Library Sponsored Public LEGO Track at the Pinewood Derby!

So last summer we were able to partner with the Boy Scouts to bring in a Pinewood Derby track for our LEGO Chima party. The next logically awesome step was to create a free track at the Pinewood Derby, JUST for LEGO cars!

The last time I attended a Pinewood Derby was sometime in grade school, so I knew nothing of the magnitude of today's races-- this was at the mall and there were computers to calculate exact times and everything! There were upwards of a hundred Boy Scouts and their families there from the surrounding counties (we're a city of 50,000 people, but we're the largest city for at least 2 hours on the freeway in any direction). The enthusiasm was contagious.

Making Connections: Family Nights and Brewfests

Special thanks to PSB for letting me creep so hard

As the school-age services librarian at my workplace, I do my fair share of outreach-- some in the form of classroom visits to various grade levels, and some in the form of family nights. The patron-return bang for my hourly buck, I'd venture to guess, is in the former. BUT that doesn't mean that I'm not constantly looking for ways to up the ante with my family night offerings.

One might say that I have high expectations for outreach, but I will admit that I don't think there's any reason that, at a non-profit evening where everyone's aim is equal, the public library's table can't be the go-to place that everyone wants to visit. The most happening kiosk on the block, I guess.

Is this too much to try for, or is the very nature of family nights too ingrained and out of our control? Are we doomed to scrounge and scatter for every visitor we can get?

Last weekend I found inspiration in an unexpected place: the Between the Bluffs Beer, Wine, and Cheese Fest.

Spring Break at the Library: Stealth Programming For Days

So first off all, can we give a big round of applause to Chris from Criplold for her stellar  redesign of my blog? She's a graphic design artist, and had an awesome deal while she was distracting herself from other things. Chris is lovely to work with and hella creative. And I don't use the word "hella" lightly. Do you think I came up with any of this? Absolutely not. This is 100% Chris, and I'm kinda in love with it. Hit her up at her blog or on Twitter  to tell her how cool she makes me look, and to ask how you can be cool too.

OKAY, SO: Spring Break. The one week in the school year that tells you what a wuss you've become since last Summer Reading; the glimpse of what's to come that makes you rethink your day for maximum caffeine consumption. This Spring Break for our public schools also was National Library Week, and our library had a program where people could take selfies of themselves, tag them online with a hashtag, and be entered in a drawing for gift cards. I loved this idea, and was sure patrons would be into it; but in YS we looked for ways it could translate for kids.

Of course, there was only one answer:

"K-5 Programming": Differentiating in the Library

This week I had a program where I picked the incorrect book. It was a good book, and good for the topic, and a perfect read-aloud for 8-12 year-old kids.
...Problem was, the day of the program, 4-8 year-old kids showed up. I still "read" the book, skimming pages while following the story; but I left the program disappointed in myself. Why hadn't I prepared for this? Why didn't I just skip the book when I saw who was there? 

I'm kind of glad this came up, because another Iron Fist post has been rattling around in my head, this time about helping kids navigate your programming for success. Truly, the following post is probably step #1 in Traditional Programming Child Management: is your program developmentally appropriate? This is really important to think about now that we're all trying STE(a)M at our libraries. I'm not saying that toddlers can't love learning about the weather or that fifth graders can't love sensory activities; but: how are these ideas presented? Are you explaining clouds in a tangible way that toddlers can connect to their world? Are you talking to fifth graders about the weird things their senses do every day without their knowledge to screw with their heads so they're interested? If they're bored out of their skulls, kids will let you know by acting out. Chaos or disinterest in your program is not their fault, it's yours.

I don't say that to be harsh, I promise. I say that to empower us all: their interest in your program is under your control. 

As I thought about my book of choice, and how disappointed in myself I was, I realized that my programming is influenced by education in a way that I never realized before: differentiating instruction.

Field Trip Adventure Time! with Bryce and Erin

GET IT?

If not please immediately read this post

And learn more about Adventure Time.

FOR THE CHILDREN.

I'm so happy to have this [GIFs and commentary by me] guest post by Erin, a Twitter friend and a student of Marge's CE class. I snagged her when she mentioned me in a tweet about scripting library tours FIELD TRIP ADVENTURES! I was on vacation, and was completely stoked to see her write up in my inbox when I got home! 

And remember, if you'd like try your hand at blogging or if you want to share your version of something you found here (like Erin and Ariel and Julia), please email me at brycedontplay at gmail! I would love to have you create my content so I don't have to.


This guest post is by Erin Davison, Library Assistant II in the Youth Services Department in Holland MI, where she lives with her husband Peter and cat Charles Simic. She used the phrase "done borrowed" in reference to my script idea-- correctly, I might add-- so of course she grabbed the attention of this former Southerner.  Hit her up on Twitter: @erinisinire.

My name is Erin and I was a Lurker [Bryce Note: Hi, Erin.]. My feedly is chock full of smart, creative people's blogs. I joined Twitter almost 2 years ago primarily to follow smart, creative librarians. Last summer, I had the chance to attend ALA and Guerrilla Storytime where I first had the inkling these librarians "rock stars" were actually PEOPLE. I recently had the opportunity to attend MIKidLib14-an unconference planned by Lisa Mulvenna, Anne Clark and Andrea Vernola-and it was at that conference I realized I might be a smart, creative person who had ideas and could help other people. And when Amy Koester wrote the "There is Something Rotten in the State of YS Professional Development" post I felt like it was written for me. I just want to thank all of those blogging, tweeting, Tumblring, Facebookgroup librarians who've been of immeasurable help to me professionally. I WAS a Lurker. I won't be any longer.

[Anyway, back to Erin]
I follow Marge on Twitter and she mentioned something about a class she was going to be teaching online through University of Wisconsin-Madison Extension on Power Children's Programming on a Budget (aside: I do not have my MLS. I've spent the last 13 years thinking that SOMEDAY I would do it, but I just didn't want to commit. In addition to knowing this class would be invaluable to our department, I also figured it would be a good opportunity for me to see if I was capable of keeping up with an online class while working and if online learning was even a good fit for me. University of Wisconsin has, of late, become my first choice school if and when I finally decide to take the leap!).

This.class.has.been.amazing. There have been so many ideas and so many practical ways to implement these ideas regardless of the size or budget of a library.

Week 5 introduced us to Preschool Programming and that's when serendipity really hit. Our department was in the process of revamping our preschool tours-having something that was consistent regardless of who was giving the tours-and when I read the 3 blog posts Marge highlighted, I knew it was exactly the direction we needed to go.

That was last Saturday. Less than a week later, I went for it. 

We decided to go with the "Dog's Colorful Day" idea as we had 10 areas of the department and library we wanted to highlight. I put together a rough "script," printed Dog on card stock (and on the reverse side I printed our upcoming Elephant and Piggie Spring Break programming schedule), scrounged the library for any colored dot stickers I could find (note: preschoolers WILL ask if you don't have a purple sticker. Like the book. Because they're smart like that!), printed BIG dots and hung them in the areas we wanted to highlight with containers of cut up dot stickers and away we went!

We started in the storytime room where I straight up cribbed Sara's opening question about who owns the library: "The librarians! The books own the library! Important people!" Their mouths literally dropped open when I said "Actually EVERYONE in Holland owns the library! YOU do too!" [Bryce Note: This is actually Marge's line] That was the moment I knew things were going to be just fine. We went on to talk about sharing and taking turns and I showed them examples of materials that were damaged by other people. The sadness in the room was palpable when I held up a copy of Gregory the Terrible Eater in pieces. They vowed to always take care of library materials, we read through Dog's Colorful Day and off we went on our library adventure. 

Things I learned: 

• Yes, taking a sticker off the backing with our fingers is great way to help develop fine motor skills. It's also not exactly the most efficient way to hand out stickers to 23 3-5 year olds on a 45 minute schedule. One of our awesome aides was a huge help as were the teacher and parents. Next time? I will hand teachers/parents strips of ALL of the colors at the beginning to peel off at each station and hand out to kids.

• There are so many exciting things in the library! The AWE stations! The puzzles! The wooden carousel! The CONVEYOR BELT! Next time, as we approach our next station, I'm going to have everyone hold their hands in the air when they see the big dot and keep it up until everyone's hands are in the air to help keep focus. I can't fathom the awesomeness  horror [edit by Bryce] of an enormous wooden boat in the department. Our small carousel quickly turned into a jungle gym. I feel your pain.

• The "backstage tour" part where we got to see the conveyor belt was a big hit. Maybe too big of a hit. Next time we'll have a big strip of yellow tape and instruct everyone to not.cross.the.line. 

We used to do a short "storytime" and then a tour through the department (we didn't go downstairs to see where we get library cards or the book drop conveyor). I really really really believe this format is so much more meaningful for preschool aged children. There is something repetitive and concrete they do at each highlighted area. They go home with something from the library. It's tied to a BOOK. And it's developmentally appropriate.

[Bryce Note: For an idea that solves the sticker problem, check out Dinosaur vs. the Library over at Reading with Red]

Cory Eckert: A Tribute (Band?)

Soooo something awesome happened today, and that is: Cory Eckert, founder of Guerrilla Storytime and co-creator of Storytime Underground, was named a 2014 Library Journal Mover & Shaker.I was one of the many librarians who nominated her,in good company with Angie, Kendra, and Amy (and I'm sure there's more). In the spirit of lifting each other up and the fact that the little blurb did not do her justice, Here's what I wrote about Cory-- this time, with GIFs.

Are Your Programs S.A.F.E.? A Librarian Look at the Afterschool Alliance Report

Last week, the Afterschool Alliance published a literature review/report called "Taking a Deeper Dive into Afterschool: Positive Outcomes and Positive Practices." First of all, if you didn't know the Afterschool Alliance was a Thing, I forgive you; but please immediately rectify this situation by adding their incredibly informative website to your radar and maybe even following them on Twitter.

Now, many of us librarians don't have the time, resources, or community interest for a daily/weekly afterschool program that this report focuses on; but we definitely can take some great suggestions from its Positive Practices to make our planning more deliberate to set our kid patrons up for success at our programs.

First, some awesome and empowering words about our role in these kids' lives:

• A great feature of our programming is that we don't have to focus on standardized assessments and academic achievement. This allows us to focus on the meat of success in afterschool programs: personal development, such as social and emotional growth. (page 8 of PDF)
• a meta-analysis by the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (okay I want to read everything by them right away, don't you?) found that children who attend afterschool programs "saw a significant improvement in their perceptions of themselves, improved positive social behavior and a decrease in problem behaviors" (page 8 of PDF)

Note that due to increased pressure of testing and emphasis on assessment-driven instruction (which may take intervention into the afterschool realm, like Club Z as an afterschool offering at Title I schools), we public libraries are uniquely posited to offer personal-development-focused programming. How does our programming support social and emotional growth?

Spy School at the Library: A Program Do-Over

This is a program theme that is talked about a lot, including two other times on my blog alone. Inspired by Storytime Underground's Hack my Storytime series, I revisited my Spyology program after 2 years to see how I would approach it now!

(Also, of course I revisited Spyology, because programs based on the Ology books are always really fun. Meaning, I have the most fun planning them. And I guess the kids like them too).

At the beginning of the program, my coworkers Brooke and Linda were nice enough to write "Agent [first letter of kid's name]" on address labels so that the kids could get their code names. The girl pictured left asked for "Agent B" because she decided her name would be Brooke, too, and the entire Internet died from cuteness.

Library LEGO Checkout Club

LEGO tower locked behind glass.
Sign explains rules listed below.

When I first came on to the La Crosse Public Library team, one of my very first ideas was a stealth program where the kids would add LEGOs to a pile/bin/whatever every time they check out. Then, at the end of the month or whenever, they would have a "Big Build" party and make something out of the LEGOs they had collected.

I am SO happy that idea didn't fly at the time, because what came of it nearly 3 years later is WAY better than that.

When it was time to debut our check-out club, Brooke and I racked our brains for an hour coming up with a cool, though straightforward name. We both liked alliteration, so we were looking for a word that started with the same letter as "LEGO" without distracting from what the club was about. We both have graduate degrees AND other degrees in language-related fields and I mean WHAT WORD COULD WE EVEN USE THAT BEGINS WITH L TO DESCRIBE A LIBRARY PROGRAM.

Summer Librarian Sanity: IFLS Workshop Recap!

The only advice you'll ever need.

Sooooooooo I've made it back alive from the Great White North(er), Menomonie, WI, where I actually got to speak to 60 awesome youth services librarians for an entire morning! I know. Me, the person whose philosophy is "if you can't say it in 3 minutes it's not worth saying." BUT it was not only really fun, but it also fulfilled this part of my professional life that I've been wanting to satiate for awhile.

See, one of my first jobs was as a reading coach. I gave professional development, but it was only to my district and sometimes only a few teachers at a time when it was really short. And the for the longer PD my colleague and I enlisted the grade level lead teachers in the school and set up stations, each with its own topic, that the rest of the teachers rotated to throughout the day. Ms Clary and I were at one of the tables, but they all came to us to discuss the DIBELS scores of their classes. The point was empowering the teachers to acknowledge themselves as experts, and it was really well-received.

Actually... I should revisit this type of PD sometime.

At my next job I began writing intervention and DIBELS analysis materials, and worked my way up (ahem, "laterally moved" according to my paycheck) to writing professional development for teachers statewide. Five-hour-long workshops, in fact; however, I never gave the workshops. That was up to consultants around the state. My belief in scripts is tied directly to this job.

So, for real, getting the chance to write and deliver a morning-long workshop on my own was kind of a dream come true, or one of those "at least I can say I can talk for that long!" types of things.

Robots vs. Aliens!: Second Grade Outreach

As I've mentioned before, this year we've piloted in Grade School Menu. While I'm currently immersed in Hella Busy No Sleep, I want to make sure I don't get behind on documenting my programming and giving you (and future me) School Tools 4 Days. Luckily enough I just recently wrote out the script for the Second Grade Outreach: Robots vs. Aliens!

Robots vs. Aliens works for 2 reasons: 1) everyone has an opinion on this debate and 2) the kids decide who wins. I patterned the idea after the Shark vs. Train Story Action Pod I made, but fleshed it out into a 30-45 min program

(I feel the need to stress that if you're going to try elementary outreach, in order to get teacher buy-in you're going to have to be able to promise 30 min door-to-door. That way you can be in and out in that magical time period between lunch and math, or during lunch and recess, or after Special Areas but before the bell, when the teacher actually has the time to do a fun activity. If you happen to be scheduled on a Friday with no spelling test, however, for instance, you may be able to stretch it out to 45. Have a craft or game ready if you get that extra time.)

Here's how Robots vs. Aliens! works: