Libraries: Cathedrals of Our Souls
Showing posts with label Library Programs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Library Programs. Show all posts
Friday, November 16, 2012
Friday, June 15, 2012
Be Your Own Hero: Read Every Day
It's a busy week for libraries the world over!
p.s. If you live in Utah County and haven't signed up for our awesome Summer Reading Program, it's not too late! Sign up by June 30 and you can still qualify for all 8 weeks of rewards!
This week the Orem Public Library opened with our annual
Teddy Bear Picnic
Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday
Ready and waiting for all our guests was our very own
Super Balloon Hero
(generously created and donated by author and balloon sculpture artist, Jeremy Telford)
Read Every Day
LIBRARIES ARE AWESOME!!!
p.s. If you live in Utah County and haven't signed up for our awesome Summer Reading Program, it's not too late! Sign up by June 30 and you can still qualify for all 8 weeks of rewards!
(Mark Pulham's Al Reed and Paige Turner, an Orem Public Library Tradition.)
Monday, October 3, 2011
Storytelling Training Tips
Orem Public Library Children’s Services
September 2011
Dear Storytellers,
Fall is here! And with it come the large crowds at Laptime and Storytime. Some of you have already experienced the huge Laptime audiences of over one hundred people. We have really admired how you have been willing to take on such crowds with skill and enthusiasm.
I recently heard one mom who is new to our library say that she really enjoyed our Laptime and Storytime programs. It was a good reminder to me that we have new families joining us all the time, and we are so pleased that we can offer old and new friends alike programs where they can enjoy seeing and participating in practicing early literacy skills and parenting strategies.
Because our programs are attended by several ages other than the intended audience, they can be tricky to prepare for.
For Laptime, we suggest preparing your material primarily for the babies.
Older kids in the audience will enjoy it even if it is geared toward the youngest patrons.
For Storytime, we often get a mixed crowd with lots of younger siblings attending.
Programs geared towards toddlers seem to work for all ages, so for Storytime we suggest preparing your elements for the preschool crowd in such a way that they can be adapted for toddlers. Usually this means making the story visual or participatory in some way. The key is to be able to adapt to the audience and hold their attention. This doesn’t mean the program has to flow without any interruptions or moments of distracted chaos. But there are things you can do that will continually draw the audience back to you.
Here are a few tips:
o Make sure the audience can see and hear.
o Hold the books so the children can see the pictures.
o Move the books from one side of the audience to the other.
o Choose big books for larger crowds.
o Move quickly and smoothly from one element of your program to the next.
o Plan a program that has elements that can flow easily from one thing to the next.
o Try showing your audience what you are going to do next before telling them what you are going to do next. After they have done it with you a few times you might be able to fit in a brief word of commentary like: “This is a fun game to play right before bedtime.”
o Practice your transitions so that you do not have to look at your notes between elements.
o Make eye contact.
o Know your songs and fingerplays so that you can look at the audience while you do them together.
o Read your book enough times that you know some of the text by heart and can look at the audience while you read. They will be taking cues from your facial expressions and your tone of voice to make meaning of the story. You can also try looking at them while you are pausing to show the illustrations. You may take that moment to say a few words about the pictures or to restate the part you just read in your storyteller voice. Again, this should be a quick thing and should not interrupt the flow of the story too much.
o Learn names.
o This isn’t always practical; however, if one of your story elements includes using names of children, go for it!
o Stick to your time and don’t be afraid to end early.
o Laptime can be just 15 minutes. Storytime can be 25.
o Ending early and on a good note can be much more satisfying than asking the parents in your audience to try to help their children be attentive through one last story.
o Choose age-appropriate materials.
o Choosing age-appropriate materials can be tricky for our mixed crowds. Keep in mind that books that are good for toddlers usually work for all ages. Songs always help—they are a signal to our brains that it is time focus. We have noticed many of you have focusing songs or activities that you do a few times during your program, whenever you need to draw your audience back to attention.
o Sometimes an overall program length is just right but a particular story is too long. Don’t be shy about shortening a book and only doing parts of it. If you really want to do a long story, think of ways you can make it participatory. Many books invite audience participation. Ask a librarian for ideas of some good ones.
o It is okay to do new things and share new ideas that will increase your audience’s knowledge or stretch their attention span a bit. Be sure to present this new information in age-appropriate ways.
o For more ideas and lists of books to use for different ages, see Crash Course in Storytime Fundamentals by Penny Peck (2009). OPL Link
If you’re like me, when you read through this list of best practices, you nod your head in agreement because it makes sense. But if you’re like me, you will also wonder if you can really incorporate all these skills into your programs. Don’t worry. Sometimes we are the most critical of our own efforts and have a hard time feeling satisfied with what we have done. As a Children’s Staff we can say that you do wonderful work! We know you have busy lives and many important commitments and responsibilities. Thank you for making volunteer service to the library a priority. How kind of you, and how fortunate for us and our community!
Sincerely,
Amanda and the OPL Children’s Staff
Orem Public Library Children’s Services
September 2011
Dear Storytellers,
Fall is here! And with it come the large crowds at Laptime and Storytime. Some of you have already experienced the huge Laptime audiences of over one hundred people. We have really admired how you have been willing to take on such crowds with skill and enthusiasm.
I recently heard one mom who is new to our library say that she really enjoyed our Laptime and Storytime programs. It was a good reminder to me that we have new families joining us all the time, and we are so pleased that we can offer old and new friends alike programs where they can enjoy seeing and participating in practicing early literacy skills and parenting strategies.
Because our programs are attended by several ages other than the intended audience, they can be tricky to prepare for.
For Laptime, we suggest preparing your material primarily for the babies.
Older kids in the audience will enjoy it even if it is geared toward the youngest patrons.
For Storytime, we often get a mixed crowd with lots of younger siblings attending.
Programs geared towards toddlers seem to work for all ages, so for Storytime we suggest preparing your elements for the preschool crowd in such a way that they can be adapted for toddlers. Usually this means making the story visual or participatory in some way. The key is to be able to adapt to the audience and hold their attention. This doesn’t mean the program has to flow without any interruptions or moments of distracted chaos. But there are things you can do that will continually draw the audience back to you.
Here are a few tips:
o Make sure the audience can see and hear.
o Hold the books so the children can see the pictures.
o Move the books from one side of the audience to the other.
o Choose big books for larger crowds.
o Move quickly and smoothly from one element of your program to the next.
o Plan a program that has elements that can flow easily from one thing to the next.
o Try showing your audience what you are going to do next before telling them what you are going to do next. After they have done it with you a few times you might be able to fit in a brief word of commentary like: “This is a fun game to play right before bedtime.”
o Practice your transitions so that you do not have to look at your notes between elements.
o Make eye contact.
o Know your songs and fingerplays so that you can look at the audience while you do them together.
o Read your book enough times that you know some of the text by heart and can look at the audience while you read. They will be taking cues from your facial expressions and your tone of voice to make meaning of the story. You can also try looking at them while you are pausing to show the illustrations. You may take that moment to say a few words about the pictures or to restate the part you just read in your storyteller voice. Again, this should be a quick thing and should not interrupt the flow of the story too much.
o Learn names.
o This isn’t always practical; however, if one of your story elements includes using names of children, go for it!
o Stick to your time and don’t be afraid to end early.
o Laptime can be just 15 minutes. Storytime can be 25.
o Ending early and on a good note can be much more satisfying than asking the parents in your audience to try to help their children be attentive through one last story.
o Choose age-appropriate materials.
o Choosing age-appropriate materials can be tricky for our mixed crowds. Keep in mind that books that are good for toddlers usually work for all ages. Songs always help—they are a signal to our brains that it is time focus. We have noticed many of you have focusing songs or activities that you do a few times during your program, whenever you need to draw your audience back to attention.
o Sometimes an overall program length is just right but a particular story is too long. Don’t be shy about shortening a book and only doing parts of it. If you really want to do a long story, think of ways you can make it participatory. Many books invite audience participation. Ask a librarian for ideas of some good ones.
o It is okay to do new things and share new ideas that will increase your audience’s knowledge or stretch their attention span a bit. Be sure to present this new information in age-appropriate ways.
o For more ideas and lists of books to use for different ages, see Crash Course in Storytime Fundamentals by Penny Peck (2009). OPL Link
If you’re like me, when you read through this list of best practices, you nod your head in agreement because it makes sense. But if you’re like me, you will also wonder if you can really incorporate all these skills into your programs. Don’t worry. Sometimes we are the most critical of our own efforts and have a hard time feeling satisfied with what we have done. As a Children’s Staff we can say that you do wonderful work! We know you have busy lives and many important commitments and responsibilities. Thank you for making volunteer service to the library a priority. How kind of you, and how fortunate for us and our community!
Sincerely,
Amanda and the OPL Children’s Staff
Friday, May 6, 2011
Workshops 2011
It's that time of year!
We get to have our storyteller training workshops! The following are a few insider notes regarding what we do at the OPL.
Training workshops for our volunteer storytellers can be a lot of work. We want so very much for them to be wonderful learning experiences filled with tips, tricks and energizing new ideas; great get togethers where our storytellers can mingle and get to know each other and just an awesome all around gathering with snacks included.
City budget cuts have forced us to reduce our once quarterly workshop opportunities. Now, instead of having our tellers commit to 2 or 3 of the 4, we really need them there for everything they can get to.
Occasionally we are able to capitalize on our Timpanogos Storytelling Festival connections where we can send our storytellers to special storytelling events. This last February we were able to provide free admission to one of the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival's Midwinter events.
Each workshop is presented twice. One is an evening program starting at 7:00 p.m. (that's the one this Thursday 5/12/11) and a repeat will be presented Saturday at 10:00 a.m. (5/14/11). The actual program should only last an hour, but we've blocked off the room for 2 hours. For some reason storytellers like to talk, go figure.
We get to have our storyteller training workshops! The following are a few insider notes regarding what we do at the OPL.
Training workshops for our volunteer storytellers can be a lot of work. We want so very much for them to be wonderful learning experiences filled with tips, tricks and energizing new ideas; great get togethers where our storytellers can mingle and get to know each other and just an awesome all around gathering with snacks included.
City budget cuts have forced us to reduce our once quarterly workshop opportunities. Now, instead of having our tellers commit to 2 or 3 of the 4, we really need them there for everything they can get to.
Occasionally we are able to capitalize on our Timpanogos Storytelling Festival connections where we can send our storytellers to special storytelling events. This last February we were able to provide free admission to one of the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival's Midwinter events.
Each workshop is presented twice. One is an evening program starting at 7:00 p.m. (that's the one this Thursday 5/12/11) and a repeat will be presented Saturday at 10:00 a.m. (5/14/11). The actual program should only last an hour, but we've blocked off the room for 2 hours. For some reason storytellers like to talk, go figure.
Join us for
There's More than One Way to Spin a Tale!
Please call the Orem Public Library (the 7050 #, then ask for the Children's Desk) by Tuesday, 5/10/11 if you are in the area and want to participate. All tellers, librarians or storytime-interested-persons are welcome.
Not in the area?
Reading this after the fact?
Keep watching, I'll post all about it by late Saturday
Special thanks go out to Cheryl, Amanda and Lori who have sweated, brain stormed and slaved away in order to make this first librarian hosted workshop of the year work.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Summer Reading...in the beginning
One of the pleasures of my job as a librarian in a very large OPL children's library is to help plan for our Summer Reading program!
- This year we were granted a traveling Harry Potter's World: Renaissance Science, Magic, and Medicine display on July 14–August 13.
- Our Fall Big Read, granted by the National Endowment of the Arts, book is going to be Ursula Le Guin's A Wizard of Earthsea.
Naturally we wanted to tie into these two events and so our Fantasy Summer Reading theme was born:
Through the Looking Glass
We will start with a grand kick-off in June with our Teddy Bear's Picnic, an annual summer tradition. This year's TBP theme will be The Mad Hatter's Tea Party!
Then, each week we will have themed programming that dishes up a heaping helping of fantasy and whimsy served up with a dose of hands on non-fiction fun.
-Our Process-
if you are interested...
We start brainstorming in January.
What theme do we want to go with this year, what talent do we have that we can tap into, what will the kids absolutely love and what can we do that we can support with our collection (do we have enough books on the subject).
We start contacting local businesses for coupon donations in January.(I've been told by some of the businesses that they are getting over 30% return rate - over 30% of the coupons are getting redeemed. Apparently this is an extremely high rate and much desired by businesses)
In March and April we start contacting local talent (authors, illustrators, storytellers, magicians, zoos, museums, clubs and such) to see if they would be interested in donating their talents to the local library in return for free advertisement, or if they will come for a reduced fee. We have a working budget of ZERO dollars and the only way to offer money is if we get a grant.
Some weekly themes that we are considering are:
Mythological Magic~
Make your own mythological beast
Mythology and the natural world (earthquakes, mammoth skulls=Cyclops)
Pop-up monster maker - ala Robert Sabuda
Create your own mythological beast:
1. Pick animal or human
2. Choose evil or good
3. Draw physical characteristics from a bowl (spiky tail, head of a lion)
4. Pick emotional characteristics (kindness, love, anger, silliness, prankster, etc.)
5. Create a name
Books to Highlight:
Percy Jackson
Tales from the Odyssey
Young Heroes
Myth-o-Mania
398’s
290’s
Companions Quartet
Fire Thief
Medieval Merrymaking~
Fencing demonstration
Make newspaper swords
Magic - Magicians!
Books to Highlight:
Dragon Slayers Academy
Rowan of Rin
Sword in the Stone
Gerald Morris titles
Chronicles of Prydain
Susan Cooper
Moongobble and Me
Deltora Quest
Protector of the Small
Get Well, Good Knight
Good Night, Good Knight
Fairy Tales and Fish Tales~
Puppet Show
Books to highlight:
Forbidden Sea
Mermaids Three Wisdoms
Princess Fish Tale
Redwall
Warriors
Guardians of Ga’Hoole
Silverwing
Underland Chronicles
Tales from Dimwood Forest
World According to Humphrey
Dragons and Dinosaurs~
Paleontologist visit
Books to highlight:
Dragon Slippers
Pit Dragon
Dinotopia
My Father’s Dragon
Secrets of Droon
Tales of the Frog Princess
How to Train Your Dragon
Dragon Adventures
Erec Rex
Keepers
Lily Quench
Dragonology Chronicles
Dragon Keeper
Enchanted Forest Chronicles
Pirates Aplenty, Pirates Galore!~
Pirate Pete and Pirate Joe skit
Create your own pirate name (Dirty Thumb Fran, Stinky Face Bryan)
Learn a sea chantey
Walk the plank
Pirate jokes
Books to Highlight:
Treasure Island
Peter Pan
Peter and the Starcatchers
Pirate Pete & Pirate Joe
True Adventures of Charlotte Doyle
Pirate Queens
Pyrates
How to be a Pirate (series Heroic Misadventures)
Something Wickedly Weird
Vampirates
Edge Chronicles
Wings andThings~
Local illustrator guest
Wing creation demo (younger group)
Insect expert
Paper airplanes
Butterfly net demo
Books to Highlight:
Disney Fairies
Rainbow Magic
Weather Fairies
Navigator
Beetles, Lightly Toasted
Project Mulberry
Bug Boy/ Bug Girl
Bug Muldoon
Creepy Crawly Cuisine
Bugs for Lunch
I must admit that these is a big group effort. I am humbled when I think of what would happen if I were in charge of this programming. I am just not that creative. It's huge thanks to our whole staff and our willing volunteers that make the OPL Summer Reading Program what it is today.
Part of my job is to come up with fun exploratory projects that can be done with large groups of elementary (and younger) aged kids that compliment our themes.
Currently I am testing out ideas like...
- Sink art with chalk
- Mirror self portraits
- Pop-up making demonstrations, with handouts
- Bug 'Tasting' Contest
- Making Medieval jewelry
- Divination by way of String games
- Optical Illusion trickes
- Making Comic Flip Books
- and... well, I'm still thinking
- This year we were granted a traveling Harry Potter's World: Renaissance Science, Magic, and Medicine display on July 14–August 13.
- Our Fall Big Read, granted by the National Endowment of the Arts, book is going to be Ursula Le Guin's A Wizard of Earthsea.
Naturally we wanted to tie into these two events and so our Fantasy Summer Reading theme was born:
Through the Looking Glass
We will start with a grand kick-off in June with our Teddy Bear's Picnic, an annual summer tradition. This year's TBP theme will be The Mad Hatter's Tea Party!
Then, each week we will have themed programming that dishes up a heaping helping of fantasy and whimsy served up with a dose of hands on non-fiction fun.
-Our Process-
if you are interested...
We start brainstorming in January.
What theme do we want to go with this year, what talent do we have that we can tap into, what will the kids absolutely love and what can we do that we can support with our collection (do we have enough books on the subject).
We start contacting local businesses for coupon donations in January.(I've been told by some of the businesses that they are getting over 30% return rate - over 30% of the coupons are getting redeemed. Apparently this is an extremely high rate and much desired by businesses)
In March and April we start contacting local talent (authors, illustrators, storytellers, magicians, zoos, museums, clubs and such) to see if they would be interested in donating their talents to the local library in return for free advertisement, or if they will come for a reduced fee. We have a working budget of ZERO dollars and the only way to offer money is if we get a grant.
Some weekly themes that we are considering are:
Mythological Magic~
Make your own mythological beast
Mythology and the natural world (earthquakes, mammoth skulls=Cyclops)
Pop-up monster maker - ala Robert Sabuda
Create your own mythological beast:
1. Pick animal or human
2. Choose evil or good
3. Draw physical characteristics from a bowl (spiky tail, head of a lion)
4. Pick emotional characteristics (kindness, love, anger, silliness, prankster, etc.)
5. Create a name
Books to Highlight:
Percy Jackson
Tales from the Odyssey
Young Heroes
Myth-o-Mania
398’s
290’s
Companions Quartet
Fire Thief
Medieval Merrymaking~
Fencing demonstration
Make newspaper swords
Magic - Magicians!
Books to Highlight:
Dragon Slayers Academy
Rowan of Rin
Sword in the Stone
Gerald Morris titles
Chronicles of Prydain
Susan Cooper
Moongobble and Me
Deltora Quest
Protector of the Small
Get Well, Good Knight
Good Night, Good Knight
Fairy Tales and Fish Tales~
Puppet Show
Books to highlight:
Forbidden Sea
Mermaids Three Wisdoms
Princess Fish Tale
Redwall
Warriors
Guardians of Ga’Hoole
Silverwing
Underland Chronicles
Tales from Dimwood Forest
World According to Humphrey
Dragons and Dinosaurs~
Paleontologist visit
Books to highlight:
Dragon Slippers
Pit Dragon
Dinotopia
My Father’s Dragon
Secrets of Droon
Tales of the Frog Princess
How to Train Your Dragon
Dragon Adventures
Erec Rex
Keepers
Lily Quench
Dragonology Chronicles
Dragon Keeper
Enchanted Forest Chronicles
Pirates Aplenty, Pirates Galore!~
Pirate Pete and Pirate Joe skit
Create your own pirate name (Dirty Thumb Fran, Stinky Face Bryan)
Learn a sea chantey
Walk the plank
Pirate jokes
Books to Highlight:
Treasure Island
Peter Pan
Peter and the Starcatchers
Pirate Pete & Pirate Joe
True Adventures of Charlotte Doyle
Pirate Queens
Pyrates
How to be a Pirate (series Heroic Misadventures)
Something Wickedly Weird
Vampirates
Edge Chronicles
Wings andThings~
Local illustrator guest
Wing creation demo (younger group)
Insect expert
Paper airplanes
Butterfly net demo
Books to Highlight:
Disney Fairies
Rainbow Magic
Weather Fairies
Navigator
Beetles, Lightly Toasted
Project Mulberry
Bug Boy/ Bug Girl
Bug Muldoon
Creepy Crawly Cuisine
Bugs for Lunch
I must admit that these is a big group effort. I am humbled when I think of what would happen if I were in charge of this programming. I am just not that creative. It's huge thanks to our whole staff and our willing volunteers that make the OPL Summer Reading Program what it is today.
Part of my job is to come up with fun exploratory projects that can be done with large groups of elementary (and younger) aged kids that compliment our themes.
Currently I am testing out ideas like...
- Sink art with chalk
- Mirror self portraits
- Pop-up making demonstrations, with handouts
- Bug 'Tasting' Contest
- Making Medieval jewelry
- Divination by way of String games
- Optical Illusion trickes
- Making Comic Flip Books
- and... well, I'm still thinking
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