Early Literacy To Go - May

 

Since I decided to take a short break from storytimes the latter half of this month, May's early literacy kit didn't include as many different themes. My first storytime happened to fall on May 5, and the second on National Frog Jumping Day, so my themes were Cinco de Mayo, frogs, and Latino Books Month overall (though I could not find frog books with Latino authors, unfortunately).

This month's kit contained the following:

• 
  Newsletter with all the suggested activities on the front; songs/fingerplays/action rhymes and instructions for included craft/activities on the back, along with a reminder about the weekly virtual storytime on the branch Facebook page and YouTube channel.
  
• Activities - easy, everyday activities categorized by the ECRR2 five practices
• Talk - about the meaning of Cinco de Mayo and the different ways it's celebrated, talk about your own heritage, traditions, and celebrations.
• Play - build with blocks or small boxes, engaging in conversation while doing so.
• Write - playing with dough, planting seeds, scribbling, coloring, and drawing. 
• Sing - songs with animal sounds, counting songs, along with recorded music, included songs
• Read - together and independently
• Book Suggestions:
• Dreamers by Yuyi Morales (print & digital)
• What Can You Do With a Paleta? by Carmen Tafolla
• My Papi Has a Motorcycle by Isabel Quintano (print & digital, English & Spanish)
• Lucia Luchadora by Cynthia Leonor Garza 
• Salsa: A Bilingual Cooking Poem by Jorge Arguleta (print & digital)
• Cinco de Mayo by James Garcia 
• How Do Tadpoles Become Frogs by Darice Bailer (Vox talking book)
• The Frog Alphabet Book by Jerry Pallotta (digital)
• One Is a Pinata by Roseanne Greenfield Thong & John Parra (digital)
• Songs/Rhymes/Fingerplays:
• "Five Green & Speckled Frogs" (counting down song)
• "The Alligator & the Frog" (action rhyme with large body movement)
• "Ten Little Frogs/Diez Ranitas" (counting song in English & Spanish)
• Included Craft - Paper Bag Piňata 
  
• small brown paper bag
• 2 small rolls of crepe paper
  
• 2 packs fruit snacks
• string
• Included Craft - Bouncy Frog
  
• frog cut out of green cardstock
• lily pad cut out of green cardstock
• 2 1/2" wide strips of cardstock
• small dot stickers, assorted colors
• googly eyes
• small strip of red paper
• Included Activity - Five Green & Speckled Frogs
  
• 5 die-cut frogs
• assorted color dot stickers to speckle them with
• lyrics of song
• Activity sheets
• Frog coloring page
• Life cycle of a frog
• Scissor skills sheet
• Find the two exactly alike frog coloring sheet
• Die-cut Letter "F"

This will likely be my last monthly early literacy take-home kit, for a few reasons. First, they are extremely time-consuming to plan and execute. I put a lot of thought into them and try to be as intentional as possible in selecting the various crafts and activities. However, I have the very strong sense that caregivers are not using them as intended, and are just handing the kids the crafts to do and ignoring the rest. Second, this next month or two is going to be a hot mess because our entire summer program was just scrapped and being replaced with a completely different program that has a multitude of logistical challenges which still haven't been worked out yet, so I'm sure I will have to focus all my time and energy on that for the next month at least. And third, I am cautiously planning transitioning to in-person programs and outreach.

This coming week will be my last virtual storytime, followed by a 3-week break to prepare for the summer. Then, starting June 9th I am going to move to in-person, outdoor storytime. That won't be without challenges, though we have a nice green space, we are on a busy road so it's fairly noisy. But no one is interested in virtual programming anymore, and I feel like we are at a point with the pandemic that it's about as good as it's going to get for the foreseeable future. With the demands of the summer program, I just cannot possibly make time for the elaborate monthly Early Literacy kits, and with moving away from virtual storytimes and starting in-person programs, I feel that there is no longer the same level of need as I will be giving early literacy information and tips in-person, as well as providing a take-home craft or activity each week.

Then I'm really hoping once summer is over, we will continue to make the transition back to "normal" in-person programming and I can really begin doing community outreach, which is desperately needed here. I think the take-home kits definitely met a community need for the last 7 months for those who couldn't access the virtual storytime or kids who simply couldn't engage in that format, but with current staffing levels and transitioning to in-person programs once again, I don't think they are sustainable, at least not in their current form. I may consider a simply monthly newsletter instead.

Early Literacy To Go - April

 

This month I again looked to lists of holidays and observances to inspire storytime themes, settling on Be Kind to Spiders Week, Spring, Velociraptor Appreciation Day, Superhero Day, and Poetry Month (incorporating poetry throughout the month rather than a specific poetry-themed storytime). Though these kits are designed to stand alone and provide early literacy support to those who cannot access virtual programming or have kids who just can't engage with that format, they also complement the virtual storytimes.

Early Literacy To Go - March

 

This month I looked over a few lists of various holidays and observances in March for a little inspiration in planning my storytimes for this month. Although these kits are designed to stand alone, I also design them to complement my virtual storytimes, so that's where my planning process starts: first I plan my storytime themes, then I decide what crafts/activities I want to provide so I can order materials if needed, then I come up with all the other suggestions, songs/fingerplays, and tips. The themes I decided to use are: World Wildlife Day, International Day of Awesomeness (awesome new books), St. Patrick's Day, Folktales and Fables Week, and National Crayon Day. 

Early Literacy To Go - February

 

I had somewhat of a difficult time putting this month's kit together. Part of it was just a lack of uninterrupted time to concentrate on planning, but the ideas just weren't flowing, either. I also had to do a little back-tracking because I had initially planned out my storytimes for the month mainly featuring new picture books rather than themes because we've gotten so many great ones in lately, but then realized I had not done anything in any way for Black History Month, so I had to re-think everything. And since I like to make the early literacy to go kits complement the virtual storytimes, I had to get the storytimes planned before I could plan the kit.

Early Literacy To Go - January

 

This monthly early literacy to-go kit was the first type of programming I developed when I started my new position 3 months ago, as this branch had been without early literacy programming for several months, and many in the community either do not have internet access at home or have to prioritize its use for work and/or school for the older children. I have since started doing virtual storytimes on a weekly basis in addition to these monthly take-home kits.

Early Literacy To Go - December

As I explained in my last post, since the digital divide is very evident in the community where I now work and many lack computers and/or internet access at home, I decided to first focus my early literacy programming on a monthly grab & go kit with suggested activities categorized under the ECRR2 five early literacy practices.

Early Literacy To Go! - November

While this is of course a very difficult and challenging time for everyone, as children's librarians we face the formidable task of finding a way to provide early literacy programming - a concept which is rooted in personal interaction, forming relationships with kids and adults, modeling behaviors, providing a place for kids and caregivers to socialize - without physically being in the same space together. It's very counter-intuitive, but unfortunately necessary to protect our own health, as well as that of our patrons and the community. And in addition to being a professional and logistical challenge, it is an emotional and personal one as well, since most of us thrive on the interactions with our patrons and without that we've lost much of the joy we normally find in our job.