Engineering with the Magic School Bus and Marshmallows

Another great STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) programming idea borrowed from PBS Kids' Zoom Activities: build bridges out of toothpicks and marshmallows!  I gave children the building directive after we watched Magic School Bus Under Construction: Bridge Building.  

This program was simple, required very little preparation, and inspired great amounts of creativity and design concepts from elementary aged participants.  

To prepare, wrap two stacks of books (they must be the exact same books so that the stacks are an even height) in newspaper so you don't get sticky marshmallow residue on your library books.  This will serve as the base for your bridge.  

Watch the "Bridge Building" episode of The Magic School Bus Under Construction DVD (about 20 minutes long) and see Mrs. Frizzle's class create a bridge out of Q-tips and gum drops.

After the children see the Magic School Bus gang building a bridge, they will be eager to try doing so themselves.  Take a look at what our little aspiring engineers and architects created!  As an added challenge, once you get a bridge across your two stacks of books, add a paper clip attached to a cup and throw pennies in the cup to see how strong your bridge is.

We Read Banned Books!

Banned Books Week?  How about Banned Books Month? BANNED BOOKS YEAR?! Just kidding, I am trying to make a funny about the fact that I forgot to publish this post from months ago.  I created this display for Banned Books Week 2014, September 21st - 27th.  This year, it will be from September 27th - October 3rd, 2015.

Banned Books Week is a celebration held in libraries, schools, (and even homes of some avid librarians) all over the country that celebrates our freedom to read.  The American Library Association has declared this a library celebration since 1982.  Having the right to intellectual freedom is not something to be ignored.  We still face censorship every day.

Censorship and book challenges are especially apparent within children's and young adult literature, as many people are quick to assume that they personally know what's best and/or appropriate for a child.  Just this week I had a patron "challenge" my recommendation of Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book to a ten-year-old girl.  Mind you, this woman was not even the child's mother and had no business in the child's reading material, but added her input anyways: "You're recommending that book to her?"  I answered that I thought it was a good recommendation for an advanced third grade reader who wanted "creepy ghost stories" (and her mother agreed), but that the little girl could decide for herself if she wanted to read it!  (In a very polite manner, of course. These things come with the territory of being a public librarian and most of what we say needs to be said with a smile! Even if I was seething on the inside).

Having an attitude that respects the importance of the freedom of information is especially important when working at public libraries, as we are gatekeepers of information for the general public.  If there is a book that someone can't find at the book store or at their school library, we should (hopefully!) have it or at least be able to find it for you.  That is our job! Rant over.

Back to the display!  I chose some selections of text from a few of my favorite banned books and blacked out portions of the text to show how much censorship can damage a message's integrity and clarity.  It proved to be an engaging display as many people tried to match the text with each book that was on display, looking for little clues in the text.  I also had some decent conversations with interested school-aged kids who hadn't yet learned about censorship and wanted to know why the books were on fire!  When I told them the reasons why Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin, Jr. (shares a name with a Marxist Bill Martin) and Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak (a disobedient child) were challenged, they started giggling.  "But that's so silly!" they exclaimed.  "I agree, my friends," I said, "I agree."

Here is a full list of books used in the above display, along with incredibly brief explanations of why they were challenged or banned:

• Where the Wild Things Are* by Maurice Sendak (Naughty boy! And a hint of surrealism!)
• Curious George by H.A. Rey (Monkeys are supposed to have tails!)
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling (Witchcraft AND magic, duh!)
• Charlotte's Web** by E.B. White (Talking animals!)
• And Tango Makes Three by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson (Homosexual penguins!)
• The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein (Sexist!)
• Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh (Naughty girl!)
• The Lorax by Dr. Seuss (Environmental awareness!)
• Sylvester and the Magic Pebble* by William Steig (Pigs in uniform!)
• Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin, Jr. (Marxist philosopher, but not really, my bad!)
• The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank ("Too depressing"!)
• The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman (Anti-religion!)
• Strega Nona* by Tomie dePaola (Witchcraft!)
• In the Night Kitchen* by Maurice Sendak (A bare bottom!)

Am I a raving lunatic fan over every single one of these books? No. (Okay, besides In the Night Kitchen.  I am pretty intense about my love for that one.  And Harry Potter. And Strega Nona. Okay. Done.).  But I didn't love The Golden Compass. Just wasn't my thing!That doesn't mean no one else is allowed to like it. Or read it AT ALL.

*Randolph Caldecott Medal, award winner or honor
**John Newbery Medal, award winner
***Just saying.

STEAM Team: Art with Andy Warhol

Every Friday, our library hosts a "STEAM Team" program for children aged 6-12. STEAM is a framework for learning based on Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math. 

I of course had to choose the main topic of Art when I led this program because there's really no subject I enjoy more.  I decided to have the children focus on the great American Pop artist Andy Warhol.  We started the program with a viewing of  Andy Warhol from Mike Venezia's "Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists" series, based upon the identically titled popular book series also by Venezia.  The movie was about 20 minutes long, and was colorful and engaging for the kids. I had a child as young as three and as old as 10 present, and it seemed to appeal to all the age groups.

After the film, we made our own Pop Art projects.  I pre-cut many different colors of rectangles, kittens, and puppies (using the AccuCut) so that kids could pick out their own colors.  When they chose four rectangles, they glued them on to a sheet of construction paper for the background of the project. I made a sample project layering the kittens in the style of Warhol's Pop Art prints.  Not only did the children catch on to the layering technique right away, but I was also thrilled when they got super creative with their own projects.  (I always try to encourage them that their projects do not need to look like mine- I want them to be creative!)  As you can see, that is exactly what they did- we even had a child who wanted to use puppies and kittens (see below)!  They loved picking out their own colors and so far I haven't met a child get who did not like playing with glue.  Parents were thrilled and said they could not wait to come back for another STEAM event the following week. 

Design Challenge: Catapults

As an alternative to the typical arts and crafts programs we often see in libraries, I decided to do a little something different by creating a "Design Challenge" for the kids.  As opposed to simply creating something, the kids are challenged to build a structure using engineering skills and applied science concepts.

This week I decided to have the kids build catapults. I introduced the idea of catapults used for battle during the Trojan War of Greek Mythology, telling a short story about the Trojan War as background.  I like to tie the design challenge back to some literary elements whenever possible.  This also gave me the opportunity to offer books on Greek Mythology available for checkout at the conclusion of the program.

While I do offer a "model" structure for the kids to look at to base their own structure design on, I encourage them to experiment with different elements of the design to see if it makes a difference in its functionality.  For example, by offering the questions, "I wonder how we could make the catapult shoot farther?" or "What would happen if the catapult's base was wider?" or "Does the amount of rubber bands I use make a difference?", kids are prompted and encouraged to explore different design techniques and each child ends up with a unique and individual product.

Once the kids have built their catapults, it is time for battle!  I provided little colored pom-poms for them to load and launch from their catapults.  They can try to achieve different goals such as going the longest distance, shooting the highest, or hitting a specific target.  The possibilities are endless in this Design Challenge program!