Flannel Friday-Cleaning Up

It's Friday so that means it is time for some Flannel Friday fun.  This week in our Music & Movement program, we did stories about Cleaning Up.  While the stories are great, it is hard to find rhymes and flannelboards that work.  Below are two that we used.

This is not an original idea for me.  Unfortunately, I do not have the citation of where it came from (Anybody???  If you know it, I will add it in.  I think it is one of the recent ALA books.)  It is called "Where Does It Go?  The parts are all clip art, but I took pictures of things around my house for the refrigerator, the closet, and the toy box.  The goal is to match all of the items to where they belong.  We start off by looking at the refrigerator, the closet, and the toy box and talking about what goes in each.  Then I hold up each clip art item and ask where it should go.  Sometimes I am silly and say things like, "Should the chocolate milk go in the toy box" or "Should the shirt go in the refrigerator?"  The kids thing this is hilarious and you will get a lot of "No's" and laughter.  As this is a flannelboard game, it encourages participation so know your group if you use this.  It is one of those situations of "If you ask them a question, they WILL answer (and tell you their whole life story)."  The trick to this one is to find items that the kids will recognize.

 For our refrigerator, I cut out an apple, swiss cheese, and chocolate milk.

Our closet has a shirt and tennis shoes.

 Our toy box has a teddy bear and some blocks.

The second flannelboard is Five Little Toys.  All of the pieces are different and I used clip art for each.  You can do this as an action rhyme or add in the clip art.  Mine is done on a handheld magnetboard.

Five little toys on the bedroom floor.

(Hold up 5 fingers.)

I'm not playing with them anymore.

(Shake head, no)

I picked one up and put it away.

(Pantomime picking up toy.)

I'll play with it another day.

(Nod head, yes)

Repeat with four, three, two and one.

I love to use counting up or down rhymes with toddlers.  After each verse, we count all of the items that are left.  With the older groups, you can just ask "How many toys are left?"  It adds something extra into the rhyme and makes them feel like they are participating.

This week's Flannel Friday round-up is hosted by Amanda at Trails & Tales.  For all things Flannel Friday, check out the official blog.  Are you planning a story time?  Check out the Flannel Friday Pinterest page for ideas!

Z is for Moose

This morning in our 2 year old story time, our theme was M is for Moose.  This was the perfect time to pull out Z is for Moose by Kelly Bingham and Paul Zelinsky.  If you haven't read it before and work with young children, you definitely need to pick it up.  It will work with themes on mooses, abc's, or funny stories.

With 2 year olds, they really want to be "in" on the joke.  Most of them like to laugh, even if it is for no reason.  This book has lots of silly things going on.  To get them ready, we practice our abc's before we read the story.  Then, we look at the title and sound out the word "moose".  We talk about what letter moose might start with.  Could it start with "m" like mouse or mom?  What else is on the cover?  Then, we sound out "zebra".  What letter could zebra start with?

This book works well because the kids can help tell the story if you want them to.  I start off with "a is for" and let them fill in the blank.  With a large apple illustration, you will get a lot of "apple" answers.  The illustrations are familiar enough that they should be able to get most of them, but I did have to help them with fox and glove.  By the time you get to "m", the kids will be laughing.  When you keep going and the zebra is "protecting" the illustrations, they will almost be rolling on the floor with laughter.

For those of us who use early literacy messages in our story times, this is a good book to use for your example.  In addition to reading the story, you can talk about the illustrations or what might happen next.  The kids are practicing their reading skills when you let them read along.  Even if they don't know the actual words, they know the shapes (like they know a picture of an apple is an apple).  The more of these connections that they put together, the better they will get at it, and the more prepared they will be to actually read when the time comes.

Why We Use Nametags

This is one of those subjects where everybody will have a different option.  Some librarians don't use any nametags for programs, while some have parents write their child's names on a label when they arrive.  For me, it goes back to my personal rules of children's programming:

1. Know your audience.
2. Know what you can handle (this includes how many kids).
3. Know what you are trying to accomplish.

How it all started for us:
We started using nametags in Fall 2008 because we had to start registration for all of our programs.  At our location, we hold story time in a large meeting room with a maximum capacity of 100 people.  We were getting 60 kids, plus siblings and parents for some of our story times.  It was chaos-we didn't have enough props for all of the kids (shakers, scarves, etc.) and the room was too loud for the kids to hear the stories.  This was not a meaningful experience for anyone (me included).

For our next set of sessions, we started registration.  We told all of the parents ahead of time.  Those who had attended one of our 60+ kid sessions understood the reasoning behind registration.  After all, we were after the best possible experience for their children.  Since this was the first time that we started registration, we didn't enforce it.  We wanted to see if it worked and to get people used to the whole registration process.  We made it as easy as possible-we use the Evanced Events calendar so people can register in person, over the phone, or on their own computer.

The next step:
If you have registration, you need a way to keep attendance.  Otherwise, why would people bother to register?  Are the people attending who should?  Our events calendar automatically sends reminder emails.  If people don't attend for 2 or more weeks, we contact them to see if they are still interested in the program.  Do you have a lot of people sneaking in?  We had a lot of this in the beginning.  By using nametags that all look alike, we were able to easily identify those people who snuck into programs.  Then we could explain our registration policy after the program and hand them a calendar of events. 

The issues:
No matter what you do, there will always be issues.  Our biggest problem was that nonresidents would fill all of the spaces in the first 30 minutes of registration.  This made our residents, who are taxpayers (and basically pay my salary), upset.  Our solution for this is to offer priority registration for our residents 2 weeks ahead of time.  We open up all of our program registrations 1 week ahead of time for everyone.

In addition, all of your librarians (or people who deal with the public) should be on the same page and have the same answers.  If someone isn't registered for a program, will you let them in?  If you have a mom telling their child that the mean librarian will not let them in, will you stand firm?

Our nametags:
We are fortunate enough to have an AccuCut die cutting machine at our Main Library with some basic dies.  We are also close to our local Intermediate School District who has a wide assortment of dies.  Each session gets a set of die cut nametags in a specific shape and color (for example-green frogs, red apples, white sheep, etc.).  We have a 3M Heat Free Laminator in the building and all of the shapes are run through the laminator and cut out.  For our 2 year old, preschool, and school age sessions, we string the nametags with yarn.  For the baby sessions, we use packing tape on the back of the nametag for the parents to stick to the baby's back (or the adult's front).

Since we do take attendance, we use stickers on the nametags to mark who attends each week.  The kids love the stickers!

For us, premade nametags work.  It may not be the same for you.  At our location, we run 9 story times a week, 8 of which are in the mornings.  With a 30-minute program, we have under 30 minutes in between programs to get people out, reset the room, and let people start coming in.  This is where knowing what you can handle comes into play.

For one-time programs (pretty much everything other than story time), we use Avery 5163 labels.  They are large enough that you can add some clip art to fit your program and type in the child's name, but small enough that they will still fit on a child's shirt.

The early literacy connection:
I like to be in the program room 5-10 minutes ahead of time because the kids who get there early love to talk.  Here are some of the fun things that you can talk about using their nametags:

• What does your nametag say?  Mine says something different.  It says Mrs. Lisa.  Do you see any of the same letters?
• What shape is your nametag?  What does a frog say?
• What color is your nametag?  What is your favorite color?  Do you see anything green around the room?

Talking is an important skill for young children because it builds vocabulary.  Plus, if you do it you will be modeling the behavior for the parents.  Hopefully they will pick up on it and do it at home. 
 
Random nametag fun:

• Kids love taking their nametags home after the last class in a session.  I have heard of kids playing story time at home and making their stuffed animals wear the nametags.  I have also had kids come back with their nametags from every session throughout a year around their neck (just like fancy necklaces).
• Last week in our 2 year old story time session, the kids were using their cow nametags to talk to each other.  None of them used words-I just heard a lot of mooing.  

Fun with Bubbles

You can tell that spring is here in Michigan.  Last week I showed you Chalk Play and this week I have Fun with Bubbles.  Bubbles are a lot of fun to play with outside, but you may be wondering about the early literacy connection.

Blowing bubbles works on your child's motor skills (both fine and gross).  Whether your child blows the bubbles from a wand or uses a bubble gun, they are exercising the muscles in their hand.  Eventually, those muscles will be strong enough for your child to write and for them to have control over their pencil or crayon.

If you are playing bubbles with your child, you are modeling new vocabulary and ideas for them.  As a child's vocabulary increases, they are better prepared to read and write.  Talk about what you see and are doing.  Are you blowing one bubble at a time or many bubbles at a time?  Are the bubbles small or large?  Who can pop the bubble?  Can we pop all of the bubbles?  Where do the bubbles go when they fly over the fence?  One of my favorite ways to talk about the bubbles is to talk about how many we blow with a bubble gun.  You get the best answers from 3 and 4 year olds, which also work on their early math skills.  I can ask, "How many bubbles do you think there are?"  Then I tend to get random answers, such as "67" or "100".  What is interesting is that they know that there are a lot of bubbles so they pull out the largest numbers that they know.

Bubbles are not just an outside toy.  We end all of our baby story times with bubbles.  In addition to the early literacy benefits, bubbles are a good tool for a baby's eyes to track.  Once they have "found" their hands, they will try to touch them too.  Plus, they are fun.  If you inject some fun into what you do, chances are better that parents and kids will remember your idea and replicate it at home. 

Story Time Swap: Crazy Traffic Light

I was trying to come up with a new idea for this story time swap when I downloaded the April issue of Children's Programming Monthly from ALA.  On page 10 is Rob Reid's poem called "The Crazy Traffic Light".  While I like to try to add poetry to my story times, poets make it really easy for me if they add in some sort of actions or sounds to help entertain the children.  That will move it to the top of my "Must Use" list.

If you are unfamiliar with the poem, you can read it here.  It is also in Children's Programming Monthly (vol. 3, no. 8 or April 2013) and in Family Storytime: Twenty-Four Creative Programs for All Ages by Rob Reid.  I came up with a pattern which you can download here.  Otherwise, it is just a bunch of circles in different colored felt on a gold rectangle.

red, yellow, and green

pink, purple, and orange

brown, white, and blue



This week's round-up is hosted by Loons and Quines @ Librarytime.  For all things Flannel Friday, check out the Flannel Friday blog.  

New at Our Early Literacy Center

If you follow me, you may be familiar with our Post Office Early Literacy Center.  If not, you may want to check out post #1 and post #2.  Now that we have ironed most of the kinks out, it is working out great.  My issue was that I have been getting a lot of letters.  What do you do with all of these letters put them in a folder on your desk or post them on Facebook every so often?

Ta-da!  We now have a book.  All I needed was a binder and some page protectors to get started.  At this time, our book does not circulate, but that may change in the future.  I like the idea of the book because it reinforces the reading early literacy skill.  Plus, it is fun for kids to read their letters!

Our first page explains the center and why we are doing it.  One of our biggest problems so far is getting parents to work with their children, instead of texting their friends or finding their own materials.  There is a purpose to our play-it isn't just a babysitting tool.

I added dividers for each of our eight characters and copied some of my favorite letters for each character.  (Excuse the sideways pictures. I haven't figured out how to flip them yet.)  While spelling isn't important for letters that are included in the book, I looked for ones that are fun and are good examples of letter writing.  For example, did the kids write who the letter was to (Dear Froggy), did they sign it, and did they write a message.  Below are two more letters (also sideways).

This bottom letter I like because the child actually drew The Pigeon.  I do like to add some fun to things, in addition to being educational.  So far the book has been a big hit.  I have seen kids reading the letters both with and without their parents. 

Chalk Play

Michigan has been having some great spring weather lately so I have been spending a lot of time outside with the nieces.  This morning we were playing with chalk.  I thought that by showing you some of our creations, you may pick up a new trick to play with early literacy.  For me, it tends to shade most of what we do (even if it isn't obvious).

I haven't figured out how to flip this top picture yet so you will just have to look at it sideways.  Otherwise, you can see that I wrote the number "2" in yellow chalk and my 3 year old niece traced over it in pink.  Chalk is a great way for your child to practice their letters and numbers.  First, it is big enough for their little hands, which gives them more control over the chalk.  In addition, like above, chalk is great for layering.  You can write out your child's name, their age, or any other word and they can trace over it.  Because chalk is temporary, it doesn't matter if you make a mistake.  It is all about the process!

My niece kept trying to make her own hopscotch board, but couldn't quite make her squares big enough.  While it isn't the traditional board, we made a ladder shape (or a giant rectangle with lines through) and numbered the spaces.  She had to tell me the numbers as we wrote in the squares.  Kids are funny, because she had to make sure I had a number "0", which then meant that we had to talk about where it would go.  Even though we were dealing with numbers (which is an early math skill), we did a lot of talking (early literacy skill) as we put the numbers in order.  Then we talked about how we should jump on the squares.  Can you use one foot to jump on all of the squares?  Do you use both feet?  Can you do one on one foot and the next square on two feet?

Chalk is fun for drawing.  If you use your sidewalk as your canvas, you have lots of empty space to make your creations.  Drawing for kids is important, because they are using their hand muscles as they draw (like exercise).  These same muscles will be used as they begin to write words with a pencil and paper.  In addition, you can pull out your talking skill.  Try asking your child about their creation.  You can see that the above creation is a rainbow.  We talked about the colors that were used (because they weren't the traditional colors) and the shape of the rainbow.

You can see that the above shape is an "X".  We have a lot of fun playing pirates.  Of course, pirates have to find the "X" and dig for treasure.  This turned into a fun game, like Hide and Go Seek, where one of us had to draw the "X", then we both had to find the "X" and pretend to dig for treasure.  Then we talked about what treasure we found.  The funniest was when I said that we found gold coins and she asked if they were chocolate gold coins, because that is all that she is familiar with.  You would be amazed at the amount of new vocabulary that kids learn as they use their imagination.

This game came about by accident.  We had already wrote both of our names as we signed our pictures.  I sat down and wrote out the alphabet in my empty space.  She came over and wanted to know what I was doing.  Then we spelled words with our feet (I pointed and she jumped on the letters).  We went through all of the members of the family, like "MOM" and "DAD".  Then we created our own words.  This gave us a chance to talk about what sounds letters make.  She always had a good time coming up with words like ZXPQA or YTKMN and I would sound them out for her.  This is a good thing to do because we are practicing sounds and the letters that make them.  We are assembling words with those sounds.  Plus, we are making it fun so she will want to keep doing it.  Early literacy can be fun!

Now that I have shown you some fun early literacy ideas to use with chalk, pull out your chalk on the next sunny day and draw with your child.