71 Monell Avenue
Islip, NY 11751
T: 631-581-5933
F: 631-581-8429
71 Monell Avenue
Islip, NY 11751
T: 631-581-5933
Archive Monthly Archives: May 2017
Children’s Summer Reading Club | Learn all Summer and be a Great Student this Fall!
The New York Libraries’ website, Summer Reading Club link https://www.summerreadingnys.org/kids/ shares the following information about children who read over the summer:
- They maintain and build their reading skills
- They avoid summer learning loss*
- Their love of reading grows
- They are more confident in reading
- They read what interests them and become avid readers
- They become better spellers and writers
- Their vocabularies grow
- They have a better grasp of grammar
- They are prepared for a successful school year
Children who do not read over the summer lose up to an average of one month of school learning. Make sure that doesn’t happen to your child!
The website above also provides links for additional summer activities for children aged infant through teens. You’ll find games, puzzles, reading and writing activities, crafts, and more on this website!
10 Easy Ways to Get Children to Read this Summer
1. Get your child a library card - it’s free!
2. Sign your child up for summer reading at the Library and enjoy free programs with fun activities, storytelling, reading contests, crafts and more.
3. Read with your child every day. Read during “waiting” time on trips, at the doctor’s office, in line at the grocery store….anywhere and everywhere!
4. Take a basket of books for reading breaks at the beach or pool.
5. Read on your own and talk to your child about what you’re reading! Teach by example - families who share reading raise good readers.
6. Visit the Library every week for a fresh supply of books for everyone!
7. Ask a librarian if you’d like books in languages other than English.
8. Turn on the closed captioning during TV shows or movies so children can see the words as they hear them. Check out an audio book and read the book while listening to it.
9. Keep a list on your refrigerator of the books everyone has read during the summer.
10. Choose a subject of interest to the entire family, get everyone reading about it, then share what you’ve all learned.
Beginning Friday, June 16 through Saturday, August 19 children in the Islip School district, ages infant – 6th grade may register for the Islip Library’s Children’s Summer Reading Club. Teens entering grades 7-12 are invited to join the Library’s Teen Summer Reading Club (call the Adult Reference Desk for more info about Teen Reading Club). Beginning Monday, June 26, children in completed grades K – 6 may bring in their books and tell a children’s librarian about their favorite or not-so-favorite part. Logging books online is also an option. Earn prizes and raffle tickets as your child comments on books. Children in completed grades 4 – 6 will earn prizes for the number of pages read. Infants and preschoolers earn prizes after they have had 20 books read to them. Learn more from the Children’s Department.
Call the Islip Public Library at 631-581-5933 and look for our July/August newsletter arriving in your mailbox during the last week of June!
- Jane Hoffman, Children’s Department Head
Graduation Leads to Lifelong Learning | May 2017
Are you looking for an inspirational message for a recent graduate, or maybe for yourself, about living your best life? Perhaps one of the following will inspire you or someone you know to reach higher and pursue lifelong learning!
- From Nelson Mandela:
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” - From Malcolm Forges:
“The purpose of education is to replace an empty mind with an open one.” - From David McCullough Jr.:
“The great and curious truth of the human experience is that selflessness is the best thing you can do for yourself.” - From Doug Marlett:
“Ease up on yourselves. Have some compassion for yourself as well as for others. There’s no such thing as perfection, and life is not a race.” - From Henry Ford:
“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at 80 or 20. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young. - From David Brooks:
“You have to give to receive. You have to surrender to something outside yourself to gain strength within yourself. You have to conquer your desire to get what you crave. Success leads to the greatest failure, which is arrogance and pride. Failure can lead to the greatest success, which is humility and learning. In order to fulfill yourself, you have to forget yourself. In order to find yourself, you have to lose yourself.” - From Samuel Johnson:
“Curiosity is one of the most permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous mind.” - From George Saunders:
“Err in the direction of kindness. Do those things that incline you toward the big questions, and avoid the things that would reduce you and make you trivial. That luminous part of you that exists beyond personality – your soul, if you will – is bright and shining as any that has ever been. Bright as Shakespeare’s, bright as Gandhi’s, bright as Mother Teresa’s. Clear away everything that keeps you separate from this secret luminous place. Believe it exists, come to know it better, nurture it, share its fruits tirelessly.” - From Bradley Whitford:
“Take action. Every story you’ve ever connected with, every leader you’ve ever admired, every puny little thing that you’ve ever accomplished is the result of taking action. You have a choice. You can either be a passive victim of circumstance, or you can be the active hero of your own life.” - From Oprah Winfrey:
“Education is the key to unlocking the world, a passport to freedom.” - And on a lighter note, from Theodor Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss):
“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in and direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. You are the one who’ll decide where to go.”
Public Libraries are the ‘People’s University’ and the place for lifelong learning. Are you a curious person? Good for you! Curiosity leads to learning! If you have a desire to keep learning even if you graduated a long time ago, please visit us. We have books on a wide variety of subjects – “libraries are storehouses of knowledge and provide free and open access to the accumulated wisdom of the world.”* If we don’t have what you’re looking for we can usually borrow it for you from another library. In addition to books, we have subscription databases to a myriad of resources which are not available by “Googling”! They are resources comprised of documented facts, written by experts in their fields. If you need help in finding the information you seek, please stop by the Reference Desk and speak with one of the librarians – we will help you find it!
“The library is the temple of learning, and learning has liberated more people than all the wars in history.”
- Carl T. Rowan
*source: www.idealist.org The New York Public Library
Bird Watching on Long Island – Family Fun Activities
Long Island is “for the Birds!” Families and Bird Watching
One of the easiest and enjoyable activities to share with your children is bird watching. Taking time to observe our feathered friends while at the park, on the beach, or even in your backyard gives families the opportunity to increase their appreciation for nature and its cycles. Even if you can’t tell a cardinal from a blue jay, there are numerous guides for determining types of birds, both online and here at the Library. Most birding organizations offer tips and advice as to how to engage children and teens in discovering the beauty and habits of our feathered friends. For instance, recent scientific research has determined that birds are closely related to dinosaurs, so perhaps you can draw in reluctant participants with this fact to promote observation and discussion. Out on a trail, you can make your walk into a competition to see who can spot and name the most birds. And at one local Long Island preserve Elizabeth A. Morton Wildlife Refuge, chickadees will land on your hand to eat seeds—now that’s getting close to nature!
Just remember not to feed birds at the park with bread…it’s not good for them. Also, remember that ducks, geese, and swans are wild creatures, and can become aggressive, especially if their young are nearby. Seagulls show no fear of humans if there’s food involved and large numbers of them will swoop in and surround you if you deliberately feed them. Please be cautious.
With that in mind, here are a list of links, blogs and Facebook pages about activities that revolve around families and birds:
For Instance:
June Outdoor Program at Brookside
When: Thursday, June 15, 2017
Time: 6:00 pm Rain or Shine
Place: Great South Bay Audubon Society's Headquarters - Brookside County Park - 59 Brook Street, Sayville, NY
Program Description: Our program this year will be presented by members of Quogue Wildlife Refuge. They will discuss the adaptations of various birds of prey that allow these animals to be such incredible hunters. Find out why they live at the Wildlife Center and learn about their role in the wild. You might see a screech owl, a barn owl and maybe even a great horned owl. You won't want to miss it! This program is free, open to the public and will be held rain or shine. There will be a raffle and refreshments. Bring a blanket and/or chair. Parking is also available in the High School Parking lot across the street. Hope to see you there!
- This is a brochure for the Theodore Roosevelt Sanctuary and Audubon Center in Oyster Bay detailing their "For The Birds!" Program - an 8 week elementary education program.
- Here you’ll find samples of bird calls to help you find birds by sound, as well as sight.
- A site with several galleries of images that will help to identify local birdlife and migratory species, along with some other wildlife.
- This magazine’s website has beautiful images of birds that will have you longing to find them. A free identification guide can be downloaded.
- Here’s a blog about bird feeders, with some informative links within.
- Educators and homeschoolers, please note that common core science standards are met by this lesson plan using Look Up! : Bird-watching in your Own Backyard by Annette Cate
(available here at the Library). - LI Birds.com on Facebook will let you share pictures and stories of your birding adventures.
- The Coastal Research and Education Society of Long Island provides information about coastal and pelagic birds of Long Island. It also conducts seal walks and whale-watching cruises, and has information about sea turtles found in New York waters.
- The Long Island Pine Barrens offer some of the best birding on Long Island. You’ll also find a link there to the Brookhaven National Laboratory bird watching checklist that you can download and print to bring along on walks.
- The Cornell Lab of Ornithology gives outdoor nature tips, and includes educational resources, workshops, and webinars.
- National Geographic has a spectacular page that allows you to download an app for your iPhone or iTouch that is especially useful for beginners.
Also, for a great craft that will “Build A Better World”- our Summer Reading Club theme - for our feathered friends, the Islip Public Library Children’s Department will be offering a program that gives kids ages 8 - 12 the opportunity to decorate birdhouses with (bird) edible materials! Program will take place on Friday, July 28th, 3:00- 4:00 PM. Please register beginning July 5th.
And come visit us to checkout our display of non-fiction and stories dedicated to all kinds of birds.
Celebrate Older Americans Month with Islip Public Library!
“May is a month of fresh beginnings. Perennials bloom once again, blazing a trail of bright color. May is also when we celebrate Older American’s Month, acknowledging the perennial contributions of older adults to our nation.”
(Source)
Proclaimed as a national observance by President John F. Kennedy in 1963, the month of May provides us an opportunity to honor older Americans and acknowledge their contributions.
Every President since Kennedy has issued a formal proclamation during or before the month of May asking that the entire nation pay tribute in some way to older persons in their communities. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter’s proclamation changed the name to Older Americans Month. Older Americans Month is celebrated across the country through ceremonies, events, fairs, and other such activities.
Seniors - Join us at the Islip Public Library throughout the month of May for some special programs just for you!
Senior Fitness Classes
Senior Fitness classes are held on Wednesdays from 9:30-10:30 am. Have fun and get fit while learning basic weight training and body-toning with Ellyn Seltzer.
Scrabble!
Join three-time National Scrabble Champion, Joe Edley, author of Everything Scrabble on Monday, May 8 at 11 am. He will teach you several techniques to enhance your word game skills. Please bring your Scrabble set along. Light refreshments will be provided.
Concert: Better Late Than Never Jug Band
Concert: Better Late Than Never Jug Band on Sunday May 21 at 2:00 pm. This band includes six members: “Big Mike” Meyer plays guitar, sings, and plays kazoo; Rob “The Blue Streak” Bellassai plays harmonica, jug and a bunch of other things that make noise; Angela Giannotti plays wash board and sings; Rich Fuller plays mandolin and sings; Carl Batchelder plays upright bass; Rich Giannotti plays guitar and sings.
Guest Speaker Vincent DeSantis: Long Term Care Options
Vincent DeSantis, a Long Term Care Professional will be at the library on Tuesday, May 24 at 7 pm to discuss various long term care options.
Living Healthy Series for Older Adults
Living Healthy Series for Older Adults on Fridays from 10:00 am - 12 noon, May 26 - June 30. Put life back in your life during this six-week workshop series that empowers older adults to take charge of chronic conditions such as diabetes, arthritis, high blood pressure, heart disease, chronic pain, obesity and anxiety.
FREE Health Screenings
The St. Francis Hospital Mobile Bus, staffed by medical professionals, will be in the Islip Library parking lot on Wednesday, June 28 from 10:00 am - 2:00 pm for free health screenings. No registration required.
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