How is it almost March?  February flew by!  This was our last week of our Hugs and Kisses theme. So I guess you can say we are kissing this theme goodbye ;) 

If you would like to see all of the songs and bounces that I used in Lapsit this month, check out my first Hugs & Kisses post.  If you are interested in seeing how I planned for Lapsit for this week, you can check out my plans here.

The Biggest Kiss by Joanna Walsh & Judi Abbot is absolutely darling.  I invited the caregivers to give their little one kisses and hugs as I read the story.  

I have been making a point to incorporate more Nursery Rhymes in Lapsit this session.  I like Iona Opie's My Very First Mother Goose because of the size of the illustrations and text.  Today, we read and recited "Hey, Diddle, Diddle."

Did You Know That I Love You? by Christa Pierce is a very sweet book with simple illustrations.  I find the text to be very soothing when read aloud.  This was another book that gave caregivers the opportunity to snuggle, hug, and kiss their little one. 

I try to use different musical instruments each week.  This week we used shaker eggs!  

We shook our eggs to "Shake! (Your Shaker Eggs)."  We did not do the entire song as it is over 2 minutes long.  I know it can feel weird not to play an entire song, but it is totally okay to do!  I just played the first verse.  Everyone had a blast with it!  

We sang the first verse of "Going to Kentucky" two times.  We did not sing the "Oh, wobble" part.

This week, my group and I were tasked with creating a proposal and inventory for a Makerspace.  Since my library already has one in place, we decided to create one for the school library of one of our group members; a K-2 primary school in the suburbs that does not have a Makerspace.  We were tasked with finding and selecting items to go in the Makerspace.  The funds for the items are coming from an imaginary one-time $3,000 grant.

The biggest challenge as we created our inventory was figuring out how to allocate the imaginary “grant funds.”  Since this “money” is something that would not be available the following school year, we wanted to make sure that we invested in some pieces of equipment that are sturdy and would last for a couple of years.  We did add consumable items like gluesticks, yarn, crayons, popsicle sticks, etc. We requested those items in bulk so that we could have a stockpile that would last a year or two.

​I enjoyed this assignment because I was able to apply my experience with Makerspaces, robots, STEAM library programs, and purchase ordering.  My library owns BeeBots, Squishy Circuits, Snap Circuits, and Dash and Dot robots that can be used in programming.  I have had the opportunity to use these items in special programs.  I know that they are great for the K-2 age group, so I wanted to make sure that I added those items into our inventory.

I created a Google Doc for my group where we could input our proposal, information about the school, and the list of items we would like to purchase for our Makerspace.  I started inputting items into the inventory based on items my library owns and found additional Makerspace supply ideas from Tinkerlab.  

This is not the first time I have used Google Docs to collaborate on something.  I like to use Google Docs to plan all of my library programming because there are times when I have to work at another location and do not always have access to the files on my desktop.  I prefer to use Google Docs because of the sharing capabilities.  I love that the sharing options allow for users to contribute or just view the Document.  I have used Google Docs to plan special programs with my colleagues at our other locations.  I have also used it to share the storytime songs and rhymes that I have used in Lapsit with the caregivers that attend my Lapsit program.  With this project, we utilized the comment and chat feature so that we could communicate with each other about the items in the inventory, aspects of the assignment, and details about the school.  

I am pretty thrilled with the list of items that we came up with for this assignment. I look forward to sharing these items with my classmates and hearing about the items they have found for their Makerspaces.  The best part will be bringing back some ideas to my library for us to use in our own Makerspace!

Here is a list of the inventory items.

One of our course readings is the book The Non-Designer’s Design Book Fourth Edition by Robin Williams.  Williams shares her four design concepts through the use of a colorful acronym CRAP: Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, and Proximity.  I thought that the information in this book was useful and I tried to keep the principles in mind as I made my brochure for Novelist K-8.

As one of my side hustles, I still maintain a Teachers Pay Teachers Store in order to share all of the resources I created when I was teaching.  When I first started my TPT store, I joined several Teacher Sellers groups to learn the best way to package and upload my resources.  Several Teacher Authors suggested the use of PowerPoint to create the resources because of the ease with which you can manipulate items on the page.  Also, when you save the document, the thumbnail icon displays an image of the cover page.  Many of my resources were originally created in Microsoft Word or Publisher which, compared to PowerPoint, limited how I could manipulate the text and images to make the resource appealing for my TPT store.  

I tried using LucidPress for this assignment, but had limited success.  I think that LucidPress has some great offerings for layouts, but I did not find one that could accommodate the screen shots of Novelist K-8 Plus to look the way I wanted.  I had some difficulty capturing clear screen shots at first but then stumbled on the Snipping Tool in Windows 10.  With a little practice, I was able to use the Snipping Tool to grab the specific images of our library website and Novelist to use for my brochure.  

The biggest challenges with creating this brochure were working within the space constraints (a single 8.5- by 11-inch page), making sure the information presented logically, clearly, and concisely, and having screen captures that were clear and meaningful.

I am happy with the final product and look forward to sharing it with the patrons that I serve.

I cannot believe that it is the third week of our spring storytime session already.  The days are just flying by!  

We are continuing to focus on hugs, kisses, cuddles, and love in Lapsit. This is the perfect weather and the perfect month for this theme - so much snuggling! 

If you want to see a detailed list of all of the songs and bounces for this month's Lapsit theme, check out my first Hugs & Kisses post.

If you are interested in seeing how I planned for today's lapsit, click here.

We read 1,2, I Love you by Alice Schertle.  This is a really lovely book with a great rhythmic pattern to it.  I encouraged caregivers to bounce their babies in their laps while I read the story.  We also read "Hickety Pickety" from My Very First Mother Goose edited by Iona Opie.  Our last book for today was I Kissed the Baby! by Mary Murphy.  I encouraged caregivers to give their little ones tickles and kisses when those parts came up in the story.

In my Integrating Technology into Programming course, we focused on creating a Virtual Learning Commons (VLC) using Google Sites. If you are not familiar VLCs, think of them as collaborative library webpages. VLCs are used most often in school libraries but can also support a public library’s special programs or clubs.

To prepare ourselves for the assignment, we were instructed to look over a site called School Learning Commons. The site had great information but I was frustrated by the site’s unintuitive layout. I believe I missed out on some nuggets of wisdom because I had difficulty figuring out where to look. I personally prefer websites that keep their useful information just one or two clicks away; School Learning Commons required me to click through page after page to find the information I was seeking. The site’s organizational method may have been considered cutting edge when it first launched but I think it needs to be streamlined to keep up with the needs of the typical present-day user.

I used Google Sites in October when I started creating my blog, Social Justice in the Stacks, but decided it did not satisfy my personal preferences. I wanted to have full control over the layout and look of my website. The current font and template options on Google Sites are underwhelming, and the basic options Google offers limit users’ ability to customize their sites. However, the “free” price tag is a good reminder that the platform is still worth checking out, particularly if you are working at a public or school library, just want a basic and usable site, and have limited resources, time, and funds to get it done.

One of Google’s greatest selling points is being able to collaborate with multiple people in real time. I have enjoyed using Google Docs to plan storytime baskets and special programming with my colleagues at the library, so it was practically a subconscious process to create a new site on Google for my group to create our VLC. The site ran efficiently and updated the changes in real time as the three of us worked on it.

Building a functional website takes thought and planning. After clarifying some aspects of the assignment with our professor, we came up with some initial tasks to get our VLC started, divided them up, and hit the ground running.  I put my experience with Google Forms to use and designed forms for material requests, assignment alerts, and personal reading recommendations. I also used past Book and Cookie Club titles to create a “Book Club” page for our imaginary school.  My group members and I worked on pages of the site that played to our individual strengths, which ultimately helped us create a good starting point for a VLC.

Today was the perfect day for our hugs and kisses theme!  Since it is Valentine's Day, I put out some chocolate for the caregivers to take with them after storytime. 

In my last post about my Lapsit storytime, I mentioned that I like to repeat the songs, bounces, and tickles all month long.  The repetition is not only good for the babies, but it also helps the caregivers feel confident enough to sing the songs and do the bounces at home with their little one.  I feel that it is important to give the caregivers access to the lyrics to the songs and bounces when they are at home, so I created a Google Doc that they could access from any device using a custom Bitlink that I created.  

If you are interested in seeing how I planned for today's Lapsit and the order in which I do things, click here to see the Google Doc of my Lapsit outline.

Here We Go Looby Loo
I wanted to use scarves today, so I adapted Looby Loo to use with scarves.

Here we go looby loo
Here we go looby light
Here we go looby loo
All on a Saturday night.

I put my scarf in,
I take my scarf out,
I give my scarf a shake, shake shake,
​Then I bounce about. (bounce baby in lap)

Credit: Childhood

 We Wave Our Scarves Together

We wave our scarves together
we wave our scarves together
we wave our scarves together
because it's fun to do.
Wave them up high, 
wave them down low,
wave them in the middlew 
Because it's fun to do.

Credit: Jbrary

I am so happy that our spring storytime session started back up this week!  I have been looking forward to seeing my favorite storytime group since November.  Baby Lapsit is one of my favorite programs to facilitate.  I really enjoy having the opportunity to connect with the caregivers and babies that attend the program.

Our theme for the month of February will be Hugs and Kisses.  Caregivers really enjoyed the opportunity to give baby lots of hugs, kisses, and snuggles.

If you are interested in seeing how I plan for my Baby Lapsit programs, you can download my outline here:

I typically read two books during Lapsit.  This session I decided that I wanted to start sharing some Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes.  I selected the Iona Opie collection because of it's size and the colorful artowork.

Hello Song: Wake Up Feet
Wake up feet, wake up feet (touch baby’s feet)
Wake up feet and wiggle, wiggle, wiggle (touch & wiggle baby’s feet)
Wake up feet, wake up feet (touch baby’s feet)
Wake up and wiggle in the morning. (wiggle baby’s feet)

Wake up hands, wake up hands (touch baby’s hands)
Wake up hands and wiggle, wiggle, wiggle (touch & wiggle baby’s hands)
Wake up hands, wake up hands (touch baby’s hands)
Wake up and wiggle in the morning. (wiggle baby’s hands)

Wake up ears, wake up ears (touch baby’s ears
Wake up ears and wiggle, wiggle, wiggle (touch & wiggle baby’s ears)
Wake up ears, wake up ears (touch baby’s ears)
Wake up and wiggle in the morning. (wiggle baby’s ears)

​Credit: Jbrary

Name Song: Oh, I Know
To the tune of The Farmer in the Dell

Oh, I know (sing baby's name and wave)
Oh, I know (sing baby's name and wave)
Hi-ho-the-derry-o! (bounce baby in lap)
We all know (sing baby's name and wave)

Credit: The Richards Institute of Education & Research

I Have a Little Heart
*I created different actions with this bounce/tickle, which I put in parenthesis.

​I have a little heart, (place hand over baby’s heart)
And it goes thump, thump, thump (pat baby’s chest three times)
It keeps right on beating,
When I bounce, bounce, bounce (bounce three times)
I get a special feeling, when I look at you. (point to baby)
It makes me want to give you a hug or two. (hug baby)

​Credit: Jbrary

Cool Cat
I love the ch ch ch ch ch ch ch part of this bounce.  It sounds like a drum set being played in a jazz club for babies.  
​
Hey there________you're a real cool cat
You got a lot of this and you got a lot of that
So come on in and get down (ch ch ch ch ch ch)
To the left (ch ch ch ch ch ch)
To the right (ch ch ch ch ch ch)
Up in the air (ch ch ch ch ch ch)
And get down (ch ch ch ch ch ch)

​Credit: Jbrary

​We moved to "One Two Three Wee!"  I had caregivers lift baby on "wee".  We had a 3 month old little peanut in our group today, so I told the caregiver to just lift baby's arms.  For "jump", I had caregivers bounce baby in their laps.  For "shake", I had caregivers wiggle baby's arms and legs.  There were lots of delightful gurgle-y giggles!

​I had Caspar Babypants' Jump for Joy album playing as caregivers and babies came into the room for storytime.  During playtime, I like to put on some music in the background as the adults talk and babies play.  Some of the babies took breaks from playing with the toys to dance!

Imagine what is possible when bridging the gap between the digital world and the classroom!  To me, Digital Mentorship has three important parts: teaching, reflecting, and evaluating.  We must teach students how to use these platforms, give them something meaningful to create on the platform, and then give them the opportunity to reflect on and evaluate their work.  We want our students to be able to think critically and discern what information they should put out into the world.

One of my assignments this week is to examine an assignment from when I was a student.  I am a selective hoarder, so naturally was able to dig out some of my old high school Honors English assignments.  I was fortunate to have a wonderful high school English teacher.  I lived for her projects, mostly because I am a huge nerd.  However, she also understood that not everyone learns the same way.  My projects gave me the opportunity to be creative and to think critically, which continues to be beneficial for the modern day student.

One of my favorite projects was a literary culture project for which we created an entire unit and taught a lesson to our peers.  My group and I brought in food, music, and movie clips on a VHS tape.  If I were to do that project again today, I would have several technological resources right at my finger tips.  We could create a Listly of the 10 best folktales in Native American Indian literature, make a video on Animoto or YouTube, and present the lesson using Emaze while our classmates Tweet to ask us their questions about the lesson or just share what they are learning.

Imagine the possibilities when it comes to bridging the gap between the digital world and the classroom!  When I think about all of the technology that is available today, I think that I would have loved incorporating social media platforms into my projects! #DigitalScholar

What are some ways that you can incorporate social media platforms into your programming?

Digital Resources Mentioned:
Animoto
Emaze
Listly
Twitter
YouTube

Journal Article: 
Fredrick, K. (2012, May). Fostering Media-Literate Students. Retrieved February 06, 2018, from https://web.archive.org/web/20150912231929/http://www.schoollibrarymonthly.com/articles/Fredrick2012-v28n8p21.html

I considered using Blogspot to create my current blog, but didn’t find a layout or template that I liked.  I also toyed around with Blogger, but was similarly dissatisfied with the templates, layout, or interface.

My pickiness stemmed from a desire to create something that would have a noticeably different look and feel to the one I created nine years ago.

When I created my website on Weebly, I noticed that I could add on a blog.  I love Weebly’s interface -- the drag and drop menu for text, images, video, and spacers, provide the freedom to create a layout and format that I find appealing.  I used a template to set up my blog, and have found that it is simple to manipulate and adjust the layout.  Weebly also has an app, so I am able to work on my blog without having to sit at my computer.  I also love that I can work on blog drafts and save them for later.  

When I first started working at my library, I relied heavily on the blogs of fellow children’s librarians to help me plan and prepare for my programs.  I think that blogs are one of the best ways to share your programming ideas.  During my time as a teacher, my colleagues would often joke about “stealing” someone’s brilliant lesson idea.  The rising popularity of Pinterest, professional blogs, and sites like Teachers Pay Teachers has made this tongue-in-cheek professional theft into something greater: a collaborative community.  We don’t “steal ideas”; we share them!   Regardless of whether a blog is focused on public or school libraries, it is a wonderful medium for sharing ideas, collaborating with colleagues that are thousands of miles away, and building a network of people that you can help you learn and grow.  

I am personally thankful for the wonderful children’s librarians who author blogs like Storytime Katie, Jbrary, and Storytime Underground.   Had I not consulted these resources, my lapsit programming would have fallen flat on its face because I had no experience planning or facilitating a storytime for babies!  These blogs provided me with songs, bounces, books, and outlines that enabled me to walk into my first lapsit program feeling confident that I would be effective for our customers.  

Blogs have impacted me professionally in a positive way.  To me, it may be the best way to grow professionally, stay connected, and provide the best programming and resources to our patrons.


Link to my blog that chronicled my travels as a 22-year-old soon-to-be college graduate studying abroad -  “Across the Universe”: https://ndvega.blogspot.com/2009/
Disclaimer: I do not share my feelings about Twilight.  If you want an awesome love story, read A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas. #TeamRhys​