Registration for Winter Storytime and Tales & Tunes For Tots will take place on Thursday, January 7, 2010, beginning at 9:00AM. Southington residents may register online or in person at the Children’s Services Desk. To register your child, please click on “children’s programming calendar” in the green blogroll box on the right. Please scroll to the first day of class (January 25th for Storytime or January 28th for Tales & Tunes For Tots). Remember to register your child for the age appropriate class. This is determined by using the child’s age on the date of registration.

At 9:00AM on the date of registration, a hand holding a pen will appear to the far right (if the hand does not appear, please refresh your screen). Click on the hand, making sure not to click the calendar icon and enter your child’s name. Your name should not appear anywhere in the registration. Fill in your telephone number and click “save.” You should then receive a confirmation message.

In order to complete your registration you must come to the library and sign the Attendance Contract before the day of the first class. In order to provide the opportunity for as many children as possible to attend Storytime or Tales & Tunes For Tots, we must remove the name of any child whose contract remains before the first day of class.

Your friends in the Children’s Department wish you a happy, healthy holiday season filled with laughter and joy!

On behalf of the Children’s Department, I’d like to wish all our friends, young and old a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with happiness, laughs, good food and family.

For those of you looking to take advantage of Black Friday Sales either in person or online, I have a terrific resource for you.  It’s our Coupon Connection page.  Most of the links have information on special sales and prices, but I really like the Dealnews’ Black Friday tab.  You’ll find stores listed alphabetically.  The site Dealcatcher even has a Black Friday iPhone app at the top of their page.  If you make use of these helpful resources you can stretch your holiday budget to the max.  Happy shopping!

Children ages 7 and up can visit the fantasy world inside the Gamer’s Box at the Southington Library & Museum on Thursday, December 3, 2009 from 4:00PM – 6:00PM. Each participant can register for 20 minutes of fast paced video game fun. The Gamer’s Box is graciously donating their services to the library and requests a nonperishable donation to the local food bank. A list of the most needed items is available at the Children’s Services Desk. Don’t forget to ask for it when you register.

For all ages fun, explore the excitement of fire and ice in the flickering, flashing, fun-filled extravaganza, aptly named, Fire and Ice at the Southington Library & Museum on Wednesday, December 16, 2009 at 6:30PM. Mad Science of Western New England will reveal not only the surprising powers of fire and ice, but will demonstrate the secret behind some of Hollywood’s most fabulous special effects. Children may register for this program at the Children’s Services Desk.

We recently celebrated November’s SAM books and their authors.  SAM is short for the Strong Author of the Month program.  This awesome program run by parent volunteers allows students at the William Strong Elementary School to publish books and display them on an Elephant shaped bookcase named (not Horton) Peanut.   Throughout the school year, teachers choose books to be displayed and then circulated here at the Southington Library.  It is our honor to showcase the wonderful books that these talented authors create.  You can see the current month’s choices displayed on a pedestal by everyone’s pal, Mr. Bear.  At the end of the school year, a party is held at the school for all of the children who wrote a book.  The experience the children gain writing and editing their books allows them to grow and learn.   SAM is an educational program where everyone wins.

If you know of a terrific program at your child’s school that you’d like to bring to a wider audience, feel free to post a comment, call or send me an email.

Kits for our award winning program 1000 Books Before Kindergarten are now in stock.  To be eligible the child must be three years of age or under and a resident of the town of Southington.  Supplies are limited, so come to the Children’s Service s Desk and request one today.

]]> http://southingtonkidsplace.wordpress.com/2009/10/27/1000-books-is-back-2/feed/ 0 splchildrens 10AnimalsSmallresizedforblog http://southingtonkidsplace.wordpress.com/2009/10/26/holiday-registration/ http://southingtonkidsplace.wordpress.com/2009/10/26/holiday-registration/#comments Mon, 26 Oct 2009 20:34:53 +0000 splchildrens http://southingtonkidsplace.wordpress.com/?p=543 ]]>

Registration for Fall Storytime and Tales & Tunes For Tots will take place on Thursday, November 5, 2009, beginning at 9:00AM. Southington residents may register online or in person at the Children’s Services Desk. To register your child, please click on “children’s programming calendar” in the green blogroll box on the right. Please click on the first day of class (November 30^th for Storytime or December 3^rd for Tales & Tunes For Tots – NOTE: you must click on the “December” on the right hand side of your calendar screen to advance to December 3rd ) on the right hand side of your calendar screen. Remember to register your child for the age appropriate class. This is determined by using the child’s age on the date of registration.

At 9:00AM on the date of registration, a hand holding a pen will appear to the far right (if the hand does not appear, please refresh your screen). Click on the hand, making sure not to click the calendar icon and enter your child’s name. Your name should not appear anywhere in the registration. Fill in your telephone number and click “save.” You should then receive a confirmation message.

In order to complete your registration you must come to the library and sign the Attendance Contract before the first class. In order to provide the opportunity for as many children as possible to attend Storytime or Tales & Tunes For Tots, we must remove the name of any child whose contract remains unsigned on the first day of class.

Attention all kindergarteners enrolled in the Road to Reading program – your stickers are waiting!  There is still time to turn in September’s coloring sheet and receive your sticker book, hold right pencil and eraser or turn in October’s coloring sheet and choose stickers from our sticker board.  Come on down to the Children’s Services Desk today, pick up the next month’s sheet and receive your prizes.

Elect to spend your Election Day off from school at the Nappy’s Puppets production of Jack and the Beanstalk on Tuesday November 3, 2009 at 2:30 PM.  This program is open to children of all ages.  Registration is required.

Calling all artists between the ages of 6 and 9, there are still a few spots left in the monthly Artist’s Apprentice program.  October’s class takes place on Thursday, October 22, 2009 from 4:00PM – 5:30PM.  This is not a craft program, but a program which teaches the fundamentals of art to children with a passion for art.

Our fall slate of Saturday Stories has begun.  This all age, drop-in Storytime is presented every other Saturday at 10:30AM.  The dates of the classes are:

October 10^th & 24^th,                  November 7^th & 21^st,                     December 5^th

You can always find the most recent information on Saturday Stories, Storytime or Tales & Tunes For Tots by clicking on the tales & tunes for tots, storytime & saturday stories link in the green pages box located to the right of this post.

There are three terrific new additions to the blog. In the green pages box located to the right of this blog post, you’ll find two new pages listed – A Trailer a Day . . . and What’s New in Picture Books. When you click on the A Trailer a Day page you will find a new book trailer posted each day, Monday through Friday. A book trailer is just like a movie trailer. It is a short video to advertise a book. It’s a fun way for you to discover new books (or even just books new to you) in our collection and a great way to attract reluctant readers.

What’s New in Picture Books is a page a selection of our best new picture books. I have some favorites and am happy to share them with you. On both the A Trailer a Day and the What’s New in Picture Books pages you will be able to click on the name of the book you are interested in and check to see if it is on the shelf. If the book is checked out, you may place a hold on the item online yourself or telephone the Children’s Department at 628-0947 X3. One of our staff will be happy to place the hold for you.

On the right hand side of the blog, underneath the green pages box, you’ll also find a new Flickr widget displaying the photos of all the children who have completed the 1000 Books Before Kindergarten program. Click on the photo of the child and you will open a Flickr account displaying the photos of all the children. We are very proud of them and hope this gives their friends and family a chance to see their adorable photos and recognize the child’s achievement.