrator, I read the story.  This way I can show off the fun things, such as all of the clothes flying out of the dresser.  This also gives me a chance to stop and ask kids silly questions based on the story, such as "Do you wear your shirt on your legs?"

The second app was Go Away, Big Green Monster by Ed Emberley.  While this one doesn't have the interactive components of our first app, the kids were fascinated.  It was one that many of the kids came back and did again in our app explore time.

I like to use music in my programs and one way to do it well in an app story time is to use Felt Board.  It also shows parents that they don't have to use the app by itself-you can talk or sing along with it.  Today we sang "Mary Wore Her Red Dress."  I like this song because you can't have too many verses and you can include every child's name in the song.  They find that fascinating.

Next came our app explore time.  I had Eric Carle's My Very First App, Let's Color! by Lazoo, and Squiggles by Lazoo.  (Squiggles was not originally a part of this program, but since it was on the iPad, I added it at the last minute.)   I like to show off the apps at the beginning of this time, then I let the kids explore.  This allows me to walk around the room, answer questions, and show off neat features of the apps (such as you can shake your iPad with Felt Board and all of the pictures will go away).  The parents really appreciate this time because it gives them a chance to try out quality apps before buying them.

The other fun thing to come out of a program like this is that the app that I think is going to be a big hit, never is.  Today's big hits were Felt Board and Squiggles!  Plus, I know I have a hit on my hands when my niece, who was a participant in the program, goes home and immediately needs to have all of the apps from today downloaded to the family iPad.

So what's next in Tablet Tales programming?  I am running out of theme-based ideas, although I still like the idea of ABC's and Mother Goose as possible themes.  I think that the next goal is to develop a number of themeless programs that include a couple of good story apps along with playtime apps.  While I like the idea of themes, it doesn't seem to be a big deal for the kids or the parents.  They just want ideas.

50 Apps in 50 Minutes

I just got back from presenting at the Michigan Library Association's Annual Conference with 3 great colleagues (Kara, Lisa, and Alicia) and wanted to share our presentation and some extras.  We presented the topic "50 Apps in 50 Minutes", which includes apps that every children's librarian should be familiar with.  These include apps to make our lives easier at work, apps for story times, apps for programs, and fun book apps.  It was a lot of fun to put together and we are pretty fortunate to be able to use a lot of these apps in our everyday lives.

The Presentation

• If you missed the presentation or just want to see it again, check out my link on Slideshare. 
• Our handout from the program, which includes the apps in numerical order, plus some fun extras (review sources, etc.) can be viewed here.

Other Stuff I Mentioned
We were asked for other ways that we share our app information with parents and I had mentioned our web site.  I did most of the curating of apps and the writing of descriptions and the web team posted it online.  Scroll down to the bottom of our children's page and you will see two big buttons for two different age categories called A+ Apps.

I also mentioned our Tablet Tales program, which is a totally iPad-based story time.  If you have never done one before and have the equipment, I have a post from June which runs through the program.  You can download an outline here for our Farm story time.  We have created an outline for Colors and Transportation, but I haven't gotten posts up on the blog as of yet.  I am currently working out some ideas for a Counting and a Nursery Rhyme theme.

There was also a question about our cases that we use on our programming iPads.  We use the iGuy case by Speck.  My guesstimate of $20 was not close.  It is actually closer to $40.  Here is a link to the site, although you can find them around the Internet.  

After the program, one of the attendees asked which I would prefer for a children's room-AWE stations or iPads.  There are great benefits of both systems.  In addition to early literacy programs, the AWE stations have the keyboards.  On the other hand iPads allow for adaptability.  First, I would look at which direction your schools are going.  Are they using computers or heading towards tablet technology?  Second, do you have somebody on staff who is an app expert or is willing to learn.  When you answer these two questions, you will know which direction you should go.

Something I Forgot to Mention
I forgot about this fact until after the program when I was talking with one of the attendees.  My friend, Kristen Remener (aka Common Core Expert), passed on that eventually testing in schools will be online.  Online reading is a skill, similar to reading fiction or nonfiction, and it is done at different levels.  When Michigan finally puts the Common Core standards into practice, online books and book apps will gain in importance as our kids will need to practice this skill.  The public library is in the perfect spot to be able to offer this.

Flannel Friday-Sock Puppets

Okay, I will admit it-I didn't make a new flannelboard for this week as I am heading out on vacation as of 5 p.m. on Thursday.  I have been working on a presentation that I will be doing with three of my colleagues (Alicia, Lisa, and Kara) in October at the Michigan Library Association Annual Conference called "50 Apps in 50 Minutes".  Since I have been living and breathing apps as I work on this, I thought I would show off one of the apps that works well in a story time environment.

Sock Puppets is a free app for iPads and iPhones.  When I use it with a story time group, I design my puppets and usually add in some silly features (mustaches!).  After I create my puppets, I record one of the songs that I will be using that day to make a video.  When I press "play", the puppets will then sing the song.  This works great for me as when I am up front singing, I want a cd, background music, or Sock Puppets playing along to accompany me.

If you do use this app in story time, I would recommend looking at the size of your group, then looking at your screen to make sure they can see the puppets.  If they can't or you have a larger group, you may want an Apple TV so everybody can see.  This is not something that I pull out every week, but it is a fun tool from my arsenal to make story time memorable.

While I haven't done it yet, I also see the potential in this app for a big kids' creation program.  Kids could create their puppets and content, then put on their shows for everybody in attendance.

This week's Flannel Friday round-up is hosted by Kathryn at Fun with Friends at Storytime.  If you work at a public library between Metro Detroit and Washington, D.C., you may see me popping in for a visit over the next week.

My First iPad Story Time

This year our goal has been to get iPads integrated with our ys programming.  This morning I was super excited to present our first iPad story time at my library.  Here is what I did:

Our Equipment
We have 14 library iPads for youth programming.  Each has a purple iGuy case, which is perfect for little hands.  We share these across 3 locations.  We are lucky to have an IT department so we can give them a list of apps to load and they do that. 

What We Did
While we have used iPads for 1 story or song in a program before, I wanted this program to be all on the iPad.  My reasoning is twofold-1)  I wanted to give kids a new experience with quality apps and 2) I wanted to model good app behavior for the parents.  I passed out a take-home sheet for all of the parents.  It listed the apps that we used, how we used them, and recommended apps for the future.

We registered 12 kids ages 2-4  and the program filled up almost immediately.  While summer reading isn't necessarily the best time to start something new, we wanted to trial our program before our fall newsletter deadline to work out the logistics.

Our first program was all about the farm.  I started off by showing the parents the basics of the iPad (the kids knew how to work them right away).  I then read Barnyard Dance by Sandra Boynton.  I used my voice to tell the story and showed them how to flip the pages.  As I read, I pointed out fun things to try during free time at the end of the program.  We then sang B-I-N-G-O using the Felt Board app.

After our first song, we read Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You? by Dr. Seuss.  Once again, I pointed out the fun things to do with this app.  Then, we sang Old MacDonald using the Duck Duck Moose app.  This one was fun, because while it includes animals, it has other fun farm things, such as a tractor.  This gave us a chance to talk about what noises we think a tractor would make.

The two stories and two songs took about 20 minutes.  Then, we opened it up for free play time.  I showed the kids how to turn up the volume (I had the iPads set on 2) and let them play with the apps.  We also had Make a Scene Farmyard and Peekaboo Barn HD for the kids to play with.

The Results
Since this was our first time trying out the program, I wanted to know what our customers thought.  With 12 kids and their caregivers, I was able to talk to everybody as they were leaving to see what they thought.  They loved it!  Most took home their sheet so they could check into the apps at home.

With this age group it helps if each child has a caregiver.  While the children know how to use the iPads, it helps to have an adult right there to help them get started.

Our Next Step
We are working on our budget for next year as the one technical piece that we are missing is the Apple TV.  This would help to project the app on the big screen.  It would also help if there are siblings in the room as only the child holding the iPad could see what was going on with the apps.

The other thing that we are working on is a recommended app list.  There are a lot of apps out there and parents are always asking us which we can recommend.  They also want a way for the library to provide apps for them for free (like our databases), but nobody does that yet (hint hint).

After the Conference

Last week I attended the Michigan Library Association's Spring Institute.  If you live in the Midwest, it is definitely worth checking out!  I came out with a lot of notes, new ideas, and networking connections.  So what do you do after you get back from a conference?

First, I take the weekend off.  While I know that this sounds funny, I just spent the past couple of days attached to my iPad and iPhone, between taking notes, posting Tweets, or connecting with other librarians.  I needed two days of tech detox.

When I get back to work, after clearing the mountainous pile of emails and voicemails, I take a look at my notes.  Luckily they are already typed up for me (I use the app CloudOn, which connects to my Google Drive account).  I start off by adding in program descriptions so I can look at them in the future.  I add in anything that I missed, such as web sites.  Since I am a big fan of taking pictures of cool displays or ideas with my phone, I add those pictures right into the notes too.  Here is what my notes look like.  Now they make sense if I pass them on to my coworkers or look at them again in 6 months.

Then it is time to make sense of my random notes and brainstorming.  Sometimes programs spark other ideas that I write down.  Above is what my notes look like.  As you can see, there is no order to them (some are even upside down)-that is the point of brainstorming.

Finally, what are you going to do with the new information?  While listening to programs, everything sounds cool and you are excited to try everything.  Once you are back in the real world, you can pull out what has stayed with you.  What do you have the staff/funds/time to put into place?  Can you take part of an idea and implement it?  This is the fun part!  Most of us don't attend conferences and stay in a vacuum-we want to try new things.
 

Fun with Polar Bear, Polar Bear

Today for our story time we did Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? by Bill Martin, Jr.  With our first group, I read the story as I normally do with the flannelboard and asked the kids what they thought each of the animals sounded like.  I don't know if you ever have tried this, but I got a lot of blank faces for most of the animals.  That's when I had an "Aha!" moment.  I had my iPad at work today for a meeting and pulled out my Musical Flashcards app that was originally suggested in a Flannel Friday post.  Many of the animals from Polar Bear, Polar Bear (minus the flamingo and walrus) and in the app.  First, I asked the kids what noises they think the animals might make.  Then, we listened to the noise on the iPad.  They had so much fun that they wanted to know what noise other animals made and we kept going.

This worked best with a small group.  With our 15 below temperature outside, we only had 13 kids in our second group and I think that is part of why this worked so well.