In short, I am busy: 2nd grade field trip

 Program Goals: 

• Introduce kids to the library and its role in the community
• Introduce kids and teachers to the different functions of library staff
• Give kids and teachers a sense of community ownership of the library
• Promote school/library cooperation

10-15 Minute Tour

• Start upstairs at the director’s office
• The director is the principal of the library. They help everyone do their jobs, make sure the library runs smoothly, and represents the library in the community.
• Adult services
• The adult services librarian and their helpers do all the things for grown-ups that we do for kids - fun programs, new books, help with computers, and visit people who can’t come to the library.
• Downstairs - Information desk
• A place for grown-ups to ask questions. Kids can ask questions here too, if there is no one at the children’s desk!
• Circulation
• This is where the materials circulate. Circulation staff help keep track of who checks out what, remind you to return your books, put the books away, and answer questions about checking out books, fines, etc.
• Children’s desk
• This is where kids can ask questions! If you need help finding something, want a recommendation for a good book, need help with your homework, or want to find out what’s going on for kids in the library.
• Technical services
• Ms. Barnes is in charge of putting all the information about the books into the computer, so we can find them in the catalog.
• Ms. Lisa puts the covers on the books and fixes the broken books.
• MAGIC TAPE
• Discussion of where new materials (and the money for them) comes from
• Back to circulation - go through the work room to Storyroom

10-15 Minute Craft and Storytime

• Storytime
• Decorate people who are important in the community. Kids leave people to be put up on the wall. Try to discourage ninjas. There are no ninjas in Elkhorn and if there were they would not be an important part of the community.
• Books
• The Book that eats people by Perry
• Read the book lemmings by Ame Dyckman
• Supplies
• die cut gingerbread people (large)
• markers

Evaluation

In short, I am busy: 3rd grade field trip

This field trip works with a large group, a full grade, as long as you have sufficient staff. There are three stations or activity sets:

• Library - presentation and continuous drawing - 1 staff to run, staff to recover table between groups.
• two-three tables in a long row, covered with white paper
• colored pencils - lots of backups
• bell
• Books - I can only draw worms by Will Mabbitt, The Panda Problem by Deborah Underwood
• Wisconsin street entrance - art/games - 1 staff to run
• sweep and mark out the area with chalk
• tempera paint and jumbo brushes - more than you think you will need
• water etc. to clean hands
• Family garden - 1 staff to run, 1 staff to help, 1 staff to walk kids to next destination
• hula hoops, obstacle course activities, water toys, bubbles

Sample schedule and how the groups move

(1:15-1:35) 1-1:20

 - Group 1 Ms. Jennifer, Storyroom

 - Group 2 Ms. Andrea, WI st entrance

 - Group 3 Ms. Jessica, Family garden (Jackson through storyroom, West Side around corner of building)

(1:35-1:50) 1:20-1:40

 - Group 1 Ms. Jessica, Family garden (accessed through Storyroom)

 - Group 2 Ms. Jennifer, Storyroom

 - Group 3 Ms. Andrea, WI st entrance (walk around corner of building)

(1:50-2:10) 1:40-2

 - Group 1 Ms. Andrea, WI st entrance (walk around corner of building)

 - Group 2 Ms. Jessica, Family garden (accessed through Storyroom)

 - Group 3 Ms. Jennifer, Storyroom

Notes from 2019

• It's easiest to have all the outdoor activities available and then teachers can say if they're up for painting or not. One of my associates runs the outdoor portion and I think they draw hopscotch or other games or something. This year I added the option for checkout, if they had a library card, but it's too chaotic. The main drawback of this program is that if the weather doesn't cooperate it does not translate at all well to being moved to the school. If I have to move to a school again in future, I will do continuous drawing by giving each kid a piece of paper and a colored pencil and then having them hand it to the kid on their right when the bell pings and will not try to do checkout.

In short, I am busy: 1st grade field trip Stick to reading

Storytime 10-15 minutes

• If you time this right, the kids can draw on the back of their bingo sheets while they listen.
• Selections
• Fox in the library by Lorenz Pauli
• The Midnight library by Kazuno Kohara
• Both stories work well for discussing different things/places in the library

Bingo Scavenger Hunt 15-20 minutes

• Explain how the game works
• Stay in the children's area
• Try not to run and yell
• Mark off the pictures on your bingo sheet with the crayon, then get a sticker and turn your crayon in for a penny for the wishing well
• The bingo game is a bunch of pictures of things in the children's area, scrambled. We usually have to redo it each time b/c things change.
• You can either have them find everything and get one sticker or actually mark off lines of pictures and get multiple stickers. Depends on how much time you have.

Notes

• I like to offer the kids free playtime if possible, in the play area and/or Storyroom.
• Make sure you mark off the children's area with tape lines so they know where to stay.
• You need to know the teachers - this can get chaotic and some aren't comfortable with that.
• Have a whistle on hand to call everyone back.

Evaluation

In short, I am busy: Kindergarten Field Trip Michael Hall

Library tour etc.

• I don't do a full tour until 2nd grade; for four year old kindergarten and up, I take the kids the long way through the library so they see things of interest (our library pets etc.) but we don't do a specific tour.
• If at all possible, I allow free play time in our play area and/or the Storyroom
• We always put pennies in the wishing well, if time allows.

Storytime

• The best Michael Hall titles for this age and art project are
• Perfect Square
• My heart is like a zoo
• Little i
• Frankencrayon
• It's an orange aardvark

Art activities

• Creating with shapes
• Provide rulers and/or objects to trace shapes on paper
• Scissors to cut out the shapes
• Use the cut out shapes to create new pictures with glue sticks
• Collage
• Precut shapes, including hearts
• Scissors, markers, glue sticks
• Paper, including heavy cardstock or cardboard for the base
• Encourage kids to keep creating even if they make "mistakes" and to rip as well as cut

Evaluation

In short, I am busy: Pre-kindergarten field trip (Lois Ehlert)

Playing in the kitchen. I've started including some
open playtime for kindergarteners in my field trips.

Kids going into kindergarten in the fall can do a summer school program called Kindergarten Here We come. As part of it, they take a field trip to the library. We have a new coordinator this year, and we agreed to keep it simple, plus the second session we used this for has a smaller group of kids (about 40).

Options for activities with the kids

• Butterflies
• Waiting for wings (extra story - Ten little caterpillars)
• Emerging butterflies from Teaching with favorite Lois Ehlert books
• Die-cut butterflies, markers, cut-down paper towel tubes, tape
• Pompom caterpillars, glue dots (optional)
• Rainbow (outdoors)
• Planting a rainbow
• Chalk (draw flowers on the sidewalk squares)
• Additional activities
• Water play
• Bubbles
• Matching magnets (Storyroom)
• Oodles of animals; Lots of spots (extra story - Color Zoo)
• Magnets (each kid gets 2 each of circles, squares, and strips)
• Shaped stickers or construction paper shapes
• Kids match up the stickers and magnets (they have to check on the magnetic chalkboard to put their stickers on the right side!) then match and make different shapes/animals
• Older kids can cut and glue paper to fit their magnets
• Collage art/Found Objects
• Paper die cut into petal and leaf shapes, scrap paper
• Tubs with seeds, and misc. found objects - need regular glue if using this
• Markers, glue sticks
• paper

Evaluation

In short, I am busy: 5th grade field trip

For a few years I hired a performer, then I set up an actual field trip for the 5th graders.

Staff required: A minimum of two, one to be dragooned into supervising the tour and scavenger hunt and myself for booktalking and checkout. I'd be open to resuming the performer, if I get interest in full grade visits again.

My presentation to the kids includes a talk about their responsibilities and privileges as middle schoolers and booktalking.

Preparation: Update the scavenger hunt, make sure the basement appears suitably haunted, check library cards, and prepare books.

Notes

• 2019
• This needs a minimum of two people, one to run the tour and me for booktalking and lecturing. Additional staff are really only needed for checkout at the end. I did add a section explaining in loco parentis and contrasting the number of people in their school with the number of people served by the library to explain why I don't have time to work individually with them when they're misbehaving - I will just ask them to leave.

In short, I am busy: 4K field trips

There are two themes available for four year old kindergarten field trips - Pete the Cat or Elephant and Piggie.

Playtime and children's area

• Take kids the long way into and out of the library so it's not a "full" tour but they can see things to pique their interest and bring them back.
• Emphasis on playtime - legos, play area, outdoor space, as time allows.
• Pennies in the wishing well after field trip.
• Storytime - Pete the Cat or Elephant and Piggie books.

Activities for Pete the Cat

• Groovy buttons
• Die-cut circles with holes punched
• Ribbon, Markers
• Kids decorate their buttons and string them
• Art book covers
• Pre-printed book covers "Pete the Cat and His ____ by ____
• Markers
• Create art books
• Construction paper, Watercolor pencils
• Water cups and brushes Stapler
• Kids draw pictures and brush over them with water, then we staple all the pictures together to make books (use their Pete the Cat art book covers)

Activities for Elephant and Piggie

• Elephant and Piggie paper bag puppets
• Precut pieces
• Brown paper lunch bags, markers, glue sticks
• Mo Willems coloring pages