Kids Book Club Facilitating

Information from the New York State Council for the Humanities Book Clubs for Kids Webinar

• Whom do you most want to reach? Why do you want them in the library? What age group do you want? What makes you want to bring these kids together? Is a book club a good fit for these kids?
• Keep the group limited to a specific age group (eg:8-11)
• Getting the word out: Talk to kids you know and have them invite their friends, post a flyer, advertise online, contact the local school principal, speak to teachers at staff meetings (flyers are not the best way to get the word to students), talk to school librarians, see if kids can get school credit, look for community organizations that work with your target age group: churches, clubs, youth center.
• Share 3-5 books that share one big idea. The things that brings kids back is the feeling of community
• Have a theme for your group. eg: happiness, tolerance, leadership, bullying,
• Big ideas or themes give discussions purpose, focus, and continuity. Exploring big ideas unites the group
• What is a successful discussion? Group feels comfortable disagreeing, there is a good vibe, conversation continues afterward, everyone participates by listening and talking, facilitator guides without taking sides or talking too much.
• What is a meaningful discussion? participants leave with a greater understanding of themselves and others, leave feeling connected, leave thinking about the conversation, different perspectives are encouraged and discussed.
• How do you choose the theme? What do you think kids want to talk about? What ideas will be important to them? What books do they want to read? What ideas do you hope kids will get from conversations about this idea?
• Consider books that: confront theme, keep attention even after you are finished, have different points of view, have compelling characters kids can relate to, have "snag points" moments of thinking or wondering, would be interesting to compare to each other. Mix it up, use picture books, graphic novels, chapter books.
• Check out the explore NY Booklist
• Choose a facilitator. Open, friendly, like working with kids, read a lot of books for that age group, love hearing what kids have to say, have time to prepare questions, believes in the importance of talking about books, shares enthusiasm for this kind of literature,
• Plan ahead. How will you begin the conversation? What kinds of topics and ideas do you want to explore?
• Set expectations. Let everyone have a chance to talk. Have everyone read the book beforehand. Silence is okay. Make sure everyone has nametags.
• Ask good questions. Write short open ended questions that allow kids to interpret in their own way. Explore plot, characters, and style. Connect books to other books you read in the theme. Make personal connections to characters. Ask questions that don't have a right or wrong answer. Don't assume everyone has read the text the same way. Focus on the places where opinions may differ.Take time to read a portion of the book aloud. Let's them hear a fluent reader which they may never hear.
• Break it up. Give kids a chance to talk to each other, use short activities that will generate conversation about the book. Don't do activities just for the sake of doing activities.
• Keeping the conversation going. Treat it like a conversation between friends, listen with genuine interest, ask questions that make sense for the conversation that is already happening. Look at the person and use their first name. Avoid answering your own questions, speak last and prioritize other voices over your own. Close the conversation with something that keeps them thinking of the topic or theme.
• Have everyone write a question and draw later in the discussion when there is a lull.
• Encourage kids to look at everyone, not just you when talking
• Together Parent Child Book Club
• Community Conversations for Kids
• Together Book Club

Teen Book Club

I am thinking of trying a Teen Book Club for the fall. I have tried a couple times in the past to hold teen book discussions. Sadly, they are low attendance. With the exception of Twilight. I held the discussion as part of the movie screening, and related snacks. I had over 30 girls (and 1 boy) whom I had never seen in the library before! I also tried the Hunger Games, but it was a year before it's popularity swept the nation so I had 2 teens. I had arranged it with their English teacher the students would get extra credit for attending.

My new approach is to see if the High School librarian wants to work with me on doing a teen book club up at the high school. We pick the books and co-facilitate the discussion that is held right after school in the high school library. It is my hope that the relationship I build with participating students will entice them to the library during the school year. As is stands now we see kids and teens in the summer but rarely during the school year. Has anyone done this with their local school librarian? I am interested to hear some stories on how it went!

Teen Transliteracy Summer Reading Part 2

Here is a link to the Teen Transliteracy Summer Reading Program Quest Book I created for the 2012 season.

All in all I am really disappointed. Let me preface that with I had really good program attendance but only had 5 teens of the 30 something who registered actually turn in their quest book at the end of the program. All summer long there were more teens who completed quests that I signed-off on but they failed to turn in their book so I could count up how many quests they finished thus awarding them raffle tickets.

Where did I go wrong?
In previous years they write down what they read in a home log book. Each item has a point value, 1 point=1 raffle ticket. They also have an official reading log that stays in the library and that I would keep after the program ended. Each time the teen comes into the library they transfer the info from their home log into the in-house one. This method saw many more teens filling out the official in-house log sheet as they did not have to turn anything in to me. I think where I went wrong this year was the having them turn something in.

What will I change for next year?
For next year I plan on keeping the reading quest idea but will include many more reading tasks. Those seemed to be the most popular ones. The photography related quests also were popular. Least popular= building a solar oven to make s'mores. What?, you ask! You cannot believe those darling teens did not want to make a solar oven and bring their dear old librarian a yummy s'more. Well I am here to tell you they didn't :(
My other idea for next year is instead of having them turn in their quest book to get credit I will give them credit when they have me sign off on the quest. To do this I will add a little tear away tab at the bottom of each page in the questbook. On this little tab I will have the teen's name, the quest, and a space for my initials. Then at the end of the summer I will sort these out and award raffle tickets from these tear away tabs. No more teens having to hand anything in!

Did anyone else experiment with Transliteracy this summer?

So I joined Pinterest

I have had little time to update this blog as I am juggling 3 part time jobs at the moment. It seems I have even less time to reflect on library programs than before. In an effort to keep my program ideas more organized (aside from this blog or course) I have caved in and joined Pinterest. As I suspected I am fully addicted. What I did not anticipate is how immensely useful a tool it is. I am gathering some wonderful, easy ideas for my library and home. Each year I do a couple programs that involve a children's ornament making workshop. I created a pinboard for "ornaments" and am already saving ideas to implement in December. In previous years I would have to scour Martha Stewart and Family Fun magazine for the perfect project.

So, yes despite my earlier blog post vowing to not join Pinterest I have drunk the Kool-Aid. If you want to join me check me out @ http://pinterest.com/llafera

Books about Desserts for 4th Graders

Fiction:

The Desert is Theirs by Byrd Baylor

The Curse of the Great Cheese Pyramid by Geronimo Stilton

Holes by Louis Sachar

Non-Fiction:

One Day in the Dessert by Jean Craighead George

A desert scrapbook: dawn to dusk in the Sonoran Desert by Virginia Wright-Frierson

Surviving Death Valley: desert adaptation by Pamela Dell

Scholastic's The Magic School Bus gets all dried up: a book about deserts by Nancy Stevenson

Desert elephants by Helen Cowcher

Dessert (Eyewitness book series) by Miranda Macquitty

A desert food chain: a who-eats-what adventure in North America by Rebecca

Night Dancer: mythical piper of the Native American Southwest by Marcia Vaugh

3 Little Dassies by Jan Brett

The Mangrove Tree: Planting Trees to Feed Families by Susan Roth

Georgia O'Keeffe : painter of the desert by Jacqueline Ball

Mysteries for 4th Graders

I compiled this list for a local teacher and thought I would share.

Series:

• Brixton Brothers Series by Adam Rex
• The Secret Series (This Book is Not Good for You) by Pseudonymous Bosch
• The Sister's Grim by Michael Buckley
• Sammy Keyes by Wendelin Van Draanen
• Herculeah Jones series by Betsy Cromer Byars
• Benjamin Pratt and the Keepers of the School by Andrew Clements
• Chet Gecko by Bruce Hale
• Mr. Chickee by Christopher Paul Curtis
• Sherlock Files by Tracy Barrett

Stand Alone Titles:

• From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E Franweiler by E.L.Konigsburg
• Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliet
• Hoot by Carl Hiaasen
• Masterpiece by Elise Broach
• The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd
• Pie by Sarah Weeks
• The Great Cake Mystery by Alexander McCall Smith
• Vanishing Acts by Phillip Margolin
• Horton Halfpott, or, The fiendish mystery of Smugwick Manor, or, The loosening of M'Lady Luggertuck's corset by Tom Angleberger
• Scat by Carl Hiaasen

http://aclayouthservices.pbworks.com/w/page/31984436/Programming