S.T.E.A.M. Storytime/Craft : Valentine's Day & Friendship -- Clarence Dillon Public Library

 

STEAM Story Time & Craft

School Age S.T.E.A.M. Storytime & Craft: Valentine's Day & Friendship

 Wednesday February 5th   4:30-5:30 p.m.

(geared to ages 5-9, but older/younger siblings are welcomed - most of the kids were between 3 & 6 today)

Join us as we share stories about kindness, then create geometric cut paper valentines for our friends and family members.

Opened with a book about a shadow friend (a nod to this week's Groundhog's Day)

Read: I have a Friend by Keiko Narahashi (great figurative language) 
(Science snippet: talk about when shadows are short and long -- midday & ends of day because of the position of the sun.)

Action Song: I Am Your Shadow by Carol Simon Levin (Tune: “I'm A Little Teapot”)

I am your shadow, short and fat,
Lift up your hand, I can do that,
Lift up your foot, I'll do that too,
I do anything that you do.

I am your shadow, long and thin,
Put your finger to your chin,
Then watch me, I do that too,
I do anything that you do!

More Shadow Songs & Stories here: https://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/search/label/Shadows

Book: The Other Side -- Jacqueline Woodson -- the story of two girls, one black and one white, who overcame segregation  (represented by a dividing fence in their town) to cleverly find a way to play together.  

Group today was too young for Sister Anne’s Hands – Marybeth Lorbiecki – Beautifully-written & illustrated story of a black nun who comes to all-white school to teach – history, heart, and humor – including counting buttons on underwear!  For more funky math problems, check out the website www.bedtimemath.com.  Includes handprint art project:

Book/Song: This Little Light of Mine illustrated by E.B. Lewis – with hand motions

More Black History Month ideas; https://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/search/label/Black%20History%20Month

Book: My Friend Rabbit – Eric Rohmann (Caldecott Winner - talked about the award, author/illustrator definition)  sometimes friends drive us crazy! - kids loved this silly book

Book: My Heart is Like a Zoo by Michael Hall  --> Valentine crafts 

(supplies: construction paper, children's scissors, hole punches, glue sticks, markers)

More Valentine's Day ideas: https://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/search/label/Valentine%27s%20Day

CDPL 2.5.25

Read Across America Day - Changemakers

 A storytime celebrating brave and determined people who have worked to change the status quo....

• Steadfast : Frances Perkins, champion of workers' rights by Jennifer J. Merz.
• Frances Perkins witnessed NYC's Triangle Fire and made it her life's mission to aid workers -- she championed worker safety laws in NY then become FDR's secretary of labor - the 1st woman US Cabinet Member and the force behind the New Deal.

You don't need to be a grownup to make a difference:

I am Ruby Bridges by Ruby Bridges
When Ruby Bridges was aged just six, she became the first African American student to integrate an elementary school in the South. Based on the pivotal events of 1960 and told from her own point of view for the first time, this is a poetic reflection on her experience that changed the face of history and the trajectory of the Civil Rights movement. Also showed pages from The story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles
Received too late to share but a great teacher resource: Dear Ruby, hear our hearts : letters to civil rights activist Ruby Bridges by Ruby Bridges

Booktalked: Sit-in : how four friends stood up by sitting down by Andrea Davis Pinkney and Opening the road : Victor Hugo Green and his Green Book by Keila V. Dawson

Greta Thunberg by Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara ; illustrated by Anke Weckmann
The inspiring true story of Greta Thunberg, the environmental activist. When young Greta learned of the climate crisis, she stopped talking. She couldn't understand why people in power were not doing anything to save our Earth. One day she started protesting outside the Swedish Parliament, creating the "School Strike for Climate." Soon, lots more young people joined her in a global movement that shook adults and politicians alike. She had found her voice and uses it to inspire humans to action with her powerful message: "No one is too small to make a difference."  (Didn't discover until afterwards: Greta and the Giants : Inspired by Greta Thunberg's stand to save the world by Zoë Tucker - a fictionalized but tells true story at the end - would make a good readaloud) or consider Our house is on fire : Greta Thunberg's call to save the planet by Jeanette Winter

Sang the inspiring words with the book: 

This little light of mine  illustrated by E.B. Lewis

Through the words of a well-known African-American spiritual dating back to the days of slavery, a little boy finds that through simple, kind acts he has the power to let his light shine and warm the world around him

Finished with the wise advice from: 

• Be a king : Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream and you by Carole Boston Weatherford ; illustrated by James Ransome   "You can be a King. Stamp out hatred. Put your foot down and walk tall. You can be a King. Beat the drum for justice. March to your own conscience. Featuring a dual narrative of the key moments of Dr. King's life alongside a modern class as the students learn about him, Carole Weatherfor's poetic text encapsulates the moments that readers today can reenact in their own lives.

And asked the kids what they could do to make the world better...today & in the future

Bedminster School 2nd Grade 2/28/24

Memory Cafe (YMCA) - Changemakers/Black History Month

I was invited as a storyteller for the Basking Ridge YMCA "Memory Cafe"  - a place of respite for adults with dementia & their caregivers. 

Read Sit In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down by Andrea Davis Pinkney  323.1196 PIN – Splendid writing filled with food metaphors telling the story of the  4 college students who inspired a movement with their patient wait at a Woolworth’s lunch counter for their order of “doughnuts & coffee & cream on the side.

Followed with us all singing together this beautifully-illustrated and affirming book - a good song for young and old to have in our hearts and minds for tough days... 

Book/Song: This Little Light of Mine illustrated by E.B. Lewis

Also talked about possible handprint art project - showed how they could trace a grandchild's hands on a piece of  of plain paper and have them decorate it - possibly including a note of something/someone that they are thankful or grateful for in the center heart section - great for Valentine's Day or Thanksgiving or really, any time...

School Age Storytime: Black History Month

 

Opened by asking if the recognized the man on the cover of 

Martin's Big Words by Doreen Rappaport and talked about the Caldecott Medal on the cover, then read the book.

Sang: We Shall Overcome 

Asked if they knew who Ruby Bridges was then read:

I am Ruby Bridges by Ruby Bridges -- a first person account of her first days in school.

Talked about how this wasn't so long ago (their grandparent's time and how some white children left the school rather than go to school with black kids) and the crazy idea that skin color or national origin made some people think other people shouldn't have the same rights...

Read: Freedom Summer by Deborah Wiles - Joe and John Henry do everything together, from shooting marbles to shelling butterbeans. But when the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is passed and the town pool is opened to blacks and whites alike, the two boys discover that the workers have filled in the pool with tar. Based on the author's own childhood growing up in rural Alabama and Mississippi. 

Read: Sit-In How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down by Andrea Davis Pinkney It was February 1, 1960.

They didn't need menus. Their order was simple.
A doughnut and coffee, with cream on the side.
This picture book celebration of the 50th anniversary of the momentous Woolworth's lunch counter sit-in, shows how four college students staged a peaceful protest that became a defining moment in the struggle for racial equality and the growing civil rights movement.
Andrea Davis Pinkney uses poetic, powerful prose to tell the story of these four young men, who followed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s words of peaceful protest and dared to sit at the whites only Woolworth's lunch counter. 

Read: This is the Dream by Diane Z. Shore & Jessica Alexander

Inspiring text shows "before" and "after" the civil rights laws

Read: Be A King: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's Dream and You by Carole Boston Weatherford. Words to live by...

Closed with: This Little Light of Mine illustrated by E.B. Lewis

Lyrics & more ideas at: http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/search/label/Black%20History%20Month

3/10/23 Nicole's class postponed from February

School Age Storytime - Black History Month (virtual)

Opened by showing cover of Martin's Big Words by Doreen Rappaport - asked "Who is this?" "What did he do?" Ask if anyone knows who Ruby Bridges is? 

Read Sister Anne's Hands by MaryBeth Lorbiecki (beautiful book about a the first black teacher to come to a school - show kids how to form heart with their hands, suggest make cards that way to share with the important people in their lives)  

Sing: "Black and White" 1st verse 

 Read The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson (two girls in a segregated town meet and find friendship atop the dividing fence) 

Sing: "Martin Luther King had a Dream" (lyrics to this and other songs here: http://tinyurl.com/singalong-black-history-month) 

Read: Martin's Big Words by Doreen Rappaport Sing: more verses of "Black and White" 

Read: This is the Dream by Diane Z. Shore & Jessica Alexander (rhyming lines show the unfairness of segregation and the steps we have taken to progress to a fairer society) 

Singable book: This Little Light of Mine, illustrated by E.B.Lewis 

End with book about possibilities: A Girl Like Me by Angela Johnson, illustrated by Nina Crews

More Black History Month ideas: https://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2014/03/school-age-storytimes-black-history.html

Additional book suggestons: https://www.whatdowedoallday.com/african-american-history-books-for-children/

Family Literacy Night - Superheroes are Everywhere (Virtual for Washington Elementary, Roselle)

Introduced myself as portraying Alice Paul, NJ Suffragist who had picketed the White House and even been imprisoned for demanding that women have the right to vote. 

Read Fight of the Century: Alice Paul Battles Woodrow Wilson for the Vote by Barb Rosenstock, the brand new book that depicts their struggle of wills in the fight to win the vote for women.

Talked about women finally getting the right to vote 100 years ago and that thousands of women (and men) worked for many years for women's suffrage. Shared the info and coloring page on Alice Paul from Remembering the Ladies: From Patriots in Petticoats to Presidential Candidates which profiles 69 women of all colors and creeds who worked for women's rights in this country. E-book available free of charge at my webpage tellingherstories.com.

Mentioned we now for the first time in our history have a woman Vice-President - Kamala Harris!

Shared her book Superheroes are Everywhere which shows how our own family and friends can be superheroes...and we can be too!  We read the "superhero Pledge" together. Asked them about superheroes in their own lives.  

Booktalked and shared selections from Barack Obama's inspirational Of Thee I Sing.

Finished by sharing the Schoolhouse Rock video "Suffering Till Suffrage"

Read Across the Ocean -- Virtual Storytime for the Students at Kiwimbi School in Kenya

 

Carol reads EarthDance by Joanne Ryder to the students of Kiwimbi School Kenya. If you want to have a reading that shows close ups of the book, you can find it here.

Possible follow ups:

Book: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer – the true story of a boy from Malawi, who, when a drought threatened his village, used books found in a library to learn to build a windmill from scraps. Read Aloud : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieSIhow18kU

Kids can make their own pinwheels - directions You can meet him "in person" here: Moving Windmills: The William Kamkwamba story 6 min. interview His first TED Talk (2009) William KamKwamba: How I harnessed the wind Updated with TED Talk (2018) (after he studied engineering at Dartmouth University!!) Catching up with inventor William Kamkwamba | William Kamkwamba Interview with Chris Anderson (Also now a full-length Netflix film: "The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind" http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2013/03/incredible-adventures-boy-who-harnessed.html – has more ideas for this title. Another innovative real-life solution to a problem of lack of power:

The Soccket, an energy-generating soccer ball that turns into a lamp

More books that celebrate African inventors:

Book: One Plastic Bag: Isatou Ceesay and the Recycling Women of the Gambia by Miranda Paul tells how plastic bag trash was becoming a terrible problem in a village – even killing the goats – until a clever and enterprising woman and her friends figured out how to take this trash and make it into useful purses that could be sold for income. Reading with music available here Instructions to make them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r354rs7aYzI Related videos: Young woman is recycling plastic into building bricks: https://thekidshouldseethis.com/post/recycling-plastic-waste-to-make-bricks-that-are-stronger-than-concrete https://mymodernmet.com/gjenge-makers-recycled-plastic-bricks/

Book: Galimoto by Karen Lynn Williams tells the story of a young child who uses scraps of wire to create his own toy. Reading Rainbow: Galimoto book starts around 2:50.

Book: Masai and I by Virginia Kroll offers a child's perspective comparing the daily lives of a child in a U.S. city and a Maasai child in Kenya. Musical reading

Book: 14 Cows for America by Carmen Agra Deedy Maasai tribal members, after hearing the story of the September 11th attacks from a young Massai who was in New York on that day, decide to present the American people with fourteen sacred cows as a healing gift. Reading Author interview: My favorite follow up is Tom Chapin's beautiful song "This Pretty Planet" (with beautiful pictures) or Children doing it as a round with Tom Chapin Many more ideas -- and other books I could read -- are here: https://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2015/04/mothers-fathers-of-invention-if-at.html

Here are some of my favorite booklists from "What Do We Do All Day" 

INSPIRING PICTURE BOOKS:

These are picture book lists that will inspire kids to create, dream and spread kindness in their community.

• Books to Inspire Kids to Change the World 
• Books to Teach Kindness
• Books to Inspire Kids to Follow Their Dreams
• Books to Inspire Artistic Creativity
• Books to Inspire Inventors and Engineers
• Picture books about the Theater
• Books Celebrating Screen-Free Life
• Funny Picture Books
• Books about Trying New Things
• Picture Books about Peace
• Growth Mindset Picture Books
• Picture Books about Observation and Perspective
• Nature Picture Books
• Books about New Beginnings

PICTURE BOOKS ABOUT INTEGRITY & EMOTIONS:

• Picture Books that Teach Meaningful Values
• Picture Books to Support Emotional Intelligence
• Picture Books about Mindfulness and Meditation
• Books that Teach Empathy
• Books about Anger, Frustration and General Crankiness
• Books about Fear and Courage
• Picture Books about Perseverance and Determination
• Children’s Books about Happiness
• Picture Books about Lying and Honesty
• Picture Books to Teach Responsible Citizenship
• Picture Books about Friendship
• Picture Books about Communities Coming Together 
  • Picture books about global social justice
  • Picture Books about Refugees
  • 30 Days of Diverse Picture Books for K-1st Grade
  • 30 days of diverse books for 2nd and 3rd grade
  • Picture Books about Diversity and Multiculturalism
  • Read Your Way Around the World: 50 books set in different countries

American Girls Superheroes - True Superheroes

American Girls Club - True Superheroes Party (Sussex County Library Virtual Program)
"Don’t miss this very special meeting of the American Girl Club featuring Carol Simon Levin! Ms. Levin shares stories of remarkable women throughout history (our true Superheroes!). There will be activities too! Miss Jenise hosts. Kindergarten and above. American Girl dolls are welcome, but you don’t need a doll to join in." March 27 @ 11:00 am - 12:00 pm FREE

Superheroes-->Flight-->Real female flyers

Opened by having each attendee introduce her American Girl doll(s), then had a discussion of characteristics of "superheroes." After "able to fly" came up, said that while real people can't fly by themselves, they can become pilots and I was going to share a story about a real person named Bessie Coleman who, despite people saying she couldn't learn to fly an airplane because she was Black and a woman, went on to become a famous aviatrix.

Read: Nobody Owns the Sky by Reese Lindbergh (daughter of Charles Lindbergh)

Booktalked other picture book biographies of aviatrices (above) Jenise Sileo, Sussex County Library Youth Services Librarian sent out this terrific video booktalk after the program)

Showed the Bessie Coleman segment from the Reading Rainbow episode "Ruth Law Thrills a Nation" (starts at 7:45)

Introduced the concept of "lift" then we experimented Asked what they thought would happen if they blew above and below a strip of paper, then using strips of paper, blew and watch how they lift UP either way! (air moving faster above the paper causes low air pressure which counteracts the force of gravity which is how airplanes can fly" 
(“c” from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/education/activities/2412_barrier.html)

Make and fly our own paper airplanes – “classic” plus unusual “Flying Saucer” “Spirit of Alabama” (instructions: http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2013/11/incredible-adventures-flight-school.html)

Here are links for lots of more great paper airplanes: https://www.foldnfly.com/#/1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-2  More ideas at: http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/search/label/Aviators 

Then asked who knew who Kamala Harris was and read her book Superheroes are Everywhere. 

Booktalked: Barack Obama's marvelous Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters (more like this in my program called "Big Dreamers" ) and the new book Dreams for Our Daughters.  

You can find lots of great booklists at: What Do We Do All Day

Profiles of groundbreaking women at A Mighty Girl

Daily math problems from Bedtime Math

More Fun & Educational Ideas for Kids during the Coronavirus Quarantine 

You can hear me read-aloud "Soar Elinor" another book about a daring young female flyer here

We share the story of the plucky young female pilot who flew under four NYC bridges then talk about "lift" and make a paper airplane to fly. Find instructions for a variety of paper airplanes at my website: http://www.carolsimonlevin.blogspot.c...

​ or check out this video: https://tinyurl.com/5EasyPaperAirplanes

​. Want to read "Soar Elinor"? You'll find it here: https://archive.org/details/soarelino...

​. More activities at: https://www.tamilewisbrown.com/soarel...

​. You might also enjoy Flight! by Robert Burleigh (a book about Charles Lindbergh's solo across the Atlantic Ocean) here: https://archive.org/details/flightjou...

​. Interested in learning about other female flyers, check out the links at: https://nobodyownsthesky.wordpress.co...

​ flying! You can find more of my storytime videos at: https://tinyurl.com/Storytime-with-Carol

​. I also have created a compilation of fun family sites for at-home learning at: https://tinyurl.com/familylearningideas

​.