10 reasons everyone should go to a legofest at least once

July 30, 2017July 31, 2017 ~ Ms. P. ~ Leave a comment

The Lego Brickfest was in town this weekend, and though I really hate traffic, paying at a parking garage, and dodging cars on busy city streets, I went. Though I am a curmudgeonly traveler, this was a can’t miss event.

Brickfest is a great opportunity to show your littles that they are never too old to create something cool with tiny pieces of plastic that really hurt when stepped on. We had a blast and I would recommend it as a fun family learning opportunity.

10 reasons to attend a festival o’ legos

10. There will be a sea of bricks to sit in. Or perhaps you can be adult and allow your child to sit in the midst of it instead of you wading in. Either way, totally cool experience you cannot replicate. Unless you are Oprah or something. How many blue bricks are in there?

9. Geek networking. I talked shop with “lego instructors”. Yep, that’s a job. And they have all kinds of neat learning opportunities ready to teach all ages.

8. Build a lego car and RACE it. This could get all science-y with talk of velocity and streamlining, or you could just build the coolest car and not care if it wins.

7. Everyone is pretty nice and they share. I don’t know if there were some competitive areas I missed but there were many places to build collaboratively and kids were very kind to each other. We did go at a down time instead of peak.

6. You do know those little lego kits are really hard to put together, right? For my way of thinking, if my kid wants to read those tedious directions and put together a lego speedboat he should get math credit or something.

5. Entertainment that involves eye-hand coordination, is indoors, and isn’t a contact sport. Those poor baseball moms who’ve been sitting outside for practices should be all over this.

4. Training for the lego challenges you are going to come up with.

3. People who are crazy enough to make Lego masterpieces like a Van Gogh painting will display them. You can say you spent the weekend seeing “art” and sound very cultured!

2. Brickfest is so big you should strap on that fitbit and get those steps in! Wear sneakers, carry a water bottle, and a bring a snack keep up your strength. Wait until you tally those steps, you will feel like a track star.

And the #1 Reason to hit the brickfest is…

Guaranteed nap for everyone. (Except moms, you never get one, right?)

5 reasons poetry month should be every month

April 27, 2017March 23, 2018 ~ Ms. P. ~ Leave a comment

Yes, there are so many books to read and genres to celebrate that we have reason to wait until April to write poetry in full force. But poetry has such potential to move us, to call out our most effective words, and to encourage creativity it’s a shame to wait until Spring to celebrate it. It should happen all year long.

5 reasons it Should be Poetry YEAR

5. Everyone can write poetry.
It’s true that composing a sonnet is a bit tricky but a haiku, shape poem or blackout poetry is much easier to master. And when kids who think they have no talent as a writer publish their poems it’s a win for all.
Everyone can be a poet (not even going to put in the know it here, bet you already heard it in your head).

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4. Poetry inspires art.
So many talented poets grace their poems with art. Kids can, too. Especially if we act as role models and bravely share our own work.

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3. Poetry addresses every emotion and mood.
Having a great day? Write a happy poem. Wake on the wrong side of the bed? Or are you just a moody teen? Write a poem. Trying to flatter someone you admire? Poem. Want to skewer someone who wronged you? Limericks are often helpful. Any mood, poems.

I recently had a student write a poem about why she hated books and reading (she was annoyed with having to write anything). I congratulated her on her great word choice and asked if she’d like to share the poem with others. She was a little confused but agreed to finish it and print it out.
Poetry 1, Bad attitude 0.

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2. Poetry encourages critical reading and careful word choice.
Students think haiku and acrostics are the easy way out when writing a poem. Fooled them. I’ve seen them dive into dictionaries and thesauruses, books and magazines looking for the “right” word to express a thought in the requisite number of syllables. See? Even worked on me. I hardly ever write words like requisite.

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And the #1 reason we should be writing poems more often? Amazing thinkers write poems. Write some poems and you can be one, too.
I am going to make this a display goal next year…the faces of Maya Angelou, Emily Dickinson, Langston Hughes, TS Eliot and their poetry… we see the world through their eyes after reading their poems. I think I’ll throw Silverstein’s mug up there, too. Tell me you can look at a sidewalk that ends and not think of him.

Happy Poetry Month Year!

talk like a pirate day, you scallywag!

September 18, 2014November 11, 2014 ~ Ms. P. ~ Leave a comment

Since the inception of this day by a couple of crazy friends the library world has loved talking like a pirate. Where better to get your pirate speech flowing than a place that embraces the pirate as a historical figure and fictional villain? September 19th is this year’s TLAP Day! (Which already worries me- will next year’s fall on a weekend? What will I do?) But let’s focus on this year’s celebration, shall we? In addition to reading some fabulous pirate stories you may want to walk the plank to these sites and ideas. Krispy Kreme will give you a dozen free donuts if you dress up, please feel free to bring a free one to the library. In a napkin.

jeffriesmath — Mrs. Jeffries gets in the spirit and talks about our booty.

Sid the Science Kid Pirate song & story

Read a free pirate book from amazon! This is a choose your adventure-ish book, if you have an amazon account “buy” it and read it in the amazon cloud for free, sharing with your kids with the projector. Totally rocks!

Pirate Jokes curated by a librarian

Pirate math on youtube!

Just Dance for Kids pirate moves, grooves and words

Pirate alphabet song, great pirate words! O is for Octopus in pirate speak.

Talk Like a Pirate another pirate speak song…

Silly Pirate Song, youtube

Pirate math inspiration

PreK- K pirate monkeys puppet show

How to dress like a pirate? Shop Goodwill. No time? Wear jeans & roll them. Try stripes, a bandanna, a vest, a white shirt (belted even better), boots are also a good option but they were often barefoot so…have fun and wear 80’s eyeliner. If Johnny Depp can rock it so can you.

Yours in high seas speak,

Pirate Perkins