I cannot believe it’s been two weeks since I last updated about summer reading!

Our numbers have increased from 149 (two weeks ago) to 309 as of this morning. Last year’s numbers totaled 470 — I think that we’re going to pass numbers…but I’m still not sure.

Volunteer training was two weeks ago, and my volunteers are finally settled into their job. We have a table set up that is always staffed with two teen volunteers. Kids and teens go to the volunteer table where they either spin a spinner (kids) or pick a card (teens) to determine what question they’ll have to answer about their books. Questions are super simple like, “What was your favorite part?” or “Who would you cast in the movie version?” I think that this gives the kids/teens a certain amount of accountability to remember what they read, and maybe cuts down on cheaters.

Last week was just sign-ups and the kids were in school until Thursday morning. This past week has been the first full week of SRP including programming and prizes.

My schedule of programming this week?

Tuesday - Passport to Reading (1st-6th)

Tuesday - Afternoon Storytime (Ages 3-7)

Wednesday - Life-Sized Monopoly (5th-10th)

Thursday - Storytime (Ages 0-5)

Thursday - Mural Painting (1st-6th)

Friday - Daycare Storytime (Ages 0-5)

Friday - Chalk Day (All Ages)

Next week is much lighter! (Thank goodness!) We haven’t been doing a ton of “One World, Many Stories” themed programs this year — mostly loosely themed stuff. Storytimes this week were summer/vacation and transportation. The mural involved farm and jungle animals and race cars. “Passport” is my only reoccurring themed program — each week we’ll be visiting a different continent. This week was Europe. Next week is Antarctica! (Think penguin craft and snowball fights…using cotton balls!)

The kids took their passport pictures last week and this week whoever comes back will get to put a stamp in their passport for last week and a stamp for this week!

I don’t have any programming pictures up yet, so I will leave you with a picture of our giant display in the lobby:

Hello, friends! Summer reading have officially been open for a week at my library, and it has been off to a great start! My dear, dear friend Abby from Abby (the) Librarian has been posting a weekly review of her summer reading program, and I am SO on board!

My very messy Youth Services desk.

In Abby’s first post, she talked about registration and what each child gets. So here’s my run-down:

1. Registration Card. You actually can’t see the registration card in this picture. You can see their Level Cards which are under the desk and right by the silver “To Be Updated” box. Registration cards have personal info on it, so I swap out a card with just their name for the teens to use to track their progress.

2. Reading Log. Kids in grades K-5th get the green reading log; teens in grades 6 and up get the blue log. Both track by hours read (two hours per level; five levels total) and look remarkably similar! Our pre-k readers get the yellow time logs (under the desk), and we also allow struggling readers the option of still using the “Read to Me” program instead of reading on their own.

3. Die-cut Shape. Everyone gets to pick a shape and a color. Then, they decorate those shapes and we put them up on the glass wall behind us. After every level, librarians put a sticker on their shape. After the whole summer, they can collect their die-cuts!

4. Bookmark. Everyone has a choice of which one they want.

5. Bags. Well, this is the first year where my teens aren’t getting bags. I really hate giving away plastic bags, especially since our library now sells reusable bags, but I see kids every year using their bags until they fall apart. So, for now, it’s worth it.

6. Stamp. If they want a stamp, they can get a stamp. Over the years, we’ve stamped their hands, their (give-away) books, their arms, their mom’s arms, their reading logs…I once had a kid (with permission) ask me to stamp the toe of his sneakers. Our kids really love stamps for whatever reason!

As of today, we have 149 kids and teens signed up in a week. I hate to say it, because I worry about jinxing myself, but our numbers are higher than compared with last year! Hooray! And, our kids are STILL IN SCHOOL. Four more days left for them!

Next week I’ll be back to talk about progress, volunteer training (which is today!), and I promise to post a picture of my own reading log.

Sunday, 5/22 — “Series Spotlight: Morganville Vampires” @ Book Blather

Started off the week with a spotlight on one of my favorite book series — the Morganville Vampires. I think this is one of the more interesting vampire series out there, and I fully think that everyone should know about it, especially if you’re a teen librarian.

Monday, 5/23 — “Purple” @ Storytime Katie

Finally finished posting up my color themes from my daycare storytime. Purple was, by far, the hardest storytime to find materials for.

Tuesday, 5/24 — “Teen Book Club Activity” @ Book Blather

It wound up being a kind of vampire theme week for my posts on Book Blather. I posted the most recent bookmark that my Teen Book Club created to put in the teen section to promote TBC books.

Wednesday, 5/25 — “Spring Animals!” @ Storytime Katie

A last minute storytime theme can spell disaster sometimes — fortunately, that wasn’t the case with this storytime! I changed my theme last minute and had one of the best storytimes of my career.

Took Thursday off of posting.

Friday, 5/27 — “Flannel Friday: Pretty Ladybugs” @ Storytime Katie

Made a super simple flannelboard, and played with cutting out letters using our Ellison die-cut machine!

Our summer reading program has started, so I don’t know if my amount of posting will increase…or decrease. Time will tell.

Sunday, 5/15 — “Goal: Printz Books” @ Book Blather

Started off the week with talking about my goal to read all the Printz winners and honor books. I don’t think that I’ll be done with this goal for a very, very long time.

Monday, 5/16 — “Bugs” @ Storytime Katie

Posted my afternoon storytime from two weeks ago. My 3-7 year olds loved this theme, and so did I. And it has the cutest firefly craft to boot.

Tuesday, 5/17 — “Please Ignore Vera Dietz” @ Book Blather

Tuesday, 5/17 — “Elephant and Piggie Pics” here on Tumblr

Double-post day! Posted my review of Printz Honor book, “Please Ignore Vera Dietz” on Book Blather and posted some Elephant and Piggie program pictures here on Tumblr.

Wednesday, 5/18 — “Blue” @ Storytime Katie

Got up my second-to-last colors storytime from my daycare session a couple of weeks ago. Next up, I plan on doing opposite pairs, inspired by Mel of Mel’s Desk.

Thursday, 5/17 — “(Amazing, Awesome) Day In the Life of a Librarian” here on Tumblr

On Thursday, I did storytime, a gaming program, and a school visit. On top of that, I managed to write a post detailing my day when I got home from work.

Friday, 5/20 — “Broadway Baby!” @ Book Blather

Friday, 5/20 — “Flannel Friday: Harold and the Purple Crayon” @ Storytime Katie

Friday, 5/20 — “Flannel Friday Round-Up” @ Storytime Katie

And my biggest posting day of the week — it was my turn to post on Book Blather for a “get to know your blogger” feature. I wrote about my incredible love of Broadway musicals. Then, on Storytime Katie, it was my week to host “Flannel Friday,” so I have not only my own contribution but links to everyone else’s posts.

Am getting ready for another stellar week of blog postings, and I’ll be back here (for sure) next week with another round-up!

I was originally going to do one of these posts yesterday and ran out of time, and I wasn’t going to do one today — but today was one of those days where everything was *worth it,* and I kind of want to preserve it.

9:05 a.m. - Arrive at library. I am always late, roughly by five minutes. Turn on computers, and lights. Go through notes from staff regarding yesterday’s night shift. Check email. Answer a few emails regarding YALSA committees.

9:20-9:40 a.m. - Set-up storytime room; rehearse fingerplays, songs, and action rhymes. Make sure each place at the craft table has all the supplies. (My teens set up the craft tables for me at the end of yesterday’s “Gardening” program.)

9:40 a.m. - Greet storytime participants as they arrive. Put out puzzles, coloring pages, and set kids up on the literacy computer while we wait until five after the hour to go into the programming room.

10:05-10:45 a.m. - Storytime! Theme today was “clothes” and it was a really good storytime. Our last book was “Polly’s Pink Pajamas” and one of my little girls squealed, “That’s my FAVORITE book!”

10:45-11:00 a.m. - Clean up after storytime; talk with some parents about our next storytime break and reminding them about the summer reading program.

11:00 a.m. - 12:20 p.m. - Write up storytime summary, cut out fleece countries (for a display), sign up kids for programs, and file papers from inbox. Talk to assistant director about volunteers; have minor freak-out that I won’t be allowed to have teen volunteers. Tweet with other librarians about this; receive alternate plan from @crplteens on what I can do if this happens!

12:20-12:40 p.m. - Alternate between reading “School Library Journal,” newest “Publisher’s Weekly” and the special Royal Wedding “People” issue while on “break.” Take note that my break did not include food and did not include leaving the desk. I have so much to do for summer reading, I don’t think I’ve had a break in two weeks! [Not that I couldn’t take lunch/dinner, but I would rather work through the break than stress at home about stuff that isn’t done. My choice!]

12:40-12:50 p.m - Go downstairs to set up for “Games for Kids” and file away old magazines. Also bring up popsicle sticks to attach to butterfly puppets for tomorrow’s daycare storytime.

12:50 p.m. - Help patron find ladybug crafts for her preschool/daycare. Another patron eavesdrops and also requests the materials I recommend.

1:00-1:50 p.m. - Discuss with co-workers a myriad of things concerning summer reading: letters home to schools, bookmarks to cut and pass out, new spine labels for display books (so our pages can put them immediately back on the displays and my staff won’t have to go hunting for returned books), our giant summer reading display, and registration. Resolve almost all issues (except our giant display) before heading out for a school visit.

1:50 p.m. - Arrive for school visit. Sign in, and wait in the cafeteria for second graders to arrive.

2:00-2:35 p.m. - Talk to second graders about summer reading. Am very pleased to say that I did this without a script, without notes or anything, and did not say “um” once. I never thought sophomore English public speaking would pay off.

2:40-3:15 p.m. - Arrive back at the library. Begin pulling books, printing out my extension activities, and making up a take-home sheet for tomorrow’s daycare storytime. Our theme is “Up and Down” storytime. I’m going to do a small series of opposites storytimes until Summer Reading officially kicks off.

3:15-3:55 p.m. - Go downstairs with co-worker to work on the giant display. We are making a giant 3D world out of fleece, poster board, and stuffing. I am responsible for cutting out the countries while my co-worker assembles the water. Afterwards, she agrees to stay downstairs while I do my program to finish hot gluing the countries to the world.

3:55-4:45 p.m. - Collect kids for our “Games for Kids” program (K-3rd graders). Only start with 5 kids; end with 11 kids in attendance. (Small numbers, but it was a gorgeous day out.) The kids request Legos as their game choice, so we settle on the storytime rug for Lego building. And yes, I lay down on my stomach and build right alongside them.

4:45-5:00 p.m. - My co-worker brings down the library’s camera to take pictures of the kids’ creations. They have built a castle, a pizzeria, a rocketship, a jail, and a hospital. There have been elaborate robberies, injuries, pizza deliveries, and a lot of wonderful moments. I convince the kids to chase my co-worker around the room after she steals a “pile of money” (read: stack of green Legos) and to put her and her Lego character in jail. Best program ever!

5:00-5:36 p.m. - Clean up Legos (with the help of the kids!), tape popsicle sticks to butterfly puppets and set-up books and flannelboards for tomorrow’s storytime. Go home, happily exhausted.