Notes from the Story Room

From Felt to Prop

2012-02-10T12:04:00.001-05:00

I have a confession to make. In the 15 years that I had a flannel board, I never once made a figure out of felt. I truly admire those who have the patience and dexterity to create the lovely pieces I have seen on Flannel Friday. In my previous position, I was the only youth services librarian so I was responsible for everything including programs and collection development for both children and teens. I also had to spend time on the adult desk. My creative time was limited so I learned to be very efficient at what I did. I found that buying several yards of craft weight interfacing at a time and a good set of markers enabled me to make numerous story sets rather quickly - copy, trace, outline, color and cut.

My current library has a magnet board so figures are still easy to make - copy, color, laminate and cut. However, now that I work part-time, I don't always have a chance to get things laminated. This is partly my fault because I tend to think of things I want to do for a program at the last minute (I once changed my entire storytime program the day before). So lately I have been making quick and easy props.

I would like to thank Erin of Falling Flannelboards for suggesting "Four Candy Hearts" from Storytime Magic and Meghan from Busy Crafting Mommy and her colleague Elizabeth for writing "Six Little Hearts." I made props for both of these rhymes. I'm posting what I did even though most people have probably already done their Valentine's Day programs. This one's for those last minute folks like me.

For "Four Candy Hearts" I traced the heart pattern on neon cardstock. I added an edge to make it look more like candy. I outlined the heart and wrote the words with marker and then cut out the heart. It bothered me that the rhyme only had the words for three hearts so I did a little "research." I just happened to have a bag of candy hearts available so I went through it looking for a phrase I liked. I selected "Sweet Thing." I pasted the appropriate lines of the rhyme on the back of each heart. I also numbered each heart so I would have them in the correct order. No memorization required.

For "Six Little Valentines" I used some envelopes I had and Microsoft Publisher. I made 5 small hearts and one large heart and printed them out. I found clip art for each of the animals and after making sure they would fit in the envelopes, printed them as well. I wrote the appropriate phrase on each of the small hearts and pasted one on each animal. I used a metallic marker to embellish the large heart. I glued the figures to cardstock and cut them out. I "addressed" the front of the envelopes and pasted the appropriate lines on the back of each one. I numbered them like I did the hearts. Each animal was in the envelope to start and I pulled it out as I read the lines. I ended the storytelling part of my program with this rhyme.

This week's Flannel Friday Round-Up is hosted by Library Quine at http://loonsandquines.blogspot.com/2012/02/flannel-friday-roundup-for-10th-feb.html.

Evening Family Story Time #5 - Valentine's Day

2012-02-07T21:14:00.000-05:00

Family Story Time - Valentine's Day Stories & Crafts
Monday, February 6, 2012, 6:30 - 7:30 p.m., Attendance: 21 (11 children, 10 adults)

Program -

Books: Be Mine, Be Mine, Sweet Valentine by Sarah Weeks
             Love, Splat by Rob Scotton

Prop Rhymes: "Six Little Valentines"
                        "Four Candy Hearts"

Paper Cutting Story: "Squirrel Gives Her Heart"

Draw & Tell Story: "Claudette's Valentines" from Frog's Riddle & Other Draw-and-Tell Stories by Richard Thompson

Crafts:   Heart Puzzle (Template from Simple Fun Stuff)
             Heart Art from Easy to Make Art Activities by Paula Corbett
             Valentine Puppet from Crafts for Valentine's Day by Kathy Ross
             Woven Valentine from Art for All Seasons by Jo Ellen Moore

Notes: I only read two books because the focus for this program was more on the crafts. I have an easier time finding Valentine's Day crafts that I like than I do books. Since I have not come across a Valentine's Day story that I like so much that I would purchase it for my personal storytelling collection, I use what is available at the library. Most books are either too young or too long. Love, Splat was a bit long for the youngest children and Be Mine, Be Mine, Sweet Valentine was a bit young for most of the others but I had them guess the rhyming word behind the flap which held their interest. The hit of the program was the draw and tell story. The parents really liked that as well. Everyone enjoyed the crafts. I put some cut paper and foam stick-ons on the tables for the children to use to decorate their puppets. My sample was quite plain compared to the ones the children made.

Pete Likes to Help

2012-02-06T11:17:00.000-05:00

My Pete likes to "help" me whenever he can. Today he is helping me prepare for tonight's Family Story Time program. (The candy on the desk was purchased for research purposes. I needed a model for making candy hearts. Really.)

How I Got Mixed-Up with That Flannel Friday Crowd

2012-02-03T22:26:00.000-05:00

To celebrate the first year of Flannel Friday posts, Melissa of Mel's Desk and the one who started Flannel Friday has asked participants to write about their Flannel Friday experience. ( So you can blame her for this long-winded post.)

I find it a bit ironic that such a traditional form of storytelling is being shared, encouraged and supported through the use of social media and that my love of traditional storytelling forms has pushed me into using social media that I would have otherwise ignored.

I first started this blog in 2007 when I took a Web 2.0 tech challenge. Eventually I stopped posting but began again when I took another Web 2.0 tech challenge last spring. (I figured things might have changed a bit since 2007.) About the same time I came across Melissa's post on PUBYAC and started following Flannel Friday.

Since I do a Family Story Time for all ages I am aways on the lookout for storytelling ideas. I look for stories that will engage the adults and older children as well as keep the attention of the little ones. I have the most success with humorous stories and folktales. A couple of years ago I started adapting folktales to tell using simple props such as stick puppets. It began when I wanted some prince/princess stories for a "Royal" theme. I found one that I adapted for stick puppets and for the second I made a scroll story using a roll of old printer paper. I decided to do more of my own adapting even though it takes more effort. Since I only work part-time, I don't have as many regular programs and responsibilities as do the other librarians which gives me a bit more prep time. (The down side of being part-time is that I'm almost always on the desk so I also end up doing a great deal of prep at home.) Last summer I did a program of African folktales. My current library did not own a book I wanted to read so I decided to write my own version. I did a little research and came up with "Silly Humans." I decided it would be a good story for our magnet board and I came up with the figures for the story. As I was preparing the story it occurred to me that it would be a good fit for Flannel Friday. I sent Melissa an email and that's how it all started.

Although I thought it would be a one-time thing, I ended up contributing fairly often. Seeing a post would remind me of something I had done so I would write it up for Flannel Friday. I hadn't planned on blogging so much. I joined Twitter so that I could tweet my Flannel Friday posts. I don't tweet much but I enjoy reading other people's tweets. Later I felt that since I was contributing so often I should volunteer to be a host. So I joined Pinterest so I could pin the posts. I have created two personal boards as well and I try to be selective about what I pin. I was already on Facebook when the Flannel Friday group started. I was only going use Facebook to stay in touch with far-flung family and friends. I avoided liking pages and joining groups but then the Flannel Friday group was started and I couldn't resist. So now I'm blogging, tweeting, pinning and commenting instead of watching HGTV (too much House Hunters anyway). I wonder what those Flannel Friday folks will get me involved in next.

Yet Another Version of "The Mitten"

2012-02-03T08:44:00.000-05:00

As I have mentioned before, I often take elements that I like from different versions of a story and put them together in a version that I enjoy telling. That is how I came up with "A Few Foolish Friends" and "The Clever One." Several Flannel Friday participants have posted versions of "The Mitten." My version of this classic story features animals that would be familiar to local children and has the ending from a similiar story in Glad Rags: Stories and Activities Featuring Clothes by Jan Irving and Robin Currie which in turn reminded me of Who Took the Farmer's Hat? by Joan Nodsett. I told the following version at a recent Family Story Time Program featuring winter stories.

The Story:

One cold winter day, several children were playing in a snow-covered forest. Soon the wind began to blow harder and harder so the children decided to leave the forest and return to their nice warm homes. One little boy was in such a hurry to get home that he dropped a mitten and before he could pick it up, the wind blew it away.

Squirrel happened by and saw the brightly colored mitten lying in the white snow. It looked like a nice warm place to stay until the wind stopped blowing so she crawled inside the mitten. Rabbit soon came along and saw the colorful mitten lying in the snow. She too thought it would be a nice warm place to stay so she crawled inside the mitten. It was getting dark when owl looked down from her tree and saw the brightly colored mitten. She thought it would be a nice warm place to stay so she flew down and crawled into the mitten. It was starting to get pretty crowded it that mitten!

Fox happened to be walking by when he saw the mitten and decided that he would crawl inside it to spend the night which is exactly what he did. Not long after, raccoon came by grumbling about his cold, cold nose when he saw the mitten. He decided it would not only keep his nose warm but the rest of him as well so he crawled inside the very crowded mitten. Surely it could hold no more. Well, bear was the next to come along. Of course when he saw the mitten he decided it would be a nice warm place to sleep so he crawled inside that very, very crowded mitten and it still held together. Last came a teeny, tiny mouse who was shivering from the cold. Surely, a teeny, tiny mouse wouldn't split the mitten. But as soon as that mouse crawled in, the mitten burst apart leaving brightly colored pieces all over the forest. Fortunately there were enough burrows and caves and hollow trees in the forest for each animal to find shelter.

All the animals were happy when spring came. Bird was particularly proud of the nest she had made. She was sure it was the most beautiful nest in the entire forest. Indeed, it was very colorful and looked very much like a certain warm, brightly colored mitten.

The Props:

I made the mitten from two pieces of colorful scrap book paper from a craft store. The pieces fastened together with Velcro which makes a nice ripping sound when pulled apart. I traced and simplified most of the animals from templates provided by Jan Brett on her site. The bird on her nest is loosely based on an illustration found in Glad Rags.

This week's Flannel Friday is hosted by Andrea of rovingfiddlehead kidlit. For everything you ever wanted to know about Flannel Friday go here.

Evening Family Story Time #4 - Winter

2012-01-31T12:51:00.000-05:00

Family Story Time - Monday, January 30, 2012, 6:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Attendance: 12 (7 children, 5 adults)

Program -

Books: Snowballs by Lois Ehlert

The Snowmen Pop-Up Book by Caralyn Buehner

Board Story: "The Month Brothers" (will post later)

Prop Stories: "The Mitten"
"The Bird and the Trees"

Paper Folding Story: "Overcoat" from Stories to Play With by Hiroko Fujita

Paper Cutting Story: "The Disappearing Snowperson" from Paper Stories by Jean Stangl

Board Game: "Snowball, Snowball"

Poem: "Snowball" by Shel Silverstein

Crafts: Snowperson from Beginning Step-by-Step Art Projects

Snowman Tic Tac Toe

Notes: It was a very small group and overall younger than previous groups. Everyone enjoyed "The Bird and the Trees." "The Month Brothers" was a bit long for most of the children but the older ones did like it. Of course the game, "Snowball, Snowball" went over very well. The children were very good at guessing behind which mitten the snowball was hidden!

Shel Silverstein's "Snowball"

2012-01-27T14:21:00.000-05:00

Shel Silverstein's "Snowball" was the subject of a recent Flannel Friday post from Miss Alison Is Blogging. I thought it would be fun to end Monday's Winter Family Story Time program with his irreverent humor. (I am also using "Snowball, Snowball" from so tomorrow. Thank you Flannel Friday!) Instead of making it a board story, I decided to make some illustrations and glue them on to construction paper.

I made the pajamas and bedspread with scrap book paper to add a little pattern to my very basic drawings. The puddle is leftover laminating film colored with marker. I couldn't resist making bunny slippers though I did manage to refrain from using some of my newly acquired glitter glue on the snowball.

Title

First illustration

I pasted the lines to read on the back.

Second illustration - Keeping it simple

Third illustration - Bunny slippers!

Fourth illustration - Uh, Oh!

This week's Flannel Friday roundup is being hosted by Anne of so tomorrow. Everything you want to know about Flannel Friday can be found on her Flannel Friday page.

Toddler Time: Winter

2012-01-25T18:04:00.000-05:00

Today I was a substitute librarian for Toddler Time (ages 2 - 3.5 with parent/caregiver). This week's storytime theme is "Winter."

Books: Hamilton Duck by Arthur Getz
             From My Window by Olive Wong
             Snowy, Blowy Winter by Bob Raczka
             Snowballs by Lois Ehlert

Finger Puppets: "Snowmen" from Mitt Magic by Lynda Roberts

Paper Cutting (paper plate): "Mr. Snowman's Ride" from Cut and Tell Scissor Stories for Winter by Jean Warren

Board:   "Five Little Snowman Riding on a Sled" (instead of "Five Little Monkeys") - the figures were laminated clip art
             "Hey, Mr. Snowman" from Preschool Favorites by Diane Briggs
             "Five Little Snowflakes" from DLTK's Sites

Craft: The children decorated "mittens" made of construction paper using crayons and stickers, as well as by gluing on colorful scraps of paper. Yarn was taped to the backs to keep them together.

Notes: I don't get to do Toddler Time often so I enjoy it when I do. I like to use finger puppets with this age group which always go over well. I have some patterns from Mitt Magic that I have been using for over twenty years. Another old favorite is "Mr. Snowman's Ride." I found the others from various Flannel Friday posts. When I did "Hey, Mr. Snowman" I put the pieces on the wrong places (e.g. I put the arms on top of his head) and had the children help me get it right. I needed a lot of help and it was enthusiastically given! Although the craft was simple, the children really enjoyed it. For two-year-olds there must be something magical about glue sticks. Much thought went into the decorating of those mittens.

Amazon Theater #2 - The Bird and the Trees

2012-01-20T17:17:00.000-05:00

Winter is the topic this month. I will be a substitute librarian for Toddler Time next week and telling winter stories at Family Story Time the following week. I'll be using ideas from Flannel Friday posts for Toddler Time so thank you fellow participants. For Family Story Time I will be telling some winter folktales. As I have mentioned before, I like to use various methods of storytelling so I adapted a story to tell using props. I call it "Amazon Theater" because my stage is an amazon.com box. I simply put my props on the overturned box as I tell the story. (See my post for 9/1/11 for another example.)

The following story is adapted from one by Rick Walton, a pourquoi tale called "Why the Evergreen Trees Keep Their Leaves in Winter." His site is an excellent source for finding stories to tell.

My version is called the "The Bird and the Trees" and can be told using props as I have or using felt or magnet board pieces. I based most of the figures on clip art from Microsoft Publisher. I made the North Wind and the Frost King into stick puppets to hold over the "stage" at the end of the story but they can be board pieces as well.

The story:

The Bird and the Trees

Once there was a bird who could not fly south for the winter with the other birds. He had injured his wing and could not fly. As the cold winds started to blow, the bird knew he would have to seek shelter. The forest was full of trees with sheltering branches. So he went into the forest to find a place to stay for the winter.

First the bird came to a willow tree at the edge of the forest and asked, “May I please spend the winter in one of your branches? My wing is injured and I cannot fly south this year.” The willow replied, “Goodness no! My branches are much too delicate to have a bird living in them!”

The bird went a little further into the forest until he came to a birch tree and asked, “May I please stay in one of your branches until the spring comes?” “I’m sorry,” the birch tree answered, “but I have to look after myself this winter and it would be too much to look after you as well.”

So the bird hopped even deeper into the forest looking for a tree to shelter him. He came to a tall oak tree. “Please,” asked the bird, “may I stay in your branches for the winter?” “Harrumph!” said the oak, “If I let you stay in my branches, you will eat my acorns all winter long and I can’t have that!”

The bird hopped even deeper into the forest not knowing what to do for none of the trees wanted to help him. “What are you doing so deep in the forest little bird?” asked a spruce tree who saw him hopping along. “I’m looking for a place to spend the winter,” answered the little bird. “My wing is injured and I cannot fly south with the other birds.” “You are welcome to spend the winter with me,” replied the spruce. “Come, hop onto this branch,” said the spruce as she lowered one of her large, wide branches down to the ground. The pine tree saw what had happened and said to the bird, “Although my branches aren’t as warm, I will help shelter you when the wind blows for I am big and strong.” Then the juniper tree said, “I may not be big but I have delicious berries that you are welcome to eat all winter long.” The bird thanked each of the trees for their kindness and stayed safely with them throughout the winter months.

But that is not the end of the story. The North Wind was playing in the forest and wanted to blow everything off the trees. The Frost King would not let him touch the trees who had helped the bird. The Frost King declared, “These trees showed great kindness by taking care of the injured bird. Their branches will remain green throughout the year. However, you may blow the leaves off the trees who thought only of themselves. Their branches shall stay bare until the springtime comes.” The North Wind had fun blowing the leaves off of the selfish trees.

So it is today. The spruce, pine and juniper trees are green all year long while the leaves of the willow, birch and oak trees fall to the ground when the cold wind blows.

The figures:

The Selfish Trees

Bird with the Kind Trees

North Wind and King Frost Stick Puppets

How the props are supported

This week's Flannel Friday is hosted by Melissa of Mel's Desk, the one who started it all. Please be sure to look at her post about starting Flannel Friday just one year ago. Many thanks to Melissa and the others who have worked so hard this past year to make Flannel Friday the wonderful resource it is today.

Squirrel Gives Her Heart

2012-01-13T13:05:00.000-05:00

Story:

Squirrel Gives Her Heart

Squirrel was very busy. She was making the biggest and best Valentine heart she had ever made. It was almost as big as she was. She was so excited and could hardly wait to give it to her friend.

Finally she was finished. She had made the most beautiful big and sparkly Valentine she had ever seen. Now she was ready to give it to a friend. But squirrel had lots of friends and didn’t know which one to choose. The big heart would be perfect for deer who was her biggest friend. But then she thought about her other friends whom she also liked very much. Raccoon would certainly enjoy having a sparkly heart. So would her friend chipmunk. She should also give one to her friend bird and she couldn’t leave out her smallest friend mouse. Squirrel was worried. She didn’t have enough paper to make everyone a Valentine. Yet she didn’t want to leave anyone out. What should she do?

Squirrel thought and thought. Suddenly she knew what she could do so that everyone could have a sparkly heart just the right size for them. Can you guess?

Squirrel cut up her sparkly heart. She took her scissors, folded the heart in half and carefully cut around the edge to make a big open heart for deer. Then she cut some more to make an open heart for raccoon. She made a medium-sized one for chipmunk and a slightly smaller one for bird. All that was left was a teeny-tiny solid heart which was just the right size for her smallest friend mouse.

Squirrel was very happy and so were her friends when she presented each of them with their own special Valentine’s Day heart.

Notes: This story can be told as either a paper cutting story or as a board story. The basic concept of cutting concentric hearts was inspired by a paper cutting story from Paper Stories by Jean Stangl.

Paper - For plain paper cutting delete the adjective sparkly from the story. For more ambitious paper cutting use glitter glue over the area to be cut out to make it sparkly. Just make sure the area inside the heart is completely covered and that it is completely dry before folding the paper in half (so it won’t stick together). Be sure to do this well ahead of time for it takes some time for the glue to dry, particularly if you get carried away like I did. (I put the paper on a towel and used a hair dryer so I could have my sample for Flannel Friday rather than Flannel Saturday.) You can also use a metallic marker to give your heart sparkle. I used both for the sample. The paper can be any paper that can easily be cut when folded in half such as copy paper. My sample is made from thin construction paper. Fold the paper in half (sparkles on the inside and fold on the left side) and draw half a large heart onto this side. (Make sure this is done on the fold edge so that when you open it up you have a complete heart.) Draw the the four smaller (half) hearts inside it. These will be your guidelines for cutting out the hearts. You can make templates to trace around if you wish. I made my pattern using Microsoft Publisher. Cut out the large heart and open it up to show the big heart squirrel made. (If you wish, you can cut the large heart out ahead of time.) Refold it to cut out the additional hearts. You should end up with four open hearts and one small solid heart. Open each heart up to show which heart squirrel gave to each animal.

Board - If you tell this as a board story you will be making hearts that fit inside each other. I use paper to make magnet board figures which is easy to cut. Cutting the hearts from felt will be more difficult due to the thickness of the material so I recommend sharp scissors. (The hearts can also be drawn on craft weight interfacing which is easy to cut and sticks to a feltboard.) With felt you can decorate the edges with puffy paint as well making the pieces sparkly with glitter glue. You also have the option of adding the animals mentioned in the story to the board. The story would work with a very large heart alone which would probably be easier to make than a smaller one. The other option would be to make a smaller heart with pieces that can be placed next to each animal. Heart templates can be made with a simple drawing program. Use clip art for the animals or use animals from other sets that you might have. You can substitute whatever animals you have for squirrel's friends.

Examples:

Template using Microsoft Publisher

Use black marker on half of the heart so it will show through the copy paper for tracing the pattern.

I cut the template so I could trace it onto construction paper.

I would use this for board pieces as well.

I used this to show where to cover the inside with "sparkle."

The inside with sparkle.

The large heart cut out.

All of the hearts cut out.

Happy Valentine's Day!

This week's Flannel Friday Roundup (Mushy Gushy Valentine's Day Extravaganza) is hosted by Anna of Future Librarian Superhero. Past and future roundups are listed here and our Pinterest boards are here.

Just a Note

2012-01-07T11:41:00.000-05:00

The first Flannel Friday Roundup for 2012 can be found at What Happens in Storytime. Thank you Mollie Kay. Go here to find the schedule through March. Next week is our "Mushy, Gushy Valentine's Day Extravaganza." March 30 will focus on the Collaborative Summer Library Program theme "Dream Big Read!" for those participating states. New Jersey participates so I'm looking forward to finding ideas for my family story times.

Flannel Friday Roundup for 12/16/11

2011-12-16T08:41:00.001-05:00

Welcome to the final Flannel Friday Roundup of 2011! As always, there is a wide variety of ideas in the following posts. I love how creative this group is and how members easily adapt ideas to fit their own needs. Flannel Friday has inspired me to be a more creative storyteller.

Library Quines of Loons and Quines has some adorable and very colorful felt owls featured in her post "Owls and Longevity." She also asks readers for suggestions for keeping the felt pieces looking good.

Mary of Miss Mary Liberry gives us "Bippity, Boppity, Boo, There's a Teddy Bear on My Shoe." She points out how easily adaptable this rhyme would be. I just found out I will be subbing for a January Toddler Time program so I'm thinking bippity, bobbity, bee, there's a snowflake on my knee.

Alison of Miss Alison Is Blogging presents "Hey, Mr. Snowman" which not only covers winter but colors as well. The children can also bring the snowman pieces up to the board.

Andrea of rovingfiddlehead kidlit combines winter fun with a little bit of drama with "The, Cold, Cold Night." Her polar bear is simply designed but very effective.

Mel of Mel's Desk unearthed a great prop for singing "She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain." She mentions that this format could be used for other songs. Since I can't carry a tune I would use it to make a circular story linear - folding out and then folding back. Flannel Friday inspiration already!

Meghan of Busy Crafting Mommy has again created some beautifully crafted pieces, this time for Balancing Act by Ellen Stoll Walsh. The parachute activity looks like fun as well.

Katie of Story Time Secrets takes the "Rudolph!, Rudolph!" rhyme to a new level with a cute and cuddly Rudolph. I love the colorful noses.

Mollie of What Happens in Storytime flannelizes Hungry Hen by Richard Waring. She didn't give away the ending and now I have to wait until I'm back at work Tuesday evening to read it. I love the expression on the fox's face.

Katie of storytime katie made the most incredible "Knights." I love the detail of the armor and the colorful shields.

Sarah of Read Rabbit Read brings us her cute flannel board version of What Color is Bear's Underwear? What could be more fun than bears and underwear? It's certainly an entertaining way to teach colors and the days of the week.

Cate of Storytiming has come up with a great activity to go along with Pete the Cat Rocking in My School Shoes! by Eric Litwin. She also has lets us know about the newest Pete book!

My contribution is "Turtle Talks Too Much." I used it for my November Family Story Time program and it is another story adapted from a Native American tale. I made simple props but it could be a flannel board story as well.

Update:
Moxie of Storytimes with Moxie gives us a holiday gift with "A Stocking for Hoppy" by showing a lovely felt stocking she made and by sharing a wonderful personal story along with it. I hope she lets us know what Hoppy gets from Santa.

If I missed anyone please let me know in the comments or via Twitter or our Facebook page.

You can find previous roundups at Anne's blog, so tomorrow, where Flannel Friday has it's own page. That 's where you'll also find the hosting schedule for the beginning of 2012.

Be sure to visit Flannel Friday's Pinterest boards where you will find all of the contributions in one place and conveniently categorized. (It make take a while for me to "pin" this roundup since I'm a newbie at it and didn't have much time to practice.)

Since this is the last roundup for 2011, I would like to thank everyone for making Flannel Friday such a great resource and I'm looking forward to 2012. May everyone have a holiday season of peace and joy and then be inspired to create fantastic flannels all through the coming year.

Flannel Friday Posts

2011-12-16T01:06:00.001-05:00

If you have a Flannel Friday post, please leave a link to it in the comments. I will also be checking Twitter and the Facebook page throughout the day.

Thanks.

Update: The roundup has been posted and can be found here. However, I will still add posts through Saturday. LM

Turtle Talks Too Much

2011-12-15T19:05:00.000-05:00

"Turtle Talks Too Much" is another Native American story that I adapted for the Family Story Time program of November 29, 2011 (see post for 11/30/11). It is based on "How Turtle Flew South for the Winter" in Native American Stories told by Joseph Bruchac. Although I told it using props, it can easily be told as a flannel/magnet board story. I remember reading a version of this tale several years ago but of course I have forgotten where I came across it. My version can be found as a Google document here.

The props were fairly simple to make. The stick came from my front yard. When selecting a stick make sure it is small enough for the clothes pins to fit on it. I drew the turtle and birds and colored them with markers. The turtle's shell is plain and I put a piece of white sticky-backed Velcro in the center of the shell and colored it with green marker. I then made a cracked shell putting the other part of the Velcro on the back of it so it can be attached after turtle falls. I put card stock behind the figures to reinforce them. This also helped the birds stay upright on the stick. I then taped clothes pins behind the birds' feet and behind turtle's head. I taped a mouth onto turtle's clothes pin.

Birds carrying turtle:

How it is put together:

After the fall:

It's my turn to host the Flannel Friday Round-Up so please come back Friday evening for the last Flannel Friday of 2011!

Crow's Great Gift

2011-12-09T09:45:00.001-05:00

One of the stories I told at last month's Family Story Time (see post for 11/30/11) was "Crow's Great Gift" which is based on the story "Rainbow Crow" from The Grandfathers Speak: Native American Folk Tales of the Lenape People collected and written by Hitakonanu'laxk (Tree Bear). Libraries may have the book, Rainbow Crow by Nancy Van Laan, which is a nice retelling of this story. Other versions can also be found by searching the internet. My version can be found as a Google document here.

I used clip art from Microsoft Publisher to make stick puppet figures. However, this story would work just as well as a board story. I like to vary my ways of telling stories in a program so I decided to use stick puppets for this one.

This week's Flannel Friday Round-Up can be found at Liz's "Putting Smiles on Faces" blog.

We Were Fans Before He Was a Star

2011-12-03T14:52:00.001-05:00

Several years ago we adopted a shelter cat named Pete. Actually he selected us by sticking his paw out of his cage and tapping on my husband's shoulder. We had planned to adopt an older cat but ended up with Pete who was technically a kitten at 11 months according to the shelter. When we got him home we decided he was more like a teenager. (A few months later we adopted his sister as well.)

My husband took to calling him Pete the Cat (now you may see how this story connects to children's literature). One day my husband told me that he had found another Pete the Cat on the internet. He had found the work of artist James Dean here. From Mr. Dean we learned that blue is the new black and have been fans ever since because we had our own Pete the Cat. It was great fun to find out that Pete was going to be the featured in a children's book and even more fun when he became a hit!

Of course we have succumbed to Pete merchandising. When visiting the Pete the Cat site last year I was pleasantly surprised to find out how affordable Pete prints are and purchased one for my husband for Christmas. Needless to say he is getting more Pete stuff this year. The work of James Dean is geared more toward adults while the books are definitely a hit with children. I think it's great that Pete can be enjoyed by both grown-ups and kids and I'm looking forward to reading Pete's books to my grandson the next time he comes for a visit. However, I don't think our Pete the Cat will be wearing white shoes any time soon.

Pete and Pete:

Holiday Bells

2011-12-01T21:56:00.001-05:00

Flannel Friday is having a "Holiday Extravaganza." It is hosted by Library Quine at http://loonsandquines.blogspot.com/

Here is my contribution:

"Holiday Bells"

One silver bell rings out loud and clear,

Calls for another so that more can hear.

Two silver bells make a joyful noise,

Call for another to ring for girls and boys.

Three silver bells ring out holiday cheer,

Call for another to be heard far and near.

Four silver bells make a merry sound,

Call for another to be heard all around.

Five silver bells ring throughout the land -

May there be peace on earth and goodwill to man.

Notes: The word "little" can be substituted for "silver" if you don't want to make your bells all silver. I used a silver marker to color in the clip art bell I selected. (Mine is from Microsoft Publisher.) I added a bit of ribbon to make it festive,

Evening Family Story Time #3

2011-11-30T17:09:00.001-05:00

Family Story Time - Tuesday, November 29, 2011, 6:30 - 7:30 p.m. Attendance: 14 (8 children, 6 adults)

Program:

Book: Brother Wolf: a Seneca Tale by Harriet Peck Taylor

Board Stories: "Baby Rattlesnake" from Travel the Globe: Multicultural Story Times by Desiree Webber

"Why We Need the Wind" (see post for 11/17/11)

Prop Story: "Turtle Talks Too Much" based on "How Turtle Flew South for the Winter" in Native American Stories told by Joseph Bruchac (I will post more information soon.)

Stick Puppets: "Crow's Great Gift" based on "Rainbow Crow" in The Grandfathers Speak: Native American Folk Tales of the Lenape People (see post for 12/9/11)

Game: Animal Memory (see post for 11/25/11)

Craft: Bowl Game

Notes - Again there was a wide age range of children attending this program. The youngest was not even 2 and the oldest was around 11. The stories were too old for the little one but she did seem to enjoy "Baby Rattlesnake." The adults really seemed to enjoy the stories this time around. I selected Native American stories.  Although I have told some Native American stories over the years, I have never done an entire program of Native American tales.  This also gave me an opportunity to tell one of my favorite board stories, "Baby Rattlesnake." It's a favorite because I get to whine and cry and make rattlesnake noises. The craft was also a big hit. I used a simple version of a bowl game found on the internet. We used dried lima beans rather than nuts. We also did not bother with the contact paper but glued designs directly onto the bowl. It was fun hearing all the beans bouncing in the bowls at the same time as both children and adults tried to get five of the colored sides of the beans to show. I gave markers to the older children and crayons to the younger ones. The markers tended to smear but the crayons worked fine. Everyone got pre-cut clip art to decorate their bowl.

Playing with Patterns

2011-11-25T13:12:00.001-05:00

While catching up on my backlog of PUBYAC digests, I came across a reference to some Native American games. One of the games mentioned was "Pebble Patterns." Similar to "Memory" this game requires players to remember and then recreate a pattern made from pebbles. This inspired me to make a similar game for my upcoming family story time.

Using Microsoft Publisher, I made a circle (3 1/2 inches in diameter) and copied it 9 times so that I had two pages with 5 circles on each. I then inserted clip art from Publisher into each circle. After printing them, I outlined each circle in black to make it stand out against the white board that I use.

I use a magnet board so I will paste the circles on sturdier paper, cut them out and add magnets. (Felt, interfacing or Velcro could be used for flannel boards.)

I will place the circles on the board in a simple pattern then remove them. I will probably start with three or four in a straight line. I will add circles until they remember all 10. Then I will arrange the circles in different patterns to see if the children can remember which circle goes where. Since I will need to remember them, I plan to write down the patterns I will be using and have that information nearby.

What I like about this concept is that it can be simple or complex. The circles can contain any image or pattern you want to use. They can even be simply colored circles so that it can be played with young children. One could make three of each color and then make color patterns (e.g. one red, two blue, two red, one blue). Older children could even make their own sets of circles to play the game. I'm considering having my family story time participants color dried lima beans to make a game they can play at home. It would be more like the original pebble game.

Katie is hosting this week's Flannel Friday on her blog Story Time Secrets.

Why We Need the Wind

2011-11-17T19:47:00.001-05:00

This story for the flannel/magnet board is an adaptation of the story "Gluscabi and the Wind Eagle" found in Native American Stories Told by Joseph Bruchac. I have simplified the original so that only a few pieces are needed to tell the story. It can be found as a Google document here.

Pieces awaiting lamination:

Once the pieces are cut out I will "push" the canoe back and forth on the magnet board to illustrate Gluscabi's trouble with the wind. Once Gluscabi reaches the top of the mountain I will use the eagle flapping his wings to make the wind. Once Gluscabi starts to talk to the eagle I will use the standing eagle figure for the rest of the story. Next to the standing eagle in the photo above is the carrying strap that Gluscabi makes to capture the eagle. It will be placed across the eagle. When Gluscabi returns to the lake, I will place the canoe back on the board. When he returns to the mountain, I will place the standing eagle back on the board.

I enjoy using pourquoi tales in my family story time programs. They often feature animals and animal stories are always popular with my audience.

This week's Flannel Friday Round-Up is hosted by Cate's Storytiming blog.

Class Visit

2011-11-16T18:53:00.001-05:00

Wednesday, November 16, 2011, 9:30 a.m., Grades K to 2, Attendance - 14 children, 9 adults.
Storytime for deaf children with ASL interpreters.

Board Stories: "Pot Luck" (see post for 7/28/11)
                       "The Silly Wishes" from Teeny Tiny Folktales by Jean Warren

Prop Story:   "The Little Old Woman Who Lived in a Vinegar Bottle" (see post for 9/30/11).

Draw & Tell Story: "The Castaways" from Frog's Riddle & Other Draw-and-Tell Stories by Richard Thompson.

Paper Cutting Story: "The Royal Paper Puzzle" from Handmade Tales by Diane de Las Casas

Books: Shark in the Park! by Nick Sharratt
             The Little Green Turtle by A.J. Wood (Pop-up book)

Craft: Turtle paper bag puppet - pattern from Alphabet Puppets plus More! by Karen Sevaly

Storytime Fun Despite a Marker Malfunction

2011-11-16T12:23:00.001-05:00

Today a group of deaf children came for a class visit. I managed to remember to slow down for the ASL interpreters but forgot to tell one of the stories I had planned. Everything else went smoothly until it came time for me to do the draw-and-tell story. I had tested the marker beforehand to make sure it worked but somehow the marker part disappeared into the plastic holder part when I started to use it. I excused myself and ran to the children's room desk and grabbed the biggest marker I could find from the drawer and ran back to tell the story. It never ceases to amaze me what can happen during storytime. I've been doing this for twenty years and this was a first. Fortunately after 20 years I don't get easily rattled any more.

The children were great, the teachers were great and everyone had a good time probably because I selected mostly silly stories. The two books that I used were selected for their visual appeal. Other than being careful about my book selections and working with the ASL interpreter, this storytime was not any different than one I would do for any class visit. I like to use a variety of storytelling formats that have visual appeal (see my previous post). It helps to keep the group's attention if they are wondering what you are going to do next.

The children made turtle paper bag puppets after the storytime. I like to do a simple craft if possible because then the children have something to take with them.

The teachers had me stand with the children for a group photo after the program. The highlight of the day was when the little girl standing next to me slipped her hand into mine as the picture was taken. Moments like that are what make my job so rewarding. Seeing a group of children signing shark as I read them Shark in the Park! is what makes my job so much fun.

I'll post the stories I used later today.

Visual Storytelling

2011-11-09T20:33:00.000-05:00

Over the years my storytelling style has evolved. I still use most of the same elements as I did twenty years ago but now these elements are no longer "filler" between picture book readings but have become an essential part of the storytime. One reason is that I am more confident telling a story than I was when I first started as a children's librarian and the other reason is that I really enjoy the various forms of storytelling that I use - draw and tell stories, board stories, paper cutting stories, and stories using props and stick puppets. They all have visual elements for the listener to look at while I tell the story. I am reluctant to move into straight storytelling because I enjoy using these elements when I tell stories. I guess it is part of my storytelling style.

I am preparing for a class visit next week. All of the children are deaf and some have other disabilities as well. The group had stopped by our library during a field trip last year when one of their destinations canceled on them. They had called ahead and I was available to do a storytime for them. It turned out that my "visual" style of storytelling worked well for the children and they called this year asking to come back just for a storytime. I was surprised and happy to find out that my visual style was a good format for this group. I had been concerned that it would have been too distracting since the children had to watch the interpreter as well. I will be using many of the new stories that I had worked on over the summer and used for my family storytimes. I am going to have to try to slow myself down a bit though, so I don't make it too difficult for the ASL interpreters. It's great feeling to know that this group wanted to come back to hear more stories and I'm looking forward to their visit.

This has been a busy week (particularly at home) so I don't have anything new for this week's Flannel Friday. I'm currently selecting stories for my next family storytime so I will have something new next week. You can find this week's Flannel Friday Round-up on Sharon's blog, Rain Makes Applesauce.

Internet Issues

2011-11-04T12:27:00.001-04:00

Due to the unexpected snow storm last weekend we lost power at home. Home is where I do my blogging. Fortunately we only lost it for a little more than a day. However it took another couple of days for us to get our internet back and the family wireless network is still not working. Consequently I haven't been spending much time at the computer (which is not necessarily a bad thing).

It's strange but I feel that I'm being rude for not posting or contributing a storytime resource. I follow numerous storytime blogs and I feel as if I'm part of a larger community - a very helpful and creative group I might add. I'm still catching up on these blog posts. However I also don't believe in posting if I don't have something useful to contribute or something to say and this past week has not been very productive at home. Fortunately I did come up with an idea for my next Family Story Time. I just have to research some stories and decide how I want to tell them. I'll be posting what I come up with during the next few weeks.

Don't forget that today is Flannel Friday. The round-up for this week can be found at Anne's blog at the end of the day.

Evening Family Story Time #2 - Halloween!

2011-10-27T23:30:00.000-04:00

Family Story Time - Thursday, October 27, 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., Attendance 68 (40 children, 28 adults).

This evening's program was truly a family story time.   Entire families came out on a cold, rainy night. I had lots of dads this evening. Everyone seemed to have had a great time including the parents. I did not notice any restless children while telling the stories though a couple of the two-year-olds joined the older children up front when we were doing the "Big Pumpkin." Even the babies were good. Having a wide variety of stories worked well. (Even the twelve-year-old who came with younger siblings put down his book and listened.) Having easy and difficult crafts also worked well later. A staff member had donated several containers of Halloween foam pieces (Thank you Brenda!) which kept the younger children very happy and gave me time to pass out the other craft materials. The older children also enjoyed the fortune tellers.

Program:

Books: Brooms Are For Flying by Michael Rex
             Ghosts in the House by Kazuno Kohara

Board Stories: "Snacks for Ghosts" (see post for 10/14/11)
                       "Juan and the Ghost" from Multicultural Folktales for the Feltboard and Readers' Theater by Judy Sierra

Board Rhyme: "One Little Ghost" (see post for 10/7/11)

Board Game:    "Little Bat and the Witches' Hats" - a guessing game (see post for 10/14/11)

Paper Cutting Story: "The Little Orange House" from Paper Stories by Jean Stangl (Best collection of paper cutting stories ever!)

Draw & Tell Story: "The Ghost on Pedersen's Farm" from Frog's Riddle & Other Draw-and-Tell Stories by Richard Thompson (Highly recommended though the stories are not simple to draw)

Participation Story: "Big Pumpkin" based on Big Pumpkin by Erica Silverman (see posts for 10/21/11 and 10/23/11)

Crafts: Halloween picture or card - Halloween themed foam pieces glued on purple construction paper
            Halloween fortune teller
            Jack-O-Lantern smile
            Flapping Bat

(A quick shot of the crafts - the bat flaps upside down)

Big Pumpkin - Constructed

2011-10-23T15:00:00.000-04:00

While figuring out how to make the pumpkin for the Big Pumpkin participation story I plan to use in my Family Story Time on the 27th (see my post for 10/21/11), I had three things to consider - foremost it had to be big, yet it had to be light enough to pick up and it had to be easily storable.

First I took two sheets of 18" by 24" drawing paper and placed them together on the floor. I sketched out a pumpkin across both sheets so that there would be half a pumpkin on each sheet when separated. I drew a stem on a separate piece of paper. I outlined everything in black marker. I colored the stem with green marker but painted the pumpkin with orange poster paint because it was such a large area. Once the paint was dry I cut the pieces out. (The pumpkin pieces could be glued on a firmer backing or could be painted on poster board instead for a sturdier pumpkin. I just used the materials I had, figuring I will only be using it for Halloween storytimes so it should hold up.)

I used paper grocery bags as supports. They are "double bagged" to make them sturdy. I glued half of a pumpkin to one bag and half to the other. I then clipped the bags together. I attached the stem with Velcro (hook and loop) pieces making sure I had one piece on each pumpkin to keep the top of the pumpkin together. Once everything was in place I had my "Big Pumpkin."

The great thing about using grocery bags is that they can be easily folded for storage. The other props used in the story can be slipped into the folded bags.

Big Pumpkin Assembled - Front

Big Pumpkin Assembled - Back

Bags Clipped Together

Attaching the Stem with Velcro

Big Pumpkin - Deconstructed Again

Big Pumpkin - Deconstructed

2011-10-21T15:12:00.000-04:00

My favorite Halloween book is Big Pumpkin by Erica Silverman. I don't usually mess with a great book but this title would work very well as a participation story. Children could be the characters and the audience would contribute the key words to the story. The librarian would direct the action and narrate. With this in mind, I came up with -

Title:

Simple props to designate the characters:

Dialog cue cards for the audience:

Big Pumpkin (in progress - I'll post about how I put it together later -waiting for the paint to dry):

The reward:

All the clip art is from Microsoft Publisher.

Now that I have these simple props, I plan to tell this story at my Halloween Family Story Time.

Not My Usual Sources for Storytime Crafts

2011-10-18T14:06:00.000-04:00

I am a visual person (which is why I like using props and board stories in my storytime programs). I enjoy the visual arts while my husband and daughters prefer the performing arts. Lately I've been more interested in crafts than the fine arts. Crafts can be found in museums or on refrigerators. I have two sources in my Google Reader that show the wide range of crafts that can be found on the web. One is the Craft blog and the other is Craftgawker. I can quickly scroll through the various posts in Google Reader. Occasionally I will stop at one that interests me. I subscribe to these because I love seeing the work of creative people. Every once in while I will post something that I find interesting on this blog. (Today I found this on Craftzine.) What I didn't expect to find was ideas for storytime crafts. However, this showed up on Craftgawker - jack o'lantern smiles! So simple, yet so cute. (Check out the lisa storms blog for other Halloween ideas -I like the owl treat boxes and the skeleton magnets - she even supplies templates.) I plan to use this as well as a Halloween fortune teller pattern that I also found through Craftgawker as crafts for my Halloween Family Story Time program on October 27. Now I will be looking at these sites, not just for my own enjoyment but for storytime craft ideas as well.

Snacks for Ghosts & Bats in Hats

2011-10-14T09:59:00.000-04:00

I wanted to include The Ghost's Dinner by Jacques Duquennoy in my Halloween Family Story Time program but my current library does not own it. So I ended up doing what I did in July (see my post for 7/6/11) - writing my own story. This one is much shorter and can be found as a Google document here.

There are several versions of stories that feature the concept of ghosts turning the color of what they eat that can be found by searching the web. One is called "Three Naughty Ghosts." My web search also turned up a reference to a book, The Chocolate Chip Ghost by Meighan Peifer. I'm not familiar with this title but I'm guessing it would be a good one to use. I also found flannel board versions by searching that title.

Since my library uses a magnet board I made my own figures. I'm using the same little ghosts that I used for "One Little Ghost" (see my post for 10/7/11) plus a mama ghost. I based the food items on clip art. Once the pieces are laminated I will make a magnet sandwich by stapling a colorful ghost and white ghost back to back. I made extra wide black borders so I would have room to trim the pieces to match.

The Snacks

The Problem

Mama with the Solution

Ready to Go Halloween Haunting

I am also going to do a version of the critter hiding behind something guessing game (such as "Little Mouse" and those in my blog post for 8/4/11). I found the idea for a bat hiding behind a witch's hat on Kelly's "Field Acquisitions" blog.

I based the figures on clip art, copied the hats and colored everything with markers. I made the hat bands black because I plan to hide the little bat behind them. The figures are not cut out yet because they need to be laminated first.

This week's Flannel Friday Round-up can be found at the "rovingfiddlehead kidlit" blog.

One Little Ghost

2011-10-07T07:52:00.000-04:00

One little ghost, waiting to yell boo,
Calls for a friend, so now there are two.
Two little ghosts, hiding in a tree,
Call for a friend, so now there are three.
Three little ghosts decide they need more,
Call for a friend, so now there are four.
Four little ghosts, ready to swoop and dive,
Call for a friend and now there are five.
Five little ghosts, hidden from sight,
Jump out at trick-or-treaters to give them a fright.
One, two, three, four, five - “Boo!”

This Halloween rhyme can be used with flannel/magnet board figures or with finger puppets.

Boo!

The Flannel Friday Round-up for this week can be found at the Future Librarian Superhero blog.

Fall Second Grade Visits

2011-10-05T16:26:00.000-04:00

Second graders from public and private schools in Hamilton Township spend a day attending a program about bicycle safety given by the police department. It is held at the library with half the schools attending in the fall and the other half attending the following spring. A visit to the children's room is included in the program. We talk about what the library has for them, tell some stories and give them some time to browse the collection. For our own sanity and that of the teachers, we like to vary our programs each year.

I usually do a different program each spring and fall. I like to read a humorous picture book and tell a story (or two). I always promote the summer programs in the spring usually by playing a memory game (see my post for August 4, 2011). In the fall, I tell an additional story instead. This year I decided to use the same book that I read last spring simply because I haven't found anything I like better (that I haven't used before). The book is Mr. Putney's Quacking Dog by Jon Agee. It combines guessing, wordplay and silliness. The children become very involving figuring out each animal but it can take a long time to get through the book. I also enjoy seeing the teachers and parents get involved in the guessing as well.

One of the stories that I am telling is "The Pearl Thief" from Travel the Globe: Multicultural Story Times by Desiree Webber. It is based on a folktale from India and is told with props (I use paper lunch bags). I really like this story but I may have to start leaving it out when we are short on time. I need to work on making this one go quicker.

The other story that I am using is a paper cutting story, "The Royal Paper Puzzle" from Handmade Tales by Diane de Las Casas. I just used this in Family Story Time (see my post for 9/27/11) and it was a big hit and surprisingly easy to do. (I did skip the part describing the princess and making her curly hair.) The children have been so fascinated by it that one of my colleagues starting doing it when she was doing the class visits and she does not do paper cutting stories. (Maybe I'll be able to talk her into doing some more.)

So far I've been able to keep the attention of the second graders (and the adults that are with them). I need to work on giving them enough time to browse the collection. It's a fine line because if they have too much time then things can go downhill very quickly!

The Little Old Woman Who Lived in a Vinegar Bottle

2011-09-30T12:49:00.000-04:00

"The Little Old Woman Who Lived in a Vinegar Bottle" is a good story for beginning storytellers because of the repetition and its "circular" plot. There are several sources available for this story. I recommend the one in The Storyteller's Start-Up Book by Margaret Read MacDonald.

It can be told using a flannel/magnet board or simple picture props. I made the props by selecting a series of pictures from clip art and pasting them onto card stock. If desired, text could be added to the back of the pictures as well. I made the pictures fairly large so they could be easily seen by a large group.

This week's Flannel Friday posts can be found at the Rain Makes Applesauce Blog.

Evening Family Story Time #1

2011-09-27T12:01:00.000-04:00

Family Story Time - Monday, September 26, 6:30 to 7:30 p.m, Attendance: 9 (6 children, 3 adults)

We started a monthly series of evening storytimes with this program. We've had requests so we thought we'd give it a try. I would have gone with a 7:00 p.m. start but the parents we talked to preferred 6:30. Several families signed up but most did not show up. The few who did come enjoyed themselves. Even though the group was small, the ages of the children went from around 3 to 10. The humorous stories were enjoyed by children and adults. The debut of "A Few Foolish Friends" went over very well.

Program:

Books: The Wolf Who Cried Boy by Bob Hartman
             Falling for Rapunzel by Leah Wilcox

Board Stories: "The Silly Wishes" from Teeny Tiny Folktales by Jean Warren
                        "A Few Foolish Friends" (see post for 9/22/11)

Paper Cutting Story: "The Royal Paper Puzzle" from Handmade Tales by Diane de Las Casas
                                 (This one is a lot easier than it looks!)

Stick Puppets: "How the Brazilian Beetle Won the Race" from Travel the Globe by Desiree Webber

Craft: Paper bag puppets of the Woodcutter and his wife from "The Silly Wishes." I made my own patterns. I made an ice cream cone as well as a sausage just for the fun of it. The children really enjoyed sticking them on the noses of the puppets (as well as their own and those of their siblings). We simply used rolled up tape to attach them.

My Way to Your Way

2011-09-25T23:26:00.001-04:00

I received a comment asking if I told my board stories from memory, note cards or some other way. Rather than a quick comment I thought I would write about telling longer tales using the flannel board because that is how I learned to tell stories. Also, telling stories with the flannel board gave me the confidence to try other storytelling formats.

When I first started as a Children's Librarian, I knew that there would not be much singing in my storytimes since I can't carry a tune. I also didn't want to just sit and read books so I looked for other ways to tell stories. I found that paper cutting, draw and tell and board stories were perfect for me and I've been using them ever since. For years I was the only Youth Services Librarian so I learned to make things as simple as possible. Memorization went out the window pretty quickly.

One of the first sources for flannel board stories that I used was Teeny Tiny Folktales by Jean Warren. The stories were short and did not require many figures to manipulate on the flannel board. As I became more confident, I moved to other stories. I also ended up making the simple stories not so simple over the years (see my post for 8/22/11). I just recently started adapting stories myself. I also started using other props to tell stories because I wanted to give my programs some variety.

It's important for me to pick a story that I really like. If I enjoy telling the story, that will come across to the audience. I tend to pick humorous or silly stories. I also enjoy stories about animals. I am not above changing or leaving out elements that I don't care for in a story. I want to be completely comfortable with the story I tell.

I never memorize a story. I read it over several times to get the general plot. I may memorize a key phrase if it is important or repeated often. I use each figure as a cue as to what comes next in the story. I simply place them in the order they come in the story with the first figure on top and the last on the bottom. Each figure then reminds me of the next part of the story as I place it on the board. I tell the story in my own words. Sometimes I leave things out and in most cases it doesn't matter or I am able to backtrack. I do always keep a copy of the story nearby in case I need to refer to it. (I always do this with rhymes so I get the rhyming words in the correct order.) Telling the story in my own words takes the pressure off for getting it just right. It also lets me change things if I want to. I may tell a more elaborate version to an older audience or keep it short for a younger one.

If you haven't told folktales using the flannel board before, start with a familiar tale such as "The Three Little Pigs." This story allows you to "ham" it up as the wolf. (I go all out trying to blow the brick house down.) The story also naturally lends itself to audience participation.

So, if you have only used the flannel board for rhymes, do give storytelling with it a try. It takes me longer to memorize a five line rhyme than it does to learn a five paragraph story. The rhyme won't work if you don't get the words right. The story can be told your way.

As to the second question about being videoed - I'm wary about doing a video of a story because of copyright issues, though now that I am doing more original material, it's something to consider.

A Few Foolish Friends

2011-09-22T15:41:00.000-04:00

Again I find myself changing a story to suit my Family Story Time program. This time it is the book Six Foolish Fishermen by Robert D. San Souci. Like many folktale picture books it is a bit too long to read for storytime. However, this story would be great to tell using the flannel/magnet board so I wrote my own version making several changes. At the end of his book San Souci mentions in his "Author's Note" that his version is made up using various noodlehead stories from around the world. He set his story in Cajun country because of his interest in Cajun culture. I recognized elements in the book from other stories, particularly the counting episode.

I made the sensible person in the story a little girl because children know they are really smarter than the grown-ups. What I like about my version is that I can leave out elements of the story if needed to suit the attention span of the group. (This is the first of a series of evening programs I will be doing so I don't know what age range will be attending.) My version, "A Few Foolish Friends," can be found as a Google document here.

I drew the six friends and the little girl for the story. Their basic shape is the same (stick figures with clothes) though I varied their sizes and made an effort to give each face a personality. It took some time but I now have a variety of figures to use in other stories. I used clip art for the fishing poles and sandwiches and drew the coffee and bait.

Drawings:

Ready for the magnet board:

This week's Flannel Friday is hosted by Mary at Miss Mary Liberry. Previous and future postings can be found at Anne's So Tomorrow blog. Go to the Flannel Friday Pinterest page for everything in one place.

Family Storytelling Fun

2011-09-20T21:38:00.000-04:00

Posted on Craftzine:

http://madebyjoel.com/2011/09/introducing-the-dressy-cats.html

Drakestail

2011-09-09T08:18:00.000-04:00

When I read "Drakes-Tail" in Multicultural Folktales: Stories to Tell Young Children by Judy Sierra and Robert Kaminski, I immediately knew how I wanted to tell it. The challenge would be creating the storytelling prop I wanted to use. I did a quick sketch and then refined it into the figure I wanted to make. (I did it on scrap paper so I apologize for the image from the other side showing.) I'm posting a photo to show that you don't have to be an artist to create props.

I then drew the body on a large sheet of drawing paper. I drew feet and a bill on separate paper. Then I outlined everything with black marker. I used yellow and orange poster paint to paint him. He was too big to color with markers. I then glued the drawing paper to poster board, cut out (don't forget to cut a hole for the bill) and glued together the pieces. I added a handle and a bag to the back. The duck ended up being about 26 inches from the top of his head to the tip of his webbed feet.

Front

Back

I used clip art for the other characters.

(I did draw the river freehand.)

As I told the story, I slipped these pieces through the bill and into the bag:

Going into the mouth ...

and into the bag.

When help was needed, I removed a figure from the bag and pushed it out his mouth.

Versions of this folktale can be found online. The Wikipedia article about Drakestail states that in the original version he carried his four friends in his bottom end. I'm sure that would appeal to kids but probably not so much to parents. Aaron Shepard has a version called Quackling in which his friends are put into a sack. A bag and a puppet can be used to tell this version of the story. Drakestail by Jan Wahl is version written for beginning readers.

A similar story is "The Rooster and the Turkish Sultan." A version called "The Little Rooster and the Turkish Sultan" can be found in Margaret Read MacDonald's Twenty Tellable Tales: Audience Participation Folktales for the Beginning Storyteller. Eric Kimmel's The Valiant Red Rooster: A Story from Hungary and The Little Rooster and the Diamond Button by Celia Barker Lottridge are picture book versions of this story.

"Drakes-tail" is an easy story to tell because of the repetitive format and use of rhyme which also appeals to younger children. It has enough silliness to appeal to older children as well, making it a good choice for Family Story Time.

This week's Flannel Friday round-up can be found at Mel's Desk.

Must See

2011-09-02T17:42:00.000-04:00

Take a look at these sculptures with altered books by artist Daniel Lai. Incredible. Be sure to watch the video.

Daniel Lai

http://www.etsy.com/shop/Kenjio

Video

http://www.knoxnews.com/videos/detail/kenjio-art-studio-of-daniel-lai/

Amazon Theater - "Don't Let the Tiger Get You!"

2011-09-01T19:05:00.000-04:00

One of the stories that I told for my "Family Story Time - Folktales from Asia" (see post for 7/27/11) was a story from Korea called "Don't Let the Tiger Get You!" which can be found in Multicultural Folktales: Stories to Tell Young Children by Judy Sierra and Robert Kaminski. Three of my all-time favorite flannel board stories ("The Elegant Rooster," "The Goat in the Chili Patch," and "The Knee-High Man") are in this book but I never looked beyond the flannel board section until recently when I started telling more stories using props. This story comes from the second section of the book and I picked it because of the absurdity of the "characters." The heroes are a talking banana peel, egg, mat, and rope who save an old woman from being eaten by a talking tiger. The talking tiger was completely accepted but the others elicited several giggles especially the talking banana peel.

I made the old woman and banana peel out of clip art. I braided yarn for the rope and wove strips of construction paper for the mat. Since I didn't have a plastic egg, I used a cat toy. Although, my philosophy about making props is to use what you have and not to get too elaborate, I did make a three-dimensional tiger. I found a one piece pattern here. It was surprisingly easy to put together. The "stage" where I placed the figures while telling the story was an Amazon.com box which I also use to store props. This story can also be told with puppets.

Amazon Theater - "Don't Let the Tiger Get You!"

This weeks Flannel Friday round-up can be found at Anne's So Tomorrow blog here.

The Clever One

2011-08-26T13:12:00.000-04:00

The Clever One" adapted from "The Girl Who Used Her Wits" in Handmade Tales: Stories to Make and Take by Diane de Las Casa and "The Clever Daughter-in-Law" in Celebrate the World: Twenty Tellable Folktales for Multicultural Festivals by Margaret Read MacDonald

Again, I combined elements from two different versions of a story into my "personal" version which can be found as a Google document here. There is a variation that can be found in Joining In: an Anthology of Participation Stories & How to Tell Them compiled by Teresa Miller (1988) by Fran Stallings called "Paper Flowers." I believe the main character in that version is a servant who gains her independence (it's been quite some time since I read this one). I've always wanted to tell this story every since I saw it done over 20 years ago. Diane de Las Casa's version is easier to tell. In fact I added an element from McDonald's version to fill it out a bit more. I did not attempt to actually make the props while telling the story though it can be done fairly easily. I had a large group of varying ages so I did not want to interrupt the flow of the story. I did ask the children to guess what was made from paper to carry wind, fire and water. These items can also be made part of a follow-up craft though I used something different (see my post for 7/27/11). My props were made from different colors of copy paper though I would have used brightly colored origami paper if I had some.

Patterns for the props can be found online or in origami books. This one has the right size square to cut out to make the cup.

Own It

2011-08-22T21:00:00.000-04:00

I find myself changing stories often. Sometimes elements of a story seems silly to me or sometimes I look at a story and know that I would not be comfortable telling the story as written.

I have even changed a story without realizing it. Years ago I worked with a student getting her school media specialist degree. She had to do a storytime and be observed by her professor. She did a Saturday storytime program and I gave her all the material I had used for the weekday program including a copy of a flannel board story I had been telling for years. She chose what she wanted to do. She did include the flannel board story. When she told the story at the program I was puzzled. It didn't sound anything like the story I told. After the program I read the original story that I had given her and realized that over the years I had changed the story tremendously and had made it my own. (I liked my version better than the original.)

This experience brought home to me the concept that the oral tradition is a constantly changing one even with a simple flannel board story. There are as many stories as there are storytellers. From then on I have made stories my own by telling them the way I want to tell them. I particularly like using the flannel board because the pieces provide the visual clues to help me tell the story but do not limit me in the way I tell it. Some stories I never tell the same way twice. (This is particularly true when I do my fractured version of "Goldilocks and the Three Bears." I mostly wing it with this story.) Props also provide visual clues for storytelling.

I actually did tell a story without any props and it went over quite well and with practice I could probably turn into a traditional storyteller but I'm a visual person and I enjoy looking at interesting pictures and objects so I want them to be part of my storytelling. I consider myself a children's librarian first and then a storyteller. I still feel that a great picture book is an essential part of a storytime program. However, as fewer children are exposed to live storytelling, that aspect is also becoming a more important part of a storytime program. So I am always looking for different ways to tell stories and different stories to tell. In order to engage children not only do I have to be comfortable with my material but I have to enjoy telling the stories.

Lately I have been going through folktale and storytelling compilations to find new material. I will probably end up changing some to make them my own but then I will have some new favorite stories to tell.

Flannel Friday

2011-08-17T15:06:00.000-04:00

On PUBYAC I came across a post about "Flannel Friday." Started by Mel of "Mel's Desk," every Friday a group of children's librarians from across the country tweet about their flannel board ideas. These ideas are posted on their blogs and a compilation is posted on a host blog at the end of the day. A list of who is hosting each week can be found at the blog "So Tomorrow" under Flannel Friday. I started checking the weekly compilations and found some really great storytime ideas. Recently links to these posts were put on Pinterest. Not only can everything be found in one place but the posts are put into categories. Ideas are not just limited to using the flannel board. Although I am not on Twitter (yet), I was still able to contribute some of my ideas to Flannel Friday. New participants are welcome so if you have something to share please do. Information about participating in Flannel Friday can be found on Anne's "So Tomorrow" blog here. Be sure to visit Flannel Friday's Pinterest page for some great storytime ideas.

Folktales from Europe - A Family Story Time

2011-08-11T07:28:00.000-04:00

8/10/11 - 3 to 4 p.m.

Attendance - 17 children, 10 adults

Book:
Drat That Fat Cat by Pat Thomsen

Board stories:

"The Goat in the Turnip Patch" from The Flannel Board Storytelling Book (1997) by Judy Sierra

"The Old Woman and Her Pig" from The Flannel Board Storytelling Book (1987) by Judy Sierra

"Goldilocks and the Three Bears" - fractured version

Stick puppets:

"The Bremen Town Musicians"

Prop story:

"Drakes-Tail" from Multicultural Folktales: Stories to Tell Young Children by Judy Sierra

Craft:

Goldilocks and the Three Bears Stick Puppets

The group was smaller this week but I expected it to be. There has been very little traffic lately driving in to work so I figured there must be a lot of people on vacation. I live and work in central New Jersey and contrary to what the media portrays, the Jersey shore is a great place for families. However, my regular families came today which was the last Family Story Time session. I shall miss them because the kids will soon be in school all day and I won't be seeing them. I've known several of them since I had them in Toddler Time for two and three-year-olds.

I have already posted about how I was able to stack the stick puppets for the "Bremen Town Musicians" (6/10/11). My big project was making Drakestail which I will describe in a later post. The children enjoyed watching his friends go down his throat and then come back out when he needed help later in the story. Another favorite with the children was "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" because when I tell it I get it all wrong and I need lots of help from the audience (which they enthusiastically give). Circle stories are also great for a mixed-age group and this time I did "The Old Woman and Her Pig" which I haven't done for several years.

Craft - 8/10/11

Variations on a Game

2011-08-04T17:00:00.001-04:00

Summer programs are winding down and planning has started for fall.

One of the most popular flannel board activities for toddlers and preschoolers is "Little Mouse, Little Mouse." Unfortunately I did not write the source on my copy but numerous variations can be found online. (I tend to think I won't forget something and I always do.) Years ago I did my own version called "A Daisy for Maisy" which I used for spring:

A daisy for Maisy,

Where can it be?

Behind the rock, the bush,

The house or the tree?

I drew a very simple house, rock, bush and tree. Maisy can be found in coloring sheets online. Draw a simple daisy but make sure it is smaller than the objects it will hide behind. I drew on craft pellon but simple objects can be made from felt as well. I made a laminated paper version for my current library since we use a magnet board for our storytelling. Hide the daisy and have the children guess where it is. Do this a few times to give them more chances to get it right. Often once they get the hang of it, I will hide it in the same place twice. They rarely catch on. With the "Little Mouse" version of this game, I will hide the mouse under the houses of the least popular colors (usually brown or orange) and avoid the most picked colors (usually purple, red and blue.) Every once in a while I have a child who figures it out.

Now that fall is coming I have made a version featuring a squirrel:

Squirrel Found a Pretty Leaf

(A Flannel Board Rhyme for Finding a Hidden Object)

Squirrel found a pretty leaf,

But the wind blew it away.

Let’s help Squirrel find it

And then we all can play.

This rhyme does not limit the number or kinds of objects so that anything can be used. As long as there is a squirrel and a leaf, the other objects can be logical (rock, log, bush, flower) or silly (beach ball, dinosaur, snake, hot dog). More objects can be added for older children.

Squirrel figures (logical):

Pot Luck

2011-07-28T21:31:00.000-04:00

My second family storytime for this summer was "Folktales from Asia." I told a story primarily based on Lily Toy Hong's Two of Everything. This title was recommended as being a good one to adapt for the flannel board in Travel the Globe: Multicultural Story Times (p. 51). I searched the web to find other versions of the story. I came across a nice animated version called "The Magic Pot." I wrote my own version called "Pot Luck." It can be found as a Google document here.

To tell the story I used our magnet board and a black plastic pot. The duplicates and coins were placed in the pot beforehand. I definitely recommend using a bowl or pot along with the board figures. The highlight of the story was when the farmer's wife fell into the pot and two wives came out. I don't think it would be as effective with a two dimensional pot (not to mention the difficulty of manipulating the figures). The coins are just circles cut from construction paper. I punched a hole in the center to make them look like old Chinese coins. I made enough to double to 16 but when I told the story I only went up to 8. The older children were able to correctly guess how many coins would come out of the pot, though one did gleefully yell out 6. The parents enjoyed this story as much as the children did.

Summer 2011

2011-07-28T14:45:00.000-04:00

Summer reading program participants put their names on a piece of construction paper and decorate it if desired. The pieces are then stapled to the bulletin board. We are almost out of land but have plenty of ocean.

Folktales from Asia - A Family Story Time

2011-07-27T21:39:00.004-04:00

7/27/11 - 3 to 4 p.m.

Attendance - 28 children, 14 adults

Board Stories

"The Rat's Daughter" from The Flannel Board Storytelling Book by Judy Sierra

"Pot Luck" adapted from Two of Everything by Lily Toy Hong and others (with prop)

Scroll Story

"The Boy Who Drew Cats" from Handmade Tales: Stories to Make and Take by Diane de Las Casas

Prop Stories

"Don't Let the Tiger Get You!" from Multicultural Folktales: Stories to Tell Young Children by Judy Sierra

"The Clever One" adapted from "The Girl Who Used Her Wits" in Handmade Tales: Stories to Make and Take by Diane de Las Casa and "The Clever Daughter-in-Law" in Celebrate the World: Twenty Tellable Folktales for Multicultural Festivals by Margaret Read MacDonald

Kamishibai

"The Little Crab"

Craft

Origami cat and dog

I wanted to read The Empty Pot by Demi but ran out of time. However, the audience seemed to enjoy the various forms of storytelling and reading a book was not necessary. (I might use the book for class visits in the fall along with some of today's stories.) "Pot Luck" was the favorite story today. The children particularly enjoyed seeing the second wife being pulled from the pot. They also enjoyed "Don't Let the Tiger Get You!" mainly because of the silly "characters" in the story. Though the origami was simple, even the older children enjoyed it and a parade of colorful dogs and cats left the library this afternoon. I found it interesting that I had the exact same number of children and adults as I did for the previous program. I don't remember that happening before with Family Story Time.

Dog and Cat with Cat

Looking in All the Wrong Places

2011-07-23T15:59:00.000-04:00

I came across this article on cnn.com. I wonder if Mr. Nash has ever visited a public library.

This reminds me of the time (many, many years ago) when I helping a teacher from our town's special education preschool find books. She mentioned that they couldn't get anyone to come to the school to read to the children. They had asked a bookstore (part of a chain) but they couldn't do it. I took a deep breath and politely said that I could do it (all the while wanting to scream at her - The library!! Why didn't you think of the library?? It's what we do!!! After all, you use the library so you must know that we exist and are not very far from the school!!). I ended up doing a monthly storytime for the entire school until the school go its own librarian.

Memory: A "Board" Game

2011-07-21T14:56:00.001-04:00

One spring I was invited by an elementary school librarian to come talk about the public library's summer reading program. Since I didn't want to just talk about upcoming library activities, I told a humorous story relating to the theme with stick puppets. I also made a memory game using clip art from the summer reading program manual. I put the pieces on the flannel board and talked about the summer reading program and then I took the pieces off. I then asked the students if they could remember what was on the board. The students really enjoyed the game so I decided to use it to promote summer reading with other groups as well.

Every spring and fall our library has second graders visit. I use the memory game every spring to promote the library's upcoming summer reading program. The more items on the board, the more the children have to remember and the more difficult the game becomes. This makes it a good game to use with various age groups since there can be fewer pieces for the younger children to remember while more can be added to challenge older children. Another way to make it a challenge is to not mention the pieces at all while talking about summer programs. Talking about the pieces makes it easier for the children to recall what was on the board. Again, how it is presented would depend on the age of the group. Sometimes I give hints as well. It's fun to see the children get excited and work to get all the pieces back on the board. It's also interesting to see that there are always one or two particular pieces that all of the classes have trouble remembering.

Because the summer theme changes from year to year, I usually do not make elaborate pieces for our board. I copy and color clip art and then I glue it onto a slightly larger colorful piece of construction paper for a backing. Since we have a magnet board I add magnets. When I had a flannel board I glued pieces of craft interfacing to the back. Scrap pieces of flannel would work just as well. I use this method often when I need to make story pieces quickly.

Of course the memory game can be used as part of a storytime program. What I like best is the fact that it is a game that can be used with and adapted for various age groups and that it works well on a flannel or magnet board.

Below is an example of a quick and easy story piece - clip art glued onto construction paper.

Hare & Tortoise (Not Aesop)

2011-07-15T12:47:00.000-04:00

This spring I did a great deal of skimming through collections of folktales looking for stories to use for this summer's Family Story Time series. One of the stories that I found was "Hare and Tortoise: A Tale from the Thonga People of Mozambique" which can be found in Trickster Tales: Forty Folk Stories from Around the World by Josepha Sherman. The gist of the story is that Rabbit tricks Lizard, then Rabbit tricks Antelope and then Rabbit tries to trick Tortoise but Tortoise tricks Rabbit instead.

This story could easily be adapted as a board story. Since I already had chosen three board stories, I needed to present this story in a different way. I could have made the figures into stick puppets but I decided to try something different. I made stand-up figures to tell the story. I used Microsoft Publisher to enlarge and print out the images of the lizard and the tortoise. For the rabbit and antelope I used the old-fashioned method of folding the letter-sized printout into quarters and drawing the image on larger paper. I used an 18 inches by 24 inches sheet of paper for the antelope and half of a sheet for the rabbit. I used a pencil and drew light lines to divide the paper into quarters and then sketched each quarter to make the larger picture. Much erasing ensued but the rabbit looked like a rabbit and the antelope looked pretty much like an antelope. I outlined everything with black marker. The figures were colored with markers and then glued to poster board. (Make sure the marker has dried if using white glue.) I then cut out the figures leaving the bottoms uncut (to hold the stands). I made stands for the figures out of poster board. I ended up reinforcing the back of the rabbit with cardboard because he was so tall. I did the same for the antelope. Since the antelope was a bit top-heavy I ended up using a tab stand made out of cardboard for it.

All of this sounds like a lot of work but it really didn't take as long as I thought it would. I set the animals on a table before the program started. (I used a box behind the antelope to keep it from slipping on the smooth table.) The display peaked the interest of the children as they came into the room for the program. (The antelope is out of proportion to the other animals but the children didn't seem to care.)

Telling the story went quite well. I moved and removed figures as I told the story. The only thing I will do differently when I tell it again is to not bother tying the hoe to the lizard or antelope. Miming the actions as I was telling the story was just as effective and I had to turn my back to the group when tying the hoe onto the figures. So the hoe goes.

Below is a picture of the figures set up on my living room floor.

Folktales from Africa - A Family Story Time

2011-07-14T00:24:00.001-04:00

7/13/11 - 3 to 4 p.m.

Attendance - 28 children, 14 adults

Books

Anansi the Spider: A Tale from the Ashanti by Gerald McDermott
Zomo the Rabbit: A Trickster Tale from West Africa by Gerald McDermott
The Little Green Turtle ((illustrated by Adam Rolf, editorial by A.J. Wood and Rachel Williams)

Board Stories

"Leopard's Drum" from Teeny Tiny Folktales by Jean Warren
"Silly Humans" from an African folktale (see blog post for 7/6/11)
"The Wolf, the Goat, and the Cabbages: An African Dilemma Tale" from Multicultural Folktales for the Feltboard and Readers' Theater by Judy Sierra

Prop Story
"The Hare and the Tortoise" adapted from the story "Hare and Tortoise: A Tale from the Thonga People of Mozambique" from the book, Trickster Tales: Forty Folk Stories from around the World by Josepha Sherman.

Craft

"Anansi the Spider" Instructions to make Anansi (from Wisconsin 4-H Afterschool)
Note - I made the template smaller so that the paper would be above the holes punched in the plastic cup, making it easier to place the pipe cleaner legs in the holes.

Gerald McDermott's colorful and clear illustrations read well with a large group. Zomo the Rabbit is one of my favorite stories. This group had a great attention span (although I did lose one 2-year-old halfway through the storytelling). This was probably because there were more older children than usual. For this reason, the story, "The Wolf, the Goat, and the Cabbages," went over very well, with several of the children (and parents) participating in solving the problem. I often will add or leave out a story, depending on the make-up of the group. This time I read and told every story I had planned. One has to be flexible when doing family story time because the ages of the children vary so much. I place an emphasis on visual storytelling because this appeals to a wide age range and that is why I use mostly (flannel/magnet) board stories and prop stories. I also tell mostly folktales and humorous stories which appeal to all age groups.

Anansi (the sample), looking a little worse for wear after being passed around at Family Story Time:

Storytime Collections

2011-07-12T13:26:00.000-04:00

I recently participated in a Tech Challenge given by the Children's Services Section of the New Jersey Library Association. This Tech Challenge inspired me to start blogging again and to organize the material I have accumulated over the years (which is quite a bit since I have been doing this since 1990). I was also lucky enough to win a Barnes & Noble gift card for completing the challenge. This went toward the purchase of some books for my storytime collection. I have learned over the years that personal favorites can disappear unexpectedly so it's always good to have a back-up. I also learned the hard way that when this happens, the book cannot be replaced because it is out of print. I like to use pop-ups with large groups so I have been purchasing those over the years as well. If you have the space and budget, start a storytelling collection at your library. If not, start a personal collection. It does not have to be large. Many of the titles in my personal collection are out of print and it's great to be able to bring them in when needed for storytimes.

There was not a large selection of pop-ups at the book store but I did find some titles to add to my collection.

Even though I have other dinosaur titles by Paul Strickland, I decided to add A Number of Dinosaurs because of the way the pop-up numbers get larger, counting from 1 to 10. Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell is already in my library's storytelling collection so this is a back-up of a back-up. I added Beautiful Oops! by Barney Saltzberg because it would be a good book to use with older children. I found The Little Green Turtle (illustrated by Adam Rolf, editorial by A.J. Wood and Rachel Williams) in the bargain book section. I'm seriously thinking of using this title to end my family story time tomorrow. It is not an African folktale but it does feature African animals.

Thank you CSS!

Silly Humans

2011-07-06T15:02:00.003-04:00

Next week I will be doing the first of three summer family story times. The first session will feature folk tales from Africa. I wanted to read Too Much Talk by Angela Shelf Medearis but, alas, the library does not own this book. The story is based on a folk tale from Ghana often called "The Talking Yam." I remembered coming across the story as a reader's theater play at a workshop several years ago so I figured there had to be a version floating around the Internet somewhere. Indeed, there were several, including a reference to a version in "Highlights for Children" (May 1, 2009) called "Yammering Yams." I read a few versions including "Yammering Yams" but decided to tell it my own way so I wrote my own version featuring the aspects of the story that I enjoyed. My version is called "Silly Humans." I'm making it into a board story so I went in search of clip art for the story. I needed a yam, a dog, a fish, a water jug, a cloth and a royal seat (search "Ashanti throne ottoman" to see what one looks like). I traced the shapes of the objects onto paper and drew most of my own details for I wanted the pieces to stand out on the board and be seen by a fairly large group. The water jug and the cloth are very brightly colored for this reason. I always use black marker to draw an outline around each piece. This helps the piece to stand out against a light background. Since my library has a magnet board instead of a flannel board, the pieces will be laminated and magnets put on the back. If I were using a flannel board, I would trace the pieces onto craft pellon and I would also outline them in black and color them with markers. If anyone is interested in telling this story, my version can be found as a Google document here.

Pieces used for "Silly Humans" based on found clip art:

Outlines

Colored with Markers

Evolution

2011-07-01T14:47:00.000-04:00

My Family Story Time programs have changed over the years. When I first started, it was an evening program and I was working at a different library. I always had a craft because I wanted the program to last an hour and I knew that most attention spans would not last longer than 30 minutes (including adults). This turned out to be a great idea because the craft became a family activity and it was wonderful to see parents and children working together on a project. So the craft has stayed.

What I did find was that I was using fewer and fewer books over the years. At the Hamilton Library, Family Story Time is from 3 to 4 in the afternoon. This is because the meeting room is used for a non-library program every day in the summer. Our story room is much too small for large groups so we have to limit our registrations. We decided to experiment with a late afternoon story time for all ages. It was very well received so now we do it every summer. Basically we do not limit registrations though I start to panic when over 100 children are signed up. Once I had close to that actually come, though only once. We usually get 50%. Because of the size of the group and the mixed ages of the children - usually babies through age 11 - I have found that visual presentations work the best. I have always used (flannel/magnet) board stories in my storytimes but over the years for Family Story Time, I have increased the number of board stories while decreasing the number of books. I used to read 4/5 books but then I went to 3 and now I plan to use only one or two. I now use stick puppets and props as well to tell stories. Other forms of storytelling that I like to use are paper cutting stories and draw and tell stories. Because I am using fewer books it does take longer to prepare for the program. Although I use several stories from storytelling books such as Handmade Tales by Dianne de Las Casas, I am adapting folk tales that I find to these various methods of storytelling. It takes a great deal of prep time but the end result is that I am able to hold the interest of most of the children and provide an entertaining program for the adults as well.

Lazy, Hazy Days of Summer - Not So Much, Crazy - Yes

2011-07-01T13:53:00.000-04:00

Yesterday morning was incredibly busy. It was non-stop and at times there were three of us plus a student volunteer helping people. We had the first day of registering for our summer story times, reading program participants registering or checking in and numerous parents and children looking for books on summer reading lists. In addition there were tutors with their students and preschoolers playing with our stuffed animal collection so the children's room was a very lively place.

Wednesday evening was the Kick-Off Party for our summer reading program. We had crafts, games and refreshments under tents outside the library followed by a performance by Yosi. Italian ice (aka water ice in South Jersey) was served after the performance. I had desk duty so I missed the fun (but got to stay in the air conditioning). Everyone had a great time. The Kick-Off Party was supported by our Friends of the Library group. Our Friends group provides funding for our summer programs and supports us year round.

I enjoy working this time of year even though it can get crazy at times. Now I have to get serious about Family Story Time. I've decided that to tell folk tales from Africa, Asia and Europe to fit in with the "One World, Many Stories" theme. First up is Africa. I've selected the stories and craft so now I have to prepare them.

Time to Get Serious

2011-06-15T10:31:00.000-04:00

Registration for the summer reading program has begun. The program officially starts next week though our kick-off event isn't until the 29th.

I have less than a month to prepare for family story time. This is when working part-time is a disadvantage. I've been browsing through our wonderful folktale collection picking out stories that would be fun to tell. Now I have to get serious about narrowing down my choices and working out how I'm going to present them. For family story time I place an emphasis on visual presentations since I need to engage a large group of varying ages. I usually only read one or two books and use the flannel board, props and stick puppets for the majority of the stories. The stories are then followed by a simple craft.

Since the state theme this year is "One World, Many Stories," I plan to concentrate on specific geographic areas for my three programs - Africa, Asia and Europe. I have exactly one story prepared - "The Bremen Town Musicians." It's time to go rummaging through the boxes in my basement for some drawing and paper cutting stories. I know there's a good Anansi story down there somewhere.

It Works!

2011-06-10T12:25:00.002-04:00

I'm preparing for my summer family story time programs. In keeping with this summer's theme, "One World, Many Stories," I will be telling and reading folk tales from around the world (which is what is usually do for family story time anyway). Since the program is held in the meeting room which is a rather large space I like to use visual props to tell stories (the props also help to hold the attention of the younger listeners). I've been wanting to tell the "Bremen Town Musicians" without using a board for the figures because I like to vary how I tell the stories. The easiest format to make is stick puppets - find clip art, color it, glue it on construction paper and tape a craft stick on. If I have time I will put construction paper on the back as well to "finish" the puppet. But for this story I have to stack the stick puppets on top of each other. I was thinking of adding "holders" of some sort to the back of the puppets but as I was adding the back pieces to the puppets I decided to leave the bottom part open and try fitting the puppets on top of each other. It worked. The puppets do get a bit floppy when it is humid but it is easy to support all four puppets with two hands.

Front

Back

And I Have Trouble Making a Frog That Jumps

2011-06-07T13:34:00.000-04:00

This was posted on the Craft blog. The french artist, Etienne Cliquet, transforms the craft of origami into art. It is fascinating to watch his miniature pieces unfold as they float in water. I love the fact that he uses science to create art. It would be fun to have an origami program for older children and then show them this and other examples of origami as art including Cliquet's shark's jaw.

A Biased Opinion

2011-06-03T21:37:00.000-04:00

As part of the tech challenge I attended the June CSS board meeting at the NJ Talking Book and Braille Center. I enjoyed the tour of the Center and was most impressed by how much it has to offer.

It's been a long time since I've met with other youth services librarians and I enjoyed talking "shop" as well as finding out what the current issues are. The major concern is the tremendous pressure on libraries due to funding issues. Unfortunately politicians tend to view the local library as a non-essential service. Yet to me access to a library is essential in order to have an informed democratic society (granted most people do not come in to read Plato but the point is that the library is there for them). It is also a place where people in a community can come together .

Most important to me are the community's youngest members. At the public library access to the tools of literacy, whether it be storytime, a collection of board books, or playing learning games on the computer, is available to every child with no regard to economic background. I feel that storytime offers so much to get a child started on the road to reading - sight, sound, exposure to art and literature, and the personal interaction with the storyteller. No matter how social the media, a child needs to experience the real world and to be with other children. Storytime also inspires the imagination and creativity. I am always surprised how I can give 10 children the exact same craft materials and have 10 totally different projects as a result. Children from all economic backgrounds benefit from the storytime experience which is just a part of what is available at most libraries. There is so much more.

Let's hope that those in our profession who are shaping the future of libraries make sure that there is a balance between the traditional and the new, between cutting costs and cutting service and that when allocating increasingly limited funds, they do not loose sight of the needs of all users no matter what their age or economic situation.

NJ TBBC & RSVP & Thanks

2011-05-31T12:31:00.001-04:00

Years ago I attended meetings at what was then the NJ Library for the Blind and Handicapped so I have been there. It is nice that there is going to be a tour at the CSS meeting.

Many years ago I did tell a mom about the library and what it could offer her son. She was not aware of the library and its services. She came back later to thank me and let me know the library provided what was needed for her son.

At this point I will be attending the meeting on June 3 (at first I was, and then I wasn't, and then I was, and then I couldn't, and now I can). I don't usually work on Fridays (I have the perfect part-time job so most of my weekends are long) and now I live close to the TBBC so I don't really have an excuse not to go.

I would like to thank those who put together this tech challenge. It was great fun. Not only did I learn new 2.0 stuff but I was reminded of old 2.0 stuff I had forgotten about. I have been inspired to explore more on my own. Google Sites is working out very well for organizing my storytime notes. Right now I am primarily listing books but will be adding other material as I go through the various boxes in my basement. I never would have considered using Google Sites if it weren't for the tech challenge.

Web Sites

2011-05-29T21:51:00.003-04:00

The web sites listed were all new to me with the exception of Guys Read which I had heard about but never visited, and Pandora which I had tried out years ago (I'm pretty sure that it was part of the first web challenge I took). I will definitely be bookmarking Guys Read and I just might use Pandora in the future. Kidopo was my favorite because it had a nice mix of games and other activities. The celebrity readers on Speakaboos are an interesting assortment of personalities. (Kevin Bacon reading Arthur Lost and Found is a hoot.)

I have recommended ALSC's Great Web Sites for Kids regularly over the years (see my post for April 19, 2007). One nice thing is that ALSC has a committee that maintains this site and keeps it current.

Playing Games

2011-05-27T20:54:00.001-04:00

I have a short attention span when it comes to learning a computer game. I want to figure it out quickly and I like having basic instructions easily seen. In addition, I prefer certain types of games. I do not want to have to move too quickly though I don't mind time limits. I also don't have patience with jumping around looking for stuff games. For far too long I have wasted time on game sites. My early favorite was Popcap though now I spend my time on AOL's games.com. You do not have to join and can play as a guest, and must do so if under age 13. I still enjoy a good game of Zuma now and then though I'm basically a mahjong/match 3 person. The only reason I'm no longer wasting considerable amounts of time at the computer playing games is that my daughter gave me a Nintendo DS Lite for Mother's Day last year so now I waste considerable amounts of time playing games on it instead (no more ads!).

That said, I explored the game sites listed and found things I liked and disliked about all of them. My favorite was Spot (yes, that's about my speed) and I would love to visit it with my grandson as soon it's safe to let him near the computer keyboard. The screen was too large for my monitor and I could not see some of the text on top which means I would have to figure out how to change my settings but I'm sure his mom will help me with that. Some games needed plug-ins, some took forever to load and I'm not fond of game sites that want you to join, especially for kids. I'm sure most of these are fine but I feel that parents should be aware of what their children join and this is better something done at home. One site had a "You are a winner!" box that would not go away and I certainly wasn't going to click on it (though I can see a kid doing it.) I also liked Nick Jr. for even though everything is related to their programs, they do feature several book characters. By the way, the game "Toot and Puddle Tour the World" goes with this summer's SRP theme.

Started a Google Site

2011-05-24T22:41:00.000-04:00

I started a Google Site and after several false starts managed to figure out how to create pages and subpages. It's called Storytime Notes (not very original but that's what they are). I've made it public for now. I actually managed to list a few family story time programs. I have 20 years worth of notes to go through so it will be some time before this list is complete (I'm guessing another 20 years.)

Which Wiki??

2011-05-24T14:20:00.000-04:00

For quite some time I have been thinking about organizing my storytime notes. I have quite a collection since I've been doing this for over 20 years. At one point, I had them somewhat organized but no longer since moving. Items were thrown in bags and boxes and are now stored in the basement.

As mentioned in an earlier post, I do not care for the PB Works format. The Wikispaces format looks better from what I can see on their web site. However, the free version has ads. So I've decided to give Google Sites a try. Wish me luck. Maybe I'll actually have something posted before the end of this tech challenge.

NJLA Wiki

2011-05-24T13:21:00.001-04:00

I actually check the CSS Section of the NJLA wiki periodically. I like to read the meeting minutes to keep informed of CSS programs and concerns. To be honest I do not particularly care for the wiki format for the NJLA web site. Finding recent information or specific information is not very quick or direct, particularly if one has to click through several screens or scroll through several files. By the way, thank you CSS Tech Challenge people for the tip about clicking on Children's Services twice in the Navigator to get the larger view. That does make it easier to find new information.

Crafts for Storytime Programs

2011-05-24T11:43:00.003-04:00

I'm always looking for simple crafts for storytimes. Over the years I have found that paper bag puppets, paper plate crafts and toilet paper roll crafts are popular and fairly easy to prepare even for large groups. (The trick is to pick patterns that don't have too many pieces.) Fortunately I learned quickly that toilet paper rolls are not needed. Just cut a rectangle the same size (some patterns include the rectangle), roll it and tape it together.

I usually search the web for craft ideas by theme. I have found several interesting crafts over the years. I try to keep a copy of each craft because web sites come and go. Simple is the key when looking for crafts for large groups (my summer family storytime program can get quite large) and for preschoolers (to avoid frustration, not just for the kids, but for the adults with them as well). I save the more complicated crafts for older children.

One of my favorite sources is DLTK's Printable Crafts for Kids which I have been using for years. I have selected a t-rex to make. The pattern can be found here. I like that there is an option for either color or black and white. For a group I would use the black and white template and copy it on green copy paper or green construction paper. Before photocopying, I would outline each piece in black marker on the template to make the pieces easier to cut out. You can see from the photo how I filled in the mouth (there is no way I'm cutting those teeny, tiny teeth!).

Mmm...delicious

2011-05-23T15:48:00.001-04:00

I have a Delicious account from the tech challenge I took in 2007. I haven't used it in some time so I went back and removed the dead links and added a couple of new ones. My bookmarks can be found here. It does come in handy to have work-related bookmarks in one place. (I just have to remember that they are there instead of searching for the same thing again!)

Book Trailers

2011-05-19T21:35:00.000-04:00

I really enjoyed watching the book trailers. I've been meaning to look at some so I'm glad they are part of the tech challenge. I can see them attracting readers to books they ordinarily would not select - parents as well as children. Our library has 2 copies of the book whose trailer I selected on order. I'm considering posting it on our children's room blog as a "coming attraction." I'll have to do some searching to find some other new titles as well.

ListenNJ

2011-05-19T21:18:00.002-04:00

Up to now, I've never tried ebooks or audiobooks. I did give my husband a Kindle for Christmas and he seems to like it very much. Though audiobooks have been around for a long time, I've never been particularly interested. I enjoy silence. Even on a recent drive to Ohio I felt no need to listen to anything. My GPS talked to me occasionally and that was enough. So I went to ListenNJ to see what I've been missing. Alas, there was a waiting list for the ebook titles I was interested in. I did get on the list for one so I could give it a try. I moved to the audiobook section and successfully downloaded Jon Stewart's Earth: a Visitor's Guide to the Human Race. It was very easy installing the necessary software and downloading the book. Now all I have to do is find the time to listen to it!

ChoiceBooks

2011-05-18T19:35:00.000-04:00

CSS's Choice Books covers a wide variety of topics. I would primarily use these lists for storytime programs and class visits. I'll be adding the "2nd Grade Visits" list to my file for we have second grade classes visiting the library every spring and fall. Another use for the lists would be as collection development guides though availability would an issue with the older titles.

A Quick Take on Reading Suggestion Engines

2011-05-18T17:07:00.000-04:00

One of the reasons I wanted to take the CSS Tech Challenge was to to find out about new tools available on the web, so I appreciate the link to Joye Valenza's post, "Reading Suggestion Engines: Your Next Read" on School Libray Journal's Neverending Search blog. I took a very quick look at these sites and the following are my quick impressions. I plugged in random titles, both children's and adult, and met with varying degrees of success.

BookSeer - fun for a quick look, Amazon suggestions only at this time.

Scholastic's Teacher Book Wizard - a good feature is the ability generate lists of similar titles with the same reading level or to change the reading level.

JacketFlap - I did not have much success using this and did not feel it was worth the time to figure it out.

Yournextread.com - visual book recommendations which will appeal to kids but they also seem to basically come from Amazon. Oddly I got suggestions for Very Hungry Caterpillar but none for Dinosaurs before Dark.

What Should I Read Next - Quick. I got a nice long list for Maze of Bones and not just for other titles in the series. On the other hand when I put in Murder on the Orient Express some strange suggestions came up - Gone with the Wind??

Database of Award Winning Children's Literature - it is easy to set the parameters (genre and gender are particularly helpful) which helps narrow down the list. Because the books are "award winning" most of the popular titles that kids request will not come up. However, this is great for parents who want their children to read quality literature.

WhichBook.net - an interesting perspective but not particularly practical for a quick search.

Young Adult Books in Series and Sequels Wiki - a great help. It seems that everything is a trilogy or quartet now, so it's hard to keep up.

TasteKid - I put in Agatha Christie's Poirot and got some very, very strange suggestions (Siddartha? Chronicles of Narnia? Streetcar Named Desire?). Twilight generated Chronicles of Narnia (again?), Pride and Prejudice, Harry Potter, The DaVinci Code, Angels and Demons, and Memoirs of a Geisha in addition to other books in the series.

Gnooks - author searches only. Love the literature map!

Some sites were more useful than others but when it comes to making book suggestions, librarians are much better at it than computers.

More Photos - Redux

2011-05-15T20:02:00.001-04:00

Blogger had a major meltdown last week and one of my posts from May 11 is missing. (Should it return, I will delete this post.)

I tried out Picnik. Adding text to a photo is something I have not done before. I can definitely see using this in the future.

I also uploaded the photos to my Flickr photostream and tagged them. Warning, if you click on my photostream you will see many, many photos of knitting (with some cats and family thrown in). I belong to Ravelry (sort of a Facebook for knitters) and my photos for that site are hosted on Flickr. Gee, I'm such a stereotypical librarian - I have 2 cats and I knit (at least I don't have the bun). I have the Flickr uploader on my desktop which makes it easy to add photos.

Well, I think I have completed the challenges for this week. It's been fun.

Social Cataloging

2011-05-15T19:23:00.002-04:00

I've had a Library Thing account since 2007 though I have not been active lately. I have piles of knitting books to add. I will probably be close to the limit of 200 once I add them all and will have to consider upgrading my account. The "social" part of Library Thing that I enjoy most is seeing how many other members own the same books. One title I have in my library is only owned by one other person, while other titles are owned by over a thousand. Since my collection is limited to knitting books, I find the varying numbers interesting. Click here if you don't mind looking at pages of knitting books.

I have used Library Thing at work. I would add titles of books I have read in storytime to a Library Thing account. I then added the Library Thing widget to my blog so that parents and others could find out more about the books. (The library's catalog did not display book covers.) I have added the widget to this blog to show how easy it is to do - just copy and paste. [Edited 6/10/11 - I removed the Library Thing widget since the tech challenge is over and the books are not relevant to this blog.]

Photos

2011-05-11T14:57:00.003-04:00

I work part-time for the Hamilton Township Public Library in Mercer County. This morning I managed to take a couple of pictures of the Children's Room before the library opened. The calm before the storm. We had two sessions of Toddler Time and two class visits this morning. While my colleague was doing her Toddler Time programs, I had a grand time reading silly books and telling the story, "The Wonderful Pot," to second graders. The room was not so tidy when I finished work at 1 p.m.

All set up for Toddler Time - this week the theme is Monkeys!

Uploading the photos was easy and I don't have to remember to change the picture size. Blogger makes them fit.

Notes

2011-05-11T14:38:00.000-04:00

I managed to add a background photo to this blog. It took a couple of tries because I keep forgetting to make my photos smaller before uploading them or sending them. Some day this concept will stick. I also did some major cropping. The photo is literally of my planning notes for this summer's Family Story Time series.

Learning Again - 2.0 Four Years Later

2011-05-09T14:41:00.004-04:00

This blog was originally started as part of a Tech Challenge presented by the Central Jersey Regional Library Cooperative a few years ago. Although I have done many of the things listed, there is always something new to learn which is why I decided to take the CSS Tech Challenge. I'm looking forward to exploring what's new in Web 2.0.

I find it interesting how I use 2.0 now compared to how I used it a few years ago. Blogs were a big deal in 2007 but I had thought that perhaps their time had passed. Everyone seems to be micro blogging now. However, I realized that I have 68 subscriptions in my Google Reader so I guess blogging is still a vital part of 2.0. So far I have managed to avoid Twitter but that's because my family does not tweet. We spend our time on Facebook instead. Facebook's appeal is not just the status updates but the wealth of family photos that have been uploaded as well.

Although I have two other blogs, they have been as neglected as this one. I can see the appeal of Twitter and Facebook in that posting is fast and easy. For me, blog posts take more time and effort because they seem more permanent. I will try to be a better blogger and post more often (at least for the next four weeks).

Board Books

2010-02-14T20:00:00.004-05:00

Children's librarians often reccomend board books to parents of very young children. But what exactly is a board book? Wikipedia defines a board book as "a type of book published on hard cardboard. This cardboard is used for the cover as well as the pages, unlike a typical book with cardboard binding and paper pages, and is intended to be durable enough for small children to use and play with." Board books are usually a small size and so are suitable for small hands. They are also relatively inexpensive so they make a great start to a child's personal library. Allow your child to handle these books and play with them. Yes, they will be chewed on and tossed around but at some point your child will start turning pages and looking at pictures.

When choosing board books for your child, look for books with simple, bold pictures for infants and babies. Books that have a simple plot will appeal to toddlers. Often publishers will republish a popular picture book in board book form. Sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn't. Often the original illustrations are cropped to fit the smaller format or the plot may be too complex for younger children. You know your child best so look through each book before making your selection.

Margaret Miller's photography brings her books for babies to life. Baby Food, I Love Colors, Me & My Bear, and What's on My Head? all feature color photos of babies which will appeal to infants. Little ones will also enjoy looking at Smile! by Roberta Grobel Intrater with its simple rhyme and smiling baby faces. Baby at Home by Monica Wellington has simple but colorful illustrations of items around the house that a baby might see such as a rattle, blocks and keys.

Michel Blake's Off to Bed is about a little girl getting ready for bed and features named objects highlighted in color against a black and white photograph. I like this because a child can see the named object in context. For "toothbrush" the photo is of the little girl brushing her teeth and the toothbrush she is using is bright pink. Blake's Colors consists of photos of plants and animals each shown awash in a single color.

Rain Feet by Angela Johnson is a charming book featuring a simple poem about a child playing in the rain. Mama Mama by Jean Marzollo is also a lovely book. A simple rhyme accompanies an illustration of a mother animal and her baby. Laura Regan's illustrations showing the animals in their natural habitats are large enough to fill a page and are soft but realistic. The bond between mother and child comes out in these simple yet effective illustrations.

Toddlers will enjoy Byron Barton's bold illustrations. Trucks shows different kinds of trucks working throughout the day (and night). Let's Go! illustrated by Gaetan Evrard labels various modes of transportation in both English and Spanish. Let's Get to Work! does the same for various construction vehicles and trucks.

Mick Inkpen has written several board books about Wembly Pig. Wembly Pig Opens His Presents starts with an intriguing pile of wrapped gifts which are opened one by one though it turns out that the wrapping paper provides the most fun. Wembly uses his imagination when he plays in Wembly Pig Can Make a Tent. Wembly shows the reader what he likes in Wembly Pig Likes Bananas and invites the reader to choose a favorite as well.

Nursery rhymes and familiar songs have also been published in board book form. Rosemary Wells has illustrated several songs such as Bingo, The Itsy-Bitsy Spider and Old MacDonald. Her nursery rhyme collections include Humpty Dumpty and Other Rhymes, Little Boy Blue and Other Rhymes and Wee Willie Winkie and Other Rhymes.

This is just a sampling of board books. The library is not just for older children. Bring your little one in to explore your library's collection of board books.

Fall Means the Start of the "Holiday" Season

2008-09-23T16:05:00.005-04:00

Many public libraries have collections of "holiday" books. Some libraries have them together in one place and other libraries put a holiday sticker on them and keep them with the rest of the books. Parents looking for these seasonal books will find that they are mostly picture books though there are titles for older children as well.

Timing is important when looking for holiday books. Halloween is very popular and there are many titles available so it shouldn't be too difficult to find something. However, far less is written about Columbus Day so you may be disappointed if you wait until October 11. Teachers and others who need a book for a specific date should try to get the book as early as possible. However, keep in mind that sometimes these books may not be taken out for as long as other books. Some libraries do this so that the books are available to more people during the "holiday" season. Some libraries may not let you extend your loan period for this reason as well.

One of my favorite Halloween books to read aloud is Big Pumpkin by Erica Silverman which is available in paperback if you can't find it at your local library.

Save Money and Gas by Using Your Library Card!

2008-09-13T20:42:00.007-04:00

Now that the needed school supplies are purchased and all the forms filled out, take some time to visit your local library to make sure each family member has an up-to-date library card.

Save money and gas by using all of your library's resources - your library card gives you access to many online resources that you can use at home. In some states libraries have online help 24/7 so you can still ask a librarian a question even if your local library isn't open. (This may help when there is a homework crisis Sunday evening at 8 pm.)

You can browse your library's collection without leaving home by searching the library's catalog online. If you find something you want, you can usually call ahead and ask to have it set aside for you.

Many parents are reluctant to have their children use the library because of late fees. While they are usually small amounts per item, they can mount up when a child has several items checked out. Parents can avoid late fees by extending the borrowing time online. (That is, only if someone else isn't waiting for it.) Parents can keep track of what each child has and when it is due back by checking online at any time.

In tough economic times families have to be careful about expenses. It is very important for children to have some books of their own. Be selective about purchasing new books and borrow books from the library as well. Also, used books are cheap and many libraries have used book sales. For example, preschoolers love to have someone read to them, usually several books at a time. The library can provide a wide variety of titles for preschool children. Often a child will ask for the same book over and over. Parents should consider purchasing such a book for their child. It does not have to be a brand new hardcover book. Many picture books are also available in paperback or can be purchased used.

Also, save some money by taking advantage of the free programs your library has to offer. Many libraries have book discussion groups for adults as well as children. Most libraries provide something for everyone - from infants to senior citizens. Visit your library's web site to see what it has to offer.

Back to the Blog

2007-10-26T15:35:00.004-04:00

Due to taking some time off and some minor computer problems, I haven't posted in over a month. Time passed much quicker than I realized!

Finally it feels like autumn instead of mid-summer and Halloween is less than a week away. I'm sure that in many homes the current topic of interest is "The Costume." I remember spending many long and often late hours sewing Halloween costumes - the most challenging was a rabbit coming out of a hat. In all of the excitement of Halloween, please don't forget about Halloween safety. I've listed some websites that parents might find useful

http://www.aap.org/advocacy/releases/octhalloween.htm
These tips from the American Academy of Pediatrics include information about costumes, pumpkin carving, home safety and trick-or-treating. The information is also available in Spanish.

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/hallow.html
The Consumer Product Safety Commission also lists safety tips along with a diagram showing the features of safe Halloween costumes.

http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/pet-care-tips/halloween-safety-tips.aspx
Don't forget your pet this Halloween. The ASPCA gives ten tips for keeping your pet safe this Halloween.

Stop by your local library for a literary Halloween treat. Most public libraries have a collection of Halloween books for all ages. Some of my favorites are Big Pumpkin by Erica Silverman, The Hallo-Wiener by Dav Pilkey, and Guess What? by Mem Fox.

Have a safe and happy Halloween!

Library Card Sign-up Month

2007-08-29T10:06:00.004-04:00

September is Library Card Sign-up Month (as well as Fall Hat Month, National Coupon Month, Shameless Promotion Month, and many more).

While out shopping for back-to-school supplies be sure to stop by your local public library to get your child a library card if he or she doesn't already have one. (Many libraries do not have age limits so don't wait until your child is old enough for school to get one.)

Your library card entitles you to do much more than check out books, movies and music. It gives you access to information online in areas such as business, health, current events and genealogy. Students can do research for reports from home finding full text magazine articles and other information online. Need help with your search? Call your library's reference department. It's two a.m.? Many states offer 24/7 online reference help. Looking for a good novel to read? There's an online resource to help you find one. You can also check your library's catalog from home to see if they have the book and if it's available. If your library doesn't have it, in most cases your library can get it from another library. Just because your local library is small, don't assume it can't help you. Your library may refer your request to a larger library.

Libraries are becoming community centers offering not just traditional preschool story times and summer reading programs but also programs for babies, teens and grown-ups as well. Many libraries have computer labs and offer computer classes. Each library is as unique as the community it serves so be sure to see what your library has to offer. You may discover that you library is a great place for families to have fun!

Kids Love a Mystery

2007-06-26T19:57:00.004-04:00

Mysteries, Codes & Mazes on the Web

Mysteries

A.Pintura - Art Detective

http://www.eduweb.com/pintura/

Help A. Pintura identify a famous painting.

The Children's Museum of Indianapolis - Geo Mysteries with Rex the Dino Detective

http://www.childrensmuseum.org/geomysteries/mysteries.html

Help Rex solve mysteries about rocks, minerals and fossils.

Federal Bureau of Investigation - Kids' Page

http://www.fbi.gov/fbikids.htm

Learn about the FBI. Create a disguise for Agent Bobby Bureau so he can go undercover. Older kids can follow a case through the FBI lab.

4 2 Explore - Thematic Pathfinders for All Ages - Mystery

http://42explore.com/mystery.htm

Explore various aspects of mysteries by visiting a wide variety of websites.

History Detectives - Kids

http://pbskids.org/historydetectives/

See if you can solve some history mysteries such as identifying objects, guessing the age of a house or identifying famous places in history.

MysteryNet's Kids Mysteries

http://kids.mysterynet.com/

Pay attention to the clues in the stories and solve some mysteries. Read mysteries written by the winners of the "Mysteries by Kids" contest. You can also read a scary story or learn a magic trick.

National Library of Medicine - Tox Mystery

http://toxmystery.nlm.nih.gov/

Help Toxie the cat find hazards throughout the house. Additional sites for kids are listed under Parent Resources.

PlanetOzKids - Ace Detectives

http://www.planetozkids.com/Ace_Detectives/index.html

Help four teens solve mysteries at this Australian website.

Codes

4 2 Explore - Thematic Pathfinders for All Ages - Codes, Ciphers and Secret Messages

http://www.42explore2.com/codes.htm

Numerous websites about codes and ciphers are listed here.

National Security Agency - CryptoKids

http://www.nsa.gov/kids/

Make your own secret codes. Play games that challenge you to crack some codes.

Mazes

Discovery School - Puzzlemaker - Computer Generated Mazes

http://puzzlemaker.discoveryeducation.com/AdvMazeSetupForm.asp

Make your own maze.

Free Printable Mazes for Kids

http://www.printactivities.com/Mazes.html

Scroll down to finds lots of mazes to print and solve.

Puzzle Choice - Online Games: 2D Maze and 3D Maze

2D Maze

http://www.puzzlechoice.com/pc/2D_Interactivx.html

3D Maze

http://www.puzzlechoice.com/pc/3D_Interactivx.html

Play online.

Easy Readers - One Size Does Not Fit All

2007-05-31T20:13:00.000-04:00

Most libraries have a collection of books written specifically for beginning readers. They can vary in range from simple one word to a page titles to books with more sophisticated text and chapters. Often they are called "I Can Read" books or "Easy" readers. Easy readers are designed for new readers to read on their own and have a controlled vocabulary. These books are usually appropriate for children in kindergarten through second grade. They should not be confused with picture books which, even though many are easy, do not have a controlled vocabulary and thus may have words too difficult for independent reading. Picture books are intended to be read to a child though many older children enjoy them on their own. The pictures are an essential part of the story. In easy readers the pictures are meant to provide clues to the words.

Many publishers assign levels to their early readers. However, these levels can vary from publisher to publisher so it is important to look at each book to see if it is suitable for your child. For example, although they are listed as Level One books, Pizza for Sam by Mary Labatt and T-Rex Is Missing by Tomie DePaola have more text and dialogue than those in the first group of titles listed below. You know best what will work for your child. Although you want your new reader to be challenged, do not choose anything too difficult or your child will become frustrated. Often choosing an easier book along with a more difficult title will help. Successfully reading easier titles will build self-confidence. The more your child reads, the more proficient your child will become at reading. Your child will read more if it is an enjoyable experience. (My focus as a librarian is to encourage children to read for pleasure so that they will become lifelong readers!)

Books for a child just starting to read should have a simple sentence structure and a great deal of repetition such as:

Capucilli, Alyssa Satin: Biscuit Finds a Friend - Biscuit the puppy makes friends with a duckling who has wandered from his pond.

Coxe, Molly: Cat Traps - A cat looking for a snack sets some traps without success until its owner comes home.

Leonard, Marcia: I Like Mess - A little girl loves to make a mess but cleans it up for her parents only to make another one.

McPhail, David: Big Pig and Little Pig - Big Pig and Little Pig each build a pool but in very different ways.

Meister, Carl: When Tiny Was Tiny - Tiny's owner talks about what Tiny did when he was actually a tiny puppy.

Milgrim, David: See Pip Point - Otto the robot shares his balloon with Pip the mouse with unexpected consequences.

Books for those who have been reading for some time will not only have more words and sentences but also a more extensive plot. Some are divided into chapters.

Dewey, Ariane: Splash! - Two bears cause chaos while fishing at the river.

Marshall, Edward: Fox on Wheels - Fox has adventures babysitting, tree climbing and grocery shopping.

Minarik, Else Holmelund: A Kiss for Little Bear - Grandmother's kiss travels an unusual route until it finally makes its way to Little Bear.

Stadler, John: The Adventures of Snail at School - Snail runs errands for his teacher who has difficulty believing what makes him take so long.

Tidd, Louise Vitellaro: The Best Pet Yet - Jay goes to the pet store with his parents to choose the perfect pet.

Wiseman, B.: Morris the Moose - Morris tries to convince a cow she is a moose like him.

Books for children comfortable reading on their own will usually be divided into chapters, have more sophisticated wordplay and more complex plots.

Hoban, Julia: Buzby - Buzby's first job turns out to be a disaster but he manages to find one that suits him best.

Jensen, Patsy: Loose-Tooth Luke - Luke's friends suggest ways for him to loose his first tooth.

Krensky, Stephen: Lionel at Large - Lionel deals with vegetables, shots, snakes, and sleepovers.

Little, Jean: Emma's Yucky Brother - Emma learns about being a big sister when her family adopts Max.

McCully, Emily Arnold: Grandmas at Bat - Pip's grandmothers step up to the plate when her team's coach gets chicken pox.

Thomas, Shelley Moore: Good Night, Good Knight - The Good Knight takes care of three little dragons.

Some popular series for beginning readers are:

Cazet, Denys Minnie and Moo

Howe, James Pinky and Rex

Lobel, Arnold Frog and Toad

Parish, Peggy Amelia Bedelia

Rylant, Cynthia Henry and Mudge

Sharmat, Marjorie Weinman Nate the Great

Van Leeuwen, Jean Oliver and Amanda Pig

PBS Parents - A Great Web Site for Grownups

2007-05-16T10:24:00.001-04:00

Many parents know that PBS Kids is a great web site for their preschoolers to play and learn. PBS also has a section, PBS Kids Go! , for older children. In addition there are sections for grownups, one for parents and one for teachers.

PBS Parents provides a wealth of information and is well worth exploring. (Most of the information is also available in Spanish.) One area of great value is the section on "Reading and Language" which includes information about developing early literacy skills as well as information to help children already learning to read.

For families raising multilingual children, there is an article "Learning Two Languages: Questions Parents Ask." In addition to numerous articles, there are useful tools such as the "Bookfinder" which lists age-appropriate read-alouds or suggests books for children to read on their own. There is also information about starting a book club which includes discussion guides. Use the "Activity Search" in the "Fun and Games" section to find different activities that address various skills such as creative thinking or math & numbers.

Parent Guides explore the following topics in depth: "Child Development," "Children and Media," "Creativity," "Early Math," "Going to School," "Raising Boys," "Reading and Language," "Talking with Kids," and "Birthday Parties." The "Issues and Advice" section provides information by experts on a wide variety of topics. "Inclusive Communities" section provides a great deal of information for parents of children with special needs.

PBS Parents is a great web site for grownups. Bookmark it!

Spring Books for Ages 2/3

2007-05-10T11:14:00.001-04:00

The following is a list of books with spring themes for two- and three-year-olds.

Spring Things: Fran's Flower by Lisa Bruce, Waiting for Wings by Lois Ehlert and In the Rain with Baby Duck by Amy Hest.

Birds: Baby Bird by Joyce Dunbar, Little Bird by Saviour Pirotta and Will You Be My Friend? by Nancy Tafuri.

Chickens: Big Fat Hen by Keith Baker, Rosie's Walk by Pat Hutchins and Tippy-Toe Chick, Go! by George Shannon.

Colors: Cat's Colors by Jane Cabrera, Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh and The Deep Blue Sea by Audrey Wood.

Many of these titles have bright and bold illustrations. Lois Ehlert, Keith Baker, Jane Cabrera, Nancy Tafuri, and Ellen Stoll Walsh all have other books that would appeal to two- and three-year-olds.

Amy Hest has written several other books about Baby Duck. Rosie's Walk is a classic picture book. Pat Hutchins has written several other great books such as Good Night Owl! and The Surprise Party. Audrey Wood is also the author of The Napping House and The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear.

You and you child will enjoy exploring other books by the authors on this list.

Rhymes That Are New - Just For You!

2007-04-25T16:46:00.001-04:00

One of the things I enjoy doing as a children's librarian is looking at the new books as they come in. It's always useful to know what's been added to the collection. Recently I found several that I would like to share with you.

Suse MacDonald has adapted Edward Lear's A Was Once an Apple Pie. One of the skills a child needs to develop before learning to read is "phonological awareness" which is the ability to hear distinct sounds within words. Reading or reciting rhymes to a young child will help that child understand that words are made up of separate sounds. This alphabet poem is full of wordplay such as

D was once a little dog,
doggy, moggy, oggy, noggy,
waggy, woggy, little dog!

MacDonald's delightful illustrations nicely complement the text.

Once I Ate a Pie is a book of poems about dogs written by Patricia MacLachlan (who won the Newbery Medal for Sarah Plain and Tall) and her daughter Emily MacLachlan Charest. This book will appeal to dog lovers of all ages for not only do the poems capture the essence of doggieness but the illustrations are outstanding. Various breeds of dogs are featured throughout the book. I loved this book and I have two cats!

No Boys Allowed: Poems about Brothers and Sisters is a collection compiled by John Micklos, Jr. The poems in this book feature a wide variety of sibling emotions. Parents will also appreciate these verses.

Two books that will appeal to older children are Wing Nuts: Screwy Haiku by Paul B. Janeczko and Patrick Lewis and Tour America: A Journey Through Poems and Art by Diane Siebert. Wing Nuts is a humorous collection of poetry called senryu. Illustrator Stephen T. Johnson uses a variety of media to depict the famous American landmarks featured in Tour America (New Jersey, my home state, is represented by Lucy the Elephant).

April is National Poetry Month so celebrate it by browsing through your library's collection of poetry books. To get started go to 811 in the children's non-fiction section. Play rhymes and Mother Goose books can be found in 398.8.

Great Web Sites for Kids

2007-04-19T14:20:00.005-04:00

While searching for information to post on this blog I rediscovered an old favorite. When the Internet was much younger and not yet a part of everyday life for many families, I often recommended ALSC's Great Web Sites for Kids. (ALSC is the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association.) This list was originally created in 1997 (which is very long ago in "Internet years"). Many of the sites provide information for school assignments and others simply provide some online fun. They are divided into the following sections: animals, the arts, history & biography, literature & language, mathematics & computers, "reference desk," sciences, and social sciences. Kids can explore areas of interest such as dinosaurs or space or they can visit the Web Site of the Month.

This list is maintained and updated by the ALSC Great Web Sites Committee so not only are the sites worth visiting but the list is kept current. The appropriate age group or groups for each Web site is noted. For example, Cartoonster is appropriate for elementary and middle school age children and Storyline is appropriate for prekindergarten and elementary school age children. The list can be searched by intended audience as well as by keyword or URL so a parent can find all the Web sites suitable for each age group. Under "Selection Criteria" there is useful information for students and parents about evaluating Web sites. There is also a listing of "Sites for Parents, Caregivers, Teachers & Others."

Happy surfing!

Storytime Books

2007-03-29T11:37:00.000-04:00

At the end of a story time session I like to hand out a list of the books that I read. The following books were read during Winter 2007 Toddler Time for 2 to 3 1/2-year-olds.

Pigs - Little Pink Pig by Pat Hutchins, Pigs Aplenty, Pigs Galore by David McPhail and Piggies by Don Wood

Sneezes and Sniffles - Farm Flu by Teresa Bateman, One Day in the Jungle by Colin West and How Do Dinosaurs Get Well Soon by Jane Yolen

Dinosaurs - If the Dinosaurs Came Back by Bernard Most and Ten Terrible Dinosaurs by Paul Stickland

ABCs - ABC: A Child's First Alphabet by Alison Jay, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin, Jr., Flora McDonnell's ABC by Flora McDonnell, Hidden Alphabet by Laura Vaccaro Seeger and Max's ABC by Rosemary Wells

Try other books by these authors as well. Other favorites by Don and Audrey Wood are The Napping House and The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear. Jane Yolen has several How Do Dinosaurs ... books which are wonderfully illustrated by Mark Teague. Bernard Most is the author of The Cow That Went Oink and Z-Z-Zoink! These books are fun to read aloud.

I don't usually read five books for storytime since we have limited time but I didn't want to leave any of these out when I did the ABCs. The illustrations in both ABC: A Child's First Alphabet and Flora McDonnell's ABC are great. Max's ABC is a recent Max and Ruby story with Max very much being Max. The grown-ups as well as the children enjoyed Hidden Alphabet but the hit of all four of this week's ABC storytimes was definitely the classic Chicka Chicka Boom Boom!