November, a storytime on togetherness

Trying to get that fall feeling going on here while it's still regularly reaching 80° outside.  Where is my sweater weather???

In recognition of Native American Heritage Month, I plan to use at least one book written or illustrated by creators indigenous to the US or Canada in every storytime.  My theme for week one is Togetherness.

First book was Walking Together by Elder Albert D. Marshall and Louise Zimanyi, with illustrations by Emily Kewageshig. Although this is more of a Spring book, I believe the central idea of existing in harmony with nature makes sense with autumn harvests and preparing for winter.  After I started reading, one kid kept repeating "slide, slide" and I was a little confused.  

But that sure does look like a slide, or at least a great sledding hill, doesn't it?  The kids had fun identifying all of the animals in the rest of the book.

We did a little freestyle dancing to March Together by Aaron Nigel Smith and Shine and the Moonbeams from All One Tribe.

Our next book was We Are Together by Britta Teckentrup.  Fun cut-out pages revealing more and more friends as you go along.  The kids were engaged, but not particularly interactive.

The next song was The More We Get Toegther by The Learning Station.  One of the kids made a special request for another song, My Hoodie by DJ WILLY WOW!, so we had an extra dance break.

We finished up with Grilled Cheese? Yes Please! by Tim Kleyn.  This might have been a little long to be book three, but it has some nice call-back lines.  The kids got grossed out by the idea of mayo on a grilled cheese.  I guess they all grew up with grilled cheese with margarine or butter, the way I did.  Is it a regional thing?  It put a little damper on me trying to get the kids to do the "tsss" sound after "Bread. Cheese. Mayo."  But they definitely got into repeating "Whoosh! Crack!" during the storm scene.

Finishing up, we did a coloring page from the Trolls Band Together movie.

Halloween Pre-School Storytime

So despite all my best intentions that had me ordering books for a shapes storytime far in advance, I was struck by a whim, and I am planning a Halloween storytime for pre-schoolers tomorrow.  I was inspired, in part, by my desire to read Frank Was a Monster Who Wanted to Dance by Keith Graves, a delightful little rhyming story about a green, Frankenstein-y kind of monster who dances till his brain and eyeball fall out.  Planning to follow that book up with If You're a Monster and You Know It.

Second book will be Mouse's First Halloween by Lauren Thompson.  I think this book should mitigate some of the fears that four-year-olds might have about Halloween.  On every page, Mouse hears something that make him say "Eek!" and then the books says "what could that be?"  Then you turn the page and it's something innocuous like smiley bats, or falling apples, "that's all, not so scary after all."  I like squeaking out the "eek" and then being very dramatic about "what could it be?"  I think this books will lend itself well to reading aloud.

I wish I could play music for these groups, and I wish I had a copy of H A Double L O to share with them.  Instead, I'm going to sing them Flutter, Flutter, Little Bat.  I like the words they have written, rather than the words in the video. 

My third book is There's a Nightmare in My Closet by Mercer Mayer, which I was fortunately able to find in big book format, so that'll add some interest for the kids.  Follow that up with Five Little Monsters Jumping on the Bed.

We'll finish out with the classic Go Away, Big Green Monster by Ed Emberley.

New job, new city, new ways of thinking

It has certainly been a long time since my last post!  I became somewhat disenchanted last summer, after I didn't get a promotion that I applied for at my library.  Had I done something wrong?  Offended someone?  Was it really possible that having a nerve-related blank-out at one question in my interview made them doubt my capabilities?  Was the out-of-state person that they hired really so much more attractive as a candidate?  I still don't know the answer to these questions, and I felt slightly betrayed by my employer, even though, as a former HR person, I know that your workplace doesn't owe you anything.  It was a really difficult time for me.  Gosh, I'm still sad, just writing about it.

When I started this blog, I intended it to be for purely professional purposes and I'm not certain that I should be putting all of this personal stuff out there.  Maybe I should just write "I GOT A SHINY NEW JOB!  YAY!"  I did get a shiny new job!  I moved back to my home state after spending almost 12 years away.  I work full-time now. I'm a full-fledged librarian rather than an assistant, and I work in a HUGE and highly respected library system, albeit at one of the teeny-tiny branches.  I love it.  I'm very proud of myself.

As with all things, new opportunities come with new challenges.  I used to work with a population that was largely suburban, white, affluent and educated.  I now work in a library that is opposite in almost every way.  I just took a look at American FactFinder to see if I could find a way to frame the differences here, and one of the starkest is a $40,000 discrepancy in mean income.  (Part of that can be explained by the difference in cost of living in the mid-Atlantic states vs. the Midwest, but that's still a pretty stark difference.)  Poverty rates at 27% vs 6%.  And it should probably be noted that there's only about a 6 percentage point difference in unemployment rates between these two places, but there's also a pretty consistent 5-10% difference in educational attainment.  These are two very different libraries.  In theory, my job here is almost exactly the same as my old job.  In practice, I am in a whole different world here.  There are a ton of differences that I love.  I get to do outreach like a whirling dervish!  During the school year, I see 20 school groups a month.  I go to Head Start and daycares and the Y, and all of that makes me very happy.  I work with a security guard every day.  That's different.  He doesn't like feeling like he works at a daycare.  My boss and I say "Better they're here than anywhere else!"  I am faced with hungry kids every day.  My boss and I provide snacks out of our own pockets and are constantly on the lookout for how to get a healthy snack at a cost of less than 25 cents per kid.  The clientele at my old library used to come in with a very specific purpose--to pick out some books, to attend a storytime, to ask a reference question--and leave as soon as their purpose was fulfilled.  The clientele at my new library comes in just to be there.  Which is FLAT-OUT AWESOME.

But I have a problem.  It's sort of breaking my heart.  Every month, I've seen that circulation numbers are down at my branch from what they were last year.  That's frustrating, and it certainly gives me something to think about and strategize for, but it doesn't make me feel emotional the way this other problem has.  For summer reading, the first prize that any of our kids get is a book to take home and keep.  They get to choose for themselves and we give them a cute sticker to put it in the front.  Well, at least 6 kids have left their books behind when they left the library for the day.  In a few cases, I even found them and gave them their books, and they left them AGAIN.  And what this says to me is, "These kids don't care about books."  It makes me want to cry.  How do I make them love books so much that they would never imagine leaving their book prizes behind?  One of my friends has been very good about getting me to focus on the things that are actually significant in my work, and we determined that, at its very core, my job is to inspire children to love reading, and I feel like I'm failing when kids don't even care about taking their books home with them.

I am going to get back on a regular posting schedule here.  There will be more storytime ideas, booklists, crafts, etc in the upcoming weeks.  In the meantime, this is my new favorite storytime activity, because I am so often visiting places outside of the library and I needed a good structured way to exit!

Tickle the clouds!
Tickle your toes!
Turn around (whee!)
and tickle your nose!

Reach down low!
Reach up high!
Storytime's over
Wave goodbye!

(I must always remind myself to pack up my bag before I start the poem or else we're back to awkward leaving time!)

Storytimes in progress

Well, I don't have any final outlines for storytimes right now.  I am concentrating on science programs and letting the 4-H program do the heavy lifting for numbers for me this month.  I'll be starting storytimes again in August though, and I know I want to take the kids to France and Egypt.  I think I might also try to have one for India, but I haven't even started pulling a list of books together for that one.

I think I will definitely read Anatole by Eve Titus at my sister's suggestion.  Darling Anatole realizes that people think mice are pests and does his very best to earn his keep...by providing cheese-tasting services.  Lovely, sweet and fun.  Some other contenders for France are: La La Rose by Satomi Ichikawa, A Spree in Paree by Catherine Stock, Ollie and Moon by Diane Kredensor, Belinda in Paris by Amy Young, and The Day We Danced in Underpants by Sarah Wilson.  I can't wait to read Ollie and Moon, which is relatively new and sounds like a fun little tour of Paris.  Belinda in Paris might not be a great choice since it's part of a series and if the kids don't know about Belinda's big feet from the first book, it might not be obvious why Belinda's shoes are so difficult to replace.  I always love Ichikawa's illos, but we'll see if the other stories manage to edge it out.  Oh, and I almost forgot to mention Zat Cat! A Haute Couture Tail by Chelsey MacLaren.  I love France!  I hope the kids will love it too.

As for Egypt, I am pretty sure that I will be reading Tomie DePaolo's Bill and Pete Go Down the Nile.  As with Belinda, I am worried that the kids might not "get" the whole thing because it's the second in a series.  I'm worried that they will not understand the tooth-brushing bird concept, so I'm going to try and explain that before reading the book.  I thought about reading the first Bill and Pete as well, but that seems like a large percentage of my storytime on one author.  I pulled Croco'nile by Roy Gerrard from the library, but I don't think I will be using it.  The story is altogether too disjointed; here's the crocodile in the first two pages, and then the story goes in a different direction, and oh, look, here's the crocodile again to save them from drowning in the last two pages.  I'm not a fan, even though the rhyme scheme totally worked for me.  Temple Cat by Andrew Clements is also a possibility.  I think it might be perpetuating a long-standing myth about ancient Egyptians worshiping cats though, and that makes me uneasy.  I need to do a little research to make myself feel better about that.  On a side note, do you know how hard it is to find picture books about modern Egypt?  Some other candidates for inclusion are: The Mouse Who Saved Egypt by Karim Alrawi, which I took a gamble on and ordered without seeing any reviews or anything, What's the Matter, Habibi? by Betsy Lewin, totally cute and funny and could be enhanced by use of a puppet, and could also lead into singing Alice the Camel.

One of the other librarians was kind enough to loan me her set of hieroglyph stamps, and I think I am going to try to draw up a cartouche on a bookmark for the kids to stamp in.  (Idea totally stolen from a museum store, but I can't pay more than a dollar per sheet for actual papyrus for the kids to stamp on.  I would kind of like to have a real sheet of papyrus for them to feel though.  I might buy one.)  I am unsure about a craft for France yet.  Too many options!

Wild West Storytime

Inspired by the book Fandango Stew by David Davis, I decided to do a Wild West themed storytime.

Story: Fandango Stew by David Davis. A cute Western themed version of Stone Soup. Slim and his grandson Luis ride into the town of Skinflint, where the sheriff tries to get rid of them. Slim offers to make a fandango stew, using one single fandango bean, but suggests that other towns' fandango stews were better because they had salt and pepper, onions, potatoes, etc... Slowly, the stew takes shape, the whole town has a party, and everyone is sad when Slim and Luis have to leave town the next day. If, like me, you have trouble figuring out how to sing the lines that Slim and Luis sing: "Chili's fine and so is barbecue, but nothing's finer than fandango stew," it fits nicely with "She'll be coming round the mountain."

Game: The Sheriff Says. Just a game of Simon Says with a couple of Western phrases thrown in. "The sheriff says reach for the sky!"

Story: Ten Gallon Bart by Susan Stevens Crummel. Bart, the dog sheriff, is ready to retire. He wants to howl at the moon, sleep until noon, and go fishing whenever he wants. Unfortunately, Billy the Kid chooses his last day on the job to come to town. All the townsfolk promise to back up old Bart, but when that mean goat gets to town, everyone disappears. At least until Bart needs them the most. I particularly had fun playing Billy the Kid when he says "I'm BAAAAAAD" and "I'm MAAAAAD" cause I do a pretty great sheep impression.

Game: Hot Potato. I took a pair of pantyhose and cut off a length, tied an egg-shaker into the toe and filled it with scarves. Told all the kids it was my fake rattlesnake and shook the egg shaker to show them. Then we played music by Buck Howdy and played Hot Potato with the rattler.

Craft: I explained a little bit about the history of branding cattle and asked the kids to design their own brands, using either their initial or some of the common brand symbols. Then I had them draw their brands on little circle stickers and go searching for cattle to rustle. I had cut out about 100 cows for two separate storytimes, and I hid them around the meeting room. I have a really cool worksheet for the brand design with examples and other fun stuff, but I can't think of a way to attach it. I suppose if anyone is interested, just leave a comment with your email addy and I will send it to you.

Beautiful Brazil (Actually more of a general South American storytime)

The summer reading theme for CSLP libraries this year is One World, Many Stories, which is a graciously broad topic and easy to find themes for. I was really excited to plan a storytime featuring Brazil, partly because I love Nancy Van Laan's story So Say the Little Monkeys and partly because I just wanted to hang up beautiful pictures of Iguazzu Falls all over the meeting room.

Turns out I had a little trouble with Brazil. First, I decided that So Say the Little Monkeys was a little too young for my summertime target demographic, K-3rd grade. It worked well with pre-schoolers, but it felt like it would only work with older kids if I turned it into an action rhyme or something. So off I went to find other picture books about Brazil. I work for a suburban county library system with a pretty forceful weeding policy on aged and damaged books, and the branch that I work in is particularly draconian. Now fortunately our collections management people have kept us pretty well-stocked, but older books can sometimes be difficult to find. I managed to get the single copy of James the Vine Puller by Martha Bennett Stiles that our library has left. I looked at several non-fiction titles, which were far too long for read-alouds, and probably not very interesting besides. Eventually, I settled on Love and Roast Chicken by Barbara Knutson, which is actually set in the Andes, but I figured I had a little leeway.

So here is what I ended up with.

Story: James the Vine Puller, in which a clever turtle gets bullied by an elephant and whale, and then tricks them into playing tug-of-war with each other, both thinking they are battling against the little turtle. A nice trickster tale, although the action surrounding the old switcheroo might move a little too fast for the 5-6 year olds. It helped to use predictive reading and ask the kids what they thought James was going to do with the rope once he tied it to the elephant and the whale.

Song: O sapo não lava o pé

Words here. Video here.

An adorable song in Portuguese about a frog with dirty feet. One minor word of warning about this--Most of my kids wanted to sing this in English as well, and there is just not a translation that works with the melody.

Story: Love and Roast Chicken. Cuy the guinea pig is just trying to have a nice vegetarian snack when Tio Antonio the fox spies him and decides to make a meal out of Cuy. Then the quick-thinking guinea pig has to come up with numerous ways to escape the fox. But when the farmer catches Cuy eating his alfalfa, Cuy has to be more clever than ever to escape both the farmer and the fox.

Craft: Although we are seriously outside of the season for Carnival, I knew the kids would have fun making masks, so I used some of these templates from Activity Village. We had feathers and markers and sequins, and a great big mess!

Filler activity: How the Brazilian Beetles Got Their Beautiful Coats, a storytelling with stick puppets. I had planned for this to be an actual story for storytime, but there wasn't enough time for it. I used it for a group of day campers who had to wait for transportation at the library, and they seemed to enjoy it.

There are some wonderful photos on flickr with Creative Commons licenses of Brazilian wildlife. Try looking up jaguarundis, tamanduas, macaws, margays, sloths, coatis, caimans. For flora, look up pau brasil, ipe amarelo and pampas grass.

Introduction

I have been a children's librarian for about 6 months now, and I have relied pretty heavily on other folks' storytime blogs for ideas and inspiration. So I figured it was about time to create my own. I look forward to posting sporadically!