Fairytales Around the World March 22, 2010

My collection of passport stamps

Originally uploaded by hjl

One of the things that I love about working with children in libraries is having the ability to do programming. I love coming up with ideas of activities that I can do with the children, and I love having the opportunity to flex my creativity muscles.  So sometimes I find myself daydreaming about the different kinds of programs that I would like to implement in my library when I become a children’s librarian or a media specialist.

Recently, I was daydreaming of the kinds of programming that I would want to do in a media center and I began thinking about fairtyales. As I thought about programming and I thought about fairytales, I remembered how one media specialist I shadowed had combined the two. The programs were engaging, and everyone was having fun.  Thinking back, I realized taht programming and fairytales are a programmer’s dream match.  There is so much that you can do with fairytales in children’s programming!

While I was thinking about programming and fairytales, I also began thinking about passports.  I thought perfect!  Programming, fairytales, and passports is the start to a great programming series! Wondering how these will all tie together?  Well…Fairytales are common in all cultures.  And interestingly enough, there are common fairytales to all cultures.  Fairytales, like Cinderella, can be found in cultures around the world with slight variations to a common plot.

So what does this have to do with passports?  Well, take a hand full of fairytales that have a couple of cultural variations and introduce them to the children.  Take the children around the world with fairytales!  For 3 to 4 weeks focus on one fairytale.   During that 3 to 4 week time period, each class/session should focus on 1 cultural version of the fairytale.  Read the story with children and then talk about it with the children.  You can also plan little activities that are related to that culture.  At the end of the class, the children can have their  passport stamped.  (I would recommend getting different stamps that represents an element of the story.  For instance, for Cinderella I would get a shoe stamp.)  By the end of the program series, the children should have visited a number of different cultures!  Its traveling around the world using fairtytales!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day… March 15, 2010

Happy St. Patrick’s Day…
Originally uploaded by j_jyarbrough

Old Irish Blessing…

May love and laughter light your days,
and warm your heart and home.
May good and faithful friends be yours,
wherever you may roam.
May peace and plenty bless your world
with joy that long endures.
May all life’s passing seasons
bring the best to you and yours!

Happy St Patrick’s Day! Sláinte!

Meet the Librarian Party March 8, 2010

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Originally uploaded by ear1117

As I was going about my day, I began reflecting on the stereotypes that society has about librarians. A common perception is that we are fuddy duddies, that we have buns (if you are a female), wear glasses, have perpetual stern expressions, and like to tell everyone to hush. I cannot say that this image is true of any librarian that I have met recently or of any of the future librarians that I am going to school with. In fact, I would say that librarians as a group are a diverse group of individuals with varying personalities and styles. So how do we break societies perceptions of us? Throw a party of course!

I think a great way to break mis-conceptions of us as professionals and to allow the public to get to know us is to invite them to a Meet the Librarian Party! Give the public an opportunity to meet their local librarians in a safe and fun atmosphere. Not only will this help break stereotypes about us as professionals but it also allows the public to become familiar and comfortable with us. As a result, they are more likely to come to us for help. Think about it…would you feel comfortable asking someone that you do not know and see as a strict person for help finding information or for a book recommendation? I do not think so.

So what would this Meet the Librarian Party look like? Well it would include the entire library staff, and fun little facts about the staff scattered throughout the room (maybe have a poster of each librarian with their background and some fun facts), and food, and games. It should provide the public and the library staff an opportunity to mingle and talk and laugh. And most of all it should be family friendly! Remember when throwing a Meet the Librarian Party that we want to let the public get to know us, but we still need to maintain our professionalism.

So go throw your community a party and invite them to meet you!

Kids Are Battling At School March 1, 2010

Did you know that at schools across the country, classes are battling with each other? Not only are classes battling with each other, but they are duking it out over a bunch of books? Thats right, books! You might think that battling over books is strange but it brings joy to my heart to hear about kids fighting over books! To know that kids are enjoying reading so much that they would go to war over it is exciting to me! What can I say, I am a future librarian!

Now I can see that I might need to clarify what is going on. To anyone who has never heard of this before, it can seem strange to hear about kids battling over books. So in a nutshell, Battle of the Books is a reading incentive program that has been designed to motivate kids in grades 3-12 to read quality literature. Member schools are provided a list of the selected Battle Books for that year. The children are then given most of the school year to read all of th required books on the list. Each class will then select a certain number of students to represent them in a quiz show tournament, where classes in the same grade level will compete against each other. The winners of the tournament may move on to battle at district and national Battle of the Books tournaments.

I was privileged to take part in a 3rd grade Battle of the Books at a local elementary school where I volunteer. It was an amazing experience for both the children and the adults involved. Personally, it was so encouraging to see the excitement that was occurring over books! The experience definitely convinced me to make Battle of the Books part of my media specialist programming, and I hope that you will consider including it too! I promise that your kids will reap benefits from this program while having fun! Everyone who participates in this program walks away a winner!

To learn out more about the Battle of the Books go to http://www.battleofthebooks.org/index.html