Late Night in the Library-January

What the What! I made it through the first semester of library land! If only I could write down all the stories (because.. man there have been some funny ones.. and some are not for the faint of heart!)
One of the first days back.. I was feeling pretty cute (wearing all my new LuLaRoe) I said good morning to a kiddo in the hallway.  She replied back with a good morning and then a compliment of I look like a librarian! I asked her if that was good or bad.. and she responded.. good you just look like an elementary librarian with all the layering.  My wondering.. what did I look like before?

On the first week back we hosted our Late Night in the Library to get ready for the upcoming science fair.  I forgot to snap pictures of my awesome counterparts Madden and Poe (which I can't believe.. I mean.. I love a selfie!) We set out resources for science fair projects, logged computers on to Science Buddies.org

I only had 2 stations up and running this time.. I blame it on the fact that I actually took the whole break off! The two stations were uber easy to set up as they only required index cards, tapes and scissors.

Index Tower

Can you fit inside a index card

The first station was Index Tower.  Patrons were asked to build a tower as tall as they could be using only 3 index cards.  These towers had to stand for 30 seconds before they could get measured.  Once measured we added the height on our dry erase board.  I LOVED watching parents work with their students.  It makes my heart SO HAPPY!!!

So.. the second station was a flop.  I am going to chalk it up to me not being completely prepared.  On stations like these.. I don't make samples as I want the students and parents to work it out. I usually still try to make one so I can then help as needed.  This one.. I should have made but didn't.  The object is to cut an index card so you can wear it.  See the website here for more ideas. I did have one family cut it so it was a headband.  I also had a couple of other students create hats :)

There were 29 people that came to this cold Late Night in the Library!

All of the measurements

An awesome cap a student made

Measuring their tower

At the end of this month I am working with our art teacher and we are going to have extended hours on a Friday to celebrate Chinese New Year.  Bluebonnet voting is this month. I am also attending my first librarian conference as a LIBRARIAN! I will be going to Lite up Conference on the 19th. I am even co-presenting with another amazing librarian!

This semester is going to be a busy one with more Late Nights, Destination ImagiNation, TXLA.. and of course 2 more classes at TWU (omg.. classes start next week!)

Here are the station signs I used (Have I mentioned I love Canva)

Late Night in the Library- October

I LOVE being in the library! Now, granted.. it is overwhelming, but an overwhelming in a good way. My brain is constantly moving, I am constantly learning, and I am constantly finding one more thing that I love about my new job.

During this summer I was inspired by one of our Irving Library sessions that Jennifer Larariviere gave. I loved so many of her ideas such as finding a just right book..but I also loved her idea about parent involvement with parent/child reading event.  She did hers during lunch time, but after conversing with my principal that wasn't really a feasible idea.  BUT.. I did come up with another idea! Each month I am going to have a late night in the library.  The library hours are currently 7:15am-3:45pm every day (well.. except Wednesdays it is 3:00pm) but I know that sometimes parents can't make it to the library during that time.  We had our first late night in the library to go along with Trunk or Treat.  Now, Late Night in the Library will not always go with another event.

The idea:
-have a read-a-loud
-have a STEAM activity to go along with read-a-loud

Invitation sent out to all the students (there was a Spanish version too) I used  Picktochart to make this.. I LOVE this program!

The book that I chose to go with this evening was Big Pumpkin by Erica Silverman. I of course also scoured Pinterest for ideas on what our STEAM activity could be that would be fun, affordable and fairly easy. I came across this blog Fun with STEM: A "Punkin Chunkin" Catapult with Craft Sticks.  Thanks Heidi Songs for the great idea (and directions!) There are of course a ton of ways to do this activity, but I liked the ease of this one.

Materials needed:

-Popsicle sticks (7 per patron)

-masking tape

-we used candy corn pumpkins 

The Idea

Give parents and students a chance to work together.  Give parents a chance to sign up for a library card (and check out books with their student!) and of course share a story.  They also got to view the 50 pumpkins that were submitted to our first Book Character Pumpkin Contest.

I was super thankful that the specials teachers were there to help me out! Since people came in at different times, it was nice to have several areas set up.  I ended up reading the book 2 different times, with the 2 different groups that meandered through.  I also used a counter to count how many people we had come in.. we had about 70!!!  3 parents checked out 10 books.

Ideas for next time

I have the very high possibility of doing the next Late Night in the Library on my own, so now that I have done it once.. I know how to organize a little bit better.

-have station signs with directions in both English and Spanish

-Have materials in several locations

LOVED that I had Max help me out for this.

Next up.. October 31st is Texas Library Snapshot Day and my husband is SUPER excited to be the Guest Reader to 3 groups.  He of course will be reading Where the Wild Things Are.. and there will be a STEAM Activity go along with that as well.  The library will also be open for extended day until 5pm.  I plan to do 2 more read-a-louds that afternoon and STEAM activity for those that come.

Do you offer a Late Night in the Library? What different programs do you do?