Learning in the Library

This afternoon my almost four-year-old daughter, seven-month-old son and I walked down to Glen Park to our local library. Ella, my four-year old, went on her scooter and led the way to the library. We took the elevator upstairs as our library is on the second floor above a local market. When the elevator doors opened she ran into the library returned her two books and then said, "I am going to the kids section." She quickly disappeared and I followed.

Ella quickly found her favorite shelf and began looking for books. She brought one over and asked me to read it. With Milo rolling around on the floor, Ella and I settled into a chair to read. When we were done, Ella perused the stack of books left on the table and found another book she wanted to read and then returned to the shelf to find more books to bring home.

The pure joy of finding books that looked good is priceless to witness. I told Ella that she could pick out five books. She looked at her pile and found three that she liked and then informed me that she needed two more books. She quickly went back to the bookshelf not realizing that she had in fact just subtracted. Wow! Math being one of my first loves, it is magical for me to watch Ella master counting and simple addition and subtraction. After Ella found her five books she asked me for her card and then ran to the check out. Our library has a self check out and has stools next to them so that kids can get up and check out by themselves. Ella is quite a master at it now. She scans her card and her books making sure to wait for the chime that tells her the books was properly checked out.

Our excursion to the library today made me realize that we need to go to the library more often. Not only does it foster the importance of books and reading, but it opens up various other opportunities for learning.