Spring Preschool Puppet Show

Spring is just around the corner. That means it's time for Children's Services' Spring Puppet Show! Our puppets and puppeteers can hardly wait to share their stories with you. Performances are scheduled on the following dates and times:

Sunday, March 16, 2:00 p.m. (Dress Rehearsal)
Monday, March 17, 9:30 and 10:30 a.m.
Tuesday, March 18, 9:30 and 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
Wednesday, March 19, 9:30 and 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
Thursday, March 20, 9:30 and 10:30 a.m.

Due to space limitations, registration is required for groups, but individual families are welcome to just come and enjoy the fun!

New "Firsts" Booklist

Their first "big bed", first pet, first haircut...children have many "firsts" throughout their childhoods. We now have a list of books for children to help celebrate or prepare for these events.

All titles listed are available through the Allen County Public Library!

Learn about the Star Spangled Banner!

The Smithsonian Museum of American History has published a COOL website about the Star Spangled Banner. You can:

• Explore the original flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write our national anthem using an interactive tool...
• Take a quiz to test your knowledge...
• Enter a Star Spangled Banner singing contest...
• and more!

Teachers and Homeschoolers -- clicking on the Resources button at the top of the site will give you access to a great many lesson plans, book lists and other resources for your classroom!

Click here to check it out!

Letter L Play Day!

Today is Letter L Play Day! Start the day with Smart Start Preschool Storytime at 10:30 a.m. and then stay to play with the letter L in the Early Learning Center.

Letter L Play Day activities will be available from 9am to 8pm today! Don't miss this chance to work on letter knowledge with your preschooler. Letter knowledge is knowing the names and sounds of letters and is an important early literacy skill. For more information about early literacy skills, click here.

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!

Blog Event!


Click the above picture to attend a blogging event this week and tour several Children's Literature Blogs. Topics covered each day are Raising Readers, Selecting Reading Material, Reading Aloud--It's Fun, It's Easy, A Visit to the Library, and Technology and Reading--What the Future Holds.


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.