Sixth Meeting – Library and Literature

"But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant." 1 Corinthians 14:38

Since the Library and Literature badges go hand in hand, we decided we’d tackle them at the same time.  Since the best way to learn about the library is to actually go there, we took a field trip to our local branch library.

Everyone met in the garden area where we went through our Keepers Verse, Purpose, Goal and Prayer.  We’re still struggling with that song though. 

I then discussed with the girls why we have libraries, they were established so no one in our country would be ignorant.   We discussed what it means to be ignorant and why it’s important to always be learning.  Then we went over some basic library rules and safety.  We talked about the different types of books you can find in the library and how we sometimes get in a rut with our reading, reading only one type of book.  The girls were told that part of their badge work would be to venture out of their normal reading genre and read many other types of books.

I then broke the girls up into three groups of three and had a mom walk around with each group.  The girls had a scavenger hunt of the library that took them all over the library.  They learned about the Dewey Decimal System, cataloging, alphabetization, InterLibrary Loan, fees, library cards, copy costs, hours the library is open.  They also learned what and where the biography section, the reference area,  the fiction vs non-fiction sections are.  They learned how to find and identify the copywrite date, publisher, dedication page, title page and how to contact the publisher.  They also learned about two of the numerous literary awards books can receive, The Caldecott and The Newberry awards.

Here’s some information on these two awards:

The Caldecott Medal

Given each year by the American Library Association for the "most distinguished picture book" (though the medal itself is given to the illustrator), this is one of the two most important awards in all of American children’s literature, the other being the Newbery Medal. The gold seal on the book itself forever marks it out as a Caldecott book. Winners are chosen by a committee of librarians. source: Jane Yolen on Caldecott Medal

The Newberry Medal

The Newbery Medal is awarded annually by the American Library Association for the most distinguished American children’s book published the previous year. In 1921, Frederic G. Melcher proposed the award to the American Library Association meeting of the Children’s Librarians’ Section and suggested that it be named for the eighteenth-century English bookseller John Newbery. The idea was enthusiastically accepted by the children’s librarians, and the official proposal was approved by the ALA Executive Board in 1922.
   The purpose of the Newbery Medal was stated as follows: "To encourage original creative work in the field of books for children. To emphasize to the public that contributions to the literature for children deserve similar recognition to poetry, plays, or novels. To give those librarians, who make it their life work to serve children’s reading interests, an opportunity to encourage good writing in this field."
   The Newbery Award thus became the first children’s book award in the world. Its terms, as well as its long history, continue to make it the best known and most discussed children’s book award in this country.  source:  Newberry Award

The girls had a good time going around the library learning.

To earn the Library Badge the girls need to:

• Learn how the library catalogs books so that you can find them.
• Find the classification number for:

Science

Nature

Biography

Exercise

Cookbooks

Geography

Craft

History

Religion

Sewing

• Demonstrate how to use the computer to search for books by name and by topic.
• Obtain own Library card
• List three rules of courtesy while in the library.
• Check out and read twelve books from the library.  Only two books at a time may count for this badge and you must return the books on time to count towards this badge.

For the Literature badge the girls need to:

• Read 25 books selected from the following categories:

1. Biography – 3 books
2. Nature & Science – 1 book
3. History – 1 book
4. Poetry – 1 book
5. Cooking – 1 book
6. Crafts – 1 book
7. The remainder of the books are personal choice.

"And the book is delivered to him that is not learned saying read this, I pray thee:  and he sayeth, I am not learned." Samuel 29:12

Our next meeting will be on baking, yum.

Fifth Meeting – Rubber Stamping/Letter Writing

Today we worked on two skills, Rubber Stamping and Letter Writing.  To start I discussed how letter writing was an important means of communication in the past.  As time has gone by and new devices have been invented, the art of letter writing has become someting that doesn’t have the same importance it once did.  I had the girls come up with ideas as to why you’d want to write a letter to someone. 

I had the girls create a Letter Notebook where all their letter writing supplies can be kept in one, easy to grab place.  They personalized their notebooks with stickers and pens.  To get the girls started their notebooks contain a pen, return address labels, envelopes and stationary.  No excuses for not writing letters now!  I then showed them the standard form for writing a personal or friendly letter.  We discussed addressing envelopes and how it’s important to keep the address area readable so the post office will be able to deliver their letter. 

The first letter the girls are going to write for their badge is a thank you note to Jenni’s mom for letting us borrow all the candle supplies.  The girls practiced addressing an envelope by addressing one to Jenni’s mom.  Now all they need to do is write the thank you note. 

Next, we talked about rubber stamping.  A family friend, Penny, volunteered to teach this part of our meeting.  Penny showed the girls how to ink their stamp and how to press to get a clear image.  She showed them how to fix a print that didn’t completely transfer.  She also talked about how important it is to clean your stamps after your were done with one color before moving on to the next. 

Picking out their stamps

Listening to Penny

Penny demonstrating a technique

Practicing

Showing their work

After the girls were comfortable stamping on paper I gave them their tote bags which they can use to carry their Keeper supplies in and pin their badges onto.  The girls decorated their totes with stamps and markers.

Working on their tote bags

The finished product

The girls did a really good job with the stamping.  I can’t wait to see the beautiful cards and letters they all start creating now.

To complete the Rubber Stamping badge the girls need to make six note cards using the rubber stamping techniques that are suggested in the manual or that they learned during our meeting.

To complete the Letter Writing badge the girls need to:

• Demonstrate the proper format for letters including date, salutation, closing and signature.
• Demonstrate how to address an envelope properly.
• Explain why a return address is important.
• Write notes of appreciation to three adults in your life.
• Write eight letters. 

"As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country" Proverbs 25:25