Brentwood Library Internship Week Ten

On Monday, I was scared out of my mind because that was the day that I was supposed to do my story time. I felt really prepared and I had even cut out Dingle Dangle Scarecrow, which was a song that was making me really nervous because it wasn't really well-known. For the most part, I was just afraid of things going wrong, like forgetting the words to the songs or the kids not being entertained by what I had prepared. However, I got through it and I survived! There were a few rough patches when I was talking to the kids because I would say something and they just wouldn't reply at all. They absolutely adored the dragon craft idea, which I felt like saved the day.

Tuesday, I worked the desk and it was incredibly boring. There weren't very many people around the library, so I really did not have much to do. My supervisor was still on vacation, so I couldn't ask her if there were any little tasks for me to do. However, I was able to do a few things at the desk, like help people find books and check books out.

I went into the library on Wednesday almost relieved that it was my last day. The days working there had grown a little boring and I spent most of my time just working the desk. I started off the day working at the desk, but as the day went on, I found other things to occupy my time with. I did just little odd jobs around the library like putting books away, processing the new books into the system and weeding a few books.

This whole experience really opened my eyes to what it is like to work in a library. I knew that I would enjoy it, but I had no idea to what level I would enjoy it. There really wasn't much that I didn't like about working there. I loved all the little odd jobs there was to do and I loved helping the customers. This is definitely something that I will think about pursuing.

Brentwood Library Internship Week Nine

On Monday, I came into the library and I couldn't really find anybody to ask if there was anything that needed to be done in the department, so I just went to the back office again to work on things. The last thing for the Toddler Tub that I had to do was cut out the Old MacDonald figurines and tape them to popsicle sticks. Unfortunately, this took absolutely FOREVER because I am such a perfectionist and all of the cutting had to be just perfect. I eventually got them all done and they looked really good at the end.

Tuesday was a bit more eventful. I packaged up the felt figurines for the chick rhyme and the paper figurines for the Old Macdonald song. The Toddler Tub needed be sent out that day because someone from another branch had ordered it. The rest of the day, I was at the desk. At the children's department desk, there are two seats and at the seat on the left, there is a scanner and small receipt printer, so we can check out books. However, on Tuesday, the printer and the scanner were both occasionally not working. This was really a good thing, though, in hindsight because I just recently found out that after my story time on Monday, I will be the only staff person in the children's department.

Wednesday was very quiet, so I went into the back office and worked a bit on a job that my supervisor assigned me to. There is a story time closet in the back office with picture books, big books and music that are repeatedly used for story times. I had to make three lists of all of the items in the closet: one for the big books, one of the picture books, and one for the music. I did this in sections starting with the big books. I typed up each of the titles, alphabetized them, printed off the lists and taped them on the inside of the door. I wanted to alphabetize the items inside the closet as well, but my supervisor told me not to. After that job was done, I did some final touches on my story time. I needed to finalize some things for my craft: make sure the streamer strips were short enough so that they would blow around when the children blew in the back of the dragon, and I had to cut out little black squares for the dragon's nose. I had a small freak out about the story time, so I practiced reading the books.

Monday is the big day and I'm absolutely terrified! The songs are really what is making me feel really nervous, so I'll be practicing them this weekend and hopefully I can make it through this!

Toddler Tub Plan

One of my projects for this summer was to organize and put together what is called a Toddler Tub. These are back-up plans for when the original librarian that does story time can't be there and someone needs to fill in. They will pull out one of these tubs and use the plan for that morning's story time, instead of having to come up with a story time on the spot. There are certain items included in the tub already, so I really didn't have much work to do besides just choosing things. The only things I had to come up with by myself was the song and rhymes. The theme of this particular Toddler Tub was Farm Animals #1, so I thought the song and rhymes were pretty obvious.

Sing: Welcome song

Parental Aside: Racing to Read: Sing and Rhyme

Read: Who Took the Farmer’s Hat?

Song: Old MacDonald

Activity: Puppets

Give puppets to the children (or to the parents if the children cannot hold them) to use during the Old MacDonald song

Parental aside: This activity will help the children associate words with the proper figures.

Read: This Little Chick

Rhyme: Mary Had a Little Lamb

Mary had a little lamb,
its fleece was white as snow;
And everywhere that Mary went,
the lamb was sure to go. It followed her to school one day,
which was against the rule;
It made the children laugh and play,
to see a lamb at school.

And so the teacher turned it out,
but still it lingered near,
And waited patiently about,
till Mary did appear.
"Why does the lamb love Mary so?"
the eager children cry;
"Why, Mary loves the lamb, you know",
the teacher did reply.

Read: Click, Clack, Moo Cows That Type

Activity: “This Little Chick Felt Board Rhyme”

This little chick is black.

She stands in the barnyard on a big haystack.

This little chick is brown.

She is feeling sad and wearing a frown.

This little chick is yellow.

She’s friends with the rooster; he’s a handsome fellow.

This little chick is white.

She dances and plays, oh what a sight.

This little chick is purple.

She spends her day running around in a circle.

This little chick is green.

She is the prettiest chick I’ve ever seen.

This little chick is blue.

She lays eggs for me and you.

This little chick is pink.

She goes down to the pond to get a drink.

All of these chicks live at the farm,

Out in the big red barn.

After naming the color, put the correct colored chick (or the barn) up on the felt board.

Parental aside: This activity will help the children associate the proper colors with the proper words.

Sing: Goodbye song

Story Time Plan

This is my story time plan and I am extremely nervous about it. I think the main thing I'm worried about is having to sing in front of people because it's really not something I'm comfortable doing. With this branch's story time, they usually pick a theme and for mine, I picked imagination because I feel like that is one of the most important things a person can develop.

Song: If You're Happy and You Know It
I chose this song to start off because it was something that would get the kids up and moving.

Parental Aside: Racing to Read: Love Books
The Racing to Read system allows the parents to understand what the child will be getting from each activity in the story times. There are five traits of Racing to Read: tell stories, love books, sing and rhyme, talk and read, and play with letters. I thought that Love Books was the most accurate to my story time.

Read: Pretend
Pretend is a book about a father and son that pretend their couch is a raft that leads them to a deserted island. Another book where imagination comes into play!  

Song: I’m a Little Teapot
This song went right along with my theme and it's a very common song during the story times, so the children will know it.

Read: Where the Wild Things Are
In this book, Max imagines a different world with different creatures, where he is the king. It seemed perfect for my theme!

Song: Dingle Dangle Scarecrow
This is a somewhat less known song, so I'm a little concerned about it. I will have to write the words up on a large piece of paper and display it where the parents and children will be able to see it. I found a dance that goes along with this song, so it will definitely keep the children entertained. I'm a bit nervous about this one, since the children will probably not know it and I'll have to be dancing and singing by myself.

Read: There’s a Wocket in my Pocket!
With the theme I chose, I know I just had to pick a book written by Dr. Seuss. This one is a particularly short book because I was advised against choosing a book that was very long.

Song: Grand Ol’ Duke of York
The Grand Ol' Duke of York was another song that was slightly well-known and that also had a slight theme of imagination. It's about the Duke of York that is marching with his men, so I will have the children march in place with me.

Activity: Dragon craft
My supervisor, Charity, was so excited when I found this craft! She is convinced that the children will love it and that's giving me a little bit of confidence. It really promotes imagination because by blowing through the back of the dragon's head, the colored streamers will flow, so they can all pretend they're dragons!

Song: The More We Get Together
I chose this song because it sort of has an ending feel to it and I thought it would be perfect to end the story time. I'm a little excited for this because it is a rather common song in this branch and it is always done with sign language!

Brentwood Library Internship Week Eight

On Monday, I did the usual helping with the story times, but we were a little short that day, so instead of sitting in to watch the story times, I returned out to the main children's department and watched over the desk. Being on the desk really doesn't make me nervous, like it did towards the beginning of the internship. I've grown accustomed to dealing with the public, whether it's helping them to find a book or handing out the prizes to the kids for the summer reading program. I actually really look forward to it now!

Tuesday was much more low-key. There were two librarians sitting at the desk, so I went back into the office to work on the remaining Toddler Tub plan. All I had left to do was print out the pictures for the Old MacDonald activity, cut them out and tape them to popsicle sticks for the children to hold while they sing the song. However, this was much more difficult than I thought it was going to, so it took me the rest of the day to print them off. There was some sort of miscommunication between the computer and the printer because every time I tried to print something out, it would expand the image so that it was the full page. No matter what I did, this kept happening. So after finding some help from my supervisor, I found just how useful Microsoft Word is when trying to resize images.

I was so very stressed about Wednesday because this was when the children's department's Olympics took place. I was in charge of setting up because I got there at ten, my supervisor wasn't planned to start until 12:30 and the Olympics started at 2:00. One thing that made me so stressed about this was there was a group in the meeting room, where the majority of the events were taking place, from 11:00 to 1:30. So, between 10:00 and 11:00, I got as much set up as I possibly could, while not getting anything in the way for the group that would be in the meeting room. I was in charge of the kids aged kindergarten to second grade and this was another reason I was so nervous; I'd never been in charge of kids or even really interacted with them before.

I had to come up with two events for my group and I wish I had picked simpler events because I felt like my part was a complete disaster. For the physical event, I picked a game where the kids had to put a clothes pin under their chin and drop it into a cup. Whoever got five in a cup first was the winner. There were a lot more kids in my group than I had originally planned on, so it felt really disorganized and scattered. The second game that I picked was a mind game called Big and Little. The kids were supposed to sit in a circle and one person had to say "Big" or "Little," but if they said "Big," they would have to make a little motion with their hands and arms, but if they said "Little," they would have to make a big motion with their hands and arms, and then pass it off to someone else in the circle. If they got it wrong, then they were out. Well, this was a disaster because I had to explain the game several times, but they still did not understand the concept.

After the game was over, the kids went on a little parade with medals and flags through the library, then returned to the meeting room for a cup of water and a popsicle.