SRP 2013

This bad boy was the bane of my existence for a good 2 weeks but it paid off in the end, allow me to explain.... :)
So summer reading has been in full swing around here, and I have been in a tizzy planning the super coolest games and activities for my summer program called "Can You Dig It". P.S. - I planned my entire program on Evernote by the way (which was awesomely helpful for this typically unorganized almost-librarian!) Anyhow back to the behemoth that you see above... It started as a large lcd tv box and, as my unhealthy obsession with cardboard projects continued, I decided to turn it into a punch box game, like this.
My idea was that I would read this book, and then lead the kids on a treasure hunt that ended at the punch box where they were to uncover their buried treasure by punching through the holes and rifling through the "sand" (aka rice). Sounds easy right? Sure, but this program was for 35 kids, and I had to have a hole for each kid to punch through, thus many hours were spent precisely cutting circular cutouts big enough for tiny 4th grader hands. Now if you yourself, feel up to the challenge of creating this mama-jama, then the first thing you are going to need is tape....I mean an obscene amount of tape! Take a look at the tutorial I linked to above, then come back, I'll wait...

Oh hi! Welcome back, alright, so once you have used said tape for the tissue paper here is the tricky part...I really wanted to give the kids the feeling of "digging in the sand" without actually using messy real sand in the library. So i decided to fill the bags with rice, but that doesn't work when you are putting them on upside down. So I placed the treasure (in my case plastic bugs, lizards, snakes, and mardi gras beads) on the tissue paper squares which were taped to the inside of the holes. I then dumped 2 or 3 scoops of rice on top of each item, followed by taping the bags over the top. It is a little tricky to place them just right. But if you use enough tape everything should stay well secured when you (with the help of a very nice friend) flip it gently over. At that point you can then tape the box back together.  I layed my punch box on the floor so the kids could really feel like they were digging in the ground, but I have seen many tutorials where they leave the back off of the box and hang it up. Either way it is sure to be a hit! As soon as the kids discovered the "pirate beach" they swarmed to it like ants on a piece of candy. So if you are feeling ambitious and crafty, give it a try and let me know how it worked out for you. :)

Crazy April, and a Storytime Plan

April 1st marks a very exciting time around these parts! This type of excitement calls for bullet points, don't you think?

• First and foremost, it is the beginning of the next session of storytime, and I have been feverishly planning away for my upcoming Baby Rhyme Time and Preschool sessions on Monday. 
• My crazy hoarding of cardboard boxes will finally come to an end, much to my very organized Boss Lady's happiness, I am sure. (Thanks for cleaning up my disaster zone Boss Lady, sorry it was in such a state :) )
• Hooray!! We finally have another poor soul to torture with Pinterest speak and the constant loop of Disney music in our little department! Our new YS librarian starts April 4th!
• This month marks the last few weeks of this overwhelming semester, most hurrah!
• April 15th is me and my Hub's 10 year dating anniversary (3 years married :) ) and we are taking a much needed staycation <3
• And oh yeah, I guess there's that little thing called my birthday this month too.

So you see, busy, busy-ness. Not to mention plans in the works for my always over ambitious desire to beautify or children's department with various messes crafty things.
So in honor of the first week of storytime, I decided to post my Baby Rhyme Time outline and let you see how my crazy mind works on these sorts of things. Honestly though, seeing other amazing librarian blogs has really helped me visualize ideas for programming and storytime and also really create something that I feel comfortable with and enjoy, so I hope that I can do the same for someone someday.
 So here' goes...

Welcome (introduce myself / what is BRT? / reminders and invitation to participate / introduce babies)

Welcome to baby-parent rhyme time! Rhyme time is all about modeling and encouraging early literacy learning through play. As parents you are your child’s first teacher and they learn best from watching you. So don’t be afraid to sing and play along with me today! Let’s start off by introducing our babies and saying how old they are, and giving them a big round of applause!

Introduce Babies and Age 

(obviously this part will depend on how big your group is, or you can just use nametags)

Opening Song – “My Hands say hello”, feet, eyes, etc.

Yay! Good job everyone! We are going to do some rhymes now and we will repeat each one twice, which will help your child to reinforce new vocabulary.

 Rhymes

• .Row Your Boat (Roll Hands)
• .Wheels on the bus (Motion Rhyme)
• .Where is Baby’s Bellybutton(Tickle Rhyme)
• . Duke of York (Bouncing Rhyme)
• .Giddyap, giddyap, ride to town, (bounce baby on knees, facing forward)
• .Where is baby? (pass out scarves) 

 (I usually keep at least 3 or 4 of these rhymes the same every week - trust me they don't get bored, and it gets the parents to participate more if they have them memorized!)

Book – “Twinkle Twinkle Panda Bear” finger puppet book

Special Sequence with – Signing Time–

(As you can see I change this mostly every week from one of these options)

(i.e. Drum, Tambourine, Bean Bags, Tactile Bag, Rolly Balls, Bubbles, Scarves, Shaky Eggs, Bells, etc)

Literacy Tip: Babies love to hear you sing, and by teaching baby sign language as well, it increases your child’s understanding of language and accelerates language development. It also helps baby to easily explain their wants and needs which decreases frustration and builds communication and fine motor skills.

• .Eat & Drink Signing Song (from Time to Sign Vol.1 cd)
• .Twinkle Little Star

Action Rhymes

• .Slowly Slowly (gather in middle for a baby party, slowly back up, run in)
• .Rub a Dub Dub (Dip babies, and lift while standing)
• .Zoom, Zoom (Bounce and Lift)

(I learned early on not to do too many lifting rhymes - mama's arms get tired lifting those sweet chunky babes, but doing a few are just perfect )

Puppet Time!

• . Puppet – Peacock
• . Music: ST Mix – Track#8- “Little Bird”

(Babies go crazy for puppets. This is a MUST in my weekly rhyme times!)

Music with __Parachute___

(i.e. Shaky Eggs, Bells, Parachute, or no props)

 Shake chute for a bit to get babies comfortable with sitting on it

• .Ring Around The Rosie – Have children sit in middle of chute while parents go in circle

(If parents or children aren't comfortable placing their child on the chute they can let them sit in their lap or hold baby while they help turn the chute. Always give them an out, so they don't feel pressured)

• . Popcorn, popcorn,
  Sizzling in the pan.
  Shake it up, shake it up,
  Bam, bam, bam!
  
  
  Popcorn, popcorn,
  Now it’s getting hot,
  Shake it up, shake it up,
  Pop, pop, pop   

• .Parachute – Itsy Bitsy Spider Rhyme

The Itsy Bitsy (side to side)

Spider (up and down)

Went up the water (side to side)

Spout. (up and down)

Down came the (side to side)

Rain...and (up and down)

...washed the spider (side to side)

out. (up and down)

Out came the (side to side)

sun...and (up and down)

...dried up all the (side to side)

rain...so (up and down)

...the itsy bitsy (side to side)

spider (up and down)

went up the spout (side to side)

again. (up and down)

• Colors Over You

Lullaby – “You Are My Sunshine” (snuggles are important no matter what age :)

Closing Song – “Goodbye, Goodbye”

(I do the same opening and closing song every week so they know what to expect and so they will sing it with me)

So as you can see, this outline is sort of a mish mash of ideas. I mostly kept the outline that my mentor, Miss Boss Lady, started me off with, and slowly added other ideas of my own. I always take this outline in the room with me, as well as all of my rhymes on laminated index cards to have right beside me (Another awesome boss Lady idea!). The signing time and the parachute are new to my rotation. I tried them on a hope and a prayer, while fighting off the urge to pee my pants out of nevousness (TMI, sorry, but I do that a lot...the TMI part, not the peeing in my pants- I'll leave that to my 2 year old...anywhoo...) Babies, and really kids of all ages, love the parachute. It's simple, parents have no choice but to get involved, and it's so much fun to see their faces when they see that thing fly! Did I mention, that I have the best job ever? Because I do!
I should also mention, that while hosting my Baby Rhyme Time, I model all the actions with the help of my trusty little doll, Ron Weasley Jr. Here let me introduce you.... He is quite handsome, is he not? 

He is very helpful, for the parents/caregivers so they can see exactly what I am talking about, and also so I don't feel like a weirdo playing itsy bitsy spider with my imaginary baby (not that any of you are weirdos if you do that! ) It's also a good way to model to parents that there are different ways to adapt the motions depending on their child's age or comfort level.
So anyway that's the gist of it. What are staples in your storytimes? Have you found things that work like magic or something that just didn't go right? Let me know. Part of the extra coolness in this job is learning from this amazing group of creative minds and always wanting to learn more! (Nerdy lecture over) Happy Easter my friends!

Procrastination is my middle name

Ah, procrastination, how I loathe thee, yet we are always side by side, you and I. I am finally to the point of acceptance that I am a terrible procrastinator, point in case, I am using this very blog post to procrastinate as we speak! As I had mentioned before, I have been in college for 500 years (it sure feels like it anyway) especially being ever so close to the age of the big 3-0, and attending classes surrounded by svelte, trendy, 19 year olds, who smell like maryjane and self tanner. As my good friend, Pinterest E-Cards, so perfectly describes...

 

But anyway, I am getting off track, procrastinating as usual (see I told you, it is a problem) I am supposed to be writing a paper right now but have about .0000008% desire to do so. So instead I have decided to type this conversation with you my invisible friends, hurrah. Too bad I can't get a grade for wit, and sarcasm, I am sure that I would pass with flying colors. I don't know how I will explain to my son one day when he inevitably says to me "Moooooom, I don't wanna go to college!" except to say, "Trust me kid, get that mostly useless crap over with as quickly as possible, and then take the small amount of importantness and use it to find a job that you love....and don't do drugs or use self tanner." 

Ah well, enough of my blabbering. Time to say goodbye to my good buddy Procrastination, and meet up with the elusive Miss Get it Done Already. 

This is what I usually look like when I am procrastinating, eh who am I kidding, I pretty much always look this cool. ...don't be jealous. 

Insert witty Blog title post here

Alright, so here goes...after lurking endlessly on other fabulous blogs of gorgeous women who have had three babies and still look like super models yet still find time to apply precise eye makeup, create innovative DIY projects, and cook healthy,home-cooked meals for their husbands who look like Brad Pitt, I decided to hop on board the blog band wagon myself and insert my own everyday, proudly nerdy, and perfectly un-perfect life to the information highway (does anybody call it that anymore, ha?)
 But really, I am beginning this silly little journey because I have always felt the need to write since I was a little one mahself, and what better way to do it these days, eh? So Kelly, what's this shin-dig all about, you ask? (shin-dig - another indication of my hopeless nerdiness) anywhooo...This little baby will be an outlet for me to talk about how super awesome my 2 year old little boy is, because I don't want to miss a moment as he grows up in the blink of an eye! Also I am an aspiring children's librarian (oh yeah, that's right, there are people who WANT to be librarians still, and yes, you have to go to college to be one) who is endlessly stalking other sweet blogs like this and this as I venture into the only job I have ever loved and learn how to put my own spin on it. It is so fulfilling and awesome to have a job that you actually want to go to everyday...I highly recommend it ;) I also adore clothes (mostly the kind that I can't afford) so I just indulge my Pinterest addiction and tuck those away on carefully composed and organized boards of things I will most likely never own. Well that's lame, you say? Ah, but I have a special power some say, and that is the power to thrift! I'm a very seasoned and skilled Goodwill shopper and some of my favorite (and most complimented) pieces in my closet are from this very fine establishment where I try to recreate said outfits. Don't hate, participate! Gah- I know, this awesomeness is blowing your mind isn't it? One thing this blog will not provide is makeup tutorials. I am completely and utterly hopeless in this department and if you have any suggestions (or free lessons!) I am a very willing student. Appearances may be made by the witty sayings and stories of the love of my life, the Hubs, who has been the peanut butter to my jelly for almost 10 years. Side note - Speaking of witty sayings, as I just read this intro for husband approval, and I stated that no one will read this because I don't have sponsors or giveaways, to which he so quickly responded "Give stuff away, we have a whole garage full of stuff - who wants a white jean jacket?" Ha, told you he was funny. Anyway, I forgot to mention my MIL lives with us, which is where such a prized giveaway like a 1980's jean jacket would come from ( and there's MUCH more where that came from...the story and the garage full of crap I mean "valuables"). Anyhow, that's just the tip of the iceberg on this exciting life-o-mine. To sum it up, I lose stuff alot (it's genetic, I blame my mom), I talk too much, I have been going to college for about 500 years, my house is sometimes messy,and I love my bunch of crazies. I  hope you'll join the fun, because maybe you are a little bit like me too :)