Catch the Possibilities

This picture is one I took at Children's Fairyland. Why was I there?

I went to the ALSC Institute in Oakland and it was amazing! I can totally understand why many librarians consider this a not-to-miss conference. I will definitely try to make it back to one in the future. One of the benefits of a national conference is that you get to rub elbows with librarians of all stripes and job titles from all over the country. But the added bonus for me is that the content was so focused on children's services. I can't remember the last time I attended a conference (except maybe my first back when everything sounded interesting!) and felt like almost everything could apply to me and my situation.

The reason I was able to attend this conference was that Melissa Depper, Marge Loch-Wouters, Amy Koester, and I presented on preschool programming beyond storytime. We encouraged people to tweet using hashtag #unboxST and you can view our slides. I couldn't have asked for a better team of colleagues to present with. Of the group I am clearly the least experienced presenter, but their confident, relaxed attitudes helped me feel comfortable and find my groove. Thanks for your awesomeness, ladies!

It was great hearing a few ideas from the audience at each of our sessions, and I encourage you to keep sharing your ideas with us-- we love to experiment and hear about your successes (or not successes, that's a real part of the process too!)

I'll leave you with one more photo from Fairyland. Because I just can't help it. I've never experienced anything quite like it before. I will say, it was nice to be in a children's space (theme park? amusement park? entertainment center? not sure exactly what I'd label it) that was free of product placements and advertising. I think popular characters are great and have their place in motivating kids to read and learn, but I enjoyed seeing something different.

In a few weeks, Marge, Amy, Mel, and I are presenting at the ALSC National Institute on Preschool Programming Beyond Storytime. Yay! We're in the process of putting together a Pinterest board of All The Things to go with our presentation, and while I consider myself a pretty well-(blog) read librarian, I know that I've missed things over the years. If you've posted about any of these kinds of programs on your blog, leave a comment letting me know which ones. No need to list specific links unless I can't keyword search your blog :)

I'm so excited to see all of the wonderful, inventive things you are all doing to support our preschool patrons!

-Picture Book Parties
-Dance Parties
-Parachute Programs
-Programs like 1000 Before K but focused on babies (like Baby Book Bees)
-Special Guest storytimes (like this ballet storytime)
-Dramatic play with deposit collections at outreach sites (see this post)
-Theater with preschoolers (like this program)
-Preschool Science
-Obstacle courses/Mazes/Gross Motor Play

On Friday, March 14th, known to all math enthusiasts as "Pi Day," I held a special event for preschoolers. Yup. Preschoolers. Now we didn't go too deep into how exactly one would use pi, but we did have a lot of fun and we learned some things too!

To start, I gathered everyone around a small parachute (6' diameter) that I had laid on the ground. I read the book 600 Black Spots by David Carter, but Press Here by Hervé Tullet would be another read-aloud for Pi Day. Next, I showed a picture of the pi symbol and talked about what a symbol was, and then we read out loud the first 12 digits in the number.


After that, I had all the kids stand up around the parachute. I had one volunteer walk around the outside of the whole circle to demonstrate circumference. (Of course we had to practice saying the big vocabulary words!) Next I grabbed a ball of yarn and had two children on the opposite sides of the circle hold onto the string to demonstrate diameter. Then one of the children moved into the center of the circle to demonstrate radius.

I happen to have a very bright 5 year old who does math with his dad every morning that attends many library programs. It was at this point that he piped up "and the area of the circle is pr²!" and several heads turned in the room. :)

After the large group discussion, I had several activities for families to work through at their own pace.

Activity 1: Fraction Paper Plates
Simply cut up paper plates into halves, thirds, etc. You can practice trying to create a whole, or just match the same size fractions together.

Activity 2: Circle Pattern Worksheet
Color the pattern worksheet and create your own. Sequencing is a great beginning math skill. I also set out a pattern matching game I have.

Activity 3: Cup Paintings
We're all about circles today! Paint, some big pieces of paper, and cups of various sizes.


Activity 4: Pi Day Bracelets
I set out some stretchy elastic cord and beads. The person who posted about this idea had kids create pattern using the digits in Pi, but I just stressed the fact that a bracelet was a circle with the preschoolers.

Activity 5: Yarn Measurements
I set out various round objects, rulers, and string. The idea is that if you measure the circumference of a round object and then cut the string into 3 equal parts. Each piece of the string will be just a little bit bigger than the diameter of the object you measured. (The exact difference it is bigger is equal to pi).

Activity 6: Create Your Own Pie
I tried to come up with the simplest "pie" resembling snack I could, so I purchased mini pre-made graham cracker crusts, pudding cups, and a can of whipped cream. I dumped several pudding cups (I stuck to vanilla, butterscotch, and chocolate flavors) into a bowl so caregivers didn't feel obligated to encourage their child to use an entire pudding cup worth of pudding if they didn't want. The plastic dividers inserted between the crusts made perfect little lids for the families who wanted to take their pies home rather than eat them right before lunch. I also provided lunch bags for them to take them home in.

While nearly all the flannelboards I make these days are something I saw on Flannel Friday, there are two people who, when I see their stuff, I always think, "shoot, I wish I would have thought of that!"

1. Jane at Piper Loves the Library. I envy her artistic abilities. I started backing my flannels with black after seeing some of her posts, like this set of dinosaurs. And another "oldie but goodie--" mice glued to paint stir sticks.

2. Mel of Mel's Desk. Mel has a way of convincing me that flannelizing things like Raffi's song "Thanks a Lot" is a great idea for baby storytime. (Check out her Rattlin' Bog post for another example). Mel also inspires me to want to a)create more original flannels, so that b)I can create and share templates to allow others to recreate the ideas more easily!

But my new favorite, guaranteed hit, flannel comes from SLC Book Boy. This rhyme about turkeys pretending to be other things, coupled with the cartoon-style figures is comedy gold.

Okay... take two. Pro tip: put your glasses on before attempting to delete a placeholder post. Accidentally clicked on the roundup one! Ack! So a few of you may have enjoyed the roundup already.. here's my attempt to recreate what I said!

Ideas for Spring:
Kites somehow always make their way into my storytimes in the spring. Kathryn has a fun rhyme she wrote about kites over at Fun With Friends at Storytime.

Itsy Bitsy Mom flannelized the book Hatch by Katie Cox and I know her storytimers will be so excited to see all the animals that hatch from those eggs.

The Library Village brings their take on a Flannel Friday favorite: Rainbow Stew. I like including rainbows in with my St. Patrick's Day storytimes because it relates to the holiday but also allows you to choose quality storytime material.

Christine at Felt Board Ideas shares Five (happy!) Little Shamrocks just in time for St. Patrick's Day.

Play!
Brooke's Play and Learn flannelboard station features a Mr. Potato Head activity this month. What a fun way to encourage children to play and create story.

A Librarian Less Ordinary shares an idea for colored rice she's been using in her kindergarten and first grade centers.

Animals Galore:
Bridget flannelized her dog. Like her real dog. Seriously. It's amazing. Hi, Chester!

Monica at Ram Sam Storytime has updated her farm animals set. Such a clever and time-saving strategy.

Summer Reading:
Thrive After Three has two ideas for summer reading, a board game and a collaborative book share.

Jane at Piper Loves the Library has several ideas for the Fizz, Boom, Read summer program.

Are you including dinosaurs in your summer storytimes? Storytime Katie has 10 Little Dinos that are a must make!

As always, check the Flannel Friday website, Facebook, and Pinterest accounts for more information and past Flannel Friday creations. Are you on the Flannel Friday map? Add yourself via this survey.

Feeling inspired by the Olympics, I thought it would be fun to do an artist study of Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky for Little Learners in February.

A great new picture book about him just came out, The Noisy Paint Box: the Colors and Sounds of Kandinsky's Abstract Art by Barb Rosenstock, illustrated by Mary GrandPré. This picture book biography explains how as Kandinsky painted, he heard sounds. Upon receiving a gift of paints from his aunt, he painted and painted the music he heard. His paintings were unlike anything that had been done before, so his parents enrolled him in art classes so he could learn to paint "real" things. For a while, Kandinsky did this, but eventually, the sound of the colors could not be ignored. Naming his paintings like musical compositions, he painted what he heard and felt. This new kind of art we now call abstract art.


The book would be a fun read aloud, and I think could even work in a storytime setting with older groups, but it was a bit longer than what I wanted for this program. So instead, I just talked my way through the book and showed some of the illustrations.

I also read The Rainbow Book by Kate Ohrt. Tying colors and feelings together, this book is concise and has neat die-cut illustrations. Another good option would be My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss.

Inside view

I've always enjoyed Kandinsky's brightly colored, abstract paintings, and Color Study: Squares with Concentric Circles stood out as one that would be accessible for preschoolers to recreate.

I started out with a print of the Color Study on an easel. I asked the kids who they thought made it. Then I asked them what title they would give it. Then I explained about the piece, and said we were going to make our own.

I gave them 12x18 sheets of paper and we folded them in half horizontally, and in thirds vertically, so we had 6 spaces to work in.

I warned the caregivers ahead of time that this would test their patience because unless an explosion of frustration was brewing inside their little person, or their scissor skills were bordering on unsafe, I encouraged the caregivers to let the kids do all the cutting. Not only is knowing how to operate scissors an important life skill, it also builds fine motor skills and hand muscles the kids will need when they start writing. The kids cut and glued their circles into layers. (For more on children and scissors from an OT standpoint, visit the Child Association, OT Mom Learning Activities, and Parents magazine)

As we worked, I played a variety of music from classical to jazz to rock to Raffi.  Kandinsky had synesthesia and for him sound and color were linked.

Here are some of the results:


Check out these resources to build your own Kandinsky art exploration!

Discovering Great Artists by MaryAnn F. Kohl and Kim Solga (pg 60)
Kandinsky Concentric Circles at Pre K and K Sharing
Kandinsky and the Rainbow Art Project at Deep Space Sparkle
Going in Circles with Kandinsky at Georgetown Elementary Art Blog
Wassily Kandinsky Printing Lesson at wecreate art tutorials

I have the honor of hosting two great flannel ideas from Youth Services Librarian, Karen Hiebert. You probably recognize her name if you're active on the Flannel Friday or Storytime Underground Facebook pages; Karen is always sharing great things!

Today she brings you H-E-A-R-T, a Valentine's version of traditional song, B-I-N-G-O and Red Heart, Red Heart, a love-filled adaptation of Brown Bear, Brown Bear.


Karen says, "My Bingo has the traditional bingo song (b-i-n-g-o) but instead I would say "H-e-a-r-t" and as each letter is taken away, I remove them from the flannel board. It was my first time doing these so it needs [a] little work. But the parents and kids seemed to know the bingo song pretty easily." This was inspired by Storytime Katie!

Karen says,  "[My] version goes: Red heart, red heart, what do you see? I see a red heart smiling at me, etc. Until the very end when I put a LARGE green valentines day card in the middle that says "I Love You" and tell the kids happy valentines day!!" I also try to put the individual hearts into a heart shape as well." Check out this video by littlestorybug to see the rhyme being performed.