Library & Literary Miscellany

April 2 has been International Children’s Book Day since 1967 (this ties it in with Hans Christian Andersen’s birthday). International Children’s Book Day is “celebrated to inspire a love of reading and to call attention to children’s books.” Each year the day is hosted by a different National Section of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) and each year the day has a different theme.

A list of International Children’s Book Day National Sections and themes from 1995-2008 is available at the IBBY site where you’ll be see that this year’s host National Section is Thailand and the theme is “Books Enlighten: Knowledge Delights.”

And as long as we’re talking about special book-related times and themes, don’t forget to celebrate April as National Poetry Month.

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Jacketflap is a community where children’s literature writers, illustrators, librarians, agents, editors, publicists, and publishers can gather and discuss myriad aspects/resources related to children’s literature. Jacketflap has some great offerings such as the searchable database and the members’ bookshelves (read more about Jacketflap’s resources on the About Us page).

More recently, Jacketflap has developed a couple of neat tools for kidlitosphere bloggers and blog readers (I first became familiar with these resources through the post at Book Bud (thanks much)). Since these are cool tools with high utility, I want to briefly highlight the blog portal and the Cybils widget…

About the Jacketflap megablog portal:

The Jacketflap megablog portal collocates the most recent posts from all the kidlitosphere blogs that are currently indexed by the Jacketflap Blog Reader (over 580 as of this posting). It’s a helpful resource for keeping up with keeping up (not to mention the entertainment factor). Jacketflap provides the following navigation tips:

Click the dates in the calendar on the left to view blog posts from a particular date. Scroll down through the list of Recent Posts in the left column and click on a post title that sounds interesting. Click a tag in the right column to view posts about that topic. You can view all posts from a specific blog by clicking the Blog name in the right column, or you can click a “More Posts from this Blog” link in any individual post.

About the customizable Cybils widget:

The Cybils Widget displays a different Cybils 2007 nominee every time it loads on your website. There are links where your site visitors can visit the Cybils website and to buy the nominated book on Amazon or a local bookstore (via Booksense).

I included the widget in this post, but I’ve also placed it on my blog’s right sidebar (at least for the time being).

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We’re officially three days into the 2007 Children’s Book Week which runs from November 12-18, 2007. Begun in 1919, Children’s Book Week is the longest running literacy event in the country. This year’s theme is Rise Up Reading!

You can find more information and order promotional materials related to Children’s Book Week from the Children’s Book Council website. The Children’s Book Council affirms Children’s Book Week as follows:

A celebration of the written word, Children’s Book Week introduces young people to new authors and ideas in schools, libraries, homes, and bookstores. Through Children’s Book Week, the Children’s Book Council encourages young people and their care givers to discover the complexity of the world beyond their own experience through books.

Note: In 2008, Children’s Book week is moving from mid-November to May 12 - 18. With its new dates, Children’s Book Week will tie more fully in to the Children’s Book Council’s “Children’s Choices” lists.

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I posted a Thanskgiving Storytime Plan earlier this month, but, this here’s a little bit different, a bit and a byte different one might say.

Today, I began helping out at Mindscapes, a local technology education center, with the Bits and Bytes storytime sessions. The basic idea underpinning Bits and Bytes is to be a session full of discover learning for young children and their caregivers.

To this end, Bits and Bytes moves beyond the traditional book and song-based themed story time by also incorporating hands-on exploration of age-appropriate technology tools, web sites, and software! For instance, today the technology showcased included Starfall.com, KidPix drawing software, and Bee-bot (which, for the purposes of the session, was decked out as a highly colorful turkey-bot). You can find out more about each of these tech tools by visiting the freely available Starfall.com, Amazon’s KidPix pricing and use information, and Terrapin Logo’s home pages for its pricing and information related to Roamer and Bee-bot robots.

At any rate, the basic outline of today’s Bits and Bytes session was as follows:

STORY BITS:
Song:
I’m a Little Turkey (to the tune of “I’m a Little Teapot”)
I’m a little turkey,
My name is Albuquerque. (a turkey puppet was used)
Here are my feathers
Here is my head
Gobble, gobble, gobble,
Is what I say,
Quick! Run! It’s Thanksgiving Day!

Book: Ten Fat Turkeys by Tony Johnston and Richard F. Deas

Song: I’m a Turkey (To the Tune of: “Yankee Doodle”)
I’m a turkey, big and fat.
[Action: Spread arms wide]
I spread my tail. I walk like that.
[Action: Spread fingers like a turkey’s tail and waddle]
Each day’s corn I will not miss,
[Action: Pat and rub stomach]
And when I talk, I sound like this:
[Action: Point to mouth; Cup hand behind ear]
GOBBLE! GOBBLE! GOBBLE!
[Action: Shout]

TEÇHNOLOGY BYTES: Introduction to Starfall.com–where children have fun learning to read

STORY BITS:
Book: Over the River: A Turkey’s Tale by Public Domain and Illustrated by Derek Anderson

TECHNOLOGY BYTES:
Use the KIDPIX drawing software to draw the turkey to go along with the book, Over the River

STORY BITS:
Book: This is the Turkey by Abby Levine and Paige Billin-Frye

Song: If You’re Thankful and You Know It (Tune: “If You’re Happy and You Know It”)
If you’re thankful and you know it,
Clap your hands.
If you’re thankful and you know it,
Clap your hands.
If you’re thankful and you know it,
Then your face will surely show it.
If you’re thankful and you know it,
Clap your hands.

Other verses: Stomp your feet, Shout “I am!”, Do all three (Clap your hands, Stomp your feet, Shout “I am!”), add other verses as desired

Departing Song (optional):
It’s time to go home, It’s time to go, home, Wave good-bye to everyone, It’s time to go home.
We had a happy day, We had a happy day, Wave good-bye to everyone, We had a happy day.
We’ll see you next time, We’ll see you next time, Wave good-bye to everyone, We’ll see you next time.

Parents Handout:
A parents handout was also provided in order to reinforce the resources used during the storytime session and to offer suggestions for at-home Bits and Bytes discovery exercises that children and parents would be able to enjoy together. To give you and idea, here’s a good portion of the handout:

This handout includes the storytime plan from the Bits and Bytes session so that, if you wish, you will be able to repeat some of the story hour activities at home. Also included are are some additional resources for your and your child to enjoy together this Thanksgiving and beyond. You will find suggested websites, crafts, and recipes). Enjoy!

More Information about Starfall.com
It’s fun to use Starfall.com with your child at Mindscapes, but Starfall.com is such a multi-purpose educational tool and it includes so much content that the fun never has to end. Starfall.com can be accessed through any internet connection, so you can continue to use anytime with your children to make learning to read motivating and fun.

In addition to enhancing reading development, Starfall.com helps children master necessary technological skills such as using a mouse (hotspots are extra-large to help little hands), clicking and dragging, and employing technology in creative ways.

As a language arts tool, Starfall.com aids reading comprehension, vocabulary enhancement, phonemic awareness, systematic phonics, fluency, and motivation. Starfall.com encourages play and the creation of one’s own unique stories. As the Starfall.com website states, Starfall helps kids recognize the relationship between letters and sounds (the “Alphabetic Principle) which is the foundation of learning to read. To find out more about how you can use Starfall with your children (or how they can use Starfall by themselves) visit Starfall’s Parent site. For pre-readers, the Starfall ABCs section is a great place to begin.

Craft and Recipe Websites:
Bethany Robert’s Thanksgiving Page
Bethany Roberts is the author of the charming, fun Holiday Mice series, and her Thanksgiving pages are equally fun. She includes numerous kid-friendly crafts, activities, and recipes.

Child Fun
The Child Fun site is a treasure trove for child fun (aptly named, is it not?). Just click on the Thanksgiving link under the holidays section to garner ideas for enhancing your holiday.

Enchanted Learning
The Enchanted Learning site includes many crafts and activities such as the Thankful Leaf Wreath, Thankful Tree, and Paper Scarecrow.

The Teacher’s Corner
The Teacher’s Corner site includes many crafts and activities such as the Thankful place mat and Thanksgiving hand poem.

101 kidz.com
The 101 Kidz site includes many links to all sorts of Thanksgiving information–start here for links to Thanksgiving history information, jokes, poems, clipart, activities, and more.

Recipes (just two simple and simply yummy Thanksgiving treats to get you started):

Cornucopia
Bugles corn snacks
Trix cereal
white frosting
Put a small dab of frosting in a bugle. Put several trix in each “cornucopia”.

Turkey Toast
Use a large turkey shaped cookie cutter to cut out shape from wheat bread. Spread the whole shape with peanut butter (for those who have peanut allergies you can substitue another condiment such as marshmallow creme…whoa, sugar rush), Use a raisin for and eye, a slice of a red gummy worm for the wattle, and fruit loops for the tail feathers. Tastes good, and kids love it!

Both of these recipes are from Child Fun under the Thanksgiving section.

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And that basic outline sums up a bit of what Bits and Bytes is about. At a later date, I may be posting more on Bits and Bytes sessions, perhaps even including some pictures and/or a movie. For now, you can see the handout in all of it’s glory as well as the promotional material by clicking on the links below:

• View Parent Handout in Google Documents

• Bits and Bytes Promotional Flier [pdf document]

And if you happen to be in Wichita, next Tuesday, November 20th at 10am, then feel free to stop by for Thanksgiving Bits and Bytes Take 2 (with alterations to content, of course).

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Just FYI, I have added a section to this site listing suggested resources designed to foster literacy about information literacy. The resources (websites, books, and more, oh my…with annotations, of course) were compiled as part of a 2006 graduate school project. They remain germane, and, thus, I have included them on this site. If you have any questions, comments, updates, or revisions, feel free to contact me or to leave a comment on this post. I’ve also briefly explained the site content as follows:

How to use the information literacy site resources (in brief): Since this information literacy project was not originally designed in this site, I had to make some design decisions on how best to import it.

Basically, I chose to import the content so that you can always return to the main information literacy page by clicking on the Information Literacy box on the orange navigation bar that displays below the header on every page of this site. Clicking on the Information Literacy box will always return you to the main navigation page from which you have access to all the sections of the information literacy related site content.

The content is broken up into four main sections of information literacy related resources: resources for teacher-librarians, resources for classroom teachers, resources for library/classroom collaboration, and general information about information literacy and information literacy models. Resources listed include related books, websites, and organizations.

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Fablehaven #1 by Brandon Mull (hardcover 2006, softcover 2007)

A visit to one’s grandparents in Connecticut may not seem to be the most auspicious plot for a hit young adult fantasy, but therein lies the mastery of Brandon Mull’s Fablehaven.

When their parents head off on a cruise, Seth and Kendra head off to spend time with the Grandparents they hardly know. They soon find themselves spending time not just with their Grandpa but with Fablehaven’s other inhabitants—naiads, trolls, ogres, fairies, witches, imps, satyrs, golems, and the like.

In Fablehaven, drinking milk is not solely for the purpose of attaining a specific daily calcium intake. Rather, Seth and Kendra must drink milk from a magical cow in order to attain sight of magical beings. Fablehaven operates according to ancient laws that preserve a tenuous order between the human caretakers and the magical creatures inside the haven. Their Grandfather hopes that by being able to see the haven’s creatures, the children will be wise enough to abide by the ancient laws and to leave the creatures alone.

Warnings can only do so much, however, and despite Grandfather’s warnings, Seth wanders into the forest (leading to a close escape from a witch), captures a fairy (leading to a retributive fairy attack after which he looks suspiciously like a walrus), and opens his window on Midsummer’s Eve (leading to the kidnapping of his grandfather, the unleashing of an evil creature, and the impending demise of Fablehaven).

Seth’s repeated disobedience advances the plot, but also makes him a somewhat disagreeable character whose intelligence readers will repeatedly question. Seth unfortunately does not heed the advice of Dale, one of Fablehaven’s caretaker’s, when Dale tells him, “Smart people learn from their mistakes. But the real smart ones learn from the mistakes of others”. Seth does not learn from the mistakes of others, nor does he seem to learn from his own firsthand mistakes.

Despite Seth’s difficult-to-identify-with character, Kendra’s behavior is more palatable as she strives to right the imbalances brought to Fablehaven by Seth’s actions. Overall, Fablehaven moves at a fast pace and includes enough exotic creatures and suspenseful episodes that it will likely acquire a cadre of loyal readers, particularly as the series progresses with the sequel Rise of the Evening Star (May 2007) and beyond.

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I went to the Wichita Zoo the other day and this is what I saw…

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Theme: Dinosaurs
Planned by: Laura Baas
Ages: Preschool (adapt as necessary)
Length:30 minutes Created:09/20/07

Introduction and Song (5 minutes)
Introduction: What if dinosaurs still walked this earth? Can you imagine? Today we’ll look at some songs and stories where we can use our imaginations to think about dinosaurs and what they were like. Here we go…

Song and Rhyme:
Dinosaurs Walked this Earth (to the tune of Mary Had a Little Lamb, last verse is extra-interactive)
Dinosaurs walked on this Earth,
On this Earth, on this Earth.

Dinosaurs walked on this Earth,
A long, long time ago.
Tyrannosaurus Rex was the king,
Was the king, was the king.
Tyrannosaurus Rex was the king,
A long, long time ago.

Tyrannosaurus (child’s name) was the king,
Was the king, was the king.
Tyrannosaurus (child’s name) was the king,
A long, long time ago.

OR

Dinosaurs lived long ago
Some walked
Stomp.
Some swam
Arms swim.
Some flew you know
Flap arms.
Some were big
Stretch up high.
Some were small
Crouch down low.
Some were gigantic don’t you know?
Stand tall, arms stretched wide.

OR

Oh I Want to Be a Great Big Dinosaur
(Tune: “I Wish I Was an Oscar Meyer Wiener”)
Oh I want to be a great big dinosaur,
That is what I really want to be!
For if I were a great big dinosaur,
Everyone would run away from me…
Ahhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!
Additional Verses:
Stomp away from me
Crawl away from me
Slither away from me

Books (20 minutes), Song inserted into middle:
Books (first three livelier and last three more reflective, select two of each):

1. Bus-A-Saurus Bop by Diane Z. Shore and David Clark Take kids for a hilarious ride by telling them about the bus-a-saurus, the bus that’s a cross between a bus and a dinosaur. Good starting school tale.
2. Dinasour Roar! By Paul Strickland
   Uses dinosaurs in a fun way to teach antonyms.
3. Saturday Night at the Dinosaur Stomp They rock and roll and twirl and tromp at the Dinosaur Stomp
4. Alternate Selection: Dinosaurumpus! (Hardcover) by Tony Mitton and Guy Parker-Rees

Song (between lively and quieter books):
Five Enormous Dinosaurs
5 enormous dinosaurs letting out a roar
(Roar.)
1 went away and then there were four.
4 enormous dinosaurs munching on a tree
(Munch up arms.)
1 went away and then there were three.
3 enormous dinosaurs didn’t know what to do
(Scratch head.)
1 went away and then there were two.
2 enormous dinosaurs having lots of fun
(Smile and laugh.)
1 went away and then there was one.
1 enormous dinosaur afraid to be a hero
(Hide face.)
He went away and then there were ZERO!

1. Edwina, The Dinosaur Who Didn’t Know She Was Extinct by Mo Willems
   Tells an enjoyable tale about acceptance of others who are different.
2. Danny and the Dinasour by Syd Hoff
   Classic trip to the museum with a dinosaur story.
3. How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night? by Jane Yolen and illus. by Mark Teague
   Cute story teaching kids about bedtime routines; part of the mega-popular “How Do Dinosaurs…” series.

Option: Insert poems from Tyrannosaurus was a beast: dinosaur poems by Jack Prelutsky and illus. by Arnold Lobel instead of one or more of the above books.
Conclusion and Song (5 minutes):
Stomp, Stomp, Stomp
The first big dinosaur went stomp, stomp, stomp
I said to the first dinosaur, “Stop, stop, stop!”
The second big dinosaur went run, run, run,
I said to the second dinosaur, “Fun, fun, fun!”
The third big dinosaur went thump, thump, thump.
I said to the third dinosaur, “Jump, jump, jump!”
The fourth big dinosaur went whack, whack, whack
I said to the fourth dinosaur, “You stay back!”
The fifth big dinosaur went creep, creep, creep.
I said to the fifth dinosaur, “It’s time to sleep!”

OR

Dinosaur Song (Sing to the tune of: “Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear” but instead sing Dinosaur, Dinosaur, Turn Around, etc…)

Conclusion: Well, it might not be night-time yet, but it is time to say goodbye. Thanks for coming today. Please have fun using books for all kinds of learning and adventure. Don’t forget to check out some of these books or other ones on your way out. See you next time.

Time Fillers: Anything (book or song) not already used above OR

Tyrannosaurus was a beast: dinosaur poems by Jack Prelutsky and illus. by Arnold Lobel.

OR

Craft: Search the web for a simple dinosaur such as the ones found at Activity Idea Place (Accessed: 09/20/07). Sample crafts from the site include: using pasta to make Dino Bones, using sponges for some Dinosaur Sponge Painting fun, creating Torn Paper Dino Pictures, and Sticker Art.

Books (Code: PB—picture book, BB—board book, ER—easy reader, CB—chapter book):

1. Bus-A-Saurus Bop by Diane Z. Shore and illus. David Clark (PB)
2. Flapdoodle Dinosaurs by David A. Carter (PB)
3. Ten Terrible Dinosaurs by Paul Strickland (PB)
4. Why the Banana Split by Rick Walton (PB)
5. Dinosaur Chase by Caroline Auto (PB)
6. Danny and the Dinasour by Syd Hoff (PB)
7. Tyrannosaurus was a beast: dinosaur poems by Jack Prelutsky and illus. by Arnold Lobel (PB)
8. Jane Yolen and Mark Teague’s How Do Dinosaurs… Series (PB)
9. Ian Whybrow’s Harry Harry and the Dinosaurs books (ER)
10. Byron Barton’s nonfiction dinosaur books (Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs; Bones, Bones, Dinosaur Bones) (PB)

Other Dinosaur Books to Display:

1. Detective Dinosaur by James Skofield (Author), R. W. Alley (Illustrator) (ER) (series)
2. Encyclopedia Prehistorica Dinosaurs: The Definitive Pop-Up by Robert Sabuda (Illustrator), Matthew Reinhart (Illustrator)
3. Magic Treehouse Dinosaur books (CB) series

Note: For more dinosaur books to display see Laura Baas’ WorldCat.org Dinosaurs–Juvenile Fiction list.

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This is a retelling of an old, old English folktale about an old woman whose pig simply will not cooperate. As the tale progresses, she tries to enlist the help of many beings and/or things, the tale adds on to itself in good old cumulative tale fashion. This chain tale retelling is an adaptation of the version recorded by Joseph Jacobs.

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A Storytime Plan is a program combining read-aloud books, fingerplays, music, and crafts for children to get them excited about the world of stories, learning, and ideas. Stories serve many purposes such as enabling us to share experience, understand our world, and build community.

A good rule of thumb in creating a plan is to BE FLEXIBLE: Storytime involves a teller and audience interaction and the teller should plan flexibly enough to switch the order of the program or swap out the stories told and the books read based on the age and attitude of the kids.

Some quick resources for picking out books to use during storytime: story collections in the 398.2 sections, search catalog by subject, WorldCat, Novelist, Amazon, other librarians, online lists, and anything else that seems helpful

Many people have many ideas about how best to proceed with planning and implementing storytime. One framework that I have found useful was developed by Elizabeth Ellis a teller from the US. Her framework for creating a storytelling Program is the following: Haha!, Aha, Aahh, Amen… (now, to elaborate)

• Ha—start with short, funny stories
• Aha—follow with something clever, witty or with a twist
• Aaaah—continue with a longer interesting tale with some emotional depth
• Amen—end with a powerful or meaningful one (or continue for another cycle)

Now, this program framework, like everything to do with storytime, is flexible. For any given plan, the planner might instead decide it best to insert rhymes, songs, crafts, or otherwise. The most common types of of Library Children’s Programs are: Lapsit (emphasizing adult-child interaction and featuring songs and fingerplay activities. Ages: 6 months to 2 years old.), Toddler Time (like lapsit, toddler time also features interactive stories, picture books, songs, fingerplays, and crafts. Ages: 2-3), Preschool Storytime (more of the same, perhaps including longer stories or games).

Each library’s policies and age divisions will vary. From time to time, I will be creating storytime plans for various age groups, and putting them on my Storytime Resources page. Feel free to send me comments and to add your own ideas.

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