Educators Site

Library Visits and Programs
"You can come to us or we'll go to you!"

Book Talks
Library Visits
Storytelling
Classroom Programs Offered by Hamilton Lane Library Staff
Programs in a Box
Childcraft Literacy Bags
Puppetry
Faculty in-service
Library Program Promotion
Special presentations

Book Talks
Book talk presentations can be a general introduction to a range of books to get students excited about reading. Or a presentation can be tailored to a specific topic or reading level. For example, Fairfield library staff members make monthly visits to third grade classes to help meet literature state standards. Each month they book talk a different genre to help expose students to the various genres. Staff members also welcome the opportunity to share the latest and greatest books that educators will want to use with students.

Library Visits
We offer tours, in library programs and instruction. Whether you'd like to tour your local Lane Library, have students select materials to check out for leisure reading or have an instructional session in the use of the Dewey Decimal System, Internet searching or learn about reference materials the library staff welcomes your classes to the library. Staff members can also provide library instruction in your classroom.

Storytelling
Young children aren't the only ones who benefit from hearing a good story! Our librarians have a good repertoire of stories for all ages. Through stories, all ages can be exposed to the beauty of language, the skills of oral interpretation of literature, various cultures and the similarities and differences among people, history, values and character. Storytelling can create an excitement for books and reading. Hearing stories can also establish the pattern for recognizing character, plot, setting and theme. A demonstrative workshop on "how to tell stories" can be provided to educators or their students. This workshop can be especially useful for older students who are sharing books with younger students, such as in "book buddy" projects. Library staff can tailor a program to fit your classroom needs. The length of the program is from 30 to 60 minutes depending on the time available.

Classroom Programs Offered by Library Staff
Lane Library staff members offer a wide variety of instructional programs to classroom teachers. For example, the Hamilton Lane Library Children's Department staff members have created a number of classroom programs that can supplement your curriculum. These programs generally take 30 - 50 minutes, depending on grade level and available time. They request approximately 30 minutes for the programs at the K - 1 grade levels and 50 minutes for other grade levels. However, these programs can be tailored to fit your needs. The majority of the programs include imparting information on the subject through books or power point presentation, hands on activity to allow the children to explore the topic and sometimes a game to reinforce what was taught. For some of the programs it is possible to combine two classes together. It is requested that programs be scheduled two weeks in advance. For further information or to book a program please call Lois Brown at 894-7156 x 122.

Program Title	Grade Level(s)
Curious George	K - 1
Alphabet Stew	K - 2
Teeth	K - 2
Oceans	K - 3
Dinosaurs	1 - 3
Rocks for Faces and Other Places	1 - 6
Wright Brothers	1 - 6
Map	2
Recycling	2 - 6
Christmas Around The World	3 - 6
Mound Builders	4 - 6
Reference Skills Safari	4 - 6
Book talks on any subject or author	K - 6

Programs-In-a-Box
"Programs-In-a-Box" are kits designed by Lane Library staff or Hamilton City School teachers for use by library staff or classroom teachers in a classroom setting to provide a hands-on, interactive program or unit for students in a Social Studies content area. The kits are designed for students in grades 4 and up. The kits now available for check out for a 28-day loan period include:

Made for Trade: This kit contains five copies of the board game Made for Trade: A Game of Early American Life to allow your entire class (up to 30 students) to all play at the same time. This board game offers a fun way to personalize history and economies by putting students in the shoes of a colonist, an indentured servant trying to buy his freedom or a shopper on Market Day. There are four different ways to play, ranging from easy to difficult. This game is endorsed by The Commission for the Bicentennial for the US Constitution, Parents Magazine and is the winner of the Media & Methods Excellence in Education award. Grades 4 - up.
Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793: This kit contains 25 copies of the award winning book Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson, two copies of the award winning non-fiction book An American Plague, the True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 by Jim Murphy, one copy of Bring Out Your Dead: The Great Plague of Yellow Fever in Philadelphia in 1793 by J.H. Powell and one copy of a Teacher Resource Kit compiled and edited by Lane Library staff. This Teacher Resource Kit provides activities that explore our young nation's first major public health crises across a variety of disciplines that include geography, civics, economies, language arts and social studies. These activities all of which are based in a careful reading of the book, include map making, classroom debates, charting the economic impact of the disaster, writing poetry, relevant vocabulary and interpreting different historical accounts of the same event. Grades 5 and up.
Colonial and Pioneer Clothing: This kit contains a complete outfit of authentically reproduced women's clothing (size 12 - 14) which can be worn and modeled by either a teacher or student as part of this program. It also includes many interactive elements to help students understand how fabric and clothing were made and worn in pervious times. These fabrics and clothes include the following items: raw wool fleece, combed and carded wool, spun roving, yarn, wool, knitted items, natural dye samples. Also included in the kit are information cards on the history cultivation of cotton, wool linen and silk. Activities include braiding rag rugs and weaving fabric. Books included in the kit are:
The Fowler Family Gets Dressed by Mary K. Inman and Louise F. Pence (Ohio authors)
The Fowler Family Celebrates Statehood and a Wedding by Mary K. Inman and Louise F. Pence
Warm as Wool by Scott Russell Sanders (Indiana author)
From Plant to Blue Jeans: The Story of Cotton by Arthur John L'Honmedieu.
Grades 4 - up.

Watch for additional Programs-In-a-Box that are currently being created and will be ready for check out in January 2006. These new kits are strictly aligned with the Ohio's Academic Content Standards for Social Studies and will focus on the following themes:

European Exploration
Colonial America
American Revolutionary War
Northwest Ordinance and the Ohio Frontier
United States Constitution
Early Years of the Republic
Westward Expansion
Antebellum Period.

Childcraft Literacy Bags
Lane Library has invested in dozens of special kits that make storytelling and story time preparation for preschoolers through second grade a breeze and fun to do. Each theme-designed storytelling kit (also called a literacy kit or literacy bag) contains:

a picture book
well chosen plush character or manipulative and
two-sided laminated activity cards with activities that can be used at home or in the school setting.

These activities extend the book to allow for a well-developed cohesive program that requires minimum preparation on your part. Topics range from classic children's books to math, science, holidays and social studies. You can search for these kits in Lane's online catalog under the General Keys of "storytelling kit" or "Childcraft kit".

Puppetry
Puppets are great communication facilitators! Let a library demonstrate how easy it is to use puppets as an educational tool. Puppetry helps develop writing skills, public speaking, cooperation and artistic expression. It is also a fun and creative link to literature. We can present puppet-making workshops for you or you students. A basic puppet-making workshop requires a minimum of two hours (three hours is ideal). For a more detailed workshop that would include selecting a story, choosing the characters to make, creating the puppets, rehearsing the puppet show and performing the show it requires at least six hours. It is best to spread this type of workshop out over a few days. Library staff will provide the basic materials.

Faculty in-Service
One of our goals is to serve educators as well as their students. Let us know what kind of library training we can provide at a faculty meeting. Topics can include how to use Lane's research databases, how to effectively evaluate a Web site, Internet searching, storytelling and many other topics. Library staff members can tailor such a workshop to a half an hour to an hour-long program. We will work with you to meet your needs.

Library Program Promotion
We would love the opportunity to talk to your students for approximately 15 minutes about our programs. Within this short time we gave give them a glimpse in to summer reading fun, a writing or art contest and many more events.

Special Presentations