Skip to main content

Spring Growth


 

The tree in my neighbor's yard is now producing pink snow. My solitary yellow tulip out front is bravely making its annual appearance. Around town I see people out working on their yards: piles of garden tools, bags of mulch, collections of yard trimmings out on recycling day.

It’s just the right time for some recommendations from the Howard County Library if you have children in your life. (Or if you’re like me and just adore children’s books.) This week’s Chapter Chats entitled “Spring is for Gardening”, presents nine different volumes for your reading pleasure, with descriptions to help you pick a few to check out.

My two favorite gardening books for kids are golden oldies by now: Planting a Rainbow and Growing Vegetable Soup, both by Lois Ehlert. Do you read books to children in your life? Do you have any Spring favorites to recommend?

The Friends and Foundation of the Howard County Library has been running a fundraiser to support the creation of a new mobile library van called On the Road to Kindergarten. The mobile unit:

...will bring library collections, services, and programs to all corners of the community, focusing on preparing children from birth to three for kindergarten. 

To learn how you can donate, click here. To learn more about On the Road to Kindergarten, you’ll find a description here. 

Whether it’s growing gardens or Kindergarten readiness, the library has a lot to offer our community. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Teacher Gifts

Today is the last day of school before the Winter Break. It’s a good time to remember the far-reaching nature of our public school system. You may not have children. You may have sent your children to independent schools. It matters not. You will be impacted one way or another. Yesterday I read a long thread on Facebook about several waves of illness in the schools right now. There’s influenza A and norovirus, I believe. And of course there’s COVID. Apparently in some individual schools the rate of illness is high enough for school admin to notify parents.  When I was little the acceptable holiday gift for a teacher was one of those lovely floral handkerchief squares. (I don’t know what it was for male teachers. They were rare in my elementary years.) These days the range of teacher gifts is wider and I have fond memories of Target gift cards which I have written about before. I think it’s safe to say that giving one’s teacher Influenza, norovirus, or COVID is not the ideal holiday...
1 comment
Read more

They Can Wait

This is not a typical Saturday post. That’s because, in my community, it’s not a typical Saturday.  Oakland Mills High School, after years of deferred repair, needs massive renovation. It’s pretty simple: when you don’t fix a problem it gets bigger. The school system itself said the the OMHS school building was  "no longer conducive to learning" back in 2018.  2018 .  But Thursday the Boad of Education voted to push it out of the lineup of important projects which will be given the go-ahead to proceed soonest.  In my opinion it’s a terrible decision and sets a dangerous precedent. To explain, here’s the advocacy letter I sent in support of Oakland Mills High School. I was rather proud of it. I am writing to ask you to proceed with needed renovation at Oakland Mills High School in the most timely and comprehensive manner humanly possible. I have read the letter sent to you by the Oakland Mills Community Association and I am in complete agreement. You are extremel...
1 comment
Read more

Separate and Unequal

  Remember “Separate but equal”? Remember how that really meant that Black schools languished in  broken-down buildings without adequate heat or toilet facilities, with cast-off, ragged learning materials, underfunded and largely ignored? The Supreme Court struck that down in 1954. The evidence was clear that separate was not equal. Plessy v Ferguson had led to - - no, endorsed - - deeply unequal schooling and opportunities. We tend to think of Brown v Board as being purely about racial integration. It was not.  It was about the logical consequences of segregation. And they were not, not, not equal. The ruling in 1954 didn’t transform public education for non-whites into a land of milk and honey by any means. But it articulated some essential truths in a way that made including everyone a legal precedent which could be relied upon and built upon. It was better than what came before it but it rested upon unsteady ground. It did not necessarily change the hearts or minds ...
1 comment
Read more