If you have a garden and a library you have everything you need.
CiceroDia de los Niños/Dia de los Libros was started by a New Mexico librarian and author Pat Mora and is now celebrated across the country. El día de los niños/El día de los libros (Children's Day/Book Day), is a celebration every day of children, families, and reading that culminates yearly on April 30. The celebration emphasizes the importance of advocating literacy for children of all linguistic and cultural backgrounds.
YOUR college library sees the importance of recognizing Dia de los Niños/Dia de los Libros and strives each year to create an event around the concept with different populations in the Taos area. In the past, we have collaborated with the UNM-Taos International Studies program and combined International Children’s Day with our Dia program. In this event we brought local 2nd grade classes to the college library where they worked with Lydia Garcia, a local santera and also, created their personal stories by painting a mural together which later was displayed in their school. This exercise turned out to be enlightening for all, and emotionally powerful.
YOUR college library has done everything from sharing stories between Taos Pueblo Day School and Enos Garcia Middle School using Skype, to collaborating with the UNM-Taos Theatre class to put on an interactive performance with a local 4th grade class.
This year we combined the 7th grade class at the private COOP school with the Toddler, Pre-school, and Pre-K students at the UNM-Taos Kid’s Campus to share stories about gardens, and growing our own food and flowers. The COOP students wrote and illustrated their own bilingual stories to share with the younger students, and YOUR college library staff provided hands-on activities to show how plants are grown as well as sharing some classic stories such as Eric Carle’s “The Tiny Seed”. Everyone got to plant, get their hands in the dirt, and share stories. One 4-year-old shared with us that “my grandpa is strong, and he grows corn”.
Our hope is that this summer more of us will share stories with our friends, families, and community. Or, pick out a book from YOUR college library, or any of the several public libraries from Questa to Talpa, and share it with someone in the hospital or at the Taos Living Center or maybe just your neighbor who is home alone.
And our dream is that more of us will get our hands in the dirt to grow anything from marigolds to zucchini. We are planting the seeds…plantamos las semillas…so we can all reap the rewards through beauty in the flowers, nutrition in the fruits and vegetables, and the stories we share.
Again, the bimonthly newsletter from YOUR college library is to keep you informed of events as well as the resources that are available. Please note the new acquisitions of children’s materials as not only does YOUR college library serve all members of the community, we also have a 5-star rated Early Childhood Multicultural Education program on campus.
Keep in mind YOUR college library will be open all summer. We look forward to seeing you.
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