Category Archives: Library

Farewell Story Time

Posted on April 11, 2011 | Leave a comment

Today was my last day covering Story Time at the library. Ari was feeling a little better this morning, so I asked him if he was up to going to Story Time. He “Yes!” enthusiastically. The pediatrician said since he is on antibiotics, he is not contagious.

So off we went. On the way out the door we ran into my dad. He asked if I wanted help with Story Time and I said “Yes!” enthusiastically.
When I got to the library, Samara was cranky. Thankfully, she fell asleep in the moby wrap as I was walking around looking for books to read to the kids.
We had a lot of fun as usual.
Toward the end of Story Time Ari got tired.
Those are not his boots, FYI.

I am a poor multi-tasker, so his exhaustion resulted in this:

In addition to being exhausted, he was upset because a little girl hit him. He responded by hitting her back. Then he started to cry. Kids are weird.
Here are the books we chose:
Ari selected this one:
The librarian is back next Monday, so I’m off the hook. But, I have to say it was a lot of fun. I think my parents had fun too.
So…what’s your favorite children’s book?

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Posted in Library

Liz At The Library

Posted on April 4, 2011 | Leave a comment

Last week my dad helped me lead Story Time while the librarian is on vacation for three weeks. This week, my mom helped me read and sing to 0-4 year olds. She is a former ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher for elementary school children, and also has a public relations background. Essentially she’s great with kids and an extrovert! It figures that she’s a Leo.

Liz, my mom, is pictured above with the list of songs and stories we did for Story Time. She inspires me to be organized.

Ari was busy reading while we were getting ourselves ready for our 10:30am performance.
My friend Leah drove down to Brooklyn from upstate NY with her step-daughter Kinneret, age 2, to join in on the Story Time fun. She also took all the pictures of us reading, singing and being silly.
I was in a rush this morning, and therefore hastily selected my books. My mom’s two books were a hit. They were:
Eric Carle’s “From Head to Toe”
This is a great book. It goes through a list of animals and things they can do with their bodies. For example “I am a giraffe, I can bend my neck. Can you do it?” And then then the kids bend their necks in response.
Her second book was called “Barnyard Boogie.” She got it second-hand at a thrift store up in Nyack, NY. That’s where she gets the majority of her books and toys for the kids.

This is a fun book. It’s actually a book and a puppet show all in one. Each page becomes a different animal. On one page the puppet mouth is a duck, and on the next it becomes a moose. The words to book are rhythmic and can be made into a song if the reader likes. Here’s my mom reading “Barnyard Boogie” to the kids.

Then I decided to bore the kids to death by reading them a book about how penguins grow!
Boring! Ari loves this book at home, but I should have realized it’s more of a one-on-one book and does not work for large groups. Leah pointed this out later.
Here’s a picture of me boring the children about the growth of penguins from egg to adult.

Leah was on the job taking pictures!


Here we are singing “The Wheels on The Bus”



We had fun, my mom and I.

After Story Time ended, Leah and I drove over to Borough Park and had some delicious kosher pizza at Mendelsohn’s while my mom watched Samara.

So…what songs should I sing next week? Ideas?

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Posted in Grandma, Library

This Would Only Happen To Me

Posted on March 22, 2011 | Leave a comment

Ari and I went to the library for story time yesterday. As soon as we entered the children’s room, I made eye contact with the children’s librarian, and I knew something was wrong.

“I have to sit at the desk, can you do story time today?” She pleaded with me.
“Uh…okay…” I said. I was barely caffeinated and certainly not prepared with material for 0-4 year olds, but I didn’t want to let the group down. I quickly scanned the library shelves for age appropriate material and went through my mental rolodex for songs to perform.
I had a rough start.
The books I picked were way too long for the group. By the third page of a book where the protagonist draws all over her bedroom wall with crayons, two toddler girls were screaming at the top of their lungs and bludgeoning each other with giant lady bug shaped pillows. Ari was sitting at the front of the room with me pointing out all the colors in the story very loudly.
The songs were a bigger hit than the story. I did the color song. It goes like this:
“Red, red is the color I see.
If you’re wearing red then show it to me.
Stand up and turn around, show me your red and then sit down.”
The kids who are wearing the particular color you’re singing about have to get up and dance. They loved it.
I also did some old standards like Old McDonald and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. After we sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, I let them in on a little secret.
“Did you know that Twinkle Twinkle Little Star has the same melody as another song?”
I made them guess what song it was. Someone guessed right!
“Yes! The alphabet song!” Naturally, we sang the A-B-C song after that.
After some songs, I proceeded to read more books that they couldn’t focus on, and there was more hitting and screaming. I kept saying:
“Okay! On the count of five we’re going to sit back down on the rug!” They would sit on the rug and then get bored and start running around again.
The librarian is on vacation for 10 days starting next week. She asked me to come back and do story time again. I felt too badly to say no.

Any suggestions for age appropriate books?

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Posted in Library, Story Time

Save The Library!

Posted on May 23, 2009 | Leave a comment

Yesterday, my mom friend and I took our kids to Story Time at the Brooklyn Public Library at Grand Army Plaza.

My favorite librarian was there facilitating the program. She let the kids play for 30 minutes and then she read us three stories. Our kids listened eagerly and attentively. After the program was over the librarian’s friendly smile turned into a solemn look.

“Thank you all for coming today,” she began “I want you to know that the library is facing large budget cuts and currently over 300 jobs are going to be lost including mine. The library hours will be cut drastically. This library will only be open between 1pm - 6pm. Also, programs like these will no longer be available. If you want to stop this from happening, sign our petition at the front desk.”

As soon as I left the Story Time room, I bolted (stroller in tow) to the desk to sign the petition against the library budget cuts. I felt good about signing the petition, but I want to do more.

The library is an incredible free resource for parents and their children. Its a place to take your child to enrich their life. You can take your son or daughter to one of the library’s free Early Childhood programs or just come to the library and hang out. To loose this capability would be devastating.

What can we do? Call 311 and tell the operator that you want the library to stay as it is: a resource for parents and their children. A place where children and adults a like can read or experience wonderful programs that will enrich their lives. Tell the operator that Mayor Bloomberg is making a huge mistake by making these budget cuts.

Save the library!

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Posted in Library

Free to Be You and Me at The Library

Posted on April 15, 2009 | Leave a comment

I almost fell into the trap myself; paying for activites to do with my son. When he was an infant, I was still pretty isolated. I didn’t yet have the playgroup to hang out with and no real mom friends. So I when I would see local advertisements for Baby Yoga, $10/class I would start salivating. It sounded so appealing, being in a calming class with other new mothers and my new bundle of joy; however, I literally did not have the $10 to spare. So I didn’t pursue it.

As I noticed how many paid baby activities there were in my neighborhood and in New York City in general, I started to feel like maybe there was something wrong with me. Perhaps I had to pay for activities to do with my baby to have a good time. So I hung my head down and went home.

Out of sheer curiosity, I began researching free baby activities online. At first I couldn’t really find much. But then, I remembered my best friend, who recently graduated from an Early Childhood Education program, telling me that the Public Library had a great Early Childhood program.

Boy was she right! First I tried to attend a Story Time program at one of the Manhattan branches, but because of my perpetual lateness, I missed the program. This was after lugging my son and his stroller on the subway to West 4th Street.

But I didn’t give up. I found out that The Grand Army Plaza branch of The Brooklyn Public Library was having Story and play Time for ages 0-5 Saturdays from 10am - 11am. This program was absolutely totally FREE.

The Story and Play program is awesome. All the children and parents gather in the children’s room of the library which is very warmly decorated and carpeted. The librarian reads three stories, sings many songs, and then the kids are free to roam around and play with copious amounts of plastic toys! How wonderful! And it didn’t cost me a cent.

The same library, at Grand Army Plaza, also has the Story Time/Babies and Books program for babies from 0-18 months. This takes place on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 10am, 10:30am, and 11am respectively.

Each of these programs runs for 30 minutes. But beware, there are limited seats so you have to get there early to get a ticket for the program you wish to attend. It is similar to Story and Play except there is no play time. It is just reading books and singing songs. But there are puppets involved too!

I am so happy to have found the library. It’s a great place hang out with your baby and it won’t cost you a dime!

http://www.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/first5years/events/

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Posted in Library