Long stretches of sitting can leave grown-ups stiff and little ones antsy. Since exercise is known to boost children’s cognitive performance as well as stimulate their brain growth (Dewar 2015), why not incorporate some gentle movement into your next story break? Tai chi, yoga, and your own creative take on physical expression can build the mind-body connection, and successful partnerships between multi-hyphenate authors, elementary educators, a public library, and a local nonprofit offer a roadmap for recreating a movement-filled storytime in your own space. If this is your first time incorporating movement into your classroom or library read-aloud, try starting with a book that will offer you and the children some basic guidance. When an opportunity arose to bring author Sylvia Liu to a classroom for a tai chi-based book presentation in the spring of 2017, children’s literacy nonprofit An Open Book Foundation (AOB), which brings authors, illustrators, and their…
Tag: partnership
In the Spirit of Giving
On this Christmas Eve, our libraries may be filled with a variety of holiday decorations, but the spirit of the season extends beyond the trim and tinsel. It’s fitting to focus on how this giving spirit relates to our youth services work every single day. Many of our public libraries demonstrate a vested interest in working together with community partnerships and collaborate with nonprofit organizations or volunteer agencies. Like many of your library systems, our Cumberland County Public Library & Information Center in Fayetteville, NC promotes the benefits of these agencies to the customers walking through our doors. An example of this promotion is our commitment to sharing the Dolly Parton Imagination Library with our families with young children. The reaction has been tremendous. Though there are variations in this program across our country, its purpose is the same. Residents of Cumberland County may register their child to receive…