Storytime is an essential part of children’s librarianship; it is the first time children are in a more “formal” environment to learn and develop school-readiness skills, and parents and caregivers learn more about early literacy skills. While we try to touch upon the five early literacy practices in our storytimes, there are other engaging early literacy programs that hit these skills! In this post, I will highlight some early literacy program ideas that you can create for your library. Playdough Playtime Who doesn’t love playdough? With this program, your patrons will be able to cover all five early literacy practices! The key to this program is having the right playdough mats for the children to work with. I have been conducting this program for over a year now and it continues to grow because it is fun and educational. Some playmats that I have provided include the alphabet, numbers, nursery…
Tag: programming ideas
Get Ready for International Dot Day!
Every time September rolls around, I remember one of my most successful programs—a celebration of International Dot Day, held annually on September 15(ish).
Ukulele Time: Bonding and Development
Our staff decided to have an informal “teach ourselves how to play ukulele” group during the month of August.
Summer’s Over… Now What?!?: Tips for Planning for a Year of Library Programming
As a school librarian member of ALSC, I have a programming hiatus thanks to our summer break. I enjoy the break and time off to refresh and renew. As the new school year approaches, though, I am beginning to look ahead to programming for this year. This will be my sixth year in the library but only my second year as a full-time school librarian, and I know that thinking about a year of programming can be daunting. So, for this ALSC SAPS blog, I thought I’d offer a few tips for my fellow librarians who are similarly in the planning stages for a year of programming! My first tip is for those of my fellow librarians who are also relatively new to this profession: Remember that you don’t have to do it all all at once! When I began work as a librarian, I had So. Many. Ideas! …
Facilitating STEAM Programming Through Exploratory Play
STEAM programming can feel like an expert and expensive challenge, but it doesn’t have to be. Anyone can be the conduit for exploratory play by simply modeling what that looks like.
3D Printing for Children
About ten years ago, my library got a 3D Printer. A Makerbot Replicator. Around that time, we heard that a library north of us was doing 3D printing school visits, so a colleague and I drove north to find out what they were doing. Credit is definitely due to that library – the Innisfill ideaLab and Library – for the seeds of what became a giant endeavor that centered around dragging a Makerbot Mini around the elementary schools in my town. Some of the things that made 3D printer-themed school visits wonderful no longer exist, but what I can write about is what I am still doing with 3D printing and our youth patrons in the library. 3D Printing for Kids as a program Program Tips The Two-Week Schedule Week 1 This week includes covering basics like how the printer works, how much it costs, and/or what limitations there are to…
Coding in Early Learning
As more schools add coding requirements in higher grades, offering coding opportunities for younger children can help give them a foundation for future learning. The need goes beyond success in middle or high school – it is also becoming important for career success. According to the National Association for the Education of Young Children, early coding experiences help children build skills that are “valuable for [their] future success in our digital world.” Fortunately for children’s librarians who are uncomfortable with coding in general, the options available for pre-readers are accessible and easily adapted to library programming. Coding Stories Coding stories are one way to introduce early coding in library programs. The NAEYC article linked below offers step-by-step instructions to retell familiar stories with coding. First, make a grid. Then work together with children to map out a character’s movements through the story. This helps children learn computational thinking concepts like…
Stickers in Summer
Do you need something to use as a fun prize for a scavenger hunt? Do you want an interactive display for your summer program? Are you looking for something fun for the kids to use for their reading records? Use STICKERS! They are one of the most straightforward and budget-friendly things out there.