Elgin Public Library

June has been a busy month so far. On June 1st we started Story time with the 3 & 4 year olds in one group and the 5 & 6 year olds in another group. Story time started with “Dinosaur Day” by Diana Murray. Taking a quick break from story time, the children came by the droves to the Petting Zoo hosted by the Way Out West 4-H Club on Tuesday June 2. They also kept Doris the balloon lady busy making balloon animals. Back to story time on June 8. Other than dinosaurs, the children learned that wooly mammoths also lived thousands of years ago. We read the story “Samson In the Snow” which focused on friendship and kindness. On Wednesday, June 10th the children learned of a new kind of dinosaur. This particular one really like pizza and who would guess, his name was “Pizzasaurus” by Tammi Sauer. What would story time be without crafts. So far the children have gone home with a dinosaur headband, a wooly mammoth and a pizza that they created for their favorite dinosaur.

On Thursday, May 7th, Elgin Public Library hosted Dinosaur Dimensions at Elgin Public gym. Preschool through 3rd grades from Elgin Public and Pope John schools were invited to help kick off the Summer Reading program. They learned that some dinosaurs are carnivores, omnivores and some are herbivores. The highlight of the program was when they got to meet the “real” dinosaurs: Velociraptor, Pteranodon, Stegosaurus and of course, a baby T-Rex. It was quite exciting to get to meet the dinosaurs up close and personal. A “big” thank you to Curt Strutz from Strutz Entertainment for the fun and exciting program!

Summer Reading begins Monday, June 1 and runs through Monday, June 29th.

Young children ages 3 and 4 are invited to story time on Monday and Wednesday mornings from 9:30 to 10:15. A second story time will follow for ages 5 & 6 beginning at 10:30 until 11:15. Children who have completed grades 1 – 5 are invited to come on Thursday afternoons at 1:00 for Activity time. It will last about 1 hour and will start on Thursday, June 4 and will end on June 25.

We will also be having our Summer Reading Challenge. Anyone interested in participating may stop by the library the week of May 26th through June 1st and get their Reading log.

To sign up for story time, activity time and/or the reading challenge please go to our Facebook page, stop by the library and register in person, or give us a call at 402-843-2460.

Books for April are at the library. You will be reading Mother-Daughter Murder Night by Nina Simon. Stop by and pick up your copy.

On Tuesday, March 24, we visited the 3rd grade rooms at Pope John and Elgin Public Schools. We started with a breakout activity where students needed to work together in teams to solve the four different activities given to them. Each activity needed to be complete before starting the next one. When all activities were done, they received a key to open the breakout box. The final activity happened to be some “donut” riddles and when they opened their boxes what did they find – donuts of course! After the activity, they ate their donuts while listening to the story Don’t Be Afraid to Drop by Julia Cook. The story follows the adventures of a little raindrop who was afraid to leave his cloud. With the encouragement of his dad, little raindrop finally got the courage to breakout of his comfort zone and “expand his horizons.” We can all learn a lesson from little boy raindrop, in that we should not be afraid of change and that each of us has within us a valuable gift to share with the world.

Twenty-six busy minds and busy hands worked together at the March 16 Lego League to come up with the following creations. Enjoy the slide show!

The book for this month is at the library. Stop by and pick up your copy. You will be reading One for the Money by Janet Evanovich.

The first Maker Monday at the Elgin Public Library was a huge success! Twenty-two Kindergarten through fifth graders enjoyed board games, crafts, corn hole, play-doh, Nex Playground, Straws Building set and Magna Tiles. More fun to come on March 23!

Starting Monday, February 23, Elgin Public Library will be hosting Maker Monday, a time for children in grades Kindergarten through 5th to experience some new and different things the library has to offer. Kids can choose to play board games, put puzzles together, make a craft or play with other things hidden in the “Closet of Fun”. We hope to continue offering Maker Monday on the Monday after Lego League.

On January 20th and 21st we visited the second grade rooms at Elgin Public and Pope John. We read the story The Snowflake’s Wish by Denise Abdale. It is about a little snowflake who has a very special wish. Come check out this book to find out what that special wish is.