The Ups and Downs of Library Programming

This week was a roller-coaster ride of successful and not-so-successful programs. There is nothing like the high you get from a successful program, but there is also nothing like the low from an unsuccessful one, and it's even worse when that same program was previously successful.

On Wednesday we repeated my "DoodleBot" program from last year. This program uses the motor from cheap electric toothbrushes, pool noodles, and markers to build a simple "robot" that creates art. When I did this program last year, it was a huge hit. There was a little bit of troubleshooting, but it was not a major issue, and it has been my most popular blogpost.

This time around, we had lots of problems. To start with, it was a much larger group (35 versus 10), probably too large for a program of this type, that is a little more complex and sophisticated, and prone to bugs. Second, we were expecting 35 kids, but they were supposed to have several teen aides to help, along with the camp director and the three of us from the library. So, we thought we would have enough help and supervision to handle a group this size. But, then the teen counselors decided they wanted to make their own DoodleBot, which brought our number of particpants up to 40, and reduced our "adult" help to 4, and stretched our very limited supplies past what we were prepared for.

Then, after the kids finished personalizing their bots and were ready for the motor, at least half the motors wouldn't work right! For some reason, the connections were being much more finicky that before, and were loosening or shifting just enough to break the flow of current through the circuit. This had happened before, but not to the extent it did this time. The motors would only work intermittently, and this particular group was not as good at problem-solving on their own as the previous, so were constantly getting upset and asking for help. It was a very frustrating experience for me, the kids, and my co-workers, and I felt completely defeated.

I still do not understand why we had so much more trouble this time around. The bot prototype I made that has been sitting on my desk for a year still works fine. So, I have a lot of trouble-shooting and creative problem solving ahead of me with this one.

Since we did not really have enough motors left because of the extra participants, and I didn't have enough time to get them all working again, I decided to change gears at the last minute for Friday's program at a different location and do my "Mirror, Mirror" program, which has the demonstration of a couple of cool special effects using mirrors and reflection, followed by making kaleidoscopes. For complete details, see my previous post.

I LOVE this program! It is very cheap, uses easily obtainable supplies, relatively easy, no complicated prep, it really can't go wrong, and the kids really like it! So yesterday I quickly got everything together, and the program was a big hit. At first I could tell the kids (16 kids around ages 8-10) weren't thrilled to have to put away their games and come sit at the tables for the program, and were thinking "this is going to be lame". But when I showed them the mirascope's holographic image projection and the infinity mirror, they started coming around.

By the end, we heard exclamations of "So cool!" over and over, and several asked how long we were staying and if we were coming back next week! They were trading back and forth, looking at each others' designs and patterns. I really like how all their kaleidoscopes looked different, and that no matter how much or little time they put in their designs, they still looked cool when you looked through the kaleidoscope. Here are some of their kaleidoscopes:

And here are some of the images they created (if you look closely at the second one on the bottom row you will see a dinosaur in the pattern):

I am so glad I got to end the week on a positive note, but I am still really bummed and frustrated that we had so much trouble with the Doodlebot program after it worked well the previous time. If you want more details and step-by-step of what we did, check out my previous "DoodleBot" and "Mirror, Mirror" posts.

Now, off to take a nap, then relax and read a book before I tackle trouble-shooting tomorrow...

We Love Dinosaurs!

I think almost everyone is fascinated by dinosaurs as a kid, and some of us never outgrow it. I had a serious interest in paleontology, but realized it wasn't the most practical career choice. But I still love dinosaurs, and do at least one round of dinosaur stories every year.

We started with our welcome song, then I introduced the topic, and quickly moved to our story song before they could get too worked up since they were all sitting so nicely when I got there.

For our first book I choose one that is kind of silly and always attention getting, Ten Little Dinosaurs by Pattie Schnetzler and Jim Harris. I love this book! It is fun to read, and has wonderful illustrations, and counts down from 10 to 0 with rhyming quatrains, but best of all, it is big spherical wiggly eyes that really bring the dinosaurs to life. Each page has die cut holes for the eyes to fit through, so each dinosaur has them. The kids love this! It is a bit of a pain when it comes to shelving or stacking this book, but so worth it! There are other versions without the wiggle eyes that would be more practical for shelving in a circulating collection, but for an office or personal collection, I would definitely want the eyes!

I followed that with the "Ten Big Dinosaurs" counting song to count up to 10, then back down, for extra counting and fine motor practice.

Ten BIG Dinosaurs

One big, two big, three big dinosaurs,

Four big, five big, six big dinosaurs,

Seven big, eight big, nine big dinosaurs,

Ten big dinosaurs!

They all lived a long, long time ago,

They all lived a long, long, time ago,

The all lived a long, long time ago.

Now there are no more.

Ten big, nine big, eight big dinosaurs,

Seven big, six big, five big dinosaurs,

Four big, three big, two big dinosaurs, 

One big dinosaur!

Next up was another fun book kids always love, Snappy Little Dinosaurs by Dugald Steer. If you don't already know, the Snappy Little... books are a great series of pop-up books on many different subjects. I think they are currently out of print, but you could try buying used copies, just look for sellers that have high ratings and clearly describe the condition of the pop-ups. 

This book has big, bright pop-ups, along with the scientific names for each dinosaur and a rhyming text. Sometimes I read the text, sometimes I just show the pictures, have them repeat the name, and talk about the type of dinosaur (which is what I did this time).

We followed that with a song, and then an action rhyme, that let us act like dinosaurs:

The Dinosaur Goes...

(to the tune of "Wheels On The Bus")

Tyrannosaurus rex goes roar, roar, roar;

Roar, roar, roar; roar, roar, raor

Tyrannsaurus rex goes roar, roar, roar;

All day long.

The pteranodon's wings go flap, flap, flap....

The velociraptor goes run, run, run....

The brontosaurus' feet go stomp, stomp, stomp....

The mosasaurus' tail goes splash, splash, splash....

The triceratops goes munch, munch, munch....

____________________

Long Ago

Dinosaurs lived long ago.

Some walked, 

Some swam, 

And some flew, you know.

Some were big,

Some were small.

Some were gigantic,

V-e-r-y tall!

Our last story was Dinosaurs After Dark by Jonathan Emmett and Curtis Jobling. Little Bobby is in bed when he hears a noise outside. When he looks outside, he sees a dinosaur walking by! Bobby rushes out and follows him downtown, where there are dinosaurs everywhere. First they want to eat him, but then decide to let him play for a while first.

 A cute story with bright, simple illustrations with black outlines, and a twist at the end. The kids may not get the twist at the end, or may not agree on what it means, but either way it is still a cute story that they will enjoy.

I finished up by re-iterating that dinosaurs are now extinct, and all we have left is their fossilized bones. I explained that "fossilized" meant the bones had been changed to stone, and went on to tell them that bones weren't the only fossils that dinosaurs left behind; there are also fossilized eggs, and fossilized dinosaur......POOP! I told them it even had a special name, "coprolite", and reminded them since it was fossilized that meant it had turned to stone, so it wasn't messy or stinky anymore.

Then we sang our closing song and passed out stickers.

How It Went

Today was an awesome storytime! Probably one of the best in a while. When I got there the kids were all seated and waiting for me, very calm and quiet, and they did a much better job listening today than the last couple of times. Of course with a theme of Dinosaurs, they did get a little loud out times, but were never out of control.

The LOVED the Ten Little Dinosaurs with the big googly eyes and all the sillyness, and cracking up laughing hysterically everytime I turned the page. The also laughed at how each dinosaur was called a silly name, like "bonehead" for Pachycephalosaurus and "nut brain" for Stegasaurus, and I paused to explain how those names were based on characteristics of each dinosaur. 

Snappy Little Dinosaurs was a big hit, too, with the pretending to be scared as each one popped out at them. They didn't really see the twist in the ending of Dinosaurs After Dark, but enjoyed the story anyway. And they had a lot of fun acting like dinosaurs with the songs and rhymes.

Glad That's Over!

So as you may or may not know, I started an MLIS program last fall, focusing on public libraries and youth services. This May I took a crazy, intense 3-week class in Multicultural Youth Literature. Let me tell you, I don't recommend it! Taking a regular class crammed into 3-weeks that is; the pace and workload were grueling, and I don't think I got as much out of it as if it had been a full semester class. However, I highly recommend a course in Multicultural Literature for all librarians, but especially youth services. 

In just 3 weeks, we had to write 16 critical book reviews, participate in 5 online discussions, write two 2-page papers, and a big bibliography project. Fortunately, the professor gave us the reading list in advance, so I was able to obtain and read all the books before class started (luckily, I read very fast). But, I did learn a lot about selecting diverse literature. I've had a few people ask for the reading list out of curiousity, so I thought I'd go ahead and post it here, with a very brief mini-review of each, starting with picture books. 

Each of these books is written by a cultural "insider", and most (if not all) have received literary awards that consider quality and authenticity. I've put an asterisk on the ones I particularly liked (there were only two I really didn't like).

Picture Books

*Let's Talk About Race (2005), by Julius Lester, illustrated by Karen Barbour. 

Julius Lester explains the concept of race and racism in simple, age appropriate terms, without emotion or blame. He explains that we each have our own story, and that race is one part of that story. He goes on to say that some people try to say that their race is better than others, but that story is not true, and that under our skin we are all the same.

I think this is an excellent book for introducing the topic of race and racism with children.

Crossing Bok Chitto: A Chocktaw Tale of Friendship & Freedom (2006), by Tim Tingle, illustrated by Jeanne Rorex Bridges.

Tim Tingle, a recognized Choctaw storyteller and author, tells an Old Choctaw tale about a friendship that developed between a slave family and a Choctaw tribe, and how the Choctaw helped them escape to freedom across the Bok Chitto River.

An interesing legend, and shows how people of different races help each other.

Just A Minute: A Trickster's Tale and Counting Book (2003), by Yuyi Morales.

Senior Calavera (similar to the Grim Reaper) has arrived to escort Grandma Beetle "home", but she is not quite ready to go, and keeps asking him for "just a minute" to finish up another chore, culminating in her birthday party and Senior Calavera deciding to leave her with her granchildren.

Authentic illustrations, and counting from 1 to 10 in both Spanish and English.

Lailah's Lunchbox (2015), by Reem Faruqi, illustrated by Lea Lyon.

Lailah has just moved from Abu Dhabi to Peachtree, Georgia, and is excited that she is going to be allowed to fast for Ramadan for the first time. But then she begins to worry about how to explain to her new teacher and classmates why she can't eat lunch, and takes refuge in the library, where the librarian helps her find the right words.

A great story for explaining what Ramadan is all about to children that is culturally authentic.

Heather Has Two Mommies (2015, first published in 1991), by Leslea Newmann, illustrated by Laura Cornell.

Heather has two arms, two legs, two eyes, two pets, and two mommies. On her first day of school she enjoys making new friends, playing at different centers, and snack time. During circle time the children talk about their parents and Heather realizes she is the only one with two mommies, and wonders if she is the only one without a daddy. But they all learn that every family is different, and special, and that all that matters is they love each other.


Middle Grade

Fred Korematsu Speaks Up (2017), by Laura Atkins and Stan Yogi, illustrated by Yutaka Houlette.

This book tells about Fred Korematsu, who was interred along with many other Japanese-Americans during WWII, and filed suit against the U.S. Though he initially lost, many years later the case was reopened after evidence was discovered showing the U.S. attorneys had lied, and ultimately the case was decided in favor of Korematsu.

An important subject, but I didn't care for this particular book. It is told in alternating formats, one in free verse, and the other a jumble of historic facts, events, pictures, and timelines. Informative, but hard to read because of the lack of continuity, and Fred was portrayed as more of a legendary hero, in a superficial, flat way rather than as a real person. I would look for better books on this subject before buying this one, but it's OK.

*Amina's Voice (2017), by Hena Kahn.

This tells the story of Amina, the child of Pakistani immigrants, who loves to sing but is too shy to perform, and is dealing with all the changes that middle school brings. Her best friend Soojin is thinking of changing her name to something more "American" and has suddenly started acting chummy with their former "enemy". She also has to adjust to her much more conservative uncle visiting from Pakistan, and their community mosque being vandalized.

This is a great story that shows the plurality of the Muslim religion, and how people from various religions and cultures can be friends and pull together to support each other as a community. I highly recommend!

*El Deafo (2014), by Cece Bell.

In graphic novel format, Cece Bell shares her childhood experience with losing her hearing due to meningitis, learning how to adapt, and being self-concious about her hearing aids. She later realizes that her hearing aids and microphone give her "super powers", such as being able to warn the class when the teacher is about to return, and "El Deafo" is born. Cece not only struggles with being able to hear, she also has trouble finidng her voice when one friend becomes pushy and domineering, and another is well-intentioned, but insensitive.

Brown Girl Dreaming (2014), by Jacqueline Woodson.

In this memoir written in free verse, Jacqueline Woodson describes her early childhood, when she was first uprooted from Columbus, Ohio and moved to Greenville, North Carolina, after her parents split up, and then again after her mother moved them to New York. She describes hard times, tragedy, and living with segregation in the South, but through it all were the bonds of a close-knit, loving family and her developing dream to be a writer.

Not for those who need more action and drama, but other dreamers who enjoy a more thoughtful book, and particularly other aspiring writers, would appreciate.


Teen/Young Adult

*Gabi: A Girl In Pieces (2014), by Isabel Quintero.

We see all the struggles Gabi and her friends and family go through during her senior year in the form of Gabi's diary. And Gabi has a lot to deal with: body image, a domineering mother who expects her to be a "good Latina girl", a meth-addicted father, a best friend that's pregnant, another that has just come out as gay, and trying to find romance. Gabi copes with it all with humor, food, and discovering her talent for poetry, which leads to some truly beautiful poems within the book.

I highly recommend this book; well-written, authentic, and all teens can find something to relate to.

Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass (2014), by Meg Medina.

If it weren't bad enough that Piddy's mother suddenly decides to move to a different neighborhood without considering Piddy's feelings at all about changing schools in the middle of her junior year, Piddy is suddenly faced with finding out some girl she doesn't even know wants to kick her ass for no apparent reason.

This story focuses on the issue of bullying, but also has Spanish phrases and Latin culture sprinkled throughout. It is painful and frustrating to see how Piddy continues to suffer in silence, letting fear and pride get in the way of asking for help.

American Born Chinese (2007), by Gene Luen Yang.

This graphic novel uses three alternating stories that are interwoven in a very confusing timeline to tell the story of how an "ABC" boy struggles with his cultural identity, stereotyping, and facing the temtation to turn his back on his heritage for the sake of fitting in as an "All-American" teen.

Some people love this book, and I'm sure others could relate to the ridiculous stereotyping the protagonist faces as a child and struggling to fit in, but I wish it had just been told in a more straightforward, linear fashion. I found it very confusing and it took me reading a couple of other summaries and reviews, then re-reading before I could follow the story and what the message was.

*March: Book One (2013), by John Lewis & Andrew Aydin, illustrated by Nate Powell.

This graphic novel is a great way to get reluctant readers to read about history, and pays homage to the comic book that was used to teach members of the civil rights movement about passive-resistance and non-violent protest. In this first of the trilogy, Congressman Lewis tells about his childhood and early calling to the ministry, and his involvement in the civil rights movement, leading up to the march on the Nashville mayor's office. The print is on the small side and harder for adults to read, but the pictures bring history to life.

*The Hate U Give (2017), by Angie Thomas.

This story descibes Starr, a teenager living in the inner city who struggles with a dual identity as she splits her life between her friends and family in the neighborhood, and her more wealthy, predominantly white, suburban friends at the private school she attends. She has already witnessed the death of a childhood friend in a drive-by shooting, then tragically witnesses the shooting death of another friend in a traffic-stop gone bad, which causes her to question everything, and throws her neighborhood into turmoil.

This book has gotten rave reviews and is very well-written with wonderful character development. I loved Starr's close-knit family, and how hard her father worked to overcome his days as a gang member and become a good father and fight for their community. It is a very engaging story to read, but I have to confess I was a bit uncomfortable with the strong anti-cop message I perceived. While perhaps slighly less enjoyable to read, I prefer the message in Kekla Magoon's How It Went Down, which shows a similar shooting from many different perspectives, illustrating how no one can ever know what really happened, because each witness sees and hears something different, and it's all filtered through their own personal experiences and bias. THUG readers should keep in mind they are only getting one side of the story, albeit a very sympathetic and compelling one.

*Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda (2015), by Becky Albertalli.

While Simon happens to be a gay teenage boy who is a bit hesitant to "come out of the closet" for fear of rocking the boat, this story is about all relationships, those with family, friends, and romantic interests. The main character has a good relationship with his parents and siblings, and a strong circle of friends, all of whom he thinks would be okay with his being gay, yet he still hesitates to tell anyone. Until a classmate accidentally sees a e-mail exchange between Simon and his secret pen-pal, and uses it to blackmail him into interceding on his behalf with a romantic interest.

A very touching, funny, and sweet story. Not too sappy or "polyanna", but not too heavy and serious, either. I highly recommend this one, as well.


Young Adult/Adult

Anna and the Swallow Man (2016), by Gavriel Savit.

Set in German-occupied Poland during WWII and written in a very detached, formal literary style some describe as poetic, this tells the story of a young Polish girl who is left alone in the streets after her father is taken away by the Nazis. She is taken in by a strange man with a gift for languages, and together they wander around the countryside, trying to stay invisible in order to survive.

Some give this book rave reviews, and I did really like it at first, but I think it gets lost in the middle, and then rushes to a non-ending with way too many things unexplained and too many questions unanswered (and I feel the author failed to properly research certain facts). Some have referred to this as magical realism, but I did not see it that way at all.

I personally would not have included this book in the reading for a multicultural youth literature class. For one thing, it seems to be written more for adults than kids. It is most definitely NOT a middle grade novel, despite the age of the main character. I could see it being assigned in high school English classes, but I think very few teens would find it appealing. The other thing is that many people have assumed Anna was Jewish, but the book gives no indication of this (unless I missed it), identifying her only as Polish, and saying her father was taken because he was an intellectual, thus an enemy of the Nazi empire. Furthermore, she did not speak fluent Yiddish, nor did she know the Hebrew prayers. It takes place during the Holocaust, but is not really about the Holocaust. I'm just not sure it really represents an identifiable culture. I would not recommend this book if you are like me: tend to be more literal, hate loose ends and things that don't quite add up, and need an ending that is more than just a stopping point with no closure. But other people loved it.

Have you already read some of these? Please share your thoughts in the comments!

Going To The Library

I had originally planned this storytime for National Library Week, but the daycare was closed for Good Friday, so I saved it to kick off Summer Reading and promote going to the library.

We started with our welcome song, then talked a little about libraries before singing our story song. I decided to start off with Lola at the Library by Anna McQuinn and Rosalind Beardshaw as a more realistic introduction to going to the library. (Lola Loves Stories is also good for promoting reading.)

The story is simple and straightforward, and talks about returning books, checking out more books, storytime, and how children don't get "shushed" in the children's department. (I changed some of the words slightly to fit the way my library does things.) When it mentions Lola singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" we paused to sing it as well. The illustrations are sweet and colorful.


We followed that with a short little rhyme about "Five Little Books" being checked out of the library from What Happens In Storytime, but I made my felt books a little differently. First we counted the books, then identified the colors, then did the rhyme. Instead of specific names, I inserted things like "a little girl", "a little boy", "Mommy", "Daddy", and "a teacher", because I didn't want anyone left out, but I didn't really feel like repeating it 3 or 4 times to use all their names, either.

Five Little Books

Five little books at the library,

Five little books as great as can be.

Along came _______ with their library card,

and checked one out to read.

Four little books at the library.....[repeat until you get to zero]

Our second book stars one of my favorite characters, Froggy Goes to the Library by Jonathan London and Frank Remkiewicz. Froggy enjoys going to the library as well, but in his excitment he almost forgets to get dressed and eat breakfast. Then, once they are at the library, Froggy lets his imagination get the best of him! But then he settles down for storytime, and gets everyone, including the librarian, to join him in a silly song and dance.

The kids seemed to like Froggy's silly song, so I asked them if they wanted to stand up and do it themselves, and they did. So, we all stood up and sang and danced:

Wiggle, wiggle; Waggle waggle

Giggle, giggle; Gaggle gaggle

I was thinking I'd probably just read two books today because they've been more restless lately and Froggy was a little longer. But, it was a smaller group than usual and they were doing really well and really wanted another story, so I went ahead and read The Not So Quiet Library by Zachariaa OHora. 

In this story, Oskar and Theodore go to the library with their dad, after stopping by the dougnut shop for breakfast. They are reading quiety, when a many-headed monster suddenly appears, with a taste for books. Can Oskar and Theodore convince the monster that books are not for eating? And neither are Oskar and Theodore!

After that, I talked more about the summer reading program, showing them the classrom log and explaining that all they have to do is check the boxes every time they read 20 minutes or visit the library, then at the end of the summer when they've checked 30 boxes I will bring each of them a book to keep, plus extra books for the classroom. Then I showed them the calendars I brought for each one of them to take home that describes all the cool events going on all summer.

Then, we sang our closing song and passed out stickers.

How It Went

It was nice having a slightly smaller group; they always do a better job listening when there aren't quite so many of them. They seemed to enjoy all the stories, particularly The Not So Quiet Library. I'm always happy to see how horrified they are when characters mistreat books in our stories. They had to sing Twinkle, Twinkle as soon as it was mentioned in the Lola book, and loved doing Froggy's song and dance. As soon as I held up the Lola book, two little girls said, "She looks like me!" Even though the "Five Little Books" rhyme was so simple, they really liked it and wanted to do it again. They were particularly eager for more stories today.

They were very excited when I told them they would each get a book to keep at the end of the summer reading program; I saw many little faces light up and mouth's in the shape of an "O", and one boy said he wanted one about dinosaurs. I told him I couldn't promise that, but we would see.

Summer Reading

So I'm guessing many of you are either (1) in full-blown panic mode trying to get everything ready for summer reading, (2) trying to squeeze in some time off to recharge before summer reading, (3) or simply enjoying the last week or two of calm before the storm. Today is the last day of school for our public schools, so it will start getting busier here next week, then hit full force in June!

Back in my days as a page in the children's department, summer reading meant a HUGE increase in my workload, and was exhausting, and often frustrating, with all the summer camp groups that would come in and destroy the department while their counselors sat in a corner chatting amongst themselves and playing on their phones. In my current position as a paraprofessional in the Outreach department, summer reading doesn't affect me as much as others. At my level I'm not involved in any of the decision-making or major responsibilities of getting everything planned and ready, and since I'm only in the library at a service desk one afternoon a week, I don't have to deal with the increased chaos every day. I generally just keep doing the same thing, going out to daycares and doing storytime.

I do see some changes, though. At some of the daycares, enrollment goes up during the summer; at others it goes down. At ALL of the daycares the kids are much harder to engage and keep focused, much more chatty and wiggly, in the summer! I will drop off summer reading materials, and help deliver their prize books at the end. The one big change for me this summer is that I will also be doing several school-aged STEAM programs. Last year I did one; this year I think we have 7 scheduled so far! It will be hectic, but I love having a chance to do something different! I am able to repeat programs since they are all different groups, but I do need to come up with two new program ideas for one place.

I do sympathize will my peers for whom summer is much more chaotic, demanding, and stressfull. Some libraries make summer reading such a circus, with major events almost everyday, I don't see how anyone does it. Sometimes I wonder if that's all really necessary, and does it really accomplish anything other than increasing our numbers? I can't help but question sometimes if the original intent of summer reading has been lost. 

Summer reading was originally supposed to address the "summer slide", but now it seems like it's more of a numbers game, increasing circ stats and program attendance, rather than increasing literacy. Some studies have suggested that incentivized reading at best does not really translate to increased reading later on, and at worst may actually discourage voluntary reading. My library offerred some really cool prizes last year, and "participation" definitely increased, if you define participation as turning in a reading log. But was there really any more reading going on? I don't really think so, just more cheating.

What's the right answer? I don't really know. When libraries are fighting for funding and proving they are still relevant, statistics are the only hard evidence we have, so it's not practical to say they don't matter, but I would like to see some of the obsession and pressure to increase stats, and be "bigger and better" each year relaxed and the focus put back on learning and literacy. In particular, I would love to see more research about incentivized reading and the effectiveness of different summer reading programs, and more research-based summer reading program design.

But, it is what it is for now, and I do enjoy seeing more people at the library, in particular the now school-aged kids who used to come to storytime, and I love the chance to do some other types of programming! It will be busy, but a good busy! Happy Summer, everyone!

Frogs, Toads, Aliens, and Dinosaurs!

I usually try to pick a different theme for my "regular" storytime on Friday, so I can expand my repertoire and experiment, but this week I was just too distracted to think of anything, so I stuck with the same "Frog" theme I have been doing on the Storytime Bus, though I did pick new books and spent a little more time on non-fiction.

As usual, we started with our welcome song, but then I did a longer introduction than usual, expanding it into a bit of a lesson about frogs using the wonderful non-fiction book All About Frogs by Jim Arnosky. I really like this book a lot, as it covers many things about frogs, including how they differ from toads, pictures of many different North American frogs, including tree frogs, showing how they vary in size, coloring, and markings. 

It also shows a few of the brightly colored poison dart frogs, which I supplemented with a number of photograghs of poison dart frogs I had copied and printed onto a single piece of paper as I find them truly amazing (there are also a couple of books just on poison dart frogs, one by Julie Murray, and another by Carmen Bredeson). This book also shows some of the things that frogs eat, as well as what eats them! Though I generally prefer photographs for non-fiction, the illustrations in this book are very realistic. I didn't read the text to them, but showed some of the pictures and talked about them. 

Since the last thing we talked about was what eats frogs, which included an alligator, we then did this really fun rhyme I learned from one of our volunteers that the kids seem to like a lot:

There Once Was An Alligator

There once was an alligator, sitting on a log.

(one hand & arm is the gator, on top of the other arm for the log)

Down in the water, he saw a little frog.

(look down)

DOWN dove the alligator!

(say this suddenly & loudly, while quickly "diving" down; 

it startles the kids, and they love it!)

Around spun the log!

(roll arms like log spinning)

SPLASH went the water!

(throw arms out)

And away swam the frog!

(make breaststroke motion with arms)

The kids are always startled when I suddenly cry "DOWN!" and dive down, then they giggle and really get into it. They like doing the motions, and I urge them to swim quickly to get away from the alligator, and often repeat 2-3 times as we keep running into more alligators. Depending on what book this follows, I may substitute "crocodile" for "alligator" and/or say "wide-mouthed frog" or "yummy frog" instead of "little frog".

Then we sang several verses of our story song to get settled for our stories, including stomp feet, clap hands, be seated, nod head, and say "shh". Our first story was Green Wilma: Frog In Space by Tedd Arnold. In this funny story Wilma is chasing a fly and is mistaken by aliens for their child who was playing in the pond. 

The aliens take Wilma into their ship and fly away. At first they think the earth's pond water had turned their dear Blooger green, but then they determine she is in fact not their son but an alien. They quickly return to earth to correct their mistake, much to Blooger's relief.

We followed this by singing everyone's favorite, "Five Green & Speckled Frogs", using my homeade finger-puppet glove, while they used their hands and fingers (for other ways to do this song, see "Five Green & Speckled Frogs, Five Ways"). 

Five Green & Speckled Frogs

Five green and speckled frogs, sat on a speckled log.

Eating some most delicious bugs. Yum! Yum!

One jumped into the pool, where it was nice and cool.

Now there are four green speckled frogs. Glub, Glub.

[Continue counting down to none.]

I preceded our last story, Tadpole Rex by Kurt Cyrus, with a quick lesson on the life cycle of a frog so they would understand what a tadpole was, using the same non-fiction book by Arnosky above. The title and cover of Tadpole Rex confused them, and some kept trying to correct me and tell me it was Tyranosaurus rex, so I made sure to pause an explain what was going on with the Tyranosaurus making the puddle, but the story was about the teeny little tadpole in the puddle, who was also named Rex. 

The story shows Rex develop from a tadpole into a frog, and his interactions with a few dinosaurs before deciding to stay safely hidden in his puddle, with just his eyes showing. A couple remained a little confused about the mixing of frogs and dinosaurs, so I think I will either save this book for slightly older kids and give it a bit more of a lead-in with a discussion about how there were frogs living at the time of dinosaurs in the future.

After that, we had a quick "pop quiz" about frogs to summarize what we learned, and then did our closing song and passed out stickers.

How It Went

This class has been a bit unusual compared to the previous two years. In the past, the kids were more talkative, restless, and inattentive at the beginning of the year, but have matured into good listeners by the end of the year. This class started out as exceptionally good listeners in the beginning, but now are getting more talkative and harder to control at the end of the year! But they are always so glad to see me, and almost knocked me over with a mob hug when I first walked in.

They did seem to enjoy the subject and the stories, but I don't think many fully appreciated either story since they weren't listening as well as usual. The loved doing the action rhyme with the alligator, though, and most liked doing the "Five Green & Speckled Frogs" song. When we talked about what frogs eat, they always say "Ewww" at the thought of eating bugs, and I tease them, saying that's what they were having for lunch or snack. And what do you know, after I finished, the teacher pulled out some celery, pimento cheese, and raisins for them to make "Ants On Log" for snack, so they did eat "bugs" after all!