Here are a few of the special activities that are happening at Pottstown Regional Public Library this summer. For more information, contact the library at (610) 970-6551.

Marvelous Mondays – Weekly at 10:30 – Ages 3 and up

June 24 – I Spy with My Little Eye…

July 1 – Carp Kite

July 8 – Germs, Germs, They’re Everywhere!

July 15 – Edible Sand Art

July 29 – I Scream, You Scream, We all Make Ice Cream

August 5 – Stash Your Cash

Tales on Tuesdays – Weekly at 6:30 pm – All Ages

June 18 – Brush, Brush, Brush Your Teeth!

June 25 – Stomp and Roar! Dino Storytime

July 2 – We Want You for Storytime: 4th of July

July 9 – Jack and the Beanstalk

July 16 – Storytime Spectator: Sports

July 30 – Pirouettes and Picture Books

Double Fun Friday – Weekly at 10:30 and 4:00 pm – All Ages

June 21 – Rhinestone Rainbow Fish    June 21 – Marchin’ With the Ants

June 28 – July Fourth Fun!                   June 28 – Leafin’ Around

July 5 – Sidewalk Chalk                         July 5 – Diggin’ The Dinos 

July 12 – Window Chalk                        July 12 – I Want My Mummy

July 19 – Flyswatter Flowers                July 19 – Beyond the Reef

July 26 – Bubble Blast                          July 26 – Raiders of the Lost Treasure

August 2 – Lady Bugs                           August 2 – Burrowing From the Turtles

PLAYGROUP SESSIONS—SUMMER 2013

Featuring…

· Discussion topic for parents

· Parent/child activity

· Snack for children and parent to enjoy!

 Where: The Spray Park (Memorial Park) – King & Manatawny St

Dates: Wednesday June 12^th, Wednesday July 17^th, Wednesday August 14^th

Time: 10–11:30 a.m.

Targeting families with children ages prenatal to five!

For more information call Megan at the Pottstown Family Center (610) 326-1610! 

PEAK is sponsoring a professional development session for teachers of young children — infants through kindergarten. The free two-hour training will be held at Montgomery County Community College (Pottstown). Dr. Judy Cameron, Neuroscientist with the University of Pittsburgh, will lead the training. PQAS (Pennsylvania Quality Assurance System) credit is available.

A description of the training follows:

Experiences in the early years of life play an important role in shaping a child’s brain development. As the architecture of the developing brain emerges, it establishes either a sturdy or weak foundation for all learning and behavior that follow. Social interactions are important. Children learn best when an attentive adult is engaged with them in the learning process. Adverse early life experiences can impair brain development but the impact of stresses can be significantly attenuated if children have a safe dependable relationship to turn to for support.

The Science of Early Brain Development

June 5, 2013

1:30-3:30

Montgomery County Community College – Pottstown Campus

Room SH 216

To register for the training go to the PA Keys website and search the calendar for June 5 or for the trainer’s name (Cameron). You must register with the PA Keys site in order to see the calendar and register for the class.  If you experience problems with registering for the training, contact me at mrieck@pottstownsd.org or 610-970-6655.

Save the date of April 13, 2013 for the community-wide celebration for Pottstown's families and young children. Our seventh community-outreach event will be held:

April 13, 2013

1:00-3:00

Pottstown YMCA (724 North Adams Street)

We will have the petting farm, Pipper the Clown, moon bounce, Smokey the Bear and lots of community organizations with games and resources. There will be a demonstration of the Pottstown Police Department K-9 dogs at 2:00.

Don't forget and we will see you at the Y on April 13!

The Pottstown School District Kindergarten Orientation and Sign-Up will be held:

Thursday, March 21, 2013

7:00 pm

Pottstown Middle School Auditorium

All parents with children entering kindergarten in 2013-2014 school year should attend.

For kindergarten, the child must be 5 years old on or before September 1.

Contact the Pottstown Family Center for information on playgroups – 610-326-1610

PLAYGROUP SCHEDULE—SPRING 2013

SALVATION ARMY (Community Room)

137 King Street, Pottstown

Dates: Wednesdays, February 20, March 20 and April 17

Time: 10–11:30 a.m.

Meet other families and enjoy snacks and activities!

Please see the announcement below from Leslie Stillings with Pottstown Regional Public Library

VOLUNTEER INCOME TAX ASSISTANCE (VITA)

Did your family earn less than $50,000 this year? If so, you qualify to have your taxes prepared for FREE at an IRS-sponsored VITA site.

Call Family Services at 610-326-1610 to make an appointment at one of these VITA tax preparation sites:

Family Services 1976 E. High Street Pottstown, PA 19464

Family Services 3125 Ridge Pike Eagleville, PA 19403

Both sites are by appointment only!

*New this year: log on to www.myfreetaxes.com/fsmontco.org

and do your own taxes for free. There’s no need for an appointment!

The VITA program is sponsored by:

We have not had a lot of snow this winter but here are some ideas from http://preschoolers.about.com of things to do with young children in the snow.

1. Make targets in the snow with hula hoops or by drawing in the snow with a big stick. Have a snowball tossing contest to see who can score the most points.

2. Host a scavenger hunt. Hide a ball or a carrot or something brightly-colored in the snow. Give the kids clues to find it.

3. Paint the snow using food coloring and paint brushes or colored water in a spray bottle.

4. Play ice cream shop. Find a clear, clean patch of snow and bring out your ice cream scooper and some ice cream cones. (Make sure to point out which snow is OK to eat and which isn’t.)

5. Don’t forget your feathered friends. Make a bird feeder out of pine cone slathered with peanut butter and dipped in birdseed. Hang from a snowy branch.

6. Look for animal tracks and guess what type of animal made them.

7. Make a snow mini-golf course. Bury plastic cups and see if you can get a hole in one. If you don’t have a golf club or hitting the ball is too hard, try rolling the ball in.

8. Haul out shovels and pails from the summer and make snow castles.

9. Speaking of summer gear, take out the tubes and boogie boards too. See who can slide the furthest on the slick surface.

10. Put on your biggest pair of snow boots and hike out a path in the snow. See if the kids can stay in your footprints.

11. Play follow the leader and attempt to skip, run and hop in the snow with your kids behind you, doing the same things.

12. If possible, gather up pine cones, rocks, sticks and other outside materials. Make art with what you find.

13. You’ve played pin the tail on the donkey, now try to put the nose on the snowman!

14. Play tic tac toe. Draw the board in the snow with a stick and use pine cones and rocks for the x’s and o’s.

15. Play freeze tag. The person who is “it” must try to tag the other players. Once you are tagged, you must “freeze” in place until another player tags you and sets you free. Once all the players have been tagged, choose someone else to be “it.”

Have fun!

What Can Early Childhood Teachers do to Develop Vocabulary in Young children?

Young children need to develop an understanding of new vocabulary introduced in conversations, activities, stories or books. In addition, they must also develop and expand their expressive language skills. Adults can help children develop their vocabulary and expressive language skills by primarily talking with them. The effective vocabulary teacher builds a word rich environment in which children are immersed in words for both indirect and intentional learning.

Indirect Vocabulary Learning:

Children learn the meanings of most words indirectly through everyday experiences with oral and written language. They learn these words by:

Engaging in daily oral language with other people, especially adults:

• Children often hear adults repeat words several times as well as using new and interesting words. The more language experiences children have, the more word meanings they learn.
• Discussions with adults help children develop a wide, flexible, and usable general vocabulary.
• Children learn word meanings from listening to adults read to them. However, it is not enough to just read to them. Readers should pause during reading to talk about an unfamiliar word and after reading engage children in a conversation about the book. Conversations about words and books help children to learn new vocabulary and concepts and to relate them to their prior experiences and knowledge.
• Reading to children also has been shown to have an effect on their ability to use words in their own retelling of the story.
• Read and retell familiar stories. Children learn many new words through the repetition of familiar stories. The more children repeat and use words they have learned through stories, the more they apply the words in their daily lives and language.

Intentional Vocabulary Learning:

Intentional instruction helps children learn difficult words such as words that represent concepts that are not part of a child’s everyday experiences. Specific word instruction can deepen children’s understanding of what they are hearing. It can also help them use words accurately in speaking and writing. You can help teach vocabulary directly by:

• Relating words to their own experiences: Ask children what they already know about a word and expand on their answers. Or have them predict what the word might mean by looking at the pictures.
• Teaching specific, important words before reading. This can help children learn both a new word and better understand the book as you read.
• Expending interactive experiences with vocabulary: Children learn words best when they actively word with words over an extended period of time. The more opportunities children have to see, hear and play with new words the better they seem to learn and use them.
• Providing repeated exposure to vocabulary in many different situations: The more children use new words and the more they use them in different situations, the more likely they are to remember them and use them in their natural language.

Information from Bright from the Start: Georgia Department of Early Learning: Emergent Literacy