School-Age: Water Cycle

Every year our state has a children's book awards vote for a number of children's books. One of the books that was nominated was "Water is Water" by Miranda Paul. So this week's program featured it as a nominee and we discussed the water cycle.

1. Reading
We read "Water is Water: A Book About the Water Cycle" by Miranda Paul.

The book was poetic, with beautiful imagery, and discussed a variety of ways water makes its way through the water cycle. 


2. Discussion
We discussed what the water cycle was and the different steps of the water cycle are. I showed them a short video about the water cycle but our volume on our computer is so low that I ended up narrating the video myself.

After the video, we went back over the four main steps of the water cycle: evaporation, condensation, precipitation, and collection. I showed them pictures of different parts of the water cycle and had them name the step. 

Then we had water cycle trivia, where the kids learned fun facts about water like how much of the Earth is covered by water or how much of the water on Earth can we drink. 


3. Craft
We experimented with water color paint this week. I have done water color with salt before and it creates a neat effect as the salt and water dries. 

Notes:

This was a super fun week and I loved seeing how creative the kids were with their water color masterpieces. Next week my library assistant, Ms. Carol, is presenting a program on constellations - and our regulars are super pumped to have her lead the program!

School-Age: Allergies

This is one of those topics that is informative but also is a neat way to learn about the kids that come regularly to our programs. Some kids may not have much knowledge about what allergies are and learned about what may happen to their friends or classmates who have allergies. And, the kids that have allergies, were able to share their own stories. 


1. Reading
We read "Pigs Make Me Sneeze" by Mo Willems to start the program. The Elephant & Piggie series is hugely popular with school-age kids, but it was also perfect for this topic. 

In the book Gerald thinks because he is sneezing he is allergic to his friend, Piggie. In the end he learns that he actually has a cold, instead.


2. Discussion
I defined what an allergy is and we talked about what could happen when someone has an allergic reaction. Some of the reactions are less severe, like sneezing or having a runny nose, but we also talked about more serious reactions like having problems breathing.

We also talked about different allergens and the kids got to share what they, or people they know, are allergic to. 


3. Reading
I wanted to share another book about allergies called "Dixie Wants an Allergy" by Tori Corn. I read until the page when her classmate gets a broken arm and her friend asks if she now wants a cast on her arm. The ending to the book was not my favorite and a bit mawkish so I did not feel like sharing it.

However, I felt it was a good book to share since the kids were sharing their own allergies. It may look neat for a friend to have a medical condition but, when you experience it for yourself, it really isn't.


4. Trivia
I gathered up some neat allergy trivia to ask the kids a variety of questions and see what they already know about allergies. Some of them were mentioned in our discussion but most were not. For instance, I asked if they could grow out of an allergy. Or, how they could prevent an allergic reaction. 


5. Craft
For our craft we made Elephant and Piggie puppets out of paper bags. 

I was not able to find a free template online after finding similar crafts on Pinterest and online, so I traced Piggie & Elephant to make my own and then scanned them onto my computer. Then, I printed out the parts on pink and grey paper.

The kids LOVED having their own Piggie & Elephant and began acting out parts of the book once they had their own complete set of characters.


Notes:
This was a very fun and interactive week. The kids and their parents got to share their own experiences with allergies and we all learned about one another. It was interesting! Plus, you can't go wrong with Piggie & Elephant!

School-Age: Toads

Our topic this week was toads!

1. Reading
We read the book "The Toad" by Elise Gravel.

I loved this book but I wasn't sure, initially, how it would be as a read-aloud. But the kids LOVED it and thought the gross facts were wonderful (as they usually do!).

2. Discussion
The book shared some illustrations of a variety of strange toads. I showed them pictures of the Emei mustache toad, Venezuelan pebble toad, and others that were in the book. 

Then we talked about a variety of toad facts and trivia that I compiled from the book and from different other sources. 

3. Craft
We created frog fly-catchers. A librarian at a nearby branch had shared a similar craft that she had done. I decided to make my own version. 

The frog fly-catchers are made out of toilet paper rolls. I painted a bunch of them green prior to the program but ended up also offering plain brown ones to the kids since I had an over-abundance of attendees at my earlier program this week.

I printed out frog arms and legs on green paper, and the flies on white cardstock.

I had them knot both ends of the red string which helped keep the string in the bottom end of the frog, and helped the staples have something to catch onto when we stapled the fly to them.



Notes:
The kids LOVED the toad book, loved learning all the interested toad and frog trivia, and absolutely adored the fly catchers. It is always great to have a craft that turns into a game/toy as well! It was a huge success and turned out to be one of those programs that you find is a favorite.

School-Age: Dragon Lore

Last week our topic was dragon lore! It was a huge hit with the kids (and a big bump in attendance numbers) so I may have to try other types of mythological creatures at future program sessions!


1. Reading
Our book about dragons was "The Truth About Dragons" by Thomas Kingsley Troupe. It had the perfect amount of information and fun facts to keep the kids interested without being an overwhelming read-aloud for a nonfiction book.

2. Discussion
We talked about different types of dragons. I shared pictures and information about actual species that have been named 'dragons', such as the Chinese Water Dragon or the Leafy Sea Dragon. 

We played a trivia about dragon facts - to test their knowledge about whether they had listened during the book read-aloud. 

And we also had a name-the-dragon trivia of a variety of literary dragons. There are so many dragons in children's novels! There's Toothless from "How to Train Your Dragon", Danny Dragonbreath from Ursula Vernon's series Dragonbreath, Firedrake from Cornelia Funke's Dragonrider series, or Elliot from "Pete's Dragon". The list goes on and on. 

Some of the dragons they had never heard of, however, which made it a perfect opportunity to book talk some awesome series about dragons that they may like!

3. Craft
I found a neat craft on Pinterest to make dragon eggs that was originally on the blog Adventure in a Box. 

We used Crayola Model Magic air-dry clay:

One tub goes a long way. We ended up only using one tub and we had 30 or 40 kids make dragon eggs this week. I still have some leftover clay from the one tub, and a second tub that we got just in case. So we will have plenty of air-dry clay if we do a similar program in the future.

What I did like about the tub was that it had 4 different colors of pastel clay to choose from - blue, purple, yellow, and pink. So kids could choose different colored eggs if they would like.

I had the kids make the eggs similarly to how the Adventure in a Box blog did. We used aluminum foil to keep the shape of an egg so that once they started pressing gems into the clay, the eggs would not be super lumpy and odd-shaped.

We started out with an egg-shaped piece of crumpled up aluminum foil and a ball of clay that was similarly sized:

You cover the aluminum foil with the clay:

Then you decorate your dragon eggs with gems:

Notes:

As I mentioned above, this program was hugely popular! Dragons were a big hit and the kids loved taking home their own dragon eggs that they made at the library.