Mother's Day and Art Supplies Clean Up Craft

Last year we made Spoonfuls of Kisses, which was super easy. So I knew that this year I was not interested in anything more complicated than that. Looking around on the net I came across Tulip cards, which looked pretty easy. I've got all the supplies and a volunteer to cut out the template. Couldn't be any easier, could it? Well, that doesn't really matter because I won't make tulip cards ever again. There's nothing wrong with the craft. It is simple and easy, but the kids just didn't get it. None of them knew what tulips were in the first place and almost all of them made the card upside down. This activity just wasn't for them. Maybe older kids would have got it.
Nonetheless, no one went home unhappy. If they didn't like their messed up tulip cards, they had the opportunity to make a craft from my Art Supplies Clean Up Kit.
What's that you ask? All the odds and ends, recycled boxes and containers and the last bits of art supplies that are just too little to use for a group craft that I've been saving. Makes for great collage art activities. I wrote about them before....

2012 Children's Book Awards

2012 Robert F. Sibert Medal Winner Balloons Over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy's Parade by Melissa Sweet
Balloons Over Broadway is a biography of Tony Sarg and a history of how the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade got started.
This is a beautifully illustrated book! I love the combination of materials and styles that went onto the pages including some primary source and handmade elements.
I honestly didn't think it was going to be interesting once I found out what it was about, but the story was so fun that I had to keep remembering the fact that I was reading nonfiction. Its wonderful that sometimes the truth can be capital entertainment! I really enjoyed the book's end notes, too.

2012 Caldecott Honor Blackout by John Rocco
Blackout is the story of one night in the life of a little boy who's mostly plugged in family couldn't find the time for and what happens to all of them and their neighborhood when the power goes out.
This book would be a great to add to an anti-screen time bibliography based on the American Academy of Pediatrics recommendations. It could include Blackout, Todd’s TV and I would at It’s a Book if it wasn’t for that one word!

2012 Sibert Honor Drawing From Memory by Allen Say
Drawing From Memory was illustrated really well, in fact, it’s a bit comic-book like with all of its illustrations and their placement. But what really got me stuck on this book is the story. It’s a great biography. Makes me really want to learn more about the characters and their work.

2012 Sibert Honor Witches! The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem by Rosalyn Schanzer
I've always been fascinated by the Salem Witch Trials, and have watched several documentaries and films about it, but this book is the first piece of literature I've ever read about it and I'm glad. I've mentioned it a couple times in my reviews of other books, but I LOVE PRIMARY SOURCES! And this book is chock full of quotes from trial transcripts, letters and public documents and wouldn't you know, the bibliography has web links so I can look them up! This book is perfect for people (kids especially) who like history, or who need to read a nonfiction book, but would rather it read kind of like a novel.

I did have a problem, though. I often found the storyline buried in too many facts at once. I really like how the author wrote the history in chronological story format and I obviously really like facts, details and information, but at times I felt bogged down, when I really wanted to know what happened next. I'd much rather have had several breakouts of information on adjoining pages.

I looked at a couple of different websites and they all recommend this book for 10+. I don't agree. The middle schoolers I worth with would not be able to pass the five-finger test for this book. I also disagree with the lack of glossary. There are a lot of old, maybe even archaic words included and not everyone has access to an instant dictionary, nor would want to always have to paw one.

Other recommended award winners and honors:
A Ball for Daisy (2012 Caldecott winner)
Me...Jane (2012 Caldecott honor)

Paint! Themed Storytime

Today was yet another day I found myself an hour away from storytime totally unprepared. Luckily, I had spied a book during this morning's class visit (You know, when a class comes, tears books off the shelves and strew them about?). I found it on the shelf and built a whole storytime around it, which worked out awesome. Bear's Picture by Daniel Pinkwater is a story that is a great way to get across to kids that not everyone has to understand your art. Plus, there are subtle notes of dealing with judgment, visualization, and perception. Then end is a nice treat. Then I found Wait! No Paint! by Bruce Whatley, which is the tale of the Three Little Pigs, but wouldn't you know it? The book's illustrator is having some difficulties and butts into the story. I remembered a couple summer reading programs ago, the theme was Be Creative! and we had a storytime-in-a-box for I Ain't Gonna Paint No More by Karen Beaumont. The box included a foam board stand up paper doll that was laminated so we could actually paint on it then wipe it off, paint, paint brushes, a tarp and paint bibs for the kids. I had a great storytime with that box. So I decided that that would be the end of today's storytime, except I drew a paper doll figure on a giant sticky note pad and used that instead of the laminated stand-up. For the paint theme finale, I read I Ain't Gonna Paint No More, which is a fun book that you can sing or rhyme along with to the tune of It Ain't Gonna Rain No More. The story is about a mom who tells her bad child that he can't paint anymore. This kid, he thinks differently and paints different parts of himself in each verse. I gave the kids who came to storytime paper doll cut outs (You can make on your own by cutting out big gingerbread men or purchase), crayons and markers. Then they colored along with the song/story. After I was done reading the book, I passed around my eye container and they chose what kind of eyes to put on their "painted" dolls. Voila! Art activity and storytime combined. Easy prep, easy clean up. Whew!

ebooks and apps for kids

Here's a great resource for librarians and parents alike. Little eLit provides information and reviews about digital products produced for children. I took a quick peruse through the blog and there are reviews of apps and ebooks as well as interesting articles on the subject. I'm not big on giving kids the opportunity to get in more screen time, but I guess if they're going to do it anyway, they might as well be reading or using a lit-based app. Either way, check it out.

My Rant on Education and Some Questionable Teachers

Every kid, in every school, in every district, in every state will not be able to understand the same things. Case in point:
A kid came in for homework help and we have excellent homework helpers at our library, yet they were stuck on a particular question on this kid's homework. He was asked to identify the picture by writing the name of the item underneath. This was an exercise in phonics, because all of the pictures were three-letter words using different A sounds. The picture my staff was stumped on was one of a tree with what looked like a stick sticking out of it and a bucket hanging from the stick. I knew what it was immediately, but that's because I watch a lot of TV. How are kids from the inner city of Los Angeles supposed to know what a tree tap is? Or is the word supposed to be sap? Or if it weren't three-letter words, I would've suggested "maple." I was tempted to send a note back to the teacher, but I let it go.

Another kid came in with this ridiculous project topic: What is the role of the library in the community? Now, as a librarian, not only do I know the answer to the question, but I can find ample articles to support my point. What makes this project ridiculous is the fact that it was assigned to a 2nd grader. I dare you... double dare you to find information explaining the role of the public library that a 2nd grader can read. Go ahead. I hope you find something and can share with me because I searched books, databases and all over the Internet, but was unable to find anything below a 6th grade level. Now, what teacher is going to send their 2nd graders out on that kind of goose hunt without searching for themselves to see if there is any information on the topic? The teacher who doesn't care or forgot that they weren't teaching a high school level course. Oh yeah! That's right. Huh.

And then there are the teachers who send all 30+ kids in their class to the library to get books and information on the same topic. Could you give us a heads-up, for goodness sakes? At 3:30 p.m., one kid comes in asking for books on China, we give him all the information he can hold. Then half an hour later the rest of the class is lined up, but all the China books were checked out by the first kid because we had no idea the whole class had the same project. Would it have hurt that teacher to give us a call on Monday to inform us they'd be assigning that topic on Friday? How much time would that take them and save us here at the library. Countless hours my friend. Countless hours.