Outreach with Calhoun County Library

            The Calhoun County Library is ready to resume some of its school programs again since the 2024 - 2025 school year is in full swing.

            To promote early literacy in schools, we visit 5K classes in all area schools for story time. During this time, we read books, sing songs, and do fingerplays. We even learn sign language! Our goal is to give our wonderful teachers a little bit of a break while also teaching our community kids that reading can be fun! We also leave theme-related crafts for the whole class to do. We go to each school once a month and look forward to seeing our favorite little readers every time, and we’ve found out that they look forward to seeing us, too! How cute is that?

            In addition to starting storytime again, we are going to start our afterschool STEM program at the afterschool centers. During the afterschool program, we perform scientific experiments and learn about chemical reactions and what makes things happen with them. We have made slime, homemade ice cream, invisible ink, and so much more. This is our way of keeping Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics fun. We understand that students don’t want to sit through another lesson after a full day of school, so we make sure to bring exciting elements to our afterschool STEM program. We attend each center once a month and always experiment with a different topic each time.

            We decided to go where the kids are because we don’t want to miss an opportunity to engage with little learners. Both of these programs are completely free and parents do not have to sign up for these programs. This is the Calhoun County Library’s way of keeping students immersed in learning which we feel is so important in our community. If you see us on the road in the library van, give us a wave because we’re probably on our way to one of the schools or afterschool centers!