December in the Library

Sorry my postings have been so sparse. Our home computer has been crashing and we've been dealing with technicians for the past 6 months. So this will be short and without photos until our new computer is dispatched.

Decorations/books are up this month for Hanukkah, Christmas, and Kwanzaa. A friend has loaned me her Creche collection for the display case.

I have a simple holiday bookmark making activity at recess along with the Dreidal game but students seem to be most interested in reshelving books for prizes! I'll describe the holiday card bookmark and hopefully be able to post photos at some point.

Materials needed:
Discarded holiday cards from past years.
a two hole punch (easier for kids to use than a one hole punch)
colorful yarn (about 2 one foot lengths for each bookmark)

Take the front (picture) part of the card and cut off the inside at the fold line. Discard the inside message part. Fold the picture front card lengthwise in thirds. I usually make the first fold especially for the younger students.

Show kids how to slide the folded card under one of the hole punchers and press down to punch a hole in top and bottom of the folded card. If they don't make a good hole it's easy to simple cut the top off and let them do it over.

Finally you're going to attach yarn in the holes. I have the students fold one piece of yarn in half. Put the folded yarn end in one of the holes pulling it through just enough so that a loop is formed large enough to pull the two yarn tails back through this loop and pull them tight so that they form a sort of knot over the edge of the card. Repeat in the other hole and it's done! These make nice gifts for the holidays.