{"id":13342,"date":"2016-06-25T00:01:06","date_gmt":"2016-06-25T04:01:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/?p=13342"},"modified":"2016-06-28T17:07:10","modified_gmt":"2016-06-28T21:07:10","slug":"summer-learning-national-parks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/2016\/06\/summer-learning-national-parks\/","title":{"rendered":"Summer Learning with your National Parks"},"content":{"rendered":"

We all love our national parks, right? But we may not always think about the U.S. National Park Service as a library partner given the indoor\/outdoor aspect of libraries\/parks. That was the case for San Francisco Public Library until an intern — who also was working for the Golden Gate National Parks — tipped us off about the National Park Service Centennial. Just goes to show that you never the source of your next inspiration! We\u2019re now half-way through Summer Stride<\/a>, San Francisco Public Library’s summer learning program, and we\u2019re thrilled about the opportunities that this new partnership has lent to San Francisco families of children of all ages. Here are some of the programmatic highlights:<\/p>\n

\"Kick<\/p>\n

Reading Ranger Jamboree & Summer Stride Kick-off:<\/strong> We decided to align our Summer Learning Kick-off event with the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy\u2019s annual Reading Ranger Jamboree, which was a huge success. The children didn\u2019t even seem to notice the fog, wind, and rain throughout the day as they made s\u2019mores, hopped on and off the bookmobile, listened to a storytime of Leo: A Ghost Story <\/em>with Mac Barnett and Christian Robinson (through another very special partnership with Chronicle Books<\/a>), and sign up for Summer Stride.<\/p>\n

\"Author
Mac Barnett and Christian Robinson read Leo: A Ghost Story published by Chronicle Books<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Community shuttles from libraries to national parks:<\/strong> Nine shuttles are taking off from libraries through San Francisco to points near and (even a bit far) to explore national parks within our own city limits. For children raised in urban settings, this is an incredible opportunity to see a part of the city that they may have never visited. The National Park Service set up a registration page<\/a> and almost all of our shuttles are sold out. The feedback has been great: on a recent shuttle ride, my colleague and parent commented on how smooth the on-boarding process was \u2013 and that was even with the boarding of 65 people, including 4 wheelchair users from an elder care center.<\/p>\n

Stor<\/strong>ytelling ranger programs:<\/strong> Storytime with your local Park Ranger is apparently what it\u2019s all about. This summer we\u2019re hosting 28 park rangers to give storytelling programs at our Main Library and 27 branches. I had a chance to experience one of these programs and was astounded first and foremost by the storytelling craft of the Ranger Fatima. Through her expressions, tone, and enthusiasm, she brought Ohlone and Coastal Miwok American Indian folktales to life. Children learned by smelling, touching, and seeing examples of native flora and fauna.<\/p>\n

Ranger Program at Richmond Branch Library, SFPL.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Little free libraries:<\/strong> The Golden Gate National Parks have installed little free libraries throughout their parks. Check out this sweet video<\/a> about it.<\/p>\n

We can\u2019t wait to see and hear more stories about what our young patrons and their families experience as they create their adventures through reading tales or exploring trails throughout the rest of Summer Stride. If you\u2019ve also had experience partnering with the National Park Service, I\u2019d love to hear about your journey and discoveries!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Cristina Mitra is the Family Engagement Coordinator where she coordinates system-wide programming and partnerships for youth and their families at San Francisco Public Library and also a member of the School Age Programs & Services Committee. She tweets occasionally @seemitra and may be contacted at cristina.mitra[at]sfpl.org.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We all love our national parks, right? But we may not always think about the U.S. National Park Service as a library partner given the indoor\/outdoor aspect of libraries\/parks. That was the case for San Francisco Public Library until an intern — who also was working for the Golden Gate National Parks — tipped us off about the National Park Service Centennial. Just goes to show that you never the source of your next inspiration! We\u2019re now half-way through Summer Stride, San Francisco Public Library’s summer learning program, and we\u2019re thrilled about the opportunities that this new partnership has lent to San Francisco families of children of all ages.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[287,765,93,102],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogger-school-age-programs-and-services-committee","category-collaboration","category-outreach","category-summer-reading"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13342\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}