LEGO® Construction Zone

Sunday February 26 
1:30-3 p.m. Puett Room

Ages 5 and up

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

The Knight Life

Do you know what was knighthood was like in the Middle Ages?
The armored Knights of Veritas will demonstrate ancient fighting techniques with authentically weighted detailed swords.   The Knights of Veritas is a non-profit organization specializing in interactive educational demonstrations of medieval arms, armor, combat, knighthood and chivalry.  Please come visit the knights live demonstration on Saturday July 16th at 4 p.m. in the Burgess Community Room.  The show is open for ages 5 and up!

LEGO® Construction Zone

Attention Future Engineers and Mathematicians!

S.T.E.A.M 

Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math

Join us in the Library Puett Room * Sunday June 26 *1:30-3 p.m. * Ages 5 and up

Give your creativity, ingenuity, resourcefulness and curiosity a workout! Create one-of-a-kind LEGO®creations with other builders then try your custom build on our race track to see what happens.
The world grows and changes everyday with science, technology, engineering, arts and math. Build your imagination and problem solving skills while in the company of other great  inventors.  Don't forget to have fun!
We'll supply the building blocks; you bring your creativity.

For more ideas to bring your LEGOS® to life check out our huge collection of books on the subject in the juvenile non-fiction section, call number J688.725.

 

April is National Poetry Month

April is National Poetry Month.  This year it is celebrating its 20th anniversary!  National Poetry Month has evolved into the largest literary celebration in the world with schools, publishers, libraries, booksellers, and poets celebrating poetry's vital place in our culture.  I will be the first to admit that I got really bored with poetry when I was in school...all that breaking down of lines and figuring out meaning...it just didn't capture my interest.  But as an adult, I have learned to enjoy children's poetry books as they are colorful and so much more easier to read and understand!

Here's a list of children's poetry books that I have been published within the past couple of years that I have enjoyed.  I hope you and your child will be charmed by their beauty too!

Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night 
by Joyce Sidman
A collection of poems that celebrates the wonder, mystery, and danger of the night and describes the many things that hide in the dark.  This beautifully illustrated book won a 2011 Newbery Honor.







Dinothesaurus: Prehistoric Poems and Paintings
by Douglas Florian
Here's a fun illustrated collection of poems and collages about dinosaurs.  And of course its perfect for dinosaur fans.  They'll really devour this one!

Firefly July: A Year of Very Short Poems
Selected by Paul B. Janeczko
A selection of short American poems dealing with the four seasons and the different weather events and animal patterns that can occur within each.  Also, I'm a big fan of Melissa Sweet's artwork too.

Flutter and Hum: Animal Poems = Aleteo y Zumbido: Poemas de Animales 
by Julie Paschkis
All sorts of animals flutter and hum, dance and stretch, and slither and leap their way through this joyful collection of poems in English and Spanish. Julie Paschkis's words and art sing in both languages, bringing out the beauty and playfulness of the animal world.





Mirror Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verse 
by Marilyn Singer
Here's a collection of short poems called "reversos" which, when reversed, provide new perspectives on the fairy tale characters they feature.  So you can read it forwards and backwards and still read the same poem!  This is such a fun and creative way to read poetry!

Orangutan Tongs: Poems to Tangle Your Tongue 
by Jon Agee
Have you ever gotten tripped up trying to say a silly succession of similar syllables? Try out these hilarious tongue twisters for yourself for lots of silly fun!






Santa Clauses: Short Poems from the North Pole 
by Bob Raczka
25 haiku give readers a fresh, humorous perspective on Santa's December preparations. And rich illustrations pull readers into every wintry scene.  Read now, or save to read later during the winter holidays.

Stardines Swim High Across the Sky And Other Poems 
by Jack Prelutsky
Here's a collection of 16 humorous poems about imaginary strange creatures such as the stardine, slobster, and magpipe.  Plus, the illustrations really make those make-believe critters seem awfully real too!

Winter Bees and Other Poems of the Cold 
by Joyce Sidman
When winter comes, how will the animals brave the long and cold season of the north?  Read poems of the Tundra Swan, the Big Brown Moose, and the Beaver, among other animals.  There's also poems about snowflakes and ice.  Each poem is accompanied by facts and background matter related to the subject at hand.  I just love the linoleum block art illustrations in this book.

World Rat Day: Poems About Real Holidays You've Never Heard Of by Patrick J. Lewis
Here's a collection of wild and wacky holidays that should be worth celebrating such as: Dragon Appreciation Day, Frog Jumping Day, Ohio Sheep Day, Worm Day, and National Sloth Day.  Don't let these days go by without a small celebration of your own!  Plus, this book is perfect for transitional readers to read on their very own thanks to the large font size and easier vocabulary.

March LEGO® Construction Zone

 

Drop in to work on making your own LEGO® creations with other builders.  We'll supply all the building blocks; you bring the creativity! This month we'll play on Sunday March 20th at 1:30-3:00 p.m. in the Puett Room. Kids ages 5 and up are welcome to attend.  Come and play for a few minutes or play for the whole 90 minutes.  The choice is yours!



Squishy Circuits Workshop

Sunday March 13th
1:30-3:00 PM
Ages 5+

Join us this Sunday and get creative with circuits. Use conductive play dough, LED lights and battery packs to explore electronic circuitry. Build unique sculptures that buzz and light up!

January LEGO® Construction Zone

Drop in to the Puett room on Sunday January 23 from 1:30-3:00 pm to work on your LEGO® creations with other builders and give our race track a spin!  We'll supply all the building blocks; you bring the creativity! Kids ages 5 and up are welcome to attend. 

December LEGO® Construction Zone

Calling all future engineers and mathmeticians! 
 

Drop in to work on your LEGO® creations with other builders and give our race track a spin!  We'll supply all the building blocks; you bring the creativity!  This month we'll play on Sunday December 27th at 1:30-3:00 p.m. in the Puett Room and kids ages 5 and up are welcome to attend.
 

 

Knitting Stories

In honor of our upcoming annual Mitten Tree and winter, it would be appropriate to share books about knitting, yarn, and keeping warm.  Here's a list of some fun and sweet stories to share with a little one you love this season:

Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett
With a supply of yarn that never runs out, Annabelle knits for everyone and everything in town until an evil archduke decides he wants the yarn for himself.  Also, check out the audio/kit version of the book too!

Knit Together by Angela Dominguez
A sweet story of a mother and daughter drawing and knitting together, ending with a collaborative creation.  Artsy moms and their kids will appreciate this ode to arts-and-crafts.

Knit Your Bit: A World War I Story by Deborah Hopkinson
When his father leaves to fight in World War I, Mikey joins the Central Park Knitting Bee to help knit clothing for soldiers overseas.

Knitty Kitty by David Elliott
Knitty Kitty is knitting a scarf, a hat, and some mittens for her kittens, but when night falls and the snow comes down, the kittens request a blanket to keep them warm Knitty Kitty has a better idea.

Made by Raffi by Craig Pomranz
As a shy boy, Raffi is a loner and teased at school until one day he discovers knitting and decides to make a scarf for his father and a cape for the prince in the school play.








The Mitten String by Jennifer Rosner
Ruthie Tober's family is known for the beautiful, warm mittens they knit so when she and her mother meet a deaf woman and her baby and give them shelter, Ruthie decides to design very special mittens for them.

Snowy Sunday by Phyllis Root
One very snowy Sunday, snowflakes as big as balls of wool are falling on Bonnie Bumble's farm. The cow, the duck, the hens, and even Spot the dog are all shivery and cold. Bonnie doesn't like seeing all of her farm animals freezing.  So she gets busy with needles and wool and knits and knits--hats and scarves, beak-warmers and tail-warmers.

Kari's Favorite Picture Books!

Slugs by David Greenberg was an all-time childhood favorite of mine. It is a perfect mix of delightfully gross and disgustingly hilarious. In rhyming verse, Greenberg imagines more and more creative and horrible things people can do to the slimy slug while Victoria Chess's illustrations make you want to laugh and cringe at the same time. My favorite part of the book however, comes when the slugs take their revenge!

The basis for the 2007 film Meet the Robinsons, A Day With WilburRobinson by William Joyce was another childhood favorite of mine. A search for Wilbur's grandfather's false teeth leads the reader through the strange and fantastical world of the Robinson family. What I really enjoyed about the book as a young reader was that most of the action and humor took place in the illustrations. For example, the text merely mentions Cousin Pete walking the cats, but the accompanying illustration enlightens careful readers to the fact that the cats in question are in fact tigers. These delightful and often humorous details kept me coming back to re-read the story again and again to look for details I might have missed! 

November LEGO® Construction Zone

Sunday November 22nd will be our next LEGO® Construction Zone.  Come build your own LEGO creations with other builders.  We'll supply all the building blocks.  You bring your creativity!  We'll build 1:30-3:00 p.m. in the Puett Room and kids ages 5 and up are welcome to attend.

October LEGO® Construction Zone

Calling all future engineers and mathmeticians!  Drop in to work on your LEGO® creations with other builders and give our race track a spin!  We'll supply all the building blocks; you bring the creativity!  This month we'll play on Sunday October 25th at 1:30-3:00 p.m. in the Puett Room and kids ages 5 and up are welcome to attend.

September LEGO Construction Zone

Join us for our monthly LEGO Construction Zone for September on the 27th, 1:30-3:00 p.m. in the Puett Room.  We'll supply the bricks so you can come work on your creations with other builders.  This program is open to ages 5 and up.

Welcome Back to School!

Today, as I'm sure many of you are aware, is the first day of school for Tigard-Tualatin schools.  We want to remind you that the library has lots and lots of resources to help your students be successful with their homework endeavors.  We've got books to support state and country reports.  We've got biographies when they need to read about a real person, and of course, tons of fiction books for them to meet their reading assignments.  Youth librarians are available all hours we are open to the public to help students find exactly what they need to help them fulfill their homework needs.  We are more than happy to lead kids to the perfect book for them!




And while you are visiting the library, be sure to sign up for a library card if your child or yourself does not have one.  September is Library Card Sign-up Month and what a great way to celebrate!  Get yours today!  It's FREE!

Thinker Tinker Lab - Water!

The world of water fun is just a few days away. Join us in the courtyard off the Puett Room for all kinds of water play time.

Thinker Tinker Lab - Structures

Let's build bridges and other sturdy structures out of spaghetti and gumdrops. Will your bridge collapse or stay strong.
Monday, August 3 from 2-4pm. All ages!

Walk 'N' Words Story Time

The City of Tigard's strategic plan is all about being active and living interconnected lives.
What better way to get action and feel interconnected than by coming to a walking story time. We'll start in Puett Room and head down the nature path behind the library. We'll go on a bear hunt, hop like frogs and much more, all while wearing animal masks and shaking music shakers made by participants before the story time.

Pete the Cat Party

Sometimes Pete likes his white shoes, sometimes Pete likes his blue shoes, but Pete the Cat always likes his library shoes! Join us Tuesday, July 28 in the Burgess Community Room from 2-4 for all things Pete the Cat! All ages.

Thinker Tinker Lab - Kitchen Science

Let's get messy with stuff around the kitchen!
Join us Monday for this all ages program in the Puett Room. 
This messy fun begins at 2pm and lasts until 4pm.

Thinker Tinker Lab - Yarn

Thinker Tinker Lab This Monday is all about yarn. What can you do with yarn? 
Weave it, string things on it, cut it, finger-knit, and more!
Join us Monday for this all ages program, July 20 from 2-4pm in the Puett Room.