This month the library has been planning and preparing for FOUR events during two different evenings. Yes, I said "EVENINGS!" We have divided our Junior School students into two groups based on year levels, and then are holding parent events at the same time (but different location) as the student events. Here is our ambitious plan:
On Monday, the early years through year 2 (preschool through 1st grade) students will be signed in to Late Night at the Library. While the students begin a nice, mostly healthy meal, the parents will go to a presentation area in the next building for a Tea and Topics on "Raising a Lifelong Reader." We are fortunate to have the librarian from our sister campus assisting with the Tea and Topics. (Parents will also enjoy some refreshments before the event begins since it starts at 5.00pm.)
Parents on Monday will have a session on ways to encourage reading at home, make reading fun for parents and children, etc. Then they will make a storytelling aid to take home. (Storytelling aid = sock puppet) Meanwhile the children are enjoying stories, a game, and making their own puppets (paper bag puppets).
On Wednesday evening, we repeat the event with some changes. The older students in Y3-Y6 (2nd-5th grades) will have a Dia de los muertos theme, a fun story, and some games. Their parents will be learning more about ways to help their readers at home and how to help navigate research for school projects. What games will the students play? An unusual version of Simon Says, Pass the Pumpkin, and a silent drawing relay!
So far, what have we done to prepare? We sent the forms out through our school portal on Friday at 4.18pm. By 10.16pm, one event was full and the other had less than a dozen places available. It was filled by the end of the weekend! Next...when you have almost 100 parents attending each night and 60 children each night, you first have to get the food ordered to feed everyone, keeping in mind allergies, cultural and religious restrictions, and healthiness of food options. After that time-consuming task, we had to start preparing the supplies for the activities and games. Our library became a sock puppet factory as we cut felt and glued it onto 100 socks for the inside of the mouths. (The rest of the puppet will be created by the parents. The glue for this stage takes much longer to dry.)
We are hopeful these events go well. We have never held concurrent events before, but we think everyone will enjoy themselves.
