Learning new words has MANY benefits

What if I told you that learning new words can help feed the hungry? Would you believe me? It's TRUE!

Visit FreeRice.com to find out more. Basically, you play a vocabulary game on the computer. For every word you get right, you "win" 10 grains of rice which are donated to help feed hungry people. Get 5 words right and you've just earned 50 grains of rice to donate. Not only are you enriching your vocabulary, you're also helping people. SWEET!

Concert for the young and the young at heart

On Saturday, December 1st, at 2:00, the Summit City Singers will be presenting a choral concert in the Theater at the Main Library. The theme for this concert is "Through a Child's Eyes." The concert will include songs familiar to both children and adults; there will also be a sing-along! You might consider using this concert as a way to introduce choral music to your children or just as an enjoyable musical experience for the whole family.

RadKIDS update

Last week our group of homeschoolers graduated from the 7 week RadKids program. Today, a proud mom sent me some more pictures from the final class. (Thanks, Janet!) These girls have certainly learned some safety moves!

This program was so very well-recieved, and the information the kids received was so valuable, that we hope to offer another session of RadKIDS during Spring Break in 2008.

Stay tuned for more details.

Winter Wonderland presented by the Fort Wayne Ballet

Look for ballerinas, premier danseurs, princesses and more in this enchanting mini-performance for families with children of all ages. Tuesday, December 11th @ 2 p.m. & 7 p.m. Seating is limited for this FREE performance. All groups must pre-register.

While you are waiting for this wonderful performance, visit Children's Services and stop by our ballet display to find some great books to read.

I Want To Be A Ballerina by Annabelle Blackledge is a wonderful introduction to the art of ballet. This early reader is perfect for children to read on their own and it also works well as a preschool read aloud.

The story follows Jamie as she attends her first ballet lesson, learns about basic ballet steps and meets the other boys and girls in her class.

Over in the Meadow at the Big Ballet by Lisa Shulman is lovely picture book about a little swan who feels a bit of stage fright before performing in her first ballet.

Enter the National Geographic Planet Contest!

Illustration by David A. Aguilar

National Geographic has a fun contest going on. All you need to do is create a mnemonic slogan to help kids (and adults!) remember the order of the planets in our new solar system— including dwarf planets Ceres, Pluto, and Eris.The first letter of each word stands for one of the planets. The order of the planets is: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Ceres, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, Eris. For example: My Very Excellent Mother Can Jump Slowly Under Nelly’s Plastic Elephant. You can click here for more information. Good luck!

Hoppy Happy Frogs

This coming Wednesday the storytime will feature FROGS as a theme. Gosh, there are a LOT of good frog stories! Think about all the Froggy stories by Jonathan London; my personal favorite is Froggy Gets Dressed.








The Wide-Mouthed Frog by Keith Faulkner is a great pop-up storybook to read aloud and retell over and over again. (It gets funnier each time!)








And I've always loved The Frog Who Wanted to be a Singer by Linda Goss. Who says birds are the only ones that can sing in the forest?





Wednesday at 10:30 in the morning, our preschool storytime should be hopping good fun. We'll see you at the Main Library!

Only You, by Robin Cruise

Only You by Robin Cruise is a lovely book, beautifully illustrated by Margaret Chodos-Irvine, that uses lilting, rhyming text to describe various happenings to young children and their parents throughout the day and throughout the year. A great read-aloud, appropriate for babies on up!

"From sunrise-rose to bedtime-blue...I love my one, my only, you!"