Book and Cookie Club is a book discussion group that I have been facilitating for a little over two years.  I love this program because it gets particpants in third through fifth grade to have some fun with an adult caregiver.  

This month's Book and Cookie was really special for me because I had some special guests in attendance.  My parents and husband stopped in for the Book and Cookie festivities.  My parents were visiting from Texas for the Easter Holiday.  

This month, we read and discussed the book What We Found in the Sofa and How it Saved the World by Henry Clark.  A mysterious sofa, a rare zucchini colored crayon, flash mobs, alien control, hot air balloons, and three unlikely heroes make this novel a very fun read.

Every meeting begins with an icebreaker.  I like to give everyone an opportunity to get to know one another and I think that icebreakers are a really fun way to get participants up and moving.  This month, we played Icebreaker BINGO.  I learned that my dad does not like mushrooms and that one of my regular participants likes to read more than three books a month.

After Icebreaker BINGO, we played our discussion game.  With the help of my brilliant parents, we constructed a sofa out of cardboard boxes, a wrapping paper tube, and wrapping paper.  I made a hole in the sofa before we wrapped and assembled everything together.  I made sure to make the hole big enough for an adult sized hand. 

One of the participants noted that the sofa was not green.  I told them that the sofa decided to dress up in some formal wear so that it could look fancy for Book and Cookie Club.

The questions that I created for the "What We Found in the Sofa" discussion game can be found on pages 3 - 11 of the downloadable file (below).  The left hand column of the questions were cut out, folded, and placed inside of the sofa.  The right hand column has the questions, correct answers, and page numbers. 

In the last 25 to 30 minutes of the program, I like to have different book related activities stationed around the program room for participants to either make something or learn a skill.  I typically have three stations of activities.  This month our stations were: Crayon Resist Art, Dominoes, and a DIY Hologram Projector.

A couple of the kiddos were having trouble with the paint brushes, so I took out some sponges for them to use instead.  The sponges worked really well.  In the future, I think I would consider using some cream colored paper to make it easier for everyone to see what they are drawing.  

I am officially on Twitter.  I was avoiding Twitter like some people avoid clowns, dark basements, or lima beans (I avoid all three).  I decided to face my fears and try it out. Just kidding: I signed up because I had to as part of an assignment for school.  To my surprise and begrudging delight, Twitter is turning out to be a great networking tool that I think can use as a resource for finding new ideas in Libraryland.

Our assignment this week was to design two different promotional flyers: one digital and one printable.  I decided to make my promotional flyer for an upcoming special program that I am co-leading in May called “Artsy Babies”.

I used Canva to make the digital version of my promotional flyer.  This was my first time using Canva, and my experience with it makes me believe I would use it again in the future.  The layout of Canva is pretty straightforward; everything that you need to create your design sits in an easily navigated tool bar on the left side of the screen.  I decided to create my flyer from scratch rather than utilize one of Canva’s pre-made layouts. I liked the variety of design elements: lines, frames, shapes, illustrations, and photos.

Two drawbacks to Canva for me are the organizational system for the illustrations and photos and the lack of a grid or ruler.  I would have liked to see all of the free illustrations and photos separate from the Canva Pro and paid art. I ultimately signed up for a free trial of Canva Pro because I really liked some of the artwork and wanted to use it.  I would also like to see Canva incorporate a grid and ruler feature so that designers can ensure that the elements of their designs are lining up. I am not gifted in the area of spatial reasoning, so I appreciate when a design program has the option of gridlines or a ruler.  

I enjoyed using Adobe Spark and Canva to design my promotional flyers this week.  It was nice to try a new web based design program. My go-to program is PicMonkey, which is where I create images for my blog and website.  While it would have been a walk in the park for me to use PicMonkey to create my flyers, I think that it’s good to try some new programs every now and then.  

Last week I fell victim to the dreaded stomach virus that has been making the rounds.  Every week I look forward to seeing my Lapsit Crew, so I had to binge watch the entire season of "Nailed It!" on Netflix to drown my sorrows.  

Even though I missed last week's storytime, I can still share my plan.  During our fall and spring storytime sessions, I like to create my weekly plans for my storytimes at the beginning of the month.  Yes, you read that correctly.  I plan a month's worth of storytimes in advance.  What can I say?  I like to be prepared.  #FormerTeacher

This week, our Lapsit Crew made two new friends.  One of our new friends made my day with their contagious enthusiasm: applause for stories and songs, happy gurgles, and a radiant smile. 

I also witnessed some not-so-secret guests participating in our storytime.  A couple of preschool aged children stopped playing in the play area and stood in the door way to sing and bounce along with us.  At one point, I saw them holding toy dinosaurs like they were babies.  They bounced and tickled the dinosaurs.  I had to keep myself from giggling and bursting from joy because that is hands-down the cutest thing I have ever witnessed while doing a storytime.  

All Kinds of Kisses is a fabulous interactive book for caregivers and babies.  I had the caregivers help me make the animal noises.  The babies loved the animal noises and all of the kisses they recieved.

My Nursery Rhyme mission continues.  This week we read and recited "To Market" from Iona Opie's My Very First Mother Goose.  I had the caregivers gently bounce baby in their lap as we recited "To Market."

Bouncing Time is another great interactive book.  I encouraged the caregivers to bounce baby in their lap as I read the story.

We sang and shook our eggs to "Going to Kentucky" and "We Shake Our Eggs Together."  Both of these songs came from the amazing ladies of Jbrary.

My group and I are preparing for a presentation where we will talk through the items we selected to purchase for our imaginary Makerspace Inventory.  The platform we have been assigned to use in the creation of this presentation is the ever popular Prezi.

As we assembled our Prezi, I found that I was pining for Google Slides.  There is not much of a learning curve in navigating how get started because of the handy “wizard” that walks the user through the initial stages of creating the presentation.  The simple and straightforward interface of Google slides makes it easy to navigate.  I consider myself to be fairly tech savvy and found Prezi’s interface to be confusing and frustrating.  I found myself watching several YouTube videos so I could figure out how to use Prezi.

Prezi’s organizational system for the presentation feels circular to me.  I prefer presentation layouts that are linear.  I created an outline for our presentation in a Google Doc to help us get our Prezi organized because I was feeling overwhelmed and frustrated with Prezi.  Another reason why I resulted to creating our outline for our presentation on a Google Doc was because Prezi makes it impossible for those with a student account to communicate with their collaborators.  In order to use the comment function on Prezi, the user must purchase a business membership.

The biggest annoyance that I encountered with Prezi is that they do not have the option to make the background of an imported image transparent. At first, I put the images into PowerPoint and made the backgrounds transparent.  I saved the images as .PNG files then attempted to import them into Prezi. I found that this method was unsuccessful. I researched transparency tools and learned of one called “Clipping Magic” which is a paid subscription. In Clipping Magic, I had to upload the images and manually remove the white backgrounds from each of the pictures then download each image as a .PNG file in order for the image to maintain its transparency and integrity on Prezi.  In the end, I spent close to two hours and $10 to get over twenty imported images to be transparent on Prezi.

I thought that Prezi could be a contender but given the amount of money and time I spent on this presentation, my verdict is not to Prezi. #GoogleAllTheWay

The Baby Book by Ann Morris shows pictures of babies around the world being loved, hugged, cuddled, and fed.  My little lapsit pals loved looking at the pictures of the babies.

This week we read and recited "Shoo Fly" from My Very First Mother Goose edited by Iona Opie and illustrated by Rosemary Wells.

Say Goodnight by Helen Oxenbury is a lovely interactive boardbook about getting baby ready for bedtime.

Last year, I realized that it is beneficial to repeat the same songs every week. It really gives caregivers the opportunity to learn the songs and bounces so they feel comfortable and confident using them at home!  

When we switch to a new monthly theme, I like to introduce new songs and bounces but I try to keep one or two familiar songs or bounces from the previous month.  This session I thought of a way to digitally share the songs and bounces with the caregivers. Each month, I create a Google Doc with the words to the songs and bounces. Then I create a custom Bitlink and share it with the caregivers.  

The two songs that I never change are the hello song and the name song.  These songs are part of our lapsit routine because they signal the start of storytime.  I have some toddlers that have been attending my lapsit since they were itty bitty.  It amazes me how they will stop what they are doing and sit with their caregiver when I start singing the hello song!  Routines rock!

This is an adaptation of a song experience game from Education Through Music (ETM), a literacy approach through The Richards Institute of Education and Research.  I will be sharing my experiences with this amazing "working of a work" in a post later this month.  

As caregivers come into the room, there is a nametag station with laminated hearts that have velcro on the back.  I have a small flannel board where caregivers (or toddlers) can display the nametag hearts.  After we sing our hello song, we sing "Oh I Know." I do not hesitate to ask the caregiver how to pronounce their little one's name. This song is great for learning names and for building a storytime community with the parents and babies.  I love how the babies smile and coo when they hear their names. 

I had a little turtle, his name was Tiny Tim.
I put him in the bathtub to see if he could swim.
He drank up all the water, he ate up all the soap.
And now he's sick in bed with a bubble in his throat!

Credit: The YMCA where I spent my summers being a camp counselor

Sliced banana
Green beans
Chocolate cake
Mashed Potato!     (drop baby in between your knees)

Credit: Mel’s Desk Blog

Mix a pancake, stir a pancake,      (draw big circles on baby's tummy)
Pop it in the pan.                            ("pop" baby in your lap)
Fry the pancake,                             (rock baby)
Toss the pancake,                           (lift baby in the air!)
Catch it if you can!                         (give baby a big hug!)

Credit: Library Village Blog

This is a really popular bounce with the caregivers.  I decided to keep it again this month because it's great fun and the "ch ch ch ch ch ch" part is absolutely delightful.

I found this great song on Library Village.  I thought it would be fun to sing about tummies as the last verse and end the song with a tickle.
​
To the tune of Here We Go 'Round the Mulberry Bush​

This is the way we wash our arms,
Wash our arms, wash our arms.
This is the way we wash our arms
When we're in the bathtub!

This is the way we wash our nose,
Wash our nose, wash our nose.
This is the way we wash our nose
When we're in the bathtub!

This is the way we wash our toes,
Wash our toes, wash our toes.
This is the way we wash our toes
When we're in the bathtub!

This is the way we wash our tummies,
Wash our tummies, wash our tummies.
This is the way we wash our tummies
When we're in the bathtub!  (tickle baby)

Credit: Library Village Blog

This song is great fun with scarves.  The babies think it's hillarious.  

Before I read After the Fall by Dan Santat, we recited Humpty Dumpty.  I added a little line at the end to lead into After the Fall.

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall
All the king’s horses
And all the king’s men
Couldn’t put Humpty together again

...or could they?

Pre-storytime activity: I am Proud
As families walk into storytime, I like to have a passive activity that they can do as they get settled in their spots and wait for storytime to begin.  This week, I created a prompt that I projected onto the screen where children could share something that makes them feel proud.  

Our Icebreaker for this month was "A Big Wind Blows."  I found the idea for this icebreaker on The Drama Notebook.  When I was writing up my plans, I decided to have a premade list for this activity so that I could keep the pace and the engery high for this icebreaker.

I went high tech with our discussion game this month!  I created a Kahoot! and used six of our circulating iPads for everyone to play in Team Mode.  Click here to check out my Kahoot!

If you are interested in seeing how I planned for Book and Cookie Club this month, click here for my plans.

Our book related activities this month consisted of three stations: DIY Warm Fuzzies, Graphic Novel 101, and Designer Ears.

The Warm Fuzzy station was a hit.  I discovered these glittery Pom Poms in our program room craft supply stash and knew they would be a good choice.  My Book & Cookie Crew decided the blue ones were "cold pricklies."  There were some warm fuzzies with wings and even some mutant warm fuzzies!

The Graphic Novels 101 Station.  This was a very popular area!  I found some amazing graphic novel templates on Teachers Pay Teachers and printed them off.  I put several of our drawing books on display for the kids & caregivers to use.  There were short graphic novellas about Star Wars, unicorns, and tests!

I was hoping to use the SoundExploratorium app, but it appears that they have discontinued it (sad panda).  I wanted to do a science based activity with hearing and found this one called "Designer Ears" on the Exploratorium website.  

Next month we will be discussing What We Found in the Sofa and How It Saved the World by Henry Clark.  We will also have a surprise guest joining us that evening - my mom!