Tag Archive for: #perrymemoriallibrary

Perry Memorial Library

The Local Skinny! What’s Happening At Perry Memorial Library

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Perry Memorial Library is abuzz with activity during the day, helping patrons with book checkouts and providing a spot for a variety of groups to gather. But have you ever wondered just what goes on after-hours at the library?

If so, Youth Services Director Melody Peters may have just the activity to grab your little ones’ attention. It’s called a Teddy Bear Sleepover and Peters said plans are shaping up for the Saturday, Jan. 20 event.

The library staff continually strives to find host programs and activities that appeal to a variety of folks – from the preschooler through high school-aged students and beyond.

The Teddy Bear Sleepover is one that is geared for the younger kids, Peters said on Tuesday’s segment of The Local Skinny!

The idea is to have the children bring to the library a favorite stuffed animal, doll or other type of “lovey” and then do some activities before they leave them overnight for a sleepover – the stuffed animals stay overnight, not the children, Peters said, chuckling.

The next day, when parents bring their children to pick up their lovey, they’ll get a photo album filled with all the overnight antics that occurred after the library was closed.

This is just one of the new offerings for younger patrons, and Peters said teens are invited to another new program on Tuesday where they’ll create vision boards.

A vision board, she explained, is a type of goal-setting activity, and teens can “come have a good time…and think about where you want to be in a year, in five years.”

Using pictures from magazines, participants will create their unique vision board.

“When you have it visually, you can look at it every day,” she said.

Another new program will kick off on Monday, Jan. 22. It’s called “Community Read Aloud” and it will be held from 5:30 p.m. to about 6:15 p.m.

“It’s definitely geared to kids who are reading,” Peters said, but there will be volunteers on hand to help those who may be struggling readers. She’ll kick things off by reading from a chapter book while people gather, and then participants will choose their own books to read. Then they’ll have a chance to read aloud at their tables when they break off into groups.

The idea, she said, is that everyone will read aloud and to be more comfortable in a small-group setting.

Check out the library’s complete schedule of programs and services at www.perrylibrary.com.

Email Peters at mpeters@perrylibrary.org if you’d like to learn more about the new programs at the library.

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Perry Memorial Library

The Local Skinny! Events At Perry Library

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Programs at Perry Memorial Library will be slowing down next week as Christmas approaches, and things were going to be “up in the air” – literally – today at 4 p.m., when the StoryUp! Aerial Theater of Durham comes to town for a performance.

It’s something new for 2023, said Youth Services Director Melody Peters, and that’s just the start for new programs and events for the New Year at the library.

“We’ve got some new things coming,” Peters said on Tuesday’s segment of The Local Skinny! with WIZS co-host Bill Harris. “We’re really excited about that.”

In addition to resuming regular programs like the Mother Goose story time on Thursday mornings, the library will host a community read-aloud on Monday nights beginning in January.

Peters said she hears patrons, including teachers, parents and grandparents, voice concerns about young people’s waning reading habits.

“Either they aren’t reading for enjoyment or pleasure, or they’re not reading at the appropriate level,” Peters said. “I want to get people reading together – listening to each other read,” she added. The idea is to build young readers’ confidence and fluency.

We use different hemispheres of our brains for listening and for reading, Peters said. When you read aloud, there’s more information exchanged across both hemispheres which builds literacy and reading fluency.

The idea is for Peters to read one chapter of a chapter book to the group for the first 15 minutes of each hour-long session. Then the group will divide randomly to tables and they’ll take turns reading to the group. There will be volunteers on hand to help less confident readers if they need it.

“I want to hear people reading for 45 minutes,” Peters said. “I want to make it a positive things (and) don’t want anyone to feel bad about their reading ability,” she said. “This is a new approach – we’ll see how it goes.”

Visit https://www.perrylibrary.org/ for a complete listing of events and programs.

The library will be closed Dec. 23-26 for Christmas, as well as Dec. 31 and Jan. 1.

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Rebuild Communities NC Teams Up With AARP To Host Computer Classes Beginning Dec. 5

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Join Rebuild Communities NC at Perry Memorial Library for a Digital Skills Ready@50+ program to learn more about navigating an increasingly digital world.

Rebuild Communities NC is again partnering with AARP’s Senior Planet to help senior adults learn more online skills.

Whether you want to learn how to participate in a Zoom call or host your own, the classes will have something for anyone interested in honing their computer application skills.

Classes are Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the library’s Farm Bureau Room.

Whether you’re hoping to stay connected with family and friends, interested in learning new technologies, exploring  entrepreneurship, or looking for a job, the classes offer trainings technologies like video conferencing and accessing online job search.

The first two classes – Tuesday, Dec. 5 and Thursday, Dec. 7 – will discuss using Zoom.

On Tuesday, Dec. 12, the topic will be “Exploring & Downloading Apps;” the topic for Thursday, Dec. 14 is a lecture on Cloud Storage.

The classes will resume in January.

 

 

Perry Memorial Library

The Local Skinny! Events At Perry Memorial Library

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The Perry Memorial Library has a flurry of events planned between Thanksgiving and Christmas, providing lots of interactive activities for the whole family.

Youth Services Director Melody Peters invites patrons to take the long way in to the library and enjoy reading a story along the sidewalk outside and lingering among the lovely Festival of Trees exhibit in the Gallery between the library entrance and McGregor Hall.

The library will be closed Thursday through Sunday, but come Monday, Nov. 27, activities at the library are going to be heating up.

The StoryWalk, Peters explained, is geared toward those preschool-aged children. Families can join in the fun and get in a little exercise while they read a book, panel by panel, along the sidewalk.

“It’s just a fun activity,” Peters said on Tuesday’s The Local Skinny! “This is a good way to build in exercise…and read a story along the way,” Peters said. The StoryWalk will be up for a month for all to enjoy.

On Tuesday, Dec. 12, at 4 p.m., Durham-based StoryUp! Aerial Theater will perform the classic fable of The Lion and the Mouse. “It’s like going to the circus, but then imagine theater,” Peters said, sort of a mini Cirque de Soleil with aerial artists interpreting the story that’s basically about being kind.

The library is launching another story time beginning Thursday, Dec. 7 for elementary-age children, Peters said. She hopes the 3:30 p.m. time slot will be just right to get children engaged before they head off to tackle homework assignments or Lego Club.

These books will be a little longer than those selected for younger children’s shorter attention spans, she said. The theme for December will focus on different holiday traditions. First up is a book titled “Hershel and the Hannukah Goblins.”

She said she plans to incorporate this new story time offering as a way to encourage children of all ages to enjoy being read to.

Consider embracing your inner crafter on Saturday, Dec. 16 when the library opens up for all ages to join in a variety of crafts for the whole family.

Speaking of crafts, the Mother Goose story time slot is giving way in December to make-and-take craft activities for those kiddos birth to 5 years, Peters noted. “We’ll take a break in December and offer…crafts,” she said. And while they may just seem like fun activities, there’s a lot of learning going on. Stringing cereal on a pipe cleaner involves developing that pincer grasp, as well as sorting by colors. “There’s so much learning happening,” Peters said.

Learn about all the services and programs at Perry Memorial Library at www.perrylibrary.org.

 

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Perry Memorial Library

The Local Skinny! Events At Perry Memorial Library

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The “mitten tree” at Perry Memorial Library will be up soon, providing some holiday cheer as a wintertime decoration as well as a resource for those in need of mittens and hats during the cold months ahead.

Last year’s tree was a success, but it was also funded with a “Kindness” grant, said Melody Peters, Youth Services director at the library. “We gave away over 200 items,” she said on Tuesday’s The Local Skinny!

“This is the first year we’ve asked for donations,” Peters added. Patrons are invited to drop of new or even gently used mittens, gloves and hats at any of the desks in the library.

If you’re shopping for yourself, consider grabbing an extra pair to donate, she said.

Peters said she’ll enlist the help of local knitters to whip up a few pairs as well when they’re at the library for their regular club gathering.

And who knows, maybe the newly formed Crochet group will help, too. The group of a dozen or more tweens and teens who are learning how to create with hook and yarn will meet again on Nov. 21 at 4 p.m. as part of the Survival Skills series.

“We have room for extras,” Peters said. “We have room to grow…we can open the doors to the Makerspace…(and we) can spill out into the teen area.” The library provides the crochet hooks and the yarn that the participants can take home to practice with.

Another program for youth is the Life Hacks series. The Nov. 14 program is titled “Fun With Finance,” and Peters said a local bank representative will be on hand to share some practical information that teens should know about money. The program, designed for high school students, begins at 4 p.m.

Not everything can be done with a swipe or a tap on your phone, Peters said, and she wants young people to know about things like rent, mortgages, checking accounts and more.

This program helps get them started on the path to financial literacy by “just getting them to understand the basics,” she said.

Learn more about Perry Memorial Library and its programs and services at https://www.perrylibrary.org/

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Perry Memorial Library

The Local Skinny! Youth Events At Perry Memorial Library

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It was noisy in the library the other day when the youth gathered to learn about electricity – just like Melody Peters had hoped for.

Peters, youth services director for Perry Memorial Library, said the electricity workshop was a big hit – in fact, it’s going to pick back up in January and run monthly through April.

“There’s nothing like seeing a kid’s face light up,” Peters said, when they realize what they’ve just accomplished or created.

Admittedly, it took a little time for the participants to understand some of the characteristics of energy and how energy flows, she said.

“It took a little doing,” she said, and the instructor allowed the youngsters to learn by trial and error.

“I love giving kids hands-on learning experiences,” Peters said. When something didn’t work, they had to problem-solve to make the devices they created work properly.

The electricity program, part of the library’s Life Hack series, continues for middle and high school students on the second Tuesday of the month beginning in January and continuing through April.

The third Tuesday is for Survival Skills, which currently is teaching 14 kids to crochet. The library purchased hooks for the participants to use, and the instructor donated the yarn – that was the easy part. The kids had the more difficult task of actually creating a chain of single crochet loops.

“It was hard at first, tedious,” Peters said. “Once the connection is made, then they’re off,” she said. The next gathering will take place Nov. 21, and Peters said she’ll be interested to see progress that the participants have made on their projects.

Check out www.perrylibrary.org to find out about all the programs and services the library offers.

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Perry Memorial Library

The Local Skinny! Events At Perry Memorial Library

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Perry Memorial Library patrons can check out books, sure, but the library offers a wide range of programs and services, not all of which directly involve reading.

Youth Services Director Melody Peters said, for example, that young people can come on each month on Tuesdays at 4 p.m. to learn how to crochet. Yep. Once someone expressed an interest, Peters and staff got busy figuring out how to make the request a reality.

“Someone who’s been doing this for a very long time is sharing” the skill with others, Peters said on Tuesday’s segment of The Local Skinny!

There’s a program request bin located just inside the library doors, and Peters said people are filling it with ideas. Want to make a suggestion for a workshop or other idea for programs at the library? Drop a note in the bin, she said.

As Halloween approaches, Peters said she sees an uptick in young people choosing books that have scary or spooky themes. She admits to being more of a Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew mystery gal herself, but she said she’s ordered some new titles that qualify for the horror genre for those adventurous readers.

Recently, a group of youngsters came in near closing time – already in their pj’s – to check out books (maybe for that evening’s bedtime reading). Peters said one of the children requested a particular title that was not available, but all was not lost. Peters said she helped her find another chapter book that was part of a series, so now maybe this young patron has another set of books to enjoy from the library.v

There’s always something to discover at the library. Visit https://www.perrylibrary.org/ to learn about available programs and services for youth and adults.

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Perry Memorial Library

The Local Skinny! Upcoming Events At Perry Memorial Library

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By all accounts, October is going to be busy at Perry Memorial Library. Youth Services Director Melody Peters has outlined several programs designed for tweens and teens that could “spark” an interest – pun intended.

Peters said a dozen young people are already registered for the Tuesday, Oct. 10 Electricity program. The hour-long program begins at 4 p.m., she said, and participants will get to learn about how electricity works from a Vance-Granville Community College instructor.

It’ll be a fun time, but it also can be a way for young people to learn about careers, she said.

“Now kids see a real connection,” she said, between education and future job opportunities in the electrical field.

There’s no charge for the event, but contact Peters if you haven’t already registered at mpeters@perrylibrary.org.

The following week’s Survival Skills program will introduce youngsters to the world of crochet. Yep, crochet. They have all the materials and plenty of space, so just show up if you want to learn how to magically pull yarn with a crochet hook to create handcrafted items.

The annual Fall Festival will take place on Tuesday, Oct. 24 from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

“Last year was such a great time – we had a great turnout,” Peters said. “We’re excited to do it again.”

Children can come in Halloween costumes if they’d like and can enjoy playing traditional carnival games and craft activities.

For a complete listing of all the programs and services at Perry Memorial Library, visit

https://www.perrylibrary.org/

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Perry Memorial Library

The Local Skinny! Upcoming Events At Perry Memorial Library

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Come out to Perry Memorial Library on Tuesday, Sept. 26 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. to experience a celebration of Hispanic Heritage month.

There will be activities in the library, as well as in the gallery shared with McGregor Hall, according to Melody Peters, youth services director at the library.

It’s a chance to learn more about the Hispanic culture and will include dancing, music, face painting and much more.

It’s a chance for the community to come to the library, but sometimes the library gets to go to the community.

Peters said library representatives will be out on Garnett Street on Saturday for the Smart Smart Ducky Derby.

“When we go beyond the doors,” Peters said, “it brings people in the doors.”

She said she had paid a recent visit to the Salvation Army and had a nice story time there. The Boys & Girls Club brought children in throughout the summer to take part in programs offered by the library.

So whether the library staff goes out into the community or individuals from the community visit the library, Peters said it’s all a matter of being visible.

“You have to get out and be visible in the community,” she said. “That brings people into your building.”

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N.C. Rep. Sossamon To Sponsor Sept. 18 Meeting To Learn About Broadband Progress In The Area

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Want to learn more about the state of broadband internet access in your area?

Rep. Frank Sossamon has organized a community forum to share information about what may be in store for the area with regard to broaband internet access.

The meeting will take place on Monday, Sept. 18 at Perry Memorial Library, 205 Breckenridge St. and will begin at 6 p.m.

Staff from the N.C. Department of Information Technology are scheduled to be present to provide residents with the most up-to-date information about this issue.