Summer Reading Program Overview

Summer reading is one of my favorite times! We have really great attendance for such a small library, mostly because our programs are AWESOME but also because we can hand out info to the kids while they are still in school in May, and talk to them about it to hype them up. It’s awesome!

Summer reading lasts 6 weeks, and usually spans from the first week of June to the second week of July. We let kids register for events before the first day of summer reading, but they have to visit the library to get their reading log and to check books out asap so they can begin the reading portion!

The library is closed the last full week of July for cleaning (since we are in a school, the rest of the building gets cleaned over the summer but we have programs all summer long so they can’t clean until that last week in July!). Usually there is a week between the “end” of summer reading and the week we are closed, and we always give prizes out that week anyway just to wrap up the summer (and hopefully have some more kids finish!)

We run our story time programs (Babes in Storyland, Story Hour and Mother Goose) the 4 weeks in June, but not in July.

We have two big events per week, one on Wednesday and the other on Friday.  So in June we have Babes in Storyland on Monday, Story Hour on Tuesday, an event Wednesday, Mother Goose on Thursday, and another event on Friday. It’s 4 weeks of programs every day! It’s a super busy time but it is a ton of fun!

We usually have 6 Wednesday and 6 Friday programs, for a total of 12 big events each summer. Usually, all but a couple of them are done in-house. We don’t have a huge budget for performers, so most summers we are only able to have 1 or 2 performers, and the rest of the programs are planned and put on my the three librarians!

Reading for 2 hours gets the kids a prize. There are 5 prizes per summer, so if they read for 10 hours, they get all 5 prizes! This last summer I implemented a “grand prize” drawing system. If the kids finished their 10 hours, they got all 5 prizes AND I put their name into a drawing for a grand prize. I was hoping it would encourage more kids to finish (and increase our stats) and it totally worked!! I was thrilled by the number of kids who finished the reading– almost double our numbers from 2018.

I am getting ready to make 1 BIG post about SRP 2019, but I wanted to outline things first so I could dive right in!

 

Additional Programs Overview

Additional programs are always different. This is kind of a catch-all term I have started using for any evening programs we have, but usually there is only 1 or 2 per semester.

These programs are usually bigger and *require* sign up. I would never ever turn anyone away, but we STRONGLY encourage sign up with these programs because usually it takes a lot of setup and prep work.

Families are encouraged to attend these programs as well, and usually they have things for kids of out whole age bracket, birth-12 years old.

Last fall, we did a Spook-tacular Halloween Party as our only additional program. It ran on a Tuesday night from 6-8 because those are our latest open hours. There were games, candy, and a costume contest. We had a ton of people come out!

In the Spring we showed a movie during Spring Break. It was during normal open hours, so it wasn’t an evening, but we had a good number of kids for that one too! I got a projector and screen, and we borrowed the popcorn machine from the main branch. I will definitely keep doing a program during Spring Break for all the kids who don’t go on vacation.

I actually have 3 additional programs scheduled for this fall! I will post about them as they happen!

Babes in Storyland Overview

The Babes in Storyland program is for babies, birth-2 years old and an adult who accompanies them. Honestly it’s usually moms but I have a few grandmas and a few people who babysit who bring their little ones too. It’s awesome!

This program is broken into sessions. Sessions are usually 5 or so weeks long on average, and we take a 2 week break in between.

This program is 30 minutes long, but after that there is time for them to do various sensory activities I set out, play with toys, and socialize with each other (that last one is for the babies AND the adults!).

I mostly do songs and fingerplays for this program. I will make a post with the songs and links and photos of the various puppets I use for reference, but I always start with a warm up song called “Wake Up Feet” which goes like this:

Wake Up Feet

Wake up feet, wake up feet,

Wake up feet and wiggle, wiggle, wiggle,

Wake up feet, wake up feet,

Wake up and wiggle in the morning.

Usually I also do hands and ears also but any body part would work!

I do the same thing every week. I have some favorites and the babies have some favorites and repetition is good for them at this age. We usually do 5 songs just with hand /body motions and then we get out either scarves or the egg shakers. Sometimes we have time to do both! After that, we all read a board book together. We have several sets of 15 board books, so each session I choose a different book. I pass them out and the adult holds the book and turns the pages while we all read it aloud together. Once I collect those again, I usually do two more songs and then we are finished!

After the program is over they usually stick around for awhile and hang out. Its fun for them and for the adults too!

After School Program Overview

Usually 2-3 times per month, the library has an after school program. They are usually on Thursdays because that’s best for our schedule. Since January of 2018, we have also added a program for kids during the PTO meetings, in hopes that more parents will attend if their children are being supervised and doing something fun and productive. Those programs are usually on another day of the week, decided on by the PTO officers/board.

The programs always run from 3-4, and students usually come down when they are dismissed from school. In the past, another librarian and I have run the programs just the two of us, but this fall so far the programs have been big enough that I need a third person to help! Its a fantastic problem to have!

The programs vary in content and reception, but usually they involve crafts/games/science projects. We try to do things that are hands on to maximize their experience!

Here are some quick snippets about programs we have done in the past:

Library Lab: several science projects were offered. Some were demonstrated by librarians and others the kids got to do themselves!

Maker-Days: stationed maker lab. We had our LEGO walls open, perler beads, keva planks to build with,  play dough circuits and more. Kids were able to drift from station to station and make with whatever they wanted!

Slime-time: We made slime in the library! We did this twice last spring and both times it was a crazy hit.

Silent Library: A play on the show from MTV, the kids were put on teams and assigned crazy challenges. If they laughed or talked, their team lost a point. Whoever had the most points at the end got a prize!

From now on, I will try to do actual posts for current programs with photos!

Sign up is usually a struggle with these programs. I send home a paper at the beginning of each semester with all the dates and programs and descriptions and ask that parents/guardians call me to sign their child up.  Sometimes that happens and sometimes it doesn’t. For example, the first Slime Time program we had last spring had 25 kids on the sign up list. I ended up with 58. Again, what an awesome challenge!!! But I was lucky I had enough materials for those kids since I wasn’t really planning on them. On the other hand, our T-Shirt Decorating Day last night had 20 kids on the sign up list, and those exact 20 kids came out for it, no more, no less. It all just depends! But by now I have learned to over buy a little in case I have extras. 🙂

After school program days are usually a whirlwind of prep and decisions but the kids usually have a great time and we love getting them into the library for such fun activities!

Story Hour Overview

My Story Hour program is for 4-5 year olds. It runs once a week for an hour, on the same day and time. Usually in a semester I can get 12 or so programs in, and 4 in the summer, for roughly 28 sessions per year. Usually I have between 8 and 12 kiddos at each program. This fall, my numbers are averaging a little higher, which is both a challenge and a delight!

The first thing we do when we go around to the story time area is a small interview about the “special day” person. Parents/guardians sign their child up to have their special day once per semester, and on that day they provide the snack, and the child gets to bring a special show and tell item. I ask them some “getting-to-know-you” questions and the whole group listens quietly, and then they get to show their show and tell item. At the very end of the program when we have snacks, the special day person gets to pick a prize out of the red treasure chest filled with goodies (mostly leftovers from past summer reading programs).

After the interview, we sing our opening song “Hand’s Go Up” to get the wiggles out. I do the same song every week so that they can learn it and are comfortable doing the motions. The song is as follows:

Hands go up, Hands go down (hands go up and down)

I can spin around and round (spin around twice)

I can jump up, On two shoes (jump twice on both feet)

I can listen, And so can you (hands to ears, point to person next to you)

I can sit, I’ll show you how (sit down)

Story time is starting now (no motion)

After the song, I begin my first story. Usually I read a story, sing a theme related song, read a story, sing a theme related song, and then read a final story. I try to make sure the song has a lot of movement, call and response, or some yelling so that the kids get some of their energy out before I read the next story.

Some themes are *really* hard to find a song with, and I have found that my particular group LOVES the Hokey Pokey. I probably did 6 or 7 different hokey pokeys last fall (Halloween, monster, dinosaur, dragon, snowman, camping food, etc) and I asked the kids what sorts of parts they wanted to “put in”. Some of their answers were hilarious. The camping food one was my favorite, where we “put in” food that you eat when you camp. We did hot dogs and marshmallows and hamburgers, all food you can cook over a fire. I asked for suggestions and one child said “chips”, so we put out chips in and took our chips out because it was SUCH a sweet suggestion.

Once we are finished with our third story, I give them a little bit of a rundown of the craft/activity. Sometimes it’s too hard to explain it all without them looking at it, but I at least tell them what we are going to do/make. Then, they are told to sit in front of a place mat and we do the craft/activity. Most times I do a craft, but sometimes we have a science project or a game instead.

After that, they are given a snack and are able to eat their snack before it’s time to go! Some parents stick around, but others use this time to run small errands and get caught up on things at home.

We usually have a blast!!