Jim Gill to perform here at GPL

Thursday, July 31st at 6:30 p.m. 

Limited to the first 120 audience members. 

 Get ready to sing, clap, dance and sneeze along during this visit by award-winning musician and author, Jim Gill. Jim is as enthusiastic as ever in his invitation to children, parents and grandparents to sing and play together!  There will be a time for autographs after the program.

Listen to Jim here talk about why it is important to play as a family. Here you can listen to Jim perform one of his favorite songs, The Sneezing Song.   

We hope to see you there.

Cathy

STEAM in our programming

STEAM is an acronym that stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math.  Art was recently added, you may have heard the term STEM.  STEM is based on skills generally using the left half of the brain and thus is logic driven. Much research and data shows that activities like Arts, which uses the right side of the brain supports and fosters creativity, which is essential to innovation. Clearly the combination of superior STEM education combined with Arts education (STEAM) should provide us with the education system that offers us the best chance for regaining the innovation leadership essential to the new economy. {http://steam-notstem.com/about/ accessed 4/4/14}

We love STEAM at the library.  Here are some ways we offer STEAM at the Library and how you can follow-up at home. 

Science- We offer Story Time Science programs where there is a topic like Dinosaurs, we read books about Dinosaurs, do an experiment about Dinosaurs and then make a craft. There will be a family Story Time Science program in June. Our theme for this years Summer Reading is Fizz, Boom, Read!. We will have a lot of science activities for kids this summer. 

Technology- A new program we are offering, Tablet Time (May and June see the calendar for details) will show families how to use books, apps and technology together and interactively. We have used some apps in our story times, our favorite has been Animal Sounds. We will have Apple TV in the near future and that will allow our story times to have technology that is interactive. Technology will only be a bigger part of our children's lives and we want to show you how to use it so you and your child get the most out of the experience. We also have children's e-books available. 

Engineering- Lego Club is a perfect example. Our next session is April 23rd. We provide the Lego's and kids provide the creativity. We love to see families come and build together. Kids using the Duplo blocks, the foam blocks and foam shapes at the library is another way to engineer. 

Arts- Paint me a story, Art Club, and Preschool Story time are just a few examples of how we love art and crafts around here!  

Math- Math crafts, story times, anything involving music (Reading, Rhythm and Rhyme) and dancing (Bop til you Drop and Movin' and Groovin) all involve math. Think about the skills involved in singing a song such as "This Old Man". This simple song incorporates many basic math skills, including matching and comparing (through changes in pitch, volume, and rhythm); patterning and sequencing (through repetitions of melodies, rhythms, and lyrics); and counting and addition (identifying cardinal numbers and adding one more with each verse). When you add moving to the beat, you have created an entire mind/body package of learning rolled into one song!

You can do STEAM activities with your kids at home? Cooking and Baking involve Science and Math.  We have lots of fun cookbooks aimed at children and families (j 641.5 call number.)
Craft projects at home from the simple to the elaborate cover the Art portion. Our craft books are located at j 745.5.   Play some engineering games with your child online at PBS Kids. This covers Engineering and Technology. Try and expose your child to a variety of ideas and any interests they have. 

Cathy 

   

Using iPads with your child

I just came back from Indianapolis where I attended the Public Library Association's Annual Conference. I got to learn about new books coming out and how to use technology in children's program. 

What I have learned is that technology and apps are just another media we use in children's programming just like puppets, music and flannel boards. There are recommendations on how much screen time children from birth to 2 should have and you can read about it here. The Joan Ganz Cooney Center  talks about Joint Media Engagement when dealing with technology and children. The National Association for the Education of Young People and the Fred Rogers Center put out a position statement on Technology and Interactive Media in Early Childhood Programs, we use this statement  to help guide us when using technology with children and programs here at the library. 

So just as we help you find the best books to read, or songs to use with your child we will help model the use of technology with your child. To introduce this idea, we will offer a new program called Tablet Time for children ages 3-6 with their adults (grandparents, parents, caregivers etc.)  The programs will be offered in May 10 and 19 and June 2 and 7 from 9:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Registration is necessary so please check the calendar.  We will explore an app, a book, and a literacy craft that you can take home! At each session we will explore a new app. There will be time for each family to explore our iPads, hone their tablet skills, ask questions, and discover new learning apps at the end of each session. 

This is something new and we hope it will be educational and fun. 

Cathy 

MIss Nina is coming to GPL April 16th, 1-2 pm

Acclaimed children's performer Miss Nina is coming in concert to the Greece Public Library!  We use many of her songs here for story time and we are very excited that she going to perform live here at the library during the spring break from school.

Here is a YouTube video of one of our favorite songs here at the library, The Brown Bear Rap based on Bill Martin's book Brown Bear, Brown Bear What do you see?

For this program we are trying something new, no registration but we have a room limit capacity based on the Fire Code. We will actually be counting the number folks in the room. So I hope you can join us.

Cathy

New Apps on our iPads and a new program alert!

We have 7 iPads available to check-out and use in the children's room. They have a variety of apps on them for kids of all ages. 

I recently added some new apps and want to share them with you. 

Hopscotch 

This apps shows kids how to code (computer programming.) The tag line is Anyone can code- even- and especially- kids.  Try it out.  Here is a link to a You Tube video that gives a quick look at Hopscotch. {Free}

Daisy the Dinosaur

This programming app is for younger children. This fun app has an easy drag and drop interface that kids of all ages can use to animate Daisy to dance across the screen. Kids will intuitively grasp the basics of objects, sequencing, loops and events by solving this app's challenges.
 {Free} 




Peekaboo Vehicles

 This app is an interactive peek-a-boo game for children based on vehicle sounds. It shows an image of clouds and plays the sound of a specific vehicle (a train, a firetruck, a helicopter, ….). When you tap on the clouds they disappear to reveal an animated image of the vehicle. {$1.99}










Animal Sounds

 

 This app is so much fun. We have even used it in story time. The kids enjoy listening to the sound to determine the animal.

We say this rhyme: “There’s someone in my garden,
Whoever can it be?  There’s someone in my garden,
Let’s listen, then see.”
{Free- gets you 20 animals, an in app purchase of $.99 get you 30 more animals}







New program alert : in May and June, I am introducing a new program called Tablet Time for families with children ages 3-6. We will read a book, then explore the app about the book as well as explore how to use iPads, and then do a craft based on the book. The tentative dates are Saturday, May 10, Monday, May 19, Monday, June 2, and Saturday, June 7th. The programs will run from 9:30 a.m. to 10:00a.m. Registration will be necessary so watch the calendar.

Cathy