Spy Week Day 2-5

I already wrote about Day 1 of Spy Week, so here are descriptions of the rest of the passive activities I put out each day.  The Day 1 activity remained set up all week. I'm tracking most of the interactions by keeping track of how many sheets I put out vs. how many are left over. If anything, those results are low since one sheet usually represented a kid/parent interaction or multiple kids working together, but I'm pleased with the results either way.

Day 2 of spy week tests the observational skills of my young sleuths. I filled a mason jar with rice and a variety of small objects. I taped it shut, and secured it to the table.  The instructions  told them to carefully shake and turn the jar in order to find and identify all ten objects hidden within, and there were blank spaces numbered 1-10 for them to record their findings.

Day 3 of spy week is about disguise. I put out papers that were divided into two sections. On one side they were to draw themselves, and on the other side they were to design the ultimate disguise. I invited them to turn in their designs for our "Spy Disguise Guide" (binder) at the reference desk. Put out colored pencils and boom! Done.

Day 4 of spy week is your basic spy-themed word search.

Day 5 of spy week is a code-breaking activity that I put together. I also put out some sheets of white paper that I had written messages on in white crayon. Coloring over the crayon (wax) with marker (water-based) revealed the messages (the code sheets were pretty hard, so I wanted something easier to put out as well).

Day 5 also includes the "Ultimate Spy Challenge" program.

 These are all the places that inspired different parts of Spy Week.

Spy Birthday Party 
Tiny Tips for Library Fun-Scavenger Hunt
Falling Flannelboards--Library Program: Spy Camp
Rachel Moani Blog--Library Program: Spy Training Academy
Bryce Don't Play--Library Program: Spyology
Show Me Librarian--Library Program: Spy Club
Inner Child Fun--DIY Spy Kit
Secret Codes
Logic Problems
DevinCollier.com--printable catapult instructions

Spy Week Day One

It's "spring" break 'round these parts. For a part-time librarian that means stealth programming. And (besides ninjas) what's stealthier than a spy?



I set up a Spy Station by covering a table with black paper and making yellow banners that say, "Top Secret." I put out some "I Spy" books and various other spy books. The basic idea is that every day this week there will be a different spy activity at the Station, leading up to the, "Ultimate Spy Challenge" which will be a traditional program on Friday this week.

The first activity was a Stealth Challenge. I hid four, "Information Locations" around the children's area of the library and instructed the kids to stealthily hunt for them (reality was more like this). Each location had a paper punch with a different shape. Once they found all four locations they were to turn their sheets in at the Reference desk to receive their next mission.



When they came to the desk, I told them their next mission was to learn a secret language and gave them instructions on how to speak in Pig Latin. I made a big deal out of folding the paper in half and telling them they they got to decide who to share their secret language with, and to keep it secret in the meantime. The idea here was that it was something for them to take home and work on outside of the library. The Pig Latin sheets also told them they could get extra credit for saying something to me in Pig Latin (I am fluent in several made up languages, including one my sister and I completely made up which relies on a great deal of mind-reading. But hey, when you've got four brothers whatever works).



Although it's just the first day of Spy Week, I'm ready to call it a success. When I left for a meeting at 2:30 we had already gone through 17 Stealth Challenges, and in many cases it was whole families or groups of siblings working together to find the Information Locations. I even had a few kids attempt to greet me in Pig Latin (for which they earned Smarties).

My favorite moment was when I saw a group of three kids far afield from where any of the information locations were. I sidled up to them, "Hey, are you guys spies? I've got a secret message. All the information locations are on that side of the library [subtle nod]." I loved watching them go from side-eyed, "Stranger alert" to dawning realization that I was a co-conspirator.

Stay tuned for the rest of Spy Week! (and even MORE on Spy Week)

GIF Master Tutorial

A couple of people have been wondering how I find/use GIFs so masterfully on my blog and on Twitter. Friends, I can tell you that I learned at the feet of the master. But I'm ready to pass on some of my hard-earned knowledge to you, and BONUS, Sara is going to share some tips for finding GIFs on her blog. Make sure to head over to Bryce Don't Play to get some answers to important GIF queries such as, 'where do they FIND this stuff?!'

First, the nitty gritty. Basically a '.gif' is just another type of file extension, like .doc or .jpeg but a GIF appears as a short animation without sound.

Most people say it with a hard "G" sound, but tech nerds swear that's wrong and that it's a soft "G" sound as in Jif Peanut Butter. Personally, I try to avoid saying it altogether, but your mileage may vary.

Here’s what Sara says about using GIFs:

When you search for a GIF you saw before on Google, you can click on the images at a PC and click a button that says “View Image”. That will give you the link info you need to embed the image into a blog post or to post as a link for someone to view. If you find it on a tumblr blog and are not reblogging, you can right-click on the image and go to “Open Image in New Tab” and it should give you the address you need in the top bar. Then you can just treat it like any other image. (Okay that might be my new favorite GIF. Eh, top 5 at least)

           


For more info on using GIFs this way, read this article for more info on GIFs, sourcing, and fair use (TL;DR version is GIFs are nearly impossible to source and likely fall under fair use though that hasn’t been tested. But read that article, it’s good. --Anna). 
 
I have a Mac, so it's slightly more complicated for me. If you're on a Mac, find a GIF you want to use, and hit the control button while clicking on the image with your mouse and you'll get this menu. Choose "View Image" to get a unique link for the GIF like this http://www.reactiongifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/self_high_five.gif

If I want to embed the image on my blog, I choose "Save Image As" and treat it just the same as I would a regular photo on my blog.

Occasionally, due to the nature of Tumblr, I will get a different menu that doesn't have the option to 'View Image.' When that happens, choose to 'Open Link..." and from there you should be able to 'control + click' to get the 'View Image' menu option.

So that's what to to once you've found your GIFs. Now head over to Bryce Don't Play for tips on finding hilarious GIFs in the first place.