At the Library 10/19/23

 

At The Library

Alison Greiner

The What and Why of Library Outreach in the Schools
 

Now that school is back in session and students are feeling more settled, I have had the pleasure of doing library outreach with the preschools in town and all of the second grade classes at Stewart Elementary.  I wanted to share a little bit about what outreach is and why it is so important.

 

Library outreach is happening every day and in many different ways here at the Washington Public Library for all ages.  I am lucky to have the opportunity to go into the classrooms.  I visit for 30 minutes and bring them a lesson related to a library book and literacy activities.  This month I am sharing the book, “The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything” by Linda Williams. At the preschool level I read the story to the children and then we do some activities.  We use shaky eggs, scarves and make music together.  All of the activities strengthen their literacy skills, as well as skills needed to listen, learn, move and interact with others. In the second grade we are able to add more challenging activities that take more sustained concentration. The story is very interactive and we were able to add some instruments to the repetitive words..  We also learned a movement song about the story and discussed the characters, setting and order of the events in the story.  This type of lesson gives the students a chance to connect with me and also a chance to do literacy activities in a fun way.  Each time I remind them of any events happening at the library they might be interested in and invite them to come in and visit.  

 

If I could sum up library outreach with one word it would be connection.  Library outreach is a way for the library to connect with our patrons and inform them about the different activities and resources available at the library. We love to see our patrons taking advantage of all of the amazing resources we provide.  If you haven’t done so already, make sure you are checking our Facebook and website for our upcoming events that you might be interested in attending.  We also have a monthly newsletter that is sent to our patrons via email.  Make sure we have your email address so you can be kept up to date.  Also, when you are in the library please feel free to ask our staff about any upcoming events and we would be happy to talk with you about all of the treasures that can be discovered right here in Washington at your public library.