Bittersweet

Tuesday...Tuesday was my last day at Little Tykes. I was a bit nervous going in because of the chaos of the Tuesday before, but I had hopes that everything would be okay. We talked about farm animals today, which I was pretty sure would be a hit. We read some stories and I was surprised because the kids pretty much only wanted to read books today. Usually, they sort of zone out and don't pay all too much attention when I'm reading, but today they were better. So we read three books, with a short break for some Old MacDonald singing. They were not as excited about the singing as anticipated - I thought they'd love the chance to name some animals and make some animal noises. And they did enjoy making the animal sounds, but only when we were reading the books. It was just a bit odd. After the books, we did some coloring. They all had cow pictures to color and they seemed rather content with that. I was happy that a lot of them kept calling me over to look at their pictures and show off for me. I think it was the first time that I felt like they cared about my being there. There were some very creative cows - lots of rainbow colored ones. Then I gave them each a sticker (and mine them line up in hopes that it would lessen griping about which sticker they got) and said goodbye. It's really weird to think that I won't be doing this every week anymore. But, at the same time, I'm glad it's over. It was pretty trying at times and it gives me a lot to think about in terms of off-site programming for the future.

Back at the library, I had a pretty slow afternoon. I sat at the desk and helped with a few reference questions but mostly worked on the shelf label project. I did have quite a good time watching the teen scavenger hunt that went on. I think scavenger hunts are something that you never grow out of. In fact, I was a bit jealous that I wasn't playing along! It seemed to go pretty well, although I did notice a little bit of intra-team drama. I was impressed by the fact that the whole thing was organized mainly by one of the teens. He seemed really pleased with the way it came together and I didn't notice any glitches really. Aside from watching the teens traipse around for clues, I really just worked on shelf labels all afternoon. I'm almost done J non-fiction and then I need to try to find some more magnets so I can do the fiction section. I'm really hoping to get it done before I leave and with no more Little Tykes, I think I can.

I can't believe I only have one week left!

Wow..

If I thought Fridays were slow, boy was I wrong! I worked Saturday this week and it was absolutely dead in the children's department. Because it's so slow on Saturdays, the children's department only has one person working. They all take turns working Saturdays throughout the month. However, with Suzanne out for her tonsils, there were too many Saturdays and not enough people! So I covered the last Saturday for them.

It was so slow. I think I had maybe five questions/patron interactions all day. I mostly worked on the shelf label project and some other tasks that Jaymi had set out for me (labeling some books, making calls, etc.). Really really slow. I don't even have anything to say because it was so slow. Tuesday is my last day at Little Tykes. Here's hoping all goes well!

Article: "Encouraging Voluntary Reading"

This article discussed a study conducted within a school on encouraging voluntary reading by including more literature activities during the day and providing a library center in the classroom, as well as providing parents with information on encouraging voluntary reading at home. This was very in-depth but for the most part interesting, though not necessarily relevant to libraries. One thing I liked about this study is that success was measured by the level of reading activity not an increase in reading scores. I know scores are important, but there is such a focus on them that it sort of makes it seem like nothing else even matters when it comes to reading success. I don't believe that. I pretty much think that as long as a kid is reading, it's a success. I also liked that this study trained parents in encouraging reading at home, though, as discussed, there's no way to really know if they are following through with that information. One always hopes that parents will do things especially when given evidence of the benefits to their children but you just never know. I found it interesting that this study chose to place four separate activity centers in each classroom. I like that they gave the library center competition. Another thing I really liked about this study is that teachers were not only encouraged to include literature activities throughout the day but they were also encouraged to model voluntary reading by reading silently during free choice time. This is really important. I think people forget that children love to copy what adults they admire do. Of course we remember when they ape our bad behavior but they do it with the good stuff too. So I think it's essential to remind parents that children will learn that reading is a valid free time activity if they see their parents doing it themselves. One final thing to mention about the article was in the results. The study found that after the intervention was over, voluntary reading at school had increased while voluntary reading at home had not changed. It's important to note that this shouldn't come as much of a surprise. It's wonderful that reading at school increased but there are a much smaller number of choices during school hours. At home, there are seemingly infinite possibilities and many of them are very appealing (such as television and video games). I like that the authors pointed out the difference in interest versus behavior. Interest in reading may have increased, even at home, but behavior not necessarily. A well-done study, I think.

Morrow, L. and Carol Weinstein. (1986). Encouraging Voluntary Reading: The Impact of a Literature Program on Children's Use of Library Centers. Reading Research Quarterly, 21(3), p. 330-346. Retrieved from JSTOR database.

Article: "Using Children's Literature to Clarify Science Concepts in Early Childhood Programs"

For me, this is an especially interesting article. I've been told that one should always include one non-fiction title per storytime with children. However, sometimes it's hard for me to believe that children are ready to learn about non-fiction conceps. This article sort of bridges the gap for me by discussing how fiction stories can be used to identify and explain science concepts. Of course, I already knew one could do this (as I've been doing it in my own storytimes) but it's good to see how others have done it. It's important to see articles like this because most children love learning and especially love learning information regarding science and nature. I know when I was young, I loved to learn about nature and why things were the way they were. I also loved conducting experiments and this article advocates exploration and experimentation with regards to the concepts covered in the books. This article is helpful because it contains an annotated list of titles all grouped by science concept categories. However, it would be better if this were a more recent list. The titles listed are mostly from the 1960s and 1970s. I'm sure if one wanted to initiate these programs other lists could be located. It is always nice to find an annotated booklist, however.

Smardo, F. (1982). Using Children's Literature to Clarify Science Concepts in Early Childhood Programs. The Reading Teacher, 36(3), p. 267-273. Retrieved from JSTOR database.

Article: "Training Parents to Teach Their Preschoolers Through Literature"

Since I started my Early Literacy class, I've been thinking a lot about readiness and helping parents to help their children. This article sort of seems like a precursor to Every Child Ready to Read. It describes a home-based preschool program that helps parents teach readiness skills to their children through literature and literature-based activities. It is not as in-depth (at least the article doesn't go as in-depth) as ECRR as the skills being covered are not defined really. They are briefly mentioned in regards to one specific storytime but overall guidelines are not covered in this article. I liked this. It was interesting to read about what was happening with early literacy before ECRR. This is slightly different since this approach came through the school and not the library, but many of the techniques are similar. However, it's a bit unrealistic to expect a librarian to make home visits to individual families to help them with early literacy skills (and I'm quite surprised that the district in question was actually able to do this with a teacher!). I liked some of the ideas here, though. Having the teacher (or as it would be in my case, the librarian) dress as a storybook character is a great way to promote enjoyment of books, especially if a well-known character is employed. This could really work with themed storytimes, as the article mentioned having Little Bo Peep reading sheep books and doing sheep activities. Another idea that I really love (and which I also noticed at a library visit recently) is having preselected bags of picture books to leave with parents or for parents to take home. Some families don't have books at home. It's hard for me to fathom but it's true. Providing a bag of books selected by a librarian is a great way to assure kids are getting exposure to good books, especially if the parents feel too busy to select their own books. If possible, including a sheet of information about the books and how they help with different literacy/readiness skills could add to the effectiveness of such a bag but may not always be possible. Still, I think this is a great idea.



Spewock, T. (1988). Training Parents to Teach Their Preschoolers Through Literature. The Reading Teacher, 41(7), p. 648-652. Retrieved from JSTOR database.

Terrible Tuesday

Today was a not-so-great day. Little Tykes this morning was pretty much a disaster. The whole program started with one boy in tears and it just got worse from there. I don't know what it was about today but the kids would not leave each other alone. They kept hitting and pushing and generally misbehaving. There were a few more instances of tears during the time I was there and they didn't listen to what I was trying to do with them at all. It's really disappointing because I thought I had some cool fun stuff planned for them but they just didn't get that much out of it. Not all the kids were being bad, but the majority were, so even the ones who were trying to pay attention were only getting half of what they should have been getting. When I left, the counselors made all the kids take time out because they had been so bad to me and one girl burst into tears because she didn't want to be in trouble. And, here's the kicker - there were less than half the number of kids that I usually have! I don't know what it was about today but they were just not in the mood for my program. Or for being nice to each other. I admit that I may have used my loud voice and gotten angrier than I should have. I could have handled the situation better but I was sort of at a loss about what to do. Both myself and the counselors told them repeatedly to keep their hands to themselves and they just didn't listen. I don't want to be the scary mean librarian but they needed discipline - not because they weren't paying attention (although they should know better by this age) but because they were hitting each other and generally being unkind. I didn't really know what to do with the situation. I'm going to talk to Suzanne about it the next time I see her.

Once I got back to the library, I settled in for a long and boring afternoon. I worked on my shelf label project all afternoon - to the point where my hands were cramping from cutting and repetitive motion. I helped with anything Miriam and Jaymi needed but, since there were three of us at the desk, I mostly focused on my shelf labels. And I barely made a dent in them! I don't know if I will finish before my time here is up. But I do have everything made and printed so someone would only need to finish cutting and attaching the labels. Who knows, I might have lots of time my last week since Summer Reading will be over.

Overall, today was just a hard day. I'm still glad I'm doing the Little Tykes program but it hasn't been ideal. My last visit is next Tuesday and hopefully it goes smoother than this one did.

Another Friday

Another Friday, a very quiet one, too. This morning, I helped Jaymi do a program for the Y. She talked about rainforests. She showed them the different layers of the rain forest and read some books about the rainforest and then we all made snakes out of paper plates. It went okay. Some kids were a little too zealous with the watercolor (causing spillage and overpainting) and we were outside so it was really hot, but overall it went well. It's interesting to see how Jaymi handles programs and then to think about how I do it. I'm happy to see that I handle things in similar ways, such as when the kids aren't listening too well. After that short program, we came back to the library. I had another day of sitting at the desk, answering questions and handling Summer Reading prizes. I finished up Little Tykes planning and worked on shelf labels. Very quiet and uneventful day, though we did have some issues with some teen boys in the afternoon (they were trying to enter the library without shirts and misbehaving while they were here). Jaymi dealt with them. I probably should have watched to see how she handled it, but I think it's something I could figure out when necessary. Other than that, nothing terribly exciting. Just a typical day at the library.

Eleven hours...

Tuesday I worked an eleven hour day at Mooresville. Crazy? Yes, probably. But I have a reason! At the beginning of the summer when I looked over the schedule, I saw this family program, Silly Safaris, on July 13th, and I really wanted to see it. So I planned to work noon to eight (because the program was at six-thirty). Well, then Suzanne tells me about the Little Tykes every Tuesday so I have to come in at nine. I still wanted to see the Silly Safaris (because I hadn't seen a family program yet, aside from the kickoff carnival), plus Suzanne was out for her tonsillectomy so it's not like the extra help wouldn't be appreciated. Hence, my eleven hour day.

So, to begin the morning, I came in and got everything ready for Little Tykes. Then I headed over to the park. We talked about things that go. Jaymi didn't get my music loaded on to the iPod so I made the kids sing a capella. We did our opening, then read an alphabet book with transportation words. I taught them a lot of new vocabulary with this book. Then, we sang "Wheels on the Bus" and read the much-anticipated train book (they had been clamoring for it ever since they saw me put it out). After that, we tried to play a game. Now, this game was unfamiliar to me but Jaymi told me about it and I found rules online. It's supposed to be a sort of team-building camp activity. It's called "Ships and Sailors." I modified the rules I found a little bit and decided to eliminate the team-building aspect because I thought the kids might be too young to understand how to make teams quickly enough. So I went over the actions briefly and we got started. It did not go that well. Even with my modifications, I think they game would have been better suited for an older crowd. These kids were too young to understand how everything was supposed to work and were not so great at following the directions. After ending the game with a "shark attack," I headed out.

Back at the library, I set up the program room for my afternoon teen program. I had a bit of difficulty because there was a meeting in the community room and I needed to get some equipment from the closet in there. So I waited it out and eventually just had to sneak in. I got everything set up with no problems and then took my lunch break. When I came back from lunch, I finished setting up the room and waited for the teens to arrive. I had about ten kids eventually. We watched the new "Alice in Wonderland." We were supposed to watch "Percy Jackson" but the rights would have cost the library an additional five hundred dollars (since the studio wasn't covered by the library's license). I had a bit of a fail when I couldn't get the microwave to work (for popcorn, of course) but we saved the day by using the staff room microwave. We also had candy and juice. Everyone seemed to enjoy the movie. I had a little bit of time in the afternoon to work on the shelf labels, so I did that in between cleaning up the program room and helping Jaymi set up the community room. I took another dinner break and then Jaymi and I got everything ready for Silly Safaris.

Silly Safaris started at six thirty. We had about a hundred people show up. Silly Safaris is a local group that puts on an animal show for kids. Our presenter was Coyote Chris, who, disappointingly, did not bring a coyote. But he was fantastic. He was great with the kids, excellent at performing and brought a nice variety of animals for everyone to enjoy. He had a lot of the kids participate throughout the show and did really well with them. There were a couple things that he maybe needed to enforce more (such as making sure the kids stayed seated; there were a couple of children who kept standing and he sort of just ignored them after the first few times), but overall, I thought it was a fantastic program. At the end, each child got the opportunity to pet a few of the animals he'd brought in and I tried to snap pictures of each one. A very successful family program, I think. We cleaned up the community room briefly, then did closing procedures and my very long day came to a close. I had a great time doing a little of everything on Tuesday and it gave me ideas for the future. I sort of feel like a sponge, just absorbing everything I see here for use in the future. Obviously, I think this is a great thing!

Same old...

Days are pretty much the same here. On Friday, I finished planning the rest of my Little Tykes for the summer and started to get nervous about Suzanne coming to observe. I hope she doesn't think I'm doing a terrible job. I'm sure she will have some constructive things to say regardless. I worked at the desk while doing my various tasks, helping award Summer Reading prizes, answering reference questions, etc. I helped Jaymi by dancing with her for a program in the morning and making some calls later on in the day. I also continued working on my shelf label project. Pretty much a standard, unexciting day. I really don't mind though. Sometimes, I watch Suzanne during a day and she is just going non-stop. Someday I'd like to be a department head, but I always hope for a little bit of down time amongst the craziness. Tuesday will be a crazy day for sure. Anxious!

Long time...

It's been a little while since I updated. Most days here are the same really.

Last Friday, I mostly worked the desk and got started on the shelf label project. It's going to be easy but a little tedious and time-consuming. Oh well. It will definitely give me something to do for the rest of my time here. I thought it was going to be quick, but just one section of the YAZ took me all day!

Tuesday I was by myself for the morning. I didn't have Little Tykes (holiday break) so I just worked on some odds and ends throughout the morning. I looked into planning for the rest of Little Tykes sessions and took some more information down for the shelf labels. When Suzanne came in for the afternoon/evening, we chatted briefly about what I'd been up to and then she had a teen program. I covered the desk while she did that and worked a bit on Little Tykes. She also had American Girl Club in the afternoon (which was crazy!) so I made reminder calls while she did that. I can't decide how I feel about the reminder calls. On the one hand, they're a nice service for hectic parents with active scheduled children. On the other hand, they're sort of like a telemarketer, especially for parents who don't have any problem remembering what they've signed their children up for. I would imagine they're annoying for the programs that repeat as well - like Jaymi's baby and toddler programs. So I always feel conflicted when I do them. But, it's how this library works, so I go with the flow. It just makes me wonder about whether I should do something like that in the future. After that, I had a little more time to show Suzanne what I'd done with the shelf labels and make sure I was on the same page as her, then it was time to head home.

It's very routine here at the library now. I imagine this is what my future looks like!

Article: Book Trailers

I wanted to learn more about book trailers and how other libraries are using this new trend in programming. One article I came across was "Flipped." This describes a summer contest through the library in which teens create book trailers. They were then watched by a panel of judges and winners and runners-up announced. One thing I liked about this article was that it pointed out that teens don't necessarily need help with the equipment and technology - which sort of echoes what I discovered in my experience with the book trailer program. In this case, the library purchased equipment and hosted video shoot times - which went unattended. Like I saw in our programs at Mooresville, the teens caught on very quickly with the technology involved. Perhaps hosting a longer workshop program to help teens find music and photos to use in their trailers or to provide optional help with shooting their own live footage. The thing I like most about this article comes at the end. One of the judges comments, "RFW [the name of their contest] makes teens examine the books they choose. Because they have to focus on creating the elements of a movie, such as scripts, sets, costumes, etc., they're forced to wrestle aspects of the story they may not otherwise consciously examine...." This is a great way of looking at book trailers as a valid form of keeping books at the forefront.

Wooten, J. (2009). Flipped! Want to get teens excited about summer reading? Just add video. School Library Journal, 55(5), p. 38-40. Accessed from Library Literature & Information Science Full Text database.

The return of Suzanne

Tuesday marked the first time I had seen Suzanne in two weeks - but that didn't happen until the afternoon so let me discuss my morning first.

I got everything together for Little Tykes and headed over. Today's challenge: the CD player wouldn't work once I got there. So, no music. I made the kids sing the first part of "Open Shut Them" acapella and then moved on with storytime. We read a couple stories and the kids mostly paid attention, although a few were distracted by the pasta necklaces they had just made. After two books, I went ahead with my art project. Though I had emailed one of the counselors on Friday to see if I could get a count, I never got a response. So I had supplies for twenty today - and there were twenty kids. Lucky! Our art project for the day was making crayon rubbings. The kids absolutely loved this! I had them use the bottoms of their shoes for an interesting change to traditional rubbings and they were fascinated at how a picture appeared from nothing. I really didn't expect it to go over as amazingly as it did, so I will definitely keep this in mind for future programs. We read another story and then it was time to leave. A bit of confusion at the end, as I had nothing on the schedule for them for the next week but the counselors seemed to think they'd still be there. So I headed back to the library a bit confused.

Worked on Youth Bio for a while, peeked in on Suzanne's teen henna program (HUGE success) and then met with Suzanne for a while. She just wanted to touch base and see how things were going since I'm halfway through my internship. She got the Little Tykes confusion sorted out and I told her about some of the other issues I've had with them. I mentioned that Youth Bio would be finished soon and she told me I could work on shelf labels once that's done. That should be relatively easy. We discussed the rest of the summer's schedule and then chatted about the other things going on in my life. I finished up the day with some more work on Youth Bio and that was that. I'm so glad I chose Mooresville for my internship; I like all the people I'm working with (throughout the day, there was much discussion of which books to recommend to each other) and I'm getting great experience in many different areas. I can't believe it's already half over!