• Want to Take a Story Walk? Enjoy a picture book as you walk the grounds of the library. Each page of And Then It’s Spring by Julie Fogliano sits on a post (they are numbered) so you can read along with your child as you both get some exercise and fresh air. Rain or shine!

• Museum Passes Available: Did you know that with your library card you can check out passes to museums all over Massachusetts and Rhode Island that will give you free or discounted admission? The library also has passes for discounted Paw Sox tickets, zoos, state parks, aquariums and more. The list of passes is available on the library’s website, www.mattapoisettlibrary.org. You can also reserve the passes online with your library card. There is currently a display about the pass program in the reading room. Please call the circulation desk if you need assistance reserving a pass at 508-758-4171.

• Free Videos: Library videocassettes are looking for new homes that have VCRs so they can still be enjoyed. Stop in and help yourself to the selection on the main floor near the Friends’ Used Book Sale shelves.

• Ereader Assistance Available: Still need help downloading ebooks and audiobooks from the library catalogue? Librarian Liz Sherry offers two free workshops each week to help patrons manage their ereaders, no matter what type they own. Stop in on Tuesday evenings at 6:30 pm or Fridays at 3:00 pm. These times don’t work? Give her a call and make an appointment to get assistance. If you don’t have an ereader, but you are curious about them, the library has several that you can try during the workshop.

While the children are enjoying working in the classrooms, parents will be given a tour of our beautiful building led by a former Sippican kindergarten parent or teacher. All parents that have completed all registration and office paperwork prior to May 17 should call the school at 508-748-0100 between 10:00 am and 2:00 pm to sign up for a slot.

Parents who were unable to attend the Kindergarten registration may sign up for a spot when they complete the paperwork at the school office on or before May 17. The Kindergarten Staff want to make sure that all of the 2013-14 Kindergarten Families learn about this exciting visit. These three days will be the only opportunity to visit the kindergarten classrooms prior to the school’s Sippican Open House on August 26 and Kindergarten Orientation Day on August 27.

The Sippican community looks forward to welcoming next year’s children and parents to kindergarten in May!

If your child or grandchild loves to explore the outdoors and get a little dirty in the process, then “River X” camp is the perfect opportunity! Campers will learn how to catch blue crabs, net fish, identify plants, and wrangle toads at Camp Massasoit and at the Y’s Rochester property at Snipatuit Pond. In addition to swimming and boating, campers will participate in traditional camp activities at Camp Massasoit throughout the week.

River Exploration Camp is offered to nine- to 12-year-old girls and boys during two one-week sessions: July 22-26 (Session E) and July 29-August 2 (Session F). The cost is $238 per week for Coalition and YMCA Southcoast members, $264 per week for non-members.

River Exploration Camp is just one of the ways the Coalition and YMCA Southcoast are partnering to get kids exploring the Bay and watershed this summer. As part of a grant from the Environmental Protection Agency, the Coalition will provide Bay stewardship programs for campers at Camp Massasoit in Mattapoisett and Camp Frederick Douglass in New Bedford. Campers of all ages will engage in hands-on, exploratory activities designed to connect them to their Bay. This partnership allows the Coalition to further its mission of helping people discover Buzzards Bay while providing new opportunities for the Y’s summer camp programming.

YMCA Southcoast has been a leading provider of quality day camp programs for more than 50 years. Camp Massasoit and Camp Frederick Douglass collectively serve hundreds of local children, ranging from ages five to 14. This summer, the Buzzards Bay Coalition will put a Bay stewardship focus on camp activities. Children at Camp Frederick Douglass will help to clean up New Bedford by learning about recycling, conducting litter cleanups, and exploring some creatures that call New Bedford harbor their home. At Camp Massasoit, campers will muck around in the salt marsh, explore the intertidal zone, and discover the diversity of plant life at camp. All activities are designed to tap into campers’ natural curiosity and desire to explore. They will form a bond with the natural environment that will last a lifetime.

Through River Exploration Camp and other YMCA Southcoast summer camps, your children will form lasting relationships with their peers and the local environment. To register for a camp, visit www.ymcasouthcoast.org. For more information about the Coalition’s summer camp programs, visit www.savebuzzardsbay.org/camps.

Designed for children Pre-K through Grade 2, Change the World Before Bedtime explores how the little things in life – a smile, a kind word, a simple deed – can help change the world in a big way, showing readers that even an ordinary kid can be a superhero before bedtime! In addition to reading the book with the children and having a conversation about the many ways young people can make the world a better place, Chalmers will bring a hands-on art activity. Kids can make “How I’d Change the World” banners, posters, flags and signs using construction paper, craft elements, recycled materials, and lots of imagination.

This event will take place at the Marion Music Hall at 164 Front Street (ample parking is available across the street at Island Wharf) and is free to the public. No reservations are required.

Later in May, the public is cordially invited to attend a special lecture presentation, “Frances Perkins: First Female Cabinet Secretary,” co-sponsored by the Sippican Historical Society and Elizabeth Taber Library. To be held on May 24 at the Marion Music Hall at 7:00 pm, the presentation will feature a lecture by David Prentiss, Adjunct Professor of Political Science for UMass-Dartmouth and President/CEO of the New Bedford Symphony. Mr. Prentiss received a B.A. in Philosophy at Assumption College, a J.D. from New England School of Law and the Thomas P. O’Neill Fellowship for graduate studies in political science at Boston College. A popular speaker, he has given talks on Abraham Lincoln and other presidential leadership topics at the New Bedford Civil War Roundtable, the Lincoln Study Group of Boston, the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, and the Zeiterion Performing Arts Center. Prentiss is currently writing a book on presidential leadership and the nature of democratic politics.

The Marion Music Hall is located at 164 Front Street. Ample parking is available across the street at Island Wharf. The presentation will be offered free of charge, though donations are gratefully accepted. No reservations are necessary. Light refreshments will be provided. For more information, please call the SHS at 508-748-1116.

The weather threatened to rain on the festival the entire day, but that didn’t dampen the spirits of the students who poured everything they had into their performances.

Great East Music Festivals are hosted at various venues this time of the year offering an opportunity for musical performances in an educational atmosphere. Although the festival does not foster competition, it does score the students on their performances and awards prizes to the highest. The festival also includes mini-clinics that aim at providing the students with constructive information on improving their group dynamic in music performance.

After the close of the festival, the students enjoyed an afternoon at Six Flags.

“They earned and deserved it after all their hard work,” Vaughn said. “We did it!”

The students sold candy bars during the winter months to help pay for the expenses associated with the trip and Six Flags.

By Marilou Newell

The speaker for the evening will be Sally Hunsdorfer of Marion, telling us about her work with the children of Nepal. Sally would welcome any used/outgrown fleece clothing anyone would care to donate, which she will take with her on her annual spring trip to Nepal.

Dessert and coffee will be served by the committee following the program and everyone will have a chance to talk with Sally. Please feel free to join us – all are welcome.

The program will take place at the Mattapoisett River Reserve, a nearly 400-acre nature preserve with a tremendous variety of freshwater wetlands, including swamps, marshes, rivers and a cranberry bog.

“Wetlands are historically misunderstood and underappreciated, largely because people have never had a chance to explore them,” said Rob Hancock, Vice-President of Education and Public Engagement with the Buzzards Bay Coalition. “In this program, we’ll put on waders and boots, grab nets, and get down and dirty exploring wetland ecology and life.”

The Bay Adventure, which will run from 9:00 to 11:00 am, is free for Coalition members and $10 for non-members. Reservations are required and can be made by contacting Rob Hancock at 508-999-6363, ext. 222 or hancock@savebuzzardsbay.org. Don’t Fear the Swamp! is part of the Coalition’s Bay Adventures series: programs designed for explorers of all ages to get outside and discover Buzzards Bay. Visit www.savebuzzardsbay.org/bayadventures for more information.

Return to the shoreline of the past on May 26 at 5:00 pm at the Gazebo in Shipyard Park with Seth Mendell, a Mattapoisett resident and current President of Mattapoisett Historical Society. Seth jumped into this topic 45 years ago when he wrote his Master’s Thesis and created his own salt evaporator. Join us as he shares his expertise on a unique and fascinating aspect of Massachusetts’ history. Program is free; donations welcome. (In case of rain, meet at the Mattapoisett Museum and Carriage House, 5 Church Street.) For more information, call 508-758-2844 or email mattapoisett.museum@verizon.net.

Meanwhile, September 21 marks the 75th Anniversary of the Hurricane of 1938. The Mattapoisett Historical Society, in conjunction with Colin Everett and students at the Old Rochester Regional High School, is looking for volunteers who experienced this natural disaster to participate in an intergenerational oral history project and share their memories of that day with our high school students. The project will culminate in an exhibit at the Mattapoisett Historical Society, interviews archived at the Mattapoisett Historical Society, and educational materials to be used in the Tri-Town schools. For more information, or to volunteer to share your story over a few hours this summer, please contact Elizabeth Hutchison, Curator for the Mattapoisett Historical Society at 508-758-2844 or mattapoisett.museum@verizon.net.