What's up this fall?

Welcome back to school, and back to the library to all our neighborhood students who've been away. What's up this fall? Homework help every day after school, both in English and Spanish. And our regulars know we are all about helping with math, writing, science fair, and all kinds of school projects and papers.

We have some completely great after-school activities coming up too- our ongoing learn-to-draw-and-write Comics class, for one- here's a couple of comics kids did.
The Comics Consortium (that's the group of all the artists who participate) has an anthology coming out, put together by awesome instructors / artists Walker Mettling and Andrew Oesch. This will be both the kids' work and work by other artists inspired by their work.
We're adding Cyberkids, super fun computer classes for upper elementary kids, and maybe a hip hop / creative writing/ poetry class. We definitely will have a photography project too.
Chess club has changed to 5:30pm every Thursday with Sam still coaching. And Fridays are still super excellent movie and game day, with great movies that are kid friendly. If you want to see a particular movie, talk to Lyndsy and Sara.
See you soon!

Homework- who, where, why, when ... what?

courtesy: FOUND Magazine

Homework: kids, you know you have to!
The US Department of Education has a great downloadable PDF called "Helping Your Child With Homework." This is a 23 page booklet, that walks parents through everything they can do to give their kids the right space, tools, and encouragement to do homework without pressure and with less confusion. This is also a great tool for parents who want to talk to their kids about why homework matters, because it uses really reasonable, logical language to talk about how doing homework helps kids do better in school and enjoy school more.
For homework help on a walk-in basis, call any of the 9 neighborhood libraries that are Providence Community Library during any of our open hours. We'll tell you when we have tutors on site, and we can also answer some questions right over the phone, or send you an e-mail link. And ask our librarians if there are any neighborhood resources- there usually are!
In Rhode Island, we've got Homework Help through AskRI.org. Our librarians will usually recommend this for high school kids and some middle school kids, because it's online, but if you work with a younger kid to use the encyclopedia and kid-friendly databases, it's a great learning opportunity.
Parents should also check out VIPS, Volunteers in Public Schools- they're changing their name to Inspiring Minds, and still offering free after-school and Saturday tutoring. VIPS also can connecting parents with resources for their kids both in and out of school. Parents can call 401274.3240.
The Learning Coach is a newer name, offering free after-school tutoring and free transportation. Interested parents should call 401 272. 2037.
Stay tuned!