WebJunction

Ideas to Explore for Working With Young Patrons

This handout is designed to help you with ideas for programming for, and questions from, young patrons. Take a look at the following list of ideas on pages one and two of this handout. Mark a few ideas that seem particularly interesting or relevant to your library. Use the chart on page three to take notes while brainstorming how these ideas could work in your library.

Programs Popular With Young Patrons

The Magic School Bus Programs

PhotoDraw

Paint

Resources for Working with Young Patrons

Word: Even young children can create basic Word documents. Ideas to try:

• Team up with the public school librarians to coordinate research projects. You can assist not only with information gathering, but also with word processing.

• Have young adults create Internet pathfinders (or guides) for younger students.

Publisher:

• Help students create calendars at the beginning of the school year for students to use to track homework.

• Allow young patrons to create signage for the children's section.

• Patrons can create flyers in response to favorite books.

• Sponsor a Young Adult book cover contest. Create brochures for the contest and/or create a model for students to copy.

• Make magnetic picture frames to display the pictures of library helpers.

• Students can create mini books on a theme or in response to a book read in story time. Involve your community: have students read these mini books to homebound children, seniors, or parents.

PowerPoint:

Book reports aren't what they used to be — or at least they shouldn't be. Why not have young patrons respond to reading by creating a PowerPoint presentation? Young folks generally have a good time with animation and clip art and PowerPoint lets them combine this with text in a fun format.

Encarta Features:

• Curriculum Guide (Encyclopedia): This includes guides for fourth to twelfth graders divided into three subject areas: English/Language Arts, Social Studies, and Science. Click a topic to see related Encarta content.

• Children's Literature (Encyclopedia): Search for this general topic or type in a specific children's book author to develop an Children's Literature or Author of the Month display. Or use Encarta to research children's books for Story Time.

• Mindmaze (Encyclopedia): Answer Mindmaze questions to work your way through a castle maze. You can select the level of difficulty and the number of players. Choose from several subject areas.

• Interactivities (Encarta): Sights, sounds, and simulations engage learners in the physical sciences, humanities, and more. For example, you can learn about aperture and shutter speed settings by adjusting these settings on a virtual camera and see how they affect the appearance of the picture.

• Geography Quiz (World Atlas): Choose a level of difficulty a take a quiz.

Things to Consider:

• Get a copy of your state's Technology Standards to see if you can plan programming or work with local schools to address some of the technology education objectives. The U.S. Department of Education has a listing of State Technology Contacts at http://www.ed.gov/Technology/statetech.html

• Work with local agencies to see if you can help support each other's goals and share the load.

Ideas to Explore Chart