There are two main differences between this year’s crop of kiddies that I work with and last years’. One of these is that more of the parents are staying with their kids in the storytimes where staying with your kid is not mandatory. Since I also took on Wee Read (aka Munchkin Storytime, which requires a parent/adult present for each child), I’m getting a lot more of a dose of adults than I normally get. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing. Knock on wood, most of my adults seem quite nice and behave well in storytime. But I miss just having a room of 4 year olds. Even if the mom is in the back of the room, kids don’t act the same when adults are around as they do when they aren’t. I miss the spontanaeity of Kids Without Adults.
On the other hand, the more adults present, the more eyes on my guitar to make sure no little child breaks it.

The other big difference is the actual names of the kids. I know, you’re like “duh Miss Sarah, you get different kids each session, big deal.” But the kids in my groups this year have very….. *normal* names. Particularly my Munchkin Storytime. Aside from the occasional unusual name, like Ozzy and Jaxon, most of my little kids have normal names like Jonathan and Michael and Leah and Clara. It’s kind of nice, because I can pronounce all of their names on the first try :-) Even my older kids have pretty straightforward names. I have an abundance of Isabellas (and other variations on the name) and Allisons and Jacks in the older groups, but I have to admit, its nice to be able to look at a kid’s nametag and immediately know how to pronounce it. Less chance of you looking like a… donkey butt, and less chance of an awkward “library teacher doesn’t know my name” moment.

Annnnnnd I’m done for now

The odd thing about this group is that they are always early.  In all my (2) years of doing this, none of my kids or their parents are ever *early* to storytime.  On time, yes.  Late, most certainly.  But a good 2/3rds of this group is ready to go well before 11:30, when we officially start.  It’s quite heartening.

Every storytime has its little Alexander the Great, and in this group its a girl named Allison.  Luckily she’s a well-behaved Alexander the Great, and half the time she’s busy looking out for her little brother, so she’s no trouble at all.  Our theme today was food, and all of the books seemed to go over well.*  A mom who was new to the area came in with her two kids and asked if she could join storytime, so of course I said yes.  If a parent who is brand new to the area makes the effort to pull their kids away from the television, pack them in the car, FIND the library, go in, and ask to take part in something, I am certainly not going to dissuade that initiative.  I applaud all of the moms who get their kids over to the library, particularly if they have more than one.  It’s hard to get everyone out of the house and into the minivan.

Kids were excited to show me their crafts, which in the case of one little boy involved him waving his craft DIRECTLY in front of my face, but all in all the storytime went off without a hitch.  17 kids in all.  Not too shabby. :-)

 

*- Hi, Pizza Man by Virginia Walter
-I will never not ever eat a Tomato by Lauren Child
-All for Pie, Pie for All by (ummm…….)

To give you an idea of how glad I will be when I get a steady library job where I work in only one library, let me show you my schedule for the extravaganza known as Summer Reading.

Monday:
Preschool Storytime- 11:30 at Library W
Pajama Storytime- 6:30 at Library A

Tuesday:
Wee Read- 10:15 at Library C

Wednesday:
Circ Desk- 1 to 5 at Library A
Teen Advisory Board (sometimes)- 7 at Library A

Thursday:
Preschool Storytime- 10:30 at Library E

Friday:
Teen Advisory Board- 2 at Library A
OR
Friday Crafts- 2 at Library W
OR
Nothing

This is in addition to the other job I’m working, which I have to fit in there somewhere. On the plus side though, I passed my summer class (cataloging, ick), and I have no real social life to speak of, so it’s not like that’s clouding up all my time. I pretty much spend my days trying to figure out which library I’m going to and how old my kids are going to be, keeping up on storytime planning, practicing the organ, and sleeping. And watching TV.

Next entry, I will tell you about my storytimes and my kids. Some of them are… how do you say… “cards.”