Activities for Eric Carle Books

Wandering the web looking for activities parents can share with their kids I came across

http://www.eric-carle.com/catexchange.html

The Caterpillar Exchange is where teachers post ideas based off of Eric Carle's books. Find your favorite Eric Carle title and click on it and then browse the activities. Most of the ideas look simple and fun.

I'm going to try one out the next time I have a kindergarten storytime!

The Librarian's Guide to Gaming

An online toolkit for building gaming at your library.
This site was just posted (Mar 2, 2009)by ALA and includes tools and resources, best practices, and even a calendar of conferences and events relating to gaming: traditional, electronic, theory, and education.

And here is a pdf file with a few board games for a wide range of ages, mostly elementary.

Share a Story - Shape a Future - a literacy blog event from ALSC

(To see this article with enabled links got to the ALSC Facebook Page Note.)


During the week of March 9 - 13, please come visit Share a Story - Shape a Future. Each day, a different blog host will feature links to blog posts on a variety of topics having to do with children and literacy. Here is the schedule as of today, but please check the event blog for updated information, as the event is growing by the day.

Day 1 - March 9: Raising Readers
hosted by Terry Doherty at Scrub-a-Dub-Tub, the Reading Tub blog

* Finding Time at Home - Tricia Stohr-Hunt @ The Miss Rumphius Effect
* Making Time in the Classroom - Sarah Mulhern @ The Reading Zone
* Helping a Reader in Need (remedial readers) - Sandra Stiles guest post on Scrub-a-Dub-Tub
* It’s Bigger than the Book: Building Strong Readers at any Age with a Daily Dose of Read Aloud - Cathy Miller interview on the Share a Story - Shape a Future blog
* Keeping Gifted Readers Engaged - Donalyn Miller @ The Book Whisperer

Day 2 - March 10: Selecting Reading Material
hosted by Sarah Mulhern at The Reading Zone

* The ABCs of Reading: Infants, Toddlers & Preschoolers - Valerie Baartz on The Almost Librarian
* How to Help Emerging Readers - Anastasia Suen @5 Great Books NEW LOCATION!
* Helping Middle Grade Readers - Sarah Mulhern @ The Reading Zone
* Booklists and Read Alikes - Sarah Mulhern @ The Reading Zone
* Using Non-fiction - Mary Lee Hahn of A Year of Reading, hosted by the Stenhouse blog

Day 3 - March 11: Reading Aloud - It’s Fun, It’s Easy
hosted by Susan Stephenson at the Book Chook blog

* Ten Terrific Tips from Read-aloud Queen, Mem Fox - on the Book Chook blog
* Conquering Stage Fright - Interview with Sarah Mulhern/The Reading Zone @ the Book Chook
* Reading Aloud With Kids: A Dad’s Perspective - hosted by Steven and Brian at Book Dads: Fathers that Read
* Using Technology for Read Alouds - Sarah Mulhern @ The Reading Zone
* What to Do When the Reading is Done - Aimee Buckner, hosted by the Stenhouse blog
* Reading Aloud with Independent Readers - Donalyn Miller @ The Book Whisperer

Day 4 - March 12: A Visit to the Library
hosted by Eva Mitnick at Eva’s Book Addiction blog

* From Cozy to Cool - Library Spaces for Everyone - Eva @ Eva’s Book Addiction
* Lions and Marble and Books, Oh My - Betsy Bird at A Fuse #8 Production
* How to Make the Library Work for YOU - an interview with Adrienne of What Adrienne Thinks About That conducted by Jules at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast
* The World Beyond the Library’s Walls - Melissa @ Librarian by Day

Day 5 - March 13: Technology and Reading - What the Future Holds
is hosted by Elizabeth O. Dulemba at Dulemba.com

* Audiobooks with Bruce Coville of Full Cast Audio and Mary Burkey of Audiobooker
* E-books with Harold Underdown of The Purple Crayon and Sheila Ruth of Wands and Worlds
* Podcasts with Andrea Ross of Just One More Book! and Cheryl Rainfield of cherylrainfield.com
* A resource of links to audiobooks, e-books, podcasts and webcasts @ Dulemba.com.

There will be plenty of giveaways, contests, and links to cool stuff, and most of all - inspiring and insightful posts by children’s literature bloggers. Guests will be invited to share their own knowledge and love of reading as well. Please tell parents and teachers and fellow children’s librarians about this blog event. See you then!

Newbery display.

Wanted to share my Newbery display with you all!

The cards in the top of each book indicate the year it won the Newbery. I'm thinking about pulling them out, though, because people keep asking me if it's okay to check out the books on the display. My Caldecott display is circulating much better (I've replenished it several times a day since I put it up the day the awards were announced) without the year cards. Sometimes fancier isn't better!

Mock Caldecott Program for Class Visits

Has anyone ever done a Mock Caldecott program before? I think it sounds like a lot of fun and something that would be memorable for the kids. I'm thinking of doing the program with first and second graders...kindergarten might be too young.

Here is how my current program outline:
1. Gather about 16-20 books. There are a lot of lists of possible contenders published by other libraries and there is even a spreadsheet created by Jim Averbeck showing which books appear most often on those lists.

2. Print out slips of paper with numbers 1-3. Each number has its own color. For example, 1 is on blue paper, 2 on red, 3 on green, etc.

3. When the class comes, I will explain what the Caldecott award is, show an example, and lead a discussion about the illustrations in picture books.

4. I'll divide the class into 4 or 5 groups and handout the numbered slips to everybody.

5. Each group will examine 4 books at a time.

6. After everyone gets a chance to look at the books, the kids get to vote by raising their slips of paper. Each book will have a number, and one child in each group will be the recorder to record how many votes each book received. (I think I'll create a spreadsheet for the recorder to make it easier.)

7. After everyone votes, I'll rotate the books on to the next group. This will continue until everyone has seen every book or until time runs out.

8. When the class returns, I will read the top 3 books and the kids will vote again to select their Mock Caldecott winner. I'll also announce the national Caldecott winner. This year, the national winner will be announced Monday January 26.

Is this type of a program possible with first and second graders?? Any suggestions?

Result: With a first grade class this was very chaotic. I think for first grade next time I will modify the program--I'll handout the voting slips, read 3 stories, and then have the kids vote and discuss. Perhaps this program is better geared towards grade 3-4. The kids were capable in small groups, but having 5 groups of first graders was just too much.

A Close Friend's Debut Children's Novel

The Truth About Horses, Friends, and My Life as a Coward. Sarah P Gibson. Ill. by Glin Dibley. Marshall Cavendish Children: Tarrytown, NY. 2008. 146 pp.


Mixing the droll, deadpan understatements of the traditional Maine storyteller and the tongue-in-cheek humor of a Sciezska or a Pinkwater, Sarah P. Gibson offers 16 delightful vignettes of native, Maine Islander Sophie Groves’ struggle deciphering what’s easier: living with three crafty, ornery, downright nasty horses or discovering true friendship among her classmates. Her seemingly doomed attempts to win the respect of her family’s three horses, while at the same time navigating the social world of the pre-teen, looking for a friend who is a true friend and not just a (shudder) “horse lover,” provides a unique and funny look at growing up in Maine.


Each chapter is an unexpected and humorous tale of trials and tribulations showing the horses who’s in charge and trying to convince new found friends that horses are not the adorable, noble steeds they are thought to be. Sophie Groves’ understated, dead-on, Laocoön-like predictions of the horses’ behavior along with her friends shocked surprise upon experiencing the true nature of horses, never fails to provoke a laugh. Gibson allows the reader to experience the sweet sensation of knowing better than the characters that enter into Sophie’s life.


Will anyone ever listen to Sophie when it comes to Sweetheart, Fancy Free, and Really? Are sweets the only means of convincing the horses to cooperate? Can she cope with the Carpwells? How easy is it to tell a moose from a horse on Halloween Night? Is there a true friend for Sophie? Find out the truth behind all these questions in Gibson’s The Truth About Horses, Friends, and My Life as a Coward.

Character Counts Booklist

Need to find books that teach specific character traits?

You can find a list at http://charactercounts.org/resources/booklist.php

The booklist includes books ranging from the Grouchy Ladybug to Jacob Have I Loved. It includes author, title, number of pages, type of book, and which trait the book illustrates. Some of the books seem a little outdated, but some books are still in demand and in the FLP system.

The 6 character traits are: trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship.

Signage

It's no secret that I LOVE making signs - the bigger and more elaborate, the better. I typically have 4 or so sign making binges a year. There are just times when I need to make signs!

Here's what I've been up to lately.

A simple sign made using Comic Sans font, colored paper, and twine. I used MS Publisher and set my paper to landscape format and then made the font as big as I could while still printing two letters a page. I needed the sign to be double-sided since it can be seen from both the book stacks and the circulation desk, but I also needed a sign that didn't require lots of taping, cutting, or lining up. So, I calculated the letters and then laid out each page with two letters like this: F N,I O, C I, T T, I C, O I, N F. After printing out the letters, I folded each sheet in half, used a little bit of tape to hold the fold together, reinforced the top edge of each (now) double-sided letter section using some book tape, punched a couple of holes in the top of each sheet, and then ran some twine through those holes.

I recently made a big shift with my non-fiction, including special collections like Biographies and Holidays. Among those niche collections relocated was my group of atlases. I've wanted to give the atlases a space of their own for while, if only because I had a great idea for a sign in mind. Once I had the books in place, all I needed was a few supplies: bright poster board, thick letters, and some ClipArt make up this sign:

I used Publisher (again) to make an oversized circle (I opted for a custom-sized poster as my layout blank). Then, I looked for the most elementary image of a globe using ClipArt. I wanted something abstract since I wasn't aiming for perfection nor was I intent on cutting out intricate shorelines or islands. Using MS Word, I was able to ungroup the ClipArt image and use just those portions that I wanted. Then, I upsized those little odd looking and non-geographical entities so that they would be semi-proportionate to my blue circle. I printed everything out, cut out the shapes and taped it all together. I think that aspect of sign making really appeals to the puzzle-lover in me - I get to piece it just so. I made the letters using over-sized black font and then cut them out using an Exacto. The whole sign took about an hour to make, start to finish, and it's my current favorite.

My old favorite sign is still going strong at the library:

Eager to assist my patrons, young and old, from the minute they enter the building, I made this sign with them in mind. The letters are angled towards the entrance and on a clear day (that is, a day that isn't 40+ child deep...), the sign is obvious from the circulation desk. I made this sign by blowing up the font to as large as it would go for a single page, taped the lettered sheets to one side of a manilla folder and on the other side, I taped the fronts of recycled book jackets:

Want a closer look at the construction?

I rounded out this display by incorporating old, empty VHS cardboard sleeves. This is definitely a sign that sticks out!

Sorry for the image quality on these - I took the photos using my camera phone!

1,000 Books Before Kindergarten

Earlier this week I came upon this program on some library websites. The goal is to get parents and guardians to read a lot of books to their young children. Some libraries run the program and some schools run the program.

Here are the basics:

• Kids 0-5 signed up. (In the preschool-kindergarten collaboration kids only participate from sept of last year of preschool to end the kindergarten school year.)

• Books are bagged in groups of 10.

• At certain milestones like 100th book, 500th book, etc. the child receives a prize. Prizes can be things like t-shirts, cds of nursery rhymes, etc.

• At the end of the program, kids get a big prize, certificate, and their picture in a local newspaper.

Example: I contacted the school that does the program. The woman I spoke with said that this is their 3rd year doing the program. They have 240 bags with unique titles (no repeats). This year they have 150 participants. Her school relied on donations for their books.

What I like about the program: It encourages parents to read to their kids and reinforces how important it is. At Oak Lane, I see a lot of elementary age kids, but not many preschoolers or babies.

Questions:

• How practical do you all think this program is?

• Would you bag up books? (I'm thinking that to start I'd have 20 bags and then switch them out every 3-4 months)

• Who would participate? Kids from birth to end of kindergarten? 3-5 year olds?

• Would you divide the bags into levels? Bag for toddlers, bag for 3-4s, bag for pre-readers and beginning readers? Or mix levels?

Overall, I think the program is worth doing. I will see if my Friends group is willing to collaborate and sponsor prizes. I think it will take me a month or two to get everything set up and organized.

The woman I spoke with is sending me an informational packet. Once I get it, I can I make copies and send it on to any that are interested. Let me know!

Some Old Favorites New

http://www.mothergooserocks.com/