End of Fall Storytime!

Everyone had a blast last week at our last story time of the fall! We voted on our favorite Building Block Award Nominee, and Naked! won by a landslide! The votes were tallied and submitted to the Award Council to compile and the state-wide results will be in after New Years! 

During our last storytime, we picked a few books to read from the nominee list and then played balloon ping-pong! The kids had a great time and since it was rainy for part of the week, they got to get those wiggles out! 

Wild About Animals- Fall 2014 Story Time Is Around the Corner!

Take a trip to the zoo this fall with Ozark Regional Library!  Our theme this season is Wild About Animals, and each week, Miss Pat and I will be visiting Ozark Regional's eight library branches with a box full of supplies- hello to eight weeks of stories, music, games, activity tables, and craft projects! 

Story Time begins THIS MONDAY, the week of September 8th.  You can find a complete story time schedule in the left-hand column of this blog or at the library's website under the "Programs and Events" tab.  If you're more of a paper person, you can also stop by your local library in person to pick up a colorful, printed calendar of events.

Stay tuned for info and pictures from our first week of fall story time; we hope to see YOU there!

Keep reading!

Shaen

Picture Book Picks

Looking for a good book?

Book cover images and summaries from Goodreads.

Creepy Carrots! by Aaron Reynolds- The Twilight Zone comes to the carrot patch in this clever picture book parable about a rabbit who fears his favorite treats are out to get him.

I Need My Own Country! by Rick Walton- When in the course of childhood events, it becomes necessary for one (small) person to create a separate and equal hiding spot to which the laws of growing up entitle them, the truth will be self-evident: they should declare their very own country!

Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson- Chloe and her friends won't play with the new girl, Maya. Maya is different--she wears hand-me-downs and plays with old-fashioned toys. Every time Maya tries to join Chloe and her gang, they reject her. Eventually, Maya plays alone, and then stops coming to school altogether. When Chloe's teacher gives a lesson about how even small acts of kindness can change the world, Chloe is stung by the lost opportunity for friendship, and thinks about how much better it could have been if she'd shown a little kindness toward Maya.

Keep reading!

Shaen

Board Book Picks

Looking for a good book?

Book cover images and summaries from Goodreads.

Very First Words by Felicity Brooks- Very First Words is a bright and lively picture word book for the very young, with over 100 objects to spot and name.

Orange, Triangle, Fox by Sarah Jones-  Common animals, such as red square owl and yellow star frog, teach young readers multiple, basic concepts at once in this educational concept book. An ideal read for bedtime or story time, this book’s rich watercolor illustrations and delightful animals will engage children and become a family favorite.

Baby Loves Shapes ill. by Dave Aikins- Baby Loves Shapes is a simple board book designed for babies 3 months or older all about shapes!

Keep reading!

Shaen

Fall 2014 Story Time: Wild About Animals!

Our bulletin board at Ironton, courtesy of Miss Pat's artistic efforts!

Fall 2014 Story Time is almost here!  Beginning Monday, September 8th, Pat and I will be visiting Ozark Regional's eight library branches with a box full of supplies- hello to eight weeks of stories, music, games, activity tables, and craft projects!  Some things to look forward to: searching for honey like bears in week 1, reading about lions in week 4, and making thumbprint giraffes in week 8!

You can find a complete story time schedule in the left-hand column of this blog or at the library's website under the "Programs and Events" tab.  If you're more of a paper person, you can also stop by your local library in person to pick up a colorful, printed calendar of events.

Take a trip to the zoo with Ozark Regional Library this fall, and stop by one of our locations for story time!

Keep reading!

Shaen

July Contest Winners for Ironton Headquarters

Congratulations to all of the kids and teens who participated in our July Contest Month!  For the Ironton Headquarters, winners were as follows:

Coloring Contest (age 3-6 category):
1st place- Braeden Oberle
2nd place- Braelyn Turnbough
3rd place- Knox Beard
Honorable Mention- Connor Oberle

"My Favorite Book" Contest (age 7-14 category):
1st place- Chelsie Rice
2nd place- Hanna Rice

Branch winners will be announced next week.

Keep reading!

Shaen

Ironton Back to School Fair

What a great time Miss Pat and I had at today's Back to School Fair at Ironton!  Over the course of about four hours, we registered 47 new library cards!  Check out a sampling of pictures below!

We had a selection of giveaway books for participating families.

The event brought in a steady stream of activity.

Miss Pat and Miss Shaen getting ready for the next round of kiddos!

Registering patrons for new library cards.

Registering patrons for new library cards.

Keep reading!

Shaen

Closing Party (Use Your Senses, Scientist!)

Check out all the fun pictures from Monday's Closing Party!  Our fledgling scientists conducted experiments on the five senses: sight, smell, touch, taste, and hearing.

In this hearing game, one kid (in the center of the circle) was dubbed "the listener".  He had to close his eyes and then identify which friend in the circle was clapping.  After he identified a few, he had to repeat the experiment with one ear covered.  Without the use of both ears to hear, it was much tougher to identify the direction the clapping was coming from.  We learned that our ears work in tandem.

Holding our nose while tasting dried fruit to see how how sense of taste and smell work together (or in this case, don't work together!) to create what we call "flavor".

Crafting paper thaumatropes.

Crafting paper thaumatropes.

The thaumatropes feature a bird on one disc and a birdcage on the opposite.  When we spin the discs, our eyes are tricked into seeing an optical illusion: the bird is suddenly in the cage!

We practicing throwing and catching with our eyes open, and then with one eye closed.  Guess what?  Our depth perception was affected and we missed more tosses with one eye shut!

Kids tried to identity objects in the drawstring bag by touch only and no visual.

Keep reading!

Shaen

Story Time #3- The Science of Nature

This week's story time session focused on nature!  We learned all about interesting and unusual animals of the ocean, jungle, and forest; played a jumping click beetle game; and wove paper plate spider webs for our craft. 

A few book selections for the week.

Jumping clothespin "click beetles".  The clothespins make the same clicking noise and somersault motion that the beetles do!

More click beetles!

Working on weaving.

Craft at Cuba.

Craft at Ste. Genevieve.

Finished spider webs (and teensy plastic spiders!) at Ironton.

We finished up our Ironton session with puzzle fun!

Keep reading!

Shaen

Story Time #2- The Science of Art

This week's story time session focused on art!  We read books about color, shape, and perspective; went color bowling for our game; and drew pictures on story cubes for our craft. 

Even the littlest story timers can get strikes in kid-friendly color bowling!

C'mon... c'mon...

Working on story cubes at Fredericktown.

At Steelville.

At Bourbon.

At Viburnum.

Keep reading!

Shaen

Dino O'Dell

As usual, children's musician, Dino O'Dell, put on a great show at our Ste. Genevieve, Ironton, Cuba, and Steelville branches over the past couple of days!  At some of the smaller shows, the kids even got to try out Dino's guitar!

Dino's stickered-out guitar case!

Music in the making.

Don't forget!  TOMORROW is our Teen Event focused on everyone's favorite Time Lord, Dr. Who!  We'll be making cool bow ties and paper cup Daleks and test our show knowledge with some Whovian trivia!  Join us at the Ironton Library at 10 am or the Fredericktown Library at 1 pm.

Keep reading!

Shaen

Reach for the Stars Book Fair

Wow!  What a great response we had to the Reach for the Stars Book Fair!  With almost $600 in collected pledges and well over 5000 minutes read by the kids over the course of only two weeks, I'd say the program was a success!  Top readers winning prizes were: Violet Morgan for the Youngest category with 930 minutes being read to her, Brandon Morgan for the Elementary category with 930 minutes read as well, and Brianne Cooper for the Teen category with an amazing 1,483 minutes read.
Thanks to our community sponsors- the Mountain Echo and Cole's Funeral Home-, as well as First State Community Bank, who provided goody bags for participants.  We also appreciate all the families and friends who pledged support to readers throughout June and Connie Fain, our local Usborne Books & More representative, who put in a lot of time getting great books into the hands of deserving kids.  Check out the pictures below!

Setting up our refreshments table.

Every kid who attended got a free balloon.

While families were waiting in line for books, they got to make a paper Mr. and Ms. Potato Head craft and fill out thank you cards to their sponsors.

The Ms. Potato Head sample waiting for the Fair to start.

At the start of the Book Fair, we announced our top readers for each age category and then celebrated by blowing noisemakers and setting off confetti poppers.

Our local Usborne rep, Connie Fain, handing out prizes to top readers.

Brandon Morgan, top reader for the Elementary category.

Brianne Cooper, top reader for the Teen category.

Violet Morgan, child with most minutes read to her in the Youngest category.

Digging into the refreshments: popcorn, lemonade, fresh fruit, and lollipops!

There were lots of great Usborne books and other materials on display.

 

Doling out balloons as the party ends!

Keep reading!

Shaen