Saturday, September 8 | 10:30-11:15 AM | Traverwood Branch | Ages 6 mos. – 2 yrs.

Joins us this Saturday for a morning of sign language for infants and toddlers! Certified instructor Kathy Brady of Signing Smart will be presenting, and sharing her knowledge. She’ll talk about how to add signs into songs and play, and how to make signing easy and fun for both children and their caregivers. This event is designed for hearing infants and toddlers, ages 6 months to 2 years, with an adult. No older siblings, please.

For additional resources on sign language for children, check out this list of materials to get you started.

We’ll be sharing stories about stories at the 2012 Kerrytown BookFest on Sunday, September 9 at 3:00 pm in the Children’s Storybook Corner. Bring your imaginations and we’ll make story books together with markers, stickers and more!

It's time for our annual star-spangled holiday. It's time to celebrate America's 236th birthday.
Come to the Pittsfield Branch Library on Tuesday, July 3rd from 2:00-3:00 p.m. to make some decorations for your party.
We'll have some ideas of projects you can do, but you will be free to make anything you want out
of our red, white and blue supplies. This is for preschool - grade 5.

For some ideas of projects, look here.

Meet Timothy Michling on his oboe, listen to classical piano with Kathryn Goodson and hear a story with Gari Stein in a musical celebration for young children at the Downtown Library on Friday, February 17 at 9:30 and 10:30 am. Our partnership with the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra has brought thousands of children and their families to the library for music appreciation over the past several years.Oboe

Jenny and David Heitler-Klevans make up this dynamic duo and once in a while they cruise through A2, singing their inspiring and original songs for the whole family. Join us for clapping and dancing along as we celebrate their brand new CD, Sing Me Your Story, on Thursday, January 26 at 7 pm Downtown!

DANCING BABIES is a family event for "the Five and Under" crowd.
Gari Stein will lead the program Saturday morning, January 14, 2012, at the Pittsfield Branch Library. Young "Twinkle Toes" families are invited to "Polish and Shine" muscles and voices at this popular Preschool Music and Motion Program. The program will begin at 11:00 am and end by 11:45 am.
It has the makings for one Happy Day!

The AADL has some great new and classic youth holiday DVDs that are perfect for kids and for the whole family! Check out Disney's Prep and Landing. It's a story about some high tech elves who make sure that all of the houses are ready for Santa's visit on Christmas Eve. One of the elves doesn't get promoted to the head of the Naughty List and instead, ends up working with a newbie elf. How will things turn out in the end? You'll have to check it out or get on the hold list to find out!

We also have Disney's Beauty & The Beast: Enchanted Christmas which tells another classic Beauty & The Beast tale in a special edition holiday DVD!

AADL also has Maccabees: The Story Of Hanukkah, which is an animated youth DVD that goes back in time to the second century BC and details the origins of Hanukkah. Or, take a peek at the newer Sesame Street DVD, Shalom Sesame. Chanukah, The Missing Menorah, which depicts all of the Muppet friends searching for a missing menorah in hopes to find it in time for Chanukah.

If you and your family are interested in learning about different holidays around the world, check out Elmo's World. Happy Holidays. In this special edition of Elmo's World, Elmo is getting ready to celebrate Christmas, but instead he ends up learning all about Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Christmas and more!

Or, if you are hoping for a classic, we have A Charlie Brown Christmas on DVD and on Blu-ray too!

Children love stories, reading them, hearing them, telling them. Stories help children experiment with language while practicing their ability to both imagine and describe their world.
Before your child is ready to write themselves, but when they are old enough to read and listen to stories, combine their love of your stories with your literacy to help them create their own book. Dictating stories for your child is an excellent way to practice their Vocabulary and Narrative Skills, both identified as Key Early Literacy Skills.
Staple together a couple of pieces of paper with their favorite crayons and markers nearby. Ask your child to tell you a story, which you then write down onto the paper. Don't worry too much about editing, since it is important that the child see that the story is their writing from their words.
After you’ve written down their story, have the child illustrate their story. They may want to have some of their favorite books nearby, so that they can emulate the style of those works. Be ready to read for them bits of their story from each page so that they can more closely match the picture to the part of the story.
After the story has been illustrated, take the time to have one or both of you read the story aloud, giving extra attention to the accompanying artwork and allowing the child to further embellish and explain that artwork and their story.
When finished, make sure to keep your child’s work, to be used as both a reading resource and as a memory of their writing life.

Remember the good old fashioned, Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, which was originally broadcasted in 1973? Re-live the magic and check out this DVD to watch with your family for this year's Thanksgiving! The library also has the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving in Blu-Ray format. If you are looking for fun, yet informational DVDs that teach children about the first Thanksgiving, we have those too. Take a look at Rabbit Ears : Squanto & The First Thanksgiving. This DVD tells the story of Pawtuxet Indian who was captured and then escaped and returned to his childhood home. He then helped the Pilgrims establish the colony of Plymouth. Or, check out William Bradford : First Thanksgiving if you and your children want to learn more about the history of the first Thanksgiving. If you are feeling like you just want to warm up to a children's holiday favorite, check out Winnie The Pooh: Seasons of Giving, which includes "A Winnie The Pooh Thanksgiving."

Even if you know that reading to your child is most effective if the child and you are both reacting to the book, it can still be difficult to think about how to engage your child. One effective method, explained more fully here, is to use a brief sequence of exchanges to solicit responses of greater depth.

The sequence is called PEER, and stands for Prompt, Evaluate, Expand, and Repeat. In Prompting, the adult asks a child a question about something that they see or have just had read to them. The adult then Evaluates, considering what the child has said. Next, the adult Expands upon the child's statements, adding new information. Repeat the prompt from the beginning to see how the child has adapted the new information.

Through a quick interaction, the child gets to test the edge of their understanding, learn a little bit more, and gain confidence in their abilities. It also gets the adult in the habit of engaging the child in conversation about reading, which is great for the long-term development of the child's reading habits.