13th Week

Nearly all of my hours have been completed after this week. Just a few more to go! And wow, have I helped with a variety of different projects as well as answered some very different questions at the reference desk. For my hours this week I help with story-time again. This week our topic was hats. It was local election time in our city, so some of the elections were held at the library during our story-time hour in our story-time room. Since this situation was out of our control we were unable to hold the usual story-time which is put on weekly at the branch. Instead, Christina read one book in the children's area Bridget's Beret. Most of the children were really happy and enjoyed listening to the story. Afterwards, we had set up tables for the children to color on large pieces of paper. Once this was completed, we showed them how to fold their piece into a hat! I don't think we have done a craft yet where I have seen the children so excited. It was very cute and so far one of my favorite memories of this practicum experience.

In addition to assisting with the story-time I also had to fill in for another employee who was sick and I had to host Anime Club. I had hosted once before in the past, so I have had some previous experience but not too much since only one participant had shown up. This week I had the participants watch two episodes of a manga. There were only 3 people who showed up for the club and they all had to leave early for various different reasons. Because of this we did not stay the full hour that the club is set-up to take.

This week I also helped with passive programing inside of the library. Each week we put games out for children to play with one another and typically a library staff member or a volunteer oversees them. This week I was there. The children played Uno and Sequence, and they seemed to have a very enjoyable time. Most of the participants are regulars who come on a weekly basis. Because of this they have learned how to participate in a group setting and to keep their voices down to an appropriate library level.

Photo Copyright:www.tomlichtenheld.com

Week 12 @ Canyon Country Library

It is only Wednesday and I was already able to finish up my hours for this week! The children's area has been extremely busy due to all the local school children being on Spring Break. This week I was in charge of one activity, helped with a after story time craft, and helped with another library activity. On the first monday of every month, the library hosts what is called "Crafty Kids". During this time children are invited to come into the library and participate in a craft. This week we had the children paint. I was in charge of the activity and I had a volunteer help me set up, clean up, and keep an eye on the children. We had taken paper grocery bags and cut them out into pieces, large enough to paint on, and passed them out to the children. Most everyone enjoyed the activity. We told them they could either take their artwork home with them or if they left it then we would hang it up around the library. Almost every child left their art! I am excited to hang them up or to see them hung up! 

Yesterday's story time was themed "Bugs". Christina read the children the book and I was outside in the children's area setting up. We gave the children large coffee filters and markers. They were told to color their coffee filter and then we sprayed them with water to let the ink from the markers run. After they had dried a little, we took pipe cleaners and made the filter into butterflies!  The children were so excited and loved this craft. There were two groups, each with over 40 children in them. I was very envious of these cute little butterflies everyone was taking home. They all turned out so well, each one was just a little bit different than the next. 

In addition to helping with the crafts, I also helped with a more passive programing. While Library Gaming is not completely passive it is very fun and the children love it. This week the group was small; typically there are over ten children in attendance, yesterday we had 6. We allow the children to play games such as Sequence, Uno, CandyLand, and a few other games. The children really like it but we constantly have to remind them to use their "library voices". I think it is interesting to have a game afternoon in the library, a place were books are typically read. But, these types of games can teach children many other skills they can't always get from reading. Sharing, logic, and a different type of thinking are all important strategies when playing games. 

11th Week in the Library

Last week was a very busy week for me in the library. I was invited to the youth services meeting, which is a meeting with all the branch managers, children's librarians, and assistants who help with the children's department. I was very pleased with not only being invited, but the results of the meeting. Most of the discussion was about the upcoming Summer Reading Program, which will start in June for us. The theme has already been picked, so much of the discussion and topics of conversation were about the website, buttons versus stickers, and prizes. I really enjoyed listening to the meeting as well as giving my input, even though it was very little!

In addition to discussing SRP, the topic of story time was also a decent size discussion within our meeting. Each branch discussed the three different stories times they put on and how it is has been going lately. In addition, each of us in attendance, nine total, did a small book talk about a book we are reading or have recently read.

The meeting last for several hours and it was a little overwhelming. However, I really enjoyed going. During my other hours I also worked at the children's reference desk for several hours. During these hours I have helped several children locate books for school, books for enjoyment, and for other reasons.

10th Week!

Wow, this past week within the library has been a very, very busy one. I was able to help prepare for upcoming story times this week by going through our collection and pulling specific books that Christina had written down. She had gone through her notes from previous story times and she had also used the help of a website to come up with new songs and to get book ideas. Locating the books was not difficult, however, not all of the books she had requested were there! Because of this, I had to place hold requests on items to be sent to our library from another branch. This activity helped me to realize that planning ahead as a children's librarian is a good thing. Not all the books that a librarian might want or need will be there, so knowing ahead of time what you need is essential.

In addition to helping with the future story time preparation I also met with our BWI representative, Michael. When working with Christina I have helped and have seen her using BWI to purchase new materials for our collection and the collection of two other nearby branches. In the meeting with him, he discussed a little bit of new books which are going to be published as well as helped to teach Christina faster and simpler methods of using the BWI website. I have always found it a little confusing, at least in certain parts, and Michael was able to help clear that confusion up for both of us, which was nice. Also, a BWI account was set up for myself to help Christina with her purchases. Now, when I am not working on another project I can sit down and add items to my cart to help Christina with collection development. She will look at the items I have placed in my cart and give me feedback to which ones are a good addition and which was are not. I think this will be a very beneficial aspect of my practicum because collection development is a task most librarians will do within their library careers.

9th Week...

This week in the library went by super quick! I cannot believe yet another week of the semester has past. Christina kept me very busy this week and assigned me a horrifying task: I had to run story-time all on my own, twice! And, in addition to hosting it two times within the library I also accompanied her to a nearby preschool where we repeated the story-time as well as the activity to two different classrooms.

I really enjoyed each presentation I gave, especially after I began. I was extremely nervous in the beginning , more so because of the parents than the children. However, once I started I became more relaxed and had a great time. I decided to focus my attention on the children rather than look at their parents or adults and it made it so much easier. The theme this week was Dinosaurs. I had helped select the books I was reading and I had been practicing for several days both the books and the songs. Everything went so great, so much better than I had expected. Also, I felt so happy the children enjoyed it. They responded and interacted and they behaved so very well.

In addition to preparing and presenting the Dinosaur Story-time this week I also mentioned that we presented in front of two preschool classrooms, which was very enjoyable. They too were also very well behaved. However, it was a very different group than the ones we see within the library.

Children's reference was another aspect of my practicum hours this week. I was able to answer several questions as well as help children locate books for school projects, AR quizzes, and just for enjoyment. I always was interested in children's librarianship but I never thought I would find it so rewarding. I am very happy I decided to focus on this aspect of library service for my practicum!

Week 8 at the Library...

Yet again, it was another busy week at the library. Filled with many different tasks, I had my hands full. I started my week off by helping with story-time at the Valencia branch. Due to illness, each branch has been short handed so I was asked to help with baby-toddler story time. Since this is the largest and most popular branch out of the three in the valley, there can be up to 80 participants every week! My roll in these story times was not great, but I helped to set-up and supervise.

In addition to helping with the story time I also helped plan next week's. The theme is dinosaurs, so I was in charge of locating dinosaur books within the collection and finding songs for the children to sing. This was my first time doing this, and I really had a lot of fun. There is so much that goes into reading and picking out the books and the actual planning and preparation than I previously thought.

This week I also read a story to the school age story time group. After I read the story, I helped the children with a small arts and crafts project. Since this age group is the oldest of all the story times the library offers, the librarians who plan it try to read a variety of stories and try to encourage children to write their own stories. The craft project we provided tonight required the children to write a short story and draw four to five pictures to represent their stories.

I cannot wait for next week! I am going to help with the first Dinosaur story time and by the end of the week I will be doing the whole thing myself!

Library Week 7

Wow! Has the time been flying by! This week was my 7th week working on my internship and I had a great week! Since several schools in my area were celebrating the life of Dr. Seuss this week, the library did as well. I was fortunate enough to help with a story time geared towards elementary school children. I helped set up a display full of popular Dr. Seuss books, stuffed animal characters, and other books written in the same type of style that Dr. Seuss used.

For this event, we read the children some fun facts about Ted Geisel, had them talk a little about their favorite Dr. Seuss books, and read some stories along with similar titles. I was able to read "There's a Wocket in my Pocket". I also help some of the activities we hand out which included a matching game, a maze, a guess the character worksheet, and an activity having to do with "The Cat in the Hat". I am not sure who had more fun, the children or myself!

In addition to being involved in the story time this week, I also helped prepare it as well as a future story time. In a few weeks the topic will be dinosaurs. I was in charge of using a story time website to find ideas, songs, and book titles. I was then entrusted with the task of locating books within our branch's collection to use for the story time. I am looking forward to helping with this one when the time comes!

Here is a picture of myself standing in front of the Dr. Seuss display table!