Lego Club

Did you know that the Honey Brook Library has a Lego Club for kids K-5th grade?  Here is how we got started.
To start the Lego Club, we put up signs "looking for lonely Legos" at the library.  With donations, grants, and lucky staff yard sale finds, we had enough to start the program in the Fall of 2011.  Here came the tough part,  how to make it work?

I asked asked several Mom friends who had been to Lego Clubs at other libraries what they did, and I also went online to read other library blogs about the clubs.  Here are the basic things that I learned. 
1. Limit the class number
2. Make sure the people who sign up, actually show up or they forfeit coming to the next session
3. Give them a theme
4. Put what the kids make on display

So I had these grand plans of setting down ground rules and going over acceptable behavior and stuff like that during our very first session.  What I forgot is that this age range of kids go to school.  They are not the toddlers and preschoolers that I have for Story Times, who wander around the room and talk whenever the mood hits them.  These are kids who sit down and know how to complete an assignment.  Yay for me!

I set up the work tables for 10 children with an individual building board at each spot. I split the Legos into two tubs and put in the tubs in middle of the two tables.  I explained to them, we would have a theme each time and then free play.  At each spot, I folded an index card in half and stood them up like a tent.  After each child finished, I had them write a title or description of what they made, along with their first name and grade.  Then I had them follow me to a different spot in the library, and put their creations on a display I made.   The display is towards the front of the library so that people coming and going can view them.

After the structured time, the kids had free play time with the Legos.  Their choice was to keep building at the tables or they could sit on the floor with more Lego tubs that had boats and dragons in them.  The Lego dragons were a big hit.  A great yard sale find! The dragons got their imaginations flowing.  Of course, dragons need to fly and I permitted them to fly as long as they were walking with them in our small library.

The clubs have been a great success and I have had a lot of great positive feedback from the parents.  Our Lego Club will be taking a break in this summer, and be starting up again in September 2012. 

Fish Castle Music at the Honey Brook Library

I decided to try something new at the library and try my first program that had a fee for our patrons. Fish Castle is a children's music program run by the wonderful Cyril and Catherine. I was a little worry about the attendance because of the fee. Boy, was I ever wrong!

We have had 2 of the 4 sessions we have planned and the response to the first 2 sessions has been fabulous!! We had 16 kids for the 1st session and 13 for the 2nd session. My goal for any program at our small library is 8-12 kids. The parents who I spoke to had no problem with the small cost for a music program.

Catherine and Cyril (Fish Castle) had the kids wonderfully engaged & the kids all seemed to be having a wonderful time. I mistakenly thought I could have some alone prep time while they were doing their thing. Instead, I couldn't stop singing along or I would have to stop and see what they were doing. Parents immediately started begging me to bring them back to the library again for a program, so they are booked in July as a part of our "Dream Big" Summer Reading Program




So happy that I took a leap and tried something a little different for our little ones. It has been a great success1

Miss Jennifer
Four of Spades

The Hunger Games! Our Library Program

So what did you think of The Hunger Games movie?? Third highest opening for a movie ever! Best opening weekend for a non-sequel! See more info here:
http://insidemovies.ew.com/2012/03/25/box-office-report-hunger-games/

The day after the movie opened, we hosted a Hunger Games program at the Honey Brook Library for ages 12 and up. To our excitement, it was the most that we have had a pre-registered for an event that was for this age group.



The hour long program was divided into to a game and a craft. The kids were divided into to 2 teams. Then they did a relay tag team scramble to choose items from the Cornucopia. (I must admit, that gathering the items for it was quite fun!) Next they came up with a name for their team. We had the "Mockingjays" and the "Trackerjackers". I read a story to them in which they got points for the items that they each picked from the Cornucopia. The game was a quite fun and was won by the Trackerjackers!



The story I read is found here:
http://www.bethanymediacenter.com/Cornucopia-Challenge.html

The kids really enjoyed the game which made me happy! Next came the craft. We had printed out pictures of the Mockingjay in different sizes and they could cut and paste them onto pins, magnets, and necklaces. The pins & magnet were made by placing the picture inside of a bottle cap and then glues a magnet or pin back onto the bottle cap. They were a big hit with the kids.





What I enjoyed the most about the program, was talking to the kids about the book and the movie. Most were obsessed with it, and they told me a lot of their likes and dislikes. I started to realize that this is the first time that most of them ever saw a movie that was from a book they read and loved. They were very critical of small changes, and things that were left out. Probably a first for them. They could quote most of the book, and were annoyed when a phrase was said, but my a different character. It was quite fun to see them so passionate!

I was really excited to have the program and was so happy that it went really well. We had requests for a similar program when the next book "Catching Fire" comes out. Yay!




Til next time,
Miss Jennifer
Four of Spades

It's The Little Things!

You know the saying "it's the little things that make you happy"? I love that saying because it is so true! About 3 weeks ago, my hubby's BFF came to the library and stapled down our wooden train tracks to our train table. Story Time was the next day, and I made a grand Tah Da! and showed off the beautiful constructed train table lay out. My little ones were in love. Their eyes lit up. Their mouths hung open, and there was a collective ooooohhhh.
I asked them to guess what was new about the train table, and none could answer me, because they were thrilled with the train table and couldn't stop playing long enough to form an answer in their happy little brains. It wasn't a mess as it usually was. There was no asking for Mommy to come help put the tracks together. It was there in front of them in all its glory!!
It made me happy seeing that they were happy. That's all that matters!

The Hunger Games!

I am soooo ready for this movie. See the link below to see that I am not alone!

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204603004577267832212316716.html

All three of The Hunger Games books were so interesting, and nailbiting that I couldn't put them down. I was literally cooking food on my stove, and reading The Hunger Games at the same time, because I could not stop reading!!

When I heard what it was about, I thought "why would I want to read a book about kids that had to fight to the death????", but I knew at that time it was being made into a movie and so I thought it would be a good YA book to read. I had given myself the personal goal of reading one YA or School age book in between my adult novels. After I finished the book, I ran in and snatched up the second "Catching Fire", and the third "Mockingjay". That was at a time when you could still find these books on the shelf (good luck now! place a hold!)

I just re-read The Hunger Games (which I had to borrow, cause really, you have to place a hold and be prepared to be #84 on the holds list) because I am planning a Hunger Games program at the library. I am so glad I did. I had forgotten little things that had happened and I will admit, that I read it just as fast the second time, even though I knew how it ended!

So jump on The Hunger Games band wagon with me. You won't be disappointed!

:) Miss Jennifer

Story Time

Enjoy songs, stories and crafts at the library with Miss Jennifer.
Storytimes are Wednesdays & Thursdays at 10:00 am.
No registration required.
For more information,
call the library at 610-273-3303
or email, jspade@ccls.org.

Hello Fellow Book Lovers!

This is all new to me, and hopefully will be fun and helpful to you. This is basically a
"test blog" paragraph until I figure out what I am doing. Since I have started working at the Honey Brook Library, I have wanted to update our blog. So here is it, one year and 2 weeks later, I am finally achieving that goal!