Mother Goose Story Time, make way for what Youth Services Director Melody Peters hopes will become another mainstay offering at Perry Memorial Library: It’s Papa Bear Story Time, and it’s making its debut on Monday evenings beginning June 1.
Mother Goose Story Time has been around for decades, Peters said. The 11 a.m. time slot on Thursdays is popular with the 0-5 crowd and their caregivers and isn’t going anywhere.
“I am really excited to offer another program that I hope will become a staple,” Peters said on Tuesday’s segment of The Local Skinny! “I don’t want to leave dads out. Dads are really important.”
Like Mother Goose, Papa Bear is a 30-minute program geared to children 0-5, but it’s also a time when dads, stepdads, granddads, uncles and anyone who is a father figure, really, to find community with others.
Peters said she would love to have some of those father figures be guest story readers, too.
“It’s really important for kids to hear different tones, different voices,” she said. Research shows that hearing those diverse voices supports emergent literacy in children 0-3.
Peters invites father figures and the children in their lives to “Donuts with Dad” on Saturday, June 20 from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
“I know Saturdays are busy,” she said, but she hopes dads will stop by between sports, errands and other activities to hang out at the library and refuel with a tasty donut.
The library is celebrating student achievement with an “Honor Roll” wall, which Peters hopes to fill up with examples of students’ accomplishments this school year.
Children are invited to bring their report cards in to the library, get a little prize and have their names added to the wall.
Peters said she got the idea from a student who’s a “regular” at the library.
“He was so proud to show me his report card,” she said. It’s important to show children that there are plenty of folks beyond family who care that you do your best and stay in school.
The Honor Roll Wall will get updated quarterly, she said.
“School needs to matter to everybody,” Peters said, adding that young people need to know that their community supports them and celebrates their accomplishments.
Visit www.perrylibrary.org to see a complete listing of programs and activities at Perry Memorial Library, located at 205 Breckenridge St., Henderson.
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