TD Summer Reading Club 2009

Staff Manual

TD Summer Reading Club 2009 Agent 009

Staff Manual

Table of Contents Click on the desired page. 1. Toronto Public Library Welcome Letter .....................................................................................5

2. Welcome Letter from Library and Archives Canada.................................................................7

3. Something About the Artist: Werner Zimmermann ..................................................................8

4. How to Run a Successful TD Summer Reading Club...............................................................10

5. Taking the Summer Reading Club into Your Community ......................................................16

6. Ready for Reading at Toronto Public Library..........................................................................20

7. Detectives Theme NEW ! ............................................................................................................21

8. Week By Week Theme/ Program Guide NEW ! ......................................................................24 Thank You Letter to TD Sponsor.............................................................................................................27

9. Program for Preschoolers............................................................................................................29 Who Stole It? ..............................................................................................................................................29 Whose Shoes? (also 6-8).............................................................................................................................31 Master of Disguise ......................................................................................................................................37 I Spy With My Little Eye...........................................................................................................................39 Insect Investigator’s ABCs (also 6-8) .......................................................................................................43 Guess! Guess! Guess! .................................................................................................................................46 Fingerprint Creatures (also 6-8) ...............................................................................................................48 Fairy Tale Detective (also 6-8)...................................................................................................................50 Extreme Close-Up ......................................................................................................................................53 Box of Mystery! (also 6-8)..........................................................................................................................55 Stick Puppets ..............................................................................................................................................56

10. Program for Ages 6-8.................................................................................................................57 Detective School – Week 1 (also 9-12) ......................................................................................................57 Detective School – Week 2 (also 9-12) ......................................................................................................60 Detective School – Week 3 (also 9-12) ......................................................................................................61 Detective School – Week 4 (also 9-12) ......................................................................................................64 Detective School – Week 5 (also 9-12) ......................................................................................................66 Detective School – Week 6 (also 9-12) ......................................................................................................67

Detective School Weekly Essentials (also 9-12) .......................................................................................69 Once Upon a Crime (also 9-12) .................................................................................................................71 Door Hanger ...............................................................................................................................................72 Tic Tac Toe .................................................................................................................................................73

11. Program for Ages 9 to 12...........................................................................................................75 The Power of Disguise in Two Parts.........................................................................................................75 Solve the Mystery .......................................................................................................................................82 Villain School (Bad Guys Are People Too) ..............................................................................................85 Make A Story..............................................................................................................................................89 Invisible Messages ......................................................................................................................................93 Gadgets........................................................................................................................................................95 Family History/Identity Detectives ...........................................................................................................98 Dramatic Detectives .................................................................................................................................101 Discovering Detectives .............................................................................................................................104 Cracking Codes – Part 1..........................................................................................................................105 Cracking Codes – Part 2..........................................................................................................................111 Bone Detectives.........................................................................................................................................115 Jumblies ....................................................................................................................................................117 Body Detectives – Analysing the Evidence.............................................................................................119 Mystery in Algonquin Park – Animal Detectives ..................................................................................123 Animal Detectives Match-Up ..................................................................................................................146

12. Program for All Ages ...............................................................................................................148 The Perfectly Wicked Thirteen & Their Awfully Good Do-Gooder Foes Villain & Detective Hero Match Up ..................................................................................................................................................148 Everyday Clever People...........................................................................................................................149 Fairy Tale Match Up................................................................................................................................150 Detective Scramble...................................................................................................................................151 Songs and Rhymes....................................................................................................................................152

13. Contests .....................................................................................................................................160 “Inspector” ...............................................................................................................................................160 Library Daily Contest ..............................................................................................................................162 The Library Daily ....................................................................................................................................163 Guess the Number ? .................................................................................................................................164 Name Agent 009........................................................................................................................................164 Braille Alphabet .......................................................................................................................................165

Morse Code ...............................................................................................................................................166 Detective and Spy Trivia .........................................................................................................................167

13. 14. Forms (available online at http://www.td-club-td.ca/2009/009003-09-1000-e.html)

◊ Suggested Oral Book Report Questions for Fiction (see the “Forms” document) ◊ Suggested Oral Book Report Questions for Non-Fiction (see the “Forms” document) ◊ Agent 009 Reading Report – Book Report (2 books) (see the “Forms” document) ◊ Picture Report (see the “Forms” document) ◊ Dice for Oral Book Report Questions (see the “Forms” document) ◊ Bingo Cards ◊ Certificates ◊ My Summer Reading Log ◊ Preschool Activity Sheet ◊ Registration Form ◊ Statistics and Evaluation Form ◊ Wall of Fame

15. Booklists (available online at http://www.td-club-td.ca/2009/009003-09-2000-e.html)

16. Images (available online at http://www.td-club-td.ca/2009/009003-09-3000-e.html)

1. Toronto Public Library Welcome Letter

Welcome to Agent 009 The Toronto Public Library is pleased to present the TD Summer Reading Club 2009 made possible through the support of TD Bank Financial Group. This award-winning program runs to capacity crowds in libraries across most of Canada. A team of children’s librarians from the public libraries of Toronto, Ottawa and London developed the materials for the program. The team has been working feverishly for the past few months getting this program ready. The first step was choosing the theme and the artist. The Detectives theme was chosen by a nationwide vote of children’s staff in public libraries that participate in the program. This summer young readers can be amateur detectives who conduct an investigation, unravel a mystery or solve a riddle all while reading great detective books. Our illustrators are chosen through a rigorous selection process and the search is also Canada wide. Past illustrators have included such talents as Ange Zhang, Martha Newbigging, Joe Weissmann and last year cartoonist, Patricia Storms. For the Detectives theme this year, Werner Zimmermann worked with watercolours to draw the poster and illustrate the supporting materials for the program. One of the challenges of the program has been to make the materials adaptable to libraries of any size. Staff is encouraged to bring their strengths and interests to this exciting summer event. The TD Summer Reading Club was specifically developed to allow libraries across the country to adapt the program to suit their community. The common element of the program has been that a child can visit any library and expect to receive a full-colour poster, a sheet of stickers and an activity booklet. In some locations the stickers are used as incentives: each time a book is reported on, a sticker is handed out. In other locations the stickers are given out all at once. Each sticker is placed on a given area of the poster, revealing something new. Branches decide how best to run the program given their staffing levels and the number of children participating. The materials have been designed to offer libraries of all sizes the greatest flexibility in delivering the program. For the second year in a row, the TD Summer Reading Club is pleased to support responsible forestry practices by printing this manual and the supporting print materials on Forest Stewardship Council certified paper. FSC promotes environmentally friendly, socially beneficial, and economically viable management of the world’s forests. In an effort to reduce the size of this Staff Manual the forms, templates and clip art for activities will be posted only on the Library and Archives (LAC) website at http://www.td-club-td.ca. The entire Staff Manual can be downloaded from the LAC site. Also new this year, the TD Summer Reading Club program is collaborating with the Canadian National Institute for the Blind. Books on the TD SRC Booklists that are available through the CNIB in alternate formats such as Braille, audio and described video will be indicated on the Library and Archives website at http://www.td-club-td.ca.

5

An exciting TD National SRC Kids' website will be available from mid-June until the end of the summer at http://tdsrc.torontopubliclibrary.ca. Encourage your staff to promote it to the children in your community. If you are able, link to it on your website. Both children and librarians are able to submit the number of books read in their library. Remember, the website is there for kids, even when your library isn't open. We hope that you have a wonderful summer introducing the children in your community to the TD Summer Reading Club 2009 Detectives theme Agent 009. Yours in Reading Fun, Ken Setterington Anna Cocca Children and Youth Advocate for Library Services Coordinator, TD Summer Toronto Public Library Reading Club

2. Welcome Letter from Library and Archives Canada Grab your deerstalker and your magnifying glass and, using your keen sense of observation and highly tuned powers of deduction, join the investigation to help the TD Summer Reading Club’s Agent 009 put together a chain of clues to unravel a puzzling mystery. Again this year, TD Bank Financial Group, the Toronto Public Library and Library and Archives Canada are proud to support literacy in Canada by offering the TD Summer Reading Club to Canadian children across the nation in both English and French. New this year is the creation of francophone material by librarians from Québec City, Montréal, and Ottawa. Renowned author and illustrator, Werner Zimmermann has been chosen to create the artwork for 2009. The TD Summer Reading Club has been successful in inspiring children to spend more time reading books. It has also encouraged parents and caregivers to become more involved in their children's reading activities. It is very promising to learn that the number of children visiting libraries and enjoying books is increasing. During the summer of 2008 an incredible half a million Canadian children participated in over 27,000 library activities in 2000 locales, reading close to 2 million books! The goals of the TD Summer Reading Club are to encourage Canadian children to read for pleasure, to help maintain and improve their children's reading skills during the summer and to encourage them to be lifelong readers and library users. For more information on the 2008 evaluation results go to the Library and Archives Canada website at: http://www.td-club-td.ca. Join in the investigation and help promote this award-winning program that offers children and their families a fun way to enjoy reading during the summer months and raise literacy levels in Canada. Ian E. Wilson Librarian and Archivist of Canada

3. Something About the Artist: Werner Zimmermann Werner Zimmermann is a children’s book author and illustrator and a teacher of animation at the Seneca College @York University program. Born in Austria, he grew up in southern Ontario, where he discovered in Grade 2 that he wanted to be an artist. Werner works in a variety of media that include watercolour, pastel, oil, ink, and pencil. Though a resident of Guelph, Ontario, his true love is for the north where he acted as printmaking advisor to the Inuit of Povungnituk and other Northern Quebec Inuit communities. No longer in the north, he still finds inspiration in winter and snow having written and illustrated the popular book Snow Day! He has toured extensively across the country, giving presentations in schools and libraries and speaking at conferences. Werner still maintains a studio on the Bruce Peninsula, a place where he finds a bit of the landscape and sea shore of most parts of Canada. Visit our illustrator’s blog Word from Werner at http://www.wernerzimmermann.blogspot.com/ where you can read about upcoming visits and presentations and find news about his latest work and illustrations. Werner also maintains a website with lots of pictures and descriptions of his art. Check it out at http://www.wernerzimmermann.ca Awards Mr. Christie’s Book Award (illustration) for Pippin the Christmas Pig, 2003. Nominated for Governor General’s Literary Award (illustration) for Brave Highland Heart, 1999 and Whatever You Do, Don’t Go Near That Canoe, 1996. Publications: The Pirates of Captain McKee. Written by Julie Lawson and Werner Zimmermann. Scholastic Canada, 2008. Snow Day! Written and illustrated by Werner Zimmermann. Scholastic Canada, 2007. Listen, Said the Donkey: Tales of the First Christmas. Written by Jean Little. Illustrated by Werner Zimmermann. North Winds Press, 2006. Pippin the Christmas Pig. Written by Jean Little. Illustrated by Werner Zimmermann. Scholastic Canada, 2003. Brave Highland Heart. Written by Heather Kellerhals-Stewart. Illustrated by Werner Zimmermann. Stoddart Kidds, 1999.

Each One Special. Written by Frieda Wishinsky. Illustrated by Werner Zimmermann. Orca, 1998. Farmer Joe Baby-sits. Written by Nancy Wilcox Richards. Illustrated by Werner Zimmermann. Scholastic Canada, 1997. Whatever You Do, Don’t Go Near That Canoe! Written by Julie Lawson. Illustrated by Werner Zimmermann. North Winds, 1996. Finster Frets. Written by Kent Baker. Illustrated by Werner Zimmermann. Stoddart,1994. In My Backyard. Written by John De Vries. Illustrated by Werner Zimmermann. Scholastic Canada, 1992 A Circle is Not a Valentine. Written and illustrated by Werner Zimmermann. Oxford University Press, 1990. The Colour of Spring. Written and illustrated by Werner Zimmermann. Oxford University Press, 1990. Farmer Joe Goes to the City. Written by Nancy Wilcox Richards. Illustrated by Werner Zimmermann. Scholastic, 1990. Twelve Months Make a Year. Written and illustrated by Werner Zimmermann. Oxford University Press, 1990. Zero is Not Enough. Written and illustrated by Werner Zimmermann. Oxford University Press, 1990. Henny Penny. Written and illustrated by Werner Zimmermann. Scholastic, 1989. Farmer Joe’s Hot Day. Written by Nancy Wilcox Richards. Illustrated by Werner Zimmermann. Scholastic, 1987.

4. How to Run a Successful TD Summer Reading Club

Be Prepared to Have Fun When library staff shows enthusiasm for the program, it is infectious. The children will have a great time.

Why Run a Summer Reading Program? For years, studies have shown that school-age children lose many of their reading skills over the summer months if they do not continue to read while they are out of school. Summer reading clubs first started when library staff realized that they could make a difference. When further studies demonstrated that children who do not learn to read fluently in fourth grade will likely never feel totally comfortable with the printed word, our job was clear. Keep those children reading and make sure they have fun doing so!

Getting Ready Hosting a successful summer program takes careful planning. Children will be anxious to come to the library if they know that something exciting is happening. Library staff can build enthusiasm prior to the summer using displays; but the most effective method is to get children to tell their friends about the club. Each child and parent who visits the library should be reminded that the library is planning a summer of fun. When children are at the circulation desk taking out books, remind them to join the program.

Contacting Schools Invitations Invitations will be sent to participating libraries. Staff can contact local schools to drop off the invitations and request that they be distributed with the children’s report cards. Since this may require a lengthy approval process in some schools, the request should be made as soon as possible. Class Visits Statistics from previous years show a strong connection between classroom visits and enrolment in the summer reading program. Library staff will notice an increase in program participation if they schedule visits with the appropriate grades in local schools. Bring along a copy of the poster with the stickers and the activity booklet. Tell children when they can come to get their own poster at the library. A quick “book talk” on a fun subject will demonstrate that summer reading can be light and easy. The artist for the program has some books that are appropriate for this year’s theme, so bring one along.

Displays

Included in this manual is a collection of the artist’s clip art. A photocopier can assist staff with the enlargement of the images to create interesting displays. This year’s program poster can serve as a focal point for the display. The theme was chosen to allow staff to be as creative as possible. Let your imagination run wild. Why not have downloaded drawings from the poster placed all over a notice board? Children often enjoy seeing their names displayed on a board, so incorporating their names or the books they have read into the display is always effective. Wall of Fame This manual also includes two sheets that can be turned into a wall of fame display. Place the two sheets together and add blank paper underneath so that children’s names can be listed when they finish the program or when they register. Book Displays This year’s theme provides ample opportunity to make displays with your current collection. A booklist of recommended titles is included in this manual, but these are only suggestions. Use similar books from your own bookshelves. This is also a good time to pull out copies of prize-winning books or books which have been nominated for awards. Remember, children are likely to be attracted to books which are displayed face-out. Posters The full-colour poster designed by this year’s illustrator can be mounted on foam core and put on an easel at the circulation desk. Display this fun poster throughout the library; do not limit it to the children’s department.

Plan a Launch An excellent way to bring attention to the TD Summer Reading Club program is to host a media launch. If this event occurs in June then classes can be invited. Invite the mayor or a local celebrity to kick-off the program to ensure publicity in the local newspaper. Be sure that the CEO and upper management of the local TD Bank are invited so that they can support the program. If the local newspaper does not send a photographer, take a photograph and send it with the story to the paper. July and August are often slow months for local news. Please make sure to save a copy of any media clippings to be included with your Statistics and Evaluation Form to your main library. A library can put all the new books on display and then seal the display with ribbon or tape until the launch of the TD Summer Reading Club. This is an effective way to build excitement.

Advertise in Your Local Newspaper Send the local paper a copy of the invitation, the poster and the activity booklet along with information about the program. Explain how the program is unique for your library. The paper might be willing to run a story about the program, interviewing a staff member with expertise in children’s services. Consider buying space in the paper, the invitation can be easily adapted to become an ad. Local Television Be sure to let your local cable station know about the program. Suggest coming to talk about the summer of fun that the library has planned. Take the poster and stickers and explain how the stickers reveal secrets hidden in the poster. Have a few of the artist’s books on hand to talk about. Take lots of other books to remind viewers that reading is a great summertime activity.

Running the Program Planning the TD Summer Reading Club demands that library staff decide what approach works best for the library and the local children. The program has been designed to be used in virtually any fashion. Children only need to receive the poster, the stickers and the activity booklet. Meetings can be established or children can simply be told to keep track of their reading in the activity booklet. The following are just a few of the methods that can be used. Registration of Participants Librarians should encourage children to register for the program; however, registration should not be mandatory for children to receive the summer reading club materials. In fact, children might be more willing to participate after familiarizing themselves with the reading kit. The staff manual provides samples of Registration Forms designed to collect statistics on participation, including the sex and age of each participant. The form also includes a tally on how children first hear about the program. Collecting this information is mandatory on the Statistics and Evaluation Form to be filled out at the end of the summer. Record Children’s Progress on the Reading Log Page Remind children that they should record all the books that they read in their reading log page of the activity booklet. A template of the reading log is included in this staff manual, so that you can photocopy extra pages for avid readers.

Reading Options Keep track of the number of books read. This is a standard method of making sure that children read throughout the summer. For every book read, the child gets a sticker. Some libraries vary this by asking younger children to read more books, while older children can get a reward for finishing one long book. Others count the minutes spent reading in a day. Thirty minutes a day for older children, or 15 minutes of being read to for younger children. If you choose the latter consider giving the children a calendar on which they can mark their minutes. This calendar can also advertise your summer reading activities.

Book Reporting Options Anytime the Library is Open Past practice in many libraries has been to allow children to come to the library at any time and discuss, with library staff, the books that they have read. This encourages children to read extensively and provides the opportunity for staff to promote a wide variety of books. The stickers can be used in this type of program as an incentive for each book read. Weekly Meetings (e.g., two hours reporting each Tuesday and Thursday) Locations may identify a specific time each week when children can come to the library to report on the books that they have read. This allows the library to staff accordingly. Pages might be brought into the library to help cover the circulation desk while the staff listens to children discuss the books that they have read. Included in this manual is a list of questions for staff to ask children about the books. This can be turned into a game by using the dice (template included). The children can roll the dice to decide which question will be asked. Alternatively you can enlarge the questions and put them on cards to be chosen from, or use a numbered spinner. Club Meetings (one afternoon a week) Library branches may decide to have a weekly meeting where children come as a group and discuss the books that they read during the previous week. An advantage to this option is that children hear from other children about books they think are good. Peer promotion is always a good way to build interest in books. During these meetings a variety of other activities can be planned. Staff may decide to give out the stickers at each meeting as an attendance incentive. As a Family Event This method allows the family to set their own goals and come whenever the goals are met. The parents judge whether the books read are appropriate and this eliminates the need for staff to ask the children questions.

Maintaining Interest Special Events Special events are an excellent way to build excitement throughout the summer. Contests, plays, puppetry workshops and storytelling are just a few of the many events that can be planned during July and August. Author/Illustrator Readings Many children’s authors and illustrators make excellent presentations to children. Hosting a reading during the summer means that the children in attendance are the children who want to come – not children who are there because their class came to the library. If you bring in an illustrator, make sure that you have paper and an easel for them to demonstrate their illustration techniques. Community Friends and Leaders The local bookstore owner, the fire chief, the mayor and the school crossing guard are people the children recognize. Invite them to the library to share their favourite children’s books.

Other Things to Do Keep Statistics Individual library branches are asked to provide their evaluation responses to their main branch so that each library system fills out a unique online Statistics and Evaluation Form. Before starting the program, please review the form to find out what information is requested (see Forms, Section 14 and http://www.td-club-td.ca). Also, please use the designated Registration Forms designed to collect other mandatory statistics. These statistics are useful not only to show how many children participated in the program, but also to highlight the great work being done in Canadian public libraries. Write a Letter to the Sponsor Towards the end of the summer, get the children to write a letter, either individually or as a club to TD Bank Financial Group. The letter can describe their summer of reading fun. Include any pictures, drawings or book reports that you think would be of interest. Please send all material to your main library branch.

Using this Manual More Than You Will Ever Need! The manual has been created to give you many ideas to choose from. The book suggestions are just that—suggestions. If you own the books listed, that’s great! But feel free to substitute books from your collection. The crafts or other activities can also be adapted to your supplies, or space, or number of kids attending. Pick and Choose What You Will Use If you started at the beginning of the manual and did every program right to the end, you would probably still be doing summer programming in December! Instead, figure out which activities get you excited about the theme and concentrate on those.

5. Taking the Summer Reading Club into Your Community

Outreach to Summer Camps and Child-Care Centres There are often many children in our communities who cannot take part in a summer reading club because they are enrolled in summer long activities such as day camps, summer schools and child-care centres. One way to reach these children is to incorporate an element of outreach into your TD Summer Reading Club (TD SRC). Examine your community to find out where it is logical to do some outreach. Some places to look include:

• Summer day camps (municipal parks and recreation programs, private day camps, charity run day camps, YM/YWCA, Boys and Girls Clubs)

• Child-care centres • Community/public housing projects • Faith-based programs

Look for programs that are general in focus. While there are skill-based activities/camps (sports, technology, theatre) in communities, these programs are often so focused on achieving skills that there is no room to include a summer reading club component. Outreach to summer camps and child-care centres can take several forms:

1. Programs and Summer Reading Club at a camp or child-care centre Library staff or volunteers make trips to the camp location or child-care centre to offer programs based on books and reading. These would occur regularly and library staff would register children at the site in the TD SRC.

2. Visits to the library

Children and child-care workers visit the library for special programs and activities. They could take part in regularly scheduled events or have special programs presented to them by library staff. As part of the visit all the children would be encouraged to register for the TD SRC.

3. Child-care workers register children in the TD SRC

The library cooperates with child-care workers to provide TD SRC materials. Child-care workers register and encourage all children to participate in the TD SRC and to record books read. The child-care workers report back to the library at the end of the summer.

4. Orientation of child-care workers

Library staff or volunteers would take part in training sessions organized for child-care workers. As part of the orientation, library staff would cover how to incorporate reading into their program planning and show them how to choose appropriate books. This could take place in conjunction with any of the above scenarios or as a stand-alone activity.

5. Library book collections in camp and child-care centres The library provides collections of books for child-care workers to use with their children over the summer. Collections could be signed out for the whole summer or regularly changed as suits the library and the centre.

Keep in mind:

• You will need to assist child-care workers in getting all the children registered and comply with their requirements for parental permission before taking any personal information.

• You may need to order extra kits if you are planning a significant outreach program.

• Child-care workers are often new to serving children and welcome advice,

resources and ideas to make their programs fun and engaging.

• It is advisable to set up an evaluation component from the start. Make sure child-care workers know in advance that they must track the number of participants, and that registration forms and/or evaluation forms are required to be completed in order to evaluate the success of the program.

• Follow up with the child-care workers at the end of the summer to get feedback on

the program, evaluation and registration statistics.

Outreach to Other Community Groups In addition to working with children in formal care situations you can also take the TD SRC into the community by working with groups and agencies such as:

Girl Guides and Scouts Family literacy agencies Community information and health centres Family shelters Hospitals

You can also look for opportunities to highlight the TD SRC at community events such as:

Canada Day and other community celebrations Local fairs Community picnics and outdoor events

Throughout the summer, look for ways to take the TD SRC into the community. This is a great way to use materials you have on hand after the initial registration push in your branches.

Sample Training Session for Child-care Workers The following is an outline of a sample training session that could be offered to child-care workers. It focuses on the importance of reading and how to incorporate reading into their general camp program. The time allotted to each component can be changed according to the amount of time you are given for the training session. Introduction 5 minutes

Be sure to include information about local branch hours, location and contact information

The importance of summer reading 5 minutes

Talk about why we do summer reading clubs, why kids love to take part in them and how they help children You could use a quote such as: “A review of literature provided evidence that summer reading clubs were effective tools for keeping summer learning loss at bay and improving children’s reading performances” TD Summer Reading Club Literature Review http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/009003/f2/009003-06-040-e.pdf

TD Summer Reading Club 5 minutes Describe the TD SRC, registration information, forms, and kits How to weave reading into a summer day camp program 10 minutes

Give ideas for using books and reading throughout the camp day: • Storytimes • Reader’s theatre • Quiet reading times • Reading games • Shared reading/ reading partners • Poetry breaks

Reading aloud 10 minutes

Demonstrate reading a favourite book, (e.g. use felts or puppets) Share tips for reading aloud, such as:

• Choose books you love to read, never read a book you do not like just because it fits the theme

• Choose books with a strong story line, that has an obvious beginning, middle and ending

• Choose books that kids can relate to • Make sure that the books are age appropriate (know your audience) • Look for ways to encourage participation (e.g. repetitive phrases that kids

can repeat)

• Read the book in advance and know it well Sample reading-based program 5 minutes

Distribute handout(s) of sample programs based on books, use program ideas from the TD SRC staff manual or, if possible, find out the camp or centre themes in advance and base your handout on those themes.

Practise reading aloud in pairs 10 minutes

Hand out good examples of read-aloud books and have the child-care workers practise reading to each other.

Questions

6. Ready for Reading at Toronto Public Library Ready for Reading is Toronto Public Library’s full set of programs, services and resources for children from birth to five years of age. Ready for Reading emphasizes the importance of early literacy and helps parents and caregivers learn how to develop six important pre-reading skills in their children.

Six pre-reading skills:

1. Print motivation (I like books!) Being interested in and enjoying books

2. Phonological awareness (I hear words!) Being able to hear and play with the smaller sounds in words

3. Vocabulary (I know words!) Knowing the names of things

4. Narrative skills (I can tell a story!) Being able to describe things and events and tell stories

5. Print awareness (I see words!) Noticing print, knowing how to handle a book, knowing how to follow the words on a page

6. Letter awareness (I see letters!) Knowing letters are different from each other, knowing their name and sounds, recognizing letters everywhere

Why is early literacy important? For many years, scientists have presented compelling evidence that a child’s success in school is linked directly with the acquisition of early literacy skills. The relationship between the skills with which children enter school and their later academic performance is striking. Children’s success in life depends on their success in school. Preschool activity sheet Staff is encouraged to plan and adapt their TD Summer Reading Club activities to include Ready for Reading principles and approaches for children five years and under by using the TD SRC Preschool activity sheet found in the Forms section of this Staff Manual. Ready for Reading online http://kidsspace.torontopubliclibrary.ca/preschoolers.html

7. Detectives Theme NEW !

Clueing into the Detective Novel Josiane Polidori, Head, Canadian Children’s Literature, Library and Archives Canada

From the Rue Morgue to Today Today’s detective novels, mysteries and whodunits grew out of the scary stories printed in inexpensive, serial format in the late 19th century, known as “penny dreadfuls” in England, “dime novels” in the United States and “canards” in France. Edgar Allan Poe is often heralded as the father of the detective novel, with his book The Murders in the Rue Morgue. The genre’s popularity was established with the Hardy Boys series, which appeared in 1927, Nancy Drew in 1930, and Enid Blyton’s Famous Five in 1942. The Swedish writer Astrid Lindgren also found huge success with her Detective Blomkvist stories, which have been translated into several languages. Educators frowned on detective novels for youth, and many authors combined adventure stories with police investigations, no doubt to appease the critics. Few English-language detective novels were published in Canada before 1980. Shortly thereafter, authors such as Eric Wilson, Claire Mackay, Joan Clark and Monica Hughes made Canada the setting for their stories. A few suspense novels were published in French after 1928, and intrigues were common in adventure stories and scouting novels. Monique Corriveau, Serge Wilson and Robert Soulières helped to develop this type of detective novel. More violent elements emerged towards the late 1980s, giving rise to sub-genres such as the thriller and horror story (Chrystine Brouillet’s Natasha series, Roy MacGregor’s Screech Owl series, and novels by Laurent Chabin and Denis Côté). Many books contain enough elements of the detective novel that they can be considered part of the genre (Tim Wynne-Jones, Brian Doyle). Mysteries can also be combined with tales of the supernatural or historical novels (Norah McClintock and Iain Lawrence, the Canadian Chills series by Arthur Slade). Many novelists explore social themes and conditions in other countries (Camille Bouchard, Ted Stenhouse, James Heneghan) or combine intrigue and humour (Robert Soulières and Linda Bailey). Shane Peacock makes a connection with Sherlock Holmes in his new series Eye of the Crow, which focuses on the great detective’s teenage years. The detective genre includes collections and series with a famous detective as the central character (Atout policier, Graffiti, Conquêtes and the new series by Emily Pohl-Weary), and classic novels are being reprinted as comic books and graphic novels. Lastly, several non fiction books focus on methods of investigation, mysteries from the past (Royal Murders, the series From the Edge and It’s True) and the lives of famous detectives.

Three Characters A detective novel needs at least one detective, one culprit and one victim. The role of the detective is often played by a team of two or three youths. In detective novels for younger readers, the group is often accompanied by an animal (such as Sylvie Desrosiers’ dog called Notdog). Not only do the detectives follow the clues, but they are also caught up in an adventure that lets them solve the central problem. Detectives stand out from the other characters thanks to their strong and unique personalities (as in Cary Fagan’s Kaspar Snit series). Young protagonists use their intelligence, keen sense of observation, highly developed skills and powers of deduction to arrive at their conclusions. Several novels draw on the scientific techniques used in criminology, an approach that is very popular with young readers. The criminal is often a very unsympathetic adult or a character who keeps a very low profile in the story. In books for very young readers, the story may sometimes involve a misunderstanding. As a twist, the genre can focus on good-hearted burglars, as inspired by Arsène Lupin, or likeable criminals such as Eoin Colfer’s Artemis Fowl. In murder stories, readers know little about the victim, whose presence is implicit throughout the tale.

Beginning with the End The detective novel, mystery and whodunit follow a reverse chronology, with a narrative that takes readers back into the past. The opening pages describe activities that occurred previously. The novel lets readers travel back to discover clues that will connect the story elements. It is constructed like a puzzle in which readers follow a vital lead and put together a chain of clues scattered throughout the book. Readers may encounter dead ends, have misadventures and be forced to choose between real and bogus clues. The novels involve flashbacks and elements that can be misinterpreted. The reader and the detective follow the same trail; they conduct an investigation, unravel a mystery or solve a riddle. The structure and logic of each part of the story are critically important because the reader discovers the various elements at the same time as the detective. The clues are provided in a logical sequence as the reader advances through the story.

The Reader Young readers can sometimes join in the investigation by checking out the coded information at the end of the story, which offers a different perspective and can be part of the solution. Reading detective stories can stimulate powers of observation and the importance of reasoning and inference. This participatory approach to reading is fun and encourages readers to use their imagination. There has been much debate about

introducing children to stories of murder and violence, but they understand that it is just fiction, and enjoy finding the clues and sometimes being a little frightened.

Keywords Detective novel, mystery fiction, whodunit, crime fiction, detective fiction, thriller, horror story, suspense, super sleuth, secret agents, investigators, inspectors, amateur and private detectives, police

Bibliography Baker, Deirdre, and Ken Setterington. A Guide to Canadian Children’s Books. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 2003. Boulianne, Simon. "Les stratégies narratives des auteurs policiers pour la jeunesse." Québec Français. No. 132 (Winter 2004). Courchesne, Danièle. Histoire de lire. Montréal: Éditions de la Chenelière, 1999. Dupuis, Simon. "Le roman policier pour la jeunesse." Lurelu. Vol. 17, No. 1 (Spring-Summer 1994). Egoff, Sheila, and Sheila Saltman. The New Republic of Childhood. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1990. Guérette, Charlotte, and Sylvie Roberge. Le roman jeunesse au cœur de l’apprentissage. Montréal: Hurtubise HMH, 2005. Guérette, Charlotte. Au cœur de la littérature d’enfance et de jeunesse. Sainte-Foy, Quebec: Éditions La Liberté, 1998. Lepage, Françoise. Histoire de la littérature pour la jeunesse. Ottawa: Éditions David, 2000. Zipes, Jack, ed. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Children’s Literature. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006.

Awards Arthur Ellis Best Juvenile Crime Award, http://www.bookcentre.ca/award. Edgar Allan Poe Award, http://www.mysterynet.com.

8. Week By Week Theme/ Program Guide NEW ! Here is a sample schedule of weekly summer programs using ideas from the manual. One way to plan programs is to use pieces of the programs in the manual in conjunction with the books and resources of your library. Use this as a sample – feel free to vary the order of the program and the length. Make it as simple or complicated as you want. These simple descriptions include some sample activities and along with them you can add stories, active games and further crafts to fill in the time you have allotted for the program. Program One: The Science Of Detection Program description: From Deduction to Forensics – use science to solve the crime From the Manual: Detective School – Week 3 (pg. 61) Other activities:

• Dust for fingerprints • Foot to height analysis • Analyse shoe prints • Analyse handwriting (graphology)

http://www.cyberbee.com/whodunnit/crime.htmlhttp://www.cyberbee.com/whodunnit/foot.htmlhttp://www.ehow.com/how_2302248_do-cool-science-project-based.html (graphology) Program Two: Codes And Ciphers Program description: Learn the secrets of making and breaking codes and ciphers From the Manual: Detective School – Week 4 (pg. 64) and Invisible Messages (pg. 93) Other activities:

• Decode the quote – have kids work in teams to be the first to decode a quote from a detective novel using a simple code. Read a passage from the novel after.

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ngkids/trythis/secretcodes/semaphore.htmlhttp://www.marthastewart.com/article/secret-codes

• Invisible writing (this one works if you have an iron): http://home.howstuffworks.com/detective-activities-for-kids1.htm Program Three: Detective Disguises Program description: Every great detective must learn the art of costume and disguise From the Manual: The Power of Disguise (pg. 75) Other activities:

• Have kids bring their own hats and decorate them • Make masks see Body Detectives (pg. 119) • Decorate dollar store sunglasses

• Do a clothing relay – o Visit the local thrift shop and buy used men’s clothing (3 pair of pants, 3

men’s button shirts, three ties) o Divide the kids into three teams. o Divide piles of clothes each with a pair of pants, a shirt and a pre-tied tie

in each pile. o Each member of the team takes turns running to the clothing pile, putting

on all the clothes, running back to the group, stripping and having the next person put on all the clothes.

o First team to have all its members dress and un-dress wins. Program Four: The Scene Of The Crime Program description: Practice finding the clues and solving the crime at the scene of the crime Activities:

• Start with puzzles such as “spot the difference” as practice to looking for clues. http://www.janpienkowski.com/fun-and-games/spotthedifference/index.htmhttp://tdsrc.torontopubliclibrary.ca/activities_en.html

• Set up a “real” scene of the crime” (for example for a scene where “cookies have been stolen” -- knocked over cookie jar, footprint on the floor, handwritten note, baseball cap left on the floor, milk jug and half full glass left on the table…) Have the kids note all the clues they can see. After 5 minutes talk about what they see and have the group work together to “solve” the crime.

Program Five: Fairy Tale Mysteries Program description: A program full of mysteries from your favourite fairy tales. From the Manual: Dramatic Detectives (pg. 101) Other activities:

• Fairytale scavenger hunt – hide “items’ from fairytales for example: o Red cape or basket with cookies (Little Red Riding Hood) o Brick and straw (Three Little Pigs) o Sewing needle (Sleeping Beauty) o Glass slipper (Cinderella) o Bean seeds (Jack and the Beanstalk)

Program Six: Crime Courtroom Program description: Become a lawyer in a mock trial. Will you be found guilty??

Find mock trial/readers theatre scripts: http://www.spl.surrey.bc.ca/Programs+and+Services/Kids+Space/Kids+Book+Club+Resources.htm

Program Seven: Detective Practicum Clue Tournament Program description: Put all your new knowledge to work at the Clue Board Game Tournament

Borrow or buy multiple copies of the board game CLUE Describe the rules to Clue to the group Divide the kids into “tables” and have them play a game of clue. Have a “leader board” recording the culprit, weapon, and room for each games –at the end of the program announce which ‘character’ committed the most crimes.

Find the rules to Clue at: http://gamebits.gameroom.com/RULES/Clue_1993_Rules.html If you can’t get enough copies of Clue, choose one of the “Detective School” week programs to do instead. Program Eight: Animal Mysteries Program description: Be a Nature Detective and discover the mysteries of the animal world. From the Manual: Fingerprint Creatures (pg.48) and Insect Investigator’s ABCs (pg. 43) and Animal Detectives (pg.123) Other activities:

• Identifying bird calls or bird nests http://www.naturedetectives.org.uk/

Program Nine: Spies Like Us Program description: Learn the tricks of master spies From the Manual: Detective School – Week 1 (pg.57) have the kids create their own fake name and identification Other activities:

• Have kids design a secret hand shake and password • Create an I Spy display--- use a glass case and fill it with small toys (toy cars,

rubber animals, finger puppets) pencils, erasers, and things from the junk drawer. Try to include multiples of some things. To make the display interesting pile boxes on the base and cover with fabric to give the display various heights. Make a list of things in the display and have the kids see if they can find everything on the list

http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/explore/crimescene.htmhttp://www.fbi.gov/kids/spykids/spytricks.htm

Thank You Letter to TD Sponsor TD Summer Reading Club 2009

Agent 009

Ed Clark, CEO, TD Bank Financial Group C/O Toronto Public Library Foundation 789 Yonge Street Toronto, Ontario M4W 2G8 We would like to thank TD Bank Financial Group for sponsoring the TD Summer Reading Club.

TD Summer Reading Club 2009

Agent 009

Ed Clark, CEO, TD Bank Financial Group C/O Library and Archives Canada 395 Wellington Street Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0N4 We would like to thank TD Bank Financial Group for sponsoring the TD Summer Reading Club.

TD Summer Reading Club 2009

AAGGEENNTT 000099

Program for Preschoolers

9. Program for Preschoolers

Who Stole It? (Target Audience: Preschool)

This well-known rhyme is the basis for a whole mystery program. There are a variety of picture books based on this rhyme including: Who Took the Cookies from the Cookie Jar? by Bonnie Lass Who Stole the Cookie from the Cookie Jar? by Margaret Wang and Christine Schneider Most of the books in the list of Picture Books (p 169) also involve mysteries. Song: ”Cookie Jar” (Available on Sharon, Lois and Bram’s CD One Elephant, Deux Éléphants) Activity: Who Stole What? Materials:

• 6 stuffed animals—if unavailable, use pictures of animals

Bear Cat Dog

Monkey Mouse Rabbit

• 7 objects or pictures of objects

Banana Bone Carrot Cheese

Fish Honey Cookies

Instructions: Line the animals up. Hold up each object and have the kids guess which animal stole it. (Perhaps make some incorrect guesses yourself to get the kids involved.) Cat Fish Dog Bone Rabbit Carrot Mouse Cheese Monkey Banana Bear Honey When you have finished matching the animals and the food, you still have the cookies. Hold up the cookies and ask “Who stole these?” and go into the song/rhyme.

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Rhyme: Who stole the cookies from the cookie jar? Rosemary stole the cookies from the cookie jar! Who me? Yes, you. Couldn’t be. Then who? Repeat the rhyme, going around the group and getting each child to say his/her name in the first line. (This rhyme would probably work better with a smaller group.) Craft: Cookie jar picture either on its own or cut out and placed on a piece of construction paper. Have the kids draw cookies in the cookie jar. Alternatively, cut out cookie shapes and have the kids decorate them with crayons, or with bits and pieces of coloured paper or foam bits, and glue them onto the cookie jar.

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Whose Shoes?

(also 6-8) (Target Audience: Preschool or Ages 6–8)

It’s a fashion disaster! Kids help to solve material mix-ups in this clothing-related mystery program. Choose whichever activities work best for the age and size of your audience—there are more here than you’ll ever need! 1. Invite Children To Dress Up As Detectives Let them pick from clothing such as a trench coat, dark glasses, hat, a camera to wear around their neck, etc. Discuss how clothing plays an important part in a detective’s role and talk about the use of disguises. 2. Craft: In-A-Snap Camera (Preschool) Help the smallest of detectives look the part with this decorative spy camera. Materials:

• Clip-art camera template (included in this program) • Coloured construction or other stiff paper • Sparkles, beads, sequins, etc. for decoration • String • Hole punch • Markers • Glue • Scissors

Instructions:

a. Using glue, paste the camera template onto the construction paper. b. Cut out the template with scissors. c. Using the hole punch, punch a hole at the top corner on each side of the camera. d. Cut a piece of string, and wind it through each hole, tying the ends together. This

will form a camera strap so that children can wear the camera around their neck. e. Decorate the camera using markers, sparkles, etc.

3. Who Wears This? (Preschool) There was a big mix-up at the laundromat, and everyone’s clothes got mixed up together! Help everyone find their clothes so that they can go back to work on Monday! Materials:

• Items of clothing related to work (gardening gloves, baseball glove, rubber boots, police hat, magic hat, plaid jacket, etc.)

• Clip-art images of community workers (gardener, baseball player, firefighter, police officer, magician, farmer, etc.)

• Tape

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Instructions:

a. Using the tape, attach different clip-art images of community workers to a wall. b. Arrange the clothing items on a table or on the floor. c. Ask children to select a clip-art image, remove it from the wall, and place it next to

or on top of the matching clothing item. 4. Match The Socks (Preschool) Help solve the mystery of the missing socks by matching mates in this fun game! Materials:

• Mate-less socks (make sure they are different from each other and from the paired socks)

• 5–10 pairs of socks (depending on the size of the group) • Large box or bag

Instructions:

a. Place all of the mate-less socks in the box or bag. b. Divide the paired socks, putting one sock in the box and the other in a line on a

table. c. Allow children to root through the box to see if they can find a matching sock for the

ones on the table. 5. Clothing Mix-Up (Preschool) Uh-oh! This little girl and/or boy got all mixed-up this morning and put their clothes on backwards and upside down. Can you help solve this mystery? Materials:

• Felt board • Felt cut-outs (boy and/or girl, clothing pieces)

Instructions:

a. Place the felt girl and/or boy on the felt board and put the items of clothing on the characters incorrectly (e.g. boots on hands, shirt on head, sock on nose, etc.).

b. Ask the children to take turns helping the character to get dressed properly. c. Follow this activity with the song:

“This Is The Way We Put On Our Pants” (Tune: Mulberry Bush) This is the way we put on our pants Put on our pants, put on our pants This is the way we put on our pants So early in the morning. This is the way we put on our... shirt, socks, shoes, etc.

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6. What Doesn’t Belong? (Preschool or Ages 6–8) I was packing my suitcase this morning to get ready for my trip, but I noticed that some sneak mixed up all of my clothes. Now I don’t know what belongs with what! Can you help me find what doesn’t belong? Materials:

• Items of clothing Instructions:

a. Gather 3 or 4 like items in a pile, based on the body part they are designed for, colour, season, etc.

b. Add an item to each pile that does not belong. c. Ask the children to pick out the item that doesn’t belong. d. To add to the fun, sing this song:

One of These Things (Is Not Like The Others) (Words and Music by Joe Raposo and Joe Stone) If you’re unfamiliar with this song, it’s from Sesame Street and a version can be found on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZIvgQ9ik48 One of these things is not like the others, One of these things just doesn't belong, Can you tell which thing is not like the others By the time I finish my song? Did you guess which thing was not like the others? Did you guess which thing just doesn't belong? If you guessed this one is not like the others, Then you're absolutely...right! Another version: Three of these things belong together Three of these things are kind of the same Can you guess which one of these doesn't belong here? Now it's time to play our game (time to play our game).

7. Craft: Daring Disguise (Ages 6–8) Make this silly (and famous) moustache disguise!

Materials:

• Black pipe cleaners • Stiff black paper

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• Orange paper • Black or brown felt or fake fur • Glue • Tape • Scissors

Instructions:

a. Using scissors, cut out an eyeglass shape from the black paper. b. Cut each black pipe cleaner in half to use as the “stems.” c. To attach the eyeglasses to the stems, tape a pipe cleaner to each side of the

eyeglasses and bend the un-taped portion of the pipe cleaner around the child’s ear to fit.

d. Cut out a nose shape from the orange paper and glue it to the centre of the eyeglasses.

e. Cut two pieces of the felt or fur into rectangular shapes and glue one piece above the eyeglasses to serve as an eyebrow.

f. Cut another piece of the felt or fur into a moustache shape and glue it beneath the nose.

8. Whose Shoes? (Ages 6–8) Someone snuck into the library last night and made a real mess! They even left their dirty footprints all over the floor. Can you match the shoe to the print? Materials:

• 10–15 shoes (with different treads or in different sizes) • Packing paper (or large roll of paper) • Washable paint • Tape

Instructions:

a. Paint the bottom of one of the shoes. b. Press the shoe onto the paper, making a shoe print. c. Continue this process with the same shoe, making a line of footprints. d. Repeat the process with 7–8 other pairs of shoes, painting each a different colour. e. Wash the paint off the soles. f. Post the paper on the wall and arrange all of the shoes, including the shoes that

were not used to make prints, on the floor. g. Ask the children to match the shoes to the print on the wall until all are matched.

There are many books that will work with parts of this program. Choose from this list or look on your shelves for other favourites. Daisy Gets Dressed by Claire Beaton

Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear? by Nancy White Carlstrom

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Whose Hat Is This? A Look at Hats Workers Wear – Hard, Tall and Shiny by Sharon Katz

Cooper

Where’s My Sock? by Joyce Dunbar

Hide-and-Seek Clothes by Kristin Eck

Stop Those Pants! by Mordicai Gerstein

The Sheep in Wolf’s Clothing by Helen Lester Froggy Gets Dressed by Jonathan London Bare Bear by Miriam Moss

Whose Coat Is This? A Look at How Workers Cover Up – Jackets, Smocks, and Robes by

Laura Purdie Salas

How Do I Put It On? by Shigeo Watanabe

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Master of Disguise (Target Audience: Preschool)

Introduction Children love to dress up in costumes or wear masks for a disguise. Invite preschoolers to dress up in a favourite costume or outfit they could use as a disguise.

1. Read them a story, e.g., a folk or fairy tale in which one of the main characters has a disguise of any form.

2. Have the children take turns guessing to determine each other’s costume or disguise.

3. Craft: Make a mask. There are many good books on this theme. Here are just a few suggestions. Check your shelves for other favourites. The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen

Sleeping Beauty by the Brothers Grimm

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs by the Brothers Grimm

Little Red Riding Hood by various authors/illustrators

The Dragon Prince: A Chinese Beauty and the Beast Tale by Laurence Yep

Craft: Make a Mask Materials:

• Scissors • Hole punch • String • Wide popsicle sticks (optional) • Coloured markers or crayons • Glue • Sparkles or sparkle glue (optional) • Scraps of tissue paper • Bag of coloured feathers, pompoms (optional) • Paper plates

Instructions:

a. Have the children hold the paper plate up to their face so that the holes for their eyes can be marked and cut out.

b. Have children use their imagination to create and colour a unique design on their mask.

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c. Children can either use a wide popsicle/craft stick to hold up the mask (masquerade style) or have holes punched on either side and attach string to hold it around their head.

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I Spy With My Little Eye (Target Audience: Preschool)

Even the smallest of spies can learn how important observation is to sleuthing! Develop their understanding of the sense of sight with these fun activities. 1. Spyglass Craft Make your very own spyglass to keep an eye on your surroundings! Materials:

• Empty paper towel rolls • Glue • Beads • Sparkles • Stickers • Markers or crayons

Instructions:

a. Using the markers or crayons, let children colour the outside of the paper towel roll. b. Children can decorate their spyglass with sparkles, beads or any other decorative

materials. c. Once the glue is dry, children can use their spyglass to look around. d. Follow this activity with a song, using the spyglasses.

The Spy Went Undercover (To the tune of For He's a Jolly Good Fellow) The spy went undercover The spy went undercover The spy went undercover To try and catch a thief To try and catch a thief To try and catch a thief But he forgot his spyglass But he forgot his spyglass But he forgot his spyglass And so he lost the thief And so he lost the thief And so he lost the thief

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The spy forgot his spyglass And so he lost the thief!

2. I Spy Game I Spy is a well-known visual guessing game. Try these variations to teach shapes, colours and the letters of the alphabet. Materials:

• Items to spy (clip-art images or actual items—should be different colours and shapes. Items should also begin with a different letter of the alphabet.) Put them up around the room and make them clearly visible.

Instructions:

a. The leader picks an object beginning with a letter of the alphabet and says, “I spy with my little eye, something that begins with the letter…”

b. The children look around and try to guess which object the person has selected. c. To vary the game, the leader can choose items based on colour or shape. d. Children can be invited to act as the leader.

3. Here Are My Eyes Read a story about eyes or eyesight, such as:

The Eye by Theo LeSieg

I Can Read With My Eyes Shut! by Dr. Seuss

One-Eye! Two-Eyes! Three-Eyes! A Very Grimm Fairy Tale by Aaron Shepard

Follow up with this rhyme:

Here Are My Eyes Here are my eyes (point to eyes) One and two I can wink (wink) And so can you When my eyes are open (open eyes wide) I can see the light When they are closed (close eyes) It's dark as night

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4. E is for Eyes Materials:

• Letter E—upper- and lowercase (template attached) • Googly eyes (optional) • White paper • Markers • Glue • Scissors

Instructions:

a. Colour the upper- and lowercase letters with markers. b. Using the scissors, cut out circles from the white paper. c. If you have them, glue the googly eyes inside the letters. d. Glue the white circles inside the letters, and use the markers to turn the circles into

eyes with eyelashes (and eye shadow!). http://www.thebestkidsbooksite.com/crafttemp/There are many good books on this theme. Below are a few suggestions but check your shelves for other favourites. I See Animals Hiding by Jim Arnosky Rooster’s Off To See The World by Eric Carle Fish Eyes: A Book You Can Count On by Lois Ehlert Take Another Look by Tana Hoban I See, You Saw by Nurit Karlin Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin It Looked Like Spilt Milk by Charles G. Shaw Tiny’s Big Adventure by Martin Waddell Can You See What I See? Once Upon a Time: Picture Puzzles to Search and Solve by

Walter Wick

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Insect Investigator’s ABCs (also 6-8)

(Target Audience: Preschool and Ages 6–8)

Introduction: An insect investigator’s job is to learn one unusual fact about the insects we see all around us. Instructions: Leaders should prepare three poster-size pictures—ant, butterfly, caterpillar—which can be put at the front of the room for all the children to see. Also prepare a picture of a chrysalis to show later in the program. A is for Ant Ask questions to get the children thinking about ants. Questions for children include: Which of these insects is an ant? How many legs does an ant have? (six) How many body parts do they have? (three) What do you know about the lives of ants? Ants are very small, but they are hard workers and can carry very heavy loads. One unusual fact—Some ants can carry 10–20 times their body weight. That would be like you being able to carry a refrigerator and a dishwasher too! Teach children this song:

The Ants Go Marching Two by Two The ants go marching two by two, hurrah, hurrah, (2x) The ants go marching two by two The last one stopped to pick up a shoe, and they all went marching down, to the ground, to get out of the rain Boom, boom, boom. (Continue numbers up to 10) three – climb up a tree four – close the door five – take a dive six – pick up sticks seven – go to heaven eight – shut the gate nine – check the time ten – to say THE END!

(Once children learn how the song goes, spend some time marching around the room, acting out the words.)

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B is for Butterfly, C is for Caterpillar (and Chrysalis) What other pictures do you see at the front? Do you know that butterflies and caterpillars are related? How? A butterfly starts out as a very small egg, then becomes a caterpillar. The caterpillar eats a lot and turns into a chrysalis. (Leaders show a picture of a chrysalis.) Finally, it turns into a beautiful butterfly. Caterpillars eat a lot in order to grow. One unusual fact about a butterfly is that it tastes its food by standing on it! An unusual fact about caterpillars is that they have been called eating machines! They may split and shed their skins four to five times as they grow larger. Read a story about a caterpillar and how much he eats. For example: The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle Teach children the following finger play (they can practise on themselves and each other).

Little Arabella Miller Little Arabella Miller had a fuzzy caterpillar. First it climbed upon her mother (fingers tip tap up your arm) Then upon her baby brother (fingers tip tap up the other arm) All cried, “Arabella Miller (wag your finger) Take away that caterpillar!”

Craft – Butterfly Life Cycle Poster Children make their own posters (Leaders can prepare a poster themselves ahead of time for illustration.) Materials:

• Markers or crayons • Construction paper (large size; one per child) • Cotton balls • Scissors • White glue • Many smaller pieces of multicoloured construction paper. Cut out 5-cm (2-inch)

squares in different colours. Children will trim seven of these each to create small circles. They will also cut one small, thin oval to create a butterfly body.

• Trace two 7.5-cm (3-inch) hearts on lighter coloured paper. One piece of paper (with two hearts) per child.

Instructions:

a. Each child gets a large piece of construction paper that they can fold into quarters. b. In each quarter of the paper, children illustrate a life cycle. c. An egg (draw a dot or circle).

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d. A chrysalis (glue on a pulled-out cotton ball). e. A caterpillar. Children cut out seven 5-cm (2-inch) circles and paste them down in a

row. Legs, face and antennae can be added using markers. f. A butterfly. Children cut out two heart shapes and one long skinny oval from

construction paper and glue them down — one heart glued sideways on each side of the body as wings. Wings can be decorated with markers, and antennae and face added.

Teach children a “Butterfly Song” (Sung to the tune “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star”)

Flutter, flutter butterfly Floating in the summer sky Floating by for all to see Floating by so merrily Flutter, flutter butterfly Floating in the summer sky.

There are many books on insects. One good title for this program is: Backyard Detective: Critters Up Close by Nic Bishop (Its illustrations are almost like the I Spy books.)

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Guess! Guess! Guess! (Target Audience: Preschool)

There are many good books on this theme. Some of them are listed below. Check your library for other favourites. It Does Not Say Meow: And Other Animal Riddle Rhymes by Beatrice Schenk De

Regniers What am I? by Linda Granfield Can You Guess? by Margaret Miller Guess Who? by Margaret Miller Whose Feet? by Jeannette Rowe Do Lions Live on Lily Pads? by Melanie Walsh Do Zebras Bloom in Spring? by Viki Woodworth Activity: Use props, pictures or stuffed animals to help kids “solve the mystery.” Activity: Have the kids pretend to be different characters. Rhymes:

Fuzzy Wuzzy Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn’t fuzzy Was he?

Can You Hop, Hop, Hop Like a Bunny? Can you hop, hop, hop, like a bunny? And run, run, run like a dog? Can you walk, walk, walk like an elephant? And jump, jump, jump like a frog? Can you swim, swim, swim like a goldfish? And fly, fly, fly like a bird? Can you sit right down and fold your hands, And say not a single word.

Song: Alice the Camel You can find the words and music here: http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/lyrics/sally.htm

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Craft: Take an idea from one of the books, i.e. Do Lions Live on Lily Pads? Photocopy and cut out a picture of a lion and a lily pad, or if there aren’t too many kids and you have the time, cut out construction paper lions and lily pads. Have the kids glue the lion to the lily pad and colour the picture.

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Fingerprint Creatures

(also 6-8) (Target Audience: Preschool or Ages 6–8)

Approximate Time: 45 minutes (this may vary according to how long of an introduction you do. You would want to do a more detailed intro for six- to eight-year-olds.) Materials:

• Small magnifying glasses (not necessary for the program but would definitely be an asset)

• Non-toxic, washable ink pads • Paper for each child • Markers • Enlarged images of fingerprints (see the different patterns below) • Samples of fingerprint animals/people that you have made ahead of time (see

examples below) Introduction: Have the children examine their fingertips and look at the loops and swirls that make them up. Then have them examine a friend’s fingertips (or those of a child sitting next to them). Are their friend’s fingerprints the same as theirs? Explain that everyone has unique fingerprints—nobody has the same fingerprints as they do! Talk about how fingerprints are left on objects that we touch even if we can’t see them (e.g. touching a doorknob to open a door). Explain how detectives can use a special powder to make fingerprints show up. Then they match the fingerprints they see to a person’s fingerprints that have been stamped on a paper. By matching up the fingerprints, they can see who has been there and who has touched the objects in the room. For example, if detectives wanted to know “who stole the cookies from the cookie jar,” they could dust the top of the cookie jar for fingerprints to tell them who has touched the jar. For an older group, you can also show pictures of these three types of fingerprint patterns and explain them:

ARCH LOOP WHORL

Many fingerprint images can be found on the Internet or in books and enlarged to show children. Children can try to find out what type of fingerprint patterns they have and what type their friends have.

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Craft Description: Have some samples prepared to show the children how they can create animals or people with their fingerprints (by forming the animal bodies with different fingerprints and adding details with markers.)

Using the ink pads, have the children stamp their thumbprints or fingerprints on a sheet of paper. The children can clean their fingers at this point while waiting for the fingerprint marks to dry, and you won’t end up with little fingerprints all over the place!

Then they can use markers to create animals or people, and create a scene (e.g. a farm scene, a zoo) or just make a random assortment of different favourite animals.

Take a look at Ed Emberley’s books for inspiration or check out his website:

http://www.edemberley.com/pages/main.aspx?section=db&subSection=thumbPrintPages

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Fairy Tale Detective (also 6-8)

(Target Audience: Preschool or Ages 6–8) Here are two suggested books for the preschool program, but feel free to choose similar books if you don’t have either of these. Each Peach Pear Plum by Janet Ahlberg One Two Guess Who by Colin Hawkins Felt Board or Storytelling: Tell Little Red Riding Hood and/or The Three Bears using a mystery twist as in the program for 6–8 year olds, below. Activity: Little Red Rhyme Little Red, Little Red put on your hood (pretend to put on hood) Little Red, Little Red walk through the wood (walk on the spot) Little Red, Little Red meet a Wolf who’s bad (make wolf ears with hands) Little Red, Little Red run away like mad (run quickly on the spot) Little Red, Little Red knock on Grandma’s door (pretend to knock on door) Little Red, Little Red do that knock once more (pretend to knock again) Little Red, Little Red look in Grandma’s eyes (put hands over eyes and stare) Little Red, Little Red, now there’s a surprise (make a “surprised” face) Little Red, Little Red pull off her night cap (pretend to pull off hat) “That’s the Big Bad Wolf! Now imagine that!” (pretend to be wolf again) Craft: Make paper bag puppets of one of the characters from any of the books listed above. The program for children ages 6–8 is loosely based on the book Jake Gander Storyville Detective: The Case of the Greedy Granny by George McClements. The book is not necessary for the program. Introduction: Play Fairy Tale Match Up (pg. 150) To make this more challenging, scramble the letters in one or both columns. Activity: Detective Materials:

• Flipchart or chalkboard • Postcard

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Story: Put on your “detective hat” and pick up a magnifying glass or some other prop. Tell the kids about a recent case you solved, i.e. “Early one morning a little girl wearing a red jacket with a hood came into my office. She had gone to visit her grandmother and was very upset — Granny had a strange new look. So I went with the Little Red Riding Hood to her grandmother’s house to take a look. As soon as I saw Granny I knew something wasn’t right. I started to look for clues.” At this point, use a flipchart (or chalkboard) to illustrate the differences. “What did Granny’s ears look like?” Draw a picture of a wolf ear and a picture of a human ear beside it. (Lightly draw the outline beforehand and go over it with a marker if you have trouble drawing.) “What did Granny’s eyes look like?” “What did Granny’s teeth look like?” Continue to draw the pictures. “How did Granny feel?” She seemed to be wearing furry pyjamas that shed instead of her nice, soft cotton ones. Draw a picture of fur (just lines) and of something soft (cloud or glue a cotton ball to the paper). “How did Granny sound?” She had a deep “growly” voice instead of her soft musical voice. Write “Grrr” or “growl” on one side and a few musical notes beside it. “So I put it all together and this is what I discovered!” On the next sheet of paper, go over the clues as you draw the picture of the wolf. “We took the wolf down to the police station but we were left with one more question.” (Get the kids to guess what the question is.) “That’s right—Where was Granny? The answer to that riddle arrived in the mail the next day. Granny was on vacation.” Hold up a post card of some lovely place. Activity: Challenge your senses—encourage the kids to combine their knowledge with their imagination to figure out what they are seeing, hearing, etc. Touch: • Have a box covered with a cloth. • Put an object in the box (i.e. a stuffed animal)

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• Have a volunteer feel inside the box and figure out what is in it Smell: • Put a small cup of water beside one of vinegar and have the volunteer guess what they

are. Hear: • Play some sound effects and have the kids guess what they are. Taste: • Put a small cup of sugar beside one of salt (use a craft stick for tasting) and have a

volunteer guess what they are. Observing: • Present a couple of optical illusions and have the kids guess what they are seeing. Other stories that work well or that can be incorporated into this theme might be The Three Bears (any version). Same idea—the Bears come to see the detective because someone has been in their home! The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka This is great for illustrating that there is always ”another side to the story.” Falling For Rapunzel by Leah Wilcox A fun mystery—What will it take for Rapunzel to finally figure out what the Prince wants? (This is a lot of fun to act out.)

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Extreme Close-Up (Target Audience: Preschool and Ages 6–8)

Approximate Time: 30–45 minutes This program is inspired by the Tana Hoban “look books” (such as Take a Closer Look and Take Another Look). These books are not necessary for this program, but would be an asset for children to look at and check out after the program. Materials:

• Paper towel or toilet paper tubes • Markers or crayons • Any decorative items (e.g. sparkles) – optional • Hole punch • Yarn • Pictures of various objects (e.g. fruits and vegetables, animals, etc.)

Before the program: The children will create and decorate a “spy scope” for themselves to use in the program. Before the program begins, punch a couple of holes into one end of the tubes and attach the yarn so that it creates a neck strap (like binoculars). Instructions: Children will create a spy scope for themselves. For more details, see the spyglass craft in I Spy With My Little Eye on pg. 39. Demonstrate how to use the spy scope to the children (show them that they have to close one eye and look through the scope with the other). Divide the children into pairs (if there is an uneven number of kids, there can be one group of three children). The children will take turns being the picture spy. One child in the pair looks through the spy scope, while the other child holds up a picture very close to the end of the scope (so that the spying child can see only a tiny portion of the object in the picture). The spying child will have to guess what object is in the picture based on the small portion visible through the spy scope. The children can give each other clues to identify the objects. Program Addition/Alternative: This can also be done as a group activity. If you have the means, you can take some extreme close-up photos and display them for the children. You can either show pictures on a screen or use hard copies of photos if a screen/projector is not available to you.

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Have extreme close-up pictures of everyday objects (e.g. a sponge, bar of soap, pine cone, etc.) to show the children. Have them guess what the objects are. Follow the extreme close-up picture with a picture of the entire object (so that the children can see what the object actually is). They may be very surprised to find out what some of the objects are!

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Box of Mystery! (also 6-8)

(Target Audience: Preschool or Ages 6–8)

Approximate Time: 45 minutes Materials:

• Small cardboard boxes with lids/tops. The lids should have a hole cut in the top just big enough for children to put their hands through.

• Items to decorate box (such as): • Paint/construction paper to cover the box • Markers • Stickers • Cut-out question marks (optional) • Any decorative bits and pieces that you have around • White craft glue or glue sticks

• Various small objects to put in the boxes (e.g. shells, buttons, etc.) Instructions: Children will decorate their mystery boxes and then be divided into pairs. Each child will have a few “secret items” to put in their box (one at a time). Each child can keep their secret items in an envelope or bag to hide them from their partner. One child will then close their eyes while the other child selects a secret item to place in their mystery box. The other child will then open their eyes, and place their hand through the hole in the box. They will have to guess what the item is by using their sense of touch, as well as some clues provided by their partner. Then they switch so that the other child becomes the guesser.

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Stick Puppets (Target Audience: Preschool or Ages 6–8)

Colour the character, cut it out and tape a popsicle stick to the back.

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TD Summer Reading Club 2009

AAGGEENNTT 000099

Program for Ages 6-8

10. Program for Ages 6-8

Detective School – Week 1 (also 9-12)

(Target Audience: Ages 6–8 or 9–12) If you know that you will be getting the same children each week, this six-week program will be ideal. Pick and choose the elements that work with your staff, your budget and your library patrons. Getting Your Secret Agent Number and Rank (Prepared in advance) The staff member in charge (Chief Inspector Librarian) needs to prepare secret agent number badges in advance of the first week of the Summer Reading Club program. This activity, combined with creating a headquarters, playing atmospheric music (list elsewhere) and perhaps having some dress-up clothes, will make a great introduction to the program. This is the first piece of the kids’ Spy School Kit.

1. Chief Inspector Librarian assigns a number to each detective starting with 001 and working up to 099. Give detectives their number on an official-looking circle of coloured cardboard that can be made into a badge with a safety pin or hung around their necks as identification. Detectives need to be identified when in the “classroom.” You could refer to each other from now on by your official detective identification (just as James Bond is called “007” or Maxwell Smart “86”). Badges should be removed before leaving headquarters.

2. Add the kids’ rank to this piece of identification. Detective or agent would be fine or you can expand their ranks if preferred—sergeant, inspector or officer.

3. To hang the ID around your neck, simply punch holes in it and put it on a string. 4. To make a badge, affix a safety pin to the back with masking tape. 5. Alternatively, the badge could be covered with one of the SRC stickers, and then

the number and rank written on with permanent marker. 6. The badge can be covered with Mylar.

Getting Your ID Card This ID card is the second piece of the detectives’ Spy School Kit. Chief Inspector Librarian will need to prepare the cards, and detectives can fill in their own information. Alternatively, it would be fun to have a typewriter in the room for this activity. Detectives can then glue the information to cardboard and/or cover with Mylar.

1. Cut out rectangles 6 cm x 11 cm (2.5” x 4.5”) from coloured card stock. 2. Using felt markers, write details on the right side of card—name, age, rank, code

number, height, eye colour, hair colour, favourite cookie! 3. Ask children to bring a small photo for their ID card for next week, or take their

pictures with an instant camera. They could be wearing detective hats and

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overcoats for their photos. Alternatively, the children could draw a small picture of themselves, or you could have cards without pictures.

4. Use Mylar to cover the ID cards for an official look, or make a template and photocopies, and glue copied forms onto cardboard backing. This might look more “official.” Badges and ID cards can be as simple or as sophisticated as time and supplies allow.

Craft: Thumb Writer and Notebook

1. To record notes about your detective work without anyone suspecting a thing, you need to make yourself a thumb writer and a notebook that looks like a regular book.

2. To make the thumb writer, you need a nicely sharpened, short pencil and a piece of Bristol board 7 cm x 2 cm (2 ¾” x ¾”).

3. Wrap the Bristol board around the top of your thumb and tape it to fit snugly, but so you can still take it off.

4. Take it off and tape the pencil to the outside of the ring of Bristol board. The whole thing must be firmly taped to work properly.

5. Next, you need a notebook disguised as a book. Tape some blank paper to the detective’s own book or to a withdrawn library book. Make sure the blank paper is cut smaller than the pages of the book. (If Chief Inspector Librarian prefers, small notepads can be purchased earlier or put together as a quick craft.) Detectives can walk around reading and wearing their thumb writer and no one will actually know they are doing detective work and recording observations!

Observation Activities

1. Bring out a tray of items covered with a towel. Lift the towel and give the detectives two minutes to observe and remember the items. Cover the tray and have them record the items in their special book using their thumb writer, or give them a form like a fax form to record on. The detective who remembers the most items wins! Another version of this can be found in “Is It All Here?”, under the “The Power of Disguise” (pg. 75)

2. Fill a pillowcase with items. Let the detectives feel the items and identify and record them. Whoever has the most correct items wins!

Conclusion Give each detective a file folder or manila envelope. Write badge numbers and “Confidential” on the folders. Detectives can store their badge, ID card, notebook and thumb writer for next week. Detective Code Name Detectives, agents and spies sometimes use fake names to protect their real identities. Create your own detective code name

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________________________ + _______________________ (Favourite colour) (Name of your street) You can have all kinds of fun making up secret identities. Instead of “Favourite colour” or “Name of your street,” you could try your favourite animal, birthstone, or food. ******************************************************* Each week you may want to do some standard activities to tie the club together. Check Detective School Weekly Essentials for some ideas (pg. 69.)

Theme Music

Get your detectives in the mood for mystery with some popular theme songs!

• Pink Panther • James Bond • Get Smart • Mission Impossible • Men In Black • Austin Powers • Batman • Dick Tracy • Scooby-Doo

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Detective School – Week 2 (also 9-12)

(Target Audience: Ages 6–8 or 9–12) Craft: Making a Spy Kit Holder Approximate Time: 60 minutes Materials:

• Hardback books (withdrawn/discarded books). Thick books are better. • Scissors • Pencils

Instructions: Children will make containers out of withdrawn, hardback library books. It is actually time-consuming to do all this cutting, and some children may need to take it home to finish, or you might need to finish it for them if you have lots of volunteers!

1. In order to carry around your spy kit—magnifying glass, notepad, pencil, etc.—you need an inconspicuous container. Who would suspect a book as a holder for your kit?

2. Open the book to about page 20. Draw a rectangle on the right-hand page leaving 2.5 cm (1”) around the edges. Cut out this first rectangle.

3. Using this cutout as a template, draw a rectangle on the next right-hand page and cut it out. Keep doing this for as many pages as you need to make a nice secret compartment in your book.

4. Leave 20 or so pages at the back too, the same as you did at the front, to make it stronger.

5. Your secret hiding place is ready! 6. Store it on your shelf with other books, but don’t forget which one is yours! 7. This container is your spy kit holder—invisible to the rest of the world! 8. Tip: When picking your book, you might choose one that is not too enticing to your

friends—you don’t want them to open it up accidentally! Then again, you don’t want to arouse their suspicions by choosing a book you’d never, ever read either. A big decision…

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Detective School – Week 3 (also 9-12)

(Target Audience: Ages 6–8 or 9–12) First, explain how detectives search the scene of a crime to see who has been there, then do the activities. Activity: Taking Your Own Fingerprints Approximate Time: 20 minutes Materials:

• 8 ½” x 11” coloured paper • 8 ½” x 14” white paper • Pencil • Scissors • Glue • Ink pads • Paper towels • Wet wipes

Instructions:

1. Trace the outline of your left hand on a piece of coloured paper. Trace the outline of your right hand on a different piece of coloured paper.

2. Cut out the handprints (templates) and stick them on a large sheet of white paper. 3. Using clean hands, open an ink pad and take your own fingerprints. Do it

systematically and one finger at a time. Press your left pinky on the pad and press it firmly on the correct finger of your template. Wipe your pinky finger on a paper towel or wet wipes. Do the same for all 10 fingers. You will have a perfect set of all 10 fingerprints.

4. Detectives can repeat this at home with family members and friends to start an expansive collection of suspect identification files!

Activity: Taking Your Own Teeth Imprints Approximate Time: 10 minutes Teeth imprints are unique in the same way that fingerprints are. Detectives use dental records to identify remains. Children can take teeth imprints, compare them with each other and keep the imprints in their detective kits. Materials:

• Styrofoam plates • Scissors

Instructions:

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The plates might be round or rectangular, so experiment first with placing them in your own mouth to provide the kids with good directions for the Styrofoam you have to work with. If you have large round plates, cut them in four or more. The rectangles might only need to be cut in half. Experiment with the size.

1. Stack two pieces of Styrofoam and place the narrow end in your mouth. It needs to go far back, but don’t gag yourself!

2. Bite down firmly. 3. Label the pieces with your name and “top” or “bottom.” 4. Compare with the other detectives! Observe any unique identifiers that make your

teeth imprints different from those of the other detectives, including the number of teeth.

Activity: Taking Your Own Shoe Prints Approximate Time: 15 minutes This activity will be expanded into a game that involves first making shoe prints, then matching the shoe prints to the person. The making of the shoe prints can be done one day, and the game played on the last day as a party activity. Materials:

• Paper • Pencils • Scissors • Measuring tapes or rulers

Instructions:

1. Divide children into groups of two. 2. One of the partners puts one foot on one sheet of paper and the other foot on

another sheet of paper. 3. The other partner draws around each foot. 4. Change spots and repeat for the second person. 5. Cut out your own shoe prints. 6. Put your secret agent number on the back of one shoe print and put it in your

detective kit. 7. Give the second shoe print to the Chief Inspector Librarian. The activity can be

ended here and the game played another day, or the two can be combined in one day.

8. When everyone’s prints are completed, the Chief Inspector Librarian gives out one shoe print to each detective.

9. Each detective has the task of finding the owner of the shoe print. Use powers of observation and measuring tapes to determine whose shoe prints belong to whom! This should be a timed event.

10. This activity could be made harder by looking at the bottom of the shoes and copying the pattern on the shoe print. Detectives could then line up the suspects and compare their shoe print to the actual shoes. If the group is not too large, this

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could be done one at a time, perhaps starting with the youngest detectives to make it last a little!

Note: If your attendees are a mix of ages, you might want to do a more involved version of these activities. See “The Power of Disguise” (for Ages 9–12) on page 75.

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Detective School – Week 4 (also 9-12)

(Target Audience: Ages 6–8 or 9–12)

Secret Messages There are numerous ways of uncovering messages or finding out what people are up to when they are writing notes! This note making and revealing can take a long time if the detectives are having fun! Materials:

• Notepads • Ballpoint pens • Coloured pencils • Carbon paper • White crayons • White paper

Instructions: Here are a few ways the children can write or reveal messages.

1. Have detectives write messages in their notepads. They remove that page and then swap notepads with other detectives to reveal their secrets. To uncover the last message on a notepad, gently colour over the blank page with a coloured pencil or crayon, and the impression should reveal itself.

2. To find out what the other detectives are up to, leave a booby-trapped notepad around. Trim a piece of carbon paper slightly smaller than the paper size. Set the carbon paper two sheets behind the top one. After a message has been written on the top sheet, you should find the information left behind. Don’t check the message until the writer is out of sight! Note: Be sure the children use pens for this.

3. Write a message on white paper with a wax or a white crayon. Uncover the invisible message by lightly colouring over it with a coloured pencil.

4. If someone is up to something, you could just try spying over their shoulder to see what they are writing—if you do it quietly and skilfully enough you might just get away with it.

See Invisible Messages and Cracking Codes on pages 93, 105 and 111 for more ideas. Activity: Your Partner

1. All the detectives we ever see on the television seem to have a partner they can depend on. If you don’t have a partner yet, choose one.

2. You may also want a secret way to connect with your partner or an informant (an informant could be a witness with information). There are various ways of doing this. Give the witness and your partner the same playing cards—all of you have a four of diamonds (different card packs are needed for this) or all of you have a Jack (only one pack is needed for this). Arrange a meeting and identify each other with

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your agreed-upon playing card. If the cards are wrong, you’ll know you have an impostor!

3. Draw a picture. Tear it in half and give one half to each person. On meeting, they can show their picture, match it up and they’ll know that all is well—no espionage here!

4. Tear a postcard in half. Give one half to the informant. At the arranged time, you will meet up and put the postcard together.

5. You and your partner can develop secret signals. Casually pressing a finger to your lips means stop talking—you may be getting yourself into trouble! A finger on the ear means listen up! Rest your hand on your chin with a thumbs-up for yes and a thumbs-down for no. A hand around your throat means danger—take care! A finger by your right eye means “look right, partner.” A finger by the left eye means “look left, partner.” Make up your own signs so that only you and your partner are in the know.

Activity: Double Envelope Trick Materials:

• Two identical manila envelopes • Scissors • Glue • A secret note to send!

Instructions:

1. Cut the front off one envelope, keeping the flap attached. Trim a little bit off the edges.

2. Slide this cutout front into the other identical envelope, lining up the flaps perfectly. The glue sides are not together.

3. Slide your secret message into the envelope and between the two flaps. 4. Glue the two flaps together and seal up the hidden compartment that contains your

message. 5. When opened in the regular way, the envelope looks empty. You could put a note in

the regular compartment if you like, so it will not look suspicious if it falls into the wrong hands.

6. The true recipient of the envelope should know what to do: rip off the seal and voilà—the message is found.

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Detective School – Week 5 (also 9-12)

(Target Audience: Ages 6–8, 9–12) Approximate Time: 60 minutes Materials:

• 8½” x 14” paper • Pencils • Coloured pencils • Stickers of books, plants, computers (optional) • These should make the creation of the map much easier for the younger children.

Activity: Crime Map Instructions: Each child makes a map of the Children’s section of the library, marking the scene of a crime with an “X” on the map. Children decide how to show their partner where the scene of the crime is. Identifiers may include bookshelves, tables or special features. Remind them that another detective must be able to find the “X” next week using this map. It can be very detailed or not so detailed, but it must lead another detective to the “X”. In Week 6, each detective will put a disc marked with an “X” in his or her chosen spot. (Chief Inspector Librarian must produce this disc for next week). Another detective will get the map and search for the scene of the crime. The detective will retrieve the disc and bring it to Chief Inspector Librarian. In exchange, the detective will receive next week’s activity, party candies. Instructions for the children:

1. Fold the piece of paper in half width wise (meaning you fold the 8½” edge). 2. Now fold the top half back towards the left edge. 3. On this folded front you will draw your real map. 4. Add a trick part to your map by opening it up and drawing an imaginary section that

looks just like part of the real one. 5. When the paper is unfolded it looks like a complete map. 6. When it is folded it is the real map! 7. Choose the scene of the crime and mark it with an “X.” 8. Make sure you put your name on your map. 9. Store your map in your kit holder until next week or give it to the Chief Inspector

Librarian if that works out better.

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Detective School – Week 6 (also 9-12)

(Target Audience: Ages 6–8, 9–12) Activity: Message in a Candy Approximate Time: 10 minutes This week’s activities are planned as an end of summer party. Materials:

• Small pieces of paper • Pencils • Scissors • Tape • Candies in individual wrappers • Small bags

Instructions:

1. Chief Inspector Librarian needs to assemble a loot bag before the party. Put a few candies or other goodies in a small bag.

2. Detectives will assemble one candy with a secret message in it for their partner. Make sure hands are washed before the children do this!

3. The objective is to hide a message in one of the candies and set it up so that only the intended person gets it.

4. Children choose a candy for the person to receive the secret message and unwrap it. They write their message (or even a joke or a fortune) on a small piece of paper and place it on the candy paper without the edges showing. Put the candy back on top and wrap it up so it looks like it has never been tampered with.

5. With two-sided tape (or a loop of tape), stick this special candy halfway down the inside of a small bag.

6. Put a few more candies in the bag to make it like a little present or loot bag. Give it to Chief Inspector Librarian.

7. Detectives can designate their candy for a specific person or not. The special message will stay in the bag as detectives eat their way around it.

Activity: Shoe Print Game Do the “Shoe Print” game from week 3 if you didn’t play it yet. Even if you played it before, the game can be played again. Activity: Crime Map Game Detectives are going to look for the scene of the crime from last week’s Crime Maps. Chief Inspector Librarian distributes discs with an “X” on them. Detectives must go out to the Children’s area and put their disc in the chosen spot. Maybe one or two at a time can be doing this to try to keep it a secret. When all discs have been properly placed, the Chief Inspector Librarian can distribute the maps and have a hunt for the scene of the crime—

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probably a timed event of five minutes. When the detectives find their disc, they bring it to the Chief and exchange it for the little candy loot bag. Party Time Have a few treats or just the little loot bag of candy. Put on some background music. Have the kids choose books to take home. Read them a chapter of your favourite detective story. Take a group photo. Everyone knows each other by now—Enjoy!

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Detective School Weekly Essentials (also 9-12)

(Target Audience: Ages 6–8 or 9–12) Having set activities that you do every week will make your group more cohesive. Here are a few suggestions. Detective Roll Calls After the first week (when detective ID has been created), have a weekly roll call where children call out their detective name. Learn and Sing the “Official Detective Anthem” (Sung to the tune of “London Bridge”) Good detectives search for clues, search for clues, search for clues Good detectives search for clues, And they find them! Secrets, puzzles, mysteries too, mysteries too, mysteries too

Secrets, puzzles, mysteries too, Finding answers!

Questions answered, mysteries solved, mysteries solved, mysteries solved Questions answered, mysteries solved, NEXT CASE PLEASE! Develop Observation and Memory Skills Each week, play a game that helps to improve the observation skills needed by all detectives. Here are some examples: 1) Killer Froggy Instructions: The children sit on the ground in a circle (facing each other). One child is chosen to be the detective and asked to leave the room. The children in the circle are told the rules of the game. They are to close their eyes while the leader walks around the circle and taps someone’s shoulder. That person becomes the Killer Froggy. But no one knows who the Froggy is at first. The children open their eyes and the detective comes back in and starts walking around the circle. The Killer Froggy sticks out its tongue at random people around the circle, trying not to be noticed by the detective. If the frog sticks its tongue out at you, you just sit forward with your head in your arms. The detective gets three tries to guess the Killer Froggy. If the detective succeeds, someone else is chosen for the next round. If not, then that person is the detective again. It’s okay if other players know who the Killer Froggy is. 2) The Master Instructions: This is another circle game with a detective who must determine which child is “the Master.” While the detective is out of the room, the leader picks the Master. The Master

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will make a gesture and all the other players will immediately do the same thing. (Different gestures could include clapping hands, scratching your face, sticking out your tongue, scratching underarms, etc.) The detective is called back into the room and starts circling the group, trying to guess which child is the Master. The Master can also change the gesture when the detective isn’t looking. When the detective has guessed correctly, he or she sits back down in the circle and another Master and detective are chosen. 3) Fill the Bag Materials:

• 2 pencils • 2 sheets of paper • 4 plastic bags • 30–40 small objects

Instructions: Divide children into two teams. They sit behind each other in two long lines, one line per team. Give the last person in each line a pencil, a piece of paper and a plastic bag. Give the first person in each line a plastic bag filled with 15–20 small objects (toothbrushes, soap, candy, flashlight, shoe, toothpick, spoon, etc.). When the leader yells go, the first person in each line takes one item at a time out of the bag and passes it to the next person in line and so on until it is passed to the last person. Items must be passed overhead! The first task is to see which team can fill the bag at the end of the line the fastest. Once the bags are full, the persons at the end of the line must put the bag aside and ask their team to tell them what items are in the bag. The team that wins is the one that remembers the most objects. 4) What Happened? Materials:

Items such as: • A photograph • Ticket stubs • Keys • An address on an envelope • A restaurant serviette, etc.

Instructions: A large group of children may be divided into smaller teams for this game. The children are told that a crime has been committed. They are given five or six objects and told that they were the only clues left behind. The children together decide the nature of the crime, why it was committed, who was involved, etc. They have to come up with a reasonable story that links together the clues. What kind of interesting stories can they come up with?

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Once Upon a Crime (also 9-12)

(Target Audience: Ages 6–8 or 9–12) Secret potions and magic spells create mystery and intrigue, and play a major role in fairy tales. Read some of these well-known tales to the children and, depending on the age group, talk about potions and spells and conduct some simple experiments with the children. Additional crafts can be done with the younger age group instead of a more in-depth discussion of potions and spells. Here are some suggested fairy tales: The Frog Prince

Sleeping Beauty Snow White by the Brothers Grimm The Sisters Grimm: The Fairy-Tale Detectives by Michael Buckley The Book of Wizard Craft by Janice Eaton Kilby Witches and Magic Makers by Douglas Hill

Fizzing Potion Materials:

• Glass jar or drinking glass • White vinegar • Platter or tray • Food colouring of your choice • 15 ml (1 tablespoon) of baking soda in a bowl or jar

Instructions:

1. Fill the jar or glass half full with vinegar and place it on the tray or platter. 2. Add some drops of food colouring saying: ”I command you to bubble!” 3. Place one hand over the spoonful of baking soda and sprinkle it into the vinegar.

Shazaam! A cascade of fizz will erupt. Additional Activities and Discussion for the 9–12 Age Group Use the book Witches and Magic Makers (listed above) to discuss more elaborate potions and magic spells, especially pages 34–35.

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Door Hanger (Target Audience: Ages 6–8)

Print out, colour, cut and fold!

Authorized Personnel

Only

PROCEED WITH

CAUTION If not, go directly

to jail!

Do you know the Secret

Password?

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Agent 009 Tic Tac Toe

____________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

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Cut out the fingerprints and footprints for playing pieces.

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TD Summer Reading Club 2009

AAGGEENNTT 000099

Program for Ages 9 to 12

11. Program for Ages 9 to 12

The Power of Disguise in Two Parts (Target Audience: Ages 9–12)

This program can be done over two weeks or you can choose the activities you like for one program. PART 1 Detectives should be experts in the art of disguise. Sometimes they have to disguise themselves in order to go undercover. Other times, they have to be very observant in order to see through the disguises that other people use to hide in plain sight. As a kid, you can’t disguise yourself as an adult, but you can use a variety of methods to change your appearance. Types Of Disguises and How To Use Them Materials:

• Prepare a box with potential disguises to show the children and to let them try on. These may include hats, scarves, sunglasses, a pebble to put in a shoe and fake a limp, padding to make you look fatter, bigger shoes, cotton balls to put inside your cheeks to make them look fuller, different shirts, etc.

• Prepare another box with some unlikely disguises such as an eye patch, funny hat, fake eyeglasses, weird wig, fake nose, etc.

Ask children for some examples of disguises. Show children some of your examples and ask for several volunteers to try out various disguises. However, it is important not to choose something too unusual. The best disguises are ones that blend in. You don’t want to look strange, as this will help people to remember what you look like! You can also show the children some examples of disguises that are too obvious. Creating Your Own Legend Materials:

• Pencils • Paper • Large sheet of paper to write down discussion questions

Instructions: Give each child a pencil and piece of paper. Ask them to pair up with another child and discuss the type of disguise they would use to go undercover. They can discuss the answers to the following questions (which you have already written out on a large sheet of paper):

• How can I disguise myself?

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(My hair style, my eye colour, my style, my clothes, my posture, my size, my past, my way of speaking or my accent, my hobby or interests.)

• Create a new life story for yourself. What will it be like? Children can write down their disguise/new life story. Pick several volunteers to come to the front and show the group how they would change their appearance. Disguises are a way of changing our own appearance. Criminals will use disguises to cover up their features. They want people to remember the disguise, not their appearance. For example, if robbers use a bandana over their face, it disguises the nose, lips, cheeks and chin. If criminals use a hat, it covers their hair and ears, and sometimes eyes (if the hat is pulled down low). That is why it is so important for detectives to practise observation skills! Practising Observation Skills Give children a chance to practise their observation skills. Here are several ways to do this. Choose one or both activities to sharpen skills. 1) Stare Down Materials:

• Large piece of paper and a thick marker • One adult volunteer

Instructions: Ask for a staff member or parent volunteer to stand before the children for 30 seconds. After the person leaves the room, ask the children to call out descriptions and help them create an identity chart. Write answers down on a large piece of paper. Ask them for the following details: height, size, hair colour, eye colour, clothes worn, approximate age, any special identifying characteristics like tattoos, etc. After all the answers have been written down, ask the volunteer to return to the room. Ask the children, “How much did you remember?” “Were you accurate?” “What did you miss or forget?” 2) Is It All Here? Materials:

• One large tray • 15–20 different items to put on tray. Some examples could be toothbrush, spoon,

ball, pen, etc. • Tea towel or cover to put on top of tray

Instructions: Prepare a large tray with a variety of items on it (15–20 different things). Pass it around and give children 20 seconds to remember all the items on the tray. Then take it away and put a cover on it. Ask what was on the tray.

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Alternatively, take it away, remove a few things and then show the children again, asking them what has been removed. 3) Creating Wanted Posters In the past and even today, some crime-fighting departments use wanted posters. These posters are sometimes photographs, but can also be pictures drawn by artists with details given to them by witnesses with good memories. Materials:

• Markers, crayons or pencil crayons • Large white sheets of paper • Pack of index cards • White glue • Cut out pictures of people from discarded magazines. Glue them onto the index

cards (one picture per card). Prepare as many index cards as the number of children you expect for the program.

Instructions: Divide the children into two groups. Each child in the first group will be given a photograph of a person (clipped from a discarded magazine and glued to an index card). Each child in the second group will be given a piece of paper and some crayons or markers. Have each child with a photograph find a partner who will draw the wanted poster. The child with the photograph will not show it to the other person, but will describe it to them. The artist’s poster will be more accurate if the person with the photograph gives plenty of details (colour of hair, length of hair, eye shape and colour, shape of face, lips, type and colour of skin, shape of body—thin, fat, short, tall, muscular—clothes worn, glasses, tattoos, etc.). After each pair has created a wanted poster, choose several to show the group and compare the poster to the photograph. Ask for feedback from the children. Did the artist miss some details?

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PART 2 The Clues We Leave Behind and How to Read Them! Begin the program by giving the children an opportunity to warm up and practise their observation skills. Simon Says Game Instructions: The leader begins the game by giving one direction at a time and asking the children to follow the direction. For example, “Simon says touch your toes” (all the children should touch their toes). “Simon says rub your tummy and stick out your tongue” (all children follow directions). However, if the leader says, “Clap your hands” (without saying “Simon says” first), the children should not follow the directions. If a child obeys any direction without first hearing ”Simon says,” that child should sit down (and is now out). As the children catch on to this game, speed up the commands. Change leaders after every three to five commands. Fingerprint Profiles Each fingerprint is unique, but there are four distinct patterns that can be identified. These are the arch, loop, whorl and composite. Materials:

• Pre-made posters showing examples of four different fingerprint types. See Wikipedia for pictures of four main types (arch, loop, whorl and tented arch)

• White paper • Coloured paper • Pencils • Scissors • White glue • Pieces of paper towel • Stamp pads

Instructions: Children can learn to identify the different patterns in fingerprints by taking their own fingerprints. Give each child one piece of white paper (8 ½” x 11”), one piece of coloured paper (8 ½” x 11”) which can be folded and cut in half, a pencil, scissors, glue and a piece of paper towel. Place several stamp pads around the room for the children to use. Children use a pencil to trace one of their hands onto the coloured paper. Then they trace their other hand on a second piece of coloured paper, and cut both handprints out with scissors.

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Paste both handprints side by side onto the white paper. Leave enough room at the top of the white sheet to put your fingerprints. Then, press all five fingertips into the stamp pad and press them onto the white paper above the matching finger on the correct hand. Wipe off your fingers with paper towel. Repeat with your other hand. You will have a complete fingerprint set for yourself. Don’t forget to write your name on your sheet. Compare your fingerprints with your friend and see if you can identify one of the four patterns in your fingerprints. Congratulations, you are now a junior dactylographer (fingerprint specialist)! Footprints Footprints can reveal many things. They can often tell you if the suspect is a woman, man or child. The suspect may have big feet or little feet, wear boots or high heels, be slim or heavy, or be tall or short (this is indicated by the space between each footprint). Materials:

• A variety of footprint patterns cut out of construction paper • Construction paper • Pencils

Instructions: Prepare some examples of footprints ahead of time and have the children guess what they reveal. Ask them to look at each other’s footwear and tell the group if they see anything unusual that can be used as a clue. Some examples might include big treads, smooth bottoms on the sole, extra large feet, etc. Children can take turns tracing each other’s footprints. Teeth Marks Teeth prints or teeth marks can reveal things too! You might be able to tell if someone is bucktoothed, wears braces, has crowded teeth, is missing teeth, etc. And if you are a dentist, you can identify people by their dental records. Most people have gone to the dentist at one time or another and have had fillings put in. These can be used to identify them! Materials:

• Styrofoam plates Instructions: Children can create and compare teeth prints. Divide children into small groups and give each child a piece of Styrofoam (cut Styrofoam plates into quarters). Each child bites into (but not through) the largest area on the Styrofoam to create an impression. Then they can compare with friends and see if they can identify differences.

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Lip Prints It’s not just your fingerprints that are unique. The ridges on your lips are too. Similar to how people can be identified by their fingerprints, they can also be identified by their lip prints. You might have noticed lipstick marks left on drinking glasses and cups. Lipstick, too, can be analysed and compared to a suspect’s lipstick. (The study of lip prints is called cheiloscopy.) Try this activity to see how lip prints might be used as evidence. Materials:

• Lipstick (darker lipstick is better) • Q-tips to apply clean lipstick (one for each child) • White paper

Instructions: Each child uses a Q-tip to put lipstick on both lips, rubbing them together. They fold the white paper in half, place it between their lips and press, being careful not to smudge. The children then write their name on the paper. Examine the lip print. Can little lines, wrinkles and ridges be seen? What makes each lip print unique? If the size of the group and the time allow, children could make a second set of lip prints. On this set, the children write their name on the back of the print. Mix up this set and have the children compare this set of prints to the first set to determine whose lip prints are whose. Hair Types Everyone has a different hair type. That is why it is so important in helping to identify people. Ask children for some different examples of hair types. Hair can be different colours and different textures (fine or thick), curly, straight, wavy, thinning, short or long, etc. Of course, a person could also be bald! As well, an adult can have facial hair like a beard or moustache, and could also have lots of body hair (hairy chest or arms). Hair can also reveal many things about the inside of a person. If you analyse a strand of hair, you can find out if a person takes drugs, has an overload of heavy metal in the body, or is missing essential vitamins and nutrients. Materials:

• Paper to create one chart per group • Pencils

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Divide children into smaller groups of 8–10 if necessary, and have them chart each other’s hair type. Leaders prepare ahead of time one chart per group that includes the different options that can be filled in for each child. Examples include: First Name, Gender, Length of Hair, Wavy/Straight/Curly, Colour, Hair Accessories, Other. After the charts have been filled in, ask the children for their input about the patterns they see in their own group. Why do people have different types of hair? (Genetics, hair processing, hair styling) Do girls and boys have different types of hair? (The hair type is the same, but the style is usually different due to gender preferences.) Do people from different ethnic groups have different types of hair? (Yes!) What are the different ways people can change their hair? (Wigs, extensions, haircutting and styling, hair dyes.) What are some ways you shouldn’t try to disguise your hairdo? (Dye it a bright colour, razor cut designs in your hair, etc.) These disguises are just too easy to remember! For more ideas, see Program Three: Detective Disguises on page 24 of the “Week by Week Theme/Program Guide.” This website also has good ideas: http://www.cyberbee.com/whodunnit/crime.html

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Solve the Mystery (Target Audience: Ages 9–12)

Sometimes looking for clues can be like searching for a needle in a haystack (or in this case, a paper clip in a rice bowl). Paper Clips In A Rice Bowl Game Materials:

• Several large bowls • Enough uncooked rice to fill the bowls* • Several packages of paper clips* • One large piece of paper to chart the results of each person on each team • One thick marker

Instructions:

1. This game can be played by individuals in a small group (8–10) or, if you have a large group, divide it into several smaller groups who compete against each other.

2. Leaders should prepare ahead of time several large bowls filled with uncooked rice. 3. Empty a package of paper clips into each bowl of uncooked rice and stir them in

well. 4. Prepare a bowl for every group playing the game. 5. The object of the game is to find as many paper clips as possible within 10

seconds. 6. The bowl is given to the first person in the group. 7. The leader calls “Go” and counts down the 10 seconds out loud. At the end of the

allotted time, the leader calls “Stop” and asks for a count of the paper clips found. 8. The number of paper clips found by each individual on each team is recorded. 9. Then the paper clips are mixed back into the rice and the bowl is passed to the

second person on the team. 10. This continues until all individuals have had a chance to find the paper clips.

When all the children have finished the game, the winner is the person who found the most paper clips in 10 seconds. If you have several groups competing against each other, tally up the totals for each team, and the team with the most paper clips found wins the game. *If you don’t have paper clips and rice, you can play this game with toothpicks and spaghetti broken into pieces that are the approximate size of the toothpicks.

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Scavenger Hunt & Decoding Messages Instructions:

1. Create the eight clues that will be hidden throughout the library. They can be hand-drawn or photocopied from clip art. Make sure the clues are large (15 to 20 cm, or 6 to 8 inches). The eight clues are: • Footprints • Flashlight • Mask • Carryall bag • Fingerprint • Hat • Fake nose and glasses • Jewellery

2. Hide the clues throughout library as explained in the Instructions for Detectives

below. Use the hiding places given or modify them (and the instructions) as needed.

3. Make as many photocopies as needed of the instructions for detectives (larger groups can be subdivided into groups of four or five to look for each clue together). Children can look for all the clues together or be assigned one each.

4. Make as many photocopies as needed of the secret message to be decoded.

5. Create a large poster with the alphabet written out horizontally, e.g. ABCDEF…

This will help your detectives solve the encoded message.

6. The clue to decoding the message is to shift each letter of the code back 3 letters, e.g. “O” in the coded message equals “L” in the decoded message. The answer to the coded message is “Library staff area under kitchen sink jewellery.”

7. Staff can then show the eighth and final clue (photocopied picture of jewellery clip

art.) Instructions for Detectives: A thief entered the library at night looking for an expensive item hidden by his accomplice. The accomplice left him a coded message, but the thief had to look in seven different places before he found the message! The thief accidentally left clues behind in each place. Your first goal for this scavenger hunt is to find all seven clues listed on this sheet using the directions provided. DO NOT REMOVE THE CLUES. Removing or touching the clues means you are tampering with the evidence! Simply write down the facts about the clues you find. When you have found the answer for each question, come back together as a group to solve a coded message.

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1. The clue that was left in the teen fiction section shows us that the thief accidentally walked through the bushes before entering the library. What did you find?___________ Where did you find it?______________

2. The thief used this clue to peer in dark corners, but he lost it in the adult mystery

section. What did you find? ________________Where did you find it? _________

__________________

3. The thief lost part of his disguise when he tripped on the bench near the children’s

computers. What did you find?_____________Where did you find it? _______________

4. The thief was going to use this to carry his stolen goods but lost it under one of the

tables. What item did you find? _____________________ Where did you find it? _____________

5. The thief left this clue behind when he decided to take a break and play checkers.

What did you find? _______________________ Where did you find it? _______________

6. The thief nearly lost his head when he saw two lions in the library. Before he

realized it was only a poster, he was so scared he left a clue behind. What did you find? ____________________ Where did you find it? ______________________

7. I don’t know how it got there, but the photocopier is wearing a part of the thief’s

disguise. What is it? _______________________Where did you find it? __________

Finally, the thief has found the coded message! He has to sit down and figure out what it says before he can find the treasure.

To find out what the goods are and where they were hidden in the library, come back to the group and decode the secret message.

O L E U D U B V W D I I D U H D X Q G H U N L W F K H Q V L Q N M H Z H O U B

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Villain School (Bad Guys Are People Too) (Target Audience: Ages 9–12)

Contest: How many coins in the jar? (Guessing game) Use foil-wrapped chocolate or some other substitute Introduction: Welcome to Villain School

Please note that if you wish to have more intensive training, or if you wish to branch out into other areas of nastiness, you should try to find a Perilous Pirate School or an Evil Wizard & Sorceress Academy!

Tongue Twisters: One wise whistling wizard.

Six sharp sleepy sharks. Seven short striped snakes. (oops, that’s just my shopping list!) Daring detectives devour delicious doughnuts. Thieves seize skis. Picky pirates pick panicky parrots. Very vivacious villainous villains vanquish varmints. Suspicious spies seize pies. Seven sleepy sleuths slurp slushies. Many mix-ups make mysteries. Clever clues conquer crimes. Droopy detectives don disguises. Sleuths sail slowly south. Sly spies soar high.

Evil Laugh Practice!!! Poem/Chant: “Great Green Gobs of Greasy, Grimy Gopher Guts” (from the Internet) Demonstration: Make water bubble up at your command INGREDIENTS:

• Clear glass (not coloured) • White vinegar • Food colouring (any colour is fine, but red is recommended) • 15 mL (1 tablespoon) baking soda • Flat plate or tray

Announce that you can create a villain’s drink from plain water. Present the glass half filled with vinegar and pretend it is water. Place it on a big tray or plate in case it overflows.

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Add food colouring to the glass—red will be dramatic—then, with a flourish, add the secret ingredient (the baking soda) to the vinegar. Tell your audience that it is something appropriately villainous. Snow stolen from the highest Himalayan mountains, for instance. An evil laugh will also help set the mood. The mixture will foam. Challenge someone else to do this but give the volunteer real water instead. Game: Villain & Detective Hero Match Up (see pg.148) Craft(s): Hero Sandwiches

“What better way to vanquish your nemesis than eating him for lunch?”

1. Use foam for the bread and cardboard for the fillings. Add an extra serving of your imagination!

2. Encourage kids to make the grossest combinations possible!! 3. Colour the foam with pencil crayons, not markers.

The Villain’s Revenge: A Participation Story

Instructions: Each character in the story has a corresponding word or phrase. On a flipchart, list each character with his or her corresponding word or phrase. Example: Villain’s Revenge Hero(es) – “BOO!” Pirate(s) – “Yo Ho Ho!” Giant(s) – “Fee Fi Fo Fum” Witch(es) – “Whoosh” (sound of flying) Wicked Queen(s) – “Off with her head” Evil Wizard(s) – “Poof” (magic spell sounds) Bear(s) – “Growl” Break the kids into groups—a couple of methods are suggested below. You can write the name of each character and the corresponding word or phrase on a piece of paper, then cut the names and words into strips, and hand them to each participant so that the characters are evenly distributed. This can take some time, so you might want to use one of the following methods to break the kids into groups.

• Break the kids into the same number of groups as there are characters. Assign each group a character.

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Or

• If you have a small group, have all the kids play all the parts. Practise the phrases with the kids. Explain that, as you read the story, every time one of the characters is mentioned, the group who has been assigned that character calls out the corresponding word or phrase. If you feel more practice is required, you can do a warm-up with them by randomly calling out the different characters and getting them to respond with the corresponding word or phrase. Read the story. Encourage each group to shout out the word or phrase enthusiastically. (Depending on numbers, you may not need, or want, to do this)

Hero(es) – “BOO!” Pirate(s) – “Yo ho ho!” Giant(s) – “Fee Fi Fo Fum” Witch(es) – “Whoosh” (sound of flying) Wicked Queen(s) – “Off with her head!” Evil Wizard(s) – “Poof” (magic spell sounds) Bear(s) – “Growl” Anyone who wants to be a hero (BOO!) is just a big zero, ‘Cause a pirate (Yo ho ho!) is oh so much better! And so is a giant (Fee Fi Fo Fum!), if you just try it Though pirates (Yo ho ho!) get considerably wetter! Giants (Fee Fi Fo Fum!) are cool and they don’t go to school They’re just scary because of their size. With their thumb they can squish you as flat as a tissue And from that it’s real hard to rise! A witch (Whoosh) on a broomstick can fly around real quick But flying heroes (BOO!) are really quite lame, ‘Cause they got to wear tights that don’t fit ‘em quite right And they leave them in terrible pain! Wicked queens (Off with her head!) are still royal and they make a great foil To princesses who think they’re sooo great. They can poison some fruit, which (Woosh) make girls go mute They fall asleep ‘cause of something they ate. Evil wizards (Poof!) cast spells using a potion that smells Like a bear (Growl) who lives deep in the wood. They’ll turn you into a newt, that isn’t so cute Or make you disappear from where you just stood!

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And a bear (Growl) for a creature can also be a teacher To those who want to be evil. A giant (Fe Fi Fo Fum!) animal villain, whose doin’ some illin’ Chasing bunnies, or squirrels, or a weevil. Yeah, a hero’s (BOO!) just a dummy, who wouldn’t do anything funny Like pirate (Yo ho ho!) a new song or movie. Hero’s (BOO!) never go bare (Growl) though some wear underwear But they shout things like “Shazam!” and “Groovy!” So I’m asking you why, you’d be a girl or guy Who doesn’t seem to have any fun? Why be a hero (BOO!) that no one can fear-oh The villain is still #1!

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Make A Story (Target Audience: Ages 9–12)

Encourage the kids to use their imagination to create their own mystery stories. The activity can be adapted to accommodate different numbers of participants. If numbers are large, break into groups or work in pairs. Instructions:

1. Have each child, pair or group choose approximately three characters, two settings, three objects and one plot. This can be done by writing the story elements onto plain or colour-coded paper (e.g. green for characters, blue for settings, yellow for objects, white for plot) and then cutting the paper into strips.

2. Put the strips into separate containers and have the kids pick from each.

Alternatively, simply give each child, pair or group the information.

3. Give out pencils and paper. The kids create their own stories using the chosen information.

Alternatively:

1. Cut four sets of slits into a piece of construction paper – one piece for each child.

2. Give each child a strip of blank white paper that will go through the slits.

3. Have the kids write the names of characters on one strip, leaving space between the names so that only one name will be visible at a time.

4. Repeat with the settings, objects and plots.

5. Thread the pieces of paper through the slits and have the kids pull the papers

through the slits to create different scenarios for stories.

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The finished stories can then be read out loud. Examples of possible story time elements: CHARACTERS Ace Lacewing Detective LaRue Alex Rider Amber Brown Amelia Bedelia Anne Shirley (Anne of Green Gables) Artemis Fowl Bunnicula Bad Bears Cam Jansen Captain Underpants Chet Gecko Encyclopedia Brown Frank and Joe Hardy Geronimo Stilton Harriet the Spy Jake Gander Jigsaw Jones

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Jillian Jiggs Judy Moody Junie B. Jones Katy Kazoo Madeline Marvin Redpost Melvin Beederman Nancy Drew Nate the Great Sammy Keyes Scooby-Doo Sherlock Holmes Waldo OBJECTS Candlestick Crystal Goblet Delicious Pie Diamond Necklace Doll Egg Sandwich Flowers Gold Coins Hidden Map Hollow Tree Ice Skates Jade Mask Magic Wand Music Box Old Key Opal Necklace Patchwork Quilt Priceless Picture Rare Book Ruby Bracelet Silver Locket Statue Umbrella Violin SETTINGS Abandoned Factory Your Library (insert name)

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Art Gallery of Ontario Local, Well-known Store Chocolate Factory Emerald City Fowl Manor Green Gables Haven City Hogwarts Holiday Inn Parliament Hill Larkspur Lane Old School Playground Red Gate Farm Redwall Abbey Local Museum/Art Gallery, etc. Skating Rink Soccer Field Swimming Pool Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump Zoo PLOTS Aliens Buried Treasure Disappearing Ships Counterfeit Money A Ghost in a Tower A Hidden Map Kidnapped Wizard Lost At Sea A Lost Twin A Missing Will Poisoned Chocolates Polluted Water A Secret Staircase Smugglers Stolen Diamonds A Stolen Painting

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Invisible Messages (Target Audience: Ages 9–12)

Introduction: Invisible messages are a great way for detectives to prevent anyone, especially enemy agents, from finding out about their investigations. Discuss when you could use invisible messages as a detective and the importance of secret messages. There are three different ways to do essentially the same thing. Under Colour Message Materials:

• White, unlined paper • White crayon • Food colouring mixed with water • Q-tips

Instructions:

1. Using a white crayon, carefully write a message on the paper. 2. To reveal the message, mix a bit of food colouring in water, then dip a Q-tip into the

food colouring and spread it across the paper. Lemon Juice Message Materials:

• 65 mL (¼ cup) lemon juice (try this first, then use orange juice and/or vinegar) • Small plastic containers such as yogurt or clear egg cartons cut into small sections • Cotton swabs or paintbrushes • White paper • Lamp with light bulb

Instructions:

1. Put lemon juice in the small containers. 2. Dip the cotton swab into the lemon juice and write a message such as “secret

meeting this afternoon at 4:00 p.m.” on the sheet of white paper. 3. Allow the message to dry and you should not be able to see it. 4. When it is dry, remove the lampshade from the lamp and turn it on. 5. Hold the message close to the light bulb. Can you read the message? 6. Compare this result with the result you get from orange juice and vinegar.

Explanation: This will be a good opportunity for participants to learn about the chemical components of detective work.

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Heat from the bulb turns the lemon juice brown, and the hidden message appears. Many juices and other liquids such as milk and soda pop contain carbon atoms to form carbon-containing molecules and they have almost no colour when dissolved in liquid. Heat causes a chemical reaction to occur and produces carbon, which is black or brown in colour. Consequently, the lemon juice turns brown when heated. Grape Juice Messages Materials:

• Paintbrushes • Grape juice and small paper cups • Paper and baking soda for leaders

Instructions:

1. Prepare five secret messages ahead of time. Use 125 mL (½ cup) baking soda and mix it into the same amount of water. Use a paintbrush to print out these simple messages on plain white paper. Let dry.

2. Children will be given a small paper cup of grape juice and a small brush or swab to

paint over the paper. This will reveal the secret!

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Gadgets (Target Audience: Ages 9–12)

All good spies need gadgets! Conduct this program as an arts and crafts session or scientific demonstration, and help your budding sleuths prepare for their first case out of spy school by filling up their spy kit. Materials:

• Manila envelopes • Pencils • Rubber or latex gloves • Sandwich bags

Instructions: 2. At the beginning of the program, play the theme music from Inspector Gadget if you

can get it. 3. Give each child a manila envelope marked “SPY KIT.” In each envelope, provide a

sharpened pencil (for note-taking), a rubber or latex glove (for picking up evidence) and a few sandwich bags (for collecting evidence).

Decoder Watch No one will suspect that there is a secret code hidden in this watch! Material:

• Ribbon • Matchboxes • Construction paper • White paper • Velcro • Glue • Markers • Pencils

Instructions:

1. Cut the ribbon to fit your wrist. 2. Cover the matchbox using glue and coloured construction paper. Make sure it will

still open. 3. Cut a piece of the white paper to fit inside the matchbox. 4. Write out the Caesar’s letter code from Cracking Codes – Part 2 (pg. 111) on the

paper, and glue it inside the matchbox. 5. Glue the middle of the ribbon to the back of the matchbox. 6. Attach Velcro to each ribbon end. 7. Draw a watch face on the top of the matchbox cover.

How To Use It:

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a) Attach the decoder watch around your wrist. b) Slide open the matchbox to reveal the secret code.

Periscope Try this periscope activity and turn an empty milk or juice carton into a spy tool for looking around corners, over walls and out windows. Materials:

• Empty milk or juice cartons • Scissors • Masking tape • Two small mirrors for each carton, about 5

cm x 7.5 cm (2 x 3 inches) 1

Instructions: 1. Referring to the diagram on the right, cut

the side of the carton (at 1). 2. Cut 2 peek holes. 3. Tape 2 mirrors facing each other, at an

angle. 4. Tape the flap back (at 1), so the periscope

is closed. How To Use It:

a) Hold the periscope upright and look into the hole at the bottom. You’ll see what’s caught in the reflection from the top hole.

Magnifying Glass Spies often use magnifying glasses in their work. They may need to view secret messages written in very small print. But what happens if you’ve misplaced your trusty magnifying glass and need to read a tiny message? Try this! Materials:

• A 10-cm (4-inch) square piece of waxed paper • Sheet of newspaper with small print • Drinking glass • Tap water • Eyedropper

Instructions:

1. Place the square of waxed paper on top of the newspaper. Observe the newspaper through the waxed paper.

2. Fill the glass half full with water. 3. Use the eyedropper to place a tiny drop of water on the waxed paper.

How To Use It:

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a) Observe the newspaper through the drop of water. b) The drop of water forms a rounded shape on the waxed paper, due to the surface

tension of the water. Surface tension is the force of attraction between water particles that creates a thin skin on the surface of the water. This rounded shape of the water drop is the same shape as a convex lens, which is a lens that is curved like the outside of a ball. When light from an object passes through a convex lens, the image of the object is magnified.

The smaller the drop of water, the more curved its shape and the more it magnifies an image. The larger the drop of water, the less curved it is and the less it magnifies, because the weight of a larger drop of water causes it to flatten out and lose its curve. With a larger drop of water, you can see more letters but they are less magnified.

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Family History/Identity Detectives (Target Audience: Ages 9–12)

Warm up your investigative skills with this game! Who Am I Game? Materials:

• A pack of index cards • Marker

Instructions:

1. Leaders prepare index cards (at least one per child expected). Print a name on each card. Make sure that each name is one which children will recognize. Examples of names that can be used include fairy tale characters (Cinderella, Rumpelstiltskin), comic characters (Bart Simpson, Garfield, Spongebob, Archie), superheroes (Spiderman, Batman, Incredible Hulk), book characters (Harry Potter, Geronimo Stilton, Captain Underpants, Curious George), movie characters (Scooby-Doo, Mulan, Mary Poppins, Mickey Mouse), etc.

2. Divide children into pairs. They will work together. 3. Give one child in each pair a card with a name on it. This name should be hidden

from the child who does not have a card. 4. The object of the game is for the child without a card to guess what name is on the

card by asking yes or no questions. Examples of types of questions to ask include: Am I an animal? Am I a cartoon character? Am I in a movie?

5. Children ask as many questions as they can to figure out the name. Once the

identity is guessed, both children in the pair put their hands in their laps. See how fast everyone can solve the puzzle and do this. The object of the game is to not be the last pair left with an unsolved identity.

In this game, you get to learn more about your friends and they get to know more about you! Have You Ever? Game (Great for larger groups) Instructions:

1. The leader prepares 20 or more questions to be asked in this game. Some examples of questions that could be asked include: Have you ever flown in an airplane? Have you ever ridden on a horse? Have you every sung karaoke? Have you ever had a pet turtle?

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Create a variety of questions which most of your children could answer in a positive manner.

2. All children stand up and gather in a large circle. The leader calls out a question

and any children who have done what the leader calls out should run to the middle of the circle, jump up and down twice, and give a high five to everyone else in the centre. Then they all run back to the outside of the circle.

3. The leader calls out the next question.

This next game is great for burning off energy! It also helps you find your place in an imaginary family! Find Your Family Game (Great for larger groups) Materials:

• Index cards • Thick marker

Instructions:

1. Before the game, leaders prepare card sets (five in each set) for different family names. For example, one set would be for the Family Smith (Dad Smith, Mom Smith, Older Brother Smith, Younger Daughter Smith, Baby Smith). Other sets of five could be for the Family Jones (Dad Jones, Mom Jones, Older Brother Jones, Younger Daughter Jones, Baby Jones), Family Nathan, Family Lee, etc.

2. Prepare one set (five cards) for every five children who will play the game. If you

expect 30 children, prepare six sets with six different family names.

Before the game begins, hand out a card to each child. Game Rules: The leader begins by playing a CD of some lively music (or if you don’t have a CD player, bang a drum or clap your hands). While the sound continues, each child passes off his/her card to another child, who hands it to another child and then another. Each child tries to hand around each card he/she receives to another person as quickly as possible. After two or three minutes, the music/drum beat/clapping hands ends and all card exchanges between children must stop. Hopefully, the cards are now totally mixed up and no one knows who each child is supposed to be. Now, each child looks at his/her card, sees the family name and must try to find all other members of the family as quickly as possible. This will involve asking each child if they belong to your family (Family Smith, Family Jones, etc.). As soon as all five family members find each other, they must sit down in order of seniority—Mom/Dad, Dad/Mom, Older Brother, Younger Daughter, Baby). The object of the game is to find your family and sit down as quickly as possible.

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Create Your Own Family Masterpiece Project Materials:

• Large sheets of construction paper • Markers/crayons/pencil crayons • Scissors • Old magazines

Instructions:

1. Give each child a large piece of construction paper that has been folded into nine equal pieces.

2. Using markers, crayons or pictures cut out of old magazines, children create a

collage/poster of their life. 3. Each of the nine squares may be filled up with pictures/collages of the following:

Your home

Your room Your school

Your family members

Your favourite object in your house

Your teacher (last year)

Your friends

Your favourite sport/ subject in school

Your name, age & self-portrait

A good book to help the children do more with their family history is: The Family Tree Detective: Cracking the Case of Your Family's Story by Ann Douglas

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Dramatic Detectives (Target Audience: Ages 9–12)

These drama activities can form a whole program, or you can pick and choose single activities to be used as short time fillers in a larger program. Drama Game #1: The Action Detective Instructions: Have the children sit in a circle on the floor. One child is selected to be the “Action Detective.” The detective will either close his/her eyes, or leave the room for a minute while an “Action Leader” is chosen from the group. Explain to the children that the Action Leader will lead the others in the circle in various actions (e.g. clapping, snapping their fingers, head nodding). The Action Leader must be quick and subtle about changing the action, and the others in the group must be quick to follow the leader! Explain to the children that they should try not to stare at the leader so that they don’t make it too obvious who the leader is. The Action Detective will come in, observe the actions and try to guess who the Action Leader is. If the detective is correct, the Action Leader becomes the next Action Detective. Drama Game #2: Hmmm… Something’s Different! Instructions: Divide the children into smaller groups. Give each group a scene written on a strip of paper, and tell them to create a tableau about it (e.g. waiting for a bus, playing in the playground). Explain to the children that tableaux are silent, frozen scenes like in a photograph. They must stay as still as possible! Each group will prepare two tableaux for the other groups to watch. The two tableaux will be almost identical but with very subtle, slight changes. The others will have to use their great skills of observation, skills that all good detectives need, to observe what is different in the two “photographs” or tableaux. Give the groups ample time to plan their tableaux. Each group will have a chance to perform. At the start of the tableau, one group member announces the scene, e.g. “after school at the park.” The group then freezes in their photograph position and stays frozen while the other groups jot down what they observe. After a few minutes, either ask the other groups to close their eyes, or turn off the lights while the performing group changes the scene just a tiny bit. Turn on the lights (or have the others open their eyes) and now ask the audience groups to observe and jot down what is different. Have the children share with the others what they observed.

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Drama Game #3: Now You See It… Now You Don’t! Materials:

• A variety of 20 to 50 objects • Pens/pencils • Paper for all • A large chalkboard/easel/whiteboard is useful for the brainstorming session

Instructions: The children will try to remember things they can no longer see. A variety of objects are placed on a table ahead of time. The objects are covered with a sheet so that the children can’t see them until the game starts. They will have one minute to look at the objects and try to remember as many as they can. After one minute, the objects are covered over again, and the children have a few minutes to write down as many objects as they remember seeing. Before revealing what is under the sheet again, brainstorm a list together with the children of the items they remember. You can also try to trick the children by asking things like “Did you see a red yo-yo?” when it was really a blue yo-yo.

Drama Game #4: Mystery Story Starters Instructions: Use a book such as The Mysteries of Harris Burdick by Chris Van Allsburg to inspire kids to create their own mystery stories. If this book is not available to you, you can easily create your own story starters (introductory lines that are prompts for stories) to inspire the children to create their own mini-mystery plays. For example, a story starter could be “As soon as I arrived, I could sense that something was not quite right...” or something like the old cliché, “It was a dark and stormy night…” These lines can be written on strips of paper and distributed one per group. Divide the children into groups (about four to six children per group would work well). Give each group their story starter (could be a page from Harris Burdick or your own made-up story starters) and give them ample time to create a mini-mystery story that is inspired by the story starter. They will then perform the story as a mini-mystery play for the other groups. Remind them to start their play off by reciting the first line (the story starter line.) Drama Game #5: Fairy Tale Detective – Twisted Tales! Materials: Copies of favourite fairy tales (e.g. The Three Little Pigs). There should be a different story for each group. Try to choose simple, short versions of the stories to ensure that the program won’t take up too much time. Have copies on hand of fractured or twisted tales such as The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka or Kate and the Beanstalk by Mary Pope Osborne, for display. Description: Divide the group into smaller groups (approximately four to six children per group). Give each group a copy of a traditional fairy tale. Each group should have a reader who can read the story to the rest of the group. Give each group ample time to read the

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story, and plan how they will act it out to the other groups. Here is the twist: the groups have to plan out their stories so that there are some details missing or slightly changed from the original. The audience groups have to watch the performances and see if they can detect the differences. They can record their observations and then share their suspected differences at the end of the performance. Talk about fractured or twisted fairy tales, and show some examples of books that use this technique. Scripts and ideas are available at this website: http://www.education-world.com/a_curr/reading/ReadersTheater/ReadersTheater003.shtml For more ideas, see “Week by Week Theme/Program Guide”; Program Five: Fairy Tale Mysteries page 25.

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Discovering Detectives (Target Audience: Ages 9–12)

Introduction: This is a good start to the summer program. Talk about the theme, show the poster, activity book, etc. and go over how the TD SRC is going to be run at this location. Detective Scramble Detective Scramble Activity Sheet (see pg. 151) Hand out one for each child along with a pencil. Activity: Brainstorm – What makes a good detective? How good a detective are you? Challenge the kids with short mystery stories such as those found in More True Lies: 18 Tales for You to Judge by George Shannon, or Two-Minute Mysteries by Donald J. Sobol (if available). There are also mysteries available online. Because of copyright, be careful only to tell the story rather than handing out copies of it. Memory Game: For this activity, see Is It All Here? under The Power of Disguise, pg.75. If you prefer not to collect lots of objects for this, put up or hand out a picture with lots of things going on (magazines are a good place to find pictures), or use the TD SRC poster. Cover up the picture and hand out paper and pencils. Ask the kids questions about the picture. Activity: Design a Detective Materials:

• Paper with full figure drawn on it or a cut-out figure — one page for each child • Crayons • Cut-out hats, coats, magnifying glasses, moustaches, high heels for female

detective, etc. • Coloured paper for the kids’ own additions

Instructions: Have the kids create their own detective. This can be kept very simple with just crayons, or you can cut out items before the program (hats, glasses, magnifying glasses, moustaches, etc.). Alternatively, the kids can cut out their own clothing and accessories from coloured paper.

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Cracking Codes – Part 1 (Target Audience: Ages 9–12)

There are many different ways to send messages so that only the intended recipient can read them. You can do this as a two-week program or longer, depending on how much you and the children like codes. Each week you can warm up your audience by playing one of these games. 1) Hangman Materials:

• Flipchart paper or large sheets of paper and a thick marker Instructions:

1. Prepare sheets ahead of time so that the game goes quickly. 2. On each sheet, draw a series of lines to represent each letter in the word. For

example, if the word to be guessed is “disguise,” draw eight lines in a row on the bottom of the sheet.

3. Draw a gallows in the middle of the sheet. 4. Call on children individually to guess a letter. If that letter is in the word, write it on

the appropriate line. If it is not in the word, draw a body part on the sheet (starting with the head and working downwards).

5. Each child gets a chance to make a guess as the game progresses. 6. The object of the game is to fill in the word before the hangman gets his man (and

the whole body on the gallows is drawn, part by part) Some suggestions for words include surveillance, disguise, detective, mysterious, solution, investigate. 2) Acronym Guessing Game Materials:

• Flipchart paper or large sheets of paper • Thick marker

Instructions:

1. Write out 12 or more acronyms on flipchart paper and ask the children if they can guess what each acronym stands for. Start out easy and then move on to more difficult ones. Some examples include LOL, CUL8R, ASAP, BTW, NB, CFL.

2. Ask for examples from the group and see if others can guess the meaning. If the children have an example to give, they can come up to the front and write it down for everyone to guess.

3) Phone Anagram Game

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Materials:

• Flipchart paper or large sheets of paper • Thick marker • Paper and pencil for each child

Instructions:

1. Create an example of a phone pad on a large piece of paper so that children can see it throughout the room.

1

ABC

2

DEF 3

GHI

4

JKL

5

MNO 6

PRS

7

TUV

8

WXY 9

*

0

#

2. Ask the children to create a cool phone number. First, they need to think of a

phrase they like that has only seven letters. 3. Using the phone pad as a guide, they choose numbers that represent each letter in

the phrase to create a unique phone number. 4. For example, to spell out COOL GUY, the number would be 266-5489. 5. Have children practice with some other phrases like SKIPPER, LOVE YOU, PHAT

BOY, SWEETIE. 6. Give children five to10 minutes to come up with their own unique number and then

ask for volunteers to share their ideas with the group. Develop Code-Cracking Skills (choose one or several) Code cracking can be practised together in a small group or, if your group is large, divide it into several smaller groups. Children will be given a variety of messages to decode using different methods of code cracking. 1) Pin-Prick Method Materials:

• Five sheets of newspaper • Pins • Flashlights (preferred but not necessary) • Pencil and paper for each group of children

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Instructions: 1. Prepare five secret messages ahead of time. 2. Use one sheet of newspaper for each message. 3. Take a pin and prick a hole under each word you want to use in your message. 4. Use words consecutively. 5. Children have to look at the whole page and find the pin-prick holes in order to find

the complete message. 2) Julius Caesar Code Materials:

• Large sheets of paper for code and solution • Thick marker • Photocopied pages (one for each child) of secret messages to be decoded • Pencil and paper for each child

Instructions: 1. Prepare five secret messages in code and print them on one sheet of paper (using

the master code sheet you have already printed out). 2. Photocopy this message sheet and distribute one copy to each child. 3. The master code sheet should be written out on poster-size paper and taped up at

the front of the room so that children can refer to it when attempting to crack the code.

4. Children try to solve the messages by using the master code sheet. 5. To decode a message, children must shift each letter back by three (e.g.

WKH=THE). To create the master code, shift letters forward by three (ex. THE=WKH) Decoded Letter: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Coded Letter: D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z A B C This also works well backwards: Decoded Letter: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Coded Letter Z Y X W V U T S R Q P O N M L K J I H G F E D C B A Here are some messages to use, or you can make up your own:

• Go northeast 100 steps, then dig down six metres. • Go outside, turn left, walk two blocks and look up. • Look in the upstairs closet on the bottom shelf.

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• I know who did it. His name is Sam. 3) Sdrawkcab Message Materials:

• Paper • Pencils • Mirror

Instructions:

1. Write the message on a piece of paper. Then write the same message backwards on a separate piece of paper. This takes practice!

2. To reveal the message, hold it in front of a mirror. 3. In order to read the message in the mirror, you have to write the word in reverse

order and invert the letters. 4) Masked Message Materials:

• Three pieces of paper • Pencil • Scissors

Instructions:

1. To create the message, put two pieces of paper together and cut identical windows in each to make identical "masks.”

2. Write “TOP” at the top of each mask. 3. Put one mask over a blank piece of paper and write a message by placing a word

or words in each window. 4. Remove the mask and add more words to the paper to hide the message. 5. To reveal the message, give one mask and the message to a partner. The message

can be decoded by placing the mask over it and reading the words in the windows. 5) Folded Message Materials:

• Piece of paper • Pencil

Instructions:

1. Fold the paper in half. 2. Fold the halves back to make quarters. 3. Write a message so that the words read across the first and last panels. 4. Jumble the message by adding extra words in the two middle panels.

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Write your

Message here

Write Other OtherOtheOthOth

Words here

5. To reveal the message, fold the two middle panels together so that only the first and last panels are exposed. Read the message from left to right.

6) Inchwords, a.k.a. ruler message

Materials:

• Several pieces of paper • Pencil • Ruler

Instructions:

1. Write a message on a piece of paper. 2. On a separate piece of paper, print the same message in capital letters, using a

ruler to help you print each letter every 2 cm (¾”). 3. Circle the last letter of the message 4. To confuse snoopers, add letters between the letters of your message to form other

words. The words shouldn’t have anything to do with the real message. 5. To reveal the message, place a ruler under the line of words, with the circled letter

over one of the 2-cm marks. Write down the letters appearing at each 2-cm interval.

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S E C R E T O W O M O D J D

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Cracking Codes – Part 2 (Target Audience: Ages 9–12)

Start off the programs with some of the warm-up exercises from “Cracking Codes Part I” or go straight to the secret messages below.

There are many codes that use symbols to replace letters. Here are three of them.

1. Ancient Alchemy Materials:

• Piece of paper • Pencil • Copies of the secret characters

Instructions:

1. Using these characters, compose the secret message:

2. Make sure your buddy has the code breaker in order to decipher what was written. 2. Pills Materials:

• Piece of paper • Pencil • Copies of the secret characters

Instructions:

1. Using these characters, compose the secret message:

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3. Moon Writing Materials:

• Piece of paper • Pencil • Copies of the secret characters

Instructions:

1. Using these characters, compose the secret message:

In these next two codes, children just need to figure out what is wrong with each word. 4. Random Letters Materials:

• Several pieces of paper • Pencil

Instructions:

1. Write a message on a piece of paper. 2. On a separate piece of paper, replace the first letter of each word with a random

letter. Example:

WHE CIRST OETTER PF KACH EORD JS ZRONG (THE FIRST LETTER OF EACH WORD IS WRONG)

3. To make the message even more difficult, remove the vowels and/or write it

backwards. 5. Missing Vowels Materials:

• Several pieces of paper • Pencil

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Instructions: 1. Write a message on a piece of paper. 2. On a separate piece of paper, remove all of the vowels in the words.

Example:

THS MSSG LKS VRY STRNG (THIS MESSAGE LOOKS VERY STRANGE)

6. Caesar’s Letter Materials:

• Several pieces of paper • Pencil

Instructions:

1. Write a message on a piece of paper. 2. On a separate piece of paper, create the code by substituting one letter for another.

Example:

A=B, B=C and so on until Z-A

UFJT JT HSFBU GVO (THIS IS GREAT FUN)

3. Alternatively, you could create a variation of this code by substituting a number for

each letter. Example:

A=1, B=2 and so on until Z-26

20.8.9.19/9.19/7.18.5.1.20/6.21.14 (THIS IS GREAT FUN)

4. Rewrite your message using one of these substitution codes.

7. Pigpen Materials:

• Several pieces of paper • Pencil

Instructions:

1. Write a message on a piece of paper. 2. On a separate piece of paper, write out the whole alphabet in two grids:

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3. Each letter is represented by the part of the “pigpen” that surrounds it. If it’s the second letter in the box, then it is represented by a dot in the middle.

So an A looks like this: And a B looks like this: Example:

This is decoded as "LISTEN TO THE WIND."

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Bone Detectives (Target Audience: Ages 9–12)

Introduction: Discover what clues bones can tell you about people, and how bones can help solve a crime. Learn about all the bones in your body and even make bone shapes. Add some bone-chilling stories to your investigation. The books listed below are just a few suggestions. Check your shelves for other titles. Suggested Books: The Skeleton and Muscular System by Carol Ballard

Dem Bones by Bob Barner

Discover Bones by Lesley Grant

Drumheller Dinosaur Dance by Robert Heidbreder

Skeleton by Steve Parker

Short and Shivery: Thirty Chilling Tales by Robert D. San Souci

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz

Activity: Make Your Own Skeleton Materials:

• White cardboard or Bristol board to cut out and prepare the bones of the human skeleton

Instructions:

1. Put the pieces together and hang them on display. 2. Make a copy of all the names of the bones and have the children match them up.

Activity: Making the Bones

• 600 mL (21/2) cups flour • 250 mL (1 cup) table salt • 1 large bowl • 250 mL (1 cup) water • food colouring

Instructions:

1. Mix all the ingredients together. 2. Knead mix until smooth. 3. Store in the refrigerator before the program, if possible.

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Children can make a bone in one of the shapes they choose. Song: “Dry Bones” You can find the lyrics here: http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/lyrics/bones.htm

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Jumblies (Target Audience: Ages 9–12)

One or two letters in each word is bolded. Find all the bolded letters and unscramble them to create a word 1) Prison

Correctional Facility Lockup Joint Answer: ________

2) Deliver

Save Set Free Extricate Release Bailout Answer: _________

3) Bell

Alert Signal Siren Mayday Answer:__________

4) Fly the coop

Freedom Break Evade Slip the collar Answer:_____________

5) Mystery

Puzzle Secret Unknown Answer:_____________

6) Operative

Undercover Agent Investigator Intelligence Sherlock Holmes Answer:_______________

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7) Disguise

Shroud Camouflage Put out of sight Answer:____________

8) Private

Confedential Hush-Hush Classified Hidden Top Answer:________________

9) Sham

Make-Believe Counterfeit Forgery Answer:_______________ Answers: 1) Jail 2) Rescue 3) Alarm 4) Escape 5) Clue 6) Sleuth 7) Hide 8) Secret 9) Fake

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Body Detectives – Analysing the Evidence (Target Audience: Ages 9–12)

Children learn that the body can be used in many ways, and it often gives detectives some clues to help solve a mystery. Here are a variety of games to help children become more aware of the role of the human body in detective work. Activity: Pantomime Materials:

• Index cards: Each card has a job or career printed on it. Some examples include barber, boxer, carpenter, doctor, postal worker, painter, police officer, photographer, singer, truck driver, waiter, model, pianist, cleaner, librarian, cook, bicycle rider, gardener, etc.

Instructions: Children sit down in a group facing the front. Ask for one volunteer at a time to come before the group and silently demonstrate one action that illustrates the job on the card provided. Everyone else in the group has to guess the job that is being portrayed and call it out. As soon as it is guessed, the volunteer sits down and another child is chosen to demonstrate another job. If no one can guess what is being demonstrated, call for a second volunteer to come to the front and look at the card with the job printed on it. Ask him/her to demonstrate it in another way together with the first child. Continue until the activity is guessed! Activity: Senses and How We Use Them Detectives also use their senses to discover clues. These include touch, smell, taste, sight and hearing. Play one or more of the following games to help demonstrate the senses. 1) Touch – What’s In The Bag? Materials:

• 10 or more thick, opaque bags (paper or plastic) • Elastics to close bags securely • Objects to put inside each bag. These could include several similar items such as

an orange and a baseball, a pencil and a pen, puppet and stuffed animal, etc. Bags could also include very common items such as a stapler, scissors, spoon, etc.

Instructions: Prepare bags with one or two objects inside. Make sure they are tightly closed. Pass one bag at a time around the circle and give each child two squeezes to figure out what is inside. They should call out their guess so all can hear. If they can’t figure it out, they pass it to the next person in the circle to squeeze and guess. After a child has made a correct guess, start a new bag around the circle with the next child.

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2) Smell – Whose Nose Knows?

Materials: • Blindfolds • Objects with a distinctive smell such as an orange, grapefruit, garlic powder,

cinnamon, vinegar, coffee • A few objects with no smell such as salt, sugar, water • Enough identical containers to display the items

Instructions: Ask for one volunteer to come to the front of the room. Blindfold the child and then show one of the objects to the rest of the crowd. In the case of something hard to identify by its appearance, such as salt, show the rest of the room the package so that they know what it is. Make sure to remind them not to say it out loud. Slowly pass the object under the blindfolded child’s nose and ask if he/she can identify it by smell. If the blindfolded volunteer cannot identify a smell, ask for the audience to give verbal clues without revealing what it is. For example, they can give clues such as it can be put in a shaker. The blindfolded volunteer may be able to guess after hearing the clues. After a correct guess, choose another volunteer to be blindfolded and given another item to smell. 3) Taste – A Matter Of Taste Materials:

• A variety of items that look almost identical, such as water and vinegar, sugar and salt, flour and baking soda, vanilla and soy sauce

• Identical containers to display the items • A package of cotton swabs

Instructions: Children sit down facing the front. Ask for two or three volunteers. The volunteers line up facing the group and taste two identical-looking items. They try to guess what is in the containers by tasting them (using a new cotton swab for each taste). Ask the audience for suggestions if volunteers cannot guess the correct answer. Choose new volunteers for the next set of items to taste. 4) Hearing – Decoding Sounds and Voices Materials:

• Sound effects tape/CD • Your voice • A variety of sound-producing items like a kazoo, drum, whistle, elastic band, etc.

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Leaders demonstrate two different emotions by repeating the same phrase using their voice in a variety of ways. (Use a neutral phrase like “I live in the house down the road.”) Children guess what emotion is being shown. Examples of emotions could be anger, fear, happiness, shyness, aggressiveness, sadness, joy, tiredness, boredom, etc. After demonstrating two emotions, ask the children as a group to demonstrate other emotions. Use a sound effects tape/CD and get children to guess individual sounds. Gather a variety of items and demonstrate several sounds. Have the children close their eyes as you produce different sounds like a whistle blowing, drum beating, pencil tapping, kissing sound, blowing sound, teeth tapping together, or hands clapping or rubbing together. See if they can guess the sound. 5) Sight – Seeing Can Be Deceiving Materials:

• Information about optical illusions from a book or Internet site, such as http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/illusion/illusions.htm or http://www.exploratorium.edu/exhibits/f_exhibits.html

• Obscure items children may not recognize like a garlic press, spaghetti measurer,

level, etc. Instructions: Use a book of optical illusions to demonstrate how people can look at the same item but see different things. Compare what the children see. As well, you could bring in some items that children are unlikely to have encountered (e.g. obscure kitchen gadgets, hardware items) and see if they can guess what they are. Sometimes, sight is not enough. Activity: Disguise Crafts (Choose One) These crafts demonstrate the significance of our sight. It is one of the most important senses used in detection. 1) How Different Can You Look? Materials:

• Markers/crayons/pencil crayons • Photocopied outlines of a basic face shape

The child’s task is to try to create two totally different-looking characters using the same face pattern.

2) Mask Making

Materials: • Construction paper (one page per child)

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• Markers/crayons/pencil crayons • White glue • Feathers/glitter, etc.

Children enjoy a session of creating a mask to disguise or cover their own face.

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Mystery in Algonquin Park – Animal Detectives (Target audience: Ages 9–12)

Approximate Time: 60 minutes (Can be shortened or lengthened depending on the amount of discussion that takes place.) Note to programmers: If you would rather use another national or provincial park in place of Algonquin Park, the ideas in this program can be adapted to any natural setting (you would need to change the animals in the field guide and the animal tracks provided below to adapt the program to a natural setting of your choice). Animal tracks from animals all over the world can easily be obtained in field guides and on the Internet. Suggested Books: Big Tracks, Little Tracks: Following Animal Prints by Millicent Ellis Selsam How to Be a Nature Detective by Millicent Ellis Selsam Nature’s Footprints In the African Grasslands by Q.L Pearce & W.J. Pearce Animal Tracks of Ontario by Ian Sheldon Instructions:

• Gather various books about animal tracks and other means of identifying animals in the wild (e.g. their food, droppings, etc.).

• Cut out animal tracks (templates provided below). The animal tracks should be cut out without any labels on them, so as not to give away what animal it is. The children will have to identify the animals using their field guide (see the field guide below). Lay the tracks out to form trails in various parts of the program room or area.

• Have large pictures of all the animals (the Algonquin ones and the animals from other regions). You can locate pictures in books (e.g. field guides, park guides), on the Internet or in magazines such as National Geographic. These will be posted for the discussion part of the program at the end.

• If possible, gather any other materials you can find that would help to identify animals. For example, gather sticks and twigs, and place them in a pile—this could be a sign of a beaver having been there to build a dam. Other examples are pictures of food, such as berries or fish, that a bear could eat. These pictures can be photocopied or printed from clip art (e.g. MS Word clip art) and laid out in different piles around the program room.

• Another means of identifying animals along a trail is by their droppings. Copies of images of animal droppings can be found in animal field guides (such as the four

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listed above) and on the Internet. These images can also be put on the trails to identify the animals.

Introduction: Start the program off by reading any story (or portions thereof) that talks about using clues to identify animals in the wild (e.g. their tracks, food left behind, even their poop!). Some suggested titles are listed above. Have the children imagine that they are in a forest somewhere in Canada, in a rainforest in Costa Rica, or on an African safari. As they walk along, what might provide them with clues as to what animals have been there? Have them share these ideas. Description:

• Each child becomes an animal detective. You can give each child a badge to wear (see template below).

• Everyone will be working together to solve a mystery: “There have been some very unusual animal tracks spotted in Algonquin Park lately. These sightings have been reported by visitors to the park as well as park rangers. It seems that these animals don’t belong in this particular area of the country/world. We must identify these animals and get them back safely where they belong!”

• Every child will receive an Algonquin Park Animal Tracks Field Guide to identify the animals that belong in Algonquin Park (see below).

• The children can follow the animal tracks on the trails and use their guide to identify the animals that belong in the park.

• The children will record their findings (check off which animal they found in their field guide).

• There will be some tracks that the children are not able to identify (because that animal is not listed in their field guide). These will be the animals that don’t belong in Algonquin Park. They can use the notes section of the field guide to sketch the prints and make notes to try to figure out what animals don’t belong in the park.

• Tell the children to examine the prints carefully because there are some that look alike but are made by different animals.

• After about 20–30 minutes of walking along the trails and recording their findings, participants will get together to report on what they found.

• Post copies of the footprints on some sort of surface (a whiteboard, chalkboard or easel, for example). Have the children identify the tracks and name the animal that made them, and report on whether or not they found them in the park. Once the children have identified the tracks (in the reporting session), you can post the picture of the animal next to the tracks. Ask the children to share information that they know about the animals.

• When it comes to the unidentified tracks, you can discuss their characteristics (e.g. are they made by a hoofed animal or perhaps an animal related to the cat? What does the shape of the track tell you about the animal that made them?).

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• Have some clues about the unidentified animals so that the children can guess which animals made them (e.g. this animal is known to be the fastest runner in the animal kingdom—clue for the cheetah).

• Once the mysterious animals and their natural habitats have been identified, they can be returned to their native homes!

Federal Bureau of Animal Investigation

Animal Detective

Name: _____________________

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Algonquin Park – Animal Tracks Field Guide

Animal Tracks

Animal Information Animal

Observed? YES or NO

Hind Print Fore Print

Raccoon (Procyon lotor): The raccoon is commonly spotted in most cities. A very curious animal, and is very good at using its hands for many tasks such as digging (for food like grubs) and opening garbage cans! The raccoon’s unusual footprint looks remarkably like a human handprint. Their trails may often lead you up a tree where the raccoon likes to rest.

Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias): This graceful bird can be spotted near water or wetlands in search of food. This bird often walks in straight, neat lines.

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Algonquin Park – Animal Tracks Field Guide

Animal Tracks

Animal Information Animal Observed?

YES or NO

Moose (Alces alces): The male of this large-bodied animal has an impressive set of antlers on its head. Moose tracks can often be seen in wet areas where they like to feed. Moose are very good swimmers. Be careful not to get too close to a moose or to approach it; moose may seem quiet and peaceful, but they can charge at people if they feel threatened.

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Algonquin Park – Animal Tracks Field Guide

Animal Tracks

Animal Information Animal Observed? YES or NO

Hind Print

Beaver (Castor canadensis): The largest North American rodent, beavers are very busy creatures; they are the engineers of the animal world, with their amazing ability to build dams and domed lodges out of sticks, branches and tree stumps. Look for webbing on the hind footprints — this webbing helps the beaver to be a good swimmer!

Fore Print Hind

Black Bear (Ursus americanus): Black bears can be found in forested areas in many parts of Ontario. They hibernate (sleep deeply) in the winter, so don’t expect to find any of their footprints in the snow!

Hind Print Fore Print

Striped Skunk (Mephitis mephitis): The striped skunk enjoys living in open woodland or bushy areas. The skunk is best known for its way of defending itself… by spraying a strong, smelly odour (yuck!)

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Animal Detective Notes Unidentified Animal Track

(sketch the track in the space below) What do you know about the

animal that made these tracks?

Animal Tracks #1

Notes:

Animal Tracks #2

Notes:

Animal Tracks #3

Notes:

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Animal Detective Notes Unidentified Animal Track

(sketch the track in the space below) What do you know about the

animal that made these tracks?

Animal Tracks #4

Notes:

Animal Tracks #5

Notes:

Animal Tracks #6

Notes:

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Animal Detective Notes Unidentified Animal Track

(sketch the track in the space below) What do you know about the

animal that made these tracks?

Animal Tracks #7

Notes:

Animal Tracks #8

Notes:

Animal Tracks #9

Notes:

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Animal Detective Notes Unidentified Animal Track

(sketch the track in the space below) What do you know about the

animal that made these tracks?

Animal Tracks #10

Notes:

Animal Tracks #11

Notes:

Animal Tracks #12

Notes:

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Striped Skunk – Algonquin Park

Hind Print Fore Print

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Raccoon – Algonquin Park

Fore Print

Hind Print

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Great Blue Heron – Algonquin Park

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Moose Tracks – Algonquin Park

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Beaver – Algonquin Park

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Black Bear Tracks – Algonquin Park

Fore Print

Hind Print

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Caribou Tracks – Arctic Adventure

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Arctic Fox Tracks – Arctic Adventure

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Polar Bear Tracks – Arctic Adventure

Fore Foot Hind Foot

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Giraffe Prints – African Safari

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Elephant Tracks – African Safari

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Cheetah Prints – African Safari

Animal Detectives Match-Up (Target Audience: Ages 9-12)

Match up the name of the detective with the correct animal BENJI COW SCOOBY DOO PIG WISHBONE GRASSHOPPER SAM RABBIT SNOWY (TIN TIN SIDEKICK) COW DOG CLIFFORD GREAT DANE INSPECTOR HOPPER SHEEP DOG GERONIMO STILTON MUTT FREDDY MOUSE TUFF FLUFF JACK RUSSELL TERRIER MINNIE OR MOO RED DOG HANK FOX TERRIER

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Program for All Ages

12. Program for All Ages

The Perfectly Wicked Thirteen & Their Awfully Good Do-Gooder Foes

Villain & Detective Hero Match Up (Target Audience: All Ages)

Match the perfectly nasty villain to the bothersome hero who is also in their book… Superman Captain Hook Harry Potter Count Olaf Peter Pan Evil Queen Alice in Wonderland Doc Oc Batman Darth Vader Snow White Professor Poopypants Luke Skywalker Big Bad Wolf Three Little Pigs Lord Voldemort Dorothy The Queen of Hearts Captain Underpants Catwoman The Baudelaire Children Wicked Witch of the West Spiderman Wicked Step Mother Cinderella Lex Luthor

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Agent 009

Everyday Clever People Many people that you know are good at solving little mysteries. Maybe you are too. Write a short story and/or draw a picture about a mystery that was solved.

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Fairy Tale Match Up (Target Audience: All Ages)

Snow White Princesses Goldilocks Beast Little Red Glass Slipper Three Little Pigs Seven Dwarfs Puss Riding Hood Twelve Dancing In Boots Cinderella Big Bad Wolf Beauty Three Bears

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Detective Scramble (Target Audience: All Ages)

Unscramble the letters to find these well known detectives Nate the Great msmya eekys Encyclopedia Brown iestve dodidmna Nancy Drew amc annesj Hardy Boys clsorkhe mehsol Sammy Keyes acnyn erdw Sherlock Holmes ilyopenecdca wrbno Scooby Doo riraeth eht ysp Third Grade Detectives eittvdctee urale Harriet the Spy tean het rtaeg Stevie Diamond booycs odo Jake Gander yahrd sbyo Detective LaRue kjae nradge Cam Jansen rdiht agdre tdeevsciet

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Songs and Rhymes Ten little mysteries One little, two little, three little mysteries Four little, five little, six little mysteries Seven little, eight little, nine little mysteries Ten little mysteries solved! Detective, Detective (To the tune of: Twinkle, twinkle) Detective, detective, like a spy Asking who, what, where and why? How do you do the things you do? I wish that I were more like you. If I study and observe, Then one day I too could serve. Little Detective (To the tune of: Frère Jacques) Little detective, little detective Where are you? Where are you? I am hiding undercover. I am hiding undercover. Here I am. Here I am. Little detective, little detective Follow the clues. Follow the clues. I have solved the mystery. I have solved the mystery. You can too! You can too! Detective Pokey You put your fingerprints in. You put your fingerprints out. You put your fingerprints in and you shake them all about. You do the detective pokey and you turn yourself around. That’s what the case is about! You put your shoeprints in…. You put your smelling sense in (nose)… You put your hearing sense in (ears)… You put your “thinking” in (head)… You put your detective self in… …That’s what the case is about! Or try this version to the same tune. *You may need to explain some of the terms used, for example, a “gumshoe” is a nickname for a detective, and they often refer to the police as the “long arm” of the law.

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You put your gumshoe in. (Put one foot in and then continue to follow the actions) You take your gumshoe out. You put your gumshoe in And you shake it all about. You act like a detective and you solve the mystery. Follow along with me! You put your long arm in. (Put one arm in and then continue…) You put your thumb prints in. (Put in the tips of your fingers and then continue…) You put your thinking cap in.(Put head in and then continue…) You put your smart self in. (Jump in and then continue…) You’ll be solving the case before we’re done (To the tune of: She’ll be coming around the mountain) You’ll be solving the case before we’re done. You’ll be solving the case before we’re done. You’ll be solving the case; you’ll be solving the case, Yes, you’ll be solving the case before we’re done. You’ll be looking for clues before we’re done… You’ll be taking lots of notes before we’re done… You’ll be thinking and thinking before we’re done… Yay, you have solved the case and now we’re done. Detective, Detective Detective, detective, turn around Detective, detective, examine the ground Detective, detective, look up and down Detective, detective, look all around Detective, detective, follow that crook Detective, detective, take a careful look Detective, detective, look at your shoe Detective, detective, find the clue Detective, detective, use your eyes Detective, detective, wear a disguise Detective, detective, use your nose Detective, detective, don’t you doze Detective, detective, wink your eye Detective, detective, say goodbye.

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Detective Man (To the tune of: Spiderman) Detective man, detective man Does whatever a detective can Finds the clues, in many ways He’s our man, on the case. Look out! Here comes Detective man. Here comes Detective man! If You’re a Detective and You Know It (To the tune of: If you’re happy and you know it) If you’ve got a case to solve say “Hmmm, interesting.” If you’re going undercover, wear a disguise… If you’re following a suspect, tiptoe quietly… If you have paper and a pen, write down notes… If you’re thinking and you’re thinking pace back and forth… If you’ve solved the case and know it, yell “Gotcha!”… Solve the Case (To the tune of: Row Your Boat) Who, where, why, what, when? Those are questions asked. When you have a case to solve They will help you fast. Search, search, search for clues Everywhere you look. Find all of the evidence To catch that nasty crook! Solve, solve, solve the case, Quickly if you can, Find the culprit; Save the day! You will have some fans! This Detective (To the tune of: This old man) This detective, he played one. He said “Listen, here’s how it’s done.” With a nick-nack, paddy-whack, give the dog a bone, This detective rolled on home. This detective, he played two. He was looking for a clue

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With a nick-nack, paddy-whack, give the dog a bone, This detective rolled on home. This detective, he played three. He was hiding behind a tree With a nick-nack, paddy-whack, give the dog a bone, This detective rolled on home. This detective, he played four. He was waiting outside the door With a nick-nack, paddy-whack, give the dog a bone, This detective rolled on home. This detective, he played five. He solved the case and did a jive With a nick-nack, paddy-whack, give the dog a bone, This detective rolled on home. One Smart Detective (To the tune of: Five monkeys jumping on the bed) Five bungling burglars taking things not theirs One dropped his flashlight and tripped on the chairs, The detective saw what happened and then declared… “No more burglars stealing things not theirs!” Four bungling burglars taking things not theirs One slipped on the carpet and fell down the stairs, The detective saw what happened and then declared… “No more burglars stealing things not theirs!” Three bungling burglars taking things not theirs One looked in the kitchen and ate up all the pears. The detective saw what happened and then declared… “No more burglars stealing things not theirs.” Two bungling burglars taking things not theirs One caught a taxi, but could not pay his fare. The detective saw what happened and then declared… “No more burglars stealing things not theirs!” One bungling burglar taking things not theirs He wrongly thought that no one else would care. The detective saw what happened and then declared… “No more burglars stealing things not theirs!”

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One smart detective discovered all the clues. With such foolish, bungling burglars, How could he lose? Clever Detective (To the tune of: Baa, baa, black sheep) Clever detective, have you any clues? Yes Sir, yes Sir, I sure do. I saw what happened, I even saw his face. This last clue of all will surely solve the case. Clever detective, have you any clues? Yes Sir, yes Sir, I sure do! Detective wants a case to solve (To the tune of: Mary had a little lamb) Detective wants a case to solve, Case to solve, case to solve. Detective wants a case to solve. He’s the one to call! Five Little Detectives Five little detectives inspecting in a row Wearing disguises with their gadgets all in tow. One little detective said, “Oh, that footprint is new!” He was on the trail of yet another clue! Four little detectives …”Oh, that fingerprint is new!” Three little detectives …”Oh, that tire track is new!” Two little detectives …”Oh, that crumpled paper is new!” One little detective …”Oh, that witness is new!” You’re My Detective (To the tune of: You are my sunshine) You’re my detective, my one detective My case I always give to you. You always help me; You solve my mysteries. You put together all the clues! AGENT 009 (To the tune of: BINGO) There was a person who solved crimes And AGENT was his name-o! AGENT 0-0-9, AGENT 0-0-9, AGENT 0-0-9 and AGENT was his name-o….

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(Or, could be sung with just A-G-E-N-T, A-G-E-N-T, A-G-E-N-T, and AGENT was his name-o….) I’ve Been Working on a Mystery (To the tune of: I’ve been working on the railroad) I’ve been working on a mystery Looking for some clues. I’ve been working on a mystery And I know just what to do! I will solve the puzzle, I will think it through. Oh, I’ve been working on a mystery, and would like to ask “Was it you?” I’m a Smart Detective (To the tune of: I’m a little teapot) I’m a smart detective You can’t fool me. I will solve your problem, Oh so cleverly. If you have a mystery And can’t find a clue Give me a call and I’ll work for you. Five Silly Robbers Five silly robbers were hatching up a plan Of how to crack the safe before day’s end. Along came a Detective, as clever as can be… “It wasn’t hard to catch you. It was elementary.” (Count down until…) No silly robbers hatching up a plan Of how to crack the safe before day’s end. Along came a Detective, as clever as can be… “There is no way that they would outsmart me!” Can You Find the Clue? (To the tune of: Do Your Ears Hang Low?) Can you find the clue? Do you know just what to do? Can you look both low and high,

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For another clue to spy? Can you listen, look, and see… Try to solve the mystery? Can you find the clue? A good detective sometimes needs a little help... How about a trusty bloodhound?! Can you sniff the clue? Do you know just what to do? Can you follow ‘long the trail, As you wag your little tail? Can you perk up high your ears When a funny sound you hears? Can you sniff the clue? (howl) A-a-a-a-wooo! Little Spy, Little Spy (To the tune of: Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear) Little spy, little spy turn around (turn around) Little spy, little spy look up & down (hands over eyes, look up then down) Little spy, little spy do a secret knock (make knocking motion with hand) Little spy, little spy whisper secret talk (pretend to whisper, hand covering face) Little spy, little spy come inside (pretend to walk through open door) Little spy, little spy find a place to hide (put hands over face as if hiding) Little spy, little spy take a peek (peek out from behind hands) Little spy, little spy sneak sneak sneak (“sneak” on your tiptoes) Little spy, little spy wink your eye (wink (or blink) your eye(s)) Little spy, little spy say “Good-bye!” (wave good-bye) Five Little Detectives (A Countdown Rhyme) Five little detectives headed out the door One followed down the trail and then there were four Four little detectives as brave as they could be One dropped his looking glass and then there were three Three little detectives looking for a clue One dusted for fingerprints and then there were two Two little detectives begin the chase on the run One catches the bad guy and then there was one One little detective tired from all the fun She goes back to headquarters and now there are none!

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Who Wears this Hat? : A Guessing Game Song (To the tune of: Do Your Ears Hang Low) *Try to wear each hat as you sing about them to give the kids an extra clue. Who wears this hat When she’s rescuing a cat? Who puts on special clothes And fights fire with a hose? Whose truck is big and red? Who wears this hat upon her head? Who wears this hat? (FIREFIGHTER) Who wears this hat When it’s time to go to bat? Who runs to every base While the ball the others chase? Who slides on into home With this hat upon his dome? Who wears this hat? (BASEBALL PLAYER) Who wears this hat When they make their dough go splat? Who adds flour, salt, and yeast When their cooking up a feast? Who quickly mixes up their cake And wears this hat each time they bake? Who wears this hat? (BAKER)

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Contests

13. Contests

“Inspector” How many words you can make from the word Inspector?

(We came up with more than 240 words!!!)

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1._______________________ 20.___________________________ 2._______________________ 21.___________________________ 3._______________________ 22.___________________________ 4._______________________ 23.___________________________ 5._______________________ 24.___________________________ 6._______________________ 25.___________________________ 7._______________________ 26.___________________________ 8._______________________ 27.___________________________ 9._______________________ 28.___________________________ 10.______________________ 29.___________________________ 11._________________________ 30.___________________________ 12.______________________ 31.___________________________ 13.______________________ 32.___________________________ 14.______________________ 33.___________________________ 15._______________________ 34.___________________________ 16._______________________ 35.___________________________ 17._______________________ 36.___________________________ 18._______________________ 37.___________________________ 19._______________________ 38.___________________________

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Library Daily Contest The Detective has solved the mystery! This is the picture and caption in the newspaper the next day. Instructions:

1. Draw a picture for The Library Daily. 2. Add a caption to the picture and hand it in to the librarian. 3. Each week we will post some of the entries on our bulletin board. 4. You can enter as often as you want! 5. The deadline for handing in your newspaper picture is ___________-

______________, 2009. 6. There will be 3 winners selected one from each of the following age categories:

ages 5 and under; 6 -9 years of age; 10-14 years of age. 7. The prizes will be awarded on ___________________, 2009. 8. Please fill out the following information before handing in.

Name:_________________________________________________ Age:____________________________ Phone number:____________________

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The Library Daily

The Library Daily $1.00 Vol. 1 No. 1 August 15, 2009

AGENT 2009!

You are the artist for The Library Daily! In the box above draw a picture of a Detective and write the caption below: Caption :________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________

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Guess the Number ? Your library may choose this contest as an incentive to attract members. For little

expense, you can fill a container (e.g., jar) with gold coins (chocolate coins covered in gold

foil), or something else of your choosing that complements the Agent 009 theme. (Candy

does seem to work well.) Every child who registers for the SRC gets a ballot to guess the

number of chocolate/gold coins in the jar. At the end of the summer, the child with the

guess closest to the correct answer wins the jar of chocolate/gold coins.

Name Agent 009 We know him as Agent 009 but what is his real name? Have a contest to name the dog in the poster.

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Braille Alphabet

Braille, invented by Louis Braille in 1824, is a very useful code used by visually impaired

people across the world. Usually, paper is indented so the reader can feel the letters.

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Morse Code

Morse Code was created by Samuel F. B. Morse in the early 1840s for his electric

telegraph. It was used for many years to transmit messages through telegraph lines,

undersea cables, and radio. Amateur radio operators still use it today.

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Detective and Spy Trivia

Use these interesting facts however you wish—to introduce programs or posted on pieces of paper around the children’s department. Did you know that in World War II homing pigeons were used to deliver messages beyond enemy lines? The best disguise is often to be so boring and ordinary-looking that no one notices you! The Navajo language was considered so difficult to understand that it was used as a code during World War II. The enemy never figured it out! Coded messages have been used throughout history. One is even named after Julius Caesar, an ancient Roman leader. The science of fingerprinting is called dactylography. During World War II, Canada had its very own spy training facility called Camp X. The American gangster John Dillinger tried to burn off his fingerprints with acid, but they grew back again! Studying the life cycle of flies can give clues about the length of time a person has been dead. Police badges were originally made from copper—that’s one of the reasons that police are sometimes called “cops.” The RCMP is Canada’s largest police force. The headquarters for the RCMP are in Ottawa, Ontario. Fingerprints do not change with age. Canada’s spy agency is called CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service). A cryptologist analyses and decodes messages. Steganography is the science of hiding messages. It’s from the Greek words “stegano” (hidden) and “graph” (writing). Identical twins are the only people who share the same set of genes. A postal code is a type of code that is not secret. The Morse code was developed by Samuel F.B. Morse in 1844.

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Devices called Enigma machines were used during World War II to create codes. The study of lip prints is called cheiloscopy. William Herschel discovered in 1858 that everyone’s fingerprint is unique and stays the same as we age. DNA stands for deoxyribonucleic acid, the genetic code that makes up each human being. DNA can be found in hair, blood, saliva or a flake of skin! The Paris police force hired a tough criminal to head its undercover squad in 1810 because he knew how criminals worked. Your fingerprints start to form before you are born! Even lip prints and ear prints have been used to identify suspects! Batman first appeared in Detective Comics in 1939. Allan Pinkerton founded a private detective agency in Chicago in 1850. It still exists today! Many police forces use dogs to sniff out evidence. Frogmen are trained divers who search for clues in lakes and rivers. Nowadays, surveillance cameras can be as small as the head of a pin! The Bank of Canada has added many special features to our paper money to make it harder to counterfeit. Graphology is the study of handwriting. International crimes are fought by Interpol, the International Criminal Police Organization, founded in 1923.

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