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Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Afternoon Adventures!

We visited the Cartersville library this afternoon for Afternoon Adventures. A friend had told us about it and we needed to go to the library anyway, so we decided to time it so we could participate. We got to the library and returned all our books. My card on my keyring had torn off and gotten all messed up so I went to the front counter to get a new card AND pay my fines. Yep...fines again. Only two days worth but it added up to $4.20! :( It was also $1 for a replacement card, so I took care of that too. *sigh* I'm doing better though! ha ha.

Got all that taken care of and went to the children's department for the program. Afternoon Adventures is a program for kids ages 5 and up. There was a very energetic librarian guy in charge and my kids had a blast! He first did a movement song, then read a book, more songs, another book. Then he led them in performing a little skit complete with reading their parts and props. Katie and Noah were both chosen to participate. There were only about 8 kids there today, so it was a small group, but it was still a lot of fun. After the skits he sang another song and showed them a couple of cute April Fool's Day clips on a screen. Then he had them do "worm art" using yarn to paint on art paper. It went along with one of the books he read about a worm that was an artist. Even though we have to drive to Cartersville, I think we will start going. The sad part is they only have three more weeks of the program before they break for May and pick back up with the summer program in June. Too bad we didn't try it earlier! I took a couple of pictures with my phone:

Can you spot Katie? She's playing the part of a person playing an April Fool's joke on her friends, pretending her head is on backward. She is in the chair with the blanket around her.


This one is really blurry.
Noah is standing in the chair, about to throw "water" (blue tissue squares) on someone.


Another reason we went today was to pick up books for the other reading program we just started. It is called Book Adventure and is an at home "Accelerated Reader" type program. It is sponsored by Sylvan learning centers and other various companies. I created an account and then created an account for each of the kids linked to mine, then they are able to take tests on books they've read to earn points. They can redeem their points for prizes through the website (given by the sponsors) like e-books or coloring books..even a subscription to Highlights magazine is one of them. I can even go in and create my own prizes they can get, which I would provide, of course. I think I will make one for a "$5 movie from Target" or "Brusters ice cream cone" or something. I decide how many points and I have to approve when they redeem points for prizes anyway so I will know when they request the prize and can then get it for them.

The list of books available for prizes is quite extensive. That's one reason I really like it. We sat down together and searched for books yesterday and compared them to the online card catalog for the library and made a list of books to get today. This way they have a lot of books to read that I know will have a test to go along with it and they can earn points. The books can be searched by title, grade level, author, genre, etc. so we found books that I knew each of them would be able to read...well...that Noah would be able to read on his own, ha ha, Katie can read anything. I did limit her to second grade and below for now just for reading comprehension test purposes.

3 comments:

Andysbethy said...

I'm glad you made it down there. I will have to check out that site, and see if I can encourage Canaan to read more, with a prize to spur him on.

Karen said...

This all sounds good...so glad you are a book lover and can pass it on to your children....

Anonymous said...

Way to go Katie and Noah! Sounds exciting.....I am SO glad that they both enjoy reading. What a great incentive! I have always loved to read. You did too! You always kept a book in your hand, reading all the time! You would even bring the book you were reading at the time to the table when it was time to eat! Can't wait to hear about the books they are reading.....