It’s Friday morning and the entire Yaqan Nukiy School has just left the library to jump back on the bus to return to school in time for a webcast with Cmdr. John Harrington, an enrolled member of Oklahoma’s Chickasaw Nation and the first aboriginal astronaut. Every other Friday, the school visits the library and the kindergarten class has story time with a craft, and the higher grades read with buddies out in the library.
Something that made the story time a little different and elevated the experience for the students today was the use of an iPad. In keeping with the school’s date with an astronaut, the story chosen by our crack storytelling staff member was Roaring Rockets, an action packed little picture book by Tony Mitton and Ant Parker. The iPad came in very handy after the story for a YouTube spaceshot the kids could count down with. Not sure if it was the shot in 2002 with John Harrington aboard, but the kids were riveted to the screen and counted down with huge enthusiasm.
We are full steam ahead with story times for pre-schoolers beginning again next week. Check the website for times or call the library at 250-428-4141. We are honoured to have as guest storytellers a number of retired educators who have no wish to retire completely from children and welcome an opportunity to maintain those story telling skills.
As I write, there are two computer technicians scrambling around the ceiling above my desk installing what looks like miles of wires to enable the library and the Regional District of Central Kootenay offices with fibre optic Internet connections. If any of you have been in to use library computers, you know what a painful experience it can be, usually in the early afternoon, when the Internet almost comes to a dead halt. Staff computers and public access computers alike suffer from the same slowdown and it occurs when the schools are let out and just about every student jumps on the Internet from phones, iPads, PCs and any other Internet-capable device
Set aside March 10 for the film, Greening the Cube: 100 Mile Housing, at 2 p.m. The film has made international film festivals and has a Kootenay component to it. The film “follows the efforts of Canadian green builders Pete Matheson and Sean Sands as they strive to imagine and construct homes that are affordable, habitable, ethical and environmentally responsible.” Given the very rich natural environment surrounding us in the Kootenays and with a little desire and guidance, there is no reason for us not to live sustainable and comfortable lives within our means.
Ann Day is the chief librarian at the Creston and District Public Library.