A highlight of yesterday was a group singalong of “Los Elefantes,” a tune that’s perfect for Spanish and bilingual storytimes. Abigail Morales was showing “Every Child Ready to Read en Espanol” attendees how to enrich “Los Elefantes” by clothespinning paper elephants to a string to visually reinforce the counting component of the song. Abigail, Ana Elloa Pavon, and Saroj Ghoting provided many tips on how to implement ECRR into libraries serving Spanish-speaking communities. A handy kit helps librarians share reading, writing, playing, writing, and singing literacy tips and is available through the ALA Store. Not sure if the kit meets your needs? Abigail shared how the San Diego Library personalized the kit, making it more culturally relevant to the families her staff serves. In addition to “Los Elefantes,” she demonstrated a cool interactive multi-sensory activity using oranges. Ana shared a detailed bibliography of Spanish and bilingual books that can serve as a…
Author: Karen Choy
Spellcasting and Singing
#alsc14 Maxim of the Day: Sometimes you’ve gotta sing outside of the shower. Take it from Gay Ducey, a speaker on the “Using Volunteers to Expand the Walls/Books for Wider Horizons” panel. She warmed up Thursday’s #alsc14 audience by asking us to stand up and sing the storytime smash hit “To Stop the Train”–several times in a row. Singing not only works with kids, but is an effective tool when leading a storytime training for adult volunteers: people loosen up, get active, and have fun. After this clever icebreaker activity, their brains are primed to soak up the content rich presentation that follows. She also emphasizes to volunteers that their storytime presentations will make a lasting impression on kids. “Storytimes are a kind of spell children need to have.” By creating this special timeless moment in a child’s life, a storytime volunteer is helping the child associate reading with fun…
Recruiting Supermodels #alsc14
I was a pint-sized model. In 4th grade, I read aloud storybooks to friends at an after school daycare center that I attended. At the time, I had no idea that this experience would prepare me for my career as a children’s librarian. And I certainly had no idea that I was imparting a love of reading to my listeners–my peers. Speakers at today’s “Inspired Collaboration: Early Childhood Partnerships” made me recall this memory when they talked about how they recruit everyday library users to model experiences for potential library users. As a professional, you can tell patrons about a service and model it for them yourself. But sometimes people may feel most inspired to try something new when they see someone just like themselves doing an activity. One of the presenters shared a story about how mothers in a housing community receive early literacy training. In turn, these mothers…