>Author visit!

>On Wednesday, December 2nd at 7:00 PM we welcome Andy Deane, lead singer of Belle Morte and author of “The Sticks.” He will speak with our teen writers group about his writing as well as take a look at their works. Copies of his book will be available for purchase and for signing. Light refreshments will be served at this event. Young writers are encouraged to bring their works for Andy to look over.

Any questions?
Please call Ms. Rachee with any questions (610-623-0239 ext 5)

See you there!
-r

>Witajcie: Introducing Ms. Margaret!

>

Visitors to the Lansdowne Public Library are usually greeted at the Circulation Desk by Ms. Margaret. This week she was our special guest storyteller!

Originally we were going to do an international themed program but changed our programming to dual language stories. Miss Rachee read books in English and Ms. Margaret translated them into Polish. We learned a few words of Polish and some traditions.

This was such a great even that we have decided to make this a regular part of storytime!

Join us soon as we present more bilingual storytimes.

Do zobaczenia wkrótce,

-r

>NNNNNNNNNothing but N!

>It’s Novemberrrr and our first storytime for the month was all about the letter N.
The letter themed storytime is so much fun! Using this a starting point one can find books, subjects, authors and more all about each letter of the alphabet!

Books read:
Mommy Doesn’t Know my Name by Suzanne Williams, Illustrated by Andrew Shachat
The Nightmare in My Closet bwritten and illustrated by Mercer Mayer
The Napping House by Audrey Wood, Illustrated by Don Wood
The Noisemakers by Judith Casely

Fingerplays:
Shaking Your Shaker: to make Noise. And we made lots of it using maracas, a tambourine and other homemade instruments!

Craft:
Newspaper Hats

Welcome
-Introduction (for new and old storytime friends)
-Housekeeping
1: Where the B-A-T-H-R-O-O-M is. Bathroom is always spelled out as little bladders seem to get full upon mention of a toilet!
2. What to expect. If a child doesn’t want to sit still for storytime it’s OK, I just ask that they keep my story area clear.

Warm-up:
I encourage every one to participate with the warm up, parents and children alike.

*Reach for the ceiling
Reach for the Ceiling”

Reach for the ceiling,
Touch the floor,
Stand up again,
Let’s do some more.

Touch your head,
Touch your knee,
Up to your shoulders,
Like this, you see?

Reach for the ceiling,
Touch the floor,
That’s all for now,
There is no more.

*I Clap My Hands
I Clap My Hands

I clap my hands clap hands
I touch my feet touch feet
I jump up from the ground. jump up

I clap my hands clap hands
I touch my feet touch feet
I turn myself around. turn around

I clap my hands clap hands
I touch my feet touch feet
I sit myself right down. sit down

I clap my hands clap hands
I touch my feet touch feet
I do not make a sound. sit quietly
Shhh!

The stories then begin!

Today I shared stories about my multiple names with the kids before we read Mommy Doesn’t Know my Name.

Instruments were passed out to Shake our Shakers. After they were collected, we read The Napping House and acted out parts of the book. Lots of enthusiastic snoring for the grandmother, meows for the cat and barks for the dog!

To calm the crowd, we did our wiggler:

*Touch your Nose
Touch your nose, touch your chin,
That’s the way this game begins.
Touch your eyes, touch your knees,
Now pretend you’re going to sneeze (Achoo!)

Touch your hair, touch one hips,
Touch your two little lips (Swak!)
Touch your elbows where they bend,
That’s the way this touch game ends.

After this, bean bags were passed out and we read The Nightmare in My Closet.

Full disclosure; I did a bit of censoring and substituted “get” for shot (the little boy in the book shoots the nightmare in an effort to get rid of him once and for all). Because, 1) I don’t have 20 guns and 2) I think that the library should be a safe place, bean bags were passed out to shake at the monster to get rid of it.

We closed with our final rhyme:

Two little hands go clap, clap, clap
Two little arms lie in my lap
Two little feet go bump, bump, bump
Two little legs give one big jump
Two little hands reach oh so high
Two little hands wave bye, bye, bye

Afterwards we made paper hats (so wonderful in its simplicity that I cannot believe I have not made them before!?!?)

A Newspaper Hat Brigade!

Miss Rachée and a library friend modeling our hats

Like what you see?
Join us Thursdays beginning at 10:30 for Preschool Storytime

-Miss Rachée

>Science Explorers! Shadows and Light

>

What do you need to make a shadow?

Thursday, September 24th was our second science adventure and today we explored shadows and light.

Using the Shadows Kit from What’s the Big Idea, we read books and explored activity stations created to introduce shadows and light.

Young explorer experimenting

Books read:

Frank Asch’s Bear’s Shadow

Robert Clyde Bulla’s What Makes a Shadow

Activity stations:

Shadow Puppet Theater

Using a stage (Cardboard boxes) we experimented making shadows with a variety of objects including small stuffed animals, various cut-out shapes (hearts, shamrocks, etc).

Materials:

Flashlights of different sizes (one came with the kit and a few were kindly donated by Covert Enterprises)

Various objects to experiment with.

We used shamrocks, hearts, cars, trucks, fairies, small stuffed animals.

Young explorers using shadow puppet theater

Shadows To Go

We created Silhouettes of shadows to take home
Materials:
Black construction paper
Chalk
Objects to trace.

Extenders:

The children and their adults were all charged with finding their shadows upon leaving storytime and the library. We had a very fun day. The children were introduced to the concept of shadows and light, the parents had a selection of books to expand the subject and we also were able to provide new vocabulary.

Some fiction and non-fiction titles available for checkout

Books on the subject will be on display in the Mary Case Buchanan Family Room beginning Monday, September 28th.

-r

Science Explorers! is a science themed storytime which introduce and foster a love of science to preschoolers using picture books and simple experiments. Every other month we do math or science themed activities. Join us next month, Thursday October 22nd for Math Exlorers! as we discuss patterns and relationships everywhere.

>Write Here, Write Now!

>Our teen writers are going to meet every Thursday from 5:30 to 6:30.

Each week teens aged 12-17 are invited to bring their creative works to share.
No registration is required, however if you will need copies made of your work please e-mail or contact Miss Rachee.

Happy writing!
-r

>The numbers are in!

>Hi All,
Just a quick line to thank you for all of your help and, for literally, making this the biggest summer yet!

And what a wonderful summer we had!

The numbers have been counted and here is how it breaks down:

# of programs for Be Creative: (includes kick off, story times, craft events, performers etc.): 70
This number includes Friday Morning Live!, storytimes, special events

# of total children attending all program listed above: 2340
WOW!!!

# of total adults attending all programs listed above: 350
Parents, caregivers and all who fall in between: you ALL rock!

# of programs for Express Yourself: (includes book discussions, craft events, gaming etc): 16
This is a huge increase from last year!

# of total teens attending Express Yourself programs: 128
This includes writers group, the classes and craft times.

For both programs we had a total of 2,694 books read.
In addition to this, a total of 21,016 minutes were also read!
You guys all deserve a huge hand!

As you can see, public libraries are a proven smart investment of public dollars and an invaluable resource for learning. Public libraries are working hard to sustain high-quality services and resources as students, parents and teachers head into a new school year. But budget cuts in Harrisburg threaten to reduce drastically and, in some case, shut down libraries. Find more information at: http://www.capwiz.com/ala/pa/issues/alert/?alertid=13871911

Additional cuts proposed to other library programs could eliminate the widely used services such as POWER Library which is available in public and school libraries. Find more information at: http://palibraries.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=202

Please take a few minutes to write a personal note, place a short phone call, or send an email to your state representative, your state senator, and to Governor Rendell. Urge them to make libraries a priority for level funding in the next state budget. Or write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper in support of library funding and your library’s role as a vital lifeline in these difficult economic times.

We are still working on the fall calendar; it should be available early next week. In the meantime, check out our blog: http://lplcysd.blogspot.com/ or visit the library’s website: www.lansdownepubliclibrary.com
The new programs begin the week of September 20th.
Stop by and see me or comment on the blog.
Later,
-r

>Musical Storytime!

>Join us this Tuesday for a special storytime!
Before we take a break for the summer, slip on your dancing shoes and join us for a musical storytime! Welcome Joanne Link as she shares her favorite songs and dance moves. Great for all ages!
-r

>Science Explorers!-Soapy Fun with Water

>Science Explorers! is a program designed to integrate science during storytime. Today’s guest was Jennifer Wynne, from Simply Science. Simply Science is a fun, hands on science program designed to stimulate an early love of science while teaching basic scientific principles.

Jennifer Wynne

We had a ball experimenting with water, learning abut surface tension and looking at ‘Tornadoes in a Bottle’.

If you want to try some of these experiments at home, we have several books available for checkout.

J 532 W:Water: Simple Experiments for Young Scientists by Larry White

J532 N: Experiments with Water by Sally Nankivell-Aston and Dorothy Jackson

J532 P: Science Activities-Water by Grahama Peacock

E&L 532 G: Simple Science Float and Sink by Mike and Maria Gordon

These titles and much more are available for checkout!

-r

>Magic Workshop cancelled/rescheduled

>Good Day Friends!
Due to an emergency our magician was unable to join us today. The magic workshop originally scheduled for children ages 7-9 has been rescheduled for Thursday, 7/23 at 3:00PM.
We apologize for the inconvenience.
-r