Last Tuesday, we had a fun performance for all our Infant Toddler Storytime families and all who wanted to come, put on by The Nick and Jen Show! They performed their original songs and got the toddlers dancing while parents held babies on their laps and clapped or swayed along […]
Lucha Libros: Big Nate Goes for Broke
Published on :Last night kids answered questions about the book Big Nate Goes for Broke / Nate el grande invencíble by Lincoln Peirce. The questions were much harder this time and fewer kids got the Bonus Round right. That’s good–these kids are so smart they keep pushing us to get tougher! One […]
Creative Writing with Word Baskets
Published on :Yesterday, our Creative Writing for Beginning Readers Workshop was inspired by the picture book Little Red Writing, written by Joan Holub and illustrated by Melissa Sweet. In the story, Little Red (a pencil in pencil school) goes on a journey to find words that she can put in her word […]
Light Up Notebooks
Published on :On Friday, December 16th, we tried something new: a class on paper circuitry for kids ages 8-12. A total of 24 kids joined us to “hack” their notebooks. I first learned about hacking your notebook from an article titled that way in School Library Journal, at http://www.slj.com/2015/04/technology/hack-your-notebook-circuitry-mixes-with-paper-in-a-creative-project-for-21st-century-learners/ It took me […]
Geronimo Stilton and the Fickle Nature of Love
Published on :In Geronimo Stilton’s tenth novel, All Because of a Cup of Coffee, he describes the way he fell head over paws for a lady mouse named Stephanie von Sugarfur, a countess who isn’t interested in his displays of affection for her nor his over-the-top gifts. It is after he finally […]
Be a Light Bender
Published on :On Nov. 18, 2016, to celebrate Young Readers League and its 2016 selection of Circus Mirandus by Cassie Beasley, we had a science program called “Be a Light Bender!” We had a jam-packed hour of activities exploring the physics of light and color. We did demonstrations of various phenomena, like […]
Lucha Libros: Haunted Castle on Hallow’s Eve
Published on :Things went much smoother at our most recent Lucha Libros battle on November 2nd. I noticed we had slightly lower attendance than last month… World Series Game 7, perhaps? 😉 (It’s okay, I forgive you–after all it was a historic game.) We had a few new systems to manage the […]
Lucha Libros: Junie B Jones and a Little Monkey Business
Published on :Last night there was a long line here in the Central Library great hall–around 120 people came to support their 2nd and 3rd grade students in answering questions about the book Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business (in Spanish Junie B. Jones y el negocio del mono) by […]
Kids’ Writing Workshop: The Erasmus Game
Published on :On Friday, Sept. 23 in our Kids’ Writing Workshop for children ages 8-12, we played something called “The Erasmus Game,” which I got to learn from PCC professor and YA author E. Katherine Kottaras. This exercise is based on Chapter 33 of the book Copia: Foundations of the Abundant Style […]
A Pig Parade is a Terrible Idea: Creative Writing for Beginning Readers
Published on :This month’s Creative Writing for Beginning Reader’s workshop (for ages 5-8) was inspired by the book A Pig Parade is a Terrible Idea by Michael Ian Black and illustrated by Kevin Hawkes. It’s a hilarious picture book that is all about contrasting the bright, shiny parade in the narrator’s imagination: […]