The library’s Summer Reading program is a fun way to stay engaged in reading and learning over the summer. The program is free, and there are versions for all ages, from the youngest babies to kids, teens and even adults. The fun begins May 31 and ends August 3. Find out more about Summer Reading…
Ambria Van Engelenhoven
A group of very talented kids and teens created bookmarks to promote our upcoming Summer Reading program. The teen theme this year is “Beneath the Surface” and the kids’ theme is “Dig into Reading.” See the 2013 winners, and be sure to pick up a bookmark when you visit the library!
I love to sing. Not everyone loves it when I sing, but that’s okay. My son likes it when I perform the tune “Going on a Picnic” by Lynn Freeman Olson, which is known as a zipper song. What is a zipper song? I am glad you asked! A zipper song is any tune where you take out one word and “zip” another one in. This word-swapping is entertaining, the possibilities are endless and the fun can go on FOREVER. Give it a whirl:
Going on a picnic,
leaving right away.
If it doesn’t rain,
we’ll stay all day.
Did you bring the (sandwiches)?
Yes I brought the (sandwiches).
Ready for a picnic, here we go!
When singing this song, my family likes to keep listing all of the words we’ve added in the previous verses, trying to remember the order, going from the newest item to the oldest. What a workout for your brain! If you are not sure of the melody, stop by the library, and I will sing my off-key version. Or you can just check out Raffi’s performance of this song on “The Corner Grocery Store” CD.
Did you know that octopuses, or octopi (as I like to call them), have beaks? They are also very good at hiding. Sea stars don’t have eyes; they have eye spots. Where did I find these fascinating facts? I learned this information and much more from two nonfiction books on our new books shelf at the library. The Life Under the Sea series has six titles written by Cari Meister:
The colorful pictures and the easy-to-read text make it a snap for younger kiddos to learn facts about life in the ocean. The books even include a picture glossary at the end to explain more about what was just read. A simple table of contents and an index at the end of each book introduce kiddos to using these important parts of nonfiction books. Sea life not your thing? Try the Animals on the Farm series and see what you and your kids can learn! (We have a soft spot for the baby goats - so cute!)
You have read “Goodnight Moon” 500 times, and you know it by heart. Your child loves the book so much that he can tell you the story without even knowing how to read. While this repetitiveness may seem like torture to you, it actually is a good thing. Narrative skill, or the ability to tell stories, is one of the tools your child needs to start reading.
Knowing that stories have a beginning, middle and end, and the ability to talk about activities in a sequence are important to developing narrative skills. Want to make a story more fun? Act it out! Acting out a story helps your child understand and remember the order of events in the story. One of the favorites in our household is “Mud Puddle” by Robert Munsch. I love to pretend to be the mud puddle and get my son “completely all over muddy.” Continue reading