September at the library

I can't believe that it's already September 23!  This month has been FLYING by.  Schools are back in session, and we are busier than ever.  Storytimes have returned after our August break and our club programs have returned.  Here's a recap about what's been happening at the library so far this September.

Storytimes
My branch is a big storytime branch.  We have programs every morning except Fridays and Sundays and evenings Monday-Wednesday.  We reach families with children from birth to early elementary.

Financial Literacy for Preschoolers
We had volunteers from PNC Bank lead two financial literacy programs for preschoolers attending our Tuesday storytimes.  They taught the kids about money and how to set it aside for spending, sharing, and saving through books and fun activities.  They even got to make their own banks to take home with them.  It was a lot of fun.

Tween Tech:  Tagxedo
Oh my gosh, if you have never played around with Tagxedo (www.tagxedo.com), do so immediately!  It's all about making pictures out of words.  I had a group of about 15 kids come to my program where I showed them how to access the site (it's free!!!) and how to create their own designs.  First I had them create something that represented who they are and then I had them create something based on their favorite book or movie.  The finished products were beautiful, and they had a blast.

Kid Zone Bracelets and Bookmarks
The creativity was flowing in the children's area.  They made bracelets using pony beads and pipecleaners.  Some were even brave enough to tackle weaving/braiding friendship bracelets with string.  For bookmarks, we used cardstock and duct tape to create a variety of designs.

Marvelous Minecrafters Club
I had a great turnout for the first meeting of the school year.  The kids were super psyched that we are back in session.  We took a break over the summer.  Along with playing Minecraft, we also made Minecraft keychains using Perler beads.  They also brainstromed to come up with future challenge ideas.

SCRATCH Club
My super awesome, super SCRATCH star children's assistant, Alex is starting a monthly SCRATCH Club that we are hoping to turn into an all encompassing Coding Club.  The tech stuff is BIG at my branch which makes me so happy.

Preschool STEAM Club
This is probably one of my favorite programs because I am the self-proclaimed Queen of STEAM.  I love creating programs for the youngest of our customers and am hoping to expand into a monthly club for school-age kids since our local school system has a killer STEAM curriculum and does some really amazing things.  I'm hoping to partner up with some of the teachers to see what we can do on a larger scale.  I'm very ambitious about this.  This month my preschoolers explored Fall/Apple themed activity stations.  We made apple slime (basically glittery slime in red, yellow, and green because that's the color of apples), played with applesauce playdough to make pretend apple pies, and turned an apple into a volcano with baking soda and vinegar.  We also painted trees using fall colors of red, orange, yellow, and brown using crumpled up foil as our paint brush.  They also played with Legos and did some math activities where they traced numbers 1-5 and sorted leaves.  We had a blast!  The Preschool STEAM Club also celebrated its 1st birthday this month! :)

Homework Mentor Open House
My branch has an awesome Homework Mentor, Katy (A.K.A. Miss P) who works at the library after school Monday-Thursday from 3:30-5:30.  She helps kids with their homework and helps staff with the after school crowd.  To celebrate our first day back in business last week, we had an open house where kids and parents could come ask questions, see our space, and get to know us.  We also had a bookmark craft and I led a tutorial on how to make duct tape flower pens which grew to be quite the sensation.  I love making these, and I converted a whole new group of duct tape craft addicts!

Family Minecraft, Lego Building, and some additional storytimes round out the calendar of activities for this month.  We are super busy, but having a lot of fun.  I love programming and getting to know all the kids and families that come to the library.  My face sometimes hurts from smiling, but if that's the worst part of my day, I am more than okay with that!