Book 'N Play: "In My Heart"

This month's Book 'N Play explored the many feelings we feel inside our heart. Here's the plan:

1. Hello!

2. Welcome Song (“The Story Time Ball”)

tune: "Wheels on the Bus"

(Roll ball back and forth to each child)
The story time ball rolls back and forth,
back and forth, back and forth.
The story time ball rolls back and forth,
Let's see who it found. Hi ______!
Now roll it back to me.
(Keep rolling back and forth until each child has said their name.)

3. Yoga poses: "The gifts of love"

We did a combination of 3 different poses here. 

1. "Gift" (child's pose)

2. "Heart" (butterfly pose)

3. "Flowers" (flower pose)

4. Sensory tool rhyme: "I Look in the Mirror"

I loved using our adorable story time set of mirrors for the first time so we could practice facial expressions and identifying those expressions.

I look in the mirror and what do I see?

I see a happy face smiling at me.

I look in the mirror and what do I see?

I see a surprised face looking at me.

Other faces: sad, mad, scared, silly

(source: preschoolexpress.com)

5. Multisensory experience story: In My Heart by Jo Witek

 

Our wonderful Clerical Assistant, Amy, made these flannel pieces for each child to add to the board as we read the story.

Place pink house on the board.

Hold out arms for big feelings and close arms on small feelings, LOUD feelings and quiet feelings.

Place big yellow star on board.

Hold up shining flashlight and smile wide while twirling around in place (or twirling arms if seated).

Place planet earth with clouds on board.

Reach up and stretch to the clouds (touching bowls with white cotton batting).

Place orange burst on board.

Make "Boom!" sound by clapping hands together.

Place green balloon on board.

Hold green balloons up and watch them gently fall "as quiet as snowfall."

Place bandage on board.

Each child is given a band-aid to help heal our stuffed friend's broken heart. Babar was feeling much better after!

Place elephant on board.

Place small weighted lap pad in the lap of each child so they can feel a "heavy heart."

Place plant on the board.

Reach toward the sky with our arms out like stems and branches.

Place scary beast on board.

Turn on small fan and face toward everyone so they can feel that scared feeling like a "chilly breeze has crawled up my neck."

Place magic hat on board.

Hop in place like a bouncy bunny.

Place small tree on board.

Give each child and caregiver a heart and ask them to tell us how their heart is feeling today as they place it on the board. This was so much fun! Many kids said their hearts were happy and a few mentioned hungry hearts and hearts that were feeling all of the feelings today!

6: Sensory play stations:

Discovery bin: "Rainbow of Feelings" bin filled with rainbow colored rice and plastic eggs with feelings visuals inside. (source: kiddiematters.com)

Light table play: colorful stackable shapes to build your "house of feelings"

Toy play: making heart shapes with cookie cutters and gluten-free play dough

Craft: make squishy hearts with ziplock bags (with a heart outline drawn in black sharpie), finger-paints, and duct tape to seal

     

Book 'N Play

We are trying something new! Attendance for our monthly sensory story times exclusively targeted to children with developmental disabilities was consistently low this past fall. Many factors are involved, including a wonderful abundance of new adaptive therapies and recreational opportunities in our community on Saturdays. I am truly so very excited to see all of these new opportunities available to children with disabilities and their families. Yeah! With these new opportunities in the community, though, comes the time for us to once again reevaluate our community's needs and how we can continue to meet and enrich those needs with our programming. Even though we might not be able to offer exclusive adaptive programs, all library events and programs can be made inclusive with adaptive tools (e.g. visuals, availability of sound cancelling headphones, inexpensive sunglasses to filter bright florescent lighting, alternative handouts in large font). Libraries can also have these accessibility services listed on their website to welcome people before their visit.

So what did we decide, you ask? We have moved the original adaptive Saturday morning story time (SENSEational Story Time) to Thursday afternoons after surveying some of our local special education directors to determine the best time (12:30 pm) and are opening this up to visiting school groups. Stay tuned for an update! These will be very similar to our multisensory outreach story times for the Wing Lake Developmental Center. We are also offering an adaptive and inclusive multisensory story exploration for children of all abilities, ages 3 - 7, once a month on a Saturday morning at 11 am. A much larger scale version of this program was welcomed by many of our young story explorers this past summer at our Book & Play: How to Catch a Star program.

Our first monthly Book 'N Play was held last month. Families explored the story We're Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen. Here's a peek at some of the fun:

This month's story was LMNO Peas by Keith Baker.

Here's the plan:

1. Hello (Welcome families and talk about what Book 'N Play is)

2. Welcome Song (“The Story Time Ball”)

tune: "Wheels on the Bus"

(Roll ball back and forth to each child)
The story time ball rolls back and forth,
back and forth, back and forth.
The story time ball rolls back and forth,
Let's see who it found. Hi ______!
Now roll it back to me.
(Keep rolling back and forth until each child has said their name.)

3. Yoga pose: Alphabet letter poses (A, B, C) I really like this set ABC Yoga Cards for Kids by Christine Ristuccia, which is also in our Alphabet Discovery Skills Kit.

4. Action Rhyme:  “Alphabet Beat”

First clap your hands.

Then stomp your feet.

Everybody do the alphabet beat!

Apple, Apple, Apple - a- a- a.

Apple, Apple, Apple - a- a- a.

Wave your arms high.

Swing your arms low.

The alphabet beat is the way to go.

Blue, Blue, Blue - b- b- b.

Blue, Blue, Blue - b- b- b.

Move to the left.

Move to the right.

The alphabet beat is way out of sight.

Car, Car, Car - c- c- c.

Car, Car, Car - c- c- c.

Shout it out loud.

Whisper down low.

Now give a high five to a nearby friend.

This alphabet beat has come to an end.

source: Storytime Katie

5. Multisensory experience story: LMNO Peas

actions / sensory experiences

A: Astronauts – make arms in A-shape and “blast off”

B: Builders – each child add a block to the “building” (use large blocks)

C: Climbers – pretend to climb

D: Drivers – “drive" with circle bean bag steering wheels

E: Eaters – “pretend to chew”

F: Flaggers – wave ribbon “flags”

G: Gigglers – giggle and laugh

H: Hikers – walk or wheel around the room 

I: Investigators – look around holding up hand "binoculars"

J: Jugglers – "juggle" imaginary balls

K: Kickers – kick feet in place

L: Listeners – listen with hand over ear

M: Miners – “dig” with hands

N: Neighbors – wave to “neighbor” next to us

O: Officers – hold up star badge (star finger puppets)

P: Peas – touch dried peas in bowl

Q: Quilters – touch quilt square

R: Readers – Read the letter “R”

S: Swimmers – make swimming motions

T: Truckers – honk “horn”

U: Underwater Divers – hand "goggles"

V: Voters – board with yes box or no box – kids can place a check on the yes or no

W: Weavers – weave yarn or string through loop

X: X-ray Doctors – look at x-ray overlays on light table (I finally got to use our cool "X-ray" overlays from Lakeshore Learning on the light table, and the kids loved these!)

Y: Yogis (do “Y” pose)

Z: Zoologists - brush wild animal puppet

6. Sensory play stations: 

Discovery bin: find the foam letters in the dried peas (using strainers, large tweezers, and scoopers)

Light table play: colorful acrylic letters on light panels

Toy play: gluten-free playdough with letter stamps

Craft: make a tactile letter (first letter of name) – with large letter outline, foam shapes, pompoms, and googly eyes

(letter outline source: The Measured Mom)

And of course we had some of our alphabet puzzles, tactile braille letters, alphabet discovery skills kit, and toys from our Accessibility Support Collection available in the room to check out and continue the multisensory fun at home.

The Importance of a Name: Updating a Collection's Identity

What's in a name? Well...actually a name tells us quite a bit about the contents of a collection of materials, and sometimes a name needs to reevaluated. The name of the multi-media Youth Special Needs Collection at the Bloomfield Township Public Library was chosen over 10 years ago to be consistent with special education language at that time. When building this collection in 2008, I consulted with special education professionals, families, and students with disabilities. Because there were so many components in the collection, it was not feasible to use an acronym based on content type to identify this collection, as with some other library collections geared to patrons with disabilities.

Disability language has evolved in the past 11 years since the grand opening of this collection in January of 2009, and we are mindful of language that represents the voices of the disability community. The term ‘special needs’ is a euphemism that is considered offensive and ableist to many disability self-advocates, as it implies the needs of a person with a disability are special, even though everyone has needs that may be unique. After careful consideration, research, and discussion with disability self-advocates in the community and beyond over the course of a year, we are excited to announce the change to Accessibility Support Collection (ASC) to reflect the purpose of the collection: to support accessibility in daily living, learning, and recreation. The term ‘accessibility’ has consistently been used to describe the degree to which something is usable, perceivable and understandable by people of all abilities.

A Process in Progress

The task of updating catalog item records and relabeling is almost finished thanks to a wonderfully supportive Technical Services Department. Our Systems staff has also changed the MAT type icon and assisted with the changes on our website. (A reminder of the collaborative effort this collection requires!)

The web page has been updated and we are in the process of updating our signage, brochures, and bibliographies which will be added back to the web page soon!

Check out these resources for more information on disability language:

http://cdrnys.org/blog/disability-dialogue/the-disability-dialogue-4-disability-euphemisms-that-need-to-bite-the-dust/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5256467/

https://ncdj.org/style-guide/

https://www.americaspromise.org/note-rebecca-cokley

Outreach: Halloween Festival

             

Halloween is full of sensory experiences. The eerie orange and purple lights, slimy pumpkin guts, tasty pumpkin seeds and candy, and of course the spooky sounds coming from the creatures in the night. Ms. Patricia and I brought a few of these sensory treats with us on our visit to the Wing Lake Developmental Center (see previous posts about Wing Lake) for their Halloween festival on October 31.

Here's the plan:

1. Hello (Talk about Picture Schedule)


2. Talk about theme: "Today is Halloween! What do you like about Halloween? (treats, spooky things like scarecrows and jack-o-lanterns, colorful leaves) Did you go trick-or-treating in school today?


3. Story: Scarecrow, Scarecrow, What Do You See? by Lisa Erwin, SLP
This is an adapted book with interactive images. I enlarged this book and interactive image pieces to poster-size, looped ring clips through the top and attached it to our portable easel to flip through.
(source: My Speech Tools)

4. Flannel rhyme: "Halloween, Who's at My Door?"

Halloween, Halloween -- who will come a-knocking?

Halloween, Halloween -- who will come a-knocking?

Halloween, Halloween -- who will come a-knocking?

Who will you see at your door?

Knock, knock, knock -- it's a ghost that's a-knocking...

Knock, knock, knock -- it's a jack-o-lantern a-knocking...

Knock, knock, knock -- it's a black cat a-knocking...

That's who you see at your door!

(source: unknown)

5. Story with sensory experiences: Shivery Shades of Halloween: A Spooky Book of Colors by Mary McKenna Siddals (available in eBook format for projecting!)

This book is such a fantastic example of sensory storytelling! Each 2-page spread is a different color's sensory experiences ("Halloween is green...slimy-grimy, queasy-peasy, snotty-rotty tinge of green.")

We brought these colorful sensations around to each student to see, touch, smell, and/or hear:

Green: bowls of jello slime

Purple: furry purple monster puppet with squeaker mouth

White: cobwebs (pieces of artificial spider webs found in stores around Halloween)

Gray: tombstones (Styrofoam tombstones from the Halloween store)

Blue: bubbles

Yellow: glowing eyes (cardboard tubes with eye-shaped cut outs wrapped in black duct tape to contrast with the yellow glow sticks inside)

Brown: small tree branches

Black: cauldron and black bat puppet

Red: silky scarves that looked like the vampire's cape

Orange: pumpkins

6. Goodbye Song: "If You're a Monster and You Know It"
(tune: "If You're Happy and You Know It")
If you're a monster and you know it,
wave your arms.
If you're a monster and you know it,
wave your arms.
If you're a monster and you know it,
then your arms will surely show it.
If you're a monster and you know it,
wave your arms.

Additional verses: show your teeth, roar out loud
(source: preschooleducation.com)


7. Craft: Squishy Jack-O-Lanterns
Our clerical assistant, Diana, traced the outline of a jack-o-lantern on 100 large ziploc bags for us. Each student and aids were given one of these bags along with squirts of orange finger paint inside. Bags were sealed and then students could squish the paint around to color the jack-o-lantern orange.

SENSEational Story Time: "All Around the Farm"

Fall is here! That means visiting the animals at the farm, picking out our pumpkins for halloween, and taking a hayride. I had so much fun doing some outreach story times at our local school farm a couple weeks ago, so I decided to keep the farm theme going for sensory story time at the library. We had a small crowd on this day with only one child and her caregiver, but we had so much fun exploring and playing together!

Here's the plan:

1. Hello!


2. Welcome song: "The Story Time Ball"
tune: "Wheels on the Bus"
(Roll ball back and forth to each child)
The story time ball rolls back and forth,
back and forth, back and forth.
The story time ball rolls back and forth,
Let's see who it found. Hi ______!
Now roll it back to me.
(Keep rolling back and forth until each child has said their name.)


3. Yoga pose: "Downward Dog" (adapted pose placing our hands on floor and keeping legs bent for our attendee who has some mobility difficulties in her legs)


4. ASL rhyme: "I Went to the Farm" (We went over the ASL signs for pig, horse, and chicken and then signed the words in our rhyme. This was excellent practice for our attendee who is also primarily nonverbal and just learning sign language!)
I went to the farm, and what did I see?
A big chubby pig oinking at me!
I went to the farm, and what did I see?
A big brown horse neighing at me!
I went to the farm and what did I see?
A fluffy chicken clucking at me!
(source unknown)


5. Story: I Spy on the Farm by Edward Gibbs
We used our board book set, so everyone could look through the spy-cut pages as we read along to see which animal was next.


6. Stretch band rhyme: "Clippety-Clop"
(Pull stretch band up and down as the rhyme goes.)
Clippety clippety clop.
The horsie like to trot.
The feisty mare goes up and down,
until it's time to stop!
(source unknown)


7. Sensory Story: The House that Zack Built by Alison Murray
I love this interactive story! After discovering it for story time, I decided to assemble a story box for it to be added to our circulating collection of accessibility support materials for youth with disabilities. (Note: I am so very excited to announce that this collection, which opened over ten years ago, is getting a name change very soon. More on that coming in another post!) Story boxes are a great way to build comprehension for tactile learners to touch and feel manipulatives that represent items in the story while they are listening. We put together "Zack's house" with the blocks and then our attendee and caregiver helped me use the farm animal puppets and fly to interact with the story as I was reading. 

8. Parachute rhyme: "Ring Around the Pumpkin"
Our attendee loves sitting underneath the parachute as we go around, so she was our pumpkin in the middle. (Walk around the "pumpkin" in the middle, holding the parachute, raising high like the leaves in the tree then lowering as the leaves fall down.)
Ring around the pumpkin,
pocket full of nuts.
Leaves, leaves,
they all fall down!
(source: Everything Preschool)


9. Goodbye song and stretch: "Tickle the Clouds"

Tickle the clouds.

Tickle your toes.

Turn around and tickle your nose.

Reach down low.

Reach up high.

Story time's over.

Wave goodbye!

10. Play time: Block play
I had some pig pictures ready to "muddy up" with some textured brown finger paint, but our attendees wanted to build some more, so we got out our large set of colorful blocks and continued to build more things on the farm like Zack's house. Flexibility is always best!