Summer Reading Program Kick-off!

Last night, musician TJ Wheeler played to a room filled with happy kids and parents as we kicked off our Summer Reading Program. TJ wove the "Build a Better World" theme into his presentation and kids accompanied him on several songs. The New Hampton School provided ice cream and we had just enough for everyone. It was a great night! Thanks to all who attended and made the start to our Summer Reading Progam so festive and fun!

STEM/Storytime Saturday: Construction

First, we read teh story of Rapunzel. Since there are many different versions, we read one, but checked the illustrations in another. We found out that a "rapunzel" is an herb or a salad plant, also called rampion. 

Then we were challenged to build a tower, as high as possible, from newspaper and masking tape. First we crumpled pages, and tried to make a tall pile. When that didn't work, we changed our strategy, and this one did work! Just look!

Our tower is still on display in the Children's Room so everyone can see it!

Rabbit-punzel, Rabbit-punzel, let down your ears! ha-ha!

Why Read? Why Write?

The Friends of the Gordon-Nash Library again this year partnered with the New Hampton Community School to sponsor their annual Why Read, Why Write Spring essay contest. The theme of this year's contest was "How to Build a Better World", with fourth and fifth grade students writing creatively about how kids can make a difference. When their essays were complete, students also created colorful posters based on their writings.

Gretchen Draper, teacher-consultant from the New Hampshire chapter of the National Writing Project, initiated the contest by addressing students and offering materials to help them generate and organize their ideas. New Hampton teachers Melissa Markey, Angie Bergholm, and Scott McCann facilitated the essay writing and the creation of posters.

Since our Summer Reading Program theme focuses on the same theme, students are letting us display their artwork for the summer months. The posters will decorate our children's room and fill our display case so that patrons young and old can see how kids can help Build a Better World!

Our Summer Reading Program begins!

Our Kick-off for the Summer Reading Program is Tuesday, June 27th at 6:30pm. Musician TJ Wheeler will be here, playing blues, jazz, and ragtime on a variety of stringed instruments. Ice cream for all starting at 6pm! Kids, sign up for the Summer Reading Program if you haven’t already done it so you can track the books you read and be eligible for weekly prizes and chances in our raffle. Don't forget to perform "Acts of Kindness" and record them when you come to the library! Always, be a Kind Kid!Funding for this Kids, Books, and the Arts event is provided by the Jack and Dorothy Byrne Foundation, CHILIS, Cogswell Benevolent Trust,  and is supported in part by a grant from the NH State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts as well as funds administered by the NH State Library and provided by the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

Something Fishy!

This week's Storytime was devoted to fish. Fish Eyes: a book you can count on by Lois Ehlert had a hole through the page for each fish eye, but it also let us see some of the shapes and sizes of fish and gave us some ideas for creating our own. The Pout-Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen was a favorite because of this fish's pouty behavior when others were trying to be friendly or helpful. Some kids even read along with the "pout-pout" part! In Poor Little Guy by Elanna Allen, a small but special fish was almost eaten by a big octopus. Wait til you read how he got away! Our last story, Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister was about a beautiful fish who learned the value of sharing. 

We used blue paper plates to look like the ocean, and made fish and sea life to glue on top. Tissue paper, foam shapes, colored dots, and crayons all made an ocean setting with fish and seaweed (and kelp!) on a sandpaper ocean floor. Some of us used sequins for eyes or to make bubbles coming from the fish's mouths. When the collage was finished, we covered the opending of a second cut-out paper plate with blue cellophane and glued it over the first plate. It made it look like our fish were under the ocean!

Fisher Cats: Summer Reading All-Stars!

Look!! The Fisher Cats and the Grappone Automotive Group are challenging kids to read this summer! You only have to read five books!! Just 5! Click the link below to get to the form.
goo.gl/wfSXYu

Summer Reading Program!

Finally, it's starting to feel like summer! The temperatures are hot! Families are hitting the beaches. Some of you are already out of school, and some have just a few days left! It's SUMMER - and time to sign up for the Gordon-Nash Summer Reading Program! The program starts on June 27th and ends on August 3rd. Our theme is Build a Better World.

This year, we have prizes to give away when the Summer Reading Program is over. Here's a partial list:
* free passes to Cowabunga's in Hooksett
* $10 gift certificates from Jordan's Ice Creamery in Belmont and Weirs Beach
* a $25 gift certificate to Innisfree Books from The Newfound Teachers' Union
* a gift certificate to Subway for a six foot long sub and a platter of cookies
* books compliments of the Gordon-Nash Library
* posters from the Boston Bruins

There are three ways to earn raffle tickets for prizes:
1) Bring your reading log to the library so we can record the number of books you've read. You can do this as often as you want!
2) Come to weekly Thursday Storytime or to a Tuesday evening presentation - or to both, for two tickets!
3) Return an Act of Kindness card, and let us know how you helped someone or did a nice thing and helped to build a better world. We'll hang your card on the bulletin board for everyone to see.

We'll also have weekly prizes again. When you come to the library with your reading logs, you can choose a small prize from the Prize Bowl! Just ask!

NHCS Kindergarten

For the final time this year, NHCS Kindergartners walked down the street to the Gordon-Nash to return their books and listen to a story. Our choice this time was Roxaboxen by Alice McLerran. It's based on the recollections of the author and tells the story of children who used elements of their desert environment to build a community in which to play and pretend. I love this book because it shows how inventive and imaginative kids can be. After the story, we talked about our upcoming Summer Reading Program, "Build a Better World". Kindergartners headed back to school with a bookmark that outlined all the events that are part of this Summer Reading Program. 

Gordon Nash Library is so pleased to have this special connection to the New Hampton Community School. Some children tell me this is the first time they've come to their public library. Thanks to teacher Heidi Sidwell for making these monthly trips part of her kindergarten program. 

Dinosaur!!!

We had a special dinosaur Storytime this week because so many of out patrons like them! Here are the books we read. 

And here is the craft we made - a dinosaur from a paper plate.  Can you see the dino's neck is the rim of one half of the plate? And the other half is the body. Some colored the plate parts, some did not. Big and small stickers were used as spots, and legs and a neck were added with brads. 

Dino friends!