Sadly, my contract for my current position is up on November 30th. :-*( So, I decided to have one last activity for the kids! Here’s a simple way to get kids involved with the library. Hold a contest and have them guess how many books are in the library. You may have to consult your digital media librarian for the answer. I’ve had this up for a few hours, and the kids are going wild over it.
Library Contest: How many books are in the library?
Title: No Pirates Allowed Said Library Lou
Author/Illustrator: Rhonda Gowler Greene and Brian Ajhar
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Publication Date: May 1, 2013
Format: Picture Book
ISBN: 1585367966
For ages: 3-5
For many, many, many years, Pirates have always followed the X to the buried treasure. Pete is a BIG PIRATE and along with his squawking parrot, Igor, they walk into Seabreezy Library to search for their loot. But, Library Lou stands up to Pete and his parrot. He must bathe and change his underwear before he can get help from Library Lou. When he’s finally obeyed all the rules of the library, Library Lou teaches him that there are more letters than X in the alphabet.
This book is a librarian’s dream. It teaches the rules of the library, but with a pirate theme. Great story for a read aloud – if you can speak pirate. Definitely a keeper for class visits.
My favourite program to run at a library! Scribble Party! Low budget library programming. All you need is mural paper and markers. Leave it out on table – and the kids can colour all day.
Title: The Story of Fish and Snail
Author/Illustrator: Deborah Freedman
Publisher: Viking Juvenile
Publication Date: June 13, 2013
Format: Picture Book
ISBN: 0763657271
For ages: 3-5
Fish’s story is too elaborate to be told and Fish wants to show Snail. But, that would mean that Snail would have to leave his comfort zone – which is a scary thought for Snail. He’d rather stay in his familiar and safe environment and pretend to be kittens. But, Fish tries to persuade Snail and they start an argument. Will they still be friends at the end?
Fish and Snail are best friends and sometimes friends have arguments. The colourful drawings make this book such at treat to read. The use of “book” metaphor is what a librarian loves to hear in a story. Snail doesn’t want to leave the comfort zone of the book, while Fish leaps in and out of pages. This book wouldn’t be my favourite to choose in storytimes, but it does have a great message of friendship.
Third week of the Junior Writers program and it’s starting to kick off. This week, we discussed imagination and mood.
Warm Up
When you’re writing a dialogue with characters, you want to be expressive and descriptive. You want your reader to imagine what your character is doing. One way of doing that is trying to replace “said” in your written work. When you’re editing your final draft, circle all the “said” and try to replace it with a different word.
On the easel, I wrote down three different dialogues. The kids then found other ways to express the characters emotions instead of using “said.” For example:
1. “Wait! You forgot your book” said Mr. Applebottom
-cried, yelled, screamed
I then gave them a chart on how you can show emotions and feelings through characters. For example, if your character has tripped over his shoelace – he will feel embarrassed.
How can we show “embarrassed”?
Use this chart to help you write and describe your character’s emotions.
Group Activity and Writing Activity
We then came up with emotions that a character could feel. We then wrote an example of what makes you feel that way. For example: Angry. I feel angry when I see someone littering!
For our writing activity, we had to write a letter saying that we’re sorry. They could decide what they have done, and who they are apologizing to. They could also decide whether it was a good apology or if they don’t really mean it and just want to get out of trouble.
Rock the Library 