Cora Hirner points out a flute in a game of “I Spy” at the library. Each year, librarian Bob Simpson paints a mural to match the summer reading them. The kids love to see what fun characters come to life each summer. After learning about different types of instruments, the children “spied” them in the mural.
Rock Port High School band instructor Abby Palmer and members of the high school band, Ben Lucas and Beth Davis, were special guests at the first and second grade summer reading class on Thursday, July 19. They brought several instruments and demonstrated various notes and tunes. The kids recognized the Rock Port fight song right away!
Camden McEnaney works on a painting during the third and fourth grade class.
Rock Port Summer Reading
Eleven children met with Tiffanie Gaines and Katey Kroeger to start the second week of Summer Reading in Rock Port. They enjoyed listening to Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons by James Dean. The room erupted in animal sounds when the children sang along to Wheels on the Bus by Jane Cabrera. A wild and noisy time occurred when the kids played a game patterned after Musical Chairs. When the music stopped they “landed” in front of an instrument from the library “band box,” and everyone played their instrument at the same time. Calm was restored when Tiffanie read a story about listening, called The Surprise Party by Pat Hutchins. The children tested their listening skills when they played the game Telephone. The importance of helping others was the feature of the story Little Blue Truck – Helping Our Friends by Schertle and McElmurry. The children made all of the noises Mr. Brown made when listening to Dr. Seuss’s Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You? This lively group of three and four year olds ended their meeting singing Old McDonald Had a Farm. They went home with noisy things: cowbells and mustache lip whistles!
Lynn Hunter and her Tuesday morning group started their session with a book about listening, called Interrupting Chicken by D.E. Stein. The children did an experiment with sound in water. They used jars and glasses with varying amounts of water to form different “notes” or sounds. They learned more water in a container made low “notes” and less water in a container created higher “notes.” Several containers, with different amounts of water, formed a “xylophone” for all to enjoy playing. These children, ages five and six, had a great time with Mrs. Hunter. They went home with an ear maze to complete and noisy kazoos and cowbells!
Musical instruments were the focus of the Thursday morning reading group hosted by Jennifer Roup and Tisha Jackson. The kids enjoyed a special treat provided by local music teacher Abbie Palmer and two of her students, Beth Davis and Ben Lucas. Mrs. Palmer, Beth, and Ben played a clarinet, a trombone, and a sousaphone. The children asked many questions about the instruments, including “how does that work?” Jennifer read two books: Interrupting Chicken by D.E. Stein, and the Cookies chapter from Frog & Toad Together by Arnold Lobel. The first book was about listening, and the second was about cookies! Readers, Isaac, Reese, and Bryna attended a production of A Year with Frog and Toad at the Brownville Theatre Wednesday evening, and they knew the “cookie” song from the production. Everyone enjoyed eating real cookies when they were listening. The children had fun creating their own “rhythms” with instruments from the library “band box.” Each child received a pair of maracas and a mini flute to take home.
The Noisy Paint Box by B. Rosenstock provided a very entertaining start to Dixie Teten’s program with her readers. This true story is about Vasily (Vasya) Kandinsky, a young Russian, born in Moscow in 1866. When Vasya was given a gift of a box of paints, he heard hissing sounds and noise coming from the paints. In time, his paints sounded like a symphony, and when he listened to the music he saw swirls of bright color. All of his life this lawyer and then traditional artist “heard” art as music and “saw” music as art. Eventually, in expressing what he “heard” from his paints, Kandinsky became one of the world’s first painters of abstract art. His works hang in many of the world’s most famous art museums. In tribute to this unique story, Dixie assisted the kids in a craft of splatter art. A splatter of color enhanced a single black note form placed on a white background. After the children listened to Olivia Forms a Band by Ian Falconer, they enjoyed experimenting with sounds of the instruments in the library’s “band box.” The game of the day was listening to music and trying to give it the appropriate label. Was it rock, classical, country, jazz or hip hop? This group ended their hour with a second craft: making “maracas” with a spoon, plastic eggs, beans, and lots of tape! The library “treat box” yielded recorders and tambourines for everyone.
Tarkio Library’s Summer Reading festivities continued Tuesday and Thursday of last week with the children participating in a number of fun activities. Some of the kids even took part in a musical parade around the book cases while playing musical instruments.
Led by Jayne Martin, Rachel Stanton, Jennifer Peregrine, and Brooke Walton, the youth continued to learn why “Libraries Rock” and read great books. This week is the third and final week of the Atchison County Library’s Summer Reading Program.
Jennifer Peregrine helps the Tarkio summer readers with a musical coloring project.
Tarkio Summer Reading
The 3 & 4 year old group began their class on Tuesday, July 17, by reading Pete the Cat Rocking in My School Shoes by Eric Litwin. The children then decorated cardboard guitars with crayons and Pete the Cat stickers (the guitars are currently on display inside the Tarkio Library). Next, the children read The Night Before Summer Vacation by Natasha Wing. After the children discussed where they had been on vacation, they sang songs and played various instruments. They checked out books and took home Pete the Cat socks.
The 5 & 6 year olds continued to “rock on” through the summer reading program. Students enjoyed hearing Dooby, Dooby Moo; Click, Clack, Quack – Quack; and Wiggle. All three books are by Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin. Children made animal hats and took home cowbells. They also played Barnyard Twister and checked out books.
On Thursday, July 19, Jayne Martin’s 1st and 2nd graders had fun talking about musical instruments. They played an instrument guessing game and read Jazz Baby by Carole Boston Weatherford. The students then played music and marched with their instruments around the library. They made maracas with Easter eggs filled with rocks and taped spoons on the side to make the handles. The children also worked on an instrument word search, checked out books, and took home tambourines.
The 3rd and 4th graders, taught by Rachel Stanton, read Mole Music by David McPhail. After reading, they discussed the theme and the idea of trying something new, like creating music out of household items not normally thought of as music makers. They made harmonicas and discussed why they were able to make sound. They also changed the pitch of the sound by moving the straws and discussing the “why” behind it. They then created drums with tin cans and balloons.
They experimented by adding water to change the sound. The children found that they could make multiple sounds using the drums. They finished the lesson with a fun picture book to encourage the love of reading. The children took home a flute and checked out books to take home.
The Atchison County Library’s Summer Reading Program for local youth continued last week with the youngsters meeting in the basement of the Fairfax United Methodist Church. Tuesday’s reading and activities were under the direction of Sarah Osburn, right. This week is the last week for the program.
Fairfax Summer Reading
Tuesday’s Fairfax Summer Reading group time with Sarah Osburn was all about Dance! They played musical chairs and when the music stopped they picked up the instrument that was in the chair and danced to their own rhythm. Each child was given a new instrument – a cow bell. They played their instruments to the rhythm of the book The Wheels on the Bus. After adding polka dots to the paper guitars, the children danced in the different ways mentioned in the book How Can You Dance? by Rick Walton. Thursday’s program participants talked about music used in movies and video games and music used as sound effects. They played Finish That Jingle and made guitars that actually play out of cardboard, Tupperware containers, and rubber bands. Leann Ohlensehlen read Trombone Shorty by Troy Andrews, selected poems from Falling Up by Shel Silverstein, and some facts out of the music book from Eyewitness Books.
