Easy Peasy Comic Strip Activity!

The other night I went to an elementary school to do an outreach for their annual Dr. Seuss Pajama Night, and every year I try to give the kids something a little different, and appealing to all age levels. This year I used the handouts from my book, the lesson on the book The Pigeon Needs a Bath by Mo Willems.

I brought this book and other Pigeon books along for parents and kids to read:

The nature of this particular outreach is that I'm set up in a classroom and families are coming in and out all night. So it's not really possible to do a storytime--people would only catch parts of it as they're supposed to hit all the classrooms before the event closes. They usually spend only fifteen minutes with me, so I brought an activity that required very little instruction.

I started out by handing each kid that comes in a copy of my handouts and prompting them with the question: "Do you like comic strips? We're making our own comic strips tonight!"

I also showed them the sample I made (feel free to steal this dialogue and use it if you like it):

The kids loved the cute little aliens and all the varied and dramatic expressions he/she/it makes! They got right to work cutting out the aliens and gluing them to the comic strip layout. Then they got creative with giving their aliens words:

Here are some of their finished comic strips!

It turned out to be the perfect activity for the wide range of skill levels and ages that all these children had. Everybody got something out of it and made something they liked. Everybody loves comic strips!

Presidential Campaign Videos for Our Favorite Toys

On July 13, 2018, we had a special creative writing and filmmaking workshop for kids between the ages of 5 and 8, to make campaign videos about getting their toys elected president!

The idea came from the book I've published with lesson plans to do writing workshops with primary grade kids: 36 Workshops to Get Kids Writing From Aliens to Zebras. In it, you'll find my lesson plan for this writing party and the handouts to supplement this lesson.

First we read the book "President Squid" by Aaron Reynolds and illustrated by Sara Varon. Then we watched a couple of funny campaign videos on YouTube, and brainstormed a campaign video using a favorite toy as the candidate. We used a handout from my book to start writing our script ideas.

Then we filmed our toys talking about why they should be president, using iPads with the iClips app. It was very easy and smooth to film and edit. Parents took short clips of their kids acting these commercials out, and then combined the clips together in the app to make their films.

I made a film of my own to give kids some ideas for how to use the props or sample arguments to make. Is my video amazing?... Of course not. :) That was the point--I wanted to make something very simple that a five or six year old could make.



I made or purchased props from Michaels and the Dollar Store--it helped that July 4th was fairly recent and there was lots of American flag themed items on clearance!

Most kids brought their own toys, but I also had a few on hand to lend for kids who didn't bring one. I loved seeing the kids get into the filming and parents get really engaged with the filming and editing!

In hindsight, I wish I had encouraged the kids to all do their filming outside, because you can hear me yammering in the background while some of them were filming their videos. The kids who filmed outside the room didn't have that problem.

The kids also got to make campaign buttons for themselves:

At the end, I quickly uploaded all of the videos from the iPads onto a laptop and showed them. We held a vote on our favorite video. That's what it's about right?--elections! The winner was this one, by Abby V., about a Cookie running for President:



Here are the rest of their adorable films!



Isn't it just awesome how these kids are making arguments listing pros and cons, using character and voice, having fun with monologue and dialogue, as well as props, scriptwriting, staging, etc.? I can't wait to do this program again!

Community Helpers storytime for 2nd graders

Today a class of 2nd graders came to my library for a visit, and I was filling in for the person who normally has this class. They are doing a unit on community helpers, so I did a jobs-and-the-economy-themed storytime for them. And since they're 2nd graders, I was able to involve them in many ways as volunteers reading things and acting things out. We sang, read two books, acted out a play, did a reading and guessing felt board game, and watched a video. Read on if you would like to see these ideas for your next Community Helpers storytime!

First we sang the Button Factory song. It's a great song to get kids singing, moving, and laughing! I usually skip the part about the wife and kids and get right to the point, with the boss asking Jo/Joe to press another button. They loved it.

Next we read the book Weasels by Elys Dolan. In it we see that it takes a lot of weasels working in different roles, doing problem-solving and thinking up plots, in order for the weasel species to successfully take over the world!

Then we did an activity where I took out some felt envelopes and told the class, "I was supposed to help my mail carrier friend deliver her letters today, but they got all jumbled up in the bag and the labels came off. Can you guys help me figure out whom each one is for?" Five volunteers lined up and each one read the short letter that was inside the envelope--things like: "Thank you for healing my ear infection and giving me medicine"--and decided whether it was for a Doctor, a Teacher, a Janitor, a Bus Driver or a Plumber.

We read a West African/Caribbean folktale called Don't Leave an Elephant to Go and Chase a Bird by James Berry and illustrated by Ann Grifalconi. In it Anancy makes a series of trades, starting out with a corn cob and ending up with an elephant, but he lets the elephant escape when he gets distracted by a bird he wants to bring home for his son. I like this story for the theme of jobs because it helps the kids understand and explore what it meant to do a job in the ancient days before money was the typical payment. 

Then we acted out a play! It's one of the activities in my book 36 Workshops to Get Kids Writing, from the chapter on folktales. 

Now, if I had more time, I would have involved the kids in actually writing the script of this play, but since our time was limited I wrote out the scripts in advance. There were five actors, including myself. Each person had an object that they didn't need and wanted or needed something else. I played the role of an alien who had crash-landed here and needed to fix my spaceship. The kids played other roles. 

The props I used were simple: a spoon, a bag, a rubber band, a stuffed toy and a roll of duct tape. I numbered each one and then gave the kids number stickers to wear. I told everyone that I needed to fix my spaceship and only had a spoon. I asked the first kid to act like he was slobbering out of a bag. I asked him why he was slobbering like that, and he said, "I wish I had something to eat with." Then I gave him the spoon, and he gave me the rubber band he was holding. 

I next came to a girl with long hair who was trying to dance but her hair kept getting in her face. I offered her the rubber band and she offered me a toy.

I next came to a boy whose child (played by a girl from the class) was crying. I gave the boy the toy and he gave me the roll of duct tape. Then I announced, "Hooray! This is just what I need to fix my spaceship! I guess it's my lucky day."

They did a great job with it and had fun hamming up their roles!

You'll find this activity and the handouts you can give kids to write their scripts in my book in "Lesson 10: Small Actors Folktale Theater."

Last, I showed an old movie from Reading Rainbow, and it was a big hit with the kids. We watched Fox On the Job by James Marshall. The story is funny and it shows kids that getting a job is no joke--you're expected to do what is needed and not get lazy or careless. Fox doesn't seem to be a very good fit for many of the jobs he has to do, but in the end he finds something suited to his talent for laying around.

Community Helpers storytimes are always in such high demand when you have classes coming to visit you or taking field trips to the library. So I hope these ideas will serve you well!

Writing Parties for Primary Grade Kids

Many children's librarians consider summer their busiest season, but for me I tend to do my programs during the school year, and I usually promote them at schools. I've been doing writing programs for kids of different ages for several years now, but this year I decided to get all of my programs for the school year on flyers, along with blurbs or details about what each workshop will be about. I'm using lessons I created for my book, 36 Workshops to Get Kids Writing: From Aliens to Zebras.  It's going terrific so far! Last week, kids created a made-up language and then wrote dialogue for wordless picture books. They loved it. I gave them sticky notes shaped like word bubbles and they filled up the picture books with dialogue in no time.

They also took more picture books and sticky notes home to do more writing. They get so excited about writing at these programs! It's one of the most rewarding things I do!