Chocolate Program: Tweens and Teens

This week, we had a huge success with our chocolate truffle program. We had so much success that I didn't have time to take the pictures I meant to take. It was a busy program, but everyone left happy.

I make these chocolates every year for Christmas presents. Here's the recipe that came with the chocolate mold. I've tweaked it a little.


Hardware:
paintbrush
chocolate molds
spoons
knifes
mixing bowls

Ingredients: 
Chocolate Chips
4 tbsp butter - softened
2.5 cups confectioners sugar
light corn syrup

*flavoring
Vanilla (no flavor added)
Chocolate (add a little bit of the melted chocolate chips to the vanilla base)
Mint  Lemon, Coconut, Raspberry - oils found at stores like Michaels

Steps:
1. Melt chocolate chips in microwave
2. Use paintbrush to coat a thin layer of melted chocolate on the bottom and sides of the mold
3. Place mold in the freezer until hardened
4. Mix together sugar and butter. Add tablespoons of corn syrup until it's smooth and you can shape it into a ball.
5. Split up the filling into various flavors as needed (we used a small bowl for each teen/tween)
6. Add the filling into the chocolate mold
7. Seal the chocolate mold with a layer of melted chocolate
8. Place mold in the freezer for about 10-15 minutes when the chocolate is hard to the touch or until the chocolate comes out easily (warning: this is the tricky part - sometimes the chocolate will pop out and sometimes it needs a little help, if it doesn't come out, put it back into the freezer for another few minutes.)

While the chocolates are in the freezer - we had a couple puzzles ready for the downtime.

 A chocolate word search- some historical terms, chocolate terms, and cooking terms

A maze - help  Charlie find his chocolate

At the end of the night, everyone went home with chocolate!

Prom Dresses from Book Covers

Yesterday I saw this amazing post by EPIC READS on Story Crush. I LOVED it so much that I decided to make a few of my own. I'm a sucker for books with girls in long flowing dresses! They always catch my eye. If I was in high school and thinking about prom, I'd love to go in a dress inspired by a book cover!

Moons and Stars

I love storytime blogs! There are many times that the ideas and creativity of another librarian have saved me. So, although there is no shortage of these blogs available, I thought I would start adding some of my storytime plans to our blog.

Moons and Stars: Together Time (2-3 year old)
*****Together Time is a weekly 45 minute program that runs in 6 week sessions.  

Opening Song: Welcome, Welcome Everyone

Opening Song: Up, Down, Turn Around 
Up, down, turn around, touch the sky and touch the ground,
Wiggle fingers, wiggle toes, wiggle shoulders, say hello.

Fingerplay: Big Yellow Moon

Big yellow moon shines so bright, (Arms above head in circle shape.)

Glides across the starry night, (Arms move above head.)
Looks down at me (Hand shades eyes.)
Asleep in bed, (Hands together at side of face.)
Whispers, "Good night, sleepyhead."(Forefinger in front of mouth.)
Big yellow moon, your turn is done. (Arms above head move down in front of body.)
Here comes Mr. Morning Sun. (Arms move above head in circle shape.)
I wake up. (Arms stretch out.)
You go to bed. (Hands together at side of face.)
"Sleep well, Moon, you sleepyhead."(Forefinger in front of mouth.)

Poems and Fingerplays/Canton Public Library

Fingerplay: Zoom, Zoom, Zoom We're Going to the Moon (we like to rub our hands together for zooming)

Zoom, zoom, zoom, we're going to the moon

Zoom, zoom, zoom, we'll be there very soon 

So if you'd like to take a trip, just step inside my rocket ship

Zoom, zoom, zoom, we're going to the moon

5, 4, 3, 2, 1, lift off!

Big Book: Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown 

Action Song: Skidaramink (we like to howl at the moon!)

Action Song: 5 in the Bed (we started at 5 and used the pictures in Ten in the Bed by Jane Cabrera, because there is one on the moon!)

Props: Using foam circle props, we did a series of songs related to colors and circles (each child and caregiver received one)

Song: Color Song (to tune of Where is Thumpkin?): 

Where is yellow, where is yellow?

Here we are, here we are

Shake, shake your yellow; shake, shake, your yellow

Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you (go through all colors)

Song: Moon, Moon, Moon by The Laurie Berkner Band We used our circles to act out this song)

Nursery Rhyme: Hey Diddle Diddle (we did this one with jumping over our foam moons, then gathered our circles by counting them up)   

 Book in Hand/Shared Story: Hey Diddle Diddle [illustrated by Jeanette Winter] (We borrowed multiple copies of the board book version to read together with parent and caregiver.)

Stamps: Hand stamps are a big deal for this age group, and I have been experimenting with when best to do them. This week as the child handed in his copy of the book, he or she received a star hand stamp. This also helped moved us into our stories and songs about stars. 

Props: Each child received a star on a stick prop that we had in our supply closet. Since the next story is about stretching for a star to put it in your pocket, this seemed like a good way to keep the kids engaged in our story. (It worked...for most of us!)

Book: Little Chick by Amy Hest (story about stretching for star, where we stretch with our stars)

Then we used our star on a stick props to sing a few star rhymes/songs.

Song: Catch a falling star by Perry Como

Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket 

Never let it fade away

Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket

Save it for a rainy day

Rhyme: Star Light Star Bright
Star light, Star bright 
First star I see tonight 
I wish I may, I wish I might 
Have the wish I wish tonight. 

Fingerplay: Four Little Stars
Four little stars winking at me, one shot off and then there were three. 
Three little stars with nothing to do, one shot off and then there were two. 
Two little stars afraid of the sun, one shot off and then there was one. 
One little star not having any fun, it shot off and then there were none! 

Credit: Child’s Play Family Daycare Website

Song: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Scarves:Shake our Scarves Together 

Scarves: Experimenting with up high and down low; shaking fast and slow; and throwing our scarves in the air and to each other I played a moon song in the background (Suggestion: Catch the Moon by Elizabeth Mitchell and Lisa Loeb)

Art Project: Using a recipe my colleague had for puffy paint using flour, salt and water, we made our own full moons. We used sturdy craft paper, our foam circles, and chalk to trace our circles. Then kids colored in the moon with chalk and we painted the puffy paint over top. We used the book Moon Plane to talk about how the moon is bumpy.

Other related books (we looked at pictures of these and I left them out so kids could look at them after storytime)

Zoom Zoom Zoom! I'm Off the Moon! by Dan Yaccarino

Moon Plane by Peter McCarty

Kitten's First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes

 
Posted by Kim

Weighty Books

This week is National Eating Disorder Awareness Week.

I talk a little bit about it on my other blog.

Here I thought it would be good to talk about some books on weighty matter, not necessarily books about WEIGHT, but books that make your heart ache for the characters for what they're going through. These are books I think everything high school student NEEDS to read.

Wintergirls:
This one is about weight. It's so heartbreaking, honest, and sad. It's a haunting read. 

Falling For You: A new book by Lisa Schroeder - not a novel in verse, but a novel about a girl suffering. She writes her pain in poems. She helps to start a poetry revolution, writing about her step father and the new boy in her life. Sometimes his actions scare her. Review

Keep Holding On: Life is horrible. Parents fail  you. Teens are Cruel. Can HOPE be killed? I really like the new paperback cover! Review

13 Reasons Why: One girl leaves behind the story of the biggest decision of her life - to the 13 people who drove her over the edge.

What tough but important books are on your list?

Sisters Grimm Book Discussion

Last night we hosted a discussion of the first book in the Michael Buckley series: Fairy Tale Detectives

 

Our Icebreaker question:

What's your favorite Fairy Tale?

We did our trivia, Kim made up the questions:

What is Grandmother Grimm's first name? Relda
What was odd about the first meal Grandmother Grimm cooks for Sabrina 
and Daphne? the spaghetti and meatballs are abnormal colors
What is Mr. Canis' secret? He is formerly known as the BIg Bad Wolf
What is an Everafter? An immortal fairy tale character
What are 3 of the people that Sabrina and Daphne meet? Jack, Puck, 
Ichabod Crane, Snow White, The Mirror, Prince Charming
What does liebling mean? sweet
What kind of dog is Elvis? Great Dane
What is the name of the town where the Grimms and Everafters live 
together? Ferryport Landing
What was in the locked room that no one was allowed to enter? The Magic 
Mirror
What did Sabrina and Daphne forget to do to the house before they left 
for Prince Charming's ball? Tell it to lock up
What time do Sabrina and Daphne have until before the magic wears off? 9 pm

We asked  several circle questions:

1. What makes a fairy tale? (There are several other book characters in Ferry Port Landing who aren't fairy tale creatures, but fun nonetheless.) Are King Arthur, Puck, and the Queen of Hearts fairy tale creatures?

2. What fairy tale creature would you most like to meet?

3. What fairy tale creature would you like most to be?

4. What one item would you take from the closet in the mirror?

5.If you had one ride on the magic carpet, where would you go?

6.If you had one question for the magic mirror, what would you ask for?

Our Activities 

On the Sisters Grimm website, we had a blast playing a fairy tale mad libs - of course our heroine wanted a book above everything else! http://sistersgrimm.com/newsite/game.html

We also had a matching game where we called out the character and had everyone rush to the corresponding book. The books were placed around the room.

For our craft: we made little crowns out of toilet paper roles. Here's my crown decorated with painter's tape. Isn't it cute? We saw it on Pinterest and decided it fit perfectly! 

A Tribute to Judy Blume

Wednesday was Judy Blume's birthday!

I remember reading Judy Blume as a child and LOVING her. She is one of my favorite authors from my childhood. I was super excited when I got to meet her! I actually met her twice, once at a conference and once at a bookstore. This was before I asked authors to take photos with me, so I have no photos of us. Maybe next time I meet her!

I read my sister's copy of Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, laughing at Fudge and his crazy behavior. I loved it when he kicked the teacher in the shins, when he refused to eat his food, and when he bothered Peter. As a younger sibling, I found myself drawn to him. I was the annoying little sister - doing similar stuff. Looking back, I hope I wasn't that bad, but there were probably moments when I was.

A few later, I really loved Blubber. I don't remember why I was drawn to this story, But I read this book over and over again. I went through bullying issues in upper elementary school/middle school years. Popularity can change in a heartbeat. I think I was surprised by this. I was never popular, but it suddenly seemed like I had no friends one year.

In middle school, I read my copy of Just as Long as We're Together until it fell apart. I still read it, even though it was in pieces. I loved the friendship dynamic and the family drama. Again, I was going through issues in friendship. To me, this book was perfect.

When I grew older, I read Summer Sisters.  I loved the freedom the two girls had at seventeen. They were on top of the world. I never hear Dancing Queen without thinking of this book. As much as I loved the story of their friendship, I hated the ending.  Every time I read it, I wished for it end differently - happier. But obviously that didn't stop me from re-reading it.

Do you have a favorite Judy Blume book?

PS: Judy Blume was the focus of a Pinterest board one month for the library. Check it out!

Duct Tape Programs

I'm a HUGE fan of Duct Tape programs.

In the past we've created wallets, ties, and beach bags.

 This week, in conjunction with Take Your Child the the Library, we made bookmarks in the Teen Dept. Since we originally intended to host it on Monday, we extended the program. For us, it didn't cost anything as we already had the tape from left over programs. The bookmarks take only a few minutes to make, depending on your level of creativity.

Plus, it's just fun.

For more Duct Tape craft ideas, check out Stick It!. I reviewed it on my other blog earlier this year. 

Have you used Duct Tape for something crafty at your library? Let us know in the comments!