FAMILY READING NIGHT

Thanks to everyone who attended our annual Family Reading Night! Dancing elephants, tightrope-walking clowns and flirty puppy-dogs among an imaginative cast of marionettes, I think it's safe to say "delighted" was the unanimous response that the showcased performance by professional puppeteer Dave Herzog received:

Who could ask for anything more?  But more was what we had, with a choice of two sessions from a long menu of reading fun, including a storytime with the popular Fireman Rob...

or with gifted public librarian Stephanie Lorfel from the Northtown Branch (who also offered library card sign-up!)...

or bilingual books read by Ms. Begum (in Urdu) and Ms. Lugo (in Spanish)...

 

or a rousing (and hilarious!) fairy-tale performance given by the Primary Team...

  

Or a visit to the always well-attended Haunted House Museum in the school library, followed by spooky stories delivered to a crowd by our own esteemed principal Ms. Onofrio and dear V.P. Mr. Brandon (who knew he could rap so well to Shake Dem Halloween Bones?)...

What a great way to get to know each other, and celebrate one another as the community of readers that is STONE!  Special and heartfelt thanks to all our special guests, and to the Reading Committee, our supportive administration and of course all of our families for making this night so magical and memorable.  Hope this evening serves as an inspiration to turn many more pages!

Haunted House/Autumn House Museum!

One hundred and twenty-seven students (to date), across all grade levels, have participated in our second annual Haunted House-Autumn House Museum! Students were invited to make their own haunted or autumnally-themed house (or apartment building or beauty shop or school store or sports stadium or theater or bakery or what-all) and bring it for display in the library. The only limitations were no blood, no decapitations, and no valuables or real food attached (cockroaches are too scary, even for Halloween). Children were welcome to work with friends, or to approach it as a family project, and the project could be modified as needed to respect the faith backgrounds of all. The children's imaginations took the lead! I am so proud of the resourceful use of items from around the house, and for the sense of humor that would have done the Addams Family proud; I had a good laugh, morbid as it may be, at the graveyard filled with the names of favorite authors of illustrators! Of course, R.'s "haunted library" diorama has permanent residence with us (thanks, R.!)...we like a good ghost story all year round, so it will always be seasonal. I am so pleased with the feeling of pride the children have shown when dropping off their original creations, the satisfaction that comes from making something truly all your own.  Kudos and many, many thanks to all participants and their supporters, you truly did a boo-tiful job!

Ms. Demonte inspired me as I was thinking of mixing it up a bit next year, as variety is the spice of life and we hope to encourage more older children to participate. Pumpkins, anyone?

Please pick up all houses (we will be sending home the smaller ones) on October 31st. Thank you!

And if you're looking for great Halloween reads, or want to check out some of the spooky folklore we are sharing in storytimes, please click here!

Book Parade 2011!

Well, I don't think that could have gone any better!!!  The Stone community of readers was absolutely carbonated with excitement about our book parade that took place on the afternoon of Wednesday, October 12!  Mother Nature is obviously also a book-lover, as she provided a storybook-perfect warm autumn day as a backdrop for over two hundred kindergarten through third-grade participants, fully costumed as favorite book characters and carrying corresponding titles.  After marching through all three floors to the cacophony of cheering upper-grade crowds, the children continued their merry march around the playground, beneath the flashing bulbs of parental paparazzi. It was really quite amazing, all the way from "Once Upon a Time" to "Happily Ever After." The effort and imagination that went into the costumes speaks to the commitment of our parent body, the energy of our staff and the wonderfulness of our truly amazing and inimitable children (if I do say so myself).  I'm so glad  we took the time to remember that children still love to pretend, and that they can use that power to connect with the characters in the books they enjoy.  Read on!

Parade of Books, 2011

More pictures will be posted, but here are a few for starters, just click on the picture/link above...and please share yours as jpg's on a disk, I will add them to an online album and also share for yearbook. Thank you again for a memorable and joyful afternoon, Stone Bookworms!