Thanks!

Thanks for making this summer reading program great!

We hope to see you next year!

:)




(also--don't forget that you can turn in any reading logs until school starts!)

Splish Splash Reading Bash

The summer reading program came to a close at the Belgrade Library today. To celebrate all of the hard work that everyone has done we had a Splish Splash Reading Bash. This super awesome party started off with a play-- The Three Little Fish and the Big Bad Shark. Luckily for those little fish the shark went home without any dinner! Then it was time for several fun activities! Children got to make a "fish food" trail mix, create a whale, decorate a bookmark, toss some fish back into the "ocean," and get their faces painted! We hope that all of these aspiring young readers will continue to visit the library! We'll see you all next summer for some more fun with a new summer reading program!! :)

Math Wiz Comes to an End

This was the final week of the Math Wiz-- to celebrate the Club had a pizza party. Club members played some Math Wiz, ate pizza, and received award certificates detailing their individual Math Wiz game statistics. During the five week program a total of 46 children participated in Math Wiz. The total points that the club earned amounted to a whopping 41,085. The kids solved a total of 944 puzzles! That means that the average number of points per a puzzle was 43.5! The club did extremely well! Each of the members should be proud!

What a fun way to keep up (& improve) math skills this summer!

Officer Phil & the Belgrade Library

A police car had its sirens blaring outside the library today! Luckily it wasn't due to the presence of any 'bad guys!' Rather, Officer Phil was demonstrating some of the cool features of his police car to the kids who had come to this weeks Our Community Reads story time! The children listened to a reading of the story Officer Buckle and Gloria by Peggy Rathman and There's a Wocket in My Pocket by Dr. Seuss (one of Officer Phil's favorite books to read to his daughter). Next Officer Phil shared a bit about what being a police officer is like with the kids. Then it was time to take a look at the police car! The children got to sit in the car and see several of the gadgets that make it different from the ordinary car! They even got to turn on the siren and lights! What a treat!

A little boy helps Officer Phil read There's a Wocket in My Pocket

Children line up to receive their 'police badges'

Everyone takes a look at the police car

Officer Phil shows the kids some of the special gadgets
that the police car has

Can Your Dinosaur Walk on Water?

The Belgrade Library was brimming with ideas today, as young inventors worked tirelessly to invent a way for dinosaurs to walk on water! For 'Fun at 1:00' the Museum of the Rockies arrived with several tools and some information about Leonardo da Vinci. They explained that, among his numerous talents, Leonardo da Vinci was an inventor. His ideas included hang gliders, tanks, musical instruments, boats, bridges, and many more things-- one of which was a method for soldiers to walk on water! Was it possible that the kids could create a way for dinosaurs to walk on water?? After the children were given several tools, a toy dinosaur, and a sketch sheet they got to work perfecting devices to aid their dino pals in the quest to walk on water! Once a device was completed it was off to the pool to test it, then back to work to perfect it! Eventually all of our dinosaur friends had a device that either aided them to walk on water or to float comfortably along!

The kids learn a bit about Leonardo da Vinci & his amazing inventions

Kids get to work on their inventions

Kids test their devices to see if they work & what improvements can be made!

The children share their inventions & see what they can learn

from the inventions of others!

Fishy Findings!

Today Gary Sanger from FWP (Fish Wildlife and Parks) brought along some of his aquatic friends to meet the kids. He showed tiny bugs that start in the water and grow to little flies that buzz around. The kids got to play with tadpoles and even got to react with a real Gardner Snake! The kids then used their watery friends as inspiration to create fish of their very own!

Gary talks to the kids about animals

Fun with bugs

Discovering a Tadpole

Playing with fish

Creating a fishy friend

A Howlin' Good Time!

The visitors for the Our Community Reads program today were R.E.A.D. Dogs! The furry friends who came to the library to help with storytime are all certified Reading Education Assistance Dogs (aka R.E.A.D.). They adore having children read stories to them! The kids loved reading to the dogs! Our visitors were black lab Selah (with her owner Wendy), anatolian shephard Loki (with his owner Heide), and golden retriever Zamba (with her owner Val). Each dog was unique, but they had one thing in common-- a love of reading! We also discovered that not only do these dogs like to read-- they enjoy singing, too! Selah even joined in! After the opening song Val (with the help of Zamba) read Ten Little Puppies by Marian Harris. Then it was the children's turn to share some stories with the dogs! What a fun way to practice reading!

Val reads Ten Little Puppies

Val, Zamba, & a little boy read a book

Selah, Wendy, & a little girl read Chickens to the Rescue! by John Himmelman

Loki & a little boy practice reading

Loki relaxes with one of the library's dogs

The library has a R.E.A.D. program the first & third Saturday of every month!

Practice reading to a dog!

Row, Row, Row Your Boat

It was fair winds for the Fun at 1:00 program today! After hearing Patricia read Harry on the Rocks the group was split up into six different teams for a scavenger hunt! The search was on! Children hunted for a purple egg, a fish, a bobber, a star, a blue moon, a ball, a bear, a rubber duck, a paper butterfly, and a shell! In no time at all each team had returned with all of the items! Now it was time to make a boat! The kids created some of the best sailboats, pirate ships, and motorboats that the world has ever seen! Finally it was time to see if their products would float and how many objects the boats could hold before sinking!

Children listen to Harry on the Rocks by Susan Meddaugh

A team reviews the items that they found during the scavenger hunt

Children work on making their boats!

Will it float?

Journalist Reads!

Today for Our Community Reads we had a journalist visiting us! Dennis Gaub worked as a journalist for many years-- his first experience with writing for a paper was in fifth grade, when his teacher let him and some others put together a school newspaper! From the sounds of it, journalists get to meet a lot of interesting people and have many of intriguing experiences! Dennis told us about riding in one of the Blue Angels (the Navy's Flight Demonstration Team that performs flight aerobatics) at over 700 miles an hour! Very exciting indeed! The children got a special treat as Dennis read not one, but two stories! First was A Crazy Day at the Critter Cafe by Barbara Odanaka and the second was The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by John Scieszska. We were very lucky to have such a wonderful visitor!

Dennis reads A Crazy Day at the Critter Cafe



If you'd like to read some of Dennis' work check out his blog!

Have you missed our summer programs?

Have no fear! There are plenty more to come!

Math Wiz
Tuesdays at 1:00
A program for kids of all grades & ability levels (parents are, of course, welcome as well!) and consists of a math puzzle card game that helps kids to practice math and have fun!

Fun at 1:00
Wednesdays at 1:00
A hour-long program for K-4th graders

July 7-- Row, Row, Row Your Boat
July 14-- Fish, Wildlife & Parks "Fish Fun"
July 21-- Museum of the Rockies
July 28-- Splish Splash Reading Bash

Babies & Books
Thursdays at 11:15
A program consisting of songs & a story or two. Not only is it fun for the children, but it's great for parents as well!

Our Community Reads
Fridays at 11:05
A community member comes in to share a bit about himself or herself and reads a story, too!

July 9-- Our R.E.A.D. Dogs Read
July 16-- Our Judge Reads
July 23-- Our Policeman Reads
July 30-- Our Spanish Teacher Reads

R.E.A.D. to a Dog
1st & 3rd Saturday of each month-- July 17th
All ages are invited to R.E.A.D. with a dog!

We hope to see you there!