ROCKS ROCK!

Rocks Rock!

I brought in rocks for the students to stack while waiting for everyone to arrive.

For a  fun introduction we read the amusing alphabet book If Rocks Could Sing by Leslie McGuirk. 

Show and Tell

I encouraged the children to bring in a special rock and share it with the group.
We had five children share their treasures. 

The Craft

We colored river rocks with Prismacolor pencils. I had some examples to show them. 

 

They enjoyed the craft but the end product was disappointing for me.  It would be a better craft for older students, but mine were mostly younger elementary. Allow at least 15 minutes for this activity. It can also be completed at home with regular colored pencils. 

 

The Story

I read the classic version of Stone Soup  by Marcia Brown.

Candy Rocks!

I found a wonderful post featuring these realistic looking candy rocks made from white candy bark and chocolate flavored cookies. I doubled the recipe and made them them the night before. Day of, I cut the "fudge" into bars and  put them on paper plates 

and from there they easily became rocks. Here's the link for the recipe. 

http://www.hungryhappenings.com/2012/06/my-dad-rocks-edible-fudge-rocks-for.html

These turned out great and they enjoyed snacking on them while we watched Scholastic's film 

of Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig.

PS...

I found this cool idea and I will use it for a future rock program. They can decorate the cardboard egg carton and I will acquire some rocks to get them started. Plus they can put their candy rocks in there.

Talkin' Trees

Our Tree Named Steve

by Alan Zweibel

Our Tree Named Steve is a heartwarming story, told in flashback by a father to his 

children, about a tree and how that tree became a beloved 

family member. It is illustrated by David Catrow.  I wanted to do a fall-ish program

but our beautiful Charlotte NC trees haven't begun to change their colors yet.

 So, I opted for Steve.  If you haven't read it,  read it today; 

I'm sure that you will want to share it with others. 

Old Elm Speaks Tree Poems by Kristine O'Connell George

Sky Tree: Seeing Science Through Art by Thomas Locker

Talking Sticks

In Native American tradition, talking sticks were used to keep order and respect in tribal meetings and gatherings, but their use was also extended to storytelling circles and teaching children. I was just looking for a craft that I could use sticks for. But I got so much more out of the experience, and so did the children. We sat in a circle and I passed the talking stick around giving each child an opportunity to speak. Being the elder, I began the conversation asking them what kind of program they would like to have with Creating with Books? Most of them passed the stick on but we had a few that spoke up.

 Next month I will be doing a program on rocks thanks to one of the students.

The Craft

I brought in some cut "sticks" from an overgrown shrub we had trimmed. My husband helped me cut, sand and clean the sticks. What a sweetie. I had made a talking stick prior to the program testing out different techniques. Prime the sticks in tempura paint (not acrylic) and use permanent makers for the design. I put out different colors of  Sharpie permanent markers on the paper covered work tables. To protect their clothes I had large tee-shirts for cover ups. The primed sticks, yarn and feathers were at a buffet table where my co-worker Noelle manned the hot glue gun that was used to secure the string yarn and feathers. I played instrumental music in the background while the six to ten years old created.

My Talking Stick

 After the craft they enjoyed a healthy snack of  broccoli trees, pretzel sticks and ranch dip. Yum.

Library Lion

There's a cat in the library! And a lion too! 

For our September program I read Dewey: There's a Cat in the Library!
It is a picture book version of the Dewey books, also by Vicki Myron.
The kitten was found in the outside book drop on a cold Janurary morning at the Spencer Public Library in Iowa in 1988. When the staff found him they decided to adopt him and named him Dewey Readmore.
He was loved and cared for by staff and patrons alike;
he also brought worldwide attention to this small town library. 

             


Library Lion is by Michelle Knudsen and beautifully illustrated by Kevin Hawkes. This is a book about a lion visiting the New York City Public Library. The lion is welcome to stay as long as he obeys the rules. No  roaring in the library. The lion came everyday and he is befriended by the patrons and most of the staff until one day he heroically breaks the rule.
A teaching guide is available from Candlewick Press
http://www.candlewick.com/book_files/0763622621.kit.1.pdf

The lion character is taken from the statues Patience and Fortitude leading up to the stairs of NYPL. 

http://www.nypl.org/help/about-nypl/library-lions

The craft was a wireless notebook covered with brown paper bag that was glued on and the spine taped with masking tape. In the center of the notebook I drew a circle as a reference for the lion mane collage that they tore out National Geographic magazines. I had pre-cut the head form and demonstrated how to draw a lion face on it. Their creativity flowed as they ripped and pasted; they were proud of their notebooks and some have commented since that they have been journaling in them. 

 

I could not resist these cute lion cupcakes. 

My sample. I baked the cupcakes the night before and frosted them with a cream cheese frosting that I colored a brownish orange. The mane is caramel popcorn, chocolate chip eyes and nose with pretzel whiskers. I just set it up as a center after they finished their notebook.

 I played Wimoweh (The Lion Sleeps Tonight) and other cuts from The Lion King at craft time. 

Two Bad Ants

Two Bad Ants

For my Summer Reading Dig into Reading  program I went with an ant theme and read Chris VanAllsburg's book, Two Bad Ants .This is a beautifully illustrated and well crafted book that opens the beauty of language and perspective to the reader. It begins: 

"The news travels swiftly through the tunnels of the ant world. A marvelous crystal has been discovered in a faraway place. The queen of the ant colony declares that the crystal is the most delicious substance she has ever eaten. "

  

Chris VanAllsburg has a informative website that includes a lesson plan from 

Houghtonmifflin. 

http://www.chrisvanallsburg.com/flash.html

http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/features/thepolarexpress/tg/twobadants.shtml

After the book was read, we began our crafts.

They first made a fingerprint ant on a small jewel box.

The next project was to make an ant-sized book to fit in the box. I photocopied and reduced 18 of the illustrations for each child. Their task was to sequence the images in story order.

 I left a wider space on the left side of the picture to allow room to staple the book together.

I gave each of them 2 ants and a sugar cube to fit in their box.

I purchased the ants online at  www.windycitynovelties.com 

Our last activity was to make grape ants. There were plenty of grapes to snack on too.

Here's the model and the results.

I had a guessing jar for the children and the winner was drawn at the end of our program. 

The prize was a gift bag  that included a large ant decal and books. 

I made a spinning funnel, water toy with 2 ants and white Styrofoam bits to simulate the part of the story where they are twirling in the garbage disposal.  I gave those to the winner as well.

Fun times!

Friendship!

Friendship Stories

The four children who attended (again a small group) are my steady crew of younger elementary children. I had also had a fourth grade home-schooled boy who is on the Autism spectrum. 

I was forewarned about his shyness and antisocial behavior;
he started out quietly sitting backward, not facing me as I read. 

I began  with the the book Friends by Mies Van Hout.

He soon turned around and participated 100% with smiles and interesting smart comments.

My artist husband loved this book too, the illustrations are wonderful and show the 

emotional ups and downs of a close friendship (such as marriage).

I also read Hey, Duck! by Carin Bramsen. It is a smart, funny-cute book that I have used at storytimes and the adults really liked too. Its about a little duck who thinks a cat is a duck.
The children laughed, oooh'd and aaah'd through out the book.

 I shared the story of Owen and Mzee through the picture book A Mama for Owen  by Bauer and Butler and the talked through the nonfiction Owen and Mzee books. 

The Crafts

I found some jute at Michael's then pre-measured and cut the color strands for them to
make a simple friendship bracelet. 

I gathered clipboards for the braiding. 

We Fit Together like a Puzzle

We made friendship necklaces too. I colored a puzzle with a silver Sharpie and hot glued the jute cord to the backs. They were set out pairs for the kids to decorate with stickers and adhesive jewels. 

I also had them sign and decorate the rest of the puzzle. 

The small group lent an intimate feel to the program, perfect for talking about friends.

Bag in the Wind

The Book 

I chose this book just because it spoke to me in its unadorned beauty and interconnectedness.

It is an intelligent, poetic story and beautifully illustrated.  See the Booklist review below.

The life of a plastic bag in a landfill is extraordinarily uneventful and long 15,000 years, give or take a few millennia but in this former U.S. poet laureate's first picture book, a beige grocery bag serves an array of inventive uses in but a tiny sliver of that life span. Set against a barren plains landscape, Kooser's circular story follows a plastic bag, the color of the skin of a yellow onion, as it travels in a chain of happenstance from landfill, to tree, to stream, and among the various citizens of a nearby town, including a young girl, a homeless man, and a shopkeeper. The muted, dappled colors of Root's gouache and watercolor illustrations are a perfect complement to Kooser's lengthy, meditative passages, which celebrate not only the virtues of economy and ecology but, moreover, the interconnectedness of all things. An excellent opener for discussions about creative reuse and recycling, the book concludes with an informational author's note.--McKulski, Kristen Copyright 2010 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission. The book size was a little smaller than I typically use. I planned to use our real life projector (Elmo Document Projector) to display the images, but there were only a handful of kids registered so I didn't need to be concerned with that. It was very intimate. Audio and Visual  When the children arrived I showed them a youtube video from the movie American Beauty  "the bag scene" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHxi-HSgNPc I hung a grocery bag on a tree limb with a fan blowing on it. My Wind Playlist Windy  by The Associations  Candle in the Wind by Elton John Breezin'  by George Benson Gentle Breeze Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson: Mary had a little Amp In and out the Window by Old Town School of Music: Songs for Wiggleworms Blow me Down The Wiggles Wiggly Wiggly World Blowin' in the Wind by Peter, Paul and Mary Craft: Plastic Bag Flowers The first craft was making flowers from plastic bags and chenille sticks. Bojangles donated bags for the project.  I made a petal template and traced it on to the bags. I cut 5 petals for each flower. The flowers were easy for the children to make. All you have to do is poke the chenille stick through the base of the petal then turn the flower upside down and wrap the petals in tape around the stem.  I also cut out the graphic circles from a Gymboree bag. They poked a hole in the middle of the circle, more circles were layered on and then taped as above.  . Parachutes!!  I pre-cut very thin plastic trash bags for the parachute. I measured 12" of cotton string and cut 4 pieces for each parachute. I folded the plastic into quarters and marked them with a dot. Round stickers were the string's adhesive. The strings were then gathered and pulled into a knot. The girls were able to do this easily. A wooden clothespin was clamped for the weight, and could be decorated to look like a person. The plastic parachute can also be decorated with markers, but we ran out of time. The parachutes fall beautifully.  12" plate on a folded plastic trash bag.  Wrap up The parachutes got some air time at the end while we continued to listen to the music. I handed out a BLOW POP at the end. I Recycle, Reuse, Re-purpose. The parents took interest in the theme and the children enjoyed the program and embraced the story of a plastic bag.  One parent said that she will never look at plastic bag the same way again.  The total cost for this program was under $3.00 for the Blow Pops.