busy

I originally started Reading Explorer in the fall of 2015. It was basically an extension of 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten with sheets to color in and stickers. Each sheet was a different habitat and kids moved their names along the habitats. I got quite a few kids participating, but they tended to lose interest and I never liked the poor artwork on my logs. This summer I completely revamped the program. I used a lot of elements from my defunct winter reading program to make it both more challenging - this program is really directed at high-level and voracious readers - and to encourage readers to explore the library and different genres and subjects. The kids pick up a folder with an instruction sheet and the first set of challenges. My volunteers made a bunch of laminated magnifying glasses to put up on the shelf-end with the participants' names on the handles. They can add stickers as they complete challenge sheets. Each 100 books (4 sheets) they will get to pick a "badge...

We've had increasing interest in this program; I had more kids ages 0-3 doing Read and Grow than involved in summer reading this year. So I took the first week after summer reading finish to revise and update the program. How it works Parents can pick up a folder from the box at any time. When they have read 100 books together, they get a caterpillar to add to the reading chart. At 500 books they get a pot and seeds. At 1,000 books they get a free book and their picture on a butterfly. Throughout the program they pick up stickers for their logs. Supplies and insertions: Folders (bought in bulk at back to school sales) Sticky labels (printed at a local print shop and I have a lifetime supply because I couldn't find them and had more printed!) Instructions Read and Grow logs (now with caterpillars!) Bookmarks with reading suggestions Babies Toddlers Preschoolers Staff picks Stickers are collected from a variety of sources, but the most popular are the foam stickers I get from A...

Summer school finished last week and I had to decide whether I was going to run this program in August or not. August tends to be really slow in my town, not much going on, although the kids don't go back to school until after Labor Day. I had asked the pool manager if I could set up at the pool and I figured I'd try that at least once. I set up at 9 and it was pretty dead. They have an adult exercise class then so there were just a couple kids wandering over to the park or waiting for the pool to open. Once it opened to the public at 10 there were a lot more people but I was in the wrong area to connect with them - they come around the other side. At 11 I noticed a lot of kids up at the Lion's Den (this is the picnic area that can be rented) and I went up to investigate. I found all my Headstart friends! We had missed each other in the communication of who was where when! So I hauled everything up there, checked out over 30 books, had more than 30 kids making crafts and ch...