Calvert Library Twin Beaches Installs Imagination Station (press event)

Press Event!  You are invited!

 

Calvert Library is pleased to announce that they are the recipients of a $5,000 Grow Up Great grant from the PNC Foundation.  With another grant for $10,000 from Calvert Library Foundation, Calvert Library Twin Beaches Branch was able to install an Imagination Station for our youngest customers.  On Monday, January 26 at 6:30pm, there will be a reception to unveil the new equipment to the public and thank PNC Foundation and Calvert Library Foundation for their generous support.

 

Calvert Library introduced the concept of Imagination Stations with the opening of the Interim Southern Branch in May of 2013.  The equipment at that location includes a wooden kitchen complete with oven, stove and refrigerator along with a wide variety of manipulatives that provide learning opportunities for children at different developmental stages.  According to Branch Manager Colleen Cano, the Southern Imagination Station is extremely popular, “Parents bring their kids in to play when it’s too hot or cold for the playground and often just because they were in the mood for great imaginative play.”  Youth Coordinator Beverly Allyn Izzi describes the importance of play for childhood development, “Play is how children learn.  Hands-on, imaginative play is the best way for children to understand the world around them. They develop creative thinking and problem-solving skills and more importantly, they engage their imagination in ways that structured play cannot.”

 

Twin Beaches Branch Manager Joan Kilmon chose the “Play and Learn Island” created by Rancho Cucamonga Public Library as Twin’s Imagination Station and describes it as a “flexible oasis for learning.”  At the moment they have the station set up as a Farmer’s Market reflecting the very popular market in nearby North Beach.   Kilmon says, “Children can sort, learn to recognize colors and letters, practice counting and weighing, learn the vocabulary for fruits and vegetables, learn about healthy food choices and develop motor skills all the while strengthening their relationship with the parent they are playing with.”  She has different learning toys that she can swap out to keep the space fresh and exciting.  Because space is limited at Twin Beaches, Kilmon said she chose this piece for its “Locomotion!  It’s on lockable wheels and we can take it out with us for library learning on the go!”

 

Calvert Library Director Carrie Plymire said, “We are so grateful to PNC Bank and the Library Foundation for making it possible for us to bring education through play to another library in our community.  We have seen the benefits of imaginative play on early literacy skills and we know that libraries are one of the main places parents of young children take their children for fun, educational activities.  We all love watching children discover and learn, especially at the library!”

 

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Some photos: 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/calvertlibrary/15624058964/in/photostream/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/calvertlibrary/16245636202/in/photostream/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/calvertlibrary/15624062514/in/photostream/

 

Robyn Truslow

Public Relations Coordinator

Calvert Library

850 Costley Way

Prince Frederick, MD  20678

410-535-0291

410-535-3022 (fax)

Calvert Library…Your Source for Awesome!

 

Manga Otaku Creator's Nights for Teens and Tweens at Calvert Library Twin Beaches Branch

Press Release

For Immediate Release

 

Contact: Beverly Izzi

               410-535-0291

 

Manga Otaku Creator’s Nights for Teens and Tweens at Calvert Library Twin Beaches Branch

 

“Manga Otaku Creator’s Nights” are the new attraction at Calvert Library Twin Beaches Branch! In response to overwhelmingly enthusiastic requests at last December's Creator's Night, three more Manga Otaku Nights  have been added to our 2015 schedule for February, March and April! Teen and tween otaku (i.e., fans of Japanese comics and anime) will develop the skills to draw and write their own comics! Artist and illustrator (and Calvert librarian) McNevin Hayes will guide you through the basics of story layout, thumbnails, character construction and other features of visual storytelling.  Japanese style snacks will be provided. Attendance at previous events are not a requirement. You can come to any or all! And the cost? It's free!

These events will run from 7 to 8:30 PM on three Tuesday this Winter—Feb. 3^rd, March 3^rd, and April 7^th.  Come to as many or as few as you like. Be sure to register, though; space is limited! (You can register online, or by phone, or in person at your local library branch.) For more information visit calvertlibrary.info or call 410-257-2411.

 

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Beverly Allyn Izzi

Youth Services Coordinator

 

Calvert Library

850 Costley Way

Prince Frederick, MD  20678

Calvert Library

410.535.0291/301.855.1862

Fax 410.535.3022

 

Breaking and Making: Computer Coding for Tweens at Calvert Library

 

Press Release

For Immediate Release

 

Contact: Beverly Izzi

               410-535-0291

 

 

Breaking and Making: Computer Coding for Tweens

Thursday, March 5^th 6:30-8:00 pm

Ever wonder how computers know how to do all the cool things they do?  What if you were the one telling a computer what to do?  Coding is the key! 

 

Join us at Calvert Library for a fun evening of breaking and making computer code!  Garrison LeMasters, Visiting Assistant Professor in the Program in Communication, Culture, & Technology at Georgetown University will teach us about the code behind the popular computer game, “Brick Breaker.”  Next we will “break” that code, and re-write the code to “make" it our own! 

 

This event is for tweens in grades 5-7 and will be held Thursday, March 5, from 6:30 to 8:00 pm at Calvert Library in Prince Frederick.  Registration is required.  Sign up today!  Space is limited.

 

Register online at calvertlibrary.info or call 410-535-0291.

 

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Beverly Allyn Izzi

Youth Services Coordinator

 

Calvert Library

850 Costley Way

Prince Frederick, MD  20678

Calvert Library

410.535.0291/301.855.1862

Fax 410.535.3022

 

Dance Party at Calvert Library (press release)

FOR IMMEDATE RELEASE

January 13, 2015

 

Darn it’s cold outside!  Come in to Calvert Library and get warmed up with a Family Dance Party featuring live and lively 2-4-U!  On Thursday, January 22 (snow date January 29) at 6pm, bring the whole family, grandparents and whoever else likes great music to Calvert Library Prince Frederick.  Everyone is invited to dance to your favorites from just about every time period.   When asked why the library was hosting a January dance party, Public Relations Coordinator Robyn Truslow said, “When we hosted 2-4-U last year, it happened to be the same night we had a Dr. Seuss storytime and the concert was suddenly overrun with enthusiastic kids and their parents dancing away to the great music!  It was so much fun, we knew we needed to do it again but on a grander scale!  And what better way to shake off the winter doldrums than a dance party!”  The event is early enough to get everyone tuckered out in time for bed and a great opportunity to create some super happy family memories.  For more information, call Robyn Truslow at 410-535-0291. 

 

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Robyn Truslow

Public Relations Coordinator

Calvert Library

850 Costley Way

Prince Frederick, MD  20678

410-535-0291

410-535-3022 (fax)

Calvert Library…Your Source for Awesome!

 

Book Buffet a Success at Calvert Library (press release)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 7, 2015

Contact:  Robyn Truslow  410-535-0291

 

“Party of four? Right this way, please.”  Words you normally hear in a restaurant, not a public library.   Calvert Library Interim Southern Branch has created a unique program that blurs that line a bit.  The first “Book Buffet” program was held in November with 21 people attending.  Families participated in a lively discussion of The Days the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt all while enjoying a dinner brought in from a local restaurant and paid for by Friends of Calvert Library.  The event was such a success that it will be repeated on Thursday, February 12 at 7pm using The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka. 

 

Melissa DeCesaris, Children’s Librarian cooked up the idea over the summer and worked hard to make it happen.  DeCesaris said, “I wanted to bring back the traditional book discussion.  No bells, no whistles, just great conversation about a book. I also wanted whole families to participate and to model what fun it could be to talk about books at the dinner table.”  A copy of the book was checked out to each family that registered for the event so that they could read it together beforehand. 

 

Once the families arrived, they were greeted by a library hostess at a podium. She sat them at their seats and provided them with an activity placemat about the book.  The room was set up as one large square table so that everyone was face to face and could actively participate in the discussion.  A yellow paper “table cloth” covered the whole table arrangement encouraging everyone to creatively doodle and think outside the box, just like the message in The Day the Crayons Quit.  Each place setting had a placemat, a pack of crayons or twistable.  Each family also received a numbered card that they were told to keep face down until their number was called. 

 

Once everyone was seated with their food, each child was invited to share “the peach and the pit” of their day.  Then the discussion began starting with question #1.  Each family took turns reading their questions and answering. These questions served to prompt conversation and encourage both parent and child participation. There was a lot of laughter as participants retold their favorite part of the story.  One set of siblings even bonded over learning that the other had been absent from school that day.  What an opening that was. “See, that’s why it’s important to talk at the dinner table!  You learn something new every day.” Everyone smiled in agreement and the conversation took off from there. 

 

Once finished eating, the group completed an illustration about the crayons while eating brownies for dessert.  As the night concluded, each child went home with an assortment of chopped and peeled crayons with instructions on how to make their own crayon creation.   On her way out the door, a parent said, “This was such a worthwhile event. When is the next one?”  Another attendee chimed in eagerly, “yeah, what’s the next book?!”   In case you have forgotten, it’s Thursday, February 12 at 7pm at Calvert Library Southern Branch with Jon Scieszka’s book The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs.  For more information and to register, call Calvert Library at 410-326-5289. 

 

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Robyn Truslow

Public Relations Coordinator

Calvert Library

850 Costley Way

Prince Frederick, MD  20678

410-535-0291

410-535-3022 (fax)

Calvert Library…Your Source for Awesome!