Flannel Friday-Little Red Bug

It's time for Flannel Friday!  Here is a great rhyme to incorporate into your summer story times.

Little red bug, oh so cute,

Here's a black spot for your suit.

Now you go and have some fun,

With your spot, your very first one.

It's so nice to own a few,

So enjoy these lovely two.

We are very please to see,

How nice you look wearing all three.

You might feel that you need more,

So we'll happily give you four.

 

  Heaven, heaven, sakes alive,

 Look at you, you're wearing five!

This is an easy flannelboard to make as it is all circles.  You will need a large red one for the body, a medium black one for the head, and 5 little ones for the spots.  I added googly eyes because the kiddos tend to be fascinated by them.

This week's Flannel Friday Round-Up is hosted by Lisa at Story Time with the Library Lady.

 

Play to Learn-If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

Last week I was out at one of our other locations to put on a Play to Learn program for If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.  Traveling brought its own set of issues as seen in last week's blog post.  Since I was traveling, I used a program that another location had already done and added a few of my own pieces.  I'll give credit below as I go.  The program space was also a lot smaller than what I am used to, which meant less stations.

Station 1: Read the Story
We all know that reading with kids is one of the biggest things that helps children prepare to read.  This is why we always include a story in our Play to Learn programs.  This station is set up with copies of the book, a flannelboard, and a puppet.

Station 2: Make a Mouse Puppet
We had all of the pieces precut and paperclipped together, which made it easy for me to transport and pass out.  The pattern is available here.  Personally, I like to copy the pieces on brown and light blue paper so the kids only have to glue, assemble, and can sing the song that goes with the puppet.  I know that another of our locations copied the pieces on white paper so the kids could color them.  It depends on how many skills you want to incorporate and how much time you have.  Lyrics to M-O-U-S-E (to the tune of Bingo) were included so the kids could sing the songs with their puppets (thanks to Deb).  Singing is important because it slows down language for kids so they can hear the parts of the words.  Plus, it is just plain fun!

Station 3: Make a Mini Book
This station was created by Deb.  All of the kids made a book called "If You Give A...".  We provided precut pictures of animals and food for the pages.  Each page contained the line "If you give a ___________ a ____________, they will want to ____________.  This station worked on our talking skill.  The kids could each pick out a picture of an animal and a food item for each page (there were 5 pages total).  Then they filled in the blanks.  Often, the parents would write in the blanks, but it was up to the children to tell their parents what to write.  These books turned out great.  Honestly, there is nothing funnier than seeing a giving a penguin some cheese.  What do you think that they would do?

Station 4: Create a Mouse
This station was created by Alicia.  I will admit that my favorite part was that all of the pieces were precut for me and ready to go.  Crafts like this are fun because they work on fine motor skills, which strengthen fingers to get ready to write (like exercise).  The kids had great fun making their pipe cleaner tales.  The mice here will also work with our M-O-U-S-E song.

Station 5: Create a Story Circle
I had never seen a story circle before, but they work really well with If You Give a Mouse a Cookie because it is a circular story.  This station is also thanks to Deb.  I like it because it gives the kids the tools (pictures) to retell the story.  We precut all of the pictures and put them in snack-sized Ziploc bags, which made it easy for me to transport and pass out.  The kids glued the pictures onto their circles in the order that they appeared in the story.  The one funny thing about the finished product is that many of the kids thought that they circles should be crowns and kept trying to put them on their heads.  They ended up more like necklaces since they were too big.

The Results
Since I am from a different branch, it was interesting to see people's opinions of the program.  Many were confused at first by the idea of a station-based program, rather than the librarian leading the children through each activity.  Once they got over that, most had a great time because they could spend time with their child learning and work at their own pace.

My favorite outcome from the program, though, was one of the parents came up afterwards and wanted to know why we chose this book for the program.  She then wanted to know how we make our decisions and what we look for.  This was fun for me because it gave me a chance to talk about one of my favorite subjects to someone who actually wanted to listen!

Staff Summer Reading

With summer reading approaching for us all, I thought I would share a unique program that I started 6 years ago.  It has become extremely popular and now I get asked all year long when we can start our staff summer reading program.

How it all started:
Summer is extremely busy for our library system.  To reward/motivate staff in this busy time, I came up with the idea of doing a staff summer reading program.  After all, staff can't participate in our regular program for the public.

Funding, Set-Up, and How It Works:
Once I had the idea, I approached our Friends of the Library.  I will admit that we have a very generous Friends group.  I asked for $100 to fund prizes throughout the summer.

Since we already had dates in place for our kids, teen, and adult summer reading programs, I used those dates for our staff program (which also helps all staff to remember them).  We have a 10 week program, so I split up our prize money so $10 a week was passed out.  To have the most possible winners, and still have a cool prize, we pass out $5 gift cards to local restaurants.  My only requirement for including a restaurant in the program is that you have to be able to reach it from all 3 locations in a 1-hour lunch break and be able to fund most/all of your lunch with a $5 gift card.

While for our kids and teens we count time read for summer reading, for this program we count items read/watched.  We wanted our staff to be using our collection, which made them better at readers' advisory.  They could read a book or a magazine, listen to a music cd or audiobook, or play a video game.  When they finished, they filled out a form and returned it to me.  Drawings were run every Monday morning before the library opened.

In addition, we run a Staff Recommends blog on our web site. Personally, I think that it is low on everybody's TBD list.  To bring it back to the forefront, we offer an additional entry for every item written up on the Staff Recommends blog.

You may wonder what we do with all of these recommendations.  We are able to run booklists off of our web page.  I set them up each summer and call them "Staff Recommends for Summer Reading", "Staff Recommends for Summer Listening", etc.  As staff members submit their entries, I take any with a 4 or a 5 rating and add them to the lists.

The Prizes:
For the first couple of years, I took suggestions from staff to get the program going.  After all, the prizes are for them.  You will want to appeal to a wide variety of people-some eat healthy and some eat fast food.  Our three most popular choices are Jimmy Johns, Panera, and "choose your own".  We have also included Subway, McDonalds, Starbucks, Target, and Dairy Queen.

Issues that have happened:

• We have a lot of volunteers who work at our three locations.  We were asked if they could participate.  Since volunteers were able to participate in our regular summer reading programs, we did exclude them from the staff one.  Now we say that it is for paid staff.
• While it doesn't happen often, there is always one staff member a year who stuffs the entries with a stack of picture books.  While on one hand, they are not anywhere near their reading level, they are still using library materials.  This makes them better able to recommend items to the public.  If you run a program like this, you will want to decide ahead of time what to do in this type of situation.
• Check with the restaurants ahead of time to make sure that they offer gift cards.  It also helps if you buy them ahead of time.  We have had restaurants stop carrying gift cards right in the middle of the program (Taco Bell and Mr. Pita).  In those instances, we offer a "choose your own" gift card.

How it has changed:
Last summer we moved away from a paper program and had everybody log their items online, similar to what the public does (we use Evanced).  In addition to being good for the environment, it gave staff a chance to use the program, which made them better able to explain how to work the online portion of our summer reading program to the public.  When we moved to an online system, our staff participation increased 300%.  This was a big shock to me, but I just love saying it out loud.

We are now in our 6th year and I am very excited to see the results.  Personally I am hoping to increase again, but after the 300% last year, it may be a stretch.

 

Flannel Friday-A Blooming Garden

This week's rhyme is from the April/May 2010 issue of The Mailbox.  If you are unfamiliar with The Mailbox, it is a magazine geared towards teachers at different age levels.  We get the preschool edition.  While we are not teachers, there are a lot of great art, literacy, and story time ideas that we can tailor to our programs.  I also really like their patterns.  Even if it isn't something that I will use right now, I flag them for the future.  Now that my advertisement is over, I bring you A Blooming Garden.

Like all good things, the rhyme is copyrighted so I can write it out for you.  What happens is that all of the kids get a flower to start and when you call their name as part of the rhyme, they bring their flower up and put it in the basket (or gift bag).  While you can do it on the flannelboard, I use mine as a prop.

While a pattern is included with the rhyme, I just ran a bunch of flowers through our die cut machine using various colors of copy paper (it saved me coloring time!).  By using a variety of colors, you can talk to kids about colors, adding another dimension to the rhyme.  They also like to pick out their favorite colors. 

This week's Flannel Friday Round-Up is brought to you by Sarah at Read It Again! 

On the Road

This morning I had the chance to take one of my Play to Learn programs on the road to another branch.  I like doing things like this, because it connects me with a totally different group of kids and pulls me out of my comfort zone. Below are some of my reasons for traveling, plus some advice.

So Why Travel?

• This time I traveled due to staffing.  A staff member had left, a program was scheduled, and there wasn't anyone to do the program before the new person came on board.  At our location, we can usually find subs to cover reference desk shifts.  Programming is much more difficult and requires a specific skill set.
• I like to do programs at other locations because they make me think.  What I mean by this is that my normal kids and parents know me.  Many have been coming since they were babies and just follow the age progression up through our programs.  They know how our programs are run, why I do what I do, and how they should behave.  A new group will give you new experiences.  In addition to getting "Well, Miss Alicia doesn't do it that way", you get to share your thoughts with new people.  Can you explain your program?  Can you explain why you are doing what you are doing?  Why is coloring important in your program?  What programs do you offer in the future?  I think of it like a test.
• Maybe you have done a really awesome program and want to take it on the road to another location.  Sometimes it is easier and more efficient for one person to create a program, such as when we did Life Size Candyland (more about this in a future post), instead of duplicating the effort multiple times.

My Advice

• Know your space.  I am used to running programs in a room that can hold 100 people.  This morning I ran in a program that held 20.  What you can do in a large room is totally different than what you can do in a small room.
• Be prepared.  Know ahead of time what supplies you will need and coordinate with your location.  Do they have everything you need (glue sticks, tape, paper, etc.)?  Should you bring supplies (crayons, flannelboards, etc.)?  Ask someone to assemble what you need ahead of time.  This way you won't be constantly asking a staff member where things are the day of the program.  Some questions are okay, but too many take that staff member away from their job.  After all, you are doing the program, not them.
• Be flexible.  No matter how prepared you are, you will forget something.  It's not the end of the world.  Have a mental backup plan or extra activity.
• How are you going to transport your program?  Personally, I would use a large bin or tub.  This way, as you prepare the parts, you can add it to the tub.  They tend to be waterproof (for rainy or snowy days).  It will also keep everything together so the back of your car doesn't look like this or your box of crayons doesn't scatter in a mud pile (true story):

Fun with Displays

You know those days where all of the kids have the same assignment?  While this happens a lot, the one that is our least favorite is Michigan biographies.  It seems as if all the classes in our service area have the same assignment at the same time to coincide with Michigan week at the end of May.  Now I don't know how familiar you are with Michigan.  We have a lot of nice things going for us-camping, lakes, etc.  When you talk about famous people, not so much.  Then there is the fact that there are very few books written on the Michigan famous people other than Henry Ford and Rosa Parks.  The kids who come in on the first day the assignment is passed out are all set.  It's those kids who wait until the last minute that really need our help.

This is our Michigan biographies display.  I like it because it helps the librarian quickly see if there are any biographies available.  It also gives the kids a choice in famous people instead of just giving us a blank look when you ask who their report is on.  We had to really stretch to pull this one together.  Anyone with any sort of Michigan connection is pulled, whether they were born here, still live here, or played for a sports team.

In addition, we have a sign highlighting our Biography In Context database.  This is to help those kids who need multiple sources for their report.

Here are today's tips for creating a display:
1.  The area you are using should be clean (not dusty).  After all, if you see dusty items on store shelves, do you really want to buy them?

2.  If you are using sign holders, they should be in good condition.  This includes no big scratches or cracks. 

3.  Pull visually pleasing titles.  I like ones with bright colors or fun illustrations on the front.  Covers should be in good condition, even if you have to add some book tape or replace the book cover.  This is a good time to check over the section for books in need of repair.

4.  Size matters-it creates interest.  Big items should be in the middle and little items should be on the outside (think pyramid).  This will draw your viewers eyes into the display.  You can also start small and continually get bigger (like on my second shelf above), similar to a ramp.  This is something, though, that you only want to do once and not throughout the whole display or it will look chaotic.

5.  Can you pull items from more than one section?  Can you add dvds?  While I didn't do it here due to the theme, this makes the display fun.  It also highlights your different collections.  I get a lot of people saying, "Oh, I didn't know that you carried_________."

6.  Can you pull in a web presence?  This could be QR codes, highlighting your databases, or taking a picture and posting it on your library's Twitter account.  With so many people having mobile technology, this is a great way to reach them.

7.  Do you need a sign?  Some displays are obvious, such as all books on the Titanic, and wouldn't need one.  Some need a little help or you want to make a connection with something, such as a Michigan biography display and a Michigan biography assignment.  You want the lightbulb to go off in people's minds when they see it.

8.  Refill.  Refill.  Refill.  No matter how much it excites you to see empty holes because it means the books are going out, the point is to highlight your collection.  You can't do that if people can't see the items.

Random display fun-if you are out shopping at one of your favorite stores, pull out your smartphone and snap a picture of displays that interest you.  Go home and look at the picture again and figure out why the display was appealing-was it colorful?  Was it filled with items?  Was there something else?  Stores have merchandisers and libraries don't.  This gives you a chance to learn some tips from them.

Flannel Friday-Crazy Critters

I was going through my files this week and found one of the first flannelboards that I ever did.  The pattern and directions are included in A Storytime Year by Susan Dailey, which is a great resource to have on your professional reference shelf.  My kiddos love games in story time, which is one reason why this is great.  It has been used so many times that I think that I need to color/copy the pieces again and laminate them.

 Here are all of the animals mixed up (except the monkey).

 Here are the animals with the correct parts.

If you make this game yourself, it helps if you use a different color for every animal.  It helps the kids if they are putting the parts together.  It also helps you if you are quickly grabbing parts during story time.  I like to use this during animal or silly story times.  It also works well as an early literacy station if you have a flannelboard out in your library.  To add some literacy to the game, we talk about what each animal is called and what noise it makes when they are put together.  You can also talk about what noises you think that the mixed up animals would make.

I am hosting the round-up this week at Libraryland.  Have a great weekend!