School-Age: Two Truths and a Lie: It's Alive!

Yep, our program this week is based off of the book "Two Truths and a Lie: It's Alive!" by Ammi-Joan Paquette. 


1. Reading
Obviously, we read "Two Truths and a Lie: It's Alive!" by Ammi-Joan Paquette. This book has a huge appeal for kids. The older ones can read it on their own and even parents will get a kick out of reading it with their younger ones. It has some pretty amazing (and unbelievable) facts and stories. Each chapter features three different stories and, by the end of the chapter, you have to decide which of the three stories is a lie. 

We only read the first chapter at the program but I chose a few of the trivia fact questions from the book, as well as a few abbreviated stories, to share with the kids from the book.


2. Discussion
After reading the first chapter, the kids had to guess which of the three stories was a lie.

Then we shared abbreviated stories from chapter five, learned about some incredible animal facts, and discovered which strange-named plant does not actually exist. These were all fun facts from the book to get the kids interested in reading the rest of it but also curious about strange animals/plants that exist!


3. Craft
This was the perfect week to bring out left-over craft supplies and see what the kids could make. We brought out popsicle sticks, tissue paper, pipe cleaners, foam, eyeballs, and more! The object of the craft was that they could create their very own strange plant or creature and, if they wanted to share, could tell us what weird characteristics it has.

Here are some examples our teens and Ms. Carol made:

Notes: 
I actually did not present this week. I was sick for the first program and am out later this week for vacation. But, Ms. Carol is holding down the fort and is handling everything brilliantly. She said the kids loved that the book mentioned fun facts about poop (as most school-agers do). 

School-Age: The Grand Canyon

I have been to the Grand Canyon myself, was astonished by its vastness in person, but I surprisingly had not considered doing a school-age program about the Grand Canyon until I read Jason Chin's book about it!


1. Reading
I read "Grand Canyon" by Jason Chin. I love how detailed the illustrations and facts are PLUS it has small windows through several of the pages back in time to show how the Grand Canyon has been formed over millions and millions of years. What a neat idea!

2. Brain Break

Our brain break this week was "Pop See Ko". I had never heard of it before but, after watching a GoNoodle version of it, you can see how it is a very popular camp song. I made my teen helpers and my library assistant help me present the song, taking turns coming up with different movements.

3. Discussion

I showed the kids pictures of the Grand Canyon to demonstrate how HUGE it really is. I know pictures really cannot do the Grand Canyon justice but I told the kids I hoped the pictures would inspire them to visit the Grand Canyon one day.

I also went through a few of the various layers that Jason Chin's book discussed. For example, I showed them pictures of actual trilobite fossils from the Bright Angel Shale. The kids were wowed seeing the pictures in comparison to the illustrations, especially when they were on the 'big screen' of our TV.

4. Craft

I found tons of different versions of a Grand Canyon craft using pieces of paper. I have lots of left-over paper scraps from past projects so I put those out for the kids to use to create their own Grand Canyons.

Here's my example:

Notes:

The book was a little fact-heavy, but I skipped over parts of it especially when the kids were getting antsy. This was a fun week because the kids were SUPER interested and asked tons of questions!

School-Age: Masterpiece Art

This week my theme was inspired by a newer juvenile nonfiction book that discussed art styles and a variety of famous artists.

1. Reading
My inspiration was the book "Masterpiece Mix" by Roxie Munro. An artist talks about how she creates a blank canvas and what her favorite art styles are. On each page are illustrations of famous art masterpieces and, in the back of the book, Munro shares a little information about each of the artists she featured in the book.

2. Brain Break
Our brain break did not require much preparation this week! We did a short game of Simon Says to get the kids up and moving around.


3. Discussion
I set aside several copies of the book and handed them out to the kids to look at in groups. We went over the different art styles that the narrator of the book talked about - still life, landscapes, figure studies, portraits, etc. - and I showed them pictures of the real art featured in the book. I asked them to find the art on the pages of the book so it was a bit of a seek-and-find game for them.

Then, I briefly shared a little information about a few of the artists that were mentioned several times in the book. I showed a picture of the artist and what art of theirs was featured in the book.


4. Craft
I found two different art styles that would be easy for the kids to try: Still Life and Impressionism (Monet style)

Still Life:
The kids could try their hand at creating a still life watercolor painting. We set out the watercolor paints and some paper. I also set up a few puppets, in full library fashion, in the middle of the table that they could paint a still life picture of.

Here are a few examples my teens made:

Impressionism:
I found many different crafts featuring Monet's garden setting with the bridge for kids online. I wanted to do something similar with craft supplies we already had on-hand. I printed off images of a bridge and a gazebo that the kids could have in their gardens if they would like. 

To make my sample art piece I cut off the excess paper off of the gazebo/bridge, glued the gazebo/bridge down to a piece of cardstock, and then used bleeding art tissue paper to add color to my garden. 

If you've never used bleeding art tissue paper before it is super neat! All you do is add water with spray bottles and the color runs. It can be slightly messy but the clean-up is not terrible.

Here's my example and Ms. Carol's example:

Notes:
I love weeks like this when we do a few stations of crafts! The kids have a blast and I feel like they get to explore different facets of creativity all in one day! 

School-Age: My Little Pony

I can't take full credit for this idea - I borrowed most of it from a peer librarian. When she said her "My Little Pony" program was a huge success I figured I might as well try it at my library!


1. Reading
I read the book "Meet the Ponies of Ponyville" by Olivia London. It was difficult to find a decent "My Little Pony" read-aloud but this one worked well. 

2. Brain Break
This session I decided to add something new in the middle of our programs. I usually spend a good bit of time at the beginning of the program introducing myself, talking about upcoming programs, and going over the rules of the program. One of the parents suggested getting the kids up and moving around mid-program to alleviate them getting antsy and I thought it was a great idea to incorporate into our programs and see how it went!

I found a video on GoNoodle called "Banana Banana Meatball". I only used a few of the body patterns to get the kids up and moving. If I can find a way to make the sound play out of my presentation TV and not my computer, maybe we'll incorporate the actual video at some point.


3. Discussion
We talked about the history of "My Little Pony" over time, including the toys, the TV shows, and books.


4. Trivia
My peer librarian did a 'cutie mark' quiz with 5 to 6 of the ponies. I borrowed the idea and it was a perfect way to end the program! 


Notes:
It was a great first week back to programs (and busy), with Star Wars Fest later today to add to the return to programming excitement!