@ Your Library

Recent library events, news and more.

Cooking with Kids

Inspired by Sarah Weeks’s book Pie, these young cooks are building a lattice crust with some help from their mom. Kids love to eat. And kids want to help create the food they eat. Plenty of practical kitchen skills can be learned and practiced when you share kitchen duties with the kids. Have a satisfying time in the kitchen by meeting children’s interests where they already have skills and then extending just a little bit. A three year old is often content to dump some dry ingredients into a mixing bowl whereas a seven year old is likely able to interpret meaning from a recipe, measure ingredients with scoops and scale, prepare a salad, and prepare many elements of a meal to be proud of. Of course, it's best to hold onto potentially hazardous kitchen tasks involving high heat and knife skills until children are ready. 

Your library has lots of cookbooks for children and their adults to use together. Some popular favorites include the Green Eggs and Ham Cookbook, the Little House Cookbook, the Around the World Cookbook, and Vegan Lunch Box among many others. Chop Chop is an excellent magazine about cooking for kids and families. Share kitchen tasks with the kids for memorable times in the kitchen and an even more delicious dinner.

Book

Cooking with Kids
pie-kids-160
http://kzpl.ent.sirsi.net/client/KPL/search/results?qu=pie+sarah+weeks&te=&lm=ALLLIBS

 

BillC

Dance Party!

As for many families, our family computer has become a center for listening to music. It can be difficult not to be distracted by the screen when it's time for an impromptu dance party. I like to turn the screen off or, for a more festive effect, drape a tapestry over the screen. Dance parties with kids work better when the music is heard, not seen.

It's always a good time for a dance party! Moving with music as a family is a stress buster and a brain boost at the same time. While I don't actually know that dancing with your kids in the living room boosts brain power, I do know that you can connect your child to music that's important to you - like your favorite dad rock on Freegal - and beat the winter blahs. When you and your kids are dancing to music together, you're enjoying music, movement, and each other's company.

Book    

Dance Party!
BillC

Pre-Reading Skills are our Priority

“You're Never Too Old, Too Wacky, Too Wild, to pick up a book and read to a child.” ~ Dr. Seuss

Reading with our children is something we know that we should do to help them become great readers. But it’s not always evident how best to go about it. As parents we often hear the message to read to our babies but if we are new to parenting, we might wonder what reading to a baby should look like and what benefit it is to the child or the parent. Over the next few weeks, I want to give a few tips for reading to young children, especially the things that helped me as a new parent. This will be a series of posts on six pre-reading skills children need to develop with some tips on how to practice each skill at home with babies, toddlers, and preschoolers.

Our strategic priority is “Creating Young Readers” at KPL and we want parents and caregivers to have the tools they need to be their child’s first and best teacher! Stay tuned for more early literacy resources from our library staff! 

Book

Pre-Reading Skills are our Priority
humpty-dumpty-reading-419-160
/kids/books/
AndreaV

The Library – Don’t Leave Home without It – Accessing its Resources, that is!

Last year I planned a trip to Ecuador.

In researching for the trip, I used many library resources. I studied Spanish through the help of the Pimsleur Method, an excellent process for learning a language. (Carve out 30 minutes a day to ‘escuchar y repetir’ – listen and repeat – perhaps during your daily commute. After several days, you have the beginnings of a new language under your belt!) I also checked out a few Spanish language instruction books, so I could begin to recognize the words I was learning to say. MeLCat came through, for me. When I was ready to move on to a different Pimsleur level, I requested my next set of CDs via interlibrary-loan through MeLCat.

I watched movies about South America or set in Ecuador and practiced listening to Spanish, while viewing the gorgeous scenery. I devoured books about the Galapagos Islands. The Friends of the Library bookstore was my friend, too. There I purchased a gently-used Frommers Guide to South America, at a bargain basement price.

I also gathered information about the people and culture of Ecuador through the CultureGrams online database. (Note: anyone with a KPL library card may access this from home. Please ask at the Reference Desk, 553-7801, for more information.)

Using the Value Calculator, I figure the library saved me around $200 for this process alone. What trip would you like to plan? How can KPL help you save while you research your next travel experience?

Book

The Galapagos: exploring Darwin's tapestry
9780826218377
Christine

Winter break fun at KPL

Are you looking for something fun to do on break? Stop in at the library - we have a lot going on!

Thursday, December 27

Yummy New Year's Hats

Kawanzaa Celebration

Friday, December 28

Duct Tape DIY

Wednesday, January 2

Winter Crafts

Candy Craze

Winter Warm Up - drop in

Reading with Bailey

Thursday, January 3

Thumbprint Art Class

Fit Families

Make a Calendar

Saturday, January 5

LEGO @ the Library

First Saturday at the Library

Book

Winter Break Fun
winter-break-fun-160
http://www.kpl.gov/kids/calendar.aspx
AndreaV

Powell's Urban Fiction book discussion

On October 23 the Alma Powell Branch had a very lively book discussion on the book Daddy's House by Azarel. The book group will meet again on November 20 to discuss The Prada Plan book 1 & 2. If you like Urban Fiction please join us at 6:00 on 11/20 at Powell. See you then.

book

Daddy's House
978-1-934230-91-6
JudiR

Elden Kelly & Carolyn Koebel

How fortunate we are to have musicians of this caliber in our midst. Elden Kelly and Carolyn Koebel staged a remarkable show at Central Library on September 19th, the 69th show in the library’s ongoing live concert series. Kelly is often labeled as a virtuoso guitarist and Caroline a percussionist extraordinaire, but there is simply no better way to describe them, and there is truthfully no easy way to put into words what they do. Their music crosses borders and bridges genres, both are absolute masters of their craft. Kelly sings and plays an array of exquisite instruments, including six and 12-string guitars, a Turkish cumbus, and an 11-string fretless guitar. And Carolyn’s self-described “broad palette” of percussive instruments, ranging from tiny bells and tuning forks to the “giant drum,” takes the art of percussion to a whole new level. Thanks to the generosity of both artists, you can relive their show in its entirety here, or purchase their recordings here and here. Please support these artists; how fortunate we are to have them both.

Book

Elden Kelly & Carolyn Koebel
kelly-koebel-2-160
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASKcWM3EApU
Keith_1

Virtual Author Visits with Sara Pennypacker

Last week we chatted virtually with an author for the first time in a Children's program at Kalamazoo Public Library! It was awesome! Sara Pennypacker, writes the Clementine books, in addition to many other wonderful books for young readers. She was gracious enough to talk with us virtually through the website Skype. Our new book club for 1-3 graders and their parents were the lucky group who got to speak with her and it was a highlight of my week and one of the coolest things I've done in a long time. We could all see Sara on the big screen from her home and she could see the group of 37 kids and their parents, eager to talk with her about Clementine and writing.

To prepare for the visit, the group discussed which questions to ask Sara. Some of my favorites were "What's "Rutabega's" real name?" and "How did you come up with the idea for Clementine?" We asked a few questions as a group and then individual children spoke directly to Sara via the microphone and laptop. I think everyone who wanted to was able to ask a question and Sara gave thoughtful and sometimes hilarious answers. She told the kids that paying attention to all kinds of things in their life will give them great ideas for stories. She encouraged us all to really listen to the children in our lives and to give them the gift of our undivided attention on a regular basis. No question was too small or too often asked for Sara as she patiently chatted with us about life, writing, being a kid, and parenting. I think we all learned something different from her visit!

We hope to continue to meet with authors virtually at KPL programs! It's a great way to connect with authors and perhaps bring more to Kalamazoo than we otherwise could. The next chance to participate in a virtual author visit will be October 18,when Kazu Kibuishi, author of the very popular Amulet series "visits" the Van Deusen room!

Book

Clementine
9780786838820
bookworms-author-visit-0273-09-17-2012-598.jpg
AndreaV

Explore your Community!

Have you checked out KPL’s Local Organization Directory lately? It lists more than 900 social service agencies, neighborhood associations, faith-based organizations and other groups which serve the Kalamazoo area. Annually-updated entries include contact information, services provided, the organization’s goals or mission, nonprofit status, and more. It is free to list, and of course it’s free to use!

How do we use the Local Organization Directory at the library? We refer patrons to local services, share contact info from organizations, create lists of places in town that offer certain services, and more.

To access the directory, click Local Information from the Popular section on our home page, and choose "Search Local Organizations." Do a keyword search, or search by Name, Subject or Nonprofit Status. Note that there are several underlined subjects in each record. Click on one of those subjects to view all the other records with the same subject and find more services in the area.

If you’re affiliated with a nonprofit organization, check out the ONEplace @ KPL web page to learn more about resources for nonprofits available at KPL.

Finally, if your organization isn’t included in the directory, but you would like it to appear, please email me.

Book

Local Organization Directory
student-local-orgs-160
http://www.kpl.gov/local-organizations/
Christine

Paintings by John Wijinberg at Alma Powell Branch

If you missed the Art Hop circuit Friday please consider stopping at the Alma Powell Branch during our open hours and check out John Wijnberg’s exhibit. It’s one of our better exhibits if not our best.

John has provided us with some great portraits as well as some scenic ones. This exhibit will be showing until late September.

Book

Paintings by John Wijnberg
john-wijnberg-0007-160
/powell/barnabee.aspx

 

 

JudiR
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