Literary Pumpkin Decorating awesomeness!

4 Halloween parties, 2  early release school programs, an after school kids club meeting…..this week has been CRAZY at our library.  

I just have to take some time out of my chaotic Halloween partying schedule to share one of my favorite seasonal programs, the Family Literary Pumpkin Decorating Contest!   The entries have been so creative!   I have no idea how I am going to pick a winner.  They are all my favorite! Enjoy....

Tween Book Club Adventures: in the graveyard

The tween book club voted in September to read a "scary --- but not too scary" book in October. I decided on the wonderful and award winning Neil Gaiman title THE GRAVEYARD BOOK.

THE GRAVEYARD BOOK opens with the tragic story of a small toddler whose parents were murdered in their bed by a man named Jack. This child (later named Nobody or “Bod”) escapes from the murderer by climbing out of his crib, crawling out of his house, and into the neighborhood graveyard. The kind-hearted ghosts who reside in the graveyard shelter him from the murderer and take him into their “home”.


The initial frightening opening scene of THE GRAVEYARD BOOK is soon replaced by a wonderfully tender cast of ghostly characters.   Some of the book club participants enjoyed the frightening beginning of the book and some thought it was a bit too gruesome. Everyone agreed that everything else after the murder was pure awesomeness.

While we were  noshing on pizza, a graduate library school student came in and book talked a list of middle grade  "scary --- but not too scary" reads.  She compiled a sort-of-scary readers advisory bookmark and handed them out to the kids.  Afterwords, we got down to the groups favorite part of book club -- crafting!

This month, we crated little graveyard terrariums.  I got this very cute idea from the Harper Collins book/craft Tumblr page.  This page has a few unbelievably clever and adorable book/craft pairings.

I ended the book club by passing out November’s book club pick.  The I SURVIVED series by Lauren Tarshis is "like, totally super cool" with the tweens right now.  We can't keep them on the shelf.  I highly suggest that you check out the Bryce Don't Play: Shark Week blog post for fun activities to go along with this title.

Professional Book Review: Programming for Children and Teens with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Klipper, Barbara. 2014. Programming for Children and Teens with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Chicago: ALA Editions. p. 168. ISBN 9780838912065. $45. softcover.

        

Barbara Kippler’s book, Programming for Children and Teens with Autism Spectrum Disorder, is a comprehensive guide for library professionals who are interested in developing programs for children and teens. This book includes a general overview of autism and details unique challenges librarians face when developing programs for children and teens that are on the autism spectrum. It is a wonderful resource for library professional looking to serve this special need population in their library.


Kippler is a veteran special needs educator. Within the ALA, she has chaired the Library Services for Special Population Children and Their Caregivers committee. She has been working on the front lines with children who have autism since 1986. Her journey started with founding a school for autistic children after her two sons were diagnosed with the disorder. Since founding the school, Kippler has developed grant funded sensory story-times, special need library collections, trained librarians in working with autism, and presented at national conferences.


This well organized book has story-time and program ideas broken down by age’s ranging from preschool to teen. Excellent well-developed sample programs for preschool children through teens are scattered through the book. These programs outline shopping/equipment lists, recommended books, room set-up, adaptations, and extension activities. These pre-made program ideas are a valuable resource for busy children librarians who need ready-to-go activities.


The first few chapters give readers a general overview of the autism disorder. Kippler includes both a layman’s explanation and briefly describes the diagnostic criteria for autism before delving into how this affects libraries in chapter two. The second chapter is a well thought out guide to the pre-planning process for librarians interested in starting programs for autistic children. Preparation, training, outreach, funding, and planning are all discussed. Lists of question are provided to guide library professional in developing the goals and logistics of their programs.


This book discuss developing or adapting story-times for children with sensory disorders. There are many well-built story-time example programs in these chapters. Kippler briefly talks about inclusion programs that combine special needs and autistic children on page eight. However, she verbalizes a preference for separate special needs story-times and does not offer many tools for librarians wishing to make their current story-time more inclusive for these children.


Programming for Children and Teens with Autism Spectrum Disorder also outlines special autism specific programs for school age children and teens. These chapters included many great suggestions about integrating autistic children into regular programming Moreover, Kippler includes some very good separate program plans for children in this age group. These plans are littered with tips and tricks to make them run more smoothly and to be more all-embracing.

Tween Tech: SCRATCHer club

SCRATCH  is a fun computer programming language developed for kids by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  SCRATCH teaches kids the basics of coding while letting them create original works of interactive art, games, animation, and stories. 

Two months ago, a volunteer came into the library asking to teach monthly SCRATCH programming classes to our tweens.  Theses classes have become so popular they are filled (with waiting lists!) until the end of November.  

I am lucky to have such an awesome volunteer but it is not necessary to have your own SCRATCH expert to run this library program.  The SCRATCH platform is simple enough that any tech savvy library professional could put together (or steal) their own curriculum.  For instance, SCRATCH-ed has a FREE curriculum for introductory classes (including the Power Points and handouts!).

Speaking of free…. the program is completely free to use.  If you have access to computers/internet that is all you need to start classes. 

**one word of caution**  

If students will be posting their projects to SCRATCH online make sure parents know that other kids will be viewing and commenting on them (the comments are monitored to ensure that all are positive).

I have gotten around this issue by asking parents to stay for the first five minutes and help their child register for SCRATCH online.  This enables parent to have access to their child’s account and gives me a chance to remind everyone about cyber safety.