Summer Reading

June 9, 2009

We are a family of readers.

Sort of.

I love to read, and Grace loves to be read to. Joe’s not a book lover, but he is aware of our love and he accommodates us as necessary.

So today, we all signed up for our public library’s summer reading program. After we got home and looked through our information, I was really impressed.

First, the reading program for little guys like Gracie requires that we keep track of the minutes she spends looking at books and being read to. The library’s goal is that each child will read for 800 minutes over the course of the summer.

Seriously? 800 minutes over the whole summer? We easily crest 800 minutes in two weeks – or less!

We’ve read 90 minutes today.

I digress. The adult portion of the program asks us to complete a BINGO-type card by branching out in a variety of different book genres. Each BINGO we get will enter us in a drawing for lots of cool prizes.

But then the librarian handed us the last part – the Get Outdoors and Be Creative! sketchbook.

For the Get Outdoors and Be Creative! part of the program, we can seek out 30 creativity stations hid all throughout the county at parks, museums, and other learning centers. Most involve a short hike, deciphering clues, and hunting for the 3″ square plates. Finding all 30 will have us walking over 25 miles through the county’s parks and museums.

I love it! I love the plan. I love that it encourages us to read and be active. I love that it takes us outside.

Joe and I already discussed that our goal is to find all 30 of the stations. I’ll keep you updated on our progress.

I almost forgot. The best part of this whole reading program? It’s all 100% free.

Are you participating in the summer reading program in your community? You should be.

Go find it and enroll today!

Happily submitted to Works for Me Wednesday, What I Learned This Week, and Work on It Wednesday

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Wendy said:

Okay, that sounds like the coolest library ever! What a great idea! Sounds like you guys will have a blast.

Wendy’s last blog post..You know, mossy green is not a bad color.

# 9 June 2009 at 11:17 pm

Sarah (GenMom) said:

I love reading too and that program sounds awesome! Have a great time.

Sarah (GenMom)’s last blog post..Video Footage with Fellow Mom Bloggers in NYC

# 10 June 2009 at 4:34 am

niki said:

That’s neat that they added an outdoorsy aspect to the program.

# 10 June 2009 at 9:41 am

TheAngelForever said:

Our local library also has a summer reading program. My son (finishing kindergarten now) did it last summer. His books read counted for the 100 books this year. We will be signing up again. I was thrilled to see there is also a toddler program and one for adults this year. May have to sign up the entire family (it’s the teacher in me).

Happy reading

TheAngelForever’s last blog post..My little Potato Head

# 10 June 2009 at 10:24 am

Sab said:

OH! How exciting! I SO want to do that!

I loved to read… but haven’t done much in a very long time. Sigh. I wonder if we have a program at our library?

I LOVE that outdoor challenge! Ooh…. sounds like so much FUN!

Sab’s last blog post..Sleepless Nights

# 10 June 2009 at 12:13 pm

Lisa@blessedwithgrace said:

What a great idea. The outdoor part seems really neat. We LOVE to read, too!

Lisa@blessedwithgrace’s last blog post..Faith based books for your toddler…

# 10 June 2009 at 4:04 pm

Nicole Feliciano said:

I’m so excited to find fellow book lovers on the blogosphere. I am devoting the entire month to book reviews, author interviews and other book-related joy. I’m sending a link along to a contest to win a Mo Willems prize…he is one of our faves here in Brooklyn. And we read about 90 a day too!

http://momtrends.blogspot.com/2009/06/mo-willems-elephant-piggie-giveaway.html

# 10 June 2009 at 8:23 pm

Sharon said:

Your library summer reading program sounds great! I’ve decided not to sign my kids up for ours this year. They use to give the kids a free book when they finished their goal, but I checked this year and all they are doing is a certificate. Seriously?? Of course, this does not mean that we won’t read this summer, but I think we’ll check our Barnes and Noble or somewhere else to see what their summer reading program is like.

Sharon’s last blog post..Friday 5!

# 11 June 2009 at 5:04 pm

Swinging: The Rest of the Story | Feels Like Home said:

[...] Remember when I told you about our library’s Go Outdoors and Be Creative program? [...]

# 15 July 2009 at 9:00 pm