Snow & Symmetry Family Program

"Snow and Symmetry" program now available in "Programs for Families All Ages."

Yoga in the Library

Yoga Storytime: Integrating Technology, Literacy, and Movement from Fordeeto

Recommended EBooks

I just saw a YouTube ad for the following book. Will explore to help plan financial literacy for children library programs. I would like to project and share the following eBook at a grandparent advertised/invited family library program.

Merry Grinch-mas Family Program

Well ... I did do a Christmas-y family program this year. A co-worker originally wanted to do a "Forgetful Santa" puppet show together, but being short-staffed, the program was altered to a one woman show. I offered to keep with the Christmas theme. It was advertised as such and in this way:

Family Night Capades: Merry Grinchmas - Whobalation!
It's a How the Grinch Stole Christmas Celebration. Come for the story! Come for the noise! Come dressed in jammies OR as Who-girls and boys! Come for a craft, a treat, and a game. During Family Night Capades -- no one week is the same. Children under age 7 must be accompanied by an adult.



The movement activities had to be really young-child friendly, and indeed, I had three not-quite-two-year-olds who came to the program! The Learning about the Heart station was really loosely based on the cut and tell -- just a lot of questions (Where is the heart? What does it look like? What does it do?) and movements (Make a fist -- that's the size of your heart. Find your pulse. Let's run in place and see if we can change our heartbeat.)

I let them do the stations as they please. Take them or leave them ... I use to ring a bell after every 10-15 min to let them know when to switch stations, but I haven't really had a problem with overflow, so now I just explain the stations and let them stay or leave and wander as they please. It works well, and they usually stay 45 minutes after the initial together activity, in this case the Grinch accompanied by music and a few computer projections. I always do stations at my family programs. It's my sneaky way of getting families to interact together ... and with the age ranges they can adapt what they need, etc.

Family Financial Literacy Program

Apps for Library Programs

I see I had 94 hits on this blog today!  I'm assuming most of these people saw my article on music, movement, and early literacy in Children and Libraries ... My hope is that others find this blog to be a useful resource for library programming.  I appreciate any comments or questions as the site evolves!

Yes, I have been a bit quiet on this blog the last month or so ... involved in learning and special projects ... but after much research, I've FINALLY upgraded my personal technology to an iPhone and Toshiba Satellite laptop.  (I'll wait for the Flash issue on the iPad to be resolved and for the Droids to have better/ more apps.  I'm more comfortable with a keyboard for typing, and so far, I prefer storing on a harddrive vs. wireless "in the cloud" network attached storage... though I will be willing to upgrade again when technology is more refined and becomes cheaper.)  This is definately increasing my personal education and social connection, but it will also affect my professional aspirations, such as audio/video recording storytelling and library programming.

Here are some apps that I've been playing with that have great potential for use in library programs:

   Star Walk http://vitotechnology.com/star-walk.html $2.99
      From the website:  "Star Walk ... allows users to easily locate and identify 20,000+ objects in the night sky. The 360-degree, touch control star map displays constellations, stars, planets, satellites, and galaxies currently overhead from anywhere on Earth." 
       My thoughts: I hope to use this during a family evening program as a supplement to stories and songs.  It would have been a perfect fit into my Starlight at Night program: http://librarieslearnlead.blogspot.com/2010/12/starlight-at-night-program-outline.html

   LeafSnap  http://leafsnap.com/  FREE
      From the website: "Leafsnap is the first in a series of electronic field guides being developed by researchers from Columbia University, the University of Maryland, and the Smithsonian Institution. This free mobile app uses visual recognition software to help identify tree species from photographs of their leaves."        
      My thoughts: The game mode covers tree leaves, tree flowers, and nuts.  My four year old nephew and I knew nothing about tree flowers and still had fun matching a name with a photograph.  A science-based option to add to a family gaming program.

I'm not sure yet how I could share these apps in the library, but I'm thinking there must be some kind of cord I could connect from my iPhone to an LCD projector ... or if I can access those apps through my iTunes account on my laptop and project through the LCD.  I'll keep you posted!

Oh ... and did you know that Amazon is offering a Kindle app?  http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=kcp_ipad_mkt_lnd?docId=1000493771
This allows you to purchase Kindle formated ebooks on a non-Kindle device (PC, iPhone, etc.) or borrow Kindle formated books from a participating library.  The process is a bit tricky in that you have to download the Kindle book through Amazon (account required) and transfer to mobile devices through the Whispersync (wireless "in the cloud" technology -- yikes!) or USB.  Kind of freaky that the computer knew I had an iPhone and downloaded the book directly into the Kindle app ...

Check out these blogs about apps:
http://dailyappshow.com/
http://appadvice.com/applists

Songs and Sounds around the World Program for Families

Here is the outline with hyperlinks:



Here is the take-home handout:



Here is the downloadable text/signage for the Rapp Song:

MicroHike from PowerKids Life Science Database

Here is a scan of the printout I made of the PowerKids Life Science Database's "MicroHike" which I referenced in the I Spy: Near and Far family program : http://librarieslearnlead.blogspot.com/2011/07/i-spy-near-and-far.html

I feel that sharing this scan is within the fair use and educational copyright clauses.





I wonder if it would still have been within copyright if I gave a copy of this handout and a piece of string to the the families as their "take-away" item ... ?

I Spy: Near and Far

I'm a little frustrated that Google Docs has made its older version unavailable.  (The older version allowed me to grab the embed code from my uploaded PDFs' "Properties".)  As far as I can work out, there's no simple way to embed an uploaded document.  (It's a different story if one uses Google to create the document in the first place.)  So I grabbed an embed code from somewhere on the net.  I'd like to display the code here, but I don't know how to display the code without the computer thinking I want it to follow through with the command.  Contact me if you'd like the embed code.

Transliteracy Programming

So that "multimedia tween program involving conversation, music, video, print, and games" idea actually has a name ... "TRANSLITERACY" programming.  It is reminiscent of the "multi-genre" English education model and Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences.

Here are some resources:

Transliteracy Interest Group (LITA - Library & Information Technology Association).

Introducing Transliteracy: What Does It Mean to Academic Libraries? by Tom Ipri

Andretta, S. Transliteracy: take a walk on the wild side, 2009. In World Library and Information Congress: 75th IFLA General Conference and Assembly,Milan, Italy,23-27 August 2009.IFLA. (Published) [Conference Paper].

Digital storytelling: creator's guide to interactive entertainment  By Carolyn Handler Miller

http://theunquietlibrarian.wordpress.com/2011/05/13/transliterate-libraries-creating-conversations-for-portable-participatory-and-personalized-learning/

http://theunquietlibrarian.wordpress.com/2011/06/28/ala-11-presentation-transforming-information-literacy-for-todays-students-libraries-as-sponsors-of-transliteracy/

http://librarianbyday.net/transliteracy/

http://librariesandtransliteracy.wordpress.com/

transliteracy.com or http://nlabnetworks.typepad.com/transliteracy/

Storytelling vs. Story Sharing and Copyright vs. Creative Commons

As a still newish member of the National Storytelling Network (NSN), I'm viewing my librarian story sharing in a different light. I'm considering the art of storytelling (with the attention on oral aspects and audience feedback) removed from the science of early literacy and removed from story sharing techniques that rely on the book as a prop.  I'm also understanding the prevelance of sharing personal stories or folktales.  Why?  Copyright issues.

What if a storytelling artist wants to share a story that is originally from a picturebook (the oral, performing artist wants to bring a story to a different audience through a different sense) and the original writer is not a performance artist?  (Some writers, such as Patricia Polacco, Charles R. Smith Jr. and Chris Raschka, can perform their story as well as produce a physical form!)  The retelling artist must seek permission, of course.

Following the suggestion of my listserv friends from NSN, I did email Paul Owen Lewis in hopes that he would let me retell his Frog Girl, a perfect family story whose theme fits "One World, Many Stories."  Today, I have gotten his permission to retell it for not-for-profit settings!

On a related note, I'm exploring the idea of Creative Commons http://creativecommons.org/ licenses.  Anyone have thoughts and experiences with this?

Stories to Share: Alligator's Whistle

I've started a new side bar ("Stories to Share") where I'll post the text (and later, the audio ...) of stories I tell or retell.

The sheet music for the "Alligator's Whistle" can be found in The Storytelling Handbook by Anne Pellowski.  I play a recorder during the musical sections.  However, one could also sing, as lyrics are provided in Pellowski's book:

The Microsoft clipart images are used as a visual prompt to remind me what gestures or visual props to use.  Sometime, I'd like to print the text on large poster board, probably in four sections.  Then, the audience could read the story at the same time ...

2011 Summer Reading School Visit

This year, I made my summer reading school visit presentation the same for kindergarteners through third graders.  (It was a thirty minute auditorium visit by grade.)  Here is the outline:

Click here for the "Kye Kye Kule" lyrics and song clip, or
listen/purchase the versions below:

Below are the embedded supporting posters.  (There are also in this blog's "Graphics" folder.)  Images are from Microsoft Clipart.  I used them as a models to draw images for the other motions (not pictured).




I chose "The Alligator's Whistle" which is a musical story from Anne Pellowski's Storytelling Handbook


 , and I included optional audience participation. 

At one point in the presentation, I threw an inflatable globe (our library's summer reading prize/incentive) into the audience.  Whoever caught the globe had to say what they liked.  Of course, whatever they liked, I supported by mentioning the materials that the library had on that topic.  The older kids caught on to this trend and had fun trying to stump me with "likes" such as "cheese" and "sleeping" !!

Overall, the three most important steps I drill into the kids are:

Family Fun: I Spy

This program was inspired by my article "Using Picturebooks to Expand Perception."  I will be doing another during Summer Reading called "Family Fun: I Spy Near and Far."

Story: It Looked Like Spilt Milk with props. Children bring up prop and stick to flannel board as each object is named.

Group Activity: What Did You See? PowerPoint (Click on hyperlink to access downloadable version.)  Download also available by going to "PowerPoint Presentations" under "Youth Services Programs and Resources." 

Booktalk: Duck! Rabbit! and Round Trip by Ann Jonas

Stations:
If large group, 10-15 minutes at each station, or if small group, let them proceed at own pace.

1) I Spy Books and Media to explore and check out.





2) I Spy Jars
Two plastic orange juice containers. One filled with grits. The other filled with birdseed. Miniature toys buried in each jar.  Answers available in closed file folder.

3) I Spy, My Spy from http://www.jeanmarzollo.com/ISPY/myspy.html
(Picture Riddle #1) Use old book covers for images/collage, if desired.

4) I Spy laminated mats
Rip out individual sheets from Fun for All Pads series from Barnes and Nobles, glue to cardstock, and laminate. Use dry erase markers to circle found objects.
(e.g. http://productsearch.barnesandnoble.com/search/results.aspx?store=book&SID=503174)

Take Home – Hidden picture from http://www.highlightskids.com/GamesandGiggles/HiddenPics/HiddenPicsPrintable/HP1321_theGoldenEgg.asp and camouflaged Canadian goose sticker. (Photo taken by Hayley McEwing and made into a sticker on Shutterfly.com.)

Ohio Libraries and Financial Literacy (Video Link)

"3/22/11 Ohio Library Council State Budget Webcast – Archive
On March 17, Lynda Murray, OLC Director of Government and Legal Services, presented a webcast on the introduction of the state budget and Governor Kasich's proposed funding of the PLF for the 2012-13 biennium. If you were unable to watch the webcast live, an archived version is available for viewing at your convenience at this link."  (from http://www.olc.org/news_story031011.asp )

FOR A FINANCIAL LITERACY LIBRARY PROGRAM: I'd like to show this website http://www.newmoney.gov/newmoney/dyob/index.html , and make it available on a laptop as one of four stations in a family program.

Family Program: Snowmen at Night

If the embedded image does not work, visit the upper right hand corner of this blog.  Under "Youth Services Programs and Resources," choose "Family Programs (All Ages)." Then choose "(2011 1) Snowmen at Night." 



You can also access the accompanying images under "Graphics" --> "Snowmen Directions" or "Snowmen Multi Colored."

Starlight at Night Program Outline

If the embedded image above does not load, go to "Youth Services Programs and Resources" ---> "Family Programs (All Ages)" ---> "(2010 12) Starlight at Night."


Program props (story pieces/clipart made book) can be found in the "Graphics" folder under "Youth Services Programs and Resources."

Pajamarama for the Family: Starlight at Night

Click on the following link to access the Microsoft and Google Image clip art that I will be using for a Family "Pajamarama" program: https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0ByZSJgcQD22tM2ZjOTcwODctN2I3Zi00OTk0LTk1ZWYtNTliOWFiYjJkNjRj&sort=name&layout=list&num=50

The program will be on Monday night at 6:30 p.m.  The theme is "Starlight at Night."  The opening activity is a combination rhyme, name game, and Every Child Ready to Read application.

Before the program begins, I'll invite the children to pick one of the pre-cut star graphics.  The caregiver will be encouraged to teach their child about letters and writing as the child writes his/her name.

During the opening rhyme, different colors will be called, and the child with the appropriately colored star will be invited to place his/her star on the post-it sticky board (http://tinyurl.com/StickyBoard)

A colleague mentioned that these graphics could be laminated, and the names be written on them with dry erase markers.  This would allow for reuse.  However, I have decided to have the children take their stars home, if they choose.

(I have no time to laminate them, and it will act as a supplemental take home piece.  At the very least, I can put them on display for December.)