Science Programming

Check out the new link under "Youth Services Programs and Resources" for "Science Programming."

Access the 2009 Science Early Learning Content Standards as paired with books and activities.

Access information on sharing science through stories from a presentation I gave in 2010.

Ghost Draw and Tell Story

Great Draw-and-Tell at this link:

http://www.playbasedlearning.com.au/2011/03/the-ghost-on-petersons-farm/

Tree for Me (Storytelling Pieces)

Images are taken from Microsoft Clipart or Britannica Image Quest Database (http://quest.eb.com/) where pictures can be used for non-commercial, educational use.  Otherwise, a website citation accompanies them.

9/11 Story from a Survivor

Catherine Balkin, founder of Balkin Buddies, has posted her husband's story online: http://www.balkinbuddies.com/worldtradecenter.html

He was in the World Trade Center on 9/11 ...

Catherine says, "You are free to share this account with your students or quote from it as needed. We do not require that you ask us for permission in advance and there is no charge to use it. We have no wish to profit from 9/11 in any way."

She also encouraged me via email to share it with anyone who "may benefit" from it.  Take a look ...

I worked at our "downtown" branch recently.  After helping a middle-aged woman find some books on "recovery" and some religious music, she shared with me a personal story as well as the Cherokee tale about "the two wolves inside of me."  ... another commonality of humanity -- the fight within us all ... 

Here's a Youtube telling:

Story Sharing Techniques and Resources for Preschoolers

Take a look at this updated document:

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0ByZSJgcQD22tX1o2b05zVl96cm8

Also available to the right under "Youth Services Programs and Resources."

The Story of Rab and Croc

All graphics I use are Microsoft Clipart unless otherwise noted.

Alligators and Crocodiles: One Toddler and One Preschool Program

Ugly Pie Magnetic Board Pieces

Art without a citation is from Microsoft Clipart.

We Are All In a Story

This is my first blog post from my new computer!  Yes, it was time to make the leap from my 2003 desktop ... I'm still in the (learning) process of moving things from the old to the new ... Did you know a CAT5 crossover cord is the cheapest cord to transfer information from computer to laptop?  At least that's what I've heard.  We'll see what happens when the item comes.



After trying to create a home sharing network and failing (my old computer needed to have Windows 7 which I was not willing to install), I hope this cord will expedite the process.

I debated about just uploading all my pictures to Shutterflly.  However, Shutterfly doesn't give you the option to download pictures saved on the site back to your computer.

So many technology options ...

At any rate, I wanted to share this quote with you.  It's my own when I was four years old.  Thanks to mom for writing it down so long ago!

"Everybody is growing up.  We are all in a story; Is it a real story?"

Improving Your Storytelling Skills

Leafing through Doug Lipman's Improving Your Storytelling Skills, I came away with two reminders and a new thought.

Lipman reminded me about the importance of consciousness during the storytelling experience: "Notice the humanity of the audience." (174) This subdues fear and creates a successful experience for all.

He reminded me that "good storytelling always incorporates other art forms" and that each of us has a way of storytelling that is natural to us.

Related to this conscious, natural form of storytelling comes the new thought ... Instead of planning to tell a story, have you ever waited for a story from your repetoire to "call" to you?  Not only does this make me feel the smallness of my repetoire, but it stretches the teller to rely on previous practice and the art of free flow telling.

It's another goal to aspire toward!

Digital Storytelling (websites)

Pulled from AASL Best Websites for Teaching and Learning:

http://www.piclits.com/compose_dragdrop.aspx
http://www.zooburst.com/zb_about.php
http://myths.e2bn.org/index.php

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?

Gotta Move: Everybody's Jumping (Vocabulary)

Again, I put an activity on the back of the handout.  It is a "finish the drawing" activity that has a picture of a dog, and the prompt says, "What is Andy doing? Draw his surroundings." 

The "Find the Letter" ball is one I picked up at Dollar General.  It has alphabet letters and first sound icons (e.g. the letter D is pictured with a dog) printed all over the surface, in no particular order.



As always, if the embedded image does not load, you can find the pdf under "Youth Services Programs and Resources" --> "Music, Movement, and Early Literacy Programs" at http://librarieslearnlead.blogspot.com/ .

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 ...

Preschool Visit: Nature Stories (30 min)

A local preschool (almost five and six year olds) experienced a nature walk on the way to the library today.  I supported their learning by providing a nature/pond life inspired storytime.  (We have a small pond/wetlands area behind the library.)

We started with The Dandelion Seed by Joseph Patrick Anthony.  While I read, “Dandelion Seed” from Sing and Learn about Science by Ilene Follman and Helen Jackson played in the background.  The song played through two times.

Then, we talked about how objects look different when we look at them up close and when we look at them from far away.  We explored A Closer Look by Mary McCarthy and followed that with Big Bugs! Giant Creepy Crawly Pop-Ups by Keith Faulkner.  Big Bugs allowed the children to guess which bug was being described before I surprised them with the pop-up illustration.

Little Green Frogs by Frances Barry was equally entertaining.  The slightly repetitive text allowed for a bit of audience participation and the unfolding pages were suprising and unique.

Our last story was the newer picturebook The Croaky Pokey! by Ethan Long.  We got on our feet and moved and grooved, but stopped to carefully look at the picture when I slurped and smacked my lips.  Me: "(Slurp. Smack!) What happened?"  Kids: "The fly got away!"

Before the last activity, I did an impromptu interaction with

The frog would "ribbit" to tell me he was hungry.  (He hadn't caught the fly in Croaky Pokey, you know ...) We'd listen for the fly (puppet makes "buzz" sound), watch frog catch it with his tongue, and then the puppet would burp.  The kids LOVED it!  We had to repeat a few times, until Mr. Frog was too full to eat anymore...

We ended the visit by looking at some photographs of a snapping turtle (from Grzimek's Animal Life database and Britannica Online) and by performing the following action rhyme.  (I learned this from a colleague, so I do not know the original source.):

SNAPPING TURTLE
(Snap OR place bottom of palms together and clap hands like a mouth.)
Snap! Snap! Snap!
He snaps in the morning
He snaps at night
He snaps at the bugs
As he takes each bite
He snaps so much
He's quite a sight
Snap! Snap! Snap!

As they exited, I let them touch a real snapping turtle shell.  (Compliments of another colleague.)

Memorial Day: Walking with Stories

I'm at Punderson State Park
alone for the moment
on a personal journey

How Will We Get to the Beach?
Me, I walk
pack on my back
Ipod in ears
pop beating the walk

Suddenly, suprise!
tears in eyes
a stranger offers a ride,
"I've been in your shoes before"
I love my Keen Shoes! I love my Keen shoes!

After musing and music
and sitting in mud
I Walk in the Woods
on the Iroquois trail
listening to Eat, Pray, Love:

"I have a tendancy not only to see the best in everyone, but to assume that everyone is emotionally capable of reaching his highest potential." (Gilbert 285)

Gotta Move: Silly, Silly, Silly (Print Motivation)

I copied page 201 from the Collaborative Summer Library Program manual on the back side of the program handout.  I'm also switching the order a bit to help with the program's flow; We're getting more and more attendance, and the one-on-one name game is becoming difficult in the large group setting.



As always, if the embedded image does not load, you can find the pdf under "Youth Services Programs and Resources" --> "Music, Movement, and Early Literacy Programs" at http://librarieslearnlead.blogspot.com/ .

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:

Charles R. Smith Jr. (Virginia Hamilton Conference)

To paraphrase, Charles R. Smith Jr., in true multicultural literature, every individual grows.  For him, it appears that photography and writing, particularly poetry ("finding the right words, not necessarily fancy or long or rhyming"), is the mode for individual and societal sharing and ultimately, growth.

During his presentation at the 2011 Virginia Hamilton Conference on April 8, he performed his poems and shared his life; As a child, "I turned to books ... to help me fly" (from track 10 on About Me) and became inspired by various artistic and noteworthy African Americans (see track 11 from Inspirations), including Ms. Nikki Giovanni, who was also a speaker at the conference.

He is a phenomenal performer and witty wordsmith (you'll get his flavor as you listen to track fifteen "I Am a Poet - a Capella"), but I wish I could have recorded and put his presentation on Youtube.  When I got Portrait of a Poet signed (only MP3 downloads are available on Amazon), I did ask if he had already put performances on Youtube.  He answered that he hadn't but that they may have been posted by others.  While I haven't found such poem performance videos, here is a link to Simon and Schuster's Youtube video where he discusses his 2010 Coretta Scott King Award (illustration) book My People.  You can also view a still of the performance in my photo collection below.

One of his last thoughts was, "We are all made up of a variety of things that make us human beings."
 
Thank you for your work, Mr. Smith.