STAFFORD — This week, Larabee Library started its Adventure for Preschoolers on Monday morning, June 17, with “Bluey and the Fruit Bat” for preschoolers. They got to create their own bats and explore the library’s reading caverns if they wished.
What a wonderful, crazy, tiring, but fun week! The week started with First Friday gathering in the evening which I shared about last week. Monday, June 10, was our first Summer Reading event and PBS’s Jessica Bowman came and shared a fun and educational book, “Nature Cat: Can You Dig It?” The book made us realize that you can’t just go out and dig up a bunch of dirt, because it is a home for many creatures and organisms. Instead you can make your own dirt by composting. After the book, the seven preschoolers in attendance got to make a pom-pom caterpillar on a stick.
Then the preschoolers and their 17 friends and family members watched the book in video form. Jessica ended the great morning by giving each child in attendance the book free, provided by PBS. We would like to thank everyone that took time on a Monday morning to come join us and for Jessica and her daughter coming from Smoky Hills PBS.
Tuesday morning we entertained K-2 with a video on caves, painting rocks, and everyone got to go through Nora’s Cavern. We should have had a grand opening ribbon cutting, because Sandy’s creativity with turning the basement into a system of eight different types of caves blew the kids minds! One of them came out saying he couldn’t believe we were actually in a building – not a cave! We had 24 participants and many friends and family members. At 2 p.m. we did it all over again with 24 third-fifth graders and many friends and family members.
Wednesday night we had a Library Board Meeting which I don’t often talk about in this article. I have to say we have a great board that takes care of the necessary tasks in an efficient and pleasant way. Board nights take time from everyone’s evenings at home with family and we want to thank you for supporting Nora’s Place with your time and expertise.
Thursday, South Central Kansas Library System (SCKLS) technology team came to the Library to install a DNS filtering program for our public computers, plus update our Defrost program that helps with our computer operations. SCKLS provides many public libraries with technology help, but we really appreciate their knowledge that they share with us. Plus we can call them if anything isn’t working correctly on a daily basis and they can usually help us on that day. Thank you SCKLS Technology Team.
Exploration Place is coming on Tuesday for all age groups. In the morning 10 to 11:30 a.m. for ages 3-7 years, Delta Dental will present information on how your mouth works. Some experiments will involve your taste buds! Yum! 1:30-3:30 p.m. for ages 6-13 we will have six “Tables of Discovery” to learn about the world around you.
Coming up
• English Language Learners class meets one evening a week (usually Wednesday) with Rachel Sandoval.
• Summer Reading Challenge, the theme is “Reading Rocks!” Read five books of nine categories by Sept. 1 and receive a prize.
• June 18 - “Exploration Place”! 3-7 year olds in the morning at 10 -11:30 a.m. - 6-13 year olds in the afternoon at 1:30-3:30 p.m.
• July 2 - Tank the lab and Kim Volker 10:30-11:30 a.m., K-2
We are not having a First Friday in July.
Save the date: Aug. 2 - Our Town First Friday - Let’s make it an annual celebration of all that Stafford has to offer our community and what the future might bring.
It’s been a week to remember! Come with socks and make memories at Nora’s Place!
Our next board meeting is July 1 at 6 p.m.
Gerry Hildebrand is the head librarian for the Nora Larabee Memorial Library. Phone 620-234-5762, email larabeelibrary@gmail.com or visit Facebook at Nora Larabee Memorial Library.
