Our 2018 Summer Reading Program

Hello, all! Happy August! We’re already over halfway through the year. Before you know it, it’ll be time for our annual Halloween party, then Thanksgiving and Christmas, and then a new year! Can you believe it?!

I’m here to talk to you about what we’ve been doing for all of July. First, I want to give a tremendous thank you to my library board ladies (pictured above) for everything they have done and for all of their support. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without them. They are always so willing to help and constantly let me know that I’m doing a good job. Thank you guys, so much!

This summer’s program theme was ‘Libraries Rock!’ and all about music! At our first program, we made our own instruments: guitars, drums, maracas, bell bracelets, and rainsticks, out of ordinary household items like Kleenex boxes, paper towel tubes, plastic eggs and spoons, etc. We read ‘Ada’s Violin: the Story of the Recycled Orchestra of Paraguay’ by Susan Hood, and ‘The Story Orchestra: Four Seasons In One Day’, which featured music clips from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. We learned that the Recycled Orchestra was a true story, and that they toured with Metallica, and we also learned that music can make you think of different types of weather. And that you can make music with just about anything you can get your hands on.

At our second program, I decided to take the ‘rock’ in the program theme literally, and we decided to paint kindness rocks. The kids had fun with the paint and chose sweet and kind messages to be written on them once they dried. This librarian learned the hard way that Sharpie runs no matter how long it sits, and that she will be getting a paint pen the next time we do something like this. We read ‘Pinduli’ by Janell Cannon (the author of Stellaluna), and ‘Each Kindness’ by Jacqueline Woodson, and learned about how what we say can affect other people for their whole lives. So we might as well make sure that we say only good things while we can, right? We learned that you can make a person’s whole day better with a kind word, or worse with a mean one. I hope that this lesson sticks with the kids for a long time.

At our third program, Emily Franzluebbers from the Dodge County Extension Office came and did a few programs on sound. She gave the kids kazoos and showed them how they can affect the noise they make, and how to quiet or amplify it. They also made tambourines out of paper plates and stuff like beans, beads, seeds, etc. They learned that different things make different sounds, and that it can be hard to guess what made the sound sometimes. She read ‘Never Play Music Right Next to the Zoo’ by John Lithgow, and ‘Acoustic Rooster and His Barnyard Band’ by Kwame Alexander.

Our fourth and final program was Pete the Cat Day! We read ‘Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes,’ ‘Pete the Cat: Rockin’ in My School Shoes,’ and ‘Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons,’ all by James Dean and Eric Litwin. We colored and decorated coloring pages of Pete’s Shoes and Pete himself with a guitar, and then we learned Pete’s dance and played Limbo! We learned how to make rhythm and music to go along with everyday activities, and not to sweat the small stuff.

The night of the last program was our end of program pizza party! We ate and had some fun before handing out awards. Everyone got the ‘Most Enthusiastic’ award, because my board and I couldn’t choose just one kid, since everybody was always so happy to be at the programs. Tate Kreikemeier won ‘Most Courteous,’ Miah Throener won ‘Best Sharer,’ and Henry Diekemper won ‘All Ears.’ The runner-up for top reader in K-3rd Grade was Allyanna Besmer, and the top reader was Edyn Besmer. The runner-up for top reader for 4th Grade and Up was Olivia Throener, and the top reader was Isabel Belina. All five kids won Dodge County Fair All-Day Ride Passes, a book, and a prize. All of the participants got a Subway Kids Meal Coupon and a Pete the Cat Rockin’ Reader certificate, along with a program completion certificate and an exceeds expectations one if they read above and beyond the requirements of the Summer Reading Program. We had 20 program participants total, which was way more than we thought we were going to have! I hope they can all come again next year!

Pictured is Suzanne Larsen, Lisa Haas, Sarah Besmer, Connor Kreikemeier, Erinmarie Kreikemeier, DesiRae Svehla, and Jorja Larsen

We had a bunch of eager volunteers this year, and they helped us so much. I hope they can help us again in the future! Each of the volunteers got a 2-liter of pop, a Snyder Public Library drawstring bag, and a Subway coupon. Our volunteers this year were: Jorja Larsen, Connor Kreikemeier, DesiRae Svehla, Stephana Svehla, Courtney Tower, Neveah Jurisch, Sarah Besmer, Lisa Haas, Suzanne Larsen, Shayla Risch, and Erinmarie Kreikemeier.

All in all, we had an amazing program this summer. Thank you to everyone who donated, everyone who helped, and everyone who participated. We wouldn’t have been able to do any of this without you all. Thank you so much! And I hope we have just as much fun and support next year!