Thursday, June 29, 2017

Planning for the Future- Ironton

If you weren’t able to make it to the Ironton Planning for the Future event, you missed out on some great information.  I wrote down some of the ways each panel member can help teens and young adults with their college and career prep and wanted to share it with you:
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       Vickey Bonney- Missouri Job Center
o   Free resource
o   Career assessments
o   Workshops on how to fill out online applications effectively
o   Resume writing workshops
o   Presentations on how to use social media responsibly
-       
            Alison Sheets- Mineral Area College
o   Helps with planning for financial success
o   Resource: missouriconnections.org
o   She is a free resource for adults and teens
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       Denae Gitonga- University of Missouri Extension
o   Offers services at a free or very reduced rate
o   Helps with developing small businesses
o   Helps with leadership skills and how to become a leader in your community
-         
       Ashley Bales- University of Missouri Extension
o   Adult and Youth Education on Family Financials
o   Helps educate about car loans, credit, college debt
o   Prepares taxes
o   Helps with health insurance and Medicare
-          
        Nicole Thomas- Arcadia Valley High School
o   College/career counselor and school counselor
o   Gives resources and connects you with colleges or career centers
o   Can offer a very helpful college preparation timeline
-          
        Chris Wigger- First State Community Bank
o   Bank offers student checking accounts
o   It’s never too early to start saving with a savings account
o   Community Strength is incredibly important to build
o   Currently has a position open for a part time teller (as of 6/29/17- this may change): Check online for current job opportunities


If anyone would like to discuss any of this further, please contact me at the library via email or phone.

Monday, June 26, 2017

Grow a Reader!

Last week's Summer Reading Program theme was Grow a Reader!  In Ironton, we went to the Community Garden and learned what different plants look like.  At the other branches, we read The Watermelon Seed and Growing Vegetable Soup.  Then, we played Garden Bingo and decorated watering can flower pots.  After our pots were decorated, we filled them with soil and planted Zinnia seeds.  The kids had a blast with this and thankfully, none of them got too messy!

Fredericktown Garden Bingo

Fredericktown Garden Bingo

Decorating her flower pot

Friday, June 16, 2017

Structure Building!

The teen event this week was Structure Building!  They were tasked with three objectives: to make the strongest structure, the tallest structure, and the most creative structure.  The tricky part was that they were only given 20 spaghetti noodles, 10 marshmallows, 1 yard of string, and 2 ft of tape to make their structures.  We have some awesome teens and they walked away with some cool prizes. In Ironton, we even had some staff members and a parent join in on the fun!  You won't want to miss the next teen event: Build a Better Meal Challenge!

Steelville Competition

Bourbon Competition

Cuba Competition

She won a Pool Pass to the Cuba Pool!

Fredericktown Competition

John Jones, Tech Services, trying to build the tallest structure

Ironton Competition

We even let a parent join in!

Connie Reed, Administrative Assistant, trying to make the strongest structure

Construction Time!

We have had a blast this week during the Summer Reading Program.  We focused on building and construction this week.  The kids had an opportunity to make construction scenes with stickers, 3-D paper buildings, and their very own miniature tool boxes.  We tried painting the boxes at Ironton, but that got a little messy so for the rest of the week, we decorated the tool boxes with markers and stickers.  The kids seemed to really have fun with this! We also had materials that they could build with like legos, foam blocks, magna-tiles, K'nex kits, 3-D puzzles, and more! Check out some of the pics below:




Monday, June 12, 2017

2017 Summer Reading Opening Party!

We had a blast during the Opening Week of the 2017 Summer Reading Program!  We made Earth Mobiles, played with Legos and K’nex sets, sang and danced with Dino O’Dell, and signed up for the Summer Reading Club.  We also talked about different things that help make this world a better place.  Some of the things the kids said are: recycling, picking up trash, growing food, robots, and doing dishes.  Tune in next week to find out how our Construction Time programs go!