tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52873527207556350342024-03-05T00:06:33.932-05:00Reading With RedBrookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02818103170864626274noreply@blogger.comBlogger108125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5287352720755635034.post-61439395491822799652016-07-13T11:00:00.000-04:002016-07-13T11:13:32.029-04:00The Top 5 Reasons I Haven't Been BloggingIt has been a long time since I last blogged! Feeling inspired by <a href="http://www.abbythelibrarian.com/2016/07/on-feeling-overwhelmed-part-ii.html">Abby the Librarian's </a>blog post, I decided to confess my blogging sins rather than continuing to feel guilty about it. Here are five of the things that are keeping me away from this blog:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO_4dOejPYpWVNl8NuHCVg-Y2sc3AijvOuPHoF9noyAeXmqBn4MeeZplor2CtKs0c1qEF8cNS0jDHkB5-fqnFMZ66Nl4cGxSRAQWfbSpkCXYRex44cNZGFe_NznzshsvWZ5Tj7j2jwe-Oz/s1600/summer+reading.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO_4dOejPYpWVNl8NuHCVg-Y2sc3AijvOuPHoF9noyAeXmqBn4MeeZplor2CtKs0c1qEF8cNS0jDHkB5-fqnFMZ66Nl4cGxSRAQWfbSpkCXYRex44cNZGFe_NznzshsvWZ5Tj7j2jwe-Oz/s320/summer+reading.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our updated summer reading game!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We had a Paw Patrol program! We expected 75 in <br />
attendance and ended up with 175. It was chaos. </td></tr>
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<b>1. </b>We are short staffed. We're all just trying to keep our heads above water after losing a professional position last year, being without a manager for six months, and having another professional position leave in May. Luckily our new manager started in February and the second professional position will be getting replaced after summer.<br />
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<b>2.</b> It is Summer Reading. We are taking a less intensive approach this year, but the sheer volume of
people in the room make it impossible to accomplish any extra tasks.
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A baby boy! </td></tr>
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<b>3.</b> I am 9 months pregnant. If you decide to start a family at any point in your career, I recommend trying to plan it so your 8-9 months don't happen during summer for both your and your coworkers' sanity. I literally pep talk myself out of the car most mornings and my 5pm self leaves out candy for my next day 8:30am self. Candy helps.<ul>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A fabulous summer reading performer who showed up with the flu. <br />
It was the most intense hour as I waited to see if he would actually vomit on kids.<br />
Do you have a plan for if your performer starts puking?</td></tr>
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<b>4.</b> Program attendance is at an all time high! This is so great for us and our library, but it has made us have to rethink our approach to programming for such huge numbers. Hopefully next year we will figure out a way to make programs more manageable with such big groups, while making sure we provide the best service possible to our non-camp groups.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My storytimes help get me through the day!</td></tr>
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<b>5.</b> My desk time has almost doubled in the past couple of months. A
necessary thing that takes place in the summer, but it's hitting a
little harder this year for all of the reasons above.<br />
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These are all my excuses for not getting regularly scheduled posts to you. Hopefully once I am recovering on maternity leave I will be able to finally pay attention to those posts that have been languishing in drafts.</div>
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Like Abby, I'm also going to recommend that you check out <a href="http://brycedontplay.blogspot.com/2016/06/summer-reading-hype-videos.html">Bryce's series of Summer Reading Hype Videos. </a>I watch them regularly when I feel like I can't possibly make it another hour in the day. I hope everyone is surviving this summer and I can't wait to hear all about everyone else's fun summer adventures!</div>
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Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02818103170864626274noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5287352720755635034.post-6439450819269084282016-04-19T06:00:00.000-04:002016-04-19T06:00:18.642-04:00Library Sneakers- Kindergarten Tour at the Library!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Do you have kindergarten classes visit your library? When I first came to La Crosse a specialized 2nd grade tour was already in place. You can read all about them on <a href="http://brycedontplay.blogspot.com/2012/03/time-bodies.html">Bryce's blog.</a> It was developmentally perfect for 2nd graders, and it really helped build our relationship with each individual school and their library media specialist.<br />
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After helping with 2nd grade tours when I first joined the team, we realized that adding Kindergarten to the mix was the next step in solidifying our relationship with the schools. Plus, this way we get to see a child at least two times during their first three years of school!<br />
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First, we contacted each school and asked for their school roster. This allows us to look up each child, see if they have a card, waive any fines, and send home a library card application if they need a card. Our goal is that every kindergartner will have an opportunity to get a card they can actually use by the time they leave our tour. Of course, this doesn't always work if caregivers don't sign the form or bring it back.<br />
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For scheduling the tour, we send out a mass email to each library media specialist and ask them to respond with 3 dates and times that work in the month of January or February. Since all of the second grade classes visit during this time too, we scale our programming way back during these two months to accommodate all of our tour friends.<br />
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When the kindergarten class comes, we gather in our programming space and talk about what the library does and what it means to be a library sneaker. We emphasize that ONLY kindergartners in La Crosse get to call themselves library sneakers and that it is a very special honor. We also share the "prizes" they get for returning to the library.<br />
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If they return one time and say they're a library sneaker at our service desk, then they get a very special Library Sneaker tote bag. Again, ONLY kindergartners in La Crosse get this tote bag. If they return a second time and say they're a library sneaker then they get their very own Pete the Cat bookmark. This is a perfect transition into us reading our very favorite book <i>Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes</i>. Kindergartners are usually shrieking with excitement at this point.<br />
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After reading Pete the Cat we break into our three groups for the next section of the tour. Each group gets to do all three parts, and we rotate every 7-9 minutes. One group gets a room tour, one gets a super secret tour, and one gets to hear another favorite book.<br />
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The room tour is fun because it's a chance for us to show them where they can find books best suited to their tastes in the room. It's also a chance for us to talk about the library desk and how we love to help people find good books and movies. We simply look for a certain shoe and sing "I love my ____ shoe" as we dance over to the right section. The librarian in charge of this tour is always the head dancer or head sneaker depending on their preference.<br />
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The super secret background tour is well loved by everyone because the kids get to see how a book drop works, and we tell them that everything they see is secret. ONLY kindergartners in La Crosse get to go on the super secret tour. Really it's just a quick walk through circulation and talking about how our process works, and then it's time to switch spots again.<br />
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For the additional story, we started using <i>The Book With No Pictures</i> by B.J. Novak. I know some people have had storytime misses with this one, but our groups love it. I start by explaining that I've never read the book before but Miss (whoever else is doing part of the tour) said that I would really like it, so I thought we would try it. I act really surprised of course during all the ridiculousness, and I also follow my fingeralong the words as I read them. This has really helped the kindergartners make the connection that I have "no control" over what I'm saying. Plus, they're learning all about that print awareness!<br />
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Out of everything we do, <i>The Book With No Pictures</i> is the thing the kids remember when they come back to visit us. Their caregivers have heard all about it, and they have to read it or even go out and buy a copy themselves.<br />
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For my librarian friends who like stats- this is what our current year looked like: 53 students already had a library card. 429 students did not have a library card at all. They were all sent home a library form, and 260 of them returned it. That's <b>60% </b>of students that now have a brand new library card!!! 45 students had fines on their card. 21 of them were over $10, which means their card has been blocked. For these cases a personalized letter was sent home from our circulation manager explaining the situation and inviting the family to visit the library and speak with her so they could work something out. The other 24 students had fines under $10 and we just waived them completely. Last year we saw over a 30% return visit from our kindergarten friends.<br />
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So, if you don't give specialized tours then please consider it. If you have any questions, want to read the scripts we use, or just want to pick my brain then contact me!Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02818103170864626274noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5287352720755635034.post-61671818775259531082016-03-26T16:29:00.001-04:002016-03-26T16:29:50.480-04:00UW-Whitewater's Early Childhood Conference: April 8-9, 2016<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Hello all! Hopefully I will return to my regularly scheduled blogging soon. I have quite a few drafts that are just waiting for some much needed attention.<br />
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If you live in the Wisconsin/Illinois area I wanted to put a conference on your radar. It's a conference dedicated to Early Childhood! It's primarily day care providers who attend this conference, but I went last year and it was amazing.<br />
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Registration isn't outrageous, and there are some great sessions being offered. You can check out all of the different sessions <a href="http://www.uww.edu/Documents/ce/camps/earlychildhood/ECCBOOK2016_web%20(3).pdf">here,</a> and even find mine. I'll be talking all about programming with babies and toddlers in childcare and library settings. I hope to see some of you there!<br />
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<br />Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02818103170864626274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5287352720755635034.post-82019409414657004572016-01-18T06:30:00.000-05:002016-01-22T12:03:47.166-05:00Babies Need Words Every Day- The Blog Tour!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I'm excited to share the schedule for the amazing Babies Need Words Every Day blog tour! Some amazing ladies are going to be blogging about <a href="http://www.ala.org/alsc/babiesneedwords">Babies Need Words Every Day,</a> an ALSC initiative focused on bridging the 30 Million Word Gap, by providing caregivers with proven ways to build their children's literacy skills.<br />
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The initiative includes eight beautiful posters that share simple rhymes and tips for caregivers to read. There's even a booklist that shares some great books to check out at the library. The best part is that everything is FREE! You can print out as many posters and booklists as you want, and hang them everywhere. Check out the l<a href="http://www.ala.org/alsc/babiesneedwords">ink here to get started</a>.<br />
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I'll be updating this schedule daily to include the newest posts!<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Monday</span></b><br />
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<a href="http://showmelibrarian.blogspot.com/2016/01/lets-talk-babies-need-words-every-day.html"><span style="font-size: large;">Show Me Librarian</span></a><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://hafuboti.com/2016/01/18/baby-talk/">Hafuboti</a></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Tuesday</span></b><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://storytimesecrets.blogspot.com/2016/01/babies-need-words-every-day-blog-tour.html">Storytime Secrets</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://storytimekatie.com/2016/01/19/babies-need-words-every-day-blog-tour/">Storytime Katie</a></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Wednesday</span></b><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.abbythelibrarian.com/2016/01/babies-need-words-every-day-read.html">Abby the Librarian</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://missmegsstorytime.com/babies-needs-words-everyday/">Miss Meg's Storytime</a></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Thursday</span></b><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://fatgirlreading.com/babies-need-words-every-day/">Fat Girl Reading</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://brycedontplay.blogspot.com/2016/01/bryce-does-play-babies-need-words-every.html">Bryce Don't Play</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://klmpeace.wordpress.com/2016/01/21/babies-need-words-every-day-play/">Read Sing Play</a></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Friday</span></b><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.alsc.ala.org/blog/2016/01/13-ways-to-champion-literacy-babies-need-words-every-day-the-blog-tour/">ALSC Blog</a></span><br />
<a href="http://storytimeunderground.org/2016/01/22/babies-need-words/"><span style="font-size: large;">Storytime Underground</span></a><br />
<br />Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02818103170864626274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5287352720755635034.post-55061607933031554552015-11-12T10:00:00.000-05:002015-11-12T10:54:48.802-05:00Early Literacy Center - A Monster Who Loves Cookies!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPJVcfTFTNpfoOG9P6UgLEG7kdVuwmWXqh3WboDeygLLHmQVVdx2UUH6LkWGXq-b7XfXExUoTuJYN0yh7zKJRtkOi-jjG7_HH64ddTvaIsSDSh_uffogIUaBsf4KvYvwoN_zwy00HeVGgl/s1600/Play+Baby.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="309" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPJVcfTFTNpfoOG9P6UgLEG7kdVuwmWXqh3WboDeygLLHmQVVdx2UUH6LkWGXq-b7XfXExUoTuJYN0yh7zKJRtkOi-jjG7_HH64ddTvaIsSDSh_uffogIUaBsf4KvYvwoN_zwy00HeVGgl/s320/Play+Baby.png" width="320" /></a></div>
To go along with our newest bakery theme in our Play & Learn area, we wanted to make a fun tactile experience for little ones. After scouring the web and Pinterest, we realized that Cookie Monster was the obvious choice.<br />
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The La Crosse Public Library has been fortunate enough to receive a grant through DPI and Americorp. The grant provides the library with two workers who focus on early literacy and community building for a full year. This grant has been amazing and I'll give all the details in a later post. I'm mentioning it now because they did the work on this Play & Read theme and deserve the credit. </div>
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For this project we re-purposed our plastic mailbox that we've used previously in our Early Literacy Center, and simply added a few decorations. The mailbox just so happened to be the perfect shade of blue!</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mEmz2zMfhek/VkFLKoT-RZI/AAAAAAAADyg/R7gK_kJ6FYs/s1600/15%2B-%2B12" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mEmz2zMfhek/VkFLKoT-RZI/AAAAAAAADyg/R7gK_kJ6FYs/s320/15%2B-%2B12" width="240" /></a></div>
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We made laminated card stock cookies and turned our wall activity into both a color identification game and sorting activity.<br />
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In various places on the wall we included prompts for the caregivers and children to interact with Cookie Monster.<br />
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Of course, we also included an early literacy tip for caregivers. Explaining why these simple activities matter plays such an important part in early literacy awareness.<br />
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Best of all, this activity was free! We re-purposed everything from earlier Play & Learn activities, so the only new thing we needed to add was the construction paper on the mailbox and the fun cookies. </div>
Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02818103170864626274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5287352720755635034.post-26413178950730249792015-10-29T08:00:00.000-04:002015-10-29T08:00:04.905-04:00Books2Go- Daycare OutreachBefore I came to my current library, there was a dedicated Outreach Librarian position. Unfortunately, with budget cuts it was a position that was not filled after the librarian retired. This really hurt our relationship with local daycares since we could no longer visit them on a monthly basis. As much as we wanted to continue this outreach, there wasn't enough staff time to make it possible.<br />
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We provide a yearly preschool tour, themed around a book character, for daycares to come visit the library. However, we've realized the logistics of taking a field trip with 15-30 children, under the age of 5, can be a nightmare. The centers have to get permission slips, pay for a bus, and coordinate it around their already busy day. We also offered to come to each center once a year and provide an outreach storytime. While centers took advantage of this offering, they were disappointed that once a year was all our staff could feasible do with our reduced staff.<br />
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The department decided to emphasize outreach events at the centers when parents were in attendance during this transition period. Attending literacy nights, family days, and more- the department wanted to focus on bringing our literacy message to caregivers in person.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj522EyT18o1ieA_MggvJTuIG-fXAY_kz1-6M6ogxtKwj3iNuiSqs3YHFJyPCcljzzMIi47CzSRXR02f4jNBlS2L7Gj_Nw8D1lbGZe8_F5D0Z6ImcUTSfDjBxMnB3vnynYliobC0FLIC8Do/s1600/books2go.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj522EyT18o1ieA_MggvJTuIG-fXAY_kz1-6M6ogxtKwj3iNuiSqs3YHFJyPCcljzzMIi47CzSRXR02f4jNBlS2L7Gj_Nw8D1lbGZe8_F5D0Z6ImcUTSfDjBxMnB3vnynYliobC0FLIC8Do/s400/books2go.png" width="231" /></a></div>
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Luckily, our boss, <a href="http://tinytipsforlibraryfun.blogspot.com/">Marge Loch-Wouters,</a> developed a great initiative to keep the daycares supplied with books and use minimal staff time. Books2Go debuted in 2010 with 13 local daycares and Headstart opting into the program.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A weekly Books2Go cart- ready for checkout! </td></tr>
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Each month we deliver a bag of 10 books to every classroom. We check out each center's books on a library card that doesn't accrue fines. These cards are only used for Books2Go, and the centers do not know the barcode. We have separate child care provider cards they can obtain if they would like to check out books themselves. Making special library cards was an important way for us to keep track of the number of books each center had, and allowed us to see if any books were missing each month.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitbF3QbOKcNMnBta8l3-hKzNjeUsnEe22b0U0tFy0ZIxievFkBgMyNqSSoydbVUZUHjfDH17Grm97tU73ILH0fcvIJKt6Wfbnoy0QeRJY_bQUrNSkzXWHFqGFaxmsx6jTrkZ6f8JUqXoPr/s1600/books2go1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitbF3QbOKcNMnBta8l3-hKzNjeUsnEe22b0U0tFy0ZIxievFkBgMyNqSSoydbVUZUHjfDH17Grm97tU73ILH0fcvIJKt6Wfbnoy0QeRJY_bQUrNSkzXWHFqGFaxmsx6jTrkZ6f8JUqXoPr/s320/books2go1.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Some things that didn't work with this initiative:<br />
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<li><b>Advertising-</b> Each month we tried stuffing the bags with flyers for the centers to hang up, upcoming program flyers, or library card registrations. The next month we would find 95% of these items still in the bag. Eventually we realized we were wasting a lot of staff time and money photocopying things that no one was using.</li>
<li><b>Volunteers-</b> Initially we wanted to use volunteers to deliver our books each week to the daycares. However, the majority of our volunteers are retired folks who we quickly realized could not physically lift over 40 pounds of books at each drop off location. Our volunteers also use their own vehicles for insurance reasons, and we quickly realized that this would be asking too much with all of our deliveries.</li>
<li><b>Emails-</b> Most daycare workers are extremely overworked and underpaid. After trying to communicate via email for various reasons we quickly realized that most centers check their emails once a week at most. We've since learned that if we have important time sensitive information to convey (a change in delivery schedule, missing books, etc) we need to call them on the phone. </li>
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Some of the biggest pros with this initiative:<br />
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<li><b>Lost Books-</b> Initially we expected that each center would lose books throughout the year, and we were willing to take this loss. However, we've been pleasantly surprised with how responsible the centers have been. Each center is so excited about this program, even five years later, that they take extra care to have the books ready for us during pick up day.</li>
<li><b>Day Care Relationship</b><b style="font-style: italic;">- </b>We had high hopes that this monthly delivery service would start repairing the library's relationship with the local day care centers. While they knew we had lost the Outreach Librarian position they were still upset that we no longer could offer monthly outreach visits. This initiative has definitely helped to rebuild those relationships. It has been a great solution so far to our shrinking staff.</li>
<li><b>Circulation-</b> We are happy that this program helps boost our circulation numbers each month, especially as we've been seeing a gradual decease in circulation numbers. We currently serve 17 sites and check out 720 books each month to our centers. That's over 8500 extra books we're circulation each year! </li>
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A quick shout out to the various staff members, and former boss <a href="http://tinytipsforlibraryfun.blogspot.com/">Marge Loch-Wouters,</a> who were fountains of information in regards to this post, since I wasn't here when the initiative started. I asked Marge specifically for her biggest pro and con with this project and here was her response:<br />
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<b>Pro: Book Exposure! </b>Making sure that kids in care were exposed to a wide variety of books- both new and classing- on an ongoing basis was key. This was an important change from the book bins that had been left at the centers monthly. Each of the old bins had been developed with a grant over a decade before this initiative and the books shared with the kids were never updates. So providers and kids were being exposed to the same books every year. Having fresh books through Books2Go for kids and caregivers to discover was BIG!<br />
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<b>Con: Adapting- </b>Helping out child care community adapt to a change necessitated by budge cuts (the first of many ongoing cutback) was a big challenge. As a department, we looked at what we could sustain that would provide early literacy benefits no matter what future budgets were like. <br />
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Do any of you do special outreach initiatives to daycares beyond traditional storytimes? I would love to hear about them!</div>
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Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02818103170864626274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5287352720755635034.post-14109737982925575022015-10-21T15:09:00.000-04:002015-10-22T16:48:57.475-04:00Play, Baby, Play! - Play Around at the Library!<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
During our most recent storytime break, I decided to hold some fun play groups at the library. I held them two weeks in a row during our normal storytime hour and they were a hit! For more fun activities, check out everything <a href="https://klmpeace.wordpress.com/?s=play+baby+play">Kendra over at Read, Sing, Play</a> does with her babies!<br />
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Each week I set out a variety of activities for the caregivers to engage in with their children. I tried to make sure that the majority of activity stations I provided were cheap and could be easily reproduced at home. The goal of the program was to encourage caregivers to play with their children, and hopefully continue that play at home. </div>
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One of the most popular stations was our scarves station. I wrapped tissue boxes in paper and stuffed them full of scarves. Toddlers pulled out the scarves, pushed them back in, and repeated for a long time. Eventually they also realized they could unwrap the boxes too. Even after the first one was unwrapped and it was revealed to be a tissue box, they still shouted "SURPRISE!" every time a new one was opened. Kids are just the best. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The bubble wrap wall is everything!</td></tr>
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The bubble wrap wall was also crazy popular with both kids and caregivers. While some kids preferred stomping on it, others chose to roll. More kids then I expected decided to delicately pop the bubbles throughout the whole program.<br />
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This is a perfect stations for infants too. I heard amazing conversations happening at the wall about sounds and textures. Start saving your bubble wrap now!<br />
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Of course, this station was also pretty fabulous. I purchased <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Inflatable-Crystal-Blue-Swimming-Pool/dp/B000SN61UC/ref=pd_sim_21_6?ie=UTF8&refRID=154T7F4A15X9QCPGXMNC">the pool</a> and the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Non-Toxic-Phthalate-Non-Recycled-Quality-Reports/dp/B00XP3J0BY/ref=sr_1_8?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1440446665&sr=1-8">ball pit balls on Amazon</a>, and filled up a blow up pool. I also added cushions to the bottom of the pool because I imagined littles jumping in head first and hitting the hard floor beneath. It was a good decision. I had one kid who literally laid in the pool for an entire hour. Multiple caregivers have come in to share pictures of their own pool pit at home!</div>
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For this station I simply taped ribbon to the bottom or a table and box. It was a fun tactile experience for little ones as they crawled though it. It is also great for imaginative play! Within the first ten minutes it quickly became a "car wash" with children lining up to go through the wash.<br />
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I had a variety of sensory bottles for littles to explore at one station. I had different objects in each bottle and kids loved shaking them up and watching the changes.</div>
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I also included these sensory writing bags as an activity. For more information on these, check out <a href="http://readingwithred.blogspot.com/2013/11/early-literacy-center-sensory-bags.html">my blog post here.</a></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7KlROY-04uY/VejEXlxCR_I/AAAAAAAADkM/vl5mGAYwrOU/s1600/15%2B-%2B2" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7KlROY-04uY/VejEXlxCR_I/AAAAAAAADkM/vl5mGAYwrOU/s320/15%2B-%2B2" width="320" /></a></div>
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Obviously I had to have a station with shaky eggs and dancing ribbons. The dance party music played at a reasonable volume during the entirety of the program.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1vUtRBezmOk/VejEXkkcWMI/AAAAAAAADms/DDt-Bo5FKgQ/s1600/15%2B-%2B18" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1vUtRBezmOk/VejEXkkcWMI/AAAAAAAADms/DDt-Bo5FKgQ/s200/15%2B-%2B18" width="200" /></a></div>
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And of course I had a station of comfy bean bags and books for caregivers to read with their kids.</div>
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This was such a fun program! Other than the ball pit balls (which are obviously reusable), we already owned all of the supplies. We had over 50 participants at each program and numerous requests to add more in the future. It was non-staff intensive, since the stations were meant to be done at everyone's own pace. It allowed our storytime families a chance to chat with one another, plus it helped our circulation on non-storytime weeks. </div>
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</v:rect><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><span style="height: 320px; left: 591px; mso-ignore: vglayout; position: absolute; top: 346px; width: 240px; z-index: 1;"><br /></span>Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02818103170864626274noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5287352720755635034.post-47537336612403161802015-09-17T13:25:00.002-04:002015-09-17T13:25:31.585-04:00Webinar Opportunity- Successful Programming for Babies and Toddlers!I have an webinar on Tuesday, September 22nd called "Successful Programming for Babies and Toddlers" and I think <a href="https://infopeople.org/civicrm/event/info?reset=1&id=522">you should sign up!</a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPJVcfTFTNpfoOG9P6UgLEG7kdVuwmWXqh3WboDeygLLHmQVVdx2UUH6LkWGXq-b7XfXExUoTuJYN0yh7zKJRtkOi-jjG7_HH64ddTvaIsSDSh_uffogIUaBsf4KvYvwoN_zwy00HeVGgl/s1600/Play+Baby.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="309" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPJVcfTFTNpfoOG9P6UgLEG7kdVuwmWXqh3WboDeygLLHmQVVdx2UUH6LkWGXq-b7XfXExUoTuJYN0yh7zKJRtkOi-jjG7_HH64ddTvaIsSDSh_uffogIUaBsf4KvYvwoN_zwy00HeVGgl/s320/Play+Baby.png" width="320" /></a></div>
Kendra <a href="https://klmpeace.wordpress.com/">(Read, Sing, Play)</a> and I will be talking all about programming for babies and toddlers. We'll be sharing programs that have been successful for us, while also talking about lessons we've learned through the past few years.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge793JwQE5osN3p2jDq4lbsIbvsQPgcx52agotC3uPmXwk9E529AZWNKV14vmibeibN0VfPckgmlEQJb8O6GYfpSq6pIUrGAXWQGrXlJpn9B4SilyuHH8RsqT5dt_wiHrK-JZzE4p0lcyl/s1600/bubble.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge793JwQE5osN3p2jDq4lbsIbvsQPgcx52agotC3uPmXwk9E529AZWNKV14vmibeibN0VfPckgmlEQJb8O6GYfpSq6pIUrGAXWQGrXlJpn9B4SilyuHH8RsqT5dt_wiHrK-JZzE4p0lcyl/s320/bubble.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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We're even going to talk about things that haven't been featured on our blogs yet! Such as the fabulous bubble wrap wall you see above, and the ball pit below.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgtgN1iBSqErVX9DMi9MK6aoKmBinFRND_V4LwNg90dMDHK02OqwvzLKj_TRKN681Rl_oeI_4xYR7vBBB9O2NWmrr9J0KZ71DseBGJvDej6uq4cy25mWaaFWKlJObchKgdLTRtLIsVwJ6g/s1600/pool.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgtgN1iBSqErVX9DMi9MK6aoKmBinFRND_V4LwNg90dMDHK02OqwvzLKj_TRKN681Rl_oeI_4xYR7vBBB9O2NWmrr9J0KZ71DseBGJvDej6uq4cy25mWaaFWKlJObchKgdLTRtLIsVwJ6g/s320/pool.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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This is our passion in life, so it will definitely be entertaining. Plus, we'll even tell you jokes! What more could you want? We want to see you on Tuesday. <a href="https://infopeople.org/civicrm/event/info?reset=1&id=522">Sign up here! </a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnSEKrdc0WDtBpF8St5ou92O_CImQr4CB0m1gl5DSJAZSw3MSwU_ORklX5pkC-gBNLpRY9ivD1p8JySUji_8VxKuRHFLyCQcM3BSl4QmHDvHKN3PC3Fp8uZ7AxjZU_rs2nK1Gg_uiy-Afi/s1600/Phil-Thumbs-Up.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnSEKrdc0WDtBpF8St5ou92O_CImQr4CB0m1gl5DSJAZSw3MSwU_ORklX5pkC-gBNLpRY9ivD1p8JySUji_8VxKuRHFLyCQcM3BSl4QmHDvHKN3PC3Fp8uZ7AxjZU_rs2nK1Gg_uiy-Afi/s400/Phil-Thumbs-Up.gif" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br />Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02818103170864626274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5287352720755635034.post-41761250268025943232015-09-10T16:04:00.001-04:002015-09-10T16:04:25.333-04:00Backpack Buddies!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Every year, we have a stealth program during the month of August. This year we decided to do a school themed "Backpack Buddies"!<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nRMyfjr_nbw/VfHQ5v5_ROI/AAAAAAAADrE/dGH3IrUyNqE/s1600/15%2B-%2B4" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nRMyfjr_nbw/VfHQ5v5_ROI/AAAAAAAADrE/dGH3IrUyNqE/s400/15%2B-%2B4" width="300" /></a></div>
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We wanted to give back to our local families with this program, so we decided to raffle off six backpacks at the end of the month.</div>
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To enter, kids simply had to check out books, and then come to the children's desk. We gave them each a pencil to write their name on (practicing those literary skills!) and a raffle entry. We had 3 separate "groups" the backpacks were for: PreK, K-2nd, and 3rd-5th. This let us purchase the most common supplies on each school list for the grade range. </div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QsQ8B3mPtsE/VfHQ5t_ed-I/AAAAAAAADqY/JNewxwiLljE/s1600/15%2B-%2B1" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QsQ8B3mPtsE/VfHQ5t_ed-I/AAAAAAAADqY/JNewxwiLljE/s320/15%2B-%2B1" width="320" /></a></div>
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Do you all know how expensive school supplies are? I personally had no idea until we went on the purchasing run for all the items. Our caregivers told us over and over again how nice it was that there was even a possibility that they could win some free school supplies. My advice if you do something similar is to go school school in early July. We had parents offering us cash for the dry erase markers in the backpacks. Apparently the entire city was sold out!</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kSMYDcAzzcU/VfHQ5oF59rI/AAAAAAAADqs/YWll9OA6r4o/s1600/15%2B-%2B3" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kSMYDcAzzcU/VfHQ5oF59rI/AAAAAAAADqs/YWll9OA6r4o/s320/15%2B-%2B3" width="320" /></a></div>
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Doing this program in August turned out to be pretty daunting. We are short-staffed, and were busier than usual during this normally slower month. Wrapping up summer reading, giving out summer reading prizes (books), helping kids complete their last minute summer reading lists, and this passive program was a little overwhelming. It seemed so simple and easy in theory, but with our staffing issues it was simply too much.<br />
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Next year we will definitely modify this program. We're hoping to partner with a local organization to purchase more backpacks and school supplies to give away. We also think we will have a "Back to School Bash" where we raffle off the backpacks during a program, instead of a month long activity.<br />
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Each winner we called was extremely excited for their backpack and supplies. Caregivers seemed even more excited then some of the kids! We had just over 900 entries total during the month, and while it was crazy we absolutely loved seeing the kids when they came to pick up their prize.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wCQCjpqd7to/VeYNcGK4gqI/AAAAAAAADjc/z7SuGMzbkOM/s1600/15%2B-%2B1" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wCQCjpqd7to/VeYNcGK4gqI/AAAAAAAADjc/z7SuGMzbkOM/s400/15%2B-%2B1" width="300" /></a></div>
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My absolute favorite moment came from one of our PreK winners. They are a loyal storytime family, and were extremely excited to be winners and get such a fun backpack. Later in the day, the mom called me to ask if we would mind if they donated the backpack to one of the local schools. She is a former teacher and remembered all of the kids who would show up for school without backpacks, and her little guys already had their own. Of course we said yes, and it made us so proud to call this family our patrons. We have some truly amazing people in our city.<br />
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<br />Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02818103170864626274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5287352720755635034.post-13142297503385405542015-08-24T04:00:00.000-04:002015-08-24T04:00:10.824-04:00Early Literacy Center- Letter of the WeekHello everyone! After a summer of resignations and retirements, I finally have a chance to write a much overdue blog post.<br />
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<a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/YOVHaRl24KEq3UvGlmCks6MYC16puHrbXEW-l6CmNW3OA3FtgfFdAcTXqJANpTirWMQGPmwHjIs4s-BVlO-STU7A1ZtWyAihxcl3cISXPsmXboLsxA-LHvFvXG3scWZqM4CCTBL9PA" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="4/4/14 - 6" border="0" height="475px;" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/YOVHaRl24KEq3UvGlmCks6MYC16puHrbXEW-l6CmNW3OA3FtgfFdAcTXqJANpTirWMQGPmwHjIs4s-BVlO-STU7A1ZtWyAihxcl3cISXPsmXboLsxA-LHvFvXG3scWZqM4CCTBL9PA" width="356px;" /></a></div>
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Today I'm going to be talking about our "Letter of the Week" we offered over the past year. We got the majority of our letter ideas from the amazing <a href="http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/letter-of-the-week">No Time For Flash Cards</a> website.<br />
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We went through the entire alphabet, while changing the letter every Monday. We updated our bulletin board each week with new, easy to recognize items that also started with the same letter. Having kids run into the room to see what the new letter was each week was a really fun experience at the desk. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4zu2V9J1vIj3hu9mkkn_vGlvw0280ErjYb8DDYtKW0ic1-GwwKUz6DV5VC3im65fg7v5cKhwHAtv023Aa8zYyw_StxgJn22aX7sP3Ke3fIgBXgdB5MRrQBSutb4Wrx5Cn_Q60fnkJvXST/s1600/cupcake.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4zu2V9J1vIj3hu9mkkn_vGlvw0280ErjYb8DDYtKW0ic1-GwwKUz6DV5VC3im65fg7v5cKhwHAtv023Aa8zYyw_StxgJn22aX7sP3Ke3fIgBXgdB5MRrQBSutb4Wrx5Cn_Q60fnkJvXST/s200/cupcake.png" width="150" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN82bYBSsfRy-NtaqP7Zli4WWUsuK1H6t92dbQ31ZfmuYPl3ZhqdM7GF_OTRKV3zU_D40M_6_Z6BoZuOXr2nORF-fQFyNFpXkOsvodv7BFN1mvzi5oMGQ5AxdMtI3AEwJyqDcbVTNzSxxW/s1600/craft+of+the+week.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN82bYBSsfRy-NtaqP7Zli4WWUsuK1H6t92dbQ31ZfmuYPl3ZhqdM7GF_OTRKV3zU_D40M_6_Z6BoZuOXr2nORF-fQFyNFpXkOsvodv7BFN1mvzi5oMGQ5AxdMtI3AEwJyqDcbVTNzSxxW/s200/craft+of+the+week.png" width="150" /></a><br />
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We had a great college assistant who prepped our craft each week. She cut out the letters with our Cricut machine, added any supplies we needed in separate plastic baggies (all the pom poms in one, the google eyes in another, etc), and then threw them all in a tub. Since our desk is usually pretty busy, our goal was to make the letters as easy as possible. Staff simply handed a letter to each kid and then reached into the baggies to hand out the necessary supplies. </div>
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For the first two weeks we had kids trace and cut out their own letters instead of using the Cricut, but after observing we saw that overwhelmingly it was the caregivers doing the letter and cutting. Since we also wanted it to be as non-staff intensive as possible, taking away the scissors was appreciated by all. I know scissor usage is a great skill for littles to practice, but it wasn't feasible with our staffing. I made sure to include weekly literacy tips on the "craft table" that talked all about letters, scissor usage, etc.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhvO-u_TzSM6LP15-e632KTshX4acnoEDivUPmqt1ulWEWIT2mURKsf-SOQ0qc9hXazAf-ustKruFSVHZ7R33UdJmCp6hBNYDq9k-89bSchVViR-ao5vtJEtRe2fXixwhWMLJ33feTUkWK/s1600/heart.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhvO-u_TzSM6LP15-e632KTshX4acnoEDivUPmqt1ulWEWIT2mURKsf-SOQ0qc9hXazAf-ustKruFSVHZ7R33UdJmCp6hBNYDq9k-89bSchVViR-ao5vtJEtRe2fXixwhWMLJ33feTUkWK/s200/heart.png" width="150" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlXXKau_BZXqaOrL07J2bwc0RLpFEHqIQWLRW_Yylse1SjxtrPMKhOqhhoeIW_E1MimK5AlCWKMjQdJY5ez05LNYN5Xk9y-VeVItQuKjBlSzKaVasUT-nWzMHtEEsc56f2i9b-I6EbzX49/s1600/giraffe.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlXXKau_BZXqaOrL07J2bwc0RLpFEHqIQWLRW_Yylse1SjxtrPMKhOqhhoeIW_E1MimK5AlCWKMjQdJY5ez05LNYN5Xk9y-VeVItQuKjBlSzKaVasUT-nWzMHtEEsc56f2i9b-I6EbzX49/s200/giraffe.png" width="150" /></a><br />
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The weekly activity started out with low participation and a lot of resistance from the staff (which could have had a direct correlation on participation). Some people thought it was too time consuming. Others thought that kids and caregivers just were not interested in doing a weekly craft at the library. I compromised that if patrons still were not interested by week 4, then I would come up with a different passive program. Luckily, I didn't hear a single complaint after week 3!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD_GFpxihuyniUjCofHfpc_Fz0Iz-99C3L3mTWq5YHH57YFYjTJDw1E9TZhFXXDNDyTBUGx2LTOdVIuHtrt71gOo-skMyj4DwKAJeWESuqHEnIJRbWcEp1N3k4ebBKSoCVWR3ojiwJ4ie9/s1600/king.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD_GFpxihuyniUjCofHfpc_Fz0Iz-99C3L3mTWq5YHH57YFYjTJDw1E9TZhFXXDNDyTBUGx2LTOdVIuHtrt71gOo-skMyj4DwKAJeWESuqHEnIJRbWcEp1N3k4ebBKSoCVWR3ojiwJ4ie9/s200/king.png" width="171" /></a></div>
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We soon had patrons coming in every week specifically to do the letter of the week craft. Caregivers told me they were making scrap books at home of the letters, and even creating their own letter themed weeks depending on where we were in the alphabet.<br />
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After the letter K, we consistently averaged over 50 kids a week. For a passive program, that required very little staff time, this was definitely a win in our book. If you have a volunteer that could prep the supplies each week, then it would be even better!</div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD_GFpxihuyniUjCofHfpc_Fz0Iz-99C3L3mTWq5YHH57YFYjTJDw1E9TZhFXXDNDyTBUGx2LTOdVIuHtrt71gOo-skMyj4DwKAJeWESuqHEnIJRbWcEp1N3k4ebBKSoCVWR3ojiwJ4ie9/s1600/king.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD_GFpxihuyniUjCofHfpc_Fz0Iz-99C3L3mTWq5YHH57YFYjTJDw1E9TZhFXXDNDyTBUGx2LTOdVIuHtrt71gOo-skMyj4DwKAJeWESuqHEnIJRbWcEp1N3k4ebBKSoCVWR3ojiwJ4ie9/s1600/king.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jsN_13P5s-c/Vco5RgfbdfI/AAAAAAAADWM/4uFD83mfBgw/s1600/15%2B-%2B5" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jsN_13P5s-c/Vco5RgfbdfI/AAAAAAAADWM/4uFD83mfBgw/s200/15%2B-%2B5" width="200" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZyL-BuZU4rk/Vco5Ri6rN_I/AAAAAAAADV4/BJAyfZcMmwc/s1600/15%2B-%2B2" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZyL-BuZU4rk/Vco5Ri6rN_I/AAAAAAAADV4/BJAyfZcMmwc/s200/15%2B-%2B2" width="150" /></a><br />
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Seeing each unique letter made every day a little better, especially during summer reading craziness. It was a great opportunity for us to talk about process rather than product with the caregivers. One of my hesitations was having an "example" letter each week on the bulletin board. However, we stressed to caregivers to allow the kids do their own thing and that the examples were simply there to remind kids to ask for the letter craft. It helped that the "example" was on a bulletin board a good distance from the craft table. Unless caregivers got up to walk 20 feet and checked the bulletin board, they had nothing to compare their child's letter to.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgexDSK4sqb1e_ssIgPMHR-uwBwqHAyBAok7zZDh0C9bMuiHa4_s4Sq-IHAC5fdw6anRyQJz0WdetPgs3_TTrwfJi6S4LnhiDlcWtAYpgmJt6rSoGJGCXrSPEQsQe4iAd9KibDmdIt0wi61/s1600/m.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgexDSK4sqb1e_ssIgPMHR-uwBwqHAyBAok7zZDh0C9bMuiHa4_s4Sq-IHAC5fdw6anRyQJz0WdetPgs3_TTrwfJi6S4LnhiDlcWtAYpgmJt6rSoGJGCXrSPEQsQe4iAd9KibDmdIt0wi61/s320/m.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Luckily, caregivers really listened to the staff's prompting and we ended up with some amazing creations! If you're looking for an easy passive idea to run (for 26 weeks!) then this is a great one. You could even leave each letter up for 2 weeks and end up with an entire year of passive crafting! We used supplies we already had in the library, with a few exceptions. In total, we spent under $20, for 26 weeks of programming that ended up with 850 participants. That's under 3 cents a craft!<br />
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-ac34edb4-1df6-f445-3078-bd4e3fb8d9d1"></span>Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02818103170864626274noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5287352720755635034.post-82869104099515410862015-07-15T11:06:00.000-04:002015-07-15T11:06:38.170-04:00Early Literacy Center- Baby Doll Doctor<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPJVcfTFTNpfoOG9P6UgLEG7kdVuwmWXqh3WboDeygLLHmQVVdx2UUH6LkWGXq-b7XfXExUoTuJYN0yh7zKJRtkOi-jjG7_HH64ddTvaIsSDSh_uffogIUaBsf4KvYvwoN_zwy00HeVGgl/s1600/Play+Baby.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="309" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPJVcfTFTNpfoOG9P6UgLEG7kdVuwmWXqh3WboDeygLLHmQVVdx2UUH6LkWGXq-b7XfXExUoTuJYN0yh7zKJRtkOi-jjG7_HH64ddTvaIsSDSh_uffogIUaBsf4KvYvwoN_zwy00HeVGgl/s320/Play+Baby.png" width="320" /></a></div>
To go along with the theme of "Community Helpers" for Summer Reading, I wanted to make sure I added a new table activity for little ones.<br />
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I realized having kids play doctor would be the perfect activity in our Play and Learn space. I purchased <a href="http://www.walmart.com/ip/Positively-Perfect-Darling-Dana-Doll/24280271?action=product_interest&action_type=title&item_id=24280271&placement_id=irs-2-m1&strategy=PWVUB&visitor_id=Jo76sIFBscqM5Aq-6yD0AA&category=&client_guid=2414df84-a1c5-4c06-8d0f-1dd286e34f6f&customer_id_enc=&config_id=2&parent_item_id=38661240&parent_anchor_item_id=38661240&guid=4e256c26-1720-4dbd-92ea-c183a217a41d&bucket_id=irsbucketdefault&beacon_version=1.0.1&findingMethod=p13n">two </a>baby <a href="http://www.walmart.com/ip/My-Sweet-Love-12.5-Baby-with-Accessories/38062717">dolls </a>and a <a href="http://www.walmart.com/ip/Fisher-Price-N5045-Medical-Toy-Kit/14539525">doctor's bag.</a> If you're thinking of doing this activity, please purchase baby dolls that are different races. Just like the patrons you see every day, baby dolls come in different colors too. Out of all the positive comments I've received from this activity, parents thanking me for not just having Caucasian baby dolls have been the most abundant. Have your baby dolls reflect your community!<br />
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I added a quick prompt for caregivers and children, and simply set everything out on the table.<br />
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My biggest concern was that the baby dolls would be stolen, so they're marked with our initials throughout their clothes, as well as on their skin. We've had a few kids sneak them into strollers or just walk out with them, but the caregivers always bring them back when they see the markings. Caregivers have been very appreciative that we made it easy for them to remember where they saw the baby doll.<br />
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Kids have really enjoyed this new activity. Some kids are gentle and tell us that their baby has a fever and needs to rest. Another child told me their doll had been in a car accident and was attempting CPR. One child even became a surgeon to save the baby doll's life, while making her younger sister be the nurse. Sometimes though, the baby just has a boo-boo and needs a band-aid. The imaginative play that happens with these two baby dolls is amazing!<br />
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Overall, this was definitely a successful activity and one I would encourage all of you to do!<br />
<br />Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02818103170864626274noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5287352720755635034.post-38670657999391509152015-06-18T04:00:00.000-04:002015-06-18T04:00:11.395-04:00Early Literacy Messages in Action!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
When the lovely <a href="http://jbrary.com/">Lindsay from Jbrary</a> started tweeting about organizing a blog tour for early literacy tips, I knew I wanted to be a part of it. I started brainstorming ideas and trying to decide what I wanted to say. There is so much that I love to say about early literacy, and it can be hard to get it all in one blog post. </div>
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I decided to do a top 5 list (because I'm obsessed with lists) of things I wish I knew about early literacy tips when I first became a librarian. </div>
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<b>1. Make it fun!</b> I think this is the most important thing to keep in mind when sharing early literacy tips. If caregivers feel like they're being lectured, or spoken down to, then they're not going to pay attention to you. Or worse, they're going to feel like you don't respect them and their parenting choices. I share "Fun Facts!" with my caregivers instead of calling them early literacy tips. To me this makes it seem less like a student/teacher relationship and more "We're all friends!".<br />
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Also, make sure the tips you're sharing are fun. No one, other than your other librarian friends, want to hear all about the statistical data you found. Instead, I always try to make it short and sweet. My goal is to give them useful knowledge that they'll remember and also share with their caregiver friends.<br />
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For example, because of all the Jurassic World excitement, I read a dinosaur book at my under 2's storytime. The book<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Simms-Tabacks-Dinosaurs-Taback/dp/1609052129"> "Dinosaurs" by Simms Taback</a> includes the name of real dinosaurs like Triceratops, Tyrannosaurus Rex, and Brachiosaurus. After reading a few pages my "Fun Fact!" was, "Saying the name of hard words and not simply skipping them is really important for little ones. While saying scientific names of dinosaurs might seem silly, you're building their vocabulary!"<br />
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<b>2. Interact with your caregivers. </b>A great way to make your early literacy interactions less awkward is to know your audience! Talk to them before and after storytimes. I start each storytime with introductions and this usually breaks the ice with the group. Also, you might be surprised by how many questions your caregivers have for you. Questions that might even lead you to your next "fun fact" to share at storytime!<br />
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<b>3. </b><b>It's ok to not have a tip in every single storytime. </b>This is so important! Don't feel pressure to give out an early literacy tip at every single storytime. Especially if you are working in a new place, age group, etc.<br />
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Read your crowd. If it's going to seem awkward or forced then just skip it that week. If two kids in the room are howling and another one is running in circles, maybe it's time to start a song instead. You can always try to insert a tip later if the timing seems right.<br />
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You can also completely change the tip you were going to share. One week I had planned to talk about colors, but when I lost my voice due to allergies I decided to talk about singing instead. "Singing, even if you think your voice is the worst, is a great way to bond with your little one. Your child loves your voice, and they don't care if you have perfect pitch!"<br />
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<b>4. You're allowed to give tips if you're not a parent. </b>This was a hard one for me at first. While I love my job and love researching early literacy, I don't have any children. Why would caregivers listen while I tell them how to raise their child? The key is that you're not telling them how to raise their child. You're simply giving them information about how to develop the skills their child needs to get ready for reading and writing. You're never judging their parenting or telling them they're doing something wrong!<br />
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<b>5. Be confident in your knowledge. </b>There's a reason you're doing your job! You're an expert! Make sure you know the information that you're sharing with your caregivers. Research it and make sure there is information to back it up. Plus, really delving into the research behind your early literacy tips will just make you more knowledgeable about the topic! You might even find your tip for next week's storytime while you're investigating.<br />
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<br />How do you share early literacy messages? Tell me your tips! Also, be sure to check out a round up of all the great early literacy posts on <a href="http://jbrary.com/">Jbrary </a>at the end of the week!<br />
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<br />Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02818103170864626274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5287352720755635034.post-28177645279242525752015-05-18T06:00:00.000-04:002015-05-18T06:00:06.106-04:00Play, Baby, Play! – Paper Everywhere!<a href="https://klmpeace.wordpress.com/2015/04/23/parachute-play-with-shredded-paper/">Kendra has also blogged about this process, </a>but it's so much fun that I decided to steal her idea again. Seriously, if you do nothing else this summer, bring this out at least once in your storytime. I did it last summer and parent's still talk about it! It will definitely be making another appearance this year.<div>
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First, you need to get a bunch of shredded paper. Make friends with your business manager, or simply take out all those papers in your file cabinet that you're never ever going to use. You know the ones I'm talking about. The person before you wrote out every program they did by hand and you've never looked at them. Give them a second life in this program.</div>
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After getting a good amount of paper, you need to make sure you have the cleaning up supplies ready. Get a vacuum, a broom, and a dust pan. Find a sweet naive volunteer if you're very lucky.</div>
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Do your normal storytime jam (or make it all about the parachute if you'd prefer), and then tell the parents you're going to get crazy. Warn them that it will be a total disaster area, but you don't mind the mess and you just want people to have fun. I always encourage parents that this is something that they would most likely never do at home (unless they're really cool), so they should take full advantage of it here.</div>
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I lay out the parachute, get everyone to gather around, and then warm everyone up. We do a round of peek-a-boo, Itsy-Bitsy Spider, and Row, Row, Row Your Boat– then I dump out the paper. </div>
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Everyone freezes at first. </div>
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Then it becomes a total frenzy. You can sing another song if you want, but I choose to skip it. I just let everyone play with the parachute without instruction. After about 10 minutes of shaking and shrieking (the good kind), parents laid the parachute down and kids starting just playing with the paper.</div>
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We had one kid playing "SURPRISE" with the paper. A great game where you grab as much paper as your tiny hands will hold, throw them in the air, and yell "surprise". This was definitely a crowd favorite.</div>
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We had kids who wanted to see how much paper they could put on their head and their entire bodies. I had a parent come back a week later and say she found handfuls of paper in both her child's pockets and her own. </div>
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After 30 minutes of chaos, I had to shoo everyone out so I could do a quick clean-up for my next storytime. I did the best I could and the next session came. After a great time was had by all, I started the real clean up. It took about an hour to clean up the entire room. </div>
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It was totally worth it. So, why do we do a program like this? Using the parachute is a great way to build those core muscles, Grabbing tiny shreds of paper improves fine motor skills. The "SURPRISE" game involved imaginative storytelling because it eventually became all about a surprise birthday party. Also, it's just a lot of fun. </div>
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Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02818103170864626274noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5287352720755635034.post-67390213117622991492015-05-11T06:00:00.000-04:002015-05-11T06:00:10.751-04:00Summer Reading Program for Babies & PreschoolersAt La Crosse Public Library, we have a rocking Summer Reading Program. We typically sign up around 1,500 kids of varying ages and we have 3 different programs to choose from. One for preschoolers (anyone under the age of 4), elementary school kids (up to 5th grade), and teens (6th grade and up).<br />
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When I first came to La Crosse we did <a href="http://tinytipsforlibraryfun.blogspot.com/2011/06/doing-summer-thing.html">The Rubber Ducky Club.</a> A handout was given to caregivers with 6 early literacy activities on it and they were encouraged to come back at the beginning of the month for another sheet and a rubber ducky. While this is a great program, it had been the same format for three years in a row and was starting to feel stale. I knew that next summer I wanted to make some changes.</div>
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Last year, instead of having preschoolers and their caregivers visit us once a month, I decided to make a fun game card encouraging two visits each month. On each visit they received a rhyme card to add to their collection. They qualified for a book after two visits, and usually we would see a drop in participation after that. Some caregivers found the game sheet confusing, and it definitely wasn't the most patron friendly. Participation was ok, but it still wasn't quite what I wanted.</div>
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Luckily, my lovely boss let me change the program again this year. Introducing the new and improved Summer Reading Program for little ones!<br />
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I chose to model the program directly with our school aged SRP. We sign the little one up and hand out a simple half sheets with 4 unique early literacy activities to complete each week. </div>
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A fun activity for caregivers and children to do together, such as a maze or coloring, is on the other side. We have 10 weeks of SRP this year, so there are 10 different sheets to encourage weekly visits. We simply change the sheets out every Monday. They need to complete at least 4 sheets to earn their free book, and now they have an official reason to come in and check out books each week!<br />
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On each return visit children are given a sticker to cover our featured villain of the month and help save the library!<br />
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Here is a closer look at a few of the half-sheets. Happy Summer Reading everyone!</div>
Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02818103170864626274noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5287352720755635034.post-52920218630310357952015-05-02T10:59:00.001-04:002015-05-02T11:31:05.874-04:00Flannel Friday Round Up - May 2nd, 2015<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It's May! How did this happen so quickly? Hopefully everyone's snow has melted and you're all starting to see a little bit of sunshine this month. We have a great batch of submissions this week, so let's get right to them!<br />
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First, we have a great song cube over at <a href="https://heytherelibrary.wordpress.com/2015/04/28/flannel-friday-song-cube/">HeyThereLibrary</a>. Such a fun inexpensive way to add some pizzazz to your storytime!<br />
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Next, Danielle shared her beautiful frogs she uses with<a href="http://librarydanielle.blogspot.com/2015/04/toddler-time-green.html"> "Five Green and Speckled Frogs"</a>. Did you know that they've found <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/International/real-life-kermit-frog-glass-frog-species-discovered/story?id=30468913">the real life kermit frog?</a> He looks a lot like these flannels!<br />
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Kathryn over at <a href="http://kdr4xmom.blogspot.com/2015/04/super-hero-fun.html">Fun with Friends at Storytime,</a> shared her amazing superheroes and a rhyme. I'll definitely be stealing this for summer storytimes.<br />
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<a href="http://onelittlelibrarian.blogspot.com/2015/05/flannel-friday-ten-little-suns.html">One Little Librarian s</a>hared her beautiful flannel suns! Perfect for our recent turn in weather conditions.<br />
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Miss Sue shared her great flannel game of <a href="http://libraryvillage.blogspot.com/2015/05/flannel-friday-cowboy-dresses-himself.html">Dress the Cowboy!</a> Perfect for any western themed storytimes.<br />
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Lucky Jane over at <a href="http://piperlovesthelibrary.blogspot.com/2015/05/change-world.html">Piper Loves the Library, </a>got to meet another real life Flannel Friday person this week! Jealously was felt by all not in attendance.<br />
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Finally,<a href="http://storytimekatie.com/2015/05/01/flannel-friday-five-little-monkeys-2/"> Storytime Katie</a> wraps up this weeks post with an amazing flannel of Five Little Monkeys, inspired by the lovely <a href="http://melissa.depperfamily.net/blog/?p=4175">Mel's Desk.</a> Next week she's going to share how to do even more with these beautiful pieces!<br />
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For more information about Flannel Friday, or to view past round-ups, <a href="http://flannelfridaystorytime.blogspot.com/">check out the website</a>! Or you can find Flannel Friday on their Facebook page or on <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/flannelfriday/">Pinterest</a>.Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02818103170864626274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5287352720755635034.post-58543665170733461142015-04-30T16:00:00.002-04:002015-04-30T16:00:57.470-04:00Flannel Friday Placeholder 4/30Hello all!<br />
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<br />This is the placeholder for Flannel Friday this week. Please leave your Flannel Friday submissions in the comments below. Include the url for your post and anything else you want to say. I will have everything up by Saturday!<br />
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Have a fabulous day!Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02818103170864626274noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5287352720755635034.post-68922568061650135472015-04-30T15:19:00.000-04:002015-04-30T15:19:02.672-04:00Play, Baby, Play! – Draw On Your Babies<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Last year during ALA Annual 2014, Kendra <a href="https://klmpeace.wordpress.com/">(from the blog Read Sing Play)</a> and I presented an Ignite session all about playing with babies at the library. It remains to this day one of my favorite presentations. After talking about it for months, we decided to start blogging about all of our crazy ideas for babies! We're calling this new series, "Play, Baby, Play!"</div>
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This week, I'm copying directly from Kendra's great post <a href="https://klmpeace.wordpress.com/2014/05/19/baby-storytime-eyebrows-mustaches-oh-my/">about drawing on baby's faces. </a> I always try to do something special for our last storytime of each session, and I knew my group would love this activity.<br />
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I encouraged the parents that I have tried this on myself and multiple babies and I promise it'll wipe off. There are always looks of disbelief that this will actually work. Simply pull out washable markers and baby wipes. It really does work, I swear. Usually once one parent is brave enough to try others join in.<br />
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We got some really funny faces this time.<br />
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We also got some brave parents who let their children draw on them!<br />
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We had one artist who was so into it that she took over the drawing all herself.<br />
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So, why do we do this in storytime? It's a great activity to use with the "talking" skill. I always encourage parents to describe to their child what they're drawing and use descriptive words like bumpy and smooth. It's also a fun way to play! Plus, by the end of storytime parents and babies alike were all giggling over how silly everyone looked.<br />
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Also, I always keep a stash of paper plates for kids to scribble on in case the parents or kids are not feeling the face drawing, or for little ones with skin allergies.<br />
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So, how do you play with babies at your library? Tell me about it!<br />
<br />Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02818103170864626274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5287352720755635034.post-50249371533628787182015-04-16T08:00:00.000-04:002015-04-16T11:37:40.896-04:00My Favorite Things: Top 5 Early Literacy SitesToday is all about my favorite early literacy websites! These are sites I check on a regular basis to make sure I'm staying up to date on early literacy and child development. These are also the sites that I refer caregivers to when they are looking for more information. <div>
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<b>5. The Center for Early Literacy Learning</b></div>
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This is a site that is great for basic information about literacy, as well as research based results. Some of their link compilations haven't been updated in a few years, but they are still full of great information. I'd check this site out when you are looking for a more in-depth research about early literacy. </div>
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<b>4. Reading is Fundamental</b></div>
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This is a great site for all kinds of literacy information. The "Worth a Read" section is usually where I start on this site. It's a news feed for all the latest literacy information. </div>
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<b>3. Growing Wisconsin Readers</b></div>
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This is our state's early literacy initiative that is near and dear to my heart. It is all about getting information into the hand of people who need it the most. They have a great blog to follow, as well as a great section for librarians. </div>
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<b>2. Zero to Three</b></div>
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This website has so much information! I can literally spend hours on here. Check here if you're looking for more developmental information, information to share with your caregivers, </div>
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<b>1. Reading Rockets</b><b><br /></b></div>
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This website has everything you could ever need. There is information about early literacy, but there's also a ton of information about literacy for all ages. They have book lists, information about struggling readers, great videos showing literacy in action, and so much more!</div>
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Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02818103170864626274noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5287352720755635034.post-52256603019275018062015-03-31T04:00:00.000-04:002015-03-30T19:18:38.559-04:00Early Literacy Center– Stove Top CookingThe addition of our <a href="http://readingwithred.blogspot.com/2015/03/early-literacy-center-farmers-market.html">Farmer's Market Stand</a> to our Play and Learn area, made me realize I wanted to incorporate cooking into the area too. I couldn't quite figure out how I wanted to accomplish it in a cheap way though. There are <a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/224081996/play-kitchen-stove-chair-cover-cloth?ref=sr_gallery_1&ga_search_query=stove+chair&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery">adorable chair cover stove top</a>s you can buy on Etsy, if you have a spare $50-$75.<br />
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Of course, I don't have $75 to spare. Luckily, I remembered our little table in our storytime room! I quickly made heating coils and knobs using publisher and attached them to the table using contact paper. I also convinced our manager to buy this <a href="http://www.walmart.com/ip/Pots-n-Pans-Set/12718623">adorable set of kitchen items.</a></div>
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They are tiny and perfect for little ones. They even come with a convenient little basket to store all of the items when they're not being used. </div>
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I included a handy little parent tip and play prompt to complete the new play item.</div>
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This is truly one of the greatest things we've ever put over in the play area. It works perfectly with our Farmer's Market Stand. Little ones now "purchase" all of their fruits and vegetables from the stand, and then bring them "home" to cook. I've been offered everything from mashed potatoes, to tea, to spaghetti over the past few weeks. It's adorable beyond belief, and we've heard many parents say they're going to make their own stove at home.<br />
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There's so many opportunities for vocabulary building and play with this new item. Plus, it was extremely affordable! Go make one right now. You won't regret it.<br />
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<br />Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02818103170864626274noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5287352720755635034.post-53496588489335828252015-03-17T04:00:00.000-04:002015-03-17T04:00:02.277-04:00My Favorite Things: Top 5 Baby Storytime BooksI currently do one infant (0-9 months) and three baby (10-23 months) storytimes each week. I make a dedicated effort to not repeat my storytime books often, since some caregivers are with me for a full two years. However, I usually have a week of "favorites" each session. I also like to keep a stack of proven successful books for when my storytime groups are having a rough morning.<br />
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These are my go-to books that I read to caregivers and children during baby storytime. We also do choral reading each week, but that will be a different post! Check out what <a href="http://readingwithred.blogspot.com/2014/11/my-baby-storytime-2014-edition.html">my traditional infant and baby storytimes look like here. </a><br />
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<b>5. The Baby Goes Beep </b>by Rebecca O'Connell<br />
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Do I love this book for its sing-song rhythm? How you can act out a motion on every page? That it's a book about babies? All of the above. This book is so wonderful to use in storytimes. Bonus points if you hand out paper plates for babies to "drive" with.<br />
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<b>4. A Kiss Means I Love You </b>by Kathryn Madeline Allen<br />
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I found this jewel using <a href="http://www.abbythelibrarian.com/search/label/babies">Abby The Librarian's</a> amazing baby storytime lists. This has quickly become one of my favorite picture books. Showing full page pictures with a short line of text, it is the perfect supplement to any baby storytime. Also, DIVERSITY on every page!<br />
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<b>3. Hurry! Hurry!</b> by Eve Bunting<br />
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This book provides great opportunity for animal noises. You follow a mama chicken throughout the farm as she encourages everyone to hurry. The surprise ending is that they're all hurrying to see a baby chick hatching. This book always gets the "awww" noise from caregivers and is one of the most requested storytime books. The clean, uncluttered pictures are perfect for little ones.<br />
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<b>2. Charlie Chick</b> by Nick Denchfield<br />
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Everyone loves pop-ups. This is my favorite pop-up of all time. They FINALLY reissued this book last year so everyone needs to go order it immediately before it goes out of print. Before the reissue, I easily would have paid $50 for this book. It's that fabulous. It's extremely short and the pictures use a lot of white space, which is perfect for baby storytimes.<br />
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<b>1. Clip Clop </b>by Nicola Smee<br />
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My favorite storytime rhyme is <a href="http://readingwithred.blogspot.com/p/storytime-songs-and-rhyme.html">"Giddy-up Giddy-up"</a>, so it makes sense that this would be my favorite storytime book. There are animal noises to be made on every page, as well as a refrain for caregivers and children to bounce along with. I always have an amazing storytime when I pull this one out of the storytime closet.<br />
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<b>ALL TIME GREATEST</b><br />
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<b>Brown Bear, Brown Bear </b>by Bill Martin Jr.<br />
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I didn't include this one in the top 5 because I think it's doing the book an injustice. If I could only have one book for storytime for the next 5 years, I would pick this book. (Please, don't only read this book every week.) You can talk about animals, colors, animal noises, sing it, chant it, or even dance around to it. You can even read this book with shaky eggs. If you haven't yet, buy a copy of this for your storytime shelf immediately. When my groups are getting crazy this book seems to have an instant calming effect. It is the best of all time.Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02818103170864626274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5287352720755635034.post-81074408105106573862015-03-10T04:00:00.000-04:002015-03-10T04:00:07.275-04:00My Favorite Things: Top 5 Library Apps for PreschoolersDuring my insomnia last night I had a great idea to start a new blog series called, "My Favorite Things". Each week I'll be posting about some of my favorite library related things. It could be books, apps, props, websites, or more! Stay tuned to read about a few of my favorite things. <div>
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Today is all about my favorite library apps! <a href="http://readingwithred.blogspot.com/2013/10/early-literacy-ipads-planning.html">If you're interested in our library iPads, check here.</a> We lock our iPads on one app a day, but our patrons still definitely have their favorites. Here our the five apps we get requests for the most and parents tell us they download at home. </div>
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<b>5. Endless Alphabet</b></div>
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This app features different vocabulary words, with a focus on teaching letter sounds. Each letter has it's own personality and makes the correct sound as a child taps or drags it. This app has really great graphics and nice background music. </div>
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<b>4. The Monster at the End of this App</b></div>
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This is one of the best book apps ever in my opinion. There are small challenges on every other page for children to complete before turning the page. Grover's hints are helpful, and the narration is not overly annoying (a must for our room). Plus, it stays true to the original story. A must buy for your library!</div>
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<b>3. Make it POP!</b></div>
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This is another great app for learning shapes, letters, numbers, and colors. This app is easy to navigate and ad-free, which is always a plus. The simple act of tapping a specific item on the screen is a great way to build hand-eye coordination, and this app is so fun! Who doesn't love popping popcorn and setting off fireworks?</div>
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<b>2. Letter School</b></div>
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I downloaded this app based on all of the great reviews, and I was not disappointed! Parents love to come and talk about this app with the staff. The small rewards for the kids when they complete a letter are fun, but nothing is too flashy. It's great for developing fine motor skills (tracing) and building upper and lower case letter recognition, as well as numbers. </div>
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<b>1. Bugs & Buttons</b></div>
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This is a great app for little ones to play with. There are a lot of different mini-games to go through, and it's full of bugs! Letter recognition and counting are big features of this app, so caregivers can quickly see why this app is beneficial for their little ones. Any day we have this app chosen we know to expect squeals of laughter from the iPad area. The even better news is that now there's a whole line of these apps featuring number and letters specifically, and even one about bubbles!</div>
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We download new apps every few months, so expect a list of my favorite new apps soon! What apps do your preschoolers love? Any that you hate?</div>
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Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02818103170864626274noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5287352720755635034.post-21978786628292906502015-03-04T04:00:00.000-05:002015-03-04T04:00:07.146-05:00Early Literacy Center– Farmer's Market StandCheck out our newest addition to our Play & Learn area. Our very own <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Maxim-EverEarth-Farmers-Market-Stand/dp/B00556KW6G">Farmers Market stand! </a>We purchased this with money we received from a community development grant.<br />
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It is a hit. Kids love it. They go shopping, talk about what they're going to put in their soup, and more using the play food. There is also adorable little cloth shopping bags for the kids to use. All of the wooden fruits and veggies come with the stand, as well as the cute little baskets.<br />
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We also purchased a cash register and laminated the dollar bills. Kids really enjoy adding up their $10 mushroom and oranges and telling their caregivers the totals. Number literacy!<br />
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The wooden fruits and vegetables provide great vocabulary words and I love hearing the caregivers talk about eggplants and onions with their little ones. There's an early literacy bubble attached to the wall behind the stand that talks about why vocabulary building is so important.<br />
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The wooden poles that the fabric awning hang on are a little flimsy, but they are still standing as of today. Even better, if you're crafty you could turn your farmer's market stand into anything with some fabric and letters! Stay tuned to see if I become crafty enough to accomplish it.<br />
<br />Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02818103170864626274noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5287352720755635034.post-29644677268225834532015-02-17T12:22:00.001-05:002015-02-18T12:50:51.019-05:00Changing it up: Board Book ShelvingBoard book shelves are the bane of my existence. They are always so messy, it's impossible to keep them in order, and the spines look disgusting after 3-5 check outs. I've been looking for a good way to store our board books since I started this job two years ago without success. When I started, we had these for our board books.<br />
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They're not the worst shelves in the world, but they're definitely not the greatest. Either the shelves get so full that you can't add any more books, or random holes are completely empty. Plus, board book spines are not very appealing or browsing friendly. We would find piles of board books all over the floor every single day.<br />
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Some good solutions were presented in an<a href="http://www.alsc.ala.org/blog/2013/05/board-book-storage/"> ALSC post,</a> but none of them quite worked for our library. I didn't want to alphabetize the books since that would constantly be a losing battle, and our room has too much traffic to try the sandbox approach. Companies that make board book shelving also want about a million dollars for each unit, which definitely isn't helpful. So, I searched and searched until I finally came up with a solution.<br />
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STOP LOOKING FOR BOARD BOOK SPECIFIC SHELVES! Instead, I found a <a href="http://www.shopbrodart.com/furnishings/storage/classroom-storage/_/Contender-Single-Storage-Units/">normal book shelf </a>and just bought baskets. We purchased two shelving units and <a href="http://www.thelibrarystore.com/product/ad65-01312/childrens_bk_bins_and_browsers">24 colorful baskets.</a> It has truly been amazing. We have so much space for our board books and it looks so appealing! Plus, little hands can now actually pick out their own books.<br />
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This is working beautifully. Our board books are flying off the shelves and caregivers have loved the new shelving. Right now, <b>75% OF THE COLLECTION IS CHECKED OUT! </b><br />
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We also made the decision to make our board books non-holdable. Nine times out of 10, people were just putting specific books on hold without realizing they were choosing a board book. Making this decision has made our holds lists so much easier in the morning, and I highly recommend it. What are you using for board book shelving? Let me know!<br />
<br />Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02818103170864626274noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5287352720755635034.post-29309839143553905822015-01-15T13:13:00.000-05:002015-01-20T18:02:55.506-05:00Storytime 101: Rethinking the BasicsToday I had the pleasure of presenting, "Storytime 101: Rethinking the Basics" as part of YSS Powerhouse Presents, a series of webinars geared toward all things youth services! All of the webinars are sponsored by the Youth Services Section of the Wisconsin Library Association and you should join today if you're not a member! A special thanks to the South Central Library System for hosting me today and making the process extremely fun and easy.<br />
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My slides are full of great links below so check them out. If you're interested in the recording of the webinar, <a href="http://scls.typepad.com/programs/2015/01/yss-powerhouse-presentsstorytime-101-rethinking-the-basics.html">check here.</a><br />
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I hope everyone had fun listening in to my flu riddled self. Good thing it was a webinar so you all couldn't catch my germs!Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02818103170864626274noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5287352720755635034.post-47659840908449348232015-01-08T04:00:00.000-05:002015-01-08T04:00:06.142-05:00Early Literacy Center – Fruit & Veggie Color Matching<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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We've changed up our Play & Learn area with a food theme! Our pillar game this quarter is all about matching the fruits and veggies to the right color.<br />
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We include a fun parent tip as well as directions for the games.<br />
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I tried to pick fruit that was recognizable (like grapes), but also throw in some new vocabulary words (like pomegranate). I simply put velcro pieces on the back of the fruits and vegetables and put the other part of the velcro on the right colored paper.<br />
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We also made this cute little folder to hold all the fruit when kids are done.<br />
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I've seen parents counting the food, talking about what the food tastes like, and even making up food stories! It's been awesome. Tune in next week when I reveal the flannel story and big furniture piece we've added. </div>
Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02818103170864626274noreply@blogger.com0