Elvis: The King

Today would have been Elvis Presley's 79th birthday. Why not turn that into a library program? So I did! Despite the record breaking low temperature in Matawan, eight children ranging grades K-3 came out to celebrate Elvis' birthday at the library yesterday! I have to be honest, though, none of the children had ever heard of Elvis before. I had a feeling this was the case, so instead of our usual jokes in between stories, we shared facts about the king himself, and his career.

I started out by showing everyone some pictures of Elvis, most notably one in a sequined jumpsuit:

And...another of him with his infamous lip curl.

After a brief introduction to Elvis, we read Bawk & Roll by Tammi Sauer & Dan Santat. This is a story about a rooster, Elvis Poultry, whose back up dancers (two chickens) have a bad case of stage fright. Does the rooster look familiar?

Since I was short on time, we only read one story. Next came the craft. We all know Elvis was the king of rock n' roll, so what better craft than a crown, complete with Elvis hair and sideburns along with some gems and sequins. One of our regular Afternoon Adventurers, Colin, sported his completed crown, with an Elvis lip curl. Elvis' Greatest Hits served as background music while everyone crafted.

After the children crafted their crowns, everyone was offered a sample of Elvis' favorite food: peanut butter and banana sandwiches! (I noted on all program advertisements that peanut butter would be in the room in case anyone had any allergies.) Meanwhile, I hooked up the laptop to our sound system, pulled down the movie screen and everyone was entranced with the "Jailhouse Rock" music video.

I also showed a video clip of Elvis' first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1956.  This sparked a new discussion about how TV and movies used to be in black and white. After we watched the videos, I asked the children if they liked Elvis.  Another regular, Aubrie, responded with, "If I could vote for Elvis for something, I would vote for him at least six times!" My interpretation is that she thought he was awesome:-)

I like to incorporate all aspects of the library when I do a program, and since we only read one story, I wanted to plug a library resource. MAPL subscribes to a music download service, Freegal. With their library cards, patrons can download up to three songs a week from the Sony music catalog.  About thirty Elvis albums are available through this service, so I wanted the children to know there was a place to get his music for free. I sent each child home with a Freegal bookmark with a note at the top that read, "Download Elvis' music for free!"

Overall, it was a great program- everyone had a great time, including me. When the children see me having fun, I think the program is more fun for them!