Gobble Gobble! Thanksgiving Programs!

Thanksgiving is here already - wow that went fast! It seems like I was just starting to plan fun programs for Thanksgiving and now they are all over! November did go at warp speed, but I'm so thankful for all the children and parents who came to our Thanksgiving-themed programs and who continue to use the library! We had great turnouts for all of the holiday happenings and everyone had a lot of fun! I hope our November programs put our patrons in a thankful mood and prepared them for their Thanksgiving dinner!

Family Craft Apple Pie!

The first Thanksgiving program in November that we had was our second annual Family Craft Apple Pie event with The Baking Coach.  This program, which was generously sponsored by the Friends of the Montauk Library, had families coming together at the library to make a yummy apple pie from scratch! The Baking Coach walked all of the families through the steps of constructing an apple pie; mixing and rolling out the dough, creating the pie filling and assembling the pie.  Everyone took their pies home in a bakery box to bake or freeze and save for Thanksgiving.  Children also decorated their own chef hats and added their own creative touches to the bakery boxes.  Everyone was raving about this program, which is starting to become a Thanksgiving tradition!  I heard the pies came out delicious! Check out the photos below!

Thankful for Music with Lori Hubbard!

On November 15th, we had our monthly music program with local musician Lori Hubbard.  This month's theme was "thankful for music" and Miss Lori added in some fun fall and Thanksgiving themed songs to get the little ones of Montauk in the Thanksgiving spirit! This program was a lot of fun and children sang songs with Miss Lori and also played the drums, used scarves and even played with the parachute!  Next month, Miss Lori will be back for holiday music to celebrate the winter holidays!  Check out the musical fun below!

Thanksgiving Desserts!

On Saturday, November 19th, we had another delicious program where children made three different kinds of Thanksgiving themed desserts using candy, cookies, frosting and more. Children made cookie creations to look like pilgrim hats, ice cream cone creations to look like teepees and then made turkey treat bags using m&ms and craft materials.  One little girl Brynn couldn't contain her excitement and said, "I'm so excited to be here!"  That seemed to be the feeling of the day as we had two sessions of this program and both were filled to capacity.  Everyone made their delicious treats and took them home in a treat box (if they didn't eat them before the program was over)!  I'm so thankful that everyone liked this program - see the children in action below!

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

To round out our Thanksgiving programs, I had an after school program on Monday, November 21st where I showed the movie A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.  After enjoying some laughs from this short Peanuts film, everyone in attendance made a "thankful wreath" out of paper plates, cut-out leaves, glue, markers and glitter.  The idea was for all the children to write what they are thankful for on the different colored paper leaves.  Then, they glued their leaves onto a paper plate to create their "wreath."  From there, the children added decorative ribbon so they could hang the wreath up later, and also added some glitter for decoration.  Everyone came up with wonderful things to be thankful for and it was a great craft to remind children and adults what the holiday season is really about.  Everyone did a great job with this craft and someone even put that they were thankful for Miss Jackie on their wreath - so sweet! Check out the craft below!

I had so much fun working with the children and parents in Montauk this November! December is around the corner, so check out the fun events we have in store for the holidays here! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Happy Veterans Day!

Veterans Day is Friday, November 11th and I wanted to do something special with the children's department to give back to all of the people who have fought for our country and sacrificed so much for us!

Veterans Day holds a special place in my heart as my grandfather was in World War II and fought in seven major battles during the course of the war.  Growing up, he always shared his war stories with our family members and he was proud to have served this country and to be a veteran.  He always wore his World War II Veteran hat proudly and had the medals he earned on display in his home, along with the American flag. 

Since my grandfather passed away a little over a year ago, I wanted to do something different this veterans day and give back to other service members.  I also wanted to teach the children I work with the importance of our veterans and the importance of giving back.  I decided to create a children's program where kids would made crafts and thank you cards for veterans that I would then deliver to the Long Island State Veterans Home in Stony Brook, NY.

Children came to the library and designed and crafted their own cards to thank veterans for their service and to wish them a "Happy Veterans Day."  They also made paper garland with stars and painted American flags using cotton balls and red, white and blue paint.  Finally, we all made a poster with each child's hand print on it giving veterans "a hand" for serving our country.  Everyone did a really beautiful job on their crafts and I was really impressed by their creativity and their sense of gratitude.  I delivered the crafts and cards to the Long Island State Veterans Home on Monday, November 7th and the recreation staff will be using the crafts to decorate the common areas and distribute the cards for the day residents on veterans day.  Thank you to everyone who participated in this program and a big thank you to all of our veterans! To see the children's department's upcoming holiday events, click here!

Happy Veterans Day!

A Look Back at Halloween 2016 at the Library!

I can't believe it's November already - the month of October flew by!  I wanted to take a look back at October and all of the awesome programs we had for Halloween! We decorated cupcakes, t-shirts and pumpkins for this spooky and fun holiday!

Halloween Cupcake Decorating...

On Saturday, October 15th we had two sessions of our Halloween cupcake decorating program.  Children decorated three cupcakes with different designs and took them home in a Halloween treat box.  The Halloween cupcakes included a black cat, a pumpkin patch and a design-your-own monster.  Everyone got creative with their designs, especially when it came to the monster cupcakes and did a great job!

Halloween Blacklight T-shirt Painting...

On Saturday, October 22nd we had the Science Wizard visit the library to paint glow-in-the-dark t-shirts with the children of Montauk.  The Science Wizard showed how the colors in the paint glowed when the lights were turned off and black lights were turned on.  Children used stencils and glow-in-the-dark paint to decorate t-shirts for Halloween.  The best part about this program was that children created their t-shirts with the lights out...spooky! Check it out below!

Pumpkin Decorating...

To wrap up October, the children's department held their 2nd annual pumpkin decorating program! Children of all ages attended and received their own pumpkin to decorate with paint, stickers and silly faces,all while eating Halloween-themed snacks! Children got to keep their pumpkin and put it on display for Halloween.  We had two sessions of this program and children got really creative with their designs! Everyone did an awesome job!

 














October may be over, but there are a lot of fun Thanksgiving programs coming up for November! Check them out here and stay tuned for more fun from the Montauk Library children's room!

Summer Reading Wrap Up!

I can't believe it! September is here, the Montauk School starts tomorrow and summer vacation is over! The children's department at the library was busy all summer with the Summer Reading Program for children and teens.  This year's theme, "On Your Mark, Get Set, READ!" highlighted sports and corresponded with the summer Olympics.  Children and teens had a reading marathon all summer in order to win prizes and raffle tickets.

Here's how it worked: children and teens got a raffle ticket for every two books they read on their own.  Younger children were awarded a raffle ticket for every five books that their parent or caregiver read to them.  Participants in the reading program then chose which prize(s) they wanted to enter to win with their raffle tickets.  The children's department had seven prize bundles to give away this year, which included Kindle Fire Tablets, minecraft toys, shopkins figurines, beach toys, gift certificates for ice cream and mini golf in Montauk and much more!  The deadline for children and teens to report the books they read to me (Miss Jackie) was August 20th.  Participants also got a prize or free book every time they reported their books.  I did the raffle drawings for the summer reading prizes on August 23rd and notified the lucky winners! The winners are listed and pictured below!

This year we had 120 participants and they read a combined total of over 1,300 books this summer! I was so impressed by all of the summer readers this year, they truly outdid themselves!!!  Everyone who participated and read this summer did an awesome job and I am so proud of them!  Until next summer...keep reading!

Here's a list of the summer reading winners and the prizes they won:

Kindle Fire for Most Books Read - Seamus O'Reilly

Kindle Fire - Elizabeth Marsella

Kindle Fire - Lauren Zander

Star Wars Bundle - Aiden DeLalla

Minecraft Bundle - Seamus O'Reilly

Shopkins Bundle - Elle Reidlinger

Kids Day Out in Montauk - Jolee White

Kids Day Out in Montauk - Elizabeth Montague

Paw Patrol Bundle - Hank Schroetter

Beach Bundle - Althea Berkhofer

Harry Potter Party at the Montauk Library!

On Saturday, July 30th, we had a Harry Potter Party at the Montauk Library to celebrate the release of the newest wizarding world story, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child!  Kids were invited to the library to partake in fun Potter-esque activities and to dine on some magical snacks!  As children arrived at the program, they chose a pin from the sorting hat which put them into a Hogwarts house.  They also received a raffle ticket for a chance to win one of three copies of the newest Potter installment, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child!

First, kids feasted on wizard-themed snacks such as wands (pretzel sticks), witches' cauldrons (brownie bites) and golden snitches (glazed munchkins).  Each attendee received a recipe for butterbeer and Miss Jackie demonstrated how to make it! The butterbeer recipe we used was perfect for a hot day and included vanilla ice cream, cream soda, whipped cream and butterscotch sauce.  The recipe we used can be found here.    

While enjoying their butterbeer and snacks, everyone made their own wands using different crafting materials such as feathers, glitter glue, washi tape, stickers, gems and chop sticks. The kids did an excellent job with this and made some really awesome wands - just like Harry and his friend's used in the book series.  

 

After everyone finished their wands, we had a trivia contest.  Children broke into four groups based on the Hogwarts House they chose from the sorting hat when they arrived for the program.  We had the Slytherin team, the Hufflepuff team, the Ravenclaw team and the Gryffindor team.   Then I asked about 30 different trivia questions about the Harry Potter series. The competition was fierce and the scores were s close that everyone got an extra raffle ticket for their efforts!

 After the trivia contest, children did a scavenger hunt on the main floor of the library to find the 7 horcruxes, just like Harry Potter had to.    Each horcrux had a clue to where it's location was, and children had to use their knowledge of the library and different resources (like the OPAC and the librarian) to follow the clues and find where the horcruxes were hidden.  Kids had 10 minutes to find the 7 horcruxes and they did a great job finding all of them! 

Finally, we did the drawing for the Harry Potter books we were giving away! We had 3 excited lucky winners! Andy, Scarlet and Jack all won a copy of the new Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child! Congrats to all of the winners and thank you to everyone who attended the program - it was an awesomely fun afternoon!!!

July So Far...Sharks, Magic, Jackson Pollock Painting!

     July has been so much fun at the Montauk Library so far! We have had a shark program, a magic show, and Jackson Pollock painting, just to name a few of our fun events!  We've also had a lot of children and teens sign up for our summer reading program! There's still time to join if you haven't done so already, and you can find all of the information and rules here.  We are giving away some great prizes, including two Kindle Fires!

     On July 7th we had an awesome program called All About Sharks, where Scott Curatolo-Wagemann from Cornell Cooperative Extension gave a talk about sharks, their habitats, the stigmas against them, shark conservation efforts and how he survived a shark attack.  We had a packed house for this event and Scott had the audience on the edge of their seats while talking about his shark attack story!

     Another awesome event we had was the magic show on July 9th featuring the magician Amore and his On Your Mark, Get Set, READ Magic Show!  We had over 100 people attend this event and Amore made the audience laugh and amazed them with his magic tricks.  Members of the audience were able to go on stage and assist him with his magic tricks.  The audience loved Amore and his awesome show - perfect for a cloudy day in Montauk!

     Last, but certainly not least, is our Jackson Pollock Painting program that took place on July 12th! This was probably my personal favorite program, just because it was so creative, messy and fun! Children learned about artist Jackson Pollock, an amazing artist who lived right in their backyards - in East Hampton, NY! They replicated his drip style of painting on small canvases to take home and then made two beautiful large canvases for the library to keep! The canvases are currently on display in the lower level of the library for all to see! Thankfully, this program took place outside, so kids were free to splatter without worrying about getting things too messy! Everyone let loose and had an awesome art-filled afternoon!

     Did you miss these programs? Don't worry -  we have a ton of fun events coming up. Check out our upcoming programs here and be sure to sign up with Miss Jackie in the children's department!

Summer Reading Club 2016 at the Montauk Library!

Summer is off to a quick start and so is Montauk Library's Summer Reading Club (SRC)! The SRC is a program for children and teens ages birth through 18 years old to encourage reading during the summer months. We are doing things a little differently this year - raffles, more prizes and the more you read the better your chances of winning!

Here's how it works:

• Sign up for the Summer Reading Club (SRC) with Miss Jackie in the children's department.
• When you sign up for the SRC, you will receive a bag of goodies, a book log and a raffle ticket!
• For every five books that are read to you or for every two books that you read on your own, you will receive an additional raffle ticket.  
• Every time you show your book log to Miss Jackie, you will also receive a small book or prize to keep.
• The more you read, the more chances to win you have to win the raffle prize bundles!
• Winners for the SRC raffles will be drawn and announced on August 20, 2016! 

I bet you're wondering what prizes we are raffling off! Here's a list of the seven different prize bundles you could enter to win!

• Beach Bundle - Beach toys with a wagon and a book about the beach (preschool).
• Paw Patrol Bundle - Paw Patrol tote bag with two paw patrol books and a Chase plush (preschool).
• Shopkins Bundle - Shopkins Season 5 (12 pack), Shopkins Strawberry plush and Shopkins seek & find book.
• Star Wars Bundle - Lego Star Wars Stormtrooper and Star Wars: The Force Awakens junior novel.
• Minecraft Bundle - Lego Minecraft : The Cave, Minecraft pig plush, Minecraft mystery figurine and Diary of a Minecraft Zombie book.
• Kids Day Out Bundle - Two free ice creams at Fudge 'n' Stuff and Two free mini golf games at Puff and Putt in Montauk.
• Kindle Fire - Two Kindle Fire Tablets will be raffled off separately.

If you haven't already joined, what are you waiting for?! Stop by the library and see Miss Jackie to sign up today!