- We tried out air-dry clay for the first time at Make it and Take it. This is a VERY messy project! I should have had something over the rug as well as more paper towels or something to wipe hands. But we had about 15 kids (way more than had signed up) including a group of teens who are enthusiastic about volunteering. We're going to paint the clay creations next week.
- Once again, the Wii didn't work - turned out a battery was in upside down. Argh! My director is in favor of a permanent installation, and so am I, but where would we put it? Our wall space is limited.
- I KNOW I had kids who checked out and read my book club book. But did they show up? No they did not! One came 30 minutes late, when it was all over (her dad got home late from work) two had some kind of extracurricular activities and the others...Fortunately, some of my tweens were hanging around and they can usually be bribed into attending with candy. So we went around in a circle and each talked about what book they were reading at school. And then they had to leave, all together and very suddenly, b/c their respective parents had showed up. But they made me a giant Eric Carle poster and tissue paper flowers for a Mother's Day display earlier in the afternoon! And one of the girls who had to be somewhere else came back the next day telling me she LOVED Terry Pratchett and I got her a bunch more of his books.
- My cancelled morning preschool visit came today, It was a tight squeeze b/c they had to be out of the storyroom before baby storytime, but we managed. Also, in a moment of abstraction I had returned the books I had used last week so we had a slightly different program. But it was cool! We read Argus by Michelle Knudsen again, Press Here by Herve Tullet (HUGE HIT) I'm a shark by Bob Shea (and one of the kids totally got the fishing movie joke and exploded while all the others were looking confused) and Blue Chameleon by Emily Gravett. Then we did a backwards tour of the library and sidewalk chalk outside!
- We had our usual 50 attendance for Lego Building Club. Yay!
- School librarians for Battle of the Books showed up tonight for set up. I offered the library as a venue for the final district battle last year, after I saw how cramped they were, and we're hoping all goes well.
- The chicks are hatching! One shell is cracked and a beak is poking through...
- Battle of the Books! It was a bit crowded at certain points, with 60 kids and all the parents, teachers, and helpers, but everyone followed directions and the final awards ceremony/party out in the lobby wasn't so noisy as to generate complaint from the Senior Cards group in the community center. I HOPE.
- I had 16 people at storytime. We had a kind of mixed storytime, almost all new people! We read Herve Tullet's amazing Press Here, Are you my mother? and Good Egg. Then we made tissue paper flowers and die cut flowers for Mother's Day. And everybody had to see the chicks that have just hatched!
We are concerned about our preschool storytime attendance. I'd like to hear suggestions for increasing attendance and any other advice from librarians with similar stats as ours.
Our town is about 10,000
We have a very popular early childhood person from the school district who does (at the library):
twice monthly evening storytime (average 15+ attendance)
twice weekly toddler storytime (18 mos. to 3 years) (average 30 attendance)
weekly lapsit storytime (0-18mos) (average 25 attendance)
I have a weekly preschool storytime, ages 3 - 5 and get numbers ranging from a measly 5-10 in the winter to 25 when the weather's nicer - sometimes. I offer a similar mixture of stories, songs, and movement (although she has more fingerplays and activities for the toddlers) and we both have crafts/art projects after storytime.
Advice? Suggestions? Thoughts?
Friday
- It was Friday. What can I say?
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