Today, we are officially beginning our road trip across the United States with the first stop– Washington, D.C. I’m doing what I can to help teach American and World history in a fun way, from cup stacking to line dancing, sharing my love for history as I go.
Tag: programming
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…
Universal Design in Storytimes-An Open Invitation to Play!
Have you ever broken a bone? Or accidentally injured your eye and needed to wear a patch? If so, you may have unexpectedly developed empathy for individuals who navigate everyday life with disabilities. Using universal design to create storytimes events helps libraries plan for successful participation and play. By using universal design, all people are assured opportunities to engage at the library!
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.
Tuning Up Bike Month Programming
May is Bike Month, so it’s a great time to tune up your bike and your library’s bike-related programming. Between circulating bikes, riding book bikes to outreach events, and offering bike repair workshops or stations, opportunities abound for connecting communities with alternative transportation. Libraries also offer books, of course! These resources and activities can help build a strong cycling community in Bike Month and beyond.
CSMCL DÍA GRANT WITH AN AFRICAN AMERICAN FOCUS
INTERVIEW WITH DR. CLAUDETTE S. McLINN Dr. Claudette S. McLinn is Founder and Executive Director of the Center for the Study of Multicultural Children’s Literature (CSMCL). Since 2011, Dr. McLinn created the CSMCL Día Grant with an African American Focus, which is funded by CSMCL in partnership with the ALA/Association of Library Services to Children (ALSC) and author Pat Mora, the founder of Children’s Day, Book Day/ El día de los niños, El día de los libros; often known as Día. Día is celebrated every year on April 30. Here, we will ask her a few questions about this grant. 1. What brought about this grant in 2011? I became interested in Día because of the concept of family, children, and literacy. I love that families and children share literacy activities together in any library, school, or public setting. Thinking that it would be a good idea, I wanted to…
Empowering Caregivers in your Community
Preparing children for a lifelong love of learning is a goal shared by most children’s librarians, although the ways we cultivate that joy vary vastly. There is, for example, no standardized way to deliver a storytime, and no prescribed set of programs a library absolutely must offer. This vagueness can be helpful because it allows us to cater to the uniqueness of our communities, but if I could suggest a common theme to incorporate into most children’s programming, it would be family engagement. The goal of family engagement, especially with our youngest patrons, is to empower caregivers to be their children’s first teachers. A recent research article from Frontiers in Psychology states that this movement is largely underway in spaces such as children’s museums, but also mentions that not every community has access to a museum, and that admission costs can be a barrier to families. Luckily, libraries are able…
Like Kids with New Toys: A Closer Look at the USA Toy Library Association
Thanks to Every Child Ready to Read 2nd edition, children’s librarians have explicit permission to promote play as an integral part of early literacy and developmental skills for young children. Isn’t it just the best job ever? I have ALWAYS been a huge fan of toys, since, er, birth. And getting to pass that joy to a new generation—and encourage their parents and caregivers to rediscover their own inner children—is a delight!