Engage, Enrich, Entertain
Join us for a number party Tuesday October 5 from 12:00 to 2:00.
This exploration and celebration of numbers is perfect for homeschoolers and preschoolers.
Activities include:
Number Shapes with Playdough
Pattern Exploration with beads
“Chicka Chicka 123” collage craft
Number games like “Tenzi”
Feel free to drop in on these activities and join us at 1:00 for a Number Scavenger Hunt (all elementary school ages welcome. There will be prizes!)
This June we are incredibly excited to welcome Molly Dipadova to the youth services staff as our Teen Librarian! You probably already know Molly, since she is a Newport local who’s worked at the front desk with us before. Now Molly is working towards her Master of Library and Information Science, and will be helping with the YA collection and with teen programming.
June is one of the busiest times of year for so many of our library-loving families, so we are focused on providing a chill, relaxing month here in the children’s rooms as we lead up to our summer reading program!
Storytimes:
Family Storytimes on Wednesdays at 11:00 will move outside to our big side yard unless it’s wet! This traditional family storytime features 3 picturebooks with songs and rhymes.
~On Wednesday, June 15th we’ll read books that celebrate Pride Month!
~There will be no storytime on June 22nd as Ms Mo will be away.
Farmers Market Storytimes are held every (dry!) Friday at 4:00 at the Farmer’s Market on the Common. We start reading at 4:00 and usually read until at least 4:30.
~On Friday the 17th we’ll have Rainbow Bubbles at storytime to celebrate Pride month!
Programs:
June 6th: 3:30 – 4 Afterschool Bingo for Books! Play bingo and win free books. Parents and little siblings are welcome! We have gently used books for children of all ages available as prizes, and we’ll play until everyone wins.
June 9th, 12-8pm: Drop in Activity: Black Out Poetry. Start with a photocopy of a book page, and then use a marker to black out all the words you don’t want in your poem.
June 14th 12-6pm Drop in Teen Craft: Pride Paper Hearts. Make a rainbow paper heart to decorate the library or your room!
June 28th: Summer Book Walk Launch! Come read it any time, night or day!
June 30th 1pm SUMMER READING KICK OFF!
Vermont Institute of Natural Science (VINS) will visit and bring some scaly reptile friends to meet and learn about! This is the first day that the summer reading program will be open for registration. Come pickup your reading chart, bookmark, and brag tag and start earning beads and books for all your summer reading!
May Story Times
Family Story Times will continue each Wednesday at 11:00 am, usually featuring 3 picture books and some songs and rhymes to enjoy with our littles! I gear this story time to anyone who will listen to picture books– usually ages 0-6. This story time will move outside to our big side yard as soon as the weather stays warm enough.
Little Wiggle Time, our shorter, action-focused storytime for our wiggliest little ones, will continue on Friday evenings at 5:00, until the Newport Farmer’s Market begins on the Common across the street on May 27th, which will be our first Farmer’s Market Storytime. I’ll be on the Common with my wagon, blankets, and books from 4:00 until 5:00, or I run out of listeners!
*I don’t hold storytimes on the Common if it’s raining or too wet.
May Afterschool Programs
Teen Hangman Hangout, May 11th, 2:30-3:30- for tweens and teens ages 10-18. Come play hangman, Apples to Apples, or whatever else we feel like and eat snacks with Mo.
Afterschool Bingo For Books! May 16th, 3:30-4:00-Play bingo and win free books. Parents and little siblings are welcome! We have gently used books for children of all ages available as prizes, and we’ll play until everyone wins.
Kids Craft: Memorial Day Pinwheels! May 26th 3:30-4:00- Stop by the library to make your own pinwheel for Memorial Day to decorate your room or yard, or to remember someone special on Memorial Day.
Summer Reading Program
It’s getting closer and closer to summer reading! What are you and your kids excited to read this summer? Let us know so we can consider adding it to our collection!
As always, you can reach Ms Mo at mchurchill@newport.lib.nh.us
We’re creating a new gaming collection for Richards Free Library. This collection will include board games, card games, video games, video game consoles, and all the accessories needed to run spectacular gaming programs here at the library.
COVID-19 cut into a lot of our programming just as it was ramping up, including our game nights. When we wrote this grant application, we had hoped we could get games into your hands and have you run your own game nights at home while we waited for it to be safe to bring game nights back to the library. Thankfully, it looks like we’ll be able to reinstate library game nights sooner rather than later! We’re planning after school gaming programs in the ballroom, family game nights, and board game lessons (we know some of these rule books can be intimidating!).
I know some of you are thinking “why games?” Games are really just another way to tell a story, and we’re pretty big fans of storytelling here at the library. Plus, games are a great way to engage teens who come to the library after school, looking for entertainment (and somewhere warm or cool to spend the afternoon). We also hope they’ll be a useful tool for families to find time to spend together.
We’re planning a “kick off” event on Saturday, June 4th, which just happens to be International Tabletop Day (a big day in board game circles). Join us at the library to check out the new collection, learn a new game, or play an old favorite. We hope to see you then!
We’re really excited about this new collection and the incredible grant money from the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the New Hampshire State Library that made it possible.
If you have a game you’d like to recommend for the library, you can fill out this form!
The RFL is pleased to announce that we will now be open to public browsing once again! Browsing and computer use will no longer be by appointment only, and materials can be checked out at the front desk.
Masks continue to be required, and we ask patrons to limit their time in the building to 30 minutes at a time.
We will also be limiting computer users to 2 at a time, and the children’s section to 2 family groups at a time.
We are excited to see our patrons again and to continue to provide services to our community in this capacity once more!
Want to be sure you get the most up to date info about the library’s hours and services? Join our email list by signing up on our website, https://newport.lib.nh.us/
