BJ The Clown is Coming!

On Tuesday April 1st, BJ The Clown will be here, and that's no joke!  Everyone's favorite clown and he'll be here to tickle your funny bone with a special show on April Fool's Day!!  See him in the Burgess Community Room at 6:30 pm. 
Oh, and be prepared to laugh!

Supporting Math at Home

Did you know that you can support your child in learning math with everyday materials found in your home, such as shoelaces, canned food, cotton balls, and muffin pans?  Recent research shows that children who are ready to learn math are likely to do better in school.  Here's a listing of six math activities you can do with your child from the National Association for the Education of Young Children.

 

All Ages Anime

Spring Break? Wuuhooo! It's time for an annual TPL tradition: All Ages Anime. On Friday, March 28 from 2-4 we'll be screening Studio Ghibli's My Neighbors the Yamadas (PG) in the Burgess Community Room. We'll also be enjoying Japanese-themed crafts and snacks. Bring the whole family!

13 Things Babies Learn When We Read with Them

Babies learn so many things when they are read to such as: knowing that letters, words, and pictures all have meaning and that everytime they hear words, they learn about language.  What else may they be learning?  Here's an article from the National Association for the Education of Young Children, entitled 13 Things Babies Learn When We Read with Them.  Check it out.  You may be surprised all that's going on in their little brains!  And....keep on reading to your baby!

Spring Break Scavenger Hunt

This program begins Monday March 24 and continues all week through March 29.

 

How well do you know the library? Rain or Shine, search the Children’s Room and the library grounds at your own pace to find all the items on our list. Pick up a form at the Children’s Desk. Completed forms can be entered into a drawing to be held Sunday, March 30.

 

Food For Fines March 23-29

Got some library fines you'd like to pay off?  The library will hold its sixth Food for Fines drive Sunday, March 23 –Saturday, March 29, 2014. For every two non-perishable food items donated, the library will waive $1 of fines from library patrons’ accounts, up to $10.  The Food for Fines program applies only to fines, not damaged or lost items.  Patrons may contribute as many additional food items as they wish.
 Acceptable donations include:  • Canned meats (tuna, chicken, salmon etc.)

• Canned and box meals (chili, soup, macaroni and cheese etc.)

• Peanut butter

• Pasta, rice, cereal

• Canned fruits

• 100% fruit juice

• Baby food

The Library cannot accept unlabeled or rusty cans, homemade, perishable or open items.

March is National Nutrition Month. The library will donate the food to the St. Vincent de Paul food pantry in Tigard to distribute to those in need. March is an important month for food pantries because their inventory is often depleted.

This food drive will be held only at the Tigard Library. It does not involve other libraries in the Washington County Cooperative Library System.

LEGO® Construction Zone

Future engineers and mathematicians! Come develop your STEM skills with LEGOs®.  Drop in to work on your creations with other builders, and give our race track a spin. We’ll supply the building blocks; you bring your creativity.

 

 
Join us in the Puett Room Sunday, March 23 for this all ages program.

Let's Go Fly A Kite!

March is here and it's time to fly a kite! 

Kids ages 5 and up are invited to come visit the Puett Room on Saturday March 22nd from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. where they can create and design their very own kite.  Then, if the weather cooperates, kites can be taken outside to fly in the library field. 

Up, up, and away!!!!!!!!!!

Top 10 Apps

As you may recall in our 5 Assumptions You May Have Regarding Screen Time & Your Child post that there's the “Three C’s” that parents must take into consideration when having their children look at any type of content on a screen, no matter the device (iphone/smart phone, ipad, e-readers, computer, TV, etc.) which are:

1. The content (What is the child really looking at? What are the features?)

2. The context (What is happening around the child at the same exact time they are looking at the screen? Are there other kids around playing? Is no one else around?)

3. The child (What is their needs? Do they have any stressors in their life?)

So if your child must interact with apps, School Library Journal is the only place I know of that reviews apps for kids.  Their Top 10 Apps of 2013 is a good place to start if you want apps for your child to use.  The list includes a Mo Willems and a Captain Underpants app too!

Coby's Picks #6

And here are some of Coby's current favorites. He is now almost 3. Again, if there are any repeats, it is because they are tried and true titles and he is still enjoying them.

Bink & Gollie series, by Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee (Juvenile Fiction)
Take Me Out to the Ball Game, by Jack Norworth (Picture Book with CD)
Ambulances, by Carol K. Lindeen (Juvenile Non-Fiction)
Tu y Yo, by Maggie Maino (Spanish Picture Book)
I See Kitty, by Yasmine Surovec (Picture Book)
No No Yes Yes, by Leslie Patricelli (Board Book)

Common Core State Standards

Many schools in the Tigard area are focusing their attention on curriculum that meets the Oregon Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for English language arts and mathematics.  While the school year is already half over, perhaps you may still need to find a way to better understand what CCSS means and the implications it has for your school child.

The National PTA and the Council of Great City Schools offer FREE downloadable brochures that provide CCSS information that is organized by grade level.  Each one of the following brochures and  roadmaps give some background about the Common Core, offer specific examples of skills and expectations for that grade level, and suggest ways parents can help their children succeed. As a bonus, the roadmaps specifically advise parents to “be sure your child has a library card. Children should select books they are interested in to develop a passion for reading. Many libraries have book clubs and family activities that make reading fun for the entire family.” Stop by the library today to get a library card, absolutely FREE!

PTA English and Math  Guide to Student Success

Common Core Roadmaps, Supporting Your Child with English
 

Common Core Roadmaps, Supporting Your Child with Math

The Oregon Department of Education also features these and other resources in their CCSS Toolkit for Parents.  They also have Parent Guides According to Grade Level.

Dancing With Your Stars

This all-ages program is Sunday, March 16 from 1:30-2:30 in the Burgess Community Room

Hands are for clapping and toes are for tapping at this family dance party. Move and groove together to popular children’s song! We’ll provide scarves, shakers, and pom-poms for you to Hokey Pokey.

More on Screen Time

Can you tell we liked the presentation by journalist-turned-author, Lisa Guernsey? First Janet, and now I am blogging about it! And I have to admit, my first reaction when I saw we were hosting an author to talk about screen time, was "Great. Now I have another person to make me feel guilty about letting my under-2-year-old watch TV." And it was not that way at all. Lisa focuses more on the quality of TV, apps and video games than the quantity (even for kids under 2), and she offers a pneumonic to help you remember: SPLERN. "SPLERN???" you may ask, "How am I going to remember a nonsense word like that?" That's what I said to myself. But I remembered it without even taking notes, so the acronym did it's job!

• Straight-time story line (the story goes from beginning to end without things like dream sequences, flashbacks, memories, side plots, etc)
• Participation (Dora or Blue's Clues are good examples of this where the kids are actually asked a question and given time to answer, but anything that encourages participation like songs, movement, etc.)
• Labeling (When unfamiliar words or items are shown, they are labeled or defined within the context of the show)
• Engagement (Do the kids like it?)
• Repetition (Speaks for itself)
• Non-Violence (I should probably stop letting Coby watch even the 1981 Spiderman cartoon *cringe*)

So glad I got the opportunity to see her in person, and I highly recommend her book Screen Time: How Electronic Media--From Baby Videos to Educational Software--Affects Your Young Child.

Irish Music & Dance

Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day early with a fun, lively program featuring Irish music and dance. Irish musicians Peter Yeates and Mikey Beglan will sing and play traditional Irish music on guitar and button accordion. Then, in the spirit of a traditional céilí (a social, community gathering), learn some traditional dance steps from Sam Keator. Soon you’ll be speaking with an Irish brogue!

It's all happening in the Burgess Community Room on Wednesday, March 12 from 6:30–8:30 p.m. All ages are invited! Sponsored by Friends of the Tigard Library

Evan's Picks #6

Here is a list of some more of Evan's favorites. If there are any repeats from previous Evan's Picks posts, it is because they are tried and true, and he still loves them. He is now 6!

Frindle, by Andrew Clements (Juvenile Fiction)
DK Merriam-Webster's Children's Dictionary (inspired by Frindle)
Just A Second: A Different Way to Look at Time, by Steve Jenkins (Juvenile Non-Fiction)
Bink & Gollie series, by Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee (Juvenile Fiction)
Katie Woo series, by Fran Manushkin (Early Reader)
Star Wars Early Readers

Early Literacy Workshop

As you know, it is never too early to share books with your child. Kindergarten may feel like a long way off (or it may be approaching very quickly), but there are many things you can do to help prepare your child to learn to read in kindergarten. Kids are not expected to know how to read upon entering kindergarten, but things you do at home can prepare them to be ready to learn.

On Monday, March 31 from 6:30 to 8:00 in the Puett Room, I will be offering a workshop on how to prepare your child to read. Babies who are not yet mobile are welcome, but if they are crawling or walking, please hire a babysitter and join us. So, if you have or work with children under 6, you may call the Children’s Desk at 503-718-2673 to register. Space is limited. It’s a fun, interactive workshop, and I’ll look forward to meeting you!

5 Assumptions You May Have Regarding Screen Time & Your Child

In case you missed our guest speaker last week, Lisa Guernsey, author of Screen Time: How Electronic Media—from Baby Videos to Educational Software—Affects Your Young Child, here is a recap of some information from her presentation. 

Lisa’s talk was based upon an article she wrote for the National Association for the Education of Young Children titled How True Are Our Assumptions About Screen Time?  It can be found online here: http://families.naeyc.org/learning-and-development/music-math-more/how-true-are-our-assumptions-about-screen-time
 
I was surprised to learn that there's over 700,000 apps available online and most of them are geared towards children!  Many parents just handover their phones to their kids, thus exposing children to screens without any knowledge of the app or product that their child is using.  What the child is looking at may not be all that bad, there are the “Three C’s” that parents must take into consideration when having their children look at any type of content on a screen, no matter the device (iphone/smart phone, ipad, e-readers, computer, TV, etc.). They are:

1. The content (What is the child really looking at?  What are the features?)

2. The context (What is happening around the child at the same exact time they are looking at the screen?  Are there other kids around playing?  Is no one else around?)

3. The child (What is their needs?  Do they have any stressors in their life?)

Regarding those “Three C’s”, Lisa presented five assumptions that adults have regarding screen time with young children. They are: 

Assumption 1: As long as the content is “educational,” it is good for children.  What research shows is that children don’t always learn what the program creators intend.  Sometimes they learn the opposite.

Assumption 2: The TV may be on in the background, but children aren’t affected.  Research shows that the TV may be impacting a child more than one would think, such as child-parent interactions and how children play.

Assumption 3: All media for children under age 2 is damaging.  Research shows that if parents use media with children under the age of 2, they should make sure that screen time leads to social interactions with their babies and toddlers, instead of replacing those interactions.  This is a good reminder as to why dialogic reading is so important!  Ask your child open-ended questions.  This will help with their vocabulary development!

Assumption 4: Scary movies and TV shows just go over children’s heads.  Research shows that scary programs influence children’s sleep and more, such as their sleep routines/schedules.

Assumption 5: E-books are distracting to young children.  Research shows that it’s all about how they are used.  Some data shows that e-readers can have too many distractions (such as swiping) and they keep the child from understanding the content.  Often times it leaves the parent saying to their child, “don’t touch that” or "don't click that".  These types of responses can feel negative to the child, leading them to have an undesirable reading experience.  When compared to reading a print book, it allows for more positive parent and child interaction, such as dialogic reading because all the fancy places to tap on the e-reader aren't there to get in the way; pages can be turned together too!   The adult who is with the child while using screen media matter—there needs to be guidance in place while operating the device. 

Going back to “The 3 C’s”, Lisa reinstated that content and context matters, and that every child is different in their reactions, temperament, and language development.  Children with lower vocabulary levels have a harder time understanding what is being presented on the screen.  Plus children who are engaged in a lot of gaming don’t have enough of an ability to describe the world around them due to lower vocabularies. 

Next week, Holly will post important information on WHAT to look for in screen media and how to evaluate it's appropriateness for using it with your child.  Stay tuned!

Dancing With No Shoes On!

Children's musician, Chuck Cheesman will be joining us on Tuesday March 4th at 6:30 p.m. in the Burgess Community Room.  Chuck uses original and familiar songs to get families singing, dancing, wiggling and giggling together.  Dancing in your socks is optional!  A favorite program of both parents and kids.  And why not check out his kids CD, Dancing With no Shoes On before the show?