Eco-Kids Club: Wormy Composting

In February, the Eco-Kids Club met to learn about Wormy Composting with Kira Blacketor from the Allen County Solid Waste Management District. After her talk, Kira let the kids dig through a pile of worms, half composted food, soggy paper bits and worm castings. What fun!

Reading Rocks! Homeschool Book Club Dictionary

On Friday, homeschoolers in Grades 3-6 gathered at the Main Library to discuss Frindle, by Andrew Clements. We had a very animated discussion about words and where they come from; we even made up a few of our own "new" words, which you will find in the list below. Who knows? ... maybe we'll be seeing one of these words in a dictionary someday!

bickle (noun) \bik-ul\ : a female sibling

blee (noun) \blee\ : the page of a book

blingle (noun) \blin-gl\ : a bell

bloop (noun) \b.l.o.o.p\ : a lizard

chaiea (noun) \ca-ya\ : something that grows from the ground; a flower

elbat (noun) \el-bat\ : a piece of furniture with legs and a smooth, even, and level top that rests on the legs

drenair (noun) \dren-eer\ : your hair

flick (noun) \fl-ick\ : fog

flith (noun) \flith\ : a growing, flowering plant

goaleade (noun) \go-ah-led\ : a small, round, copper penny

habble (verb) \ha-bble\ : to crab, to complain

halabbable (verb) \hala-babble\ : to speak too much or too quickly

higafuhaba (adjective) \hi-gu-fu-ha-ba\ : pointless, meaningless, unbelievable, strange

hwwo (noun) \huh-wah-wah\ : a person that does not have a beard

manack (noun) \ma-nack\ : a fizzy, sweet drink with caffeine

murp (noun) \murp\ : a device used for finding your way

plreph (noun) \pl-ref\ : a shiny sea

puvvy (noun) \puv-vy\ : an apple

sningle (noun) \znin-gle\ : the military

speeder (noun) \spee-der\ : a car

thingamagiggerus (noun) \th-i-ng-ah-mah-gih-g-err-ous\ : a bookshelf, or anything else. Derived from Latin.

tocelt (noun) \toe-celt\ : a book

zipidydoda (verb) \zip-idy-do-da\ : run, running

For more word fun, take a look at Merriam Webster's Word Central, where you can "Build Your Own Dictionary", play fun word games, and more.

Art Out of the Box: Mail Art

In February the Art Out of the Box kids met to learn about and discuss mail art (art that uses the postal service as a medium). We viewed and discussed mail art pieces in a traveling gallery from the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft and after the discussion the kids responded to the approximately 90 pieces of mail art that they had received from kids at schools and libraries across the U.S. To see all of the mail art photos, click here.

Fabulous Fridays Homeschool Book Club!

Last month, the Early Reader Roundup kids met to discuss Good Night, Good Knight by Shelley Moore Thomas. After talking about the book, everyone made a story spinner like the one that you see pictured here.

Don't miss the Fabulous Fridays Homeschool Book Clubs this Friday at 2pm:

• Early Reader Roundup (Grades K to 2) will be discussing Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa, by Erica Silverman

• Reading Rocks! (Grades 3 to 5) will be discussing Frindle, by Andrew Clements

This Week in Children's Services

This is a week full of events in Children's Services at the Main Library:

• Today at 2pm and 6:30 pm Fairies and Other Dancing Forest Creatures with the Fort Wayne Ballet. Bring the entire family to this free mini-performance by the Fort Wayne Ballet featuring selections from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Look for fairies and other forest creatures during this magical presentation.
• Wednesday, March 4 at 10:30 a.m. Smart Start Preschool Storytime: Colors! Colors! Colors!
• Wednesday, March 4 at 1pm and 2:15pm Elements of Music with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic. Learn about the elements of music and hear them demonstrated by members of the Fort Wayne Philharmonic. Instrument demonstrations will include the Bass, the Harp, and the Xylophone.
• Thursday, March 5 @ 10:30am Disney on Ice Presents: Mickey & Minnie's Magical Journey. Come hear the story of Peter Pan followed by a special meet and greet with the stars from Disney On Ice presents Mickey and Minnie's Magical Journey. The first 100 children will receive a Peter Pan pennant. Tickets are required for this free event. Pick up your free tickets in Children's Services after 9am on Thursday, March 5th.
• Thursday, March 5 @ 6:30pm Paws to Read. Come to the library and read a story to a book-loving dog.
• Friday, March 6 @ 10am Babies and Books: Peek-A-Boo!
  
• Friday, March 6 @ 10:30am and 11am Toddler Time: Peek-A-Boo!
  
• Friday, March 6 @ 2pm Fabulous Fridays Homeschool Book Club: Early Reader Roundup (Grades K - 2): Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa, by Erica Silverman & Reading Rocks! (Grades 3 - 5): Frindle, by Andrew Clements

Art Out of the Box: Mail Art

Look at all of this Mail Art that we have received from kids across the U.S.! Over 75 pieces of art have arrived on my desk so far, and I think there is even more on the way. So, homeschoolers in grades 1 to 6, please join us on Friday, March 13th from 2 to 4 p.m. for the Art Out of the Box: Mail Art program. In this program you will learn about mail art, view a traveling mail art gallery, discuss art, and create mail art to send back to all 75+ kids that sent us art. It is going to be a busy and extremely fun afternoon!

Parents: This program is based on Indiana Academic Standards, to find out more click here.

Presenting the Past: Natural heritage in the classroom

On Friday, February 27, 2009 the Indiana Council for History Education will be holding the conference Presenting the Past: Natural Heritage in the Classroom here at the Main branch of the Allen County Public Library. Don't miss this exciting opportunity to spend a day immersed in the natural and human history of Indiana. For more information about this, click here.

Remnant Trust at IPFW

Don't miss the Remnant Trust at IPFW, now through April 2009! The Remnant Trust is a collection of manuscripts and early editions of works. Included are Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass, the Magna Charta, the Emancipation Proclamation, Frederick Douglass' Life of Frederick Douglass, and Plato's Plato, His Apology of Socrates to name only a few of the 50 items available to see, to read and, quite unbelievably, to touch.

The exhibit is in the Helmke Library on the IPFW campus. It is open to the public:
Tuesday 5:30pm to 7:30pm
Wednesday 1pm to 3pm
Friday 9am to 1pm
Saturday 9am to 12pm

To arrange a class visit or to borrow a document for classroom use, contact the Helmke Library Services Desk at 481-6512. There are many interesting programs for adults too.

Reading Rocks! Goes Undercover

On Friday, January 16, the Reading Rocks! Homeschool Book Club for 3rd - 5th Graders met to discuss The Chameleon Wore Chartreuse by Bruce Hale, the first title in the Chet Gecko Mystery series. After a great discussion, we made our own detective disguises.

Join us for our next Fabulous Fridays Book Club on February 6th from 2-3pm, when our titles for discussion will be...
Early Reader Roundup (Grades K-2): Good Night, Good Knight, by Shelley Moore Thomas
Reading Rocks! (Grades 3-5): Sarah, Plain and Tall, by Patricia MacLachlan

Time 2 Chime Live

On Tuesday, December 16, an audience of over 100 people enjoyed a concert given by Time 2 Chime, the library's homeschool handchime choir. Both beginning and advanced groups (pictured below) performed several songs and did a magnificent job. Way to go chimers!

Click here to see more pictures of the concert on the library's flickr site.

2008 - The Year in Review

2008 was a busy year in Children's Services! Here are some highlights:


In January 2008 musicians from the Fort Wayne Philharmonic performed pieces from Beethoven Lives Upstairs in the Jeffrey R. Krull Gallery.


In February 2008, the winners of the Your Reading Pet Photo Contest were announced.


In March 2008 over 300 children & adults attended the Homeschool Sneak Preview.


In April 2008 the kids in the Early Reader Roundup group practiced their emotions with Mo Willem's Elephant & Piggie characters.


In May 2008 Time 2 Chime, the homeschool handchime choir, finished off their year of practice with a live performance.


In June 2008, Fritz the GermanFest dog stopped by Children's Services to sign up for the Catch the Reading Bug Summer Reading Program.


In July 2008 kids had the opportunity to meet a ballet dancer from the Fort Wayne Ballet as part of a special SmartStart Preschool Storytime.


In August 2008 kids displayed their good sportsmanship and concentration skills at the Children's Services Chess Tournament.


In September 2008 things got very fancy at the Fancy Nancy Tea Party.


In October 2008 the Art Out of the Box kids painted two cars on the Library Plaza.



In November 2008 hundreds of children and grown ups enjoyed performances by Justin Roberts and the Not Ready for Naptime Players.

On December 31, 2008 we prepared for another wonderful year!

Please remember: The Main Library and all branches of the ACPL will close at 5pm today & will be closed all day tomorrow. Please visit early to pick up your books and other materials. The Main Library will re-open on Friday, January 2nd at 9am. Branch libraries will re-open at 10am.

Art Out of the Box: Indiana Painters

Surrender by Whisper

On Friday, December 12th the Art Out of the Box kids met to learn about Indiana Painters and to create a painting inspired by an Indiana artist. To see the rest of the paintings click here.

Art Out of the Box: Recycled Art

On Friday, November 14th, the Art Out of the Box homeschool group met to learn about artists in Indiana who make recycled art. Then the group turned library trash into wonderful treasure. The drum set shown above is made of broken computer components, VHS tapes & a broken software case! It is pretty amazing what you can do with the things that are thrown away! To see the rest of the recycled art creations click here.

Resources for Homeschooling Families

Whether you are a seasoned home-schooling parent, just starting to think about this educational choice for your children, or anywhere in between, you'll want to take a look at Children's Services' list of Homeschooling Books and Resources. You'll find an updated list of books and other materials available at the Library, as well as contact information for local homeschooling organizations, online resources, and library programs for homeschoolers.

Eco Kids Club: The Water Cycle

On Monday, October 13th, Matt Jones from the Allen County Partnership for Water Quality shared a wealth of amazing information about water with the homeschool kids and parents in the Eco Kids Club. The photo above shows the kids out in the Great Hall getting ready to put together a water time line. We all learned a lot from this informative presentation.

If you are concerned about the environment, join the Eco Kids Club now! Just come to the next meeting on Monday, November 10th at 2 p.m. to learn about Trees, Beautiful Trees with a speaker from Trees Indiana.

Or if you can't make it to the program, check out some of the books on our Environmental Issues Booklist to learn what YOU can do to make a difference!

Early Reader Roundup: On the Go with Mr. & Mrs. Green

The Early Reader Roundup kids met on Friday, September 5th to discuss On the Go with Mr. & Mrs. Green by Keith Baker. After the discussion, the kids created their very own board games with words from the book. Check out more pictures of the program here.

Art Out of the Box: Printmaking

Art Out of the Box: Printmaking took place on Friday, October 10th. We had the wonderful opportunity to meet local artist Kay Gregg and hear her speak about screen printing. We then talked about several other printing methods, discussed art works and practiced a few techniques. The kids each made a styrofoam print and a sponge print. Check out more photos of their amazing work here.

Fabulous Fridays Homeschool Book Club: November Titles

Calling all homeschoolers in Grades K through 6! The Fabulous Fridays Homeschool Book Club will be getting together on Friday, November 7, at 2:00 p.m. to talk about books and to do some fun book-related activities! Our titles for November are...

Early Reader Roundup (Grades K - 2): Mouse Soup, by Arnold Lobel










Reading Rocks! (Grades 3 - 6): Holes, by Louis Sachar










If you'd like a copy of our November titles, please stop by Children's Services to pick one up today!

Don't Tell the Children: Homeschoolers' Best-Kept Secret

The article "Don't Tell the Children: Homeschoolers' Best-Kept Secret", which appears in the September/October 2008 issue of The Horn Book Magazine is a celebration of books and reading. The author, Sherry Early, shares how books are used (and loved) by her homeschooling family.

This issue is full of Stories Out of School including "Splinters" by Megan McDonald (the author of the Judy Moody books), "An Art School?" by David Wiesner (two time winner of the Caldecott Medal), and "Fortification" by Shannon Hale (winner of a Newbery Honor) to name just a few.

If you enjoy reading about books, visit our Parent Teacher collection where you will find a year's worth of The Horn Book Magazine to check out.

Art Out of the Box: Art Cars II

On Friday afternoon, the Art Out of the Box kids met to talk about Printmaking, but since it was such a beautiful day we took a few minutes to finish up the Art Car portion of our program out on Library Plaza. To see more photos of the cars & the kids at work, click here. To see the miniature cars that the kids painted in September, click here. If you would like to see the car that the kids painted in 2007, click here.

Check back in a few days to see the photos from the Printmaking portion of Friday's program.