Get Moving!

We were lucky enough to have some experts join us at the library last week at our annual Kindergarten: Ready or Not? program. A panel of local kindergarten teachers spoke to parents and caregivers about some ideal traits and skills of incoming kindergarten students. One of the fabulous teachers, Joely Hastings from Primary Village South, covered the topic of motor skills for kindergarten readiness. Since some of the ideas she mentioned were terrific and so simple and easy to do at home, I thought I’d share a few of them here.

Gross Motor Skills (core/upper body strength):

-Visit playgrounds regularly. Activities like climbing and hopscotch are especially good ones for developing gross motor skills. If your child is starting a new school soon, try taking him to the playground at that school. It’ll help him be more comfortable when school starts.

-Encourage “tummy time.” Yes, you read that right; “Tummy time” isn’t just for babies! It’s actually really effective in strengthening core muscles. Have your child read, draw, and play board games while she’s lying on her stomach on the floor. If you want to get really fancy, you can play rolling-pin ball, where two people, each with a rolling pin, lie on their stomachs across from each other and pass a ball back and forth, using the rolling pin.

Fine Motor Skills (hand-muscle strength and dexterity):

-Practice using clothes fasteners, like zippers, snaps, and buttons. It will definitely require a little more time to get ready before going places, but letting your child work on these skills on his own is really helpful in improving those fine motor skills.

-Do activities with clothespins. Working with clothespins really helps your child’s pincer grasp, which will make writing a lot easier. Get creative with it—write letters or numbers on the clothespins and have your child spell her name or put numbers in order along the edge of a shoebox. 

These are just a few of my favorite ideas that Joely mentioned at our program. If you like them and want more suggestions, she recommends a blog called OT Mom Learning Activities, which includes lots more fun and easy exercises.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a safe and fun holiday season with your family and friends. Some of you may have made a New Year’s resolution yesterday. If that resolution is to come to more programs at the library, you are in luck! We are starting off 2013 with several great events for you and your kiddos. If you made a different resolution, I suppose we’ll still allow you to come to our programs. But maybe you can consider it for next year? J Here are a few of the events coming up soon:

January 7^th 10:00 A.M. – Storytime Registration

It’s almost time to register for our 6-week winter storytime session. Registration begins at 10 a.m. on Monday, January 7^th. Preschool (for ages 3-5 years) and evening storytimes do not require registration, but if you want to sign up your baby (6-18 months) or toddler (18-36 months) for one of our weekly storytimes, make sure you sign up early; our spots fill up fast! The easiest way to register is online at http://wclibrary.info/events/, but you can also register by phone or in person at either library. Storytimes for this session will begin the week of January 14^th.

January 8^th 10:30-11:30 A.M. (Centerville Library) – Baby Boogie

Your little ones (6-36 months) will boogie themselves silly with our favorite storytime songs and activities. There is no registration required, so there’s nothing stopping you from coming to this fun-filled event!

January 9^th 10:00-11:00 A.M. (Centerville Library) – Fun With Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?

This workshop, part of our Every Child Ready to Read program, is for parents and children (birth-5 years). Parents will learn how to incorporate early literacy activities into everyday reading, writing, singing, talking, and playing with your children. Parents and children will have the opportunity to practice using some of these new tools. Registration is required for this event (http://wclibrary.info/events/), and space is limited.

January 14^th 7:00-9:00 P.M. (Centerville Library) – Kindergarten: Ready or Not?

This program, for adults only, will include a panel of local kindergarten teachers and a library staff member (yours truly) who will be discussing the ideal skills and traits children should have at the beginning of kindergarten. There will be time for questions at the end. If you have a preschooler (or younger!) at home, this is a great, informative program. There is no registration required for this event.

I hope to see you and your little ones at the library soon!

Keep Up Those Reading Routines!

Well, here we are again; it’s time for the winter holidays. So much to do--cleaning, shopping, baking, wrapping, decorating, and more shopping! How does one stay sane during this busy time? How do we find time, quality time, for our families and ourselves? It’s important that we keep our routines with our children--those bedtime stories can’t be missed, quiet times for sharing something that happened today, time to tell them a story about when you were little and things you did at this time of year. It’s all so important. Studies have shown that children, who come from homes where they are read to daily, have access to books, and are encouraged to share in conversations, enter kindergarten with a vocabulary of around 20,000 words. Children who are not read to, do not have books or go to the library, and whose main conversations come from TV, enter school with a mere 3,000 words under their belts. You can easily do the math. Keep reading and engaging them in conversations! 

Stop in the library to check out our Gift Giving book list, which is made up of books that we, the librarians, are fond of and would recommend to add to personal libraries or bookshelves. And speaking of bookshelves, I was perusing our shelves the other day and found an author whose books I had not read before and decided that they were outstanding. His name is Patrick McDonnell, and his books are totally delightful. My favorite is Hug Time, but Just Like Heaven and The Gift of Nothing are just as sweet.

Whatever holiday you and your family celebrate, I wish you a happy and safe one. Guest post by Pam R.

Under Pressure

No, I'm not referring to the amount of pressure kids (and parents) are under these days.  I'm talking about an amazing literacy tool that contains 75 pressure sensors in every 3/4 square inch and is attached to the end of your arm!  Understanding the anatomy of your child's tiny hands can help you appreciate what hard work learning to hold a pencil is.

Among other amazing things, the pressure sensors in our hands tell our brains how hard to grip objects.  For example, I hold a glass full of water more tightly than a Styrofoam cup full of the same amount of water because these pressure sensors "remember" the grip strength required to keep me from crushing or dropping the cup.  For children learning to write, using writing materials that are resistive (require you to press harder) strengthens both the muscles and muscle memory. 

Use crayons instead of magic markers and chalk instead of dry erase markers to help strengthen their little fingers and get them so used to writing letters that eventually they'll be able to do it with their eyes closed!

Is Your Buffalo Ready for Kindergarten?

Today after preschool storytime I had a mother of a September-born son approach me with questions about kindergarten.  Every year, as spring kindergarten registration approaches, parents agonize over sending or holding back their late summer/early fall babies. 

To help alleviate some of the stress surrounding this decision, and any other unanswered questions parents may have about the kindergarten registration process, the library is offering a Kindergarten Ready or Not night on January 30th at 7pm.  The event consists of a panel of local kindergarten teachers from a variety of public, private and parochial schools.  Participants have the opportunity to hear the unique perspective of classroom teachers and ask them questions about how best to ready their children for the coming school year. 

For a good dose of silliness in the meantime, make sure to read Audrey Vernick's hilarious take on kindergarten, where "you learn to get along without using your horns."

Ready or Not

Here it comes!  Registration for Kindergarten is just around the corner.  If you have a preschooler headed to school in the fall, you probably have a few (or a dozen) questions.  We have the perfect solution! Tomorrow, the library will be offering our annual Kindergarten Ready or Not? program to help you decide where to send your children, how to know when they're ready, and to give you tips on things you can do before the first day of school.

The library provides a number of programs, crafts and storytimes that help your child learn the skills necessary for school.  We also love to recommend our favorite picture books to help teach important school-readiness skills like manners and listening.  This story about Martha, a precocious otter, is one of my favorites and will appeal to any preschooler (or parent of one, for that matter). 

Join us tomorrow from 7-9 PM at the Centerville Library for a chance to ask public and private school teachers the answers to all your Kindergarten questions...and be sure to take Martha home if you have a preschooler who struggles with sharing!