Tag Archives: children’s and youth services

Give the Gift of Books with Our Second Annual Giving Tree!

‘Tis the season for giving! From now through December 20, Chatham County Public Libraries invite you to give back to the Chatham community by sponsoring books from our Library Giving Tree. Each library branch will host a tree. Patrons wishing to sponsor a book simply take a tag from the tree, follow the URL on the tag to the Library Giving Tree Amazon wish list and purchase a listed item. Items purchased from the Library Giving Tree list will be donated to the Sonflower Seeds Christian Preschool & Learning Center  in Siler City. Purchased items will ship directly to the Center.

Sonflower Seeds Christian Preschool & Learning Center is a locally owned and operated educational center for children between the ages of 0-12. Each classroom uses Creative Curriculum to teach writing skills, numbers, motor development and language. Classroom lessons are designed to meet each child where they are and are reinforced using a variety of hands on learning activities. The items on this year’s Giving Tree list reflect the curriculum style in place at Sunflower Seeds by promoting early literacy, social skills, and cultural awareness.

Spread the holiday cheer and promote literacy with books for our Community’s youngest learners! The deadline for making purchases is Thursday, December 20.

For more information about the Library Giving Tree, contact Katy Henderson at (919) 545-8085 or  [email protected].

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Chatham County Public Libraries Receive Funding to Develop Youth Coding Programs

Chatham County Public Libraries (CCPL) has received $500 from the American Library Association (ALA) to help plan and implement coding activities during Computer Science Education (CS Ed) Week 2018 (December 3-9) and beyond. Sponsored by Google, CCPL is one of 250 school and public libraries from across the country to receive this micro grant as a part of ALA’s Libraries Ready to Code initiative.

Library Director Linda Clarke said, “In addition to books and literacy, we see computational thinking and computer literacy as vital 21st Century skills. As a learning hub in a fast-growing county, Chatham County Public Libraries aim to engage users of all ages in technology use and learning.”

Using the micro grant funding, library youth services staff intend to pursue more opportunities to educate youth in basic coding across all three branches, using a variety of coding toys purchased with grant funds.

“Libraries are the cornerstones of our communities,” said Google program manager Nicky Rigg. “We are proud to include Chatham County Public Libraries in our CS Ed Week activities this year. We hope these libraries will join the growing number of libraries excited to offer CS programs that help youth create, problem solve and develop the confidence and skills to succeed in their future careers.”

“ALA is pleased to provide microfunding to Chatham County Public Libraries and other Ready to Code libraries,” said ALA President Loida Garcia-Febo. “We hope this microfunding will not only generate enthusiasm for CS Ed Week, but spark year-round programming to develop critical thinking and digital skills youth can draw on over a lifetime.”

The 250 libraries selected for CS Ed Week funding will each host activities based on Google’s free CS First curriculum, which uses video-based instruction to introduce CS to kids through block-based coding. Libraries will pursue projects that reflect Ready to Code themes critical for advancing youth learning, especially for building computational thinking literacies. The Ready to Code team estimates that the CS Ed Week funding will support more than 60,000 youth all around the country taking part in coding activities throughout the week.

To celebrate Computer Science Education Week, Chatham County Public Libraries will offer two Google CS First SCRATCH-based coding classes for children ages 7+. Programs will be held on Monday, December 3, at 4:00 pm at the Chatham Community Library in Pittsboro and Thursday, December 6, at 4:30 pm at the Wren Memorial Library in Siler City.

Classes are free, but registration is required. Please contact the library at (919) 545-8085 to sign up.

Chatham Community Library to Host ANTI-Bullying Workshop

Every day, more than 16,000 kids miss school because of bullying. 45% of kids experience bullying before age 18. And 38% of kids believe that their school doesn’t take bullying seriously. 

Children entering grades K-5 and their parents/caregivers are invited to attend a 90-minute anti-bullying workshop presented by Bullyproof Pittsboro.

In this 90-minute interactive parent/child Bullyproof America workshop, presenters Alex Changho and Cat Zohar will clearly define what bullying is, and what it is not.  They will help simplify the situation by providing clear boundaries for understanding how bullying takes place, what kids can do when bullying takes place, and how parents can help their kids be more empowered to deal with bullying.  Alex and Cat teach these lessons through foundational martial arts techniques and skills that have been proven to boost self-esteem and confidence in children.  

The workshop also includes anger management and self-control practices that help keep emotions in balance when frustration and sadness set in from bullying.  These skills are essential to controlling the imbalance of power that occurs as a result of bullying.  Participants of a Bullyproof America workshop will leave with usable skills and knowledge to help better prepare them for a positive school year and how to respond appropriately in a bullying situation.  

The ANTI-Bullying Workshop will be presented at the Chatham Community Library, 197 NC Hwy 87 N, Pittsboro on Saturday, August 25, at 1:00 p.m.

Admission is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Katy at (919) 545-8085 or [email protected].

Give the gift of books with our Book Wish Tree!

‘Tis the season to give back to our community! Chatham County Public Libraries invite residents to give back to the community by sponsoring books from our Book Wish Tree. Each library branch will host a tree. Patrons wishing to sponsor a book simply take a tag from the tree, follow the URL on the tag to the Book Wish Tree Amazon wish list and purchase a listed item. Books purchased from the Book Wish Tree list will be donated to the Chatham Child Development Center in Siler City. Purchased items will ship to the Chatham Community Library, and will be presented to the Chatham Child Development Center just before the holiday break.

The Chatham Child Development Center (CCDC) is an inclusive child care program. It provides year round center-based early childhood education to children ages birth to 5 years old. CCDC operates an “inclusion” model for children who are both typically developing and those with or at risk for developmental delays or disabilities. Services include educational and developmental activities, parent education, physical and occupational therapy, speech therapy, transportation, and before and after school care. The center has a Five Star Child Care License from the North Carolina Division of Child Development, and provides services to children who are eligible for NCPreK.

Spread holiday cheer and promote literacy with books for our community’s youngest learners!  The deadline for making purchases is Friday, December 15.

For more information about the Book Wish Tree, contact Katy Henderson at (919) 545-8085 or [email protected].

Check out our “Go, Book, Go” bags!

Go Book GoChatham County preschool and early elementary teachers can now check out bags from our “Go, Book, Go” collection!  Each bag contains books, a puppet, songs, and craft instructions on specific topics.

Call 919-545-8085 or ask a Children’s Librarian for more info.

 

New Anime Club Starting Soon!

Anime_ClubWe’re excited to present the first meeting of the tween/teen Anime Club!  Come out and enjoy snacks, anime, and manga on Saturday, May 30th from 3:30 pm – 4:30 pm in the Holmes Meeting Room.

Meetings will include activities such as drawing anime characters, tasting food from Asia, playing video games, and watching anime shows and movies.

A note for parents:  This club is intended for ages 13 and up, but younger kids are welcome to attend. Be advised that we will be showing and reading PG-13 material. For more information, contact Mary or Katie at 919-545-8084.

Star Wars Reads Day

Come celebrate Star Wars Reads Day with us Saturday, October 6th from 1:00 to 4:00. We will have games, crafts, snacks, a trivia contest and prizes! Call the Children’s Desk for more information 919-545-8085.

Summer Reading 2012

Well, the end has come – books have been read, jugglers watched, donuts eaten, and all the stars have been counted. This was a stupendous, record-breaking summer! Attendance for all events saw a 109% increase from last year. Thank you so much for coming to the library this summer. It was wonderful to see such happy, shining faces and to make so many new friends.

Animal Masks!

Summer Reading crafters made birthday hats, masks, dream catchers, lightning bugs and shooting stars. Summer Reading attendees saw two theater performances, some old school Disney movies, a magic show, a singer, a storyteller and a juggler. And of course, Summer Reading readers read and read and read. Readers read so much they filled three big jars with stars. 7100 stars to be exact.

Chatham Community Library summer readers earned 7100 stars, which is 3550 hours, which is almost 148 days, which is almost 21 weeks, which is over 5 months of reading. That is a lot of reading!

Another fun fact, if you laid all 7100 stars end to end, it would equal 7100 inches. 7100 inches is almost 592 feet, which is over 197 yards, which is almost two football fields worth of stars. That is a lot of stars!

So many stars!

Great job, everyone! Thank you all for a great summer!!!

Authors We Love: Avi

Hopefully Avi is an author familiar to some of you. Christie went through a phase in fourth grade in which she had to read every single Avi book in the library and then made her mom take her to the bookstore to buy more.
It was also during this year that she read The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle three times. This 1991 Newbery Award Honoree was recently praised by a young patron as “one of the best books ever. Everyone should read this book.”

Avi isthe author of more than 70 books for children and young adults. He received the Newbery Medal in 2003 for Crispin: The Cross of Lead .

Other young patrons recommend the Poppy books beginning with book 1: Ragweed which chronicles the adventures of a country mouse that leaves home to see the world.

Take the Caldecott Challenge

The Caldecott Medal is awarded each year to the artist of the most distinguished picture book of the year (determined by the Association for Library Service for Children).

You can find a full list of winners and honorees here.

We’ve pulled all the winners and put them on display so you can take the Caldecott Challenge. Read as many Caldecott books as you can and earn special stars for Summer Reading! Come in to the library to ask for more details.