Outreach Storytime Flyer

In an attempt to connect better to the parents whose children are at childcare centers (thus not able to attend an 'in-house' storytime) the Develop Young Learners Team created a flyer to pass out at each of our outreach storytimes.  I had the privilege and responsibility to get the content ready for the flyer.  Our communications department put it all together into the flyer.

So we have heard very positive feedback from staff about the flyers and the teachers/providers are eager to pass them along to the parents.  Hopefully the parents will take a few minutes to look it over and maybe feel a nudge to read to their children a little bit more!

Here's the content of the flyer:

The library visited today!

Ask me!
Here are some suggested questions to ask you child about today's visit:

• What songs did you sing?
• What books did you read?
• What new words did you learn?
• What was your favorite part about today's visit?

Helpful tip:

Make reading aloud together a regular part of each day, such as every night at bedtime.  A loving bond is created when you hold your child and share the pleasure of a story without the distractions of TV, phones, or other devices.

Did you know

Research has shown that reading aloud to your child is the single most important way to help prepare them for school success.  Reading aloud builds vocabulary and knowledge while fostering a love of books and learning.

Seed Library Kickoff!

Last Saturday was the kickoff of our Seed Library!!

In addition to opening up for checkouts of seeds we also hosted a seed swap...

...and a propagation of seeds workshop with a Master Gardener

We had a FULL HOUSE!!

We checked out more than 300 packages of seeds!

Seed Library

Each "branch" in the library system was asked to develop an "Innovative" program that directly meets the need of the community where the library is located.  Before I started at my new job my future team decided to create a seed library for the Otis Orchards Library.  The area is somewhat rural with many people, even if they don't own a lot of land, will have gardens--both vegetable and flower.

I have put together a gardening program for the late winter--it consists of four programs, plus the kickoff, presented by Master Gardeners of Spokane County (I needed all this put together at least 8 weeks before the program...).

• Kickoff: Propagation from Seeds
• Inland NW Vegetable Gardening 
• Basics of Soil and Composting ”
• Growing Tomatoes from Seed to Harvest 
• Vegetable Gardening 101

Our kickoff date for the seed library is February 7, 2015.  We still have a TON to go before we're ready to launch.  We spent over two hours sorting the donated seed packets we received from seed companies across the country.  We had several volunteers--which were so valuable!!  We could not have finished up sorting without their help!!  

This is one of the four bins of "assorted seed packets" we received.

We even had two "young volunteers" who did an excellent job sorting!!

Still to do:
A 2nd, more specific sort and a count of seed packets
Making seed packets of "loose" seeds
A booklet/chart with kinds of seeds we have listed
Barcodes/way to check out the seed packets
Decide on how to store seed packets
Make a flyer about "what a seed library is", how to check out seeds, and how to "return" the seeds.