Silver Birch Book Club 2009

We've just wrapped up our annual Spring book club. This year was especially exciting as there is a new children's librarian at our local public library.

New books, new games, new activities, new friends.

Things started off with the creation of getting-to-know-you posters. A quick photo and five things about yourself. I was quite amused by the 5 things the kids chose. Each week, leaves were added. One leaf per book read. I like how the librarian kept things independent and personal for each of the kids. There was no competition to see who had read the most books. Whatever you read was great. Each meeting would begin with logging books, adding leaves to posters, picking new books to read. Then there was some discussion about one of the featured Canadian authors. Meetings finished with games and snacks. There were no wimpy 'little-kid' games either. I was surprised to hear the kids played Crab-Walk Soccer and life-sized board games where their bodies were the pieces that moved around the carpet-square game board. Fun times.

The Boy Child's Getting-To-Know-You Poster

'I HATE math-I like penguins-I like music-I love Lego-I LOVE hockey'

At the last meeting, the kids were treated to a surprise pizza party. They carefully selected their favourite book from different categories and they entered the official votes of their choices. They came home with a thank you card, thoughtfully personalized, thanking each of them for participating and mentioning an appreciated contribution noticed by the librarian. A group photo was included.

The Girl Child's Getting-To-Know-You Poster

'I like to draw-I like being with my friends-I like reading-My fav animals are pandas-I like playing soccer'

I'm so glad I"m able to offer the kids these opportunities. They learn so much while enjoying themselves. They are respected and appreciated. They feel like they are contributing to and participating in a worthwhile endeavour and not just wasting time at some pre-fab put-your-time-in babysitting service.

Both the Boy Child and the Girl Child are looking forward to participating in the librarian's next planned program. Up next will be the Spy/Secret Mission themed summer programs, usually sponsored by the TD Bank.

In the meantime, the kids are planning a thoughtful thank-you for the librarian since they so enjoyed the Silver Birch Book Club. I can't wait to see what they come up with.