This past Monday, the 2nd and 3rd graders in Brashear
Association’s after school program at Grandview Elementary in Allentown had the
opportunity to take a field trip to Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh’s new pop-up
library on Arlington Avenue, next to the Zone 3 police station. The pop-up
library is part of Carnegie’s LYNCS (Libraries in Your Neighborhood Communities
and Schools) program, and aims to provide resources and library
services to the residents of Allentown, while also working to build relationships
and learn more about the community’s specific needs. The pop-up library is a
temporary library and will stay open in Allentown through February of 2014.
In honor of Black History Month this February, our hosts for
the day—Maria and Dave—planned a Black History themed story time and craft for
our students. We read The Quilt by
Ann Jonas, Under the Quilt of Night
by Deborah Hopkinson, and The Patchwork
Path: A Quilt Map to Freedom by Bettye Stroud, and talked about how quilt
squares served as a secret map for slaves on their journey to freedom.
After story time, the students had a craft time where they
created their own personalized quilt square, which was later strung together to
create a class quilt. After the craft was over, the students had time to
explore the library a little more, play with some of the games, and have a
quick snack before it was time for us to head back up the hill to Grandview.
As
we were about to leave, Maria and Dave surprised us by letting each student
take a book home with them to keep! The students were thrilled about the books
and enjoyed their afternoon at the library so much that they’ve already started
asking me when we’ll be going back for another field trip. It has been a
wonderful experience to see kids so young getting so excited about the library
and all the resources that it holds.
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