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With school now in full swing, growing houseplants from kitchen scraps makes a fun science project to enjoy with your kids or grandkids.

To use a library resource, and to use it from home, you may need your library card and password.

Reading aloud to your child is one of the most powerful ways to boost your child's vocabulary and set them up for reading success. Play around with these tips and see which ones work for you and your family. You may find that your kids love silly character voices but lose interest when you ask too many questions about the book. This is just fine!  Use the tips that work for you, and come back to the others later. Enjoy your read aloud time with your little ones.Look for Rhyme and RepetitionBe on the lookout for books with rhyme and repetition. The rhyming is a valuable skill, and along with repetition, it creates a rhythm that makes listening to these books soothing and enthralling for kids. Think Dr. Seuss!Ham it UpIf you feel comfortable using character voices when you are reading, do it! And if it feels awkward, jump in and do it anyway. Practice is the only way for it to get easier, and your child will appreciate any voice you come up with. Don’t feel like you have to give each character their own voice – maybe just use a different voice for the main character, and let it go at that. Reading books with straight-forward plots is a great opportunity to ask sequencing questions about what happened first, next and last. You can also ask concrete literal questions about who, what, and where. If an obvious opportunity arises, start a quick conversation about how something happened in the story, or why a character did something in particular. Picking relatable stories about everyday life with main characters (human or animal) who are your child’s age or just a litte bit older will set your child up for success in comprehension right from the beginning.RehearseWhen you find a book that rhymes or uses a lot of repetition, read it to yourself a few times before you read it aloud to your child. Look for the parts that rhyme, and make sure that they sound natural when you read them aloud. It’s best to know when the rhyming bits are coming up, and being ready to emphasize those parts makes a huge positive difference in the quality of your read aloud.Invite ParticipationOnce your child has heard the book a few times, pause just before the end of a line to invite your child to say the rhyming word with you. Know when the repetition is coming up, too, and after a couple of times, pause and look expectantly at your child just before you read the section that repeats.Talk About Photographs and IllustrationsGood books for children have photographs and illustrations that are clear, colorful and engaging. Use these illustrations as an opportunity to talk about new vocabulary – label and explain any items or activities that might be unfamiliar to your child. Doing this regularly sends a message to your child that discussing the pictures in a book is a natural part of reading. It won’t be long before your child is asking their own questions about the illustrations, which naturally leads to even more engagement and interaction. It’s a simple, powerful way to help your child’s vocabulary explode during these preschool years.Short and SweetKeep reading sessions as short as necessary, and if your audience is getting impatient or wiggly, quickly summarize the ending of the book and try again later. Explore our catalogue, reserve a book today, type in "read aloud" in the search bar if you would like more ideas on helping your child discover the joy of reading. Support your local library today.

For our story book choice today, we introduce you to Bailey the dog. Enjoy this fun story as Bailey spends a day at school.  This April, we are choosing one story per day from the TumbleBook Library collection for you to enjoy. To find today's story just log into Tumble Book Library and search for the title.About TumbleBookCheck out details of TumbleBook Library and how to access it on our website. TumbleBook Library is a curated database of over 1100 children’s e-books, and includes their unique animated, talking picture books, read-along chapter books, national geographic videos, non-fiction books, playlists, as well as books in Spanish and French.It's full of great stories to listen to with videos showing all of the wonderful illustrations. You can even follow the text as the story is being read to you.To learn more about how to use Tumblebooks please check out our how to video. 

This week, we are going to take a look at TumbleBooks, an online resource especially designed for the little ones in your life. TumbleBooks are animated, talking picture books which teach children the joy of reading in a format they'll love. TumbleBooks are created by taking existing picture books, and then adding animation, sound, music and narration to produce an electronic picture book which you can read, or have read to you. This resource also includes National Geographic videos and games.(Example of National Geographic Videos)Available on TumbleBooks:Story Books: This option features animated, talking picture books for the younger reader. The reader has the option to automatically or manually turn the pages.  Chapter Books/Read-Alongs: While this option does not include animation, the ebooks are narrated. They also include Chapter menus so that you can jump chapters, and a bookmarks and notes feature which are cookied onto your computer. Chapter Books also allow readers to change the colors of the background and text, as well as the font style, size, and line spacing. This helps to make the ebooks even more accessible to a wider range of readers. Videos are from the world renowned National Geographic! Simply click on "Watch Online" to watch the 2-5 minute clips on various topics. Most of these videos have been paired with ebooks as a way to introduce a topic! Featured is where teachers, librarians, parents, students, and TumbleBooks staff can recommended a book! It's a quick and easy way to find books on those rainy days! Puzzles & Games accompany each book and reinforce concepts from the books, allowing for a fun and educational learning experience. Language Learning is an easy way to access our French and Spanish titles! Non-Fiction contains a growing collection of non-fiction titles in subjects such as health, science, astronomy, biology, and nature.Playlist allows you to access the pre-loaded playlist. The eBooks play back-to-back just like a music playlist! In addition, you can create your own playlist! Simply click on the "Add to Playlist" button below a TumbleBook to create your own!(Example of Foreign Language eBooks)Access How:Website; Follow link below. To register; select the "My Cloud" tab, click where it says "Register" and enter your library card number and pin as your username and password.App; Select "Library" tab, in country box fill in "Ireland" (Note; state is NOT required), select Dublin City Council Public Library and enter your library card number. In main menu select "View by Detail" to add your favourite books to "My Favourites."URL: http://www.tumblebooklibrary.com/autologin.aspx?UserID=08Hezhy7Lfgp480vNdjp%2bw%3d%3d 

So here we are post-boom, with lighter pockets and tighter belts. What to do? Drop in to your local  library for a few ideas on how to make a little go a long way.Firstly, save yourself the cost of visiting a financial advisor by taking out Andrew McCann’s Know your rights: a practical guide to living in challenging times. It explains taxation, social welfare, redundancy, state pensions, illness and disability, inheritance – a mine of hugely useful information on your rights and entitlements.Next, learn how to reduce your outgoings with Saving energy in the home, part of the popular Teach Yourself series, which shows you how to cut your energy bills in the house, garden, and on the road. Avoid having to hire carpenters, plumbers, or glaziers by learning how how to do it yourself with Good Housekeeping’s 101 DIY fixes. It covers everything from wallpapering to dripping taps to carpet-laying to repairing brickwork.  Grow your own with Allotment gardening by Susan Berger. Allotments are increasingly popular, and, for the price of a few packets of seeds, you can provide yourself with fresh, organic, home-grown veg.   Once you’ve grown the veg, learn how to make it go further with Shrewd food by Elizabeth Carty, who describes how to shop for, store, and cook good food without spending a fortune on it. It includes a lot of Irish recipes as well as ones from further afield.  Combine economy with creativity, individuality, and the satisfaction of learning a new skill with Eithne Farry’s Yeah! I made it myself, described as DIY fashion for the not very domestic goddess. Learn to make clothes from scratch and how to customise thrift shop finds.  Finally, once you’ve claimed your tax back, changed all the light bulbs, fixed the leaky tap, grown and cooked the spuds, and made yourself a fabulous new top, have a bit of a flutter on the gee-gees and hopefully win a bit of pocket money. But before you place your bet, take a look at Beat the bookies, John Duggan’s guide to the dos and don'ts of sports betting. Highly recommended, and a great read!

You can find out how to do and be lots of things in the library.Actors, gardeners, jugglers, farmers, knitters, bakers, candlestick makers, secretaries or being idle. Staying single or looking for partners?From the practical to the mundane, finding jobs to healing pain. Would you like to speak Irish or Chimpanzee? How to be good, how to be positive, how to be beautiful, how to be mean, how to be rich...... Random things like being a superhero 101 Things To Do To Become a Superhero . . . or an evil genius by Helen Szirtes and Richard HorneOr mowing the lawnHow to mow the lawn, the lost art of being a man by Sam MartinOr be a womanHow to be a woman by Caitlin MoranOr give those dreaded presentationsPublic speaking, everything you need to know by Jacey Lamerton   Really there's no excuses you can be anything you want to be really!!