Flannel Friday Roundup

Welcome to Flannel Friday!

We have a couple of stellar submissions today for your reading pleasure:

First off, Anne at So Tomorrow has a Five Superheroes flannel that can scale tall buildings in a single bound! Check it out here!

Next, Kathryn at Fun with Friends at Storytime, has a fun activity that involves forest animals and tents and fine motor skills so it's bound to be amazing. Here it is!

Finally, I have a Montessori-inspired idea for toddler storytime right over here. 

If you want to learn more about Flannel Friday, here are some helpful links:

Blog: http://flannelfridaystorytime.blogspot.com/

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/flannelfriday/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/flannelfridayfun/

And follow along on Twitter with the hashtag #flannelstorytime

Flannel Friday: Practice Writing with Toddlers

For Flannel Friday this week, I have a simple, adaptable way to practice writing with toddlers--sandpaper letters! This is a classic Montessori learning material, but I saw them on Pinterest and thought it might be interesting to try in storytime. You can purchase sandpaper letters from a variety of online sources, OR you can make them yourself. If you have a die-cut machine, this is super-simple. If you don't have a die-cut machine (or don't feel like driving to the Central library to use the one machine that your system owns) then you can do what I did and make a template for the letter, trace it on sandpaper, and cut it out. I personally used a rougher grain of sandpaper because that's what I had at home, but you could use whatever you can access easily. Once I cut out the letters, I glued them on foam rectangles. You could also use cardstock or poster paper as a base for the letters. Also, you could sub felt for the sandpaper. The main idea is to make the letters out of something with an interesting texture. As you can see, this is a really flexible project. :) To start off, I made 5 cards all of the letter D. But, I plan to make more cards of more letters when I have a chance to use a die-cut machine.

In storytime, I passed around the cards and invited all the kiddos and their caregivers to feel the letters as I sung a song to the tune of "Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush". I think it went something like this:

Let's all touch the letter D, letter D, letter D,
The letter D says, "duh"

I know, I know, you want to nominate me for a Grammy for my amazing songwriting skills. Basically, you can make up whatever song you want to sing. I would just suggest trying to incorporate the sound that the letter makes, but other than that, sing whatever you want.

The purpose of the sandpaper letters is to teach the shape of letters through tactile learning. Sometimes it seems too complicated to try to practice writing with toddlers in storytime, but I hope I've given you a simple way to do so. Has anyone else used sandpaper letters or other Montessori strategies in storytime? I'd love to hear about it!

I'm hosting the Flannel Friday Roundup today! Check it out here!

Hello again! (and Flannel Friday Placeholder)

Wow! It's been a while since I've done anything around here and I want to apologize to my 5 readers (hi mom!). I do have excuses--becoming a supervisor and then, 2 months later, moving back to North Carolina. I'll post about some of my new supervisor experiences as well as how I made the transition out a an awesome job really soon. Until then it's (almost) FLANNEL FRIDAY!


For anyone who isn't familiar with Flannel Friday, it is a weekly bloghop that showcases creative storytime ideas! Find more info about FF at any of these lovely locations across the internet:
Blog: http://flannelfridaystorytime.blogspot.com/
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/flannelfriday/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/flannelfridayfun/
And follow along on Twitter with the hashtag #flannelstorytime


If you want to be included in this week's roundup, leave a link to your post in the comments below.

Surveys and STEM and School-Agers

Over the past few months, I've been feeling uneasy about the programming at my branch. Not uneasy about what we're already doing--I think we've got early literacy programming down pretty well and we can throw a pretty solid character party. But, I am uneasy about what we're not doing. We're not doing consistent, effective school-age programming. As it stands right now, the only consistent thing we offer for school-agers is a monthly Paws to Read program, when kids can come practice reading to therapy dogs. But, our attendance for that has been really low--like 5 kids is a "busy" day. We have system-wide programs (usually arts and crafts) during fall break and spring break and in June and July. But, when a new family comes to the library and picks up our calendar or asks me what we have for their 8 year old, I'm usually at a loss for something to offer them. I hate not having something to offer. To adapt Ranganathan: "Every patron his/her program". Serendipitously, Thrive Thursday got started around the same time I started having these feelings. If you haven't heard, it's a monthly blog hop of after school library activities. I haven't posted anything since, clearly, I have nothing notable to post about, but I have been following along. I've also been stalking Amy's STEAM programs over at The Show Me Librarian, which have encouraged me that STEAM programming is possible, even for non-science people.

However, even though I had a feeling there was a programming void and it seemed like the stars were aligning on the interwebs, I knew I'd need more proof to convince my manager and fellow children's librarians that we should be spending time on school age programming. The general assumption here has been that kids in school are too busy or too uninterested to come to library programs. But, I don't agree so, I set out to prove that assumption wrong. I decided to create a simple survey to leave at our SRP prize desk--the place in the library that gets the most traffic from school age kids and their families. My main goal for the survey was to determine what types of programs people wanted the most and when they would prefer to attend those programs. I also added a few open-ended questions at the end just to get some general feedback.

Here is the text of the survey:

1. Please list the ages of your child(ren):

2. What kind of programs would your child(ren) be interested in attending at the library? (check all that apply)
 Kids book discussions
 STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) program
 Craft program
 Music program
 Cooking program
 Minecraft/gaming program
 Rainbow Loom program
 Fitness program
 Homework club
 Paws to Read (reading to therapy dogs)
 Homeschool club/meetup
 Other (please specify):

3. What days and times would you prefer to attend library programs?
(Please check all times that apply)
Morning (10-12) Afternoon (1-4) Evening (4-7)
Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

4. What library service(s) children and their families do you value the most?

5. What can the library do to improve its service to children and their families?

We ended up with about 20 responses, 3 of which were from families with kids who were all under 5. I didn't really use those, since this my main focus was school age kids/families. I didn't specify age on the survey, so I think it's really interesting that the majority or responses were from parents of kids over 5. I'm assuming that's because families with young kids are already having their needs met, but, families with older kids aren't as much. So, I'm glad we gave them a voice!

I won't bore you with the raw data, but here's my analysis of the responses from the program types section:

• Our system-wide children's services department consistently books high quality art and craft program presenters, so it would probably be better to focus our branch-specific efforts on other programming.
• An ongoing STEM program could encompass music, cooking and fitness and would also incorporate related fiction and nonfiction books. So, this might be a good program to try that would incorporate the interests of a range of children.
• Further investigation is needed to determine the actual interest in a book discussion as well as a gaming program.
• It might be a good idea to talk with area schools to see if Paws to Read is still a needed service. Since many schools have therapy dogs visit, many kids who might come to our program, could already be reading to a therapy dog at school. However, this survey isn't exhaustive, so it might be that the families who come or would come to Paws to Read didn't happen to take the survey. Also, it could be that we need to do more marketing of this program. 
• Having a safe technology use program definitely falls under the library's expertise, but more investigation needs to be done to determine whether it would be of widespread interest. 

As far as program times, the votes were resoundingly for the early evening, which is a bummer staffing-wise, but can definitely be done. We had a few votes for 1-4pm, a few for 10-12 and a few for Saturdays. 

Taking all this into consideration, my overall suggestion to my team will be to start a monthly or quarterly STEM themed program aimed at kids 6-11 years old, and we should try to have the program at 4 or 4:30 pm on a weekday afternoon. In order for the program to be successful, we will first need to market assertively, then present the programs excellently so that kids will keep coming back and will tell their friends. Books can be incorporated by introducing the theme with a book and/or having related books and movies available for checkout. We will evaluate the effectiveness of the program after a few sessions to decide if it should be continued. I'm really excited about this! It think we'll have a lot of fun and retain/gain some happy library patrons by providing programming for this currently under-served age group. If anyone has any tips on starting up a new ongoing program/school-age program/STEM program, please share!!  

Flannel Friday--I Spy Forest Animals

Recently, I've been trying to up the ante on the games/activities we do in storytime. For a while I did a lot of games in the vein of Little Mouse, but they weren't always well-received and I felt like there had to be more robust options.  I'm trying one today that I'm calling I Spy, but I won't be spying something actually in the room. I got the idea from The Stillwater Public Library Children's Department blogpost about their forest animals storytime, but I adapted the clues a little bit.  I'm excited about this activity because we'll definitely be doing a lot of talking and critical thinking. I also like this because, like Little Mouse, it's easily adapted to any theme or age group. You could definitely make the clues harder or easier depending on the audience.

Update after storytime: Since we had a smaller group (at least for the summer, about 15), this activity went really well and we were able to talk about the different animals. The rabbit clues stumped them at first--they thought it was a kangaroo. But, I said it lived in America and liked to eat veggies from gardens and they figured it out. I'd thought the porcupine might be hard, so I made a point to talk about one that showed up in Into the Outdoors when we read it. They were able to guess it immediately during the game.  The kids seemed to enjoy the activity and I'll definitely do similar ones in the future. 

Miss Mollie is hosting this week's Flannel Friday roundup and it's her birthday so go say hi! If you're new to Flannel Friday, check it out on Facebook, Pinterest and on the blog.

***Can you tell I don't really love to make flannels? I use real life images whenever possible because I think kids see a lot of cartoon-y images already. I want them to know what a real porcupine looks like! That being said, I do use traditional flannel pieces too. I'll post some eventually : ) 

All About Animals--Preschool Storytime

This storytime is pretty basic. I tried to keep it simple because we were supposed to have guest readers come (a city official and his wife) and I didn't want to make things extra complicated for them. They didn't end up coming, but we still had a great time. And I was reassured that you don't have to be super creative to have an effective, fun storytime. 

Sooo, our theme was animals! The low-hanging fruit of storytime land. Basically, my go-to theme if I'm not feeling too creative because it is absolutely always fun to act like animals :) 

Intro: Welcome and guidelines

Opening Song: Silly Dance Contest

Theme intro: Animals!

Book: Are You My Mother?*

Theme Song: Down by the Bay (Raffi version on CD) with shakers

Sit down rhyme:
Open, shut them
Open, shut them
Give a little clap, clap, clap
Open, shut them
Open, shut them
Put them in your lap
Creep them, crawl them
Creep them, crawl them
Right up to your chin
Open wide your little mouth...
But do not let them in.

Book: From Head to Toe 

Action Rhyme: Animals on the bus from 1234 More Storytimes

Song: Hip Hop Tooty Ta (I've convinced a lot of grownups to join in the fun on this one by calling it a workout, which it is!)

Sit down rhyme:
If you’re ready for a book, clap your hands!

If you're ready for a book, clap your hands!

If you're ready for a book, listen up,

And take a look. 

If you're ready for a book clap your hands!

Book: The Pigeon Wants a Puppy

Flannel game: Little Mouse

Craft: Adaptable Animal Game

I designed this craft because I refuse to make animal masks in storytime. It is pretty basic but can be used in a variety of ways. Each child got a brown paper bag and a stack of pre-cut pictures of animals from this coloring sheet. They could color the animals and decorate their bag. At home, I suggested that they sing Animals on the Bus, act out the animals like in From Head to Toe, or come up with their own animal game. The parents were enthusiastic about being able to extend storytime at home! Most kids didn't finish coloring all the animals before they left, but planned to finish at home. One girl colored all hers green and one boy took 15 minutes to painstakingly color the toucan. I like crafts that cater to different abilities and artistic desires!

Evaluation:
This storytime was a lot of fun and even though it wasn't a super creative theme, I got several compliments from parents who said I'd done a good job of creating a developmentally appropriate learning experience. (Ok they didn't say that exactly, but that's what they meant.) Are You My Mother was a way better read aloud than I'd been expecting. A colleague suggested I include it because the city official's wife enjoyed reading it last time they came to storytime--otherwise I probably wouldn't have picked it. But, I'm glad I did! The kids really got into the plot of the story, which made me realize that I haven't been giving them enough credit for their ability to understand and pay attention. From Head to Toe is a blast every time. And The Pigeon Wants a Puppy went over well once we talked about how to take care of a puppy. My forthcoming flannel friday submission is something I adapted because Little Mouse hasn't gone well in the past. But, I decided to try it one more time and the kids actually really got into it! I turned the flannel board around when I hid the mouse (which I don't usually do), and I think it cut back on the cheating, which made the game more fun.




*Now that I am a newly converted Dr. Who fan, I can't see this book without imagining this creepy little guy...

A Reminder to Chill

Mr. Soldier Bear: educating children since 1985

Promoting early literacy in your library--or in your home--can seem daunting. I know we have ECRR2 and the 5 practices that help make it less so, but it's easy to forget that in the face of all the blog posts telling me another thing I could be doing to make my library and my librarianship extra awesome. But, today I had a really epic, really obvious reminder that early literacy can be really simple. Nothing out of the ordinary happened to snap me out of my must-be-a-super-librarian fog. In fact, it was something really normal. A mom and her toddler walked past my desk on their way to find books, when the toddler noticed the stuffed bear standing guard in front of my desk. This bear is dressed like a toy soldier and is just over two feet tall, the perfect height.

The boy toddled up to the bear and smiled and laughed delightedly. His mom instantly knelt down and engaged him in discussion about the bear, even though her son only has a few words and doesn't speak in sentences yet. They discussed what he's wearing, named all his facial features and pointed to their own eyes, ears, nose, etc. I told them that my bear loves hugs so the mom modeled hugging the bear first and the boy immediately hugged the bear too. He thought that was the best and kept laughing and babbling and hugging the bear. Eventually his mom told him that they needed to go get books and they wandered away.

Similar occurrences happen multiple times a day. Even kids who are 6 or 7 will come by and hug the bear for old times sake. This bear has been around for over 20 years and generations of kids have come by to inadvertently share in a learning experience with librarians and their caregivers. They talk and listen. They learn how to hug gently and wait turns. They are amazed by a world in which a bear can be soft and dressed in a cool outfit and be their size. They interact with new and familiar people. They practice new vocabulary. Maybe this isn't mind-blowing, but I think it's wonderful. These interactions are an example of how something as simple as a stuffed bear can facilitate early literacy learning, as well as social learning. As an added bonus, it brings people to my desk, who might not come by just to ask a question. This allows me to ask them about what they're looking for or have already found and allows me to tell them about our programs. So, even though this bear sometimes becomes a punching bag for kids who have been stuck at the library too long, I'm glad he's here. He's a great reminder that even the most mundane things about the library can be beneficial, despite the fact that they aren't new or elaborate. Innovation and development definitely have their place, but so do bears and blocks and crayons. So, it's allllll good! :)

Flannel Friday Roundup

Happy Friday everyone! I'm pretty new to blogging so if this is your first time at Lovin' the Library, welcome!

We have some wonderful submissions this week to help make storytime planning easier during summer reading craziness.

As we all know, bodily functions make storytime that much more fun, so Anne at So Tomorrow has revamped a rhyming puppet story about burping fish.

If you're looking to round out your folktale repertoire, Amy at The Show Me Librarian is sharing an oral retelling of Toads and Diamonds that uses flannel board enhancements.

For anyone thinking ahead and planning a back to school themed storytime for your rising kindergartners or for a family storytime, Bridget has her own take on a previous Flannel Friday post. Check out her version of The Lonely Bus Driver.

Miss Sue of Library Village has solved the age-old problem of books being perfect for storytime, except for being too small to share with a group. Her version of Rock-a-Bye Animals is really adorable.

Kathryn is sharing a fun, interactive rhyme to go along with her hot air balloon post from last year over at Fun with Friends at Storytime.

If you're in the Midwest right now, Miss Tara's post including a cute puppet version of The Big Storm is very timely. 

My own post is a version of One Dog Canoe that I'm excited to use in my camping storytime next week.

Thanks for stopping by this week's roundup! If you want to learn more about Flannel Friday, just follow the links!
Blog: http://flannelfridaystorytime.blogspot.com/
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/flannelfriday/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/flannelfridayfun/
And follow along on Twitter with the hashtag #flannelstorytime

Flannel Friday--One Dog Canoe

Repetitive books like One Dog Canoe are perfect to tell as flannel board stories because there isn't an elaborate script to memorize. It's basically The Mitten, but in a canoe--animals keep piling in until a small animal (in this case a frog) is the last straw and all the animals all fall out. So, I created this flannel story last year, inspired by Rachel Moani's version. Unfortunately, I can't find a good link to her blog but you can at least see the photo of her completed flannel set. I personally don't have the patience to create elaborate animals out of felt, so I made my version using photos. The girl in the canoe is really me on a camping trip, and the dog is a beautiful Australian Shepherd that I wish was mine :) I got the idea to put myself in the canoe from Rachel's original blog post, so I can't claim that creativity. The animals are laminated clip art or Google images photos that were "labeled for reuse". I did make the canoe out of felt and outlined it in puff paint to give it some depth. I usually use this story with a camping themed storytime, but it would also go well in one about forest animals or even transportation.

Flannel Friday Placeholder

Hi fellow flannel fridayers!

If you want to contribute to this week's roundup please leave a comment with a link to your post. Usually the deadline for submissions is 10 pm Eastern Time on Friday, but if I could have all submissions by 8:30 pm that would be amazing. I'll most likely be away from internet access later in the evening so I want to make sure I get everything posted before then. Thanks!

If you're not familiar with Flannel Friday, check out the blog and/or Pinterest page.

Not-Flannel Friday: Can You Make a Scary Face

So I've been using a lot of props lately in my storytimes and this is one fun example. I guess it's technically a puppet show, but it's more in the vein of Lisa's set up at Thrive After Three: simple, no hiding behind a puppet stage. I will say that it wasn't until I read her post about one-person puppet shows that I felt like it was something I could feasibly do. So if you see this, thanks Lisa! Ok so here's what I did a few weeks ago. I wanted to tell the story Can You Make a Scary Face? which is super interactive already, but I decided to kick it up a notch by adding puppets!

In preparation, I typed out the words of the book so I'd have a script to which to refer during storytime. I did my best to memorize the basic outline, but I wanted the script just in case. Then, I covered the outside of a small book box with a large piece of felt. You could use paper or another type of fabric but I just happened to have felt handy. I used the box to hide the puppets and the script and to act as a basic platform. Now, in the book, the narrator is a ladybug, but I only had a spider so that's what I used. Fortunately, I didn't have to trade the frog in the story for a dinosaur or something.

During storytime, I introduced the story saying that I had a special friend who wanted to talk to them and that they should do whatever he said. The children looked skeptical, but then I pulled out the spider. They were intrigued. Then the spider took over and started ordering them around (Stand up! No I changed my mind! Sit Down!) They needed a reminder to actually do what the crazy spider said, but after that there were lots of giggles as kids and grownups stood up, found a bug on their nose, wiggled it onto their shirts, danced it off, and made scary faces to scare away the the huge frog that showed up. I was actually really surprised at how much they seemed to enjoy it. Success!

Please excuse my lame photo. I forgot to take one before I disassembled my fabric-covered box. 

If you want more Flannel Friday posts, head over to What Happens in Storytime!

Flannel Friday--Brown Bear-ized Bugs!

Usually I save bug storytime till it's for real summer, but not this year! For my toddler storytime today, I flannelized and Brown-Bear-ized some cute little bugs. By Brown-Bear-ize I mean that I just replaced the animals in the beloved Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? with bugs of various colors. I got the idea from the post at Miss Sarah's Storytime about transportation, who was originally inspired by a Flannel Friday post at Valley Storytime

I drew the bug shapes freehand because I couldn't find templates that we're simple enough and all the same style. Basically I just google-imaged the different bugs and used what I found for inspiration. I was trying to keep the designs simple without being too cartoon-y, but some of my storytime friends and their grownups had trouble identifying the bugs, so I might redesign a few. The blue beetle and the green inch worm were the most confusing (they thought the worm was a snake...), but not many people picked up on the firefly either. So, all that to say, feel free to use this as a loose inspiration for a fun story that everyone can help tell. 

To tell the story, I first explained that this was based on Brown Bear, Brown Bear, but it was called Red Ladybug, Red Ladybug since it's about bugs. Together we say "Red ladybug, red ladybug, what do you see?" Then I pull out the next bug and we talk about what it is before saying, "I see a blue beetle looking at me." We continue on until the last bug who says "I see lots of kids looking at me!" So, you know, nothing mind-blowing, but the kids and parents enjoyed it. I used it as my early literacy tip, actually, and suggested that parents encourage their child to make up their own "Brown Bear" story with other animals or people as a way to promote narrative skills and phonological awareness.

For your information, here are the bugs I used: red ladybug, blue beetle, green inchworm, purple butterfly, yellow spider, and black firefly. I created them with felt and puffy paint.

Forgot to add this earlier, but Flannel Friday is being hosted by the lovely ladies at Jbrary! Go check it out! 

Flannel Friday--Up, Down, and Around!

Confession: I get a LOT of my storytime ideas from other people buy this one ks all mine! As a librarian just a few months into my second year on the job, these are the things that excite me. That and when baked goods appear on the break room table.

Cupcakes aside, here's the down-low on my awesome story extension:

As part of my garden storytime, I decided to read Up, Down, and Around by Katherine Ayers. This seems to be a pretty popular choice, and for good reason. The book is informational, repetitive, and rhythmic, so awesome for storytime. In order to extend the fun, I made a flannel board activity so we could "act out" the story. 

First, I created cards to show the directions: up, down and around. I thought about creating them in Publisher, but decided to be all retro and just use a marker on notecards. 

Next, I used clipart and Google images to find photos of all the veggies in the book. I figured real photos would be better than any cartoony felt veggies I could create. Also, there were 12 veggies and that's a lot of pieces to make in felt. 

3 of 12 veggies

Then, I wrote the direction the veggie grows on the back of the card so I wouldn't have to think critically in the middle of the game. And, I laminated each card and stuck velcro on the back.

With the kids, I showed them the directional cards first. Then I pulled out one veggie at a time and we did the correlating action: jumping for up, crouching for down, and twirling for around. We took our time on each veggie so that everyone could catch up, which, I've found is important for 2-year-olds. 

So that's it! Check out this week's Flannel Friday Roundup at Thrive After Three: http://thriveafterthree.com/2014/04/26/flannel-friday-roundup-42514/

Garden Storytime--Toddlers

A few weeks ago, when a "warm" day consisted of a high of 45 degrees, I decided that it was spring, dangit, and we were going to have a garden storytime. Ignoring the fact that the weather guy was calling for snow later that week, I trolled the blogosphere and Pinterest and found some awesome books about growing and gardens. What follows is the resulting storytime plan.

Welcome everyone to storytime and share guidelines

Shake Your Sillies Out (Johnny Only version)

Calm Down Rhyme: Wiggle My Fingers 
I wiggle my fingers,
I wiggle my toes,
I wiggle my shoulders,
I wiggle my nose.
Now no more wiggles
Are left in me
And I will be
As still as can be.

Book: Up, Down, and Around by Katherine Ayers

Game: Act out Up, Down and Around
Put up a photo of a veggie on the flannel board. We jump up, bend down or spin around based on how it grows!
Corn-UP
Carrots-DOWN
Cucumbers-AROUND
Peppers-UP
Potatoes-DOWN
Pumpkins-AROUND
Broccoli-UP
Beets-DOWN
Green beans-AROUND
Okra-UP
Onions-DOWN
Tomatoes-AROUND

First I introduced the cards, making
sure to point to each word as I said it.

I had a stash of 12 veggies
and pulled them out one at a time
and placed them under the
correlating word before we
did the associated movement.

Song: Sleeping Bunnies (with ukulele, a la Miss Mary Liberry)

Calm Down Rhyme: Wiggle My Fingers

Felt Story: The Carrot (my version is based on this version from My Storytime Life)



Felt Rhyme: Little Seed in the Ground (I couldn't find the original, but it's all over the internet)
Little seed in the ground (crouch down on the floor)
Sitting so still (stay crouching)
Little seed, will you sprout?
Yes, I will! (jump up!)
(I think we did this a few times.)

Song: Head Shoulders Knees and Toes


Evaluation:
This was a really fun storytime! I felt like our movement activities were really great extensions of the stories, especially the Up, Down and Around activity. The kids were really paying attention, trying to figure out what to do next. I didn't use all 12 veggies, but I probably could have, they were so engaged. I was expecting them to get bored after 5 or 6 so that's about how many I did. But, I should have given these little guys more credit : ) The Carrot is always an awesome time because we all pull and puuulll and puuuullllll every time we add a new animal until we finally pull the carrot out. Little Seed was a simple/slow enough rhyme that pretty much everybody was with me (this usually doesn't happen with this group). Overall, it was a pretty awesome morning!

I'm Here!

Hello everyone : )
After about a year of trying to decide if I should actually start a blog, I'm finally doing it! I've been so inspired by the contributors over at Flannel Friday who use their blogs to save and share storytiming ideas.  I REALLY appreciate that if I need some inspiration, I can just pop over to the Pinterest boards and browse. But, what finally gave me enough confidence to get this thing running, was meeting with some youth librarian bloggers at PLA. I went to a Storytime Underground lunch meetup and happened to sit between Lisa of Libraryland and Miss Sue of Library Village. I mentioned that I'd thought about blogging, but felt like I wouldn't be adding much to the youth librarian blogosphere, since it's so full of awesome people already. But, Lisa and Miss Sue were super encouraging and told me to go for it. So, a few weeks later, here I am! I'm hoping this blog will be a way for me to grow my PLN, and will also allow me to think more intentionally about planning and evaluating my programs. I'll be focusing mostly on storytimes, but I'll probably post about other special family programs that I plan, as well.

I'll give you a little bit of background if you're interested:
I'm almost a year and a half into my first full-time librarian job at a regional branch of a large library system in Indiana. I work with two other children's librarians to provide library services to kids 0-11 and their families. One of my favorite parts of the job is storytime! Right now I facilitate storytimes for toddlers (walking-3) and preschoolers (3-5). But, sometimes I might have a random baby storytime, so you might hear about that every once in a while. Our programs for kids under 5 are pretty popular, so we usually have between 25 and 30 for toddler storytime and 10-20 for preschool storytime. They are drop-in programs, so we never really know how many will show up, but this set up works well for our patrons. 

Where else to find me:
Twitter: @loventhelibrary
Pinterest: hlwheeler

Note on the blog name:
It evolved from my Twitter handle, which was inspired by my maiden name (Love) and this awesome Jimmy Buffet song...

Oh, and obviously, everything I say here is my opinion (not my library's) and my intellectual property unless otherwise stated. Thanks!