Swan Song

Many of you already know if you regularly attend library programs or frequent the front desk at Ironton, but I'm going to be leaving the Ozark Regional Library system at the end of this month to stay home full-time with this little guy (who isn't quite so little as this picture shows, as he's now a roly-poly toddler)...

I'll truly miss everyone I've met through the library over the past nine years and feel so privileged to have worked with so many wonderful families.  From the bottom of my heart, thank you to each and every one of you!  I know I'm leaving the Youth Department in great hands, though, as Ms. Pat will be taking over the position full-time, beginning January 1st.

Ms. Pat in her element!

I wish everyone the happiest New Year as we head into 2015.  And as always...

Keep reading!

Shaen

Give the Gift of Food This Winter!

Keep reading!

Shaen

Belleview School Tour

We've been on break from story time this week, but that doesn't mean that we're not keeping busy here at the library!  Yesterday, the Ironton library staff enjoyed a visit from the Belleview school district's kindergarten through third grade classes (plus a few parents and teachers!).  After a fun (and noisy!) opening song and a brief tour of the library and children's collection, we all headed back to the conference room to read the ever-popular Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes...

and then used our imaginations and coloring skills to craft some cool kicks, just like Pete.

We Love Our Library Shoes!

Don't forget!  We're back for week 5 of story time, starting Monday, and we'll be focusing on polar bears (and going ice fishing for our game!).  Miss Pat and I will look forward to seeing you then!


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

Back to School Fair TODAY!

After lots of prep work this week, we're ready for the Ironton Back-to-School Fair!  The Fair will be at First Baptist Church of Ironton and run from 10-2:30 pm today.  Stop by and see Miss Pat and me- we'll be signing families up for new library cards, handing out giveaway books, and passing out goody bags to the kids!

A view of the library conference room yesterday.  We now have 150 goody bags ready to go!

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

Reach for the Stars Book Fair TODAY!!!

Come on out, and join all the fun!  Our Reach for the Stars Book Fair will be starting at 1 pm TODAY at the Ironton Library.  We'll have FREE freshly-popped popcorn, lemonade, crafts, lollipops and balloons for the kids, and of course, an expansive collection of Usborne books for sale!  The event is open to the public; you don't have to have participated in the Reach for the Stars Reading Club in order to attend the Book Fair.  We'll also be announcing our prize-winning top readers shortly after 1.

Keep reading!

Shaen

Playing Catch-Up (AKA Most Rambling Blog Post Ever)

Summer has just started, and already, things are busy, busy, busy at the library!  Pat and I have both been out on the road with programming this week, so we're just now getting a chance to download some photos from the last week's events.  We'll just call this post a three-in-one special :)

Reach for the Stars Kickoff
Our first event for the summer, the Reach for the Stars Kickoff, happened on Monday and was a success with seventeen participants attending.  Usborne Books & More rep, Connie Fain, explained how the pledge-based reading club was going to work, and Pat Lewis handed out reading logs and program information to those who were interested.  The Reach for the Stars Reading Club will be open to readers from now until Monday, June 16, when reading logs and pledge sheets are due, and the Club will culminate in a gigantic Book Fair at the Ironton Library on Friday, June 27, where kids can choose prize books and help the Library pick out new books for our Youth collection.  You don't have to be from Iron County to participate; anyone with questions about the program can contact the Ironton Library for more information.

Reach for the Stars Reading Logs.  Thanks to The Mountain Echo and Cole's Funeral Home for being sponsoring businesses this summer!

The Library set up thematic book displays so the kids could check out and get reading right away!

Local Usborne rep, Connie Fain, explaining the details of the RFTS Reading Club for our patrons.

Opening Party (Look Like a Mad Scientist)
Our Opening Party took place at four branches (Steelville, Bourbon, Ironton, and Fredericktown) on Tuesday and Wednesday, and the kids made "mad scientist" costume kits to get ready for our science-based Summer Reading Program.  We had three stations set up: an Einstein wig table, a lab goggles table, and a lab coat table.  You can see the evidence of their creative crafting below!

Attendees of the Opening Party rotated between three different craft stations: Make a Lab Coat, Make Lab Goggles, and Make Einstein Hair.

Cutting out lab coats from plastic bags.

Decorating lab coats with stickers (it might not be the most scientific thing, but we had fun!).

A few patrons got creative: meet the double threat- a scientist athlete!

We also made cotton ball wigs and cardstock safety goggles.

We got a little creative with the wigs, too!

Almost finished!

We had great crowds at Crawford County...

And Fredericktown, too.

Some super scientists.

More mad scientists!

What a group!

Grow a Reader
This morning, despite a few raindrops, we held our second annual Grow a Reader story time at the Iron County Community Garden.  Linda Lane of the Community Garden gave an intro and reminded everyone about the upcoming Garden Tour, Pat and I read garden-themed stories and helped the kids make paper Mr. or Ms. Potato Heads, and Debra Henk of the University of Missouri Extension Council showed the kids how to plant potatoes in the Garden and send each child home with their own purple bush bean plant.  Much thanks also goes to Rev. Catherine (Kitty) Hillquist, who graciously invited us to use the parish porch for our crafting session, as well as provided refreshments for all the families in attendance.

A nice crowd showed up, despite the threat of rain!

Reading garden-themed stories: Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato by Tomie DePaola and this one, White is for Blueberry by George Shannon and Laura Dronzek.

We played "Hot Potato" for our game.

The group gets whittled down during our game.

Down to two players!  Who will win...?

And we have a new "Hot Potato" champion!

We moved onto the covered parish porch to color and cut our Mr. and Ms. Potato Heads.

Lots of coloring and cutting for this craft!

Then we enjoyed light refreshments and headed out to the Garden to get a tour of the planting beds and to plant some potatoes of our own, to be harvested later for the local Food Bank.

The kids (and parents) hard at work in the Garden.

Also, on a sidenote, if you'd like to see a few photos from the Last Tuesday Creative Writing Event, head on over to the Ironton Facebook page.  There's talk of putting together a teen and/or adult workshopping group in the near future, so if you're interested in joining either group, please send us a message through our Facebook page with your name, age group (teen or adult), and if possible, the best weeknight evening, Monday through Friday, that you would find it most convenient to attend classes.  With enough interest, we'll be putting together a schedule soon!

Keep reading!

Shaen