One of the biggest challenges for me since COVID-19 has been keeping my students engaged in reading. My position was created at the beginning of last school year, and as we built what is now our new Learning Commons, I worked hard to get students excited about the incoming collection of books and the ability to stop by and pick out whatever book they wanted. Shortly after our space opened, COVID became our new reality, and I tried to keep kids engaged with reading through our Academy Book Mobile and other initaitives. I knew all along though, that part of the appeal and excitement about our new space was being able to be browse the shelves. Unfortunately, it is something we just can’t safely offer at this time. So, I’ve been working on curating an eBook collection that students can safely peruse and reflects what they want to read, while…
Category: Programming Ideas
New Year’s Resolution: Inspo 2021
Inspo for 2021 So, we get another shot. The celestial odometer ticks one more trip around the sun. And here goes: some inspo for you to make your 2021 sunny and bright, youth services style! Hygge for Children and Families 30 Phrases That Will Change a Kid’s Day (for the Better) 100+ Indoor Activities to Do with the Kids Re-Arrange! Re-arranging your room is one of the best ways to blow out the cobwebs, literally and metaphorically. Wanna let your fingers do the heavy lifting? Try this free children’s room designer! Create a floor plan with a bird’s-eye view 1. Choose an example from our gallery or create a new design 2. Start with your room’s shape and dimensions, add doors, windows & other features. 3. Browse our furniture and click or drag the icons into your plan. 4. Arrange the pieces to create your perfect set-up You can choose just…
Literary Scavenger Hunt
It has been both wonderful and challenging to stay connected with our young patrons. Screens make it wonderful because I can see and interact with them; screen fatigue makes it challenging. I needed to figure out something different, something active, something fun to do…and a literary scavenger hunt fit the bill!
Bitmojis in the Library
Back in March, when the Pandemic hit and teachers, librarians, and other educators were scrambling to find creative ways to do remote learning, Bitmoji classrooms were born. Bitmoji isn’t new. You can create a Bitmoji using either Snapchat or the Bitmoji app and by adding the Google Chrome extension you can insert Bitmojis almost anywhere. What was new was the use of Bitmojis to create virtual classrooms. Bitmoji Craze for Educators is a Facebook Group that was created by Allatesha Cain in April of 2020 and now has almost 550,000 members. But what exactly is a Bitmoji classroom and why has it become so popular? A Bitmoji classroom is a virtual space that has hyperlinks to educational videos, read alouds, websites, and more. Most are created using Google Slides and then used on an LMS system like Google Classroom, Google Sites, Schoology, and Seesaw. Creators typically create some kind of…
Not Another “Best of” Post
This Is Not Another “Best of” [input year] Post I promise you this is not another Best of [input year] post. In fact, if I were to rename it, it’d be The Most Exciting Stuff in the Youth Services World, like, right now; right now. I like pointing these things out so much I create a biweekly Youth Services newsletter for my colleagues. [mysteriously] Who knows, maybe I’ll unleash it upon the internet in 2021? [strokes goat goatee] It’s loaded with all things frabjous, from live webinars with authors whose work we drool upon to easy crafts, programming ideas, news – [foreign accent] your interest is piqued, no? Oh! And this stuff is all totes free! Sans fees! Gratis! Famous Authors Live! This subheading should read “Not Another Webinar” Probably the most important webinars For the Parents and Caregivers we serve This is not a section about stuff to do…
November is National Family Literacy Month
November is National Family Literacy Month. As librarians, we know the benefits of reading together as a family. We know that it assists in language development, enhances comprehension, and fosters the joy of reading. But, literacy is so much more! According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization,
Engaging Resources for Online Programs Pt. 3
Hello ALSC Blog Readers! In this post, I will expand on my previous two posts where I shared and discussed online resources that have helped in my library’s continued dedication to provide programming via Zoom during the COVID-19 pandemic. While I have to admit, programming on Zoom started out shaky, I feel more in a groove these days and hope you all are feeling that way too! Please leave a comment with engaging resources you have come across; we need each other’s ideas and expertise now more than ever.
Things on Sticks – Shadow Puppets You Can Do!
No Excuses Honestly, there are no excuses for not being able to make a shadow puppet show. I’m not talking using your fingers to make that barking dog or your hands to make a butterfly. Shadow puppets are almost as easy to make, economical, easy to store, and frankly an art form in themselves. And thanks to the magic of internet and photocopiers, ANYONE can make these. Let’s dive in! What is a shadow puppet? A shadow puppet is any character, prop or background, made of almost any 2-D material that casts a shadow on another flat surface/curtain. It is a silhouette of a character, or object that helps you tell a story. Shadow puppets can be opaque, translucent, transparent, and include color. Any open areas “holes” or negative space as we say in the art world, allow light through. These areas can have color added with colored tissue paper,…