A Math Puzzle

Now keep in mind that my math club is for K-3. So this week I made a math puzzle. I took some puzzles from the dollar store and assembled them. Then I flipped them over and took a sharpie to the back, numbering the puzzle pieces 1-100 (It was a 100 piece puzzle). So during Math Club today I had them assemble the puzzle by arranging the pieces in order from 1-100. It took a while, and the children were reluctant at first, but then they got into it, competing for who would finish first so they could play another game. I thought this was a good way to practice counting to a higher number then those counting bears could go to (100 bears is an awful lot) without it seeming too daunting. When they were done I helped them to flip over the puzzle and see what picture they made. Then since it was a Disney Villains puzzle they talked about Disney for a few minutes. Finally I let them run around and get some energy out. Till next time. Regards, Nicole.

Cookbook Book Club for Kids (that's a mouthful!)

So yesterday (Friday) we had our first ever Cookbook Book Club meeting. We used The Mash and Smash Cookbook by Marian Buck-Murray for our first book. Everyone had to pick a recipe out of the book, write it down so no one else does the recipe, and then the children made the dishes at home and brought them in for a feast! There was Chicken Teriyaki, French Toast Fingers, something called Nickabuck Crunch Cups which contained graham crackers, yogurt and maple syrup, and Apple Bread Pudding Cups. A full meal served buffet style on a Friday night. Everything was delicious and the kids had a lot of fun making something for book club instead of just reading. The children especially loved that for this cookbook they were able to mash and smash food. Then at the meeting we discussed what was difficult about the recipe, if the directions were clear (some were not) and other things that came up. The meeting was only a half hour long, just long enough for dinner, but so worth the extra effort for the kids. Our next Cookbook Book Club meeting will be next month and we are using the Around the World Cookbook by Abigail Johnson Dodge. Hopefully interest will grow with this fantastic program that every library should try. Till next time. Regards, Nicole

Acting, Etiquette and Espionage

This month for the sixth and seventh grade book club we discussed Ettiquette and Espionage by Gail Carriger using the discussion ball I made. Then we had a tea party. I made 'Classified' files with character names in them and the kids had to act like whatever character they got. Then the other kids and I were supposed to guess which character they were while we were having an old fashioned tea party. I used Lorna Doones and Arizona iced tea, because we're on a budget, but the kids really seemed to enjoy it. Next we are reading Seraphina by Rachel Hartman. Till next time. Regards, Nicole

Celebrate Library Week

Now this activity isn't just for children but for everyone. In honor of Library Week I created a treasure hunt at the library. Everyone uses clues to find pink slips of paper with a letter on them around the library. The letters spell out Community Lifelong Learning which unfortunately is a little difficult for the younger set to read. But if they finish the treasure hunt they win a prize! Also, every day we have prizes for everyone that comes in including pencils, books, and candy. Overall I think this is a good plan for my first library week. Talk soon. Regards, Nicole

Fourth Grade Book Club- Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library

Yesterday I had fourth grade book club. We used the discussion ball (a ball that has questions on all over it and the five W's which correspond to cards that have book specific questions). That took up about a half an hour of our time. The second half of the club meeting was spent playing a game based on the book. In the book Charles Chilington (?) used books on display to find the books in the stacks which had clues in them. This is what I did. I took printouts of book covers and the children had to learn to look up and locate the books in J Non-Fiction to get the clues. These clues made up a sentence saying where the key was to the treasure (prizes). The kids absolutely loved running (sort of) around the library trying to finish before the end of book club. They did really well and found the key to the room "Where the Lemoncello book should go". So they had to go to Grabenstein in the Fiction Stacks with his other books, in order to get the key. It was a lot of fun and a great idea for the future. Next we are reading The Detective's Assistant by Kate Hanigan.