So yeah, it was a week of just like being very
supportive for my team and just kind of doing
whatever we could to put out fires everywhere.
It was a lot. I'm glad you're helping your team.
Well, I mean, that's my team was helpful. Well,
and see, so that's the thing as it I'm. I'm the
team lead for my campus and so like. I feel like
it's my job to help and support and make sure
that my team is surviving and like I'm checking
in on them and you know like double like just
bringing you a hot cup of coffee just to make
sure you're doing okay today like you don't give
your newbies extra work no because like I because
it like and that's the thing like and to be fair
I'm gonna I'll be 100 cleared that and I have
learned this year and I struggle with it and
I hate it that I have to ask for help. I have
to. As a team lead, I can't do it all on my own.
So I do have to ask for help. But I'm also the
first one to make sure that everybody else is
there and knows that if they need the help, I'm
right there to help them. And I have been. And
so I just feel like as a team lead, that's part
of my responsibility is to make sure that when
my team needs it, they know they can. Ask for
that help and then I'll be there to support them
and do whatever I can to make it work as a, uh,
you know, cause we just, no one else understands
what we do until they're in the position. That's
one thing that the new fine arts teacher has
told us multiple times. She was like, I've always
been in the classroom. I didn't realize. how
many extra things get thrown at you guys and
how many extra things you guys have to deal with
every year. And she's like, even just the day
-to -day stuff is more than what she had perceived
from her end as a classroom teacher prior to.
Mm -hmm coming on our team, you know, like she
was like I mean the scheduling stuff is weird
and we but we just make it work when we're in
the classroom But like the changes to schedules
means that there are weeks where you don't do
anything with an entire group of kids Yeah, like
you know Because like this week we had two different
days because we had well, yeah, so we had Wednesday
When we had testing, which made it so that we
went from, instead of seeing kids for 45 minutes,
we only saw them for 30 minutes. And Thursday,
which was the party day. So we had a shortened
schedule. So we only saw the kids for 30 minutes
on Thursday. So that like, that's 30 minutes
from end to end. But really what that is, is
it took, it takes five minutes to get them in
and check their books in and sit down so I can
give instructions. And then we start cleaning
up five minutes early. So really I'm down to
20 minutes. So at that like, That was two days
worth of groups that I didn't actually do a lesson
with them because if I read a book, that would
have been all I got done that day. So instead
it was, I had, they came in, sat down once everyone
was sitting down, paying attention. I told them
what the makerspace activities they could do
were. And then they did book checkout makerspace
for 15 minutes and then we cleaned up and they
left kind of thing, you know? And so like trying
to like, so there's stuff that I wanted to teach
that I just didn't get to teach this week and
so I'm gonna have to find time to get that fit
that in later and when it comes to like art and
music that like we just can't do this lesson
we're gonna have to push back to next week and
like it adds up a lot faster when you only see
the kids for a set amount of time each week compared
to like a classroom teacher when you're like
oh we have this all right I have to take 30 minutes
out of this but it'll be okay because we see
them every day and we'll get it kind of fit it
back in throughout the week kind of thing like
yeah it's just different yeah i like nobody i
don't know nobody just knows what anybody else
does yeah really to keep things afloat like truly
until you do it yeah yeah and they're still even
with her doing this craziness in her job i know
there's still stuff about like your job that
she doesn't understand and like how much extra
stuff like You know, the librarians have. Yeah.
Cause none of my team, they're like, you just
buy books, right? And I'm like, yeah, that's
it. Yeah. I just, I just go click done. Click
the button. They're like, you just look up books
and just add them to the cart, right? Yeah. That's
yeah. Just like that. That's simple. That's why
it needs a master's degree. Yeah. Hello, I'm
Patrick Adams. And I am Caroline Legere. And
this is Librarians of Littles, a podcast where
we share books, give ideas for makerspace activities,
and give just tips and tricks for working with
our youngest students in the library setting.
Today we have two wonderful books as this is
being recorded in February. we are focusing on
some Black History Month books that are written
and illustrated by African -American authors
and illustrators. So today, the first book that
we are going to discuss is an amazing book titled
May Among the Stars. This book was written by
Rhoda Ahmed and illustrated by Stacia Burrington.
It was published in 2018. It was done by, yes,
published by HarperCollins in 2018. This book
has won a few awards. It actually has won two.
One for Outstanding Science Trade Books. It was
commended in 2019. And the other was the El Día
de los Niños, El Día de los Libros for 2019.
And our is Rhoda Ahmed. Her family, which includes
seven siblings, which is mind -blowing to me.
They moved to Norway when she was a young child.
She now continues to live there. She has a degree
in anthropology from the Norwegian University
of Science and Technology. She speaks multiple
languages, including English, Arabic, French,
Somali, and Norwegian. And she is also an experienced
author and writer working for the Norwegian National
newspaper. That's wild. Good for her. Amazing
background. She is the author of a few other
books, including Brave Bessie Queen of the Sky,
which was illustrated by Lenny Wen, Alma's Art,
which was illustrated by Anita Chung, and then
Etta extraordinaire which was written by her
as well as Charney Gordon and it was illustrated
by Chloe Burgett. Okay and the illustrator Stacia
Burrington is a Japanese -American artist living
in Washington state. She is a kind and curious
illustrator and storyteller with over 30 years
of experience of image and object making. She
is the creator of the... I'm gonna butcher it.
Get ready. Sasu... Oh dear. Sasuraibito? Tarot
deck? Sasuraibito? Sasuraibito? I'm not sure,
but yeah. You gave it a good effort. Good for
you. A certain kind of special tarot deck. There
you go. She now creates ships and tarot decks.
And art around the world. She is the recipient
of the Master of Erotic Art title by the Foundation
for Sex Positive Culture in 2020. And this is
her only book. Yes. So this book is inspired
by the story of Mae Jemison, the first African
American woman to travel in space. And so I really
enjoyed that part just alone that it's based
on this actual person from history that we can
learn more about. But the summary for the book,
it starts with young May as she is given an assignment
in school to find out what she wants to be when
she grows up. When she explains to her parents
that she wants to see Earth from outer space,
her parents are very supportive. They give her
a ton of encouragement and take her to the library.
May continues imagining being in space with homemade
costumes made from orange drapes and cardboard
boxes and she draws outer space. When she returns
to school and states that she wants to be an
astronaut, all the other kids and her teacher
kind of laugh at her and her teacher suggests
that maybe being a nurse would be a better choice
for her and it is heavily implied but not outright
stated that it's because of the color of her
skin being that she is a african -american a
black child when she is completely disheartened
and comes home crying her mother explains that
just because someone says that she can't do it
doesn't mean she can't. If she pushes and chases
her dreams then she can do anything that she
wants. With that encouragement May continues
on and in the end she does in fact get to go
to outer space and is able to see Earth from
that desired perspective where she's able to
wave in outer space to her parents as she promised
earlier in the story. This is a wonderful story
about overcoming adversity. It is just a great
story where we're able to enjoy a child's just
pure love of something and see that love grow
into reaching her dreams and being able to be
the first of their kind to to meet that goal.
And so I love this story a lot. I love the fact
that we can then point to the fact that this
is an actual person. This is actually something
that someone was able to accomplish. She was
able to continue to work hard and make sure that
her dream happens, which I think is an important
message for children of any race or ethnicity.
But the fact that during Black History Month,
we can point to this African American woman who
was able to achieve her goals and reach into
outer space the way she did is just really inspiring
and amazing and a great message for our students.
The fact that it's a Black woman that was able
to do it is also awesome because I think all
of our students can see, especially our female
students can see, hey, like that gender barrier
doesn't have to be. what stops us from reaching
our goals and our dreams, which is really cool.
So I think this is an amazing story. Definitely
give it a five out of five. I will say it was
a little, there was a, it was a little longer,
but I think that with the amazing illustrations,
the bright colors and everything, I think it'll
definitely keep a pre -K student's attention
for sure. So I loved it. Yeah, this book is really
inspiring. It's really good. It is a little bit
longer for pre -k, but like you said I think
especially since it's because it's about going
into outer space and being an astronaut and that
in and of itself is Such a hook for our kids.
They really love anything space related I know
they don't really understand a lot of it yet
and to them a lot of it is kind of It is more
of an abstract concept ish, but it's more of
like in the vein of like Like dramatic play kind
of stuff that they're extremely interested in
so it's a really excellent hook for them It's
kind of suck them in and kind of get them interested
in that but it does like you said it is really
inspirational and it does It is a good way to
for them to like see a career like that that
might, you know, they might think of that as
almost being like a superhero, but like it's
something that they could actually do, you know,
because they don't probably not many of them
know astronauts in real life. But this is so
they might think of it like in the same vein
as like a superhero because they don't know any
of them in real life either but like reading
a book like this they can like read it and kind
of start to understand that this is something
that is real and that they could do um when they
grow up and just seeing that it is somebody who
doesn't look like the typical astronaut like
if they can read it and understand that they
can do that too so i love it it's a great book
it is a little longer but like you said it's
about space and everything and like it's it's
beautiful pictures and it's a great book overall
excellent one good choice yeah i i love it and
i'm looking forward to being able to read it
with my students this week as we go into the
week this is what i'm going to be reading with
my kids and i think they're really going to enjoy
it it's going to definitely hook a bunch of them
towards the sciences which is a good thing for
sure As far as a makerspace activity to make
connections with this book, the activity that
I would do with these students is actually using
the IO blocks that I have in my library and challenging
the students to use those IO blocks to build
their own spaceship. Because if May is going
into space, she's going to need a spaceship to
get her there. And so letting the students be
creative. use those AYA blocks to build a spaceship,
have to problem solve a way to connect the pieces
together and let them be creative in coming up
with what they think their spaceship should look
like and what it should have on it and that would
open up a lot of fun conversations about like
what we would need to make a spaceship work because
I know like you said it's kind of abstract to
the students but A lot of them are going to say
it's going to have the rockets that are going
to get it into space and stuff. But beyond that,
what else does the spaceship have? What else
is it going to need to make sure that the astronauts
are safe and that kind of thing? And so we could
open up a lot of discussion by having the kids
create and build a spaceship using those IA blocks.
So I think that would be a lot of fun. And I
think we'd get some very unique designs that
way. Yeah, I love that one. That's one of my
favorite things to do with with pre -k is to
build rocket ships and Spaceships and things
and they love it too. That's such a good hook
for them. They really love that Yeah, they come
up with some amazing things Yeah, you know every
time I it's and I love that's why I love to do
it is but every time I give the pre -k kids a
challenge like this they come up with such unique
ways to create what they have in their heads
that I would never have thought of. It's so cool
to see all the unique possibilities that they
come up with. It's always great. And so actually,
this is a perfect segue because this week we
have a makerspace spotlight on IOblocks. IOblocks
are a 2016 award -winning, open -ended, STEM
-focused interlo... interlocking construction
toy designed by Jenna Boldbuck for Guidecraft.
They were inspired by 8 -bit pixelated graphics
and iBlocks are open -ended interlocking plastic
construction toys designed for children ages
3 and up. They feature 12 unique friction -fit
matte finish shapes in six different colors,
and these stem -focused blocks allow for 2D and
3D models like robots, vehicles, and structures.
They can be paired with an augmented reality
app for assembly guidance, and they also generally
come with some cards that show some different
pictures of how you can interlock the pieces
to make specific um, shapes and activities with
them. I was looking and so in general, they're
not ex excessively expensive. I found just doing
a general Google search of 500 piece set costs
about $169 or you can get like a, what is this
one? This one's a thousand pieces for $179 so
relatively reasonably place when you consider
that they're educational tools and everything
is kind of and that's a lot of pieces like you
need that many pieces for a library when you've
got every single kid coming in so that's yeah
you would only need like one kit for that so
that's yeah pretty great And so these are really
fun. I love using the AYA blocks in makerspace
centers with my students to make connections
with books. Earlier this previous week, it was
the week leading up to Valentine's day. And so
we were reading Valentine books and I had a challenge
for my students to use the AYA blocks to make
a bouquet of flowers. the creativity that they
came up with on how to make blocks. We had students
that made individual flowers and then put them
all together to make the bouquet. We had kids
that just made one build that was all interconnected
to make a bouquet. Like the creativity that this
allows for is awesome. The fact that the shapes
are not all just rectangles and squares really
challenges the students to think and plan how
to connect the pieces together to make the shapes
that they're looking for. Because there's a lot
of shapes that are like, there's like capital
letter, there's shapes that look like capital
letter H's. And then there's also shapes that
look like lowercase letter H's. And then there's
shapes that look like U's and shapes that look
like V's and different shapes. And so you have,
they have to problem solve to figure out how
to make those pieces all connect together in
a tight, way so that it stays and has the rigidity
it needs to stand up right. And I love watching
the kids problem solve and think and be creative
using these tools. And it's just a lot of fun.
And like I said, reasonably priced for a set
that's more than enough for a classroom library
or a school library with a classroom full of
kids in there using them. It's a really great
purchase if you haven't had any in your library.
And like I said, there is an app that goes along
with it. There are cards. So even if you're not
sure how to use them at first, there are some
ways that they can give you assistance in helping
use them until you become more comfortable. But
your students will be able to dive right in and
start building with them and having a lot of
fun, which is, it's really cool to see the kids
excited to be able to. Challenge themselves into
how to make what I'm asking them to make so I
really enjoy these Yeah, and I I had these at
my last campus which was all pre -k and My kids
loved them. I always started the year using these
Partly because it was kind of a unique block.
So like most pre -k kids have seen just plain
blocks and that's fine it's and it's good for
them to build with those absolutely and they
definitely have their place but with these it's
just a little bit more of a unique piece to build
with it stretches their creativity a bit and
I would always use it at the very beginning to
and I would pair it with a book about letters
and kind of use that to introduce books in general
to kids and just point out how there's letters
in every book and here's this book about letters
and now we're gonna build with letters and look
these are the shapes these are the blocks that
are shaped like letters and not all of the blocks
are shaped like letters but about half of them
are and then we would do some like little letter
identification with you know this one looks like
an X and this one looks like an H and things
like that and it really got the kids very interested
in it and currently I do have some in my current
library and currently the kids that I'm working
with most of them are you know it's just regular
pre -k through five campus and my second graders
especially really love these and they particularly
like to build with them because they look kind
of minecrafty. Cause all my kids are really into
Minecraft and it makes everything have that,
you know, because it is inspired by that eight
bit, um, pixelated graphics like Minecraft has.
So it just, they, those, those kids, they really
want to make everything look like Minecraft and
they can with these. They're great. Yeah. It's
a lot of fun. And I found that like, I have students.
in kindergarten all the way through fifth grade
in like pre -k kindergarten and then up to fifth
grade and every group there's some kids that
really enjoy using these it just they're it they're
so versatile and can be used for so many different
things and my kids really love them so highly
suggest if you don't have them in your library
that you get them because they can be used for
so many different things oh great they're fabulous
The next book that we're going to talk about
today is Change Sings. It was published by Viking
in 2021. The author is Amanda Gorman and the
illustrator is Lauren Long. And this book was
on quite a few... lists and got quite a few awards.
It was a Junior Library Guild Selection for 2022,
a Notable Books for Global Society 2022, Notable
Children's Books and Language Arts Award 2022,
Notable Social Trade Books for Young People,
Center for the Study of Multicultural Literature
Best Books of 2021, Arkansas Diamond Primary
Award, California CTE Recommended List, Iowa
Goldfinch Award, Kentucky Bluegrass Award, Michigan
Myself in Books, Nevada Reading Week Book List,
Choose to Read Ohio, and Tennessee Volunteer
State Book Awards 2022. And the author is Amanda
Gorman, and she is the youngest inaugural poet
in US history. And she was also appointed as
the first ever National Youth Poet Laureate.
by Urban Word, which is a non -profit program
that supports young poets in America. She graduated
cum laude from Harvard with a degree in sociology,
and she currently lives in Los Angeles. She's
still writing all kinds of poems. She's kind
of amazing. Like, I didn't... Yeah, I'm reading
that, and I'm just like, this, she has, she's
young and already has accomplished... Some amazing
feats. Wow. Yeah, like that's Incredibly impressive.
That's amazing. I know she's got like a whole
lot of interviews and such online and I was just
watching some of them and I was like, whoa, I
Don't know. That's kind of incredible Anyway,
she's a pretty remarkable person some of the
other books that she's written are Something
someday illustrated by Christian Robinson and
Girls on the Rise. This one is illustrated by,
I checked the spelling of this like four or five
times. I think her first name is Loveis. Is that
how you would say that? Loveis or Loveis? Loveis?
Last name is Wise. Is it Loveis Wise? I think.
I think that's the idea, but yeah. I think that
was the plan. Anyway, not sure how to say her
first name. Last name's definitely wise. And
she's written a couple of collections of poetry
which are For There Is Always Light, Call Us
What We Carry, and The Hill We Climb. And then
the illustrator is Lauren Long. She grew up in
the Midwest with a deep love for drawing and
painting. After graduating with a BA from the
University of Kentucky and attending the American
Academy of Art in Chicago, Lauren began freelancing
in editorial illustration, working for major
publications such as Time and Forbes. In 2003,
he illustrated his first picture book and has
continued creating books ever since. While he
has illustrated over 30 books so far, he has
written for some of them as well, including the
popular Otis series, which was adapted into an
animated series on Apple TV+. He currently lives
in Cincinnati with his wife and two sons. He
also serves on the board of the literacy nonprofit
Queen City Book Bank. And he's illustrated a
lot of books over 30. A few of them are Home
by Matt de la Pena. Someone Builds the Dream
by Lisa Wheeler. Love by Matt de la Pena. Good
Day, Good Night by Margaret Wise Brown of The
I Sing a Letter to My Daughters by Barack Obama.
And he redid the illustrations in The Little
Engine That Could by Wadi Piper and more. And
the books that he's both written and illustrated
are The Yellow Bus, which is his newest release.
There's A Hole in the Bottom of the Lake. all
the Otis series, which is Otis, Otis and the
Kittens, Otis and the Puppy, and Otis Christmas,
Otis and the Scarecrow, and Otis and the Tornado.
And in this book, in Change Things, it's about
a young black girl who's holding, in the book
she's holding a guitar and kind of walking through
a neighborhood, and as she walks she gathers
a diverse group of musicians who together kind
of create music and change the neighborhood for
the better. I liked this book for pre -k because
it's it is just a long poem so it's got a nice
flow and a nice cadence it's got those rhyming
words so that even if our youngest learners don't
really understand all the things yet they will
definitely at least resonate with the rhythm
and rhyme of the book. It also doesn't explicitly
go into like black history really, but you could
if you wanted to because of some of the illustrations
it has like a mural of Martin Luther King Jr.
in the background of one of the pages and it's
like it's that's definitely the focal point of
the Image like it's got the girl with the guitar
at the very bottom of the mural and you can see
her So it's definitely still part of the story
But like you could stop and talk about who that
person is in the mural Why it's in the book and
kind of talk about some of the history there
And with some of the words in the poem, like
you could, it's like very much talking about,
you know, changing for the better, helping our
community and just helping each other. So you
could go in one of two directions and just talk
about how it's important to be a kind person
in general and citizenship, or you could go into
the history of it a little bit if you wanted
to about why that's extra necessary and you know
social change in general. You have the option
of going either way with the book which I really
like. Which is especially with pre -k I think
kind of necessary like when you're talking about
history in general like things that are abstract
that kids can't hold and touch anything that's
not tangible it's gonna be really kind of difficult
for our pre -k kids to get They think that all
of history happened yesterday because yesterday
is anything that happened in the past, not just
what happened the day before. They're very focused
on the present and same with like looking forward
to the future. Everything happens tomorrow. Even
things that are going to happen in, you know,
20 years from now, everything happens tomorrow.
There's just that concept of time hasn't really
developed yet. So it can be a harder topic to
cover and you might have a more mature class
that might be able to go into some of the history
a little bit more or not. It really depends.
So I really liked that you could go either way
with this one for pre -k. I think this is a great
book for like kids of all ages really like it's
very flexible and can because It is a little
bit more open ended. You can kind of go in a
lot of different directions. So I don't know.
I just love it so much. I've seen it for a few
years and I do not know why I haven't read it
before this week. And I'm a little sad that I
haven't read it before this week, but that's
okay because I'm going to read it now. That's
great. This is what I'm going to do this week
in my classes. So this book for me is a five
out of five and I love it a lot. That is all.
Absolutely. artwork in it is amazing. It's breathtaking.
And the message is such a powerful one that,
yeah, this is just a great one. I love this story.
I look forward to sharing it with my students
for sure, because, like you said, even if they
don't understand everything, that cadence, that
rhythm that comes with the poem is something
that that everybody can understand and appreciate.
And I think that that coupled with the pictures
is definitely going to be something that keeps
their attention and I think they're really gonna
enjoy it. I love this book. Yeah, it was a good
one. And I think for a makerspace activity, you
could really do a lot with it too because it's
so kind of open -ended like that. You could either
go and focus on the music in it because there's
no like actual music in it and you don't have
to like it's not based on a song or anything
like that it is a poem but it does have all those
musical instruments in it so if you wanted to
you could focus on that and you could make instruments
of some kind and do like an easy to make little
shaker or something to go with it where you just
do like a paper plate and color one side of it
and then put a little bit of rice or beans on
the sprinkled inside and then staple that shut
and make a really quick shake shaker for everybody
or you could focus on just the importance of
that community building and kindness that's in
there and write kind notes or make a picture
for somebody and just do you know paper and crayons
or whatever and have the kids draw a picture
for somebody else and just do something kind
and give something to somebody else or you could
um if you wanted to you could do it with um like
a taking care of our earth kind of a unit and
like do a little cleanup activity where you clean
up um around the school or something there's
just a lot of different directions that you could
go with it because it is very open -ended i don't
know and it's just about being a better person
in general so there's just a lot of ways you
could go Yeah. Yeah. You could also use the Aya
blocks and have the kids build their own. Indeed,
you could. And it does, there's one page where
it says, I don't build a taller fence. I build
a better bridge or something like that. They
could build a little bridge. Like they're building
a bridge for a girl in a wheelchair so she can,
um, you know, leave her house a little bit easier.
Yeah. Lots of things you could do with this book.
There's so many things you can do with this book.
I love it. It's really good. Yeah. It's rare
that I find a book like that where I'm like,
I was missing it and I didn't know it. Okay.
But I found it. So I feel better. Don't worry.
That's always a good feeling though to know like,
okay, now I have it. It's a part of my collection.
I'm going to keep going back to it and using
it because it's such a good story. Yeah, I'm
gonna keep using that one. Well, thank you all
for joining us on this episode of Librarians
of Littles, and we hope you found some inspiring
new ideas for helping our youngest readers. Happy
reading! Thank you for listening to this episode
of Librarians of Littles. We hope that you've
enjoyed it. Check back each Wednesday for a new
episode. Librarians of Littles is a podcast produced
and hosted by Patrick Adams and Caroline Legier.
Editor Patrick Adams. Our theme song is performed
by JD Adams. You can follow us on Instagram at
Librarians of Littles. You can follow us on blue
sky at littleslibrarian .bsky .social. And you
can send us your emails at librarianoflittlespodatgmail
.com. It's fine. I'm not gonna buy a car today.
Very excited about that. Do you like the new
car? Is it? I do. Yeah. I do. Yeah. It's very
similar. I had an Outback before. Right. It's
very similar. Like it drives very similarly.
Okay. Yeah. I like it. What color did you get?
It's a very dark gray. Almost black. You get
used to all the little like differences of the
minor differences and that kind of stuff and
it and everything and Yeah, most of it is Pretty
much the same except like the displays a little
bit different and They switched like the trip
Odometer button or whatever with the ignition
so I keep not turning on the car when I mean
to turn on the car That's a little annoying Okay.
Yeah. That's okay. But for the most part, everything
else is pretty similar. And yeah, I like it.
I don't plan to total this one. Well, that would
be, yeah, let's not for a while. Or ever.