I Survived the Attack of the Grizzilies, 1967 *** Grizzly Bear Relay Race


This is the relay race played during our I Survived book club meeting for I Survived the Attack of the Grizzlies, 1967. A thorough (ish) overview of that months meeting can be found here 😁

In the book, two teenage girls are attacked by two grizzly bears on the very same night at Glacier National Park. Prior to this, no one believed bears capable of such violence. Rangers theorize that these attacks were encouraged by park employees and visitors baiting bears, leaving trash and feeding bears from cabin porches.

In this game, groups are gathering food that bears find naturally in the wild . Here goes...

Objective: Gather the most food items to bring back to your teams table aka "cave".
How To Play: Each team was given a single pair of "bear claws" (wide tooth combs from Dollar Tree). Playing tag team style, players use bear claws to gather food items to bring back to team table. Food items were: moths (Styrofoam balls), meat (beanbags), berries (pom pom balls). Any items that fall on the way to the "cave" does not count and must remain on the floor.

The table contents are hard to see in this picture, but there were 3 separate tables with the different foods on them.

When all food items have been picked from the table, whichever group has the most amount of items wins.

Each team had their own table to dump their food after retrieval.

Preparation: Prep work involved collecting items and assigning names to them.
Grizzly bears primarily eat plants (berries, roots, grasses, leaves), meat (moose, caribou calves, squirrels, fish) and even moths. These were the items I settled on..

Berries - I picked out all the blue and purple pom poms.

Meat - Shark bean bags were from left over from our shark attack I Survived meeting, hearts were in our supply and I quickly stitched together some deer heads together.
Moths - You read this article, right?
For a different element, players could opt out of gathering meat and berries with their claws and attempt to throw a moth into the bears mouth during their turn instead.

Players stood behind a taped line to throw. These were worth double points at the end.
Here's the bear I made. It was printed out, colored and attached to cardboard. The mouth was cut out and a gallon sized plastic bag was stapled to it - this was to know what balls made it into the bears mouth. Cardboard was given legs to help it stand. 

Each team had a different bear to toss moths into. Team bears were differentiated by different colored eyes, e.i. the green teams bear had green eyes.

And that's basically the gist of it! I'm a little distracted typing this up so I probably shouldn't publish this. ... I'll make a note to re-read this later.


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I Survived The Attack of the Grizzlies, 1967



 I feel like it's becoming a habit that I accidentally give away all my copies of a book we're reading and then end up walking into book club never having gotten my hands on another copy!

For discussion, activity/craft and snack ideas, I rely heavily on the book for guidance and inspiration. But with these grizzlies, I was flying blind.

One thing that I tell the kids who come up to the desk and ask about our book club is that if you can't get the book to read in time, just read about the event! You'll still have something to share in our discussion and you will still have an idea of the what the book will be based on.

This book however, apparently didn't have much to do with the two girls who were attacked and killed on the night of August 12, 1967.

DISCUSSION
After the group shared their favorite/ least favorite parts from the story, I shared the actual events of that night. Boy was I glad I'd printed off my notes!!

What struck me about this story is the coincidences and chance that came into play that night... In 57 years of Glacier Park history, there had been virtually no issues with bear attacks.

One of my favorite quotes in my research was a from a park ranger stating that, "If you set up a danger index ranging from zero to ten, where the butterfly is zero and the rattlesnake is ten, the grizzlies of Glacier Park would have to rate somewhere between zero and one."

Like I Survived The Shark Attack of  1916, this book does have specific, real-life individuals who were killed.

I printed off their pictures to pass around and we talked briefly about each girl: Julie Helgeson and Michele Koons.



Other discussion topics included... 
  • How Glacier National Park desensitized interaction between bears and humans
  • How parks have changed to become safer for visitors and wildlife
  • Bear facts including food, size and habits
  • Interacting with wildlife and what to do in a bear attack


SNACKS
Providing the snack that's mentioned in the book is one of my favorite elements of book club! I feel like it helps bring the to life and the kids have caught on to it, so when I didn't have Bugles, they questioned me.

(Bugles are apparently in the book)

As seen in the main picture, we had Teddy Grahams and berry Fruit Snacks. These were wrapped in pictures of Grizzly Bears.

Another idea was gummy bears.


ACTIVITY
There were a few ideas I was playing around with to tie-in with the 1967 event...
  • Picking up trash around the library (since that's what was attracting the bears to campsites and such)
  • A bear hunt (Park Rangers went out hunting the bears after the attacks) 
  • Bear craft (Pinterest is riddled with adorable crafts)
  • Some kind of edible bear snack. One thing in particular that I would love to do (but could never get permission for) is making smores with a candle flame. My mom and I used to do this all the time at home, growing up.

What we ended up doing was a relay race to collect food for bears. Participants were divided into teams and given "bear claws" to collect their food and carry back to their "den"
    This relay game will get its own post, so sit tight while I get that situated! It'll be up in the next few weeks.


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    YA Fiction Read-A-Likes


    A very short list of books that went out on our YA Read-Alike book display. A fair number of titles have been paired with a movie/tv series.


     If I'm Being Honest by Emily Wibberley 

    This has been on my tbr list for too long!

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      We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

    (Find a copy of the audiobook. The print format is distracting)

    Little Monsters by Kara Thomas

     




    I Am Princess X by Cherie Priest

    Great for middle grade readers. 
    A no romance YA novel 
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    With Malice by Eileen Cook


    Sky In The Deep by Adrienne Young

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    Warrior of the Wild by Tricia Levenseller
    Immoral Code by Lillian Clark

    Antisocial by Jilian Blake

    Renegades by Marissa Meyer

    Action, anti-heroes and so many super powers!

    The Supervillain and Me by Danielle Banas

    This was a one-sitting read for me and if I could re-read it for the first time, I would. 
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    Warcross by Marie Lu

    An exciting duology. Find the audiobook - Nancy Wu is amazing.

    Otherworld by Jason Segel & Kirsten Miller



    Mammoth by Jill Bagunchinsky

    The most accurate writing that explores teen logic, insecurities and the emotional journey of those infamous adolescent years.  


    And We Stay by Jenny Hubbard

    Cut by Patricia McCormick

    This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp

    A very harrowing book, set in Alabama.


    Brave Enough by Kati Gardner
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    Me, Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews


    How It Went Down by Kekla Magoon

    Dear Martin by Nic Stone

    Five Feet Apart by Rachael Lippincott

    The Sun Is Also A Star by Nicola Yoon


    Satellite by Nick Lake

    Moon Beam by Travis Taylor


    Matched by Ally Condie
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    Delirium by Lauren Oliver
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    The Jewel by Amy Ewing
    Grittier than anticipated. If you enjoy this one, you might also like The Glass Arrow by Kristen Simmons


    Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

    Heart warming or heartbreaking... I can't decide. 

    Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli


    Amid Stars and Darkness by Chani Lynn Feener
     Swoon Reads might be my new favorite publication 😘










    These titles were used in a YA Read-alikes book display.

    For the display, I printed off little flyer/sign things and rubber-banded them to the cover of each book.

    I'm not going to attach my PDF since it's so basic and the chances of you having all these books is slim.

    Use this as inspiration though! Take what you want from my post and leave the rest :)

    If you have any amazing recommendations to share with me to add, I'd love to hear them.


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    Trash & Garbage Storytime

    Book: Trashy Town by Andrea Zimmerman
    A short, repetitive book about Mr. Gilly, the Trashman who drives to different locations and picks up trash. Repeating phrase, "Dump it in, smash it down, drive around the trashy town" was a good, hand clapping, foot stomping part for the group.  

    Book: Raccoon Tune by Nancy Shaw
    Family of raccoons searching for food during the night find a trash can. 

    Also...
    I Stink by Kate & Jim McMullan
    Here Come the Garbage Barge by Jonah Winter

     Activity: Help clean up Clifford
    Clifford the Big Red Dog hangs out in our department and the kids love to play with him. 

    Glass bottles, Coke cans, plastic Coke bottles and newspapers were printed off on cardstock and strips of felt glued to their backs, so they would stick to Clifford. Beside me, I had 4 empty containers with each items picture attached to the front.

    For this activity, I told the group that Clifford had been helping clean up trash around the library this morning and had gotten trash stuck in his fur. Could they help me pull the trash from his fur and place it in the right container? 

    As kids remove a piece of trash, they sorted it into the correct "trash can".

    Songs & Rhymes
    Driving In My Car
    (Tune: The Farmer in the Dell)
    I'm driving in my car
    I'm driving in my car
    Toot, Toot, Beep, Beep
    I'm driving in my car

    I'm driving very fast...
    I'm driving very slow...
    The lights have turned to red....
    The lights have turned to yellow...
    The lights have turned to green...

    If You See A Piece Of Litter Pick It Up
    (Tune: If You're Happy and You Know It)
    If you see a piece of litter pick it up
    If you see a piece of litter pick it up
    You will make the world look better if you pick up all the litter 
    So if you see a piece of litter pick it up. 

    OR...
    If you see a piece of garbage....

    Scarves: Pull out scarves and let the kids pretend to pick up trash with the scarf in hand while singing. Also, write the word "trash" in the air with your scarf.

    Garbage
    Rhyme that kids can act out. This comes from Sarah H. at Awesome Story Time
    Pick up garbage, and throw it in the bin!
    Push it down, and stomp it in!
    Carry the cans to the street
    for the garbage trucks to eat.
    When the truck comes roaring by
    workers lift the cans up high.
    Garbage falls into the back.
    Crush it, mash it, smash it flat!
    Set the cans down with a thump.
    Now drive that garbage to the dump!


    See the Litter? Pick It Up
    (Tune: London Bridge Is Falling Down)
    See the litter? Pick it up
    Pick it up, pick it up
    See the litter? Pick it up
    We're not litterbugs.

    Flannel Board
    5 Little Raccoons
    Five raccoons digging in the trash
    To dig in the dirt and play, play, play
    1 stopped digging and ran away.
    How many are left?
    4...
    3...
    2...
    1...


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    Harry Potter Book Club - Family Feud and Mandrakes


    Harry Potter Book Club's second meeting was so much messier than our first meeting, which made it amazing. This meeting we focused on different Hogwarts Professors through a group game of Family Feud and re-potting Mandrakes.

    If you read my first post on our Harry Potter Book Club, you might remember that we're not reading and discussing the books but instead looking at different elements of the Wizarding World. This is because the audience is younger than my previous book club and it would be harder to expect them to read these books every month.

    Here's a short run-down on our activities...

    DISCLAIMER: I cannot take credit for either of these ideas (Family Feud and re-potting
    Mandrakes)

    Mandrakes Craft

    Cami at The Naptime Reader has a wonderful picture tutorial on how to make these Mandrakes out of clay. I suggest visiting her website for any and all instructions regarding this craft!

    To account for time, we did leave out a few of her steps.

    For simplicity sake, I printed out the tutorial from her blog to explain to the group what we were doing.

    With picture instructions readily available, the kids were able to manage this craft without much intervention on my part. This craft was so self-sufficient, I was able to step back and watch the crafting process. In fact, my main role was just distributing the clay.

    This activity does have a bit of clean-up involved when it comes to getting the clay residue off the table.

    Family Feud

    In lieu of a discussion, we played Harry Potter Family Feud. These questions and answers were pulled from online and when I find the source, that link will be shared here!

    A questions/answer sheet was printed off on a sheet of paper for me. Game cards were printed off on card stock. These were sticky tacked to the wall and as kids guessed the correct answer, cards were flipped around to show the answer and point value.

    You might notice the stickers in the top right corner of the cards and beside the questions on the answer sheet. These were to help keep the answers organized with the correlating question. Also, each answer card has it's number written in the corner so the answer order doesn't get lost when tacking them to the board.

    If I'd had access to a screen in our storyhour room, I would have done this through power point and made it easy.


    Click HERE family feud questions
     
    Click HERE for family feud answers


    I will continue to look for the original publisher of the Family Feud questions.

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    I Survived the battle of D-Day, 1944 *** Carrier Pigeon Racing Game

    Another short and sweet craft/activity write-up today. For this months I Survived Book Club meeting, my coworker stepped in for me and led the discussion. However, I really wanted to share this cup racing game with you.

    This was inspired by An Almost Unschooling Mom's blog post, which can be found here!

    In this book, Paul Colbert is an 11 year old boy living in occupied France. One day, a carrier pigeon finds him crying on the road and leads him away into a clearing, where an Allied soldier, Victor Lopez, is trapped in a tree. Paul cuts Victor free of the tree and when Nazi soldiers and a dog come along, they hide together. Victor is wounded though and the dog, who can smell his blood, charges their hiding place. The carrier pigeon bravely distracts the dog by attacking it and forcing the dog to run off with the officers following it. The pigeon plays another role further along in the story, but I won't give it all away.

    Because the carrier pigeon was such a fun character, when it came to finding a craft or activity for this book, this idea just clicked.

    For this game, players created their own carrier pigeons with plastic cups. These were threaded  through a string, extended the length of the room and players could race them by blowing into the cup, making them fly.

     HOW TO:
    This is super simple. As previously stated, I wasn't able to host book club, but my coworker said this activity went over very well.

    1. Using a small plastic or paper cup, chisel a hole in the bottom for the yarn to be threaded through.

    2. Print out wings and head to color and then cut out. Here's my PDF! (Bear in mind, I'm no professional. These were hand drawn, scanned and cleaned up in MS Office.... So no judgements.)

    3. Tape wings and head to cup. Your bird will also need a secret message to help balance it out when it's suspended on the sting, so it doesn't flip upside down.

    4. Thread a piece of yarn through it, running the length of the room.

    5. Blow in the cup to make it move and race against other birds.

     First person to the other side of the room is the winner!

    One thing that my coworker did say, is that she gave them the option to race their birds here or take them home to fly. If the kids wanted to take them home, she sent them home with a strand of yarn. Several raced their carrier pigeons at the library though.

    And that's it!
    Feel free to use my PDF for whatever you need and GOOD LUCK with your cup racing! If you try this idea out, let me know how it went 😀

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    Research Robot Passive Program

    The Research Robot was a passive program that encouraged kids to research using books set out on the table and as a rotating non-fiction display.

    This display was changed weekly, with questions ranging from "Who painted the Mona Lisa?" to "How many moons does Jupiter have?" to "What did Paul Bunyan do for a living?".

    Animal questions were the favorite though! But really, who's surprised by that?

    Every Monday, a new question was put out with a selection of books that contained the answer.

    The answer to last weeks question was always included on the new sign.

    There was no prize for feeding your answer to the Research Robot, although SEVERAL kids asked.

    Originally, the robot was a square box, covered in construction paper, cut to make him look robotic with a plain basket of answer sheets and pencils. Sad to say, but when he got a makeover, he generated a lot more attention!

    Here are a couple pictures.

    On his left side, those pieces of paper are the answer sheets. Pencils were also kept in there. This cleaned the table up since we didn't have to have a basket of pencils and answer sheets. 

    A slot to feed your answers into... (should have been at his mouth, I know)
    I cut up a yellow envelope and used the attachments to close him up in the back. This was so I could easily open him up and get my answers out of him at the end of the week.

    Just an easy maintenance, quick display and passive program idea. Plus, the kids are learning as they participate!

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    Dobby Lacing Sock Craft

    Because our Harry Potter Summer Reading Finale was for ages 0-18, we really wanted to have age appropriate crafts to accommodate our itty-bitty library users. So I really had to think hard on this simple little thing. 

    The sock template was pulled from Pattern Universe and I added the quote using Microsoft Publisher. 


    These were printed off on card stock paper, cut out by our amazing volunteers, hole punched around
    the edges and yarn was pre-cut and laid out on the table. Everything that could be prepped for this was prepped. 

    To make this more appealing, we set crayons out on this craft table. 

    Super easy set-up and great for younger Harry Potter fans. 

    Feel free to use!

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    Lego Hour STEM Challenge Ideas


    If you read my post on our Lego Spinning Challenge Wheel, then you're familiar with our re-vamping Lego Hour at the Library. But here's a brief summary: This school year, we've put a list of different building themes on a spinning wheel and each meeting, one participant gets to spin the wheel that will determine our challenge!

    This post is going to be a list of what those challenges are. A PDF copy will be attached below.

    Full disclaimer: This list is compiled from different web sites and I can't take credit for the ingenuity of many ideas. If you're looking for fantastic STEM challenges, check out The Lego Librarian. His challenges are incredibly creative and several have made my list.


    This is our new Lego spinning wheel that we've started using.

    For the tutorial on how it was made, visit this blog post!

    There are 19 different challenges.

    When the time came to make this list and write them on the wheel, I knew I wouldn't be able to remember them all so each challenge got it's own envelope with a brief description written out.

    Some description sheets have pictures to share with an idea of what the end result of a challenge will look like.

    Also, several of these description sheets involve other supplies that you'll need to be aware of and have access to on a dime's notice.

    These are items such as blindfolds, marbles, a fan, water, etc.

    This is a picture of my pile of envelopes and one description sheet.

    Here's a list with links leading to some of the sites I took inspiration from...

    My 19 Challenges
    1. Spinner's Choice
    2. Build a Scene From a Book
    3. Double-Decker Races
    4. Build Something From the Future
    5. Alphabet Challenge
    6. Build a Bridge
    7. Group Masterpiece
    8. Build the Tallest Tower
    9. Build a Zoo
    10. Lego Charades
    11. Build a Maze
    12. Build a Wind Racer
    13. Epic Marble Run
    14. Water Works
    15. Ramps and Slides
    16. Blindfold Builds
    17. Build a House on Stilts
    18. Turtle Races
    19. Build a Castle With a Working Drawbridge

    Click here for the PDF file of my list and printable description sheets
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