Cell phone videos

Last week I gave a workshop on story hour stretches, games and songs for the Children's Services librarians at the Kansas City (MO) Public Library. I LOVE working with librarians, partly because I am still one to my core, even though I haven't worked as a librarian since 1994. It's not the diploma that proves it (though I have one). It's in my DNA. You laugh? Here's a quote from a piece my mother wrote about her mother-in-law, not officially a librarian but...

Like her father before her, she chose the books for Bristol's Rogers Free Library, and read most of them first. (Some categories she shunned, letting other Library people choose the romances and Westerns.)

Granny Howe referred to those as trashy novels, my father said. All but those were delivered to the house before they ever got to the library.

Sidetracked. Isn't this post about videos? One of the librarians at the Westport Branch sent me links for four videos she put on Youtube. Keep in mind that these were taken on a cell phone!

You can see another of the librarians recording the workshop on her iPad, so there may be more videos to come. 

Stories with the dulcimer

Last week, I did something new: I used my mountain dulcimer in performances with preschoolers. I've had this beautiful instrument for about twenty years, a present from a friend who used it as a wall decoration. I've played it occasionally for my own entertainment. I don't pretend to play terribly well, but I can pick out a tune if I hear it in my head, in the way I play harmonica and various recorders and folk flutes.

But use it in performance? Nah. Then I was asked to do a series of shows in conjunction with performances by Chiara String Quartet for the Lied Center of Kansas' program, Performing Arts 3 to 5. The quartet played for the children and collectively told a story. My goal in following them was to underscore what they did and extend it with stories, music and puppets.

First I asked the children what they remembered from their field trip. They went to the Lied Center and sat on the stage, not swallowed up by the theater seats, for the show. Most of them remembered that they'd seen violins and a cello (a jello, some said). Some remembered the viola. Some proudly announced that it was a quartet.

I told them I'd brought a stringed instrument, but it wasn't a cello or a violin or a viola. I brought it out of its box and showed them the similarities to those classical instruments. I showed them the pick and the noter (a little stick used to press the strings down next to the fret).

Then I told a story about a boy with a violin. I played songs in the story and the kids called out what I was playing: "Mary had a little lamb," "The itsy bitsy spider," etc.

The next part was magic. I carried the dulcimer to the children and let them strum it, one at a time. The kids were amazingly patient and quiet, waiting their turn, even with the big groups of 40 kids. Gentle, too, in the main.

I put the dulcimer away and moved on to more songs and another story, with help from my puppets.

I visited thirteen groups at five preschools last week. This week I have eight more of these sessions. It's a treat to try something new--a treat for me as much as it is for the children. We all have a good time.

Oh, speaking of puppets, don't you think the inside of the case looks like Elmo?!

Down came the rain

It's raining. Again. Cold, too. I've gotten used to May in Kansas being pleasant and warm. Last week I had a fire in the wood stove. I'm considering having another today.

Or I could turn my attention further to water, to the summer reading theme Make a splash at your library. The program I'm offering for the theme is called Didja ever see a fishy? and it will be a medley of puppets, stories and songs. Trixie is considering wearing a shower cap, Ray the ray puppet will swim up out of the bag thanks to the "mistic hand." I'm certain that Prince, formerly known as Frog, will make an appearance. I suspect the baby will sing The Itsy Bitsy Tiger.

The title of the program is from a song I learned from another storyteller. Here it is:

Didja ever see a fishy on a hot summer day, (wipe sweat from brow)

Didja ever see a fishy all swimming in the bay, (mime fish swimming)

With her hands in her pockets and her pockets in her pants, (hands on front pockets, then on back)

Didja ever see a fishy do the hoochie koochie dance? (little dance)

You ne-ver did (clap, clap), you never will.

Didja ever see a fishy on a cold winter's day, (shiver)

Didja ever see a fishy all frozen in the bay, (mime hands forming a block of ice)

With his hands in his pockets and his pockets in his pants, (hands on front pockets, then on back)

Didja ever see a fishy do the hoochie koochie dance? (little dance)

You ne-ver did (clap, clap), you never will.

I'm still playing with stories. I'm thinking of The Pincoya's Daughter, a Chilean story about an old woman who finds a baby mermaid, and Little Crab's Magic Eyes. Maybe also Mud Puddle by Robert Munsch. I just found a newer story Munsch wrote called Down the drain that might work.

I'll keep you posted!

Kindy Kids

Today I gave a workshop on songs, stretches and games at Kindy Kids school, for teachers. I'd met many of them on Thursday when I told stories for their students, as well as for the students at a few other schools in their consortium. These teachers were great! So was Katia, the principal! They gave up their Saturday morning to be there, joined right in on all the songs, asked good questions, and I think had a good time. I certainly did.

The children who saw me on Thursday made me a thank-you card:

Here's the inside:

And a detail from the inside: 

Claudia, the wonderful teacher who presented this to me also told me the story of the Indian girl who was promised as the bride of a prince. Though this was a great honor, her true love lived in the Amazon river, a pink manatee (boto cor-de-rosa). She went to the Sun god and asked if she could be married to the pink manatee. No, she would have to follow her family's wishes. She cried under the Moon and then asked the Moon god if she could marry the pink manatee. Yes, but only under one condition, that she be changed into a flower, a Victoria Regia. She agreed to this condition and was changed into a Victoria Regia, a flower that blooms pink in the moonlight.

When I heard this, I thought maybe it was a night-blooming cereus, but I've just looked it up to discover that it's a specific kind of water lily. Lovely!  This is the flower they put on the outside of the card, and it's the reason they said, "Thank you for being such a flower in our garden!!!" 

By the way, it IS spring here, with Halloween just around the corner.