New Semester

The semester has just started for me. There are lots of new faces. Many of them are families from the baby class that have moved up to the toddler class.

It has been a good two weeks. The classes have been FULL. Last week I was able to give a book to completely new families because some returning families already had the book. They told me to pass it on to those who were new to the class. It is never a good feeling when I don’t have enough books to give away to all of the children.

Along with meeting many of the families from the baby class, a mother that started in the class in 2004 has returned. She now has a toddler and a two month old. It has been great to see her again and to catch up. It is also great to know that she wants to give the younger children a chance to participate in the class just as their “big” sister did.

-Laura Hecht

New School Year

We got off to a great start with the start of the City College Child Observation classes - at the Mission campus and at the Tenderloin Children's playground. Both groups had a great turnout. All the mothers in the Tick Tock babies class were new, with babies ranging from 2 -6 months of age. We are exploring the arena of a bilingual story time in the Tenderloin (which could be multi-lingual if I were, including Vietnamese and Cantonese in addition to the English and Spanish speaking population). I have begun the new practice of offering library card applications from the start of the first class of the semester in preparation for our upcoming library field trips. This seems a good way to motivate more families to come when we visit the library - so they can pick up their cards (even if they happen to miss the classes immediately preceding the field trip.) Looking forward to a great semester.

Dawn Noelle

A Fish Out of Water

Last Wednesday's class at the Tenderloin was the first time I had more English than Spanish speakers sitting around for my story time. I read "A Fish out of Water" by Helen Palmer - and the kids were captivated to see what would happen next, even my Spanish speakers sat still and listened. I enjoy being able to read two books in these classes. Our Spanish selection was "Barquito de Papel" by Jorge Luján. The sponge shape craft turned out better than my own samples as families cut out orange fish shapes from the sponges I provided and played with them in the water. It wasn't until I read the book that I realized how the sponge fish coincided with the story. It worked out very well.

Dawn Noelle

The Main Library

We had a great field trip to the library on Friday. There is something hugely gratifying in the "hand-holding" I did, walking through the steps of the library card application process with mothers and grandmothers - acquiring cards for adults and children alike. We applied four cards were process on this very day - and about 7 were processed before hand. The other highlight was our story time with Librarian Tim Troy. Having a man's voice reading the story - and the wonderfully animated sounds he used to accompany the story - really captured the attention of even our youngest babies.

-Dawn Noelle

"I still have it!"

While visiting El Salvador this summer, I had the opportunity to implement some "Growing with Books" curriculum in the small town of Santa Marta, Cabañas. Here we are doing ball play - and the kids got to take home the beach balls. The next morning, when before our second and final class during the visit, one of the little ones said: "I still have the ball and I didn't even pop it¡" My last blog about the Bebé Payaso (see "Flashback!") project reminded me of this encounter as well. Whether it is a new board book, a homemade book project, or a donated beach ball, each item our students take home is a tangible reminder to be practicing at home what our families have learned in class.
-Dawn Noelle