When it comes to getting kids exciting about reading, the Reid-Thompson Public Library is up to the task with their upcoming annual TD Summer Reading Club.
The library hosts this club every year and this year it will include activities such as story time, crafts for kids, and a writing/performance workshop with Brenda Baker, a Canadian songwriter, musical coach, and performer.
“We encourage the children to come any time to the library, but each week we try to run a special program for the kids,” said Norine Mann, one of the librarians. “This year with Brenda Baker we’re doing the songwriting workshop, which is different … a lot of the children are musical and I think this is something the community hasn’t really offered a lot of and it gives them a chance to.”
Registration night was on June 23 and featured a fishpond for the kids as well as Jeff Burton as a guest reader. Each child was given a bag that included a reading logbook, stickers, a poster, a website access card, and a temporary tattoo. The night acts more as a kickoff since kids only have to register for the Crafts for Kids workshop, which is scheduled for July 29.
“The reading club helps them develop to be more adventurous and outgoing citizens,” said Indigo Brodie, a third year university student who’s helping out at the library for the summer. “Sometimes, they don’t get drawn in by the routine library procedures. They see the other things we do and get more involved in other everyday routine activities and this is a way to help them along with that.”
Since this club is sponsored in part by TD Financial Group, it’s held across the country, allowing for unofficial national tracking of literacy among kids. Students record the books they read into their logbooks and for every 10 books they read, they get a sticker. According to Mann, last summer, kids from Humboldt read more than 1,800 books. In a previous summer, they read almost 4,000.
Considering those numbers, it shouldn’t come as any surprise that in 2008, the Reid-Thompson Public Library won the second place Libraries and Archives Canada Library award for their “Laugh Out Loud” program.
“It’s quite a coup because it runs throughout Canada and any libraries can participate,” said Mann.
Mann and Brodie went around to the three local elementary schools from June 15-17 to give a presentation to the students about the reading club. They went in Roughrider sportswear to get the kids’ attention and to promote activities and sports.
During their presentation, they also informed students about the ongoing trivia and guessing contests, one of which involves the students guessing how many sticks are stuck in a Styrofoam ball.
“I notice that the kids get really excited about those little guessing contests,” said Brodie. “Every time they come into the library, they see the little stickball and they always talk about it and try to get close and touch it and count it.”
The prizes for the contest include things like gift certificates, masks, and water bottles, which are all provided by the club’s sponsors: the Humboldt Broncos, Universal Sports, Hergott Electric, and the Saskatchewan Writer’s Guild.
The club will meet every Wednesday and will include Play Safe with Safe Communities Humboldt and Area, Weird and Wacky stories with Indigo (Brodie), and drop-in stories for children.
Aside from their major programs, the library will also host activities such as weekly multiple-choice quizzes, find-the-item, and guess the soccer ball colour, all of which will award prizes to the winner.
