Saturday, February 26, 2011

This week at the library; or, tweens, ice and organizing myself out of meals.

This is getting too lengthy! Going to bullet points...

Monday
  • Approximately 25 calls asking if we're open (the schools are open, the city is open, the post office is open, YES WE'RE OPEN)
  • My brilliant idea is a go and we are going to have a tween area! Before and after pictures soon I hope...
  • Make it and Take it - we made Pixel Pics from Jane Bull's Made by Me. I had graph paper for them to draw designs, plastic canvas squares, needles, and yarn. The kids really didn't have the patience to use the graph paper but they loved trying out sewing. As in every sewing program, I spent every second threading needles and undoing tangles. A few of the kids got very frustrated after they'd been there a while and I had to keep reminding them this was something they took home to finish, they couldn't sew the entire square in an hour.

Tuesday
  • I worked 12 - 8 because my director was going to Library Legislative Day. Well, that didn't happen.
  • Our spiffy new children's area gate is a failure - has to be loosened, straightened, and tightened constantly. Took it down with much inner woe.
  • Two kids tripped over the Wii cord - parents suggested wireless Wii. I'm in favor of it if somebody donates the money...
  • Made monthly programs calendars through August. This is a lot more time-consuming than it sounds, really
Wednesday
  • Somehow didn't eat breakfast
  • Started on flyers for individual programs through August
  • Had a record number for Lego Building Club - 51. I had planned to show them some of the laminated guides and magazines I'd brought for ideas, but apparently a door was left unlocked and when I came over about 10 minutes before the program started to unlock there were already twenty people in the room. "We sneaked in the back" one grinning seven-year-old boy informed me.
  • Suddenly realized around 2:30 that I had managed to organize my projects, desk time, and programs so as to preclude lunch. Oh well. This is why I keep peanuts and apple juice in my desk.
Thursday
  • Bear storytime! We read Old Bear by Kevin Henkes, The terrible plop by Ursula Dubosarsky, and Blueberries for Sal. Then we did "We're going on a bear hunt" a la Michael Rosen's hilarious rendition, and made bears out of paper bags...and then we made rainbows out of paper plates. Not sure where the rainbows came from, but we went with it!
  • Much kicking out of tweens in the afternoon...
Friday
  • Suddenly remembered late Thursday that I was doing toddler storytime today as it's a no school day. The less said about that the better. Sometimes it works, sometime it doesn't. Sometimes we wish we had started the day at noon.
  • Penguin movie marathon! I opened the Storyroom and turned on Penguin of Madagascar cartoons from 1 to 5. I put out snacks and about 20 people came, in small groups, in and out, which was what I wanted. I did have to check the room frequently and pause the movie to vacuum popcorn off the floor and at one point tell some small boys to stop playing with the projector! but otherwise it went fine and I think we are go for the scary movie marathon I am planning for October!

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