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Program Goals Reach middle school students Build relationships with after school center Circulate materials I started visiting our local after school center (It's a volunteer-run religious group that shares space with the school. It's complicated) last fall. The kids' interest in the books I've brought varies - they prefer graphic novels they can skim through on the spot - but their enthusiasm for the art projects I've brought has been high. I told all the kids this was DANGEROUS and of course that made it more exciting. Supplies old crayons glue, pencil sharpeners, paper clips pasteboard squares and strips (donated), paper, foil, freezer paper iron, embossing heat tool (mine - brought it to share) We basically fiddled around and melted stuff. The kids got really into making a crayon melt - they lined up a row of peeled crayons on a strip of pasteboard and melted them onto it, then held it against the foil and used the embossing tool to make them drip! Evaluation 1-...

Program Goals Offer a Saturday program to kick off the winter/spring program session Offer an all-ages program to cheer up the winter and get people thinking about the library as a destination Attendance: 35 Project: Decorate butterfly wings, masks, and wands How it works:  Put everything out. Watch the glitter. Supplies: Butterfly wings from  Discount School Supply  (I bought over 100, part of my new "buy more than you think you'll need and you can use the extra later" theory of supplies) Butterfly masks (cut from custom die cut) Small paper butterflies (die cut) Popsicle sticks (regular and large) Decorations - ribbon, jewels, sequins, feathers, etc. Tape, glue, glitter glue, markers, crayons, staplers, scissors Tablecloths Game:  Butterfly matching game Display : Butterfly books Evaluation 1-9-16 Attendance: 30 Connections/Feedback: A couple parents were really happy that I am offering more weekend programs. Some grandparents taking over bringing their kids to pro...

Program Goals Offer a neutral holiday program Offer a program on no 4K day Introduce children to different versions of a folktale Evaluation 12-16-15 Attendance: 15 Notes: I'm writing this up a month after the fact. I don't know that I'll do it next year. 12-17-14 Attendance: 25 Connections/feedback : A couple regular attendees and some new families showed up. They really loved the scavenger hunt.  Notes : I don't normally offer a program after the big Santa's Kitchen ending program the previous Saturday, but this year I wanted to keep up having programs on the no 4K Wednesday. I adapted my We Explore format for this and it was a casual, fun storytime. However, this was stressful in conjunction with my end of year projects. I don't know that I would do it again. The flip books weren't really used b/c they didn't get put together correctly. Storytime I end with Catch that Cookie  and then the kids can go find the decorated (paper) gingerbread people aroun...

Program Goals Offer an all-ages winter reading program Offer a program over winter break Keep kids reading through the slower months Participation: 40 Who can participate? All ages, toddlers to teens How does it work? Kids take as many reading challenges off the bulletin board as they want. When they're completed, they put them in the box by my desk. Each Friday I draw names (which are posted on the bulletin board and Facebook) and those kids get to pick from the prize box. We have a casual "party" at the end - usually just some crafting and a few extra prizes. You can find the reading challenges here - both in pdf and a zipped file.

Program Goals Introduce Edward Gibbs and his art Encourage gross and fine motor skills Attendance: 20 Art Project Part 1: I Spy art (10-10:15) Kids draw pictures with pencils and pens around circles. Supplies  9x18 construction paper with holes cut pencils, pens Storytime/Snacktime: 10:15-10:40 I call people to storytime with the Storytime Song , then have the parents pass out the snack. Art Project Part 2: Painting (10:40-11) We painted the pictures we'd drawn. Supplies paint, brushes aprons, paper towels Evaluation 10-23-15 Attendance: 10 Feedback/Connections : Notes : This is a new author for this series. I'm surprised more libraries don't own his books as they're very appealing to kids.

Program Goals Add a big program in October Bring people into the library Requests from patrons and staff Evaluation Attendance: 60 Feedback/Connections: People did remember the program from three years ago *wince* but this one went a lot better. It was low-key and everyone had fun. Notes: I meant to have a movie playing - one of the Star Wars Lego spoofs, but I forgot to check to see if our license covered it. Two buckets of duct tape next time! If you know me at all, you know I'm really not a "big program" person. I hate all the angst and stress of spending time and money and never knowing whether or not enough people to justify it will show up. My preference is for lots of little programs. However, I do try to do some big programs and I wanted to offer more Saturday programs this year, so we went with Star Wars. I was kind of nervous about it since I had a disastrous Star Wars program three years ago, but I hoped with additional help and more realistic activities it wou...

Program Goals Introduce Herve Tullet and his art Encourage gross and fine motor skills Attendance: 20 Evaluation 9-18-15 Attendance: 19 Feedback/Connections : Two new families who happened to be there and the rest were regulars. A generally younger group. Notes : Tullet always resonates with the kids, although I think this group was a little young to appreciate Help! Art Project Part 1: Dot play (10-10:15) Supplies  Die cut circles and Os Construction paper Tape, markers I encouraged the kids to think of the different ways they could use circles and draw on/around them. Storytime/Snacktime: 10:15-10:40 I call people to storytime with the Storytime Song , then have the parents pass out the snack. We did Press Here, Help! This book needs a title  and Mix it up . We talked a lot about what makes a book in Help! but I'm not sure the kids got it. Art Project Part 2: Painting (10:40-11) Supplies Fingerpaint Paper plates I let each kid pick 3 colors and gave them a plate with colors ...