National Library Week: How to make a felt story

I'm celebrating National Library Week this week by re-running some of my posts that have tips, tricks, and advice for new librarians. (And if more experienced librarians get something out of it, too, more the better!) Please feel free to share tips, advice, or favorite storytime/program activities in the comments. And Happy National Library Week!!

How to Make a Felt (Flannel Board) Story
This post originally ran on September 16, 2008. It has been edited.   

So you want to make a felt story but you're not sure how to get started? I didn't know how either until I recently got a tutorial from J, the felt story expert in my department. There are probably different techniques (and you can even buy them), but I wanted to share how we make our felt stories.

Step 1: Pick a story. Think about what images you will need to tell the story. Is it a story that you can learn and tell without the book? Two books we have turned into felt stories are Bark, George (mother dog, George, cat, duck, pig, cow) and Dog's Colorful Day (dog and a bunch of colored dots).

Step 2: Photocopy pictures for your pattern. The best pictures have a clear enough shape that you can mostly tell what it is from the outline. You might have to find pictures from other books or draw something freehand if you don't find a clear picture in your book. There are also books of felt patterns. Check your local library.

Step 3: Cut out your pattern pieces and select your felt. Remember that the pictures and colors do not have to be exactly like the book. Also remember to think about what color your felt board is. You want to pick colors that will stand out against your background. As an example I've cut out a kitten-shaped pattern and I chose orange felt.

Step 4: Tape your pattern pieces to the felt you want to use. You can also trace around the pieces with a marker, but the tape will hold the piece in place, stiffen the felt for cutting, and it comes off the felt clean without leaving a mark. Cut around the pattern piece.

Step 5: If there are any pieces that need more than one color felt, you can cut out the smaller piece from your pattern, repeat step 4, and glue the smaller piece to the larger piece. (I know the cat looks a little weird, but I just wanted to demonstrate the technique. You might use it to make a yellow bill for a duck or wheels for a truck.)

Step 6: Add details to pieces. You can use a permanent marker or fabric paint. You can add google eyes, feathers, bits of cloth, yarn, sequins... keep it simple or make it elaborate.

Step 7 (optional): Write a script for your felt. It's possible that your book might not always be around. And some stories might not need all the details that are in the book. Think about what someone unfamiliar with the story would need to know to tell the story. Are there particular phrases that are important or repeated? Include instructions for how to place felt pieces so that anyone could pick up your script and tell the story.

So now you know how to make a felt story!

This method is fairly labor intensive, but creates nice, detailed pieces. If you're short on time (and who isn't), you can also photocopy or trace images, color them, cover them in laminating paper, and glue felt onto the back. Check out Lisa's post about making magnetic board stories!

Thanks for tuning in this week and helping me celebrate National Library Week by sharing your tips and tricks!

National Library Week: How to host a Mock Newbery...

I'm celebrating National Library Week this week by re-running some of my posts that have tips, tricks, and advice for new librarians. (And if more experienced librarians get something out of it, too, more the better!) Please feel free to share tips, advice, or favorite storytime/program activities in the comments. And Happy National Library Week!!

How to Host a Mock Newbery Discussion
This post originally ran on December 7, 2008. The post has been edited.   

As award season approaches, Mock Newbery discussions start to pop up everywhere. You're interested in holding one, but you're not sure what to do? Last week my coworker J lead a Mock Newbery discussion for librarians in our library system. Having a Mock Newbery discussion is a great excuse to get together with librarians in neighboring communities if you can get away for a little bit! I helped prepare and this is what we did:

Step 1: Decide which books you'll be focusing on. You'll probably know several that are getting some buzz and you can always reference other Mock Newbery lists to get some ideas. Might I suggest Allen County Public Library's list and Anderson's Bookshop's list as two of my personal favorites.

Depending on how much time you have for your discussion, you may want to limit the number of books you're focusing on. For our discussion we provided a list of eight books and also encouraged participants to bring any other books they felt might qualify.

The books on our Mock Newbery list were:

Bird Lake Moon by Kevin Henkes
Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson
Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Greetings from Nowhere by Barbara O'Connor
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Savvy by Ingrid Law
The Underneath by Kathi Appelt
We Are the Ship by Kadir Nelson

You'll want to make sure to release your list well in advance of your program so that participants have a chance to read all the books.

Step 2: Familiarize yourself with the Newbery criteria. J printed out the criteria and brought a copy for each person. That was very helpful to refer to throughout our discussion.

Step 3: Decide on how you will vote and, if you have a limited amount of time, set time limits for discussions. With eight titles and 2.5 hours in which to have our discussion, we set an approximate time limit of 10-15 minutes per book and allowed some extra time to discuss any other books people might bring. After our discussion of each title, we used a weighted voting system where people voted for their top three books in order of preference. A first place vote was worth 4 points, 2nd place was worth 3 points, and 3rd place was worth 2 points.

With a total of 10 people in our discussion group, we decided that the winner needed to win by at least 6 points. We voted and tallied up the votes, then took the top four and voted again.

Step 4: Announce your winner!

And I am happy to announce that the winner of our Mock Newbery was Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson! We also named three honor books: Bird Lake Moon by Kevin Henkes, The Underneath by Kathi Appelt, and We Are the Ship by Kadir Nelson.

Step 5: Thank Nina at Nina's Newbery for posting about how she ran her Mock Newbery because that's what helped us figure out ours. :)

National Library Week: Memory Box

I'm celebrating National Library Week this week by re-running some of my posts that have tips, tricks, and advice for new librarians. (And if more experienced librarians get something out of it, too, more the better!) Please feel free to share tips, advice, or favorite storytime/program activities in the comments. And Happy National Library Week!!

Memory Box
This post originally ran on September 29, 2009. It has been edited. 

Allow me to introduce our Memory Box:


We use the Memory Box in our registered storytimes, which we do in sessions of six or more weeks. The first week there will only be one object in the box, but then we add a new object each week. Each week we find a small object that appears somewhere in one of our storytime books. It doesn't have to be the main item in the story - in fact it's better if it's not!

At the beginning of the storytime we ask kids to guess what's in the box and give them hints until someone guesses it. We ask them to be good listeners and good watchers and let us know when they see the object in one of our stories. Each week we ask the kids to remember objects from previous weeks and then we add one new thing. By the end of the six-week session, there are six objects in the box. You also might ask them if they remember which story the item was in.You'll be amazed at what good memories the kids (even young preschoolers) have!

Here are a few examples of Memory Box items we've used:

A small plastic pig to go with the book Bark, George!
An envelope to go with I Am Invited to a Party!
A pie (made out of felt) to go with All for Pie, Pie for All
A kite to go with AlphaOops!: The Day Z Went First

Really, any item that will fit in a shoebox will do. It doesn't have to be a huge picture in the book (but if it's so small you think the kids won't notice it, you can point it out when you get to that page and ask them if they see anything that was in the Memory Box).

We do this with our registered storytimes, but you could also do it with drop-in storytimes. What I've done in the past for drop-in storytimes is to pull three objects that are found in our stories. Have kids guess what the objects are, tell them to look for the objects in the stories, and ask them to remember the objects at the end of the storytime.

And making a memory box is not hard! Of course, you can decorate it however you like. I decoupaged ours (which sounds fancy and hard, but is actually really easy). Here's how: I took a shoebox and covered it with white paper. (You might not even have to do this step, I just wanted to make sure that none of logos showed through.)

Get colored tissue paper and rip it up into pieces. Larger pieces will be faster, but if you like the way smaller pieces look, go for it. Dilute glue with some water (I used normal Elmer's glue and it worked fine). Use a paintbrush to paint a layer of the glue mixture over the box and place tissue paper pieces on the box. You can use any kind of paintbrush, but I used a large foam brush, which worked really well because it allows you to quickly paint on a layer of the glue. Use a craft stick or other utensil to smooth out any wrinkles. (DO THIS! I didn't do it because I didn't think it would matter, but now I wish I had. I think it'll look much better if you smooth it out.)

Let the glue dry, then paint on another layer of glue mixture and add more tissue paper. Keep layering until you have the look you want.

OH and there's a rhyme! When we bring out the Memory Box, we do this fingerplay with the kids:

Here is my box [hold up left hand as if you're holding a glass]
Here is the lid [place flat right hand on top of left hand]
Let's look inside [tilt right hand up and look inside your 'box']
And see what we hid!

National Library Week: If you're wearing red today

I'm celebrating National Library Week this week by re-running some of my posts that have tips, tricks, and advice for new librarians. (And if more experienced librarians get something out of it, too, more the better!) Please feel free to share tips, advice, or favorite storytime/program activities in the comments. And Happy National Library Week!!

If You're Wearing Red Today
This post originally ran on July 25, 2008.  

Okay, you've pulled books for your storytime. Maybe you've got a felt story or some puppets or fingerplays, but you need just one more thing... I want to share one of my new favorite songs. This song has been a hit every time, it's super easy, and it's a great one to know in case of momentary lulls or a gap in your program. It's called If You're Wearing Red Today.

I've heard it used with two different tunes. I usually use the tune to Mary Had a Little Lamb, but you can also use Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush.

If you're wearing red today, red today, red today
If you're wearing red today, please stand up!

That's it! Easy peasy, right?! Of course you repeat and replace the color red with whatever colors you see out there in the audience. And I usually do "please stand up" two or three times and then warn them that I'm going to mix it up, so they'd better listen. And then I do other actions. Please clap your hands, please touch your ears, please stand on one leg, please rub your tummy, etc. etc.

In my experience, the kids really respond to it and they like listening for the colors and the actions. When I think we've gotten everybody to do an action at least once, I'll ask if we missed any colors (and often they'll suggest doing the color I happen to be wearing..!).

So, keep this one in your bag of tricks and the next time you blaze through the stories you thought would take up 30 minutes, you can pull it out and have a good ol' time.

National Library Week: What to do when there's one

I'm celebrating National Library Week this week by re-running some of my posts that have tips, tricks, and advice for new librarians. (And if more experienced librarians get something out of it, too, more the better!) Please feel free to share tips, advice, or favorite storytime/program activities in the comments. And Happy National Library Week!!

What to Do When There's One
This post originally ran on August 3, 2008. I've edited it slightly. 

So, you've planned an awesome storytime. You're ready and rarin' to go! But maybe some special event is going on. Or lots of people are on vacation. Or it's snowing. Or any number of things happen... and there's only one kid for storytime.

It can be frustrating, sure. But the important thing to remember is that this family made the effort to come to your program, and you might have to adapt some things, but the show must go on! It may be frustrating to you that only one child showed up for your carefully planned program, but the kid doesn't know that!

Generally I start storytimes with Shake Your Sillies Out, but for a very small group I like to use My Hands Say Hello because it's a quieter song and I'm more apt to get participation.

It's to the tune of The Farmer in the Dell and it goes like this:

My hands say hello
My hands say hello
Every time I see my friends
My hands say hello

And then repeat using feet and other body parts. I usually do hands, then feet, then I ask for a suggestion of something else that could say hello. I like to end with my tongue and sing it with my tongue sticking out because it's silly (and I am kind of silly sometimes).

Although it's not be what you planned, a storytime for one may have some advantages. Instead of having to focus an unruly mob of 30 kids, you can concentrate on getting to know one. It's a great opportunity to sit with child and caregiver and, say, demonstrate dialogic reading. You might be able to bring out some extra goodies, like toy drums or shakers or puppets that you might not use with a larger group. If you're doing a flannelboard story, let the kids help you put pieces up or take pieces off. You can even spread it out on the floor instead of doing it on a board.

Above all, you just need to be flexible. And remember that if you make this a pleasant experience, this family is likely to come back the next time.