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Dream Big! with summer reading [UPDATED]
Published 9:31am Friday, May 18, 2012 Updated 11:35am Friday, May 18, 2012We’re going “batty for books” at the Fergus Falls Public Library this summer! Why? Because this year’s theme for the children’s Summer Reading Program (SRP) is “Dream Big-READ!” and it’s all about the wonderful things that happen at night.
Sleeping, dreaming, the night sky, and nocturnal animals will all play a part in our annual program that promotes the library and rewards kids for reading. “Bernie the Bat” is our official mascot. Make sure to look for him on your next visit!
SRP runs for 8 weeks from Monday, June 4th, through Saturday, July 28th. This program is for children of all ages (birth through fifth grade). We also have a separate program for teens (sixth through 12th grade) and adults — more to come on that in next week’s article.
Bring your children to the library on, or after, June 4th, to register for the program and pick up the reading logs. Use the log to keep track of how much time is spent reading. Is your child not yet an independent reader? They can still participate! Just keep track of how much time you read to them.
The reading log is complete when 18 hours of reading time is recorded. That’s an average of about 20 minutes of daily reading time (the minimum recommended amount for children) for the duration of SRP.
Bring your children to the library each week to show staff the progress in their logs and they will get a special prize.
Upon completion of the reading log, children will get a free book and a coupon for a free small dirt sundae from Dairyland.
In addition to the reading incentive portion of SRP, the library is offering a variety of programs for children and families. We will have 8 weeks of Baby/Toddler Storytime, Preschool Storytime, and the Dream Big! Weekly Afternoon Programs (grades K through fifth). There will be 3 special family events: a puppet troupe, a magician, and a PJ storytime and stuffed animal sleepover. New this year for kids will be the Weekly Trivia Challenge. Summer Reading participants will have the chance to win even more special prizes by answering a different nighttime trivia question each week.
The library will also have it’s one-on-one reading tutoring program called ERL (Extra Reading at the Library). This program is targeted at students entering second through sixth grade. You can register your child at the ERL open house from 3:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Monday.
We hope to see all of your little bats “hanging-out” at the library this summer! Look for our SRP promo commercial coming soon to PEG Access and the library’s website. Further details about SRP for all ages can be found online: www.fergusfalls.lib.mn.us.
Arielle Krohn is the Youth Librarian at the Fergus Falls Public Library
