You may remember how we're reading for chickens. We only have a few more spaces to color in to enter our card for six chances to win chickens to be donated to a needy family. The great thing is though that whether we "win" the chickens or not, a needy family somewhere in the world is getting a flock of chickens to feed themselves and help feed their neighbors and help themselves earn a living all because some kids in Colorado Springs, CO, USA read some books and some awesome librarians had the idea to make this one of the prizes!
I finally took my proof of residence to the library the other day so I could have a real library card with a 100 item limit as opposed to a one time three item limit! Yippee!!
(When I had tried to take it before I accidentally took a piece of mail with only Adrian's name on it. Oops.)
So I finally picked out books for David to check out for the first time. It seems we ended up with a chicken theme which was unintentional and completely unrelated to reading for chickens.
Honestly, book selection went like this:
I keep a list of books that I hear about on blogs or wherever on a page of our wiki. Then I have a handy dandy list for checking out of the library.
So, when all three kids (we were there with my nephews) were occupied with the duplo building table in the kids section nicely located right by the board books, I looked up a book suggestion on my phone and began looking for it on the shelf.
Didn't find it but no big deal because I can request it from another location or if it's not in the system at all, interlibrary loan it.
In the space of these few seconds my mama attention was once again needed so the rest of the book selection process involved glancing at books all in the same basket pretty much and picking up ones that looked decent.
Turned out pretty well in fact.
Busy chickens is cute, How Kind is sweet, Have You Ever Tickled a Tiger was a big hit with it's textured pages (I really liked the velcro-ish hedgehog) and my favorite is Chicky Chicky Chook Chook. If I was still a music teacher, an activity based upon it would definitely make it's way into our Kindergarten curriculum.
Then my brother and I made it to the adult section and were able to pick out some books for ourselves.
My current library books for me include:
So here is what I am wondering from you more experienced moms and organized moms and just great idea folks in general . . .
I am used to keeping up with my own library books but I am wondering how it works with kids' library books. How do you avoid scrambling around the house the day their due looking under every couch cushion and in every room, diaper bag, etc. for library books to be returned?
I look forward to hearing your tips! Kelly
9 comments:
I love the chicken theme!
We have a designated spot (one cubicle in our white Ikea cubicle bookcase that is in the boys' room). It is for library books only. This system works pretty well, but there is always one or two that I have to hunt down.
I have always kept a basket that we tried to keep the library books in. That usually works. Now that the girls are bigger they like to keep their books in their own rooms, so I need to get them their own baskets/boxes. I also always get online and check my account BEFORE we leave to go to the library, so that I know exactly how many books are checked out and I can count my stack before we go.
I have a basket that sits on John's top bunk and all library books go in there. It works pretty well :)
Well I have to admit thatI don't often check out books for kids THAT young, but we have a large selection (after 4 kids) of board books. :-) But I keep a basket - curently a market tote I adore - sitting on the hearth in the living room. The biggest two kids are allowed to take one at a time into their room to read, but really Hannah is the only one who reads in her room. The boys would rather read on the couch. Since we have hundreds of other books in our house, it just works to keep library books in the living room (where we don't keep our owen books). We also have some used library books from library sales, so they kids can't always shuffle through their shelves and know immediately taht it belongs to the library. I also keep the printout that they give me at checkout which lists the books and due dates. Now we check out from two library systems so I keep those lists for sure so I drop the books at the right place!
We use 'library totes' and keep the books in the tote bags, except for when we're reading them...
Love your blog! It's so cheery! Summer always makes me think of extra library time :)
Have a wonderful day!
Blessings,
Melanie
We also have a library basket. We keep it in the hallway near the living room. After a torn book incident we don't let C take books to his room but he loves to read them right there in the hallway :) Our library has a drive-thru window so I can put a few books on hold and then honk at the window and pick them up! It's great b/c sometimes I never make it to the adult floor! Miss you!
Some of our parents get those Post-it labels in a bright color, and attach them across the top spine of the book. (Be sure to get the Post-it kind that are easily removable) The bright colors make them easier to spot, and since they are Post-it, they are easily removed without residue just before returning. Also, when he is in school, you can designate colors for each library (Orange for school, green for public). Also having a designated library book bin or shelf would be great.
I used to have a library basket for books but now that my kids are older, I take the receipt from the librarian (or self-check kiosk) and tack it on the fridge. When we go to the library, they each have to round up the books on their list! (They have separate library cards and so they each get their own printout.) Sometimes we forget to get the receipt list so I just pull it up online and they scurry to find their books.
But that sorta defeats your purpose of not scurrying, huh? :)
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