Summer Reading Programs -2009

[Melissa Newland]

What perfomers will you be using for 2009?? Any new ideas??

[K. Swick]

I'm not sure what performers we're using, but we do other programs aside from those. We do movies every Tuesday for the Elementary kids, and try to tie in the movies with the theme. We also have Thursday 'Crafternoons' for the Elementary program, and most of the ideas we get for the crafts are from the handbook that we got a couple months ago.

For the Preschoolers, our Read-to-Me program, we still have our story times every Thursday, but we tell those parents that they are welcomed to bring their child to any of the Elementary programming, if they think their child can handle it.

Whether or not these are new ideas or not...well, probably not, but they've worked for us. Our biggest problem is the teens; we've tried weekly movies for them in the past, but if we get any in it's usually only a few; rarely more than five. We know that there are a good number of teens using the library, but getting them to come to the programs is another thing.

[Melissa Newland]

Thanks for the advice. I will definitely try to show a movie and tie it into a theme. We do crafts right after storyhour for the small children and we have science experiments for the older kids. This works well, but this year we have lost many of our volunteers. (Due to health problems) Most of our volunteers are elderly.

I am trying to get the teens more involved in the library. I only have two dedicated teens at this time who are absolutely wonderful. I am going to go to the high school and see about getting them to join our Teen Board. This has been difficult because they usually have several activites during the days that we need them. (Basketball, Baseball, Cheerleading, Football, etc) I do have a few Teen volunteers in the summer and they like to help with the children. If you think of anything else that might work please let me know. I will do the same.

[K. Swick]

Movie turn outs vary from week to week; we have two showings a day, one at 2:30 and one at 6:00 or 6:15, depending on what the final decision for showtimes is. Same movie; the afternoon showing always gets more kids than the evening, but some evening shows to get turn-outs. We have crafts for the preschoolers, too, after the weekly storytimes, so the crafts for the elementary kids are usually a little more involved.

We have one steady volunteer who helps in the summer, who is a big help. We do enjoy getting volunteers, but finding one who actually is a help is another story.

[K. Swick]

By the way, here's a link to some summer movie ideas. They haven't come out with one for 2009 yet, but this list comes in real handy.

http://www.librarypalooza.net/movies.html

[Lisa Millhouse]

Our performers are Lynn Ford a storyteller; Ellen Ford musical sound instruments made from household marterials; Ronald McDonald; Marc Harshman a local author; a Local Science Teacher who is going to teach the children creative drawing;

Other ideas: Worm Race-children bring in a worm and race them on "race tracks";

Teen Summer Reading hosted by the Martins Ferry Public Library Teen Book Club: Here are a few ideas from my teen book club-Costume Bananza (the teens will dress up as their favorite book character and then they will give a book review as that character; a variety show; Poetry Slam with a "Chocolate Bar" everything food and drinks are chocolate and the teens will make up poetry to read on our stage. A local English Teacher will guide the children; Finally, an International Cuisine Fair-the teens will come up with creative foods from a different countries. They will then design a menu/advertisment about their international dish.

[Melissa Newland]

Thanks for the info!

[K. Swick]

I still don't know entirely what we're doing for the teens this summer. My supervisor is still debating on showing movies for them, since we've had a low turnout for those. I've got a list of movies we could show to teens ready, though, just in case. I like the cuisine fair idea, though. Of course, I'm a baker and a cook, so I'm always interested in those things. Thanks for the ideas!

[Lisa Millhouse]

I think the problem with showing movies is that we can only use the movies that we have a liscense. Most of the times the teens want popular and current movies. Following the liscense makes it hard to generate interest in a movie. I am thinking about have my teen book club to look over the movies offered and then have them pick a movie. That way I know the teens have picked something they like. Also, I am thinking about starting a movie night in the fall.

[Lynnette Hopwood]

We use performers from "Class Act." We will have jugglers, reptile shows, East Indian dance group, BMX bike tricks, etc. Our programs are very well attended.