Toddler Time 4/15

  It must be the nice weather because we had the largest storytime we had in a while. The theme this week was Silly Stories. Children enjoyed the silly stories and we had some laughs. Here are the stories:

Pete the Cat I Love My White Shoes by Eric Litwin

Silly Tilly by Eileen Spinelli

Silly Sally by Audrey Wood

These are the songs we did:

1. Hello Everyone
2. Shake Shake Your Hands
3. Wiggle Your Fingers and Toes

Show me how you clap your hands:
Clap, clap, clap!
Show me how you tap your feet:
Tap, tap, tap!
Wiggle your fingers and toes!
Show me how you nod your head:
Nod, nod, nod!
Show me how you flap your arms:
Flap, flap, flap!
Wiggle your fingers and toes!
Clap your hands.
Tap your feet.
Nod your head.
Flap your arms.
Wiggle your fingers and toes!

4. I'm a Little Teapot

5. 5 Little Ducks

6. Animal Fair

I went to the Animal Fair
The birds and the beasts were there
The big baboon by the light of the moon
Was combing his auburn hair
You should have seen the monk
He sat on the elephant's trunk
The elephant sneezed and fell on his knees
And what became of the monk?
The monk.
What became of the monk?

7. Itsy Bitsy Spider

8. If You're Happy And You Know It

9. Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes

10. Ring Around the Rosie

11. Hokey Pokey

12. Teddy Bear Teddy Bear

Then we did some theme related coloring pages. Fun was had by all.

School Library Journal Think Tank 4/5

School Library Journal Think Tank

   On Friday, April 5^th, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to attend the first ever School Library Journal (SLJ) Think Tank. This event was created to give Children’s librarians a chance to learn about relevant library issues and network.

  The beginning of the event was a keynote led by Pamela Sandlian Smith. Her theme was succinctly captured in a quote she used in the beginning of her speech. She stated, “If libraries were treehouses, librarians would be the architects of dreams.  If librarians were the architects of dreams, then children would find a special place to dream of who they would become and lives fulfilled.” She wanted to stress to the librarians that they are the ones who can create unique learning experiences for children and an inviting space to do this. She discussed the Anythink Libraries, which are the Rangeview libraries in Adams County, Colorado. It’s a whole new world of libraries. Upon entering the library, one would see trees inside the room. They have the Wright Farms which include hand-on activities in an outdoor area next to the library. They had a tech training program that brought in specialists in animation and creating movies and had the staff work with these experts to create their own movies. There are also a variety of other inviting programs at these libraries.

 Next was a panel discussion titled “Creating Collaborations that Make Stronger Libraries”. It was led by Daryl Grabarek, Contributing Editor of SLJ. The panelists included: Rachel Payne, Coordinator of Early Childhood Services at Brooklyn Public Library, Brooklyn NY,  Susan Modak, Librarian, Montgomery Public Libraries, MD, Nicholas Higgins, Associate Director of Community Outreach at New York Public Library (NYPL) and Kathy Bennett, Library Lead Teacher at Metro Nashville Public Schools.

   Each panelist discussed a project they undertook at their library. Rachel Payne assisted in creating a readiness program to help prepare children for Kindergarten. This was created from their initial Weekend Stories program which later became Ready Set Kindergarten. It includes a variety of literary and STEM activities that are geared towards preschoolers who are going to enter Kindergarten in the fall. Brooklyn Public Library also partnered with the NYCDOE Early Childhood Division and was able to obtain forms for Pre-K enrollment and provide assistance with these forms. Volunteer interns who were library science students and education students assisted with this program.  Susan Modak created a program for teen moms and dads to educate them on the importance of early literacy and library use. She collaborated with local service organizations. They were taught techniques to share stories and songs with their children. They were even provided with free books to add to their home collection. Nicholas Higgins worked with prisoners and their children at several of the prisons at Riker’s Island. He led an early literacy awareness program for the fathers who were detained at Riker’s Island. At the end of the workshop, there was a day where children of these fathers were able to come and visit and the fathers created an audiotape of themselves reading a book to their children. Kathy Bennett runs a program called Limitless Libraries which connects the public libraries to the schools. Students can use their school ID cards to obtain materials and materials are delivered directly to the schools using their own transportation system. Teachers are also invited to take part in extended borrowing privileges.

   After lunch we were invited to listen to Keynote Speaker, John Hunter. We were very interested in hearing about his World Peace Game. He created this life size game to teach his fourth grade students how to problem solve. There are 50 interconnected problems in this game. In order to solve these problems, the children must work together; one cannot solve the problems alone.  He has done this program for 35 years.

   There was a mini presentation about the MyLibraryNYC project. Since I am from one of the NYC public library systems, I was aware of this program. Lynn Lobash was the presenter and runs the MyLibraryNYC project. This project, similar to Limitless Libraries, links the school libraries and the public libraries. Teachers receive extended borrowing privileges and students had the opportunity to receive a special library card through the schools with a variety of privileges. They also have a shared catalog and children can order books from the public libraries that are delivered to their schools. This is a pilot project and is currently in 83 schools and 51 sites.  Our schools do not have the shared catalog but we do provide books to participating schools.

  Next was the Unconference portion or Think Tank of the event. Led by Kiera Parrott, Head of Children’s Services at Darien Public Library, Darien, CT.  We met in groups to brainstorm a variety of topics. The topics included: School/Public Library Partnerships, Common Core, Early Learning Initiatives, Apps (incorporating technology), Rethinking the Physical Space (maker spaces, play spaces), Readers, Thinkers, Makers (Innovative Programs), Serving Kids with Special Needs and Librarians in the Wild (inspiring outreach).

  Our group was Readers, Thinkers and Makers (Innovative Programs), led by Amy Koester, who has led some innovative programs herself. One such program was her Star Wars Day. She has more information on her blog about it @ showmelibrarian.blogspot.com. There was focus on programs for toddlers and preschoolers, school aged and teens. Some great program ideas for the littlest members of the library were: drive in movie (from Marge Loch Wouters @ tinytipsforlibraryfun.blogspot.com ) , transportation playtime, Dads and Donuts,  New Years Eve Party and many more. For the school age children, some ideas were: Life Size Candy Land,  March Madness for books and Lego Programs. For teenagers the program ideas included: Music Festival at or sponsored by the library, Ghost and Neighborhood Stories and Very Important Performers (can be used with school age children too). There were many more ideas. Please comment below on these ideas and include a link to your website if this was your idea. Amy Koester will have a more detailed post about this Think Tank session on her blog. If you have some innovative program ideas, please include your blog site in the comment section.

  I also met some great librarians including: Marge Loch-Wouters, Melissa Depper, Amy Koester, Cecelia (sorry I forget her last name from Kings Library System in Washington State) and Renee Grassi. I got to listen to some great presenters such as: Pamela Sandlian Smith, the librarians from the Library Collaboration Discussion, John Hunter and Kiera Parrott. I met some others, but I am sorry if I forgot your name.  It was a wonderful day and I would recommend it to other librarians.

 If you have some innovative program ideas, please include your blog site in the comment section.

Toddler Time 4/8

  For this week's Toddler Time, our theme was pop up and lift the flap books. I wanted to use books that were interactive. Children always love lifting the flap or seeing the items pop up in the book. And indeed, this was a success in storytime. Here are the stories we used:

Seals on the Bus by Lenny Hort

 The Very Lazy Ladybug by Isobel Finn

Who's Under that Hat by David Carter

Peek a Boo Zoo by Dian Curtis Regan

   Here are the songs we did:

Hello Everyone

Shake Shake Your Hands

Seals on the Bus (song/book)

Itsy Bitsy Spider

Lady Bug Song

Sung to:"Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"

Lady Bug, Lady Bug
she landed on my nose
I went “kerchoo!” and
off she flew!
Her body is round with
big black dots,
My mommy told me
they're called spots.
Lady Bug, Lady Bug
she looks really neat
With her bright red wings,
And tiny black feet!

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Keeper in the Zoo

The keeper in the zoo,
the keeper in the zoo,
Heigh-ho! The derry-o!
The keeper in the zoo.
The keeper feeds the (bears).
The keeper feeds the (bears).
Heigh-ho. The derry-o!
The keeper feeds the (bears).

continue with monkeys, 'gators, birds, etc

If You're Happy and You Know It

Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes

Ring Around the Rosie

Hokey Pokey

Teddy Bear Teddy Bear

Then we did some theme related coloring sheets (ladybugs and the zoo). Much fun was had by all.

First Ever Children's Librarian Twitter Chat

   I don't know if this has been done on Twitter with this exact topic, but I will be hosting my first one tomorrow night at 9 PM ET, hashtag #jlib. If you are a children's librarian or studying to be one, you are invited to this chat. We will be talking about a variety of Children's library related issues such as: collection development, programming, outreach and more. Feel free to submit your questions to me here or DM me on Twitter (mmlibrarian). Hope to see you then!

Toddler Time 4/1

  This week's Toddler Time theme was Spring. The turnout was not as big as in the past but we did not have storytime last week because of the holiday, so maybe families were confused. The children who attended had a good time. Here is the songs and stories we did this session:

Seals on the Bus by Lenny Hort

B is for Bunny by Tanya Lee Stone

Waiting for Wings by Lois Ehlert

Songs:

1. Good Morning to You
2. Shake Shake Your Hands
3. 5 Little Ducks

Five Little Ducks

Five little ducks went out one day, over the hills and far away.

Mother duck said “quack, quack, quack” and only 4 little ducks came back.

Four little ducks went out one day, over the hills and far away.

Mother duck said, “quack, quack, quack” and only 3 little ducks came back.

Three little ducks went out one day, over the hills and far away.

Mother duck said, “quack, quack, quack” and only 2 little ducks came back.

Two little ducks went out one day, over the hills and far away.

Mother duck said, “quack, quack, quack” and only 1 little duck came back.

One little duck went out one day, over the hills and far away.

Mother duck said, “quack, quack, quack” and no little ducks came back.

Sad mother duck went out one day, over the hills and far away.

Mother duck said, “quack, quack, quack” and all 5 ducks came back!!

4. 5 Little Monkeys
5. Seals on the Bus (song/book)
6. Old MacDonald Had a Farm
7. Little Birdie

Songs:

Little Birdie

I saw a little birdie go hop, hop, hop (hop little fingers on palm)

I asked that little birdie to stop, stop, stop (hold up hand, palm out)

I went to the window to say “how do you do?” (wave hello)

But he shook his little tail (wiggle bottom)

And away he flew! (flap arms)

8. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
9. Itsy Bitsy Spider

Toddler Time 3/18

   This week we had our Toddler Time in the children's room because the meeting room was being occupied for the Defensive Driving Class. We had 9 children and our theme was bunnies. We did two new songs and the children loved the second song. They also loved the second book I read.

Books:

Seals on the Bus by Lenny Hort

What Does Bunny See by Linda Sue Park

Max’s Chocolate Chicken by Rosemary Wells

Songs:

1. Good Morning Song
2. Shake Shake Your Hands
3. Seals on the Bus (book/song)
4. Five Little Ducks
5. Out in the Garden

Out in the Garden

Out in the garden, (motion over your shoulder)

where the cabbages grow,

Five little cottontails (hold up five fingers)

Are hopping to and fro, (hop fingers up and down)

Along comes a puppy dog,

Looking for some fun (shade eyes)

“Bow-wow-wow”, he barks,

6. Itsy Bitsy Spider

7. Little Bunny

Little Bunny

There was a little bunny who lived in the wood. (hold up two fingers)
He wiggled his ears as a good bunny should (wiggle on head)
He hopped by a squirrel. He hopped by a tree. (hop, hop)
He hopped by a duck. And he hopped by me. (hop, hop over fist)
He stared at the squirrel. He stared at the tree. (stare, stare)
He stared at the duck. But he made faces at me! (stare, make faces)

8. If You're Happy and You Know It
9. Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes
10. Ring Around the Rosy
11. Hokey Pokey
12. Teddy Bear Teddy Bear

Toddler Time 3/11

   The children who attended the program had a great time. The theme this week was jungle animals.

Here are the books we read:
1.Pete the Cat and his Four Groovy Buttons by Eric Litwin
2.Bedtime in the Jungle by John Butler
3."Slowly, Slowly, Slowly," Said the Sloth by Eric Carle

  We started by introducing Mr. Monkey and having the children tell us what sound a monkey makes. The Eric Carle book was great because it included many jungle animals, including some less common animals from Africa. I loved how the back of the book included the illustrations of the animals and their names. We tried to ask to see what animals the children knew.

 These are the songs we did:

 1. Hello Song
 2. Shake Shake Your Hands
 3. I'm a Little Teapot
 4. 3 Little Monkeys

Three little monkeys (hold up three fingers)

Swinging in a tree (move fingers back and forth)

Teasing Mr. Crocodile, “You can’t catch me!”

Along comes crocodile quiet as can be (palms together, make weaving motion)

And SNAP! (snap palms together)

Two little monkeys… (repeat above)

One little monkey…(repeat above and change last line)

SNAP! Ha ha, you missed me!

 5. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

 6. Down in the Jungle

Begin by having children slap their hands on their knees and then clap them together to set the rhythm of the chant.

Down in the jungle With the beat in your feet, Think of an animal That you'd like to meet. That you'd like to meet ________! (Call out a child's name and have them name a jungle animal)

A (Monkey), A (Monkey) She wants to see a (Monkey)! Etc.

7. If You're Happy and You Know It

8. Head and Shoulders

9. Ring Around the Rosy

10. Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear

Then we completed the story time with jungle animal related coloring sheets.