This week I had a ton of fun making dream catchers with the kids.  For our big craft on Monday we made dream catchers using yarn, beads, feathers and ….shower curtain rings!  At first I wasn’t sure what we would use, since the children I see are all ages it is kind of hard to buy supplies when I do not know the skill level.  The shower curtan rings were the perfect size to make the craft not last forever and a day.  Some of you will notice the big dream catcher we have hanging from the ceiling in the Children’s Department.  That dream catcher took several hours to complete because of the size.  So, as you can see I was very happy the shower curtain rings worked well.  The craft was so popular we ran out of supplies and I needed to come up with a new idea for our story time craft.  We ended up doing dream catchers…but this time out of paper plates!

For more information on dream catchers visit: http://www.dream-catchers.org/

Next weeks list of events continues with our Monday craft at 3:00pm where we will be making Australian Dream Paintings.  It won’t be as messy as our Teen Paint Fight yesterday, but it will be just as fun.  For more information on dream paintings check out the following websites.

http://www.artheritageprogram.org/Aboriginalart.pdf

http://www.tribalworks.com/Aboriginal-Art-Dot-Painting-Gallery.htm

One of the big things I have been waiting for is the Stuntology program with Sam Bartlett on Tuesday, June 26th at 3:00 pm.  Get ready for an afternoon of fun pranks and tricks to annoy your friends and family.

Again, I had a great week and a lot of fun with all my kids and families.  I can’t wait to see you all again next week!!

~jaime

Besides doing all of our regular story times during the summer I get the chance to do some outreach with some really great kids.  Every Friday I have the chance to interact with the children from the Fairfax Village Apartment Complex.  We tell stories and do crafts just like we would do here, but many of these children don’t have the opportunity to come down to the library.  This is one of my favorite outreach programs and I can’t wait to see the kids next Friday!  I’m going out of town so I miss out this week : (  But no worries for the kids, because of course we have some great staff members that will fill in for me in a time of need.  Thanks Janet and Kira!!

Today I wanted to give a shout out to my Story Time Dads!!  When I first started we rarley had any father’s show up for story time.  Over the years the numbers have increased, but this year has been amazing.  We have at least 8 dads that come at least once a week, sometimes twice.  Thank you so much for doing this for your children!  You are truely amazing and we are all grateful for you!!  HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!!

And of course, one more thing……If you haven’t signed up for Summer Reading, PLEASE do!  Not only can your children win some great prizes, but so can you MOM and DAD!!   Share the love of reading all summer long and have fun with your favorite librarians!!

Hope to see you here soon : )

~jaime

As I said, this storytime is one I have wanted to do for a really long time.  I do not speak Spanish fluently so I didn’t feel comfortable teaching something I’m not sure I am doing correctly.  My friend Renee approached me and asked if I would be interested in her helping me with a bilingual storytime.  She didn’t know this, but I was taking a class concerning outreach to Hispanic communities.  One of the big suggestions from the class was to use volunteers.  Renee came to me at the perfect moment.  My energy was high again and I had lots of ideas from the on-line course I had just taken.

Not knowing what to expect made the planning process a little difficult.  We put together three pages worth of songs in both English and Spanish (printable link below), and chose only one book to read (Where is Baby’s Bellybutton/Donde Esta el Ombliguito? By Karen Katz).  Our library is lucky in that we have a budget for storytime books and are able to get multiple copies of some of our board books.  It helps when storytime becomes overwhelming to be able to hand out a book to each child.  It really helps them focus, and you wouldn’t believe how the noise level decreases immediately. We were even luckier for this program because we had multiple copies of the book in English and Spanish!!

When it was time for the first storytime we were both really nervous.  Eventhough I do five storytimes a week, I get nervous before each one….especially when it is not my native language.  Like I said we didn’t know what to expect, so we didn’t want to go overboard with really long stories.  I’m glad we thought of this before hand, our first group ranged in age from 6 months to 8 years, plus all the eager to learn parents.  Spanish knowledge was all over the place too, from fluent to beginner.

The storytime went great.  Everyone seemed to have a lot of fun and we ALL learned something new.  Since the book was about body parts the kids helped us put together a magnetic board of a girl.  As we added each body part we named them in English and Spanish.  The kids were able to take home a two page mini version of this magnetic board to color and cut out themselves.   One sheet was labeled in Spanish and the other sheet was blank to give them a chance to use their knowledge.

This storytime is a total experiment to see if this is something our community wants.  We are eager for suggestions and criticisms, it is the only way we can make it better.  One parent did let us know that it was a little overwhelming to learn so many new words and songs all at once, though she did mention that she thought the kids probably didn’t notice.  Knowing how hard it was for me to try to learn these songs in less than a week, I completely agree with her on both points.

So have no fear if you are debating coming back or coming for the first time.  We will be doing the same songs for the next four storytimes.  This will give us a chance to really learn them and be comfortable singing them.  Every adult and child that attends gets a copy of the songs to use during and afterwards.  I am not an expert at this, I am really just here to have fun learning a new language with friends.  I’m hoping others who are looking for the same thing will join us Mondays at 4:30

Muchas Gracias!!

~jaime

Spanish Songs For Week One

Mud cupcakes for all! This one looks delicious Jocelyn.

What a wet day we are having.  I can’t complain though, because it went right along with our storytime theme this week….MUD.  I had fun talking about the ooey, gooey, slippy, sloppy stuff and reading some of our new picture books, but my favorite part was this weeks craft.  Who knew that dirt and water would be such a hit.  That’s right, we got to make mud pies….well, actually mud cupcakes.

We decorated our cupcakes with fresh daffodils and other items I found outside.  We had fun getting dirty, though I hope none of your cars got messy.  Thanks for letting us have fun in the mud mom and dad!!

Thanks to everyone for making story time a success this week.  Next week we will read stories about birds and do a really clean craft.  I promise…..easy and clean : ) Also, join us for our new Spanish story time Biblioninos on Monday at 4:30 pm.  If you can’t make it to story time next week I hope I at least get to see you down at the park for the Radford Goes Green Event.  The library will be there doing green crafts with the kids.  We have plenty  of stuff for the adults too!

Until next time…..

~jaime

To get ready for “Radford Goes Green” the library will be hosting a Lorax story time tomorrow (Wednesday, April 18) at 4:30 pm.  We will be giving away copies of the Lorax to every family that comes.  And one lucky family will win a brand new composter for their backyard!!!  Please stop by and enjoy this story with us, make a craft and afterwards stay and watch the animated version of The Lorax in our meeting room (5:00 pm).

Thanks to everyone who came to story time today.  We had over 40 people in the 10 am Wee Reads!!  I appreciate everyone’s support, it makes this job worth doing.  Thanks for all the hugs…joseph, frankie and landon!!!  : )

~jaime

I hope families will stop by on Saturday and hang out in the children’ s area.  Thanks to a donation from a loyal story time patron, there are now some new magnets and felt boards for the kids to play with.  I also wanted to let parents know about some new Easy Reader books we just bought.  I have put them with the NEW PICTURE BOOK display at the entrance to the children’s area.  There are adventures with Splat the Cat, Boba Fett, the Berenstain Bears and Pinkalicious.  We even have some new picture books with The Lalaloopsy Girls!

Maybe you just want to relax this weekend. (Don’t we all!)  Stop by at 11:00 am on Saturday and join us for the last movie of the week:  The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Maybe have a picnic lunch in our back garden area afterwards.

Whatever it is you do this weekend, I hope you enjoy it!  I look forward to seeing you all next week!!

: )

~jaime

On the note of story time, I just sat down with a friend of mine yesterday.  We have decided to start our new Spanish story time “Biblioninos” on Monday, April 30 at 4:30 pm.  This story time is designed for children who speak Spanish and those children who want to be introduced to the language.  We will have a combination of Spanish and English songs and books with a craft activity afterwards.  After years of wanting to do this, I am so happy to finally be able to start this story time!!

Yesterday we had our Wednesday afternoon story time where we read all about libraries and got to make our own books and bookmarks afterwards.  We had great attendance and the books were quite cute…including my son’s, which was all about his best friend Alex.

To continue in our celebration of National Library Week, we will be having our SNAPSHOTVA Day today!  Every year the Library of Virginia sponsors SNAPSHOTVA Day and asks patrons all over Virginia to take pictures in the library and send feedback about how important libraries are in their area.  Don’t be surprised if we snap a shot of you doing something fun at the library today!

And finally, 100 years ago today the Titanic set sail on its fateful voyage.  To commemorate the massive ship’s journey, we have the Radford University Chemistry Club coming this afternoon to demonstrate “Will it Sink or Will it Float?”  If you haven’t seen this demo before, it is not one you want to miss.  It’s for all ages so bring the whole family this afternoon at 4:00 pm.

Whew…what a Tremendous Thursday we have planned!

I hear the little ones calling for stories.  Yay!!

~jaime

Each day there is a different theme for the page.  There are songs, finger plays, Tumblebook stories to listen to, activities and crafts!  I love the BE HEALTHY link where I can find movement activities, tips on healthy living and links to trusted medical websites.  I encourage everyone with a child or in the child care profession to check out this awesome FREE on-line resource!!

AND……

Don’t forget to come to story time at 4:30 pm today.  We are making bookmarks!  For all ages : )

Pokemon Club
Pokemon fans are invited to bring their trading cards and handheld devices to the library for an hour of Pokemon madness. Fun for all ages.
Thursday, January 5^th at 4 p.m.

Chess Club
players of all skill levels are invited to the library to play and learn about chess. find challenging opponents and learn strategy.
Thursday, January 12^th at 2:30 p.m.

Build! Legos!
You supply the ideas, we supply the Legos! Build whatever you can imagine at the library. Fun for all ages.
Thursday, January 19th at 3 p.m.

Pokemon Club
Pokemon fans are invited to bring their trading cards and handheld devices to the library for an hour of Pokemon madness. Fun for all ages.
Thursday, February 2^nd at 4 p.m.

Chess Club
players of all skill levels are invited to the library to play and learn about chess. find challenging opponents and learn strategy.
Thursday, February 9^th at 2:30 p.m.

Build! Legos!
You supply the ideas, we supply the Legos! Build whatever you can imagine at the library. Fun for all ages.
Thursday, February 16^th at 3 p.m.

Pokemon Club
Pokemon fans are invited to bring their trading cards and handheld devices to the library for an hour of Pokemon madness. Fun for all ages.
Thursday, March 1^st at 4 p.m.

Chess Club
players of all skill levels are invited to the library to play and learn about chess. find challenging opponents and learn strategy.
Thursday, March at 8^th 2:30 p.m.

Build! Legos!
You supply the ideas, we supply the Legos! Build whatever you can imagine at the library. Fun for all ages.
Thursday, March 15^th at 3 p.m.