Recap of Recaps: February 6–12, 2025

Submitted by Joanne Garrett

Check out these highlights from some of the unique offerings patrons enjoyed systemwide February 6–12, 2025.

Breaking Ground:
A Story on the Journey of Achieving Greatness at Hampton Park Library (2/8)
2 children, 6 adults
"Jerry G White gave a wonderful, entertaining, and educational presentation about some of the most famous Black Americans who achieved greatness in their time and paved a way for those who followed. Mr. White set up many musical instruments and invited all of our attendees to participate in making music, singing, dancing and more! Eight people attended and everyone was very impressed. This program was very interactive and Mr. White had everyone's full attention until the end of his presentation." - hosted by Diana Wolski

Patrons got to join in the fun during the Breaking Ground program.

Preschoolers @ Post at Post Road Library (2/7)
19 children, 18 adults
"We had a terrific turnout today, even with the weather being so nice outside. Our theme was all things Valentine's Day! Our biggest hits were the Hidden Message Hearts. I wrote an affirmation on a heart with white crayon. The kids used watercolors to paint the heart and reveal the message. They loved watching the magic happen! We had a writing practice station where I had a shallow tray of sprinkles and a paintbrush. The kids pulled a letter from the bowl and practiced writing it with the paintbrush in the sprinkle tray. At the end, we passed out a “punny” valentine card to each of the kids. One boy fell on the floor laughing at his valentine card that said, "You are TURTLE-y terrific!" It was a fun Friday! " - hosted by LoraGrace Paolazzi

Love was in the air at Post Road's preschool gathering.

HP Ready Set Preschool at Hampton Park Library (2/7)
42 children, 26 adults
"Today's program was all about penguins. We waddled around with eggs on our feet, learned some really cool penguin facts, and danced around with some penguin puppets to the song ‘Do the Penguin.’ I read the book, ‘Penguins, Penguins, Everywhere!’ by Bob Barner and showed some quick clips of penguins displaying their amazing abilities, like belly sliding, swimming, and waddling. The most popular stations included our sensory penguin ice skating station and our penguin craft. Big thanks to Brooklyn for Denmark for assisting in the setting up, puppeteering, manning of the art station, and the clean-up. We had lots of positive feedback on the program and our young penguin lovers really seemed to enjoy themselves." - hosted by LeAnne Craig

heARTWORK Crafts for Adults at Sharon Forks Library (2/12)
6 adults
“We had a fun group tonight for our crafting program! We made raffia hanging wall art using hoops, raffia, and macrame cord. I set out an instructional guide for patrons to use, books about paper crafting and about Black History Month, and a fun ‘did you know’ sheet about the history of raffia. The craft was definitely tricky at times. I walked patrons through it step-by-step, showing them how to make their knots. The macrame cord is where a few of them got stumped, but I assured everyone that it is a very forgiving craft. Once they got going, they were off and did not need me anymore. They loved their creations at the end, and one of them walked out wearing it as a hat. They're all very excited about next month's craft.” - hosted by Brianna Schantz

Water Conservation Series: Aztec Floating Gardens at Cumming Library (2/12)
5 children, 2 adults
“Nishat from the Forsyth County Water Department returned to the Cumming Library where we hosted Denmark's program in the water series. Nishat and I set up supplies for 20 kids but, unfortunately, the rainy weather kept people away. She began the program with a slideshow educating the kids on the Ancient Aztecs and their use of water gardens. The kids then moved to a table where they each created their own floating garden. This was done by partially filling a plastic shoebox with water and water beads. They filled small peat pods with soil, then floated them in their shoebox. Nishat passed out a variety of seeds to the kids, who then planted these in their pods. Finally, each child was given a lid, so they could safely transport their floating garden home. The kids loved this activity, and they are all excited to see if their seeds will grow.” - hosted by Julie Boyd

Bookmobile at the Villas at Canterfield (2/11) 
Patrons 23, References 13
“As soon as we arrived, our sweet patrons were in the room with their bags ready. Each bag was filled with library books that were read and ready to be returned. As we laid out the new decorated brown bags with their names on them, they picked them up and either left or stayed to chat and browse the crate collection of books. We put these books out for those who like to choose their own books or add to the books we selected for them. This stop is particularly busy because we have so many enthusiastic patrons who love what we do. We have an amazing advocate named Ms. Vonny who tells everyone about our services. It is so helpful to have patrons in the facilities who support what we do. We have a regular patron who always needs help downloading new audio books onto her libby app. She can only see through a magnifying glass and she tells us these books help her so much during the week. Joanie was nice enough to help her select her books and set them up on her Libby app. She was incredibly grateful. We also had three new patrons come to us this week. They were excited to learn that our services are free and that we could help them select books.” - hosted by Sariah Homan