Kindergarteners At the Library

Ms. Eileen and I were lucky enough to host the annual kindergarten visits this week. Each year the kids walk down from the school with their teachers for some stories and a quick tour of the library. It is always a wonderful pleasure for us to see such bright, interested, well-behaved children and to share our love of books with them. Ms. Eileen and I do some things a bit differently; Ms. Eileen, for example, shared a "draw-and-tell" story and I played a quick song on the ukulele. But we both shared some of the excellent JE-ER (Easy Reader) books available at RML, as well as read stories about books and libraries including some of those shown here.

The Lovely Month of May

There is a lot going on in May to look forward to:

- Every Wednesday in May at 6:30 p.m. join me (Ms. Patty) upstairs at the library for Bedtime Stories. We'll share songs and stories to end your day. This is best for children 2-6, but parents often stick around as well. I'll be in my jammies, so feel free to come in yours too.

- Monday, May 2nd at 10:30 a.m. we have a special Wonderful Ones session in honor of Children's Book Week. For children ages 9-23 months with caregiver, Ms. Eileen and Ms. Patty will share stories and games. Please register in advance. (We have give-aways!)

- Friday, May 13th at 4 p.m., one of my favorite performers joins us at RML for a Magical Event! Christina the Magician will delight us all with sleight of hand in her charming and gentle way. This will be fun for all ages,but please register in advance so we know how many to expect. (I've been trying to get Ms. Eileen to book Christina for two years, so I'm hoping for a big turn-out!)

- Friday, May 20th, at 1:15 p.m., Not-Too-Old-For-Storytime: Spring Edition. Storytime alums and others in grades K-2 are invited to join Ms. Eileen and Ms. Patty for stories, games, a craft, and an afternoon snack. This is an early dismissal day and we will meet the kids at the school and walk them to the library. We often need a few adults to help safely collect the children and guide them to the library, so let us know if you'd like to help. You must register for this popular program, and kids who haven't come before are given first preference.

Hoping to see a lot of you all in May at RML.

(P.S. I somehow forgot to post about our last storytime sessions two weeks ago; our theme was Bunnies and we made bunny ears that were very cute.)

(P.P.S. It's necessary to end registered storytimes early because we need to use the storytime room to store collected books for the book sale. Another example of our limited space at RML, and one more reason to support the upstairs renovations.)

Snapshots!

April 13 was Snapshot Day at libraries around CT. The purpose is to capture the impact that CT libraries have on their communities in a typical day. Here is the link to check out Snapshot Day:

http://snapshotctlib.wordpress.com/

So we have busy snapping pictures around here lately - and not just for that day. So I thought we would share a few here on the blog because of course, we have pics of storytime!

Here's one of Ms. Eileen's 4&5's and their Spring Chicks!!

Here's a great crew of girls (and dolls!) at our American Girl storytime during vacation week.

Finally, Ms. Patty's 2-yr-olds with their great 'kite' windsocks. Ms. Patty made a fun new flannelboard set of kites and clouds for storytime last week.

Hope everyone is enjoying the sunny days we are having between the rain! And if you are hunting for eggs this weekend, GOOD LUCK!!!

Spring Storytime Week 4: Wind

This Week's Books:
Leaf Man, by Lois Ehlert
The Wind Blew, by Pat Hutchins
Kite Flying, by Grace Lin
One Monday, by Amy Huntington
Like a Windy Day, by Frank and Devin Asch
How the Wind Plays, by Michael Lipson, ill. by Daniel Kirk
Who Took The Farmer's Hat? by Joan Nodset, ill, by Fritz Siebel

This Week's Music:
Colors of the Wind, from "Pocahontas", sung by Judy Kuhn
Let's Go Fly a Kite, from "Mary Poppins", cast
In the Clouds, by Laurie Berkner

This Week's Action Rhymes:
Blow wind blow,
All through the town
Blow wind blow,
Up and down
Blow wind blow
From left to right
Blow wind blow
All through the night

This Week's Art/Craft: Windsock/Kite with tissue paper
Plus flannel board game and an Aesop's tale.

Pizza Love

Thanks to all who joined our Pizzapalooza on Friday. What a fun event. We had over 85 attendees; that's a lot of people in our small-ish library. The pizza was very good (Thank you Village Green!) and enjoyed by all. Thank you very, very much to Matt and Robert Bates for being our lemonade makers for the evening. Who knows how many gallons of lemonade they made and carried up the stairs. They kept everyone quenched. Ms. Eileen looked adorable in her pizza costume, didn't she? And, while I didn't get to witness the pizza stories, I could hear lots of laughter and fun cheers. Thank you also to Nancy Woods, our fearless leader for indulging the slightly unorthodox programming whims of Ms. Eileen and Ms. Patty, and also for manning the circulation desk along with Sandy Bates during the event. A word of thanks also to those patrons who found themselves surrounded by a bit of chaos when they merely wanted a book or DVD. Most of all, congratulations to the children for all the great reading they did this month and taking the time to "Take-Out a Good Book". Keep it up.
Ms. Patty