Celebrating Summer Reading

            The Calhoun County Library is sad to announce that the 2024 CSLP Adventure Begins at Your Library Summer Reading Program has come to an end. However, we could not end this successful summer without a celebration for all our participants!

            The 2024 Summer Reading Program Finale occurred on Thursday, July 25, 2024 at 10:30 AM. We had over 100 patrons attend this event. The Ukaloonies performed multiple songs with dances and the crowd helped sing along. Every child received a snack, craft, multiple free books, Randolph Italian Ice, and a bookbag with school supplies from the Jeffcoat Law Firm!

            During the finale, we gave away participation certificates to everyone who registered and logged any minutes and completion certificates to everyone who won this challenge! That was not the only thing we gave away during this program either. Our grand prize winners were also announced during the finale. We upped our game because our community almost doubled the number of participants as last year so, we gave away four bikes and four Kindles. Abigail Bozard, Caleb Curry, Bella White, and Loren Ott were our lucky winners for the bikes! Molly Lewellen, Timothy Neil, Mason Reddick, and Linda Huddleston were our lucky winners of the Kindles! The system selected these winners and they gained entries into this drawing by logging minutes. Every hour they read, their name went into the pot to win and these eight participants were this year’s 2024 Summer Reading Program winners!

            Now on to some really great numbers!

            We had 140 early literacy, children, teens, and adults registered for the Summer Reading Program.

            Out of those 140 people, we had 50 complete the challenge! That means that they read 10 or more hours over the whole summer!

            In total, between all the reading groups, the registered readers of the Calhoun County Library read over 96,460 minutes! That’s over 66 full days of just reading!

            The Calhoun County Library is so thankful for everyone who participated in our Summer Reading Program this summer. It was a lovely success between all the programs, readers, prizes, and great community interaction! Thank you to everyone who came to a program, registered, logged minutes, checked out books, and overall promoted how important reading is. Programs like this would not be possible without our sponsors. Thank you to the Institute of Museum and Library Services, South Carolina State Library, Taco Bell, Chick-fil-A, Save the Children, and the Jeffcoat Law Firm.

Slippery, Slithery Critters

            Did you know that scorpions do not really glow in the dark? In fact, they only turn a fluorescent blue when they are under a UV/black light!

            Did you know that animals such as the cane toad are poisonous, but they don’t inject you with their poison by biting you? They secrete the poison through their skin!

            Information like this is what we learned by attending the Calhoun County Library’s Summer Reading Program on Thursday, July 18, 2024, for a special event by the Critter Keeper!

            At 10:30 AM and 1:30 PM, the Critter Keeper brought out all of his special animals to play. We had two programs to maximize the number of people who would like to be scared, thrilled, and excited by all the live animals. We had scorpions, toads, lizards, bugs, spiders, and snakes that looked right into the eyes of some curious children. Some screamed with delight while others screamed with fear! The real showstopper was when audience members held Cookie. That doesn’t sound like a scary name, does it? Well, Cookie is a tarantula and we had four brave souls hold this big eight-eyed, eight-legged arachnid in their palms. As if that wasn’t scary enough, we had 16 people of varying ages hold the big boy. Julius Squeezer is an 11-foot albino Burmese python. This animal was not a stuffed animal full of fluff; it was real and real people right here in your community had to help hold him up to show everyone!

            These two shows were a huge success. With over 200 people coming to watch the Critter Keeper, we are looking forward to the animals he will be bringing next year and hope to see some new faces face their fears! Are you going to be brave enough next year to hold a giant spider? What about a humongous snake? I guess we will have to see next year at the Calhoun County Library’s 2025 Summer Reading Program!

BINGO! I Win!

            “And the next ball up is B8!”

            “BINGO! BINGO! BINGO!”

            Do you know the rush you get when you’re playing a game and you finally get the last piece you need? Well, that is exactly how a few people in our community felt when the Calhoun County Library held its monthly BINGO program last week.

            On Thursday, July 11, 2024, we had dozens of people visit the library to play BINGO and win prizes for completing games such as Criss-Cross and Blackout in addition to traditional BINGO. Due to being closed on Thursday, July 4, 2024, we rescheduled BINGO to the following week. We know people love attending our BINGO night because we hear the positive feedback from the community!

            Normally, BINGO falls on the first Thursday of the month from 5:30 PM - 6:30 PM. If you would like to come play BINGO at the Calhoun County Library, we would love to have you join us. It is completely free and we have plenty of prizes to choose from. This program is for all ages and we have prizes to accommodate those young winners! Wendy usually has a theme each month for prizes, but she also throws in a few surprises. This month was about fun in the sun! Our grand prize winners at the end of the night always walk away with a gift card, too, from local businesses or restaurants or an Amazon card. Of course, we also offer some really good books! If that isn’t enough to convince you to come to BINGO night, how about the freshly popped popcorn that you get as a treat while you play? Again, it is totally free!

            So, if you or someone you know is free on the first Thursday of the month from 5:30 PM - 6:30 PM, we would love to have you pop in to play some BINGO with us. Bring a friend! It is sure to be a good time!

Our Children’s Area Looks a Little Different at the Library

            You may notice when you come to the library that our children’s area looks a little bit different. We’ve added new modular seating, a new rug for pretend play with cars, planes, boats, and tractors; there’s a new puppet stage with community puppets and animal puppets for children to experience collaborative play while presenting a puppet show. If little ones need help learning to use zippers, buttons, or tying shoes, we’ve got a Dress Yourself section with Dress-Me dolls and shoes for tying. Children who like to drive can hit the road with our Little Driver steering wheel. Toddlers can enjoy the wall-mounted manipulatives to enforce fine motor skills or they can get cozy in our Book Nook with a board book and Elmo! We also have 3 new computers for children that offer touch screens and Magic Desktop which is overflowing with educational, age-appropriate games. We’ve recently added an area for sensory play, too, to stimulate a child’s cognitive development and help them understand the world around them.

We have something for everyone at the library; numerous adult programs, several children’s programs, notary and passport services, computers for research, quiet study rooms, parent help kits and youth tablets to check out, and a great children’s area for kids of all ages! And we also have books about every subject you can imagine including autism, diabetes, and other sensitive subjects.

Our goal is to make the library a fun and safe place where everyone is accepted and has access to educational materials. The best outcome is when a child is playing while also learning, and that is exactly what the Calhoun County Library is aiming to do for all children in our community. So, head to the library today!

A Scientifically Sensational Week at the Library

            The Calhoun County Library was filled with science for the Summer Reading Program last week. Along with our regular summer reading program on Thursday morning, Science Magic from Roper Mountain Science Center in Greenville, we also held our annual STEM Science Camp all week long.

Starting on Monday, June 24, 2024, we  began our annual STEM Science Camp, led by Dr. Lesa Rice-Jackson, retired chemist. Monday through Friday, we enjoyed a little over an hour of nonstop learning. As a full class of 30 1st-6th graders, we focused on seed germination, the parts of a plant, and the effects of different variables on seeds. Our little scientists learned many things last week including lab procedures, appropriate dress for a lab, and how to keep a lab journal. Each day, “Dr. Lesa,”  focused on different topics such as:

1.       the parts of a plant

2.       different types of roots

3.       photosynthesis

4.       how different factors affect seed germination and size

5.       what plants need to survive

6.       how to measure the growth of a seed

7.       how pollinators affect seed germination, and so much more!

After a week-long program, we ended on Friday, June 28, with an awards day. We recognized students for the best lab notebook, best lab partners, most enthusiastic scientist, most improved scientist, most helpful scientist, best overall scientist, and, of course, the best plant! All participants were presented with certificates and gift cards from Chick-fil-a!

We would like to thank everyone who was able to make this program possible. Volunteers and staff members spent a lot of time preparing for Science Camp and making sure that it would run smoothly every day. We would also like to say a special thank you to Chick-fil-a and to Dr. Lesa Rice-Jackson for teaching our community of little scientists. Science Camp would not be what it is without Dr. Lesa’s knowledge, lab specialty, and general love for science. Without our caregivers and students, Science Camp would not be successful, so we would like to extend a thank you to them for attending every day and being dedicated to learning. In addition, the Calhoun County Library and everyone involved would like to say congratulations to our very own scientists!