The Westfield Washington Public Library’s Children’s Department serves children and their families. WWPL supports and encourages a lifetime of literacy, independent learning, early literacy skills, and STEAM activities. A variety of materials are available, including award winning books, children’s fiction and nonfiction literature, popular culture books, audio books, and DVDs. The library is pleased to also offer a “Library of Things,” sponsored by Duke Energy, through a Powerful Communities – Local Impact Grant awarded to the Westfield Library Foundation. The Library of Things offers S.T.E.A.M. kits that can be checked out from the library. Young patrons may explore a variety of subjects including science, technology, engineering, arts, and math. These hands-on kits foster curiosity and learning, as well as critical thinking and problem solving skills. The library supports play as an enabler in raising well-rounded children, providing a puppet theater, puzzles, play tables, and four early literacy computer stations. Creative programs are offered for infants, toddlers, preschoolers and school age children, including storytimes, clubs, and a broad spectrum of quarterly Homeschool classes. The library is officially a Coder Dojo with many STEAM Makerspace activities available. Countless exciting programs are presented year round, like Halloween Science, Amazon John Silly Safaris, and a variety of holiday programs. Paws to Read with Paws & Think sessions give readers of all ages the opportunity to read to a friendly dog in a relaxed and non-judgmental atmosphere. The Lego Mindstorm Team is another great outlet for the imaginative and technologically inclined. The Summer Reading Program encourages discovering the joy of reading and helps kids to keep up those important reading skill levels during the summer. The reading program is for all ages and abilities, giving children an opportunity to earn prizes by reading and listening to books. A new schedule of programs is released every season. For a complete schedule of events, visit our calendar.
Staff
Nancy – Children’s Services Manager
Leanne – Children’s Librarian
Kim – Children’s Librarian and Homeschool Liaison
Sara – Library Assistant
The Children’s Department also welcomes student volunteers to help during the Summer Reading Program which runs from June 1 – July 31. Volunteers between the ages of 11-18 may come into the library and fill out a Summer Reading Program Volunteer Application Form. New volunteers must attend one of the Volunteer Orientation Sessions before the reading program begins. (Download Summer Reading Program Youth Volunteer Application)
Children’s Resources
eIndiana Digital Consortium for Kids & Teens is a collection of downloadable eBooks and audiobooks just for kids. Browse by subjects, collections, or levels. Login with your WWPL library card number and password.
PebbleGo is an award winning pre-K to grade 3 database for reading and research. Our PebbleGo database includes built-in reading and research tools for emerging readers. Leveled text, educational games, and multimedia help teach concepts to young researchers. PebbleGo offers four separate databases: PebbleGo Animals and PebbleGo Science, PebbleGo Biographies and PebbleGo Social Studies. Databases are simple to navigate and offer key reading supports such as read-along audio and word-by-word highlighting.
To log in, use the username: westfieldpl and the password: library.
PebbleGo Next is the next step, and it is a database for researchers ready to graduate to more robust database content. PebbleGo Next covers content appropriate to grades 3-6, with curriculum content at a reading level geared to those students. Modules include States (grouped by regions), Science (Earth Science, Life Science, Physical Science, and The Field of Science), and American Indians (multiple categories).
To log in, use the username: westfieldpl and the password: library.
Resources for Successful Teaching at TheMailbox.com
