Day in the Life of a Librarian: Shelsie Style

  I saw on Twitter that there is something called #libday7. I think this means this week, librarians are sharing on their blog and Twitter what the day in the life of a librarian is like. Interesting idea. Here I go for my day in my life. I am going to use yesterday.

10:00 Turn on the computers and get out the materials for my storytime craft at 10:30. Instruct the volunteers how to set up for the program. Print out the sign in sheet for the customers. Help a customer find some summer reading list books. Checked my email.

10:30 Start storytime. The first half an hour is the books and songs. The second half is our craft. The theme was zoo animals. We read: Seals on the Bus, Dear Zoo, Peek a Boo Zoo and Who Hops. We made a paper lion craft from dltk-kids.com. Children had a great time. We also made sure anyone who needed book logs for summer reading was able to receive one and register any remaining families who did not sign up for Summer Reading.

11:30 Make sure the volunteers put everything in the right spot and collect the books and craft from the program and enter the statistics for attendance into the computer. Help two other customers find books on their summer reading lists.

12-1 Lunchtime

1:00 Provide the volunteers with some tasks. They prepared some upcoming crafts and other needed items for programs. They also called the families for the programs for tomorrow. I made sure they could find any item they needed for this task and provide them with instruction.

1:30 I looked to check to see if the pages and volunteers were shelve reading the books correctly. I also helped some customers find some books for the summer reading list. I also checked to make sure our displays and shelves were neat. For shelves that needed revising and needed to be neater, I asked some volunteers to help fix them.

2:00 I created some fliers for 2 upcoming programs and some sign in sheets for these programs. I also checked my email.

2:30 I had the volunteers look through the summer reading prizes and put them in envelopes and label them and put them in a box. I also  I also pulled some books that needed repair and gave them to a page to fix.

3:00 Helped some more customers find summer reading books and help them get on the computer and make sure the printer was working correctly. I also did some research for some programs in September. I received a package from the main library for a teddy bear craft and looked to see how the craft worked. Realized we did not get the whole thing and emailed to find out about the other part.

3:30 Break

3:50 Check to make sure the upcoming crafts that are in envelopes are in a box and labeled. Do some more research for upcoming crafts. Listen to children who bring in their book logs and give them their prizes.

4:00 Help some more customers find books on the summer reading list. Check to see which library pictures I have for the blog.

4:30 Fill out and put up the luggage cutouts with the children's names. These are for kids who brought in a book log this week. Also,organize the bulletin boards to make sure they look neat and nice.

5:00 Give some kids virtual badges on the Summer reading website. Enter in some new names of registrants on the Summer Reading site. Help customers find books for summer reading.

5:30 check to make sure the prizes were in order and see exactly how many we have.

5:40 Check displays again to make sure there are enough books on the shelves. Make sure everything looks neat on the shelves.

5:55 Gather my stuff and leave for the day at 6.

Wednesday's Topic: Last week's Preschool Storytime

Last week's storytime was all about "me".  The books and craft were related to different sorts of people and parts of the body.

Here are the stories I read:

Seals on the Bus by Lenny Hort

As mentioned before, this is a favorite of mine to use every storytime session.


From Head to Toe by Eric Carle

   I love Eric Carle's books and use a number of them in storytime. I love how his books all relate to a different sort of theme. This is a great book about the human body and about animals too! The children loved the animals and seeing what body parts they move.


 Whoever you Are by Mem Fox

     This great book had lovely illustrations. Children learned about kids from all over the world. This did not get as much as a response as From Head to Toe.


Favorite songs were: If You are Happy and You Know It, Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes and Itsy Bitsy Spider.

    The craft we did was a self portrait of the kids. You can see my very artistic (NOT :) ) self portrait. They all had fun!

Wednesday's Topic: Preschool Storytime Session

Today's theme for storytime was zoo animals. We read several books. These included:

Seals on the Bus by Lenny Hort

  This is the one book I use for every storytime. It is great because it is a song and a book all in one. I love how interactive it is and the kids always seem to enjoy it.

Who Hops by Katie Davis

  I like this author and follow her on twitter. This book is terrific for learning about animals and it is very funny! I love the silly pictures of the animals.


   Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell

  My mentor and nearby librarian recommended this book and it is always a favorite with the kids. They love the lift the flap concept and trying to guess the animals.


Peek a Boo Zoo by Dian Curtis Regan

  This adorable book also has the lift the flaps and the illustrations are really cute and the kids enjoyed it!

  Some of the kids favorite songs we did this week include: Five Little Monkeys, Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes and Hokey Pokey.

  The craft we did today was a color and glue lion craft. It was one of those great crafts from dltk-kids.com. I will post the photo of the craft on here.

  Next post will include last week's craft.

Tuesday's Post: Book Talk-Gooney Bird Greene

  This is a delightful younger reader's chapter book by Lois Lowry. The main character, Gooney Bird Greene, is an exciting and unique young girl who is a new student at the school. The children are intrigued by her stories, clothes and food. There are some interesting twists in her stories and she fosters a love of storytelling to her classmates and encourages them to share their own stories.There are also several cute illustrations in this book.  This book is highly recommended for children ages 7-8 and it is the first book in a series. There are several cute illustrations in this book.

Monday's Topic: This week and last week's Summer Reading Crafts

   We have been so busy here with Summer Reading, that I fell behind with my posts last week. Therefore, I'm including the craft from this week and last week. Last week's craft was an African Safari theme. I read a book about African Safaris and they did a safari collage. There are different parts and cut outs of animals. You'll see in the photo what it looks like. They had a great time. I also gave them "faux" passports that they decorated and their first stamp.

  I will include the storytime program and craft later in the week as a double post too. This past Wednesday, we had our visit from our therapy dog, Annie. She is a westie. I found a picture of her from a past visit. The children loved reading to her and enjoyed giving her doggie treats.

 We also had our second session of our board game time and Girl Scout Summer Arts Workshop. Basically that is a program sponsored by the Girl Scouts for boys and girls and they do all sorts of arts such as: poetry, crafts, theater and more. They had a good time!

 The theme this week for the crafts was China and Norway. I read them a story about tangrams (Grandfather Tang's Story by Ann Tompert) and they did a troll pencil topper craft and created their own tangrams. They all had a good time. I hope to put pictures of that later this week, if possible.

Thursday's Topic: Today's Summer Reading Craft

 

    This is the first week of programming for Summer Reading. Summer Reading is nice because you have a lot of interested kids in the programs but honestly it is very exhausting. Today I had one program, arts and crafts. How do you guys handle your waiting list? We call them in advance and see if anyone cancels and then call people on the waiting list. But how do you deal with the parents who don't respond to your phone calls or say they are coming with the kids but don't show up? That's the tricky part. I'm thinking of giving them one more week and then letting them know if they are not there the following week, we may have to give their spot away. I hate to do that, but with the demand for the programs, I hate to see someone miss out who wants to come.

  Now on to the fun stuff, the program we had today was great and we had 23 kids. If we continue having attendance like this, I may stagger the program so we have it about an hour an a half and have kids do their craft and leave and then have some others come in. This week's craft theme related to our Summer Reading Theme, "One World, Many Stories". The theme was Noodlehead stories. These are Jewish stories about "fools" from Eastern Europe. I read two of the stories and we did a related craft..creating noodlehead people. I will definitely post a picture from a child's craft and my sample craft soon. The kids had a fun time using the pasta, foam pieces, markers, stickers and googly eyes to make their own creations. Then they did an around the world word search. Fun was had by all!

First Preschool Summer Storytime session

   If you saw last week's Flannel Friday about this storytime, http://litchatkids.blogspot.com/2011/07/flannel-friday-first-session-of-summer.html, you will see the songs and stories we did today. The storytime went well but we had a handful of shy kids who did not want to participate much. That is okay. I know that not every kid actively participates but they are taking it in and enjoying it. One babysitter once told me the little girl loved the storytime and did her own storytime with the songs we did at home, however she was quiet at storytime. Other kids, many who have attended before were participating and enjoyed the songs and stories. We had a number of kids who participated in spring and a couple of new faces.

  The craft went well. It was a little crowded, but I allowed some kids to do their craft in the children's room, as it was quiet during that time. The kids enjoyed the craft and the parents, volunteers and I assisted them with the difficult parts. They were all very proud of their creations.

 Pictures will be added as soon as I get the camera. I do not have the kids creations, but the samples I made so you can get a visual of the craft.

 Also, I will be doing another session of this program on Friday as we had a large registration for this program.

Tuesday: Book Talk

A few weeks back, I said that I would post something about some of the YA books I want to read this summer (or the fall..there are a lot!). These include:

1. Hunger Games Trilogy (finished 1 and I am reading the second).
2. Chains and Forge  by Laurie Halse Anderson
3. Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares- Levithan and Cohn
4. Matched-Ally Condie
5. Revolution-Jennifer Donnelly
6. Will Grayson, Will Grayson by Levithan and Green
7. Bamboo People-Mitali Perkins
8. Cardturner-Louis Sachar
9. Unnameables-Booraem
10. Along for the Ride-Sarah Dessen
11. Alligator Bayou-Napoli
12. When you Reach Me-Stead
13. Shiver-Maggie Stiefvater
14. Miss Peregine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
15. City of Bones-Cassandra Clare
16. House on Mango Street-Cisneros
17. Divergent-Veronica Roth
18. What Happened to Goodbye-Sarah Dessen
19. Summer Series by Jenny Han
20. I Am Number 4 by Pittacus Lore

Have you all read any of these? Want to read any of these?

Successful Programs for Kids and Tweens

In September, I want to try to add some innovative and fun programs for kids. I'm looking for easy in house programs (as our budget is small). Anyone have any successful programs they could share? I'll mention some programs I did and let me know what worked for you.

Innovative programs I did:

1. Photography
2. Pen Pal Program
3. Mother/child book club
4. Library Advocacy Post Card program

Thanks for your support and help!

Book Talk Tuesday: Hunger Games

Note: Due to all the buzz surrounding the upcoming movie and the books, my book club decided to read it for this months meeting.

Hunger Games was an intriguing book with a disturbing plot. Imagine a number of decades from now, the U.S. was flooded and only a handful of the states remained, a dictatorship took over and renamed the U.S., Panem and the citizens are punished after a failed revolution. These events all precede the beginning of the book.

Citizens are punished by being forced to put their children's names (from ages 12-18) in a drawing to participate in the Hunger Games. It is indeed a punishment as the teens are forced to fight each other to the death in this twisted reality show. There could be only one victor.

We are introduced to several main characters, Katniss, Gale and Peeta, who also happen to make up a star crossed love triangle and also to several members of their families. Katniss volunteers herself when her younger and weaker sister's name is drawn. Peeta is the boy chosen from her district, whom Katniss barely knows but their lives been intertwined for many years. The two main characters are likable and you want to root for them.


There is plenty of action and suspense and the book is certainly a page turner. I definitely recommend this book for children 6th grade and up.

Flannel Friday: The first session of Summer Storytime

Here is my outline of what I plan on doing for the first session of Summer Storytime. First I'm going to give you some background on what my summer program is going to be like. In the past I had an all age storytime for children primarily 2-5. Some of the siblings would join us (older siblings). This year for the first time I am offering all ages starting from 9 mos through 5 years. I opted not to do a Mother Goose program (babies storytime) over the summer because of the large demand of families with children in the toddler age group who wanted to sign up. In fact I had to open two sessions. For the summer (not reflecting the larger numbers we get in the other seasons), we only had 4 families with babies sign up. Hope it goes well.

Family Theme

Opening:

Good Morning, Good Morning (song)

Shake Shake your hands (song)

First Book:

Seals on the Bus by Lenny Hort  

Songs:

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star

Itsy Bitsy Spider

Second Book:

Family Book by Todd Parr

Songs:

Farmer in the Dell

If You’re Happy and You Know It

Third Book:

Counting Kisses by Karen Katz

Songs:

Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes

Ring Around the Rosy

Hokey Pokey

Teddy Bear

Then we are doing a family themed craft. I got the idea from the Collaborative Summer Reading Library Early Literacy manual Collaborative Summer Reading Library. You have to sign up to view the content but it is easy. Basically I am using the heavy weight beige paper cut out in an oval and have pictures of the family I got from DLTK Kids (I love this site for preschool crafts). They are going to color and glue the pictures to the oval and they will get craft sticks they can glue and they can make a puppet. Pictures to follow after craft.