This summer at the Fayetteville Free Library in Fayetteville, NY we piloted our first ever week long summer camp during Summer Reading. The Fayetteville Free Library Geek Girl Camp is a camp for girls in grades 3 through 5 introducing them to hands on STEM skills and to female role models. Months of work went into planning this camp fulfilling a need in our greater community. According to the Girl Scout Research Institute, “Research shows that girls start losing interest in math and science during middle school. Girls are typically more interested in careers where they can help others (e.g., teaching, child care, working with animals) and make the world a better place. Recent surveys have shown that girls and young women are much less interested than boys and young men in math and science.”[1] We had 44 girls attend the FFL Geek Girl Camp from all over the greater…
Tag: Summer Reading Club
Meeting with lions
I’m changing Summer Reading this year. When I was in Chicago for ALA last summer I saw their Summer of Learning and was duly impressed. I am going to try something similar this summer, using STREAM – Science, Technology, Reading, Experience, Arts, and Math. The Common Core is not a Thing here in Canada (yet) but I love the idea of experience-based Summer Reading Program. Yes, Reading is still a big part of it, the main focus even, but I wanted to offer some experiences rather than Pieces of Plastic as incentives. So I contacted the local zoo. Oaklawn Farm Zoo is small and owned by a couple that are known in our area as generous and kind folks. I had a meeting in their farm house to talk about offering 2 Library Days this summer– 18 and under get in free if they show their library card (and can…
Rest for the Weary
Those of us in youth services have a deep desire to reach as many children and their families as possible. We know the real impact this can make, so we increase our programs, volunteer to serve as the YS representative on a larger committee, and add staff to work our reference desks to provide better service. This willingness to go the extra mile is laudable, but it’s not just a nicety but also a necessity that we give ourselves a break after our busy summer reading club. This allows us to evaluate our work, think of some creative program plans, and prevents the legitimate issue of staff burn-out. How can we ensure we have this time before the school bell rings to begin another academic year? For some of us, this could mean a well-deserved vacation. For the rest of us not able to take time off this month, we can make…
My Summer Reading Club Resolutions
Why should resolutions only be made at the beginning of the new year? The ball doesn’t need to drop in Times Square for us to make some changes in how we approach our work. I’ve decided to make some resolutions before our summer reading club begins. I hope at the end of this busy, exciting, and exhausting summer, I can confidently say I made progress on how I approach this special time of year. What goals do I have to enhance my summer reading mindset? Embrace the Need for Crowd Control – Though summer is a wonderful time to bring in people to our library, as a smaller branch facility, we often have to deal with the wonderful problem of having more patrons than our building can support. If we expect a certain number of participants for a program and two day care buses pull up to our front doors…
Kick-off or Race Straight into Summer Reading Club?
As we inch closer and closer to those hot summer days, I’m sure many of us around the country are gearing up for months of intense crowds and extensive programming. At our eight branches of the Cumberland County Public Library & Information Center in Fayetteville, NC, we prepare for eight weeks of story times and special programming, and of course, our annual Summer Reading Club. In previous years, we’ve organized a Summer Reading Club kick-off program for our participants, highlighting a professional programmer outside of our library system; many years we’ve featured a musician or magician to relate to our theme. Due to the content, some of these programs have been geared for children already in elementary school; many have been advertised as appropriate for all-ages. This year, however, we’re making some changes. Instead of focusing on a kick-off event to celebrate our festivities this summer, we are turning toward more…