It’s called the ‘summer slide,’ when children’s reading and math skills dip in the summer months. It’s a common, well-documented condition that the librarians at Bruton Memorial Library hope their summer youth program can combat.
This year’s program centers around the Collaborative Summer Library Program’s ‘Build a Better World’ theme. It beings with a kick-off event June 3rd featuring JiggleMan, a popular children’s performer who performs around Florida and has appeared on Late Night with David Letterman. Throughout the summer, Bruton will offer reading programs, live performances and hands-on activities.
“We want to bring that experience of growing up in a library to a generation of kids growing up in a whole new world,” Youth Services Librarian John Russell said. We want to bring it back and find new ways to engage and build a better world together. With the summer slide, kids may fall behind on reading throughout the summer if they don’t have incentives and access. The library provides both of those.”
Incentives, Russell said, include the programs and prizes the library offers. Thanks to local sponsors, the library is holding a raffle for items ranging from gift cards to a Kindle Fire tablet. The more they read, the more tickets they can acquire and the better their chances of winning will be.
Access comes in the form of the libraries availability.
Sara Kocab-Redmon plans on bringing her three young children to many of the summer programs. She said she brings her family to Bruton regularly and her children love picking out their own books.
“Readers are leaders,” Kocab-Redmon said. “Just reading on a computer isn’t enough. Picking up a book, knowing how it works, what it feels like, that’s important. Kids need to be exposed to that and experience that. If we don’t have libraries and library programs, we might lose that. Then what will happen? I don’t want to find out.”
Part of the ‘Build a Better World’ philosophy includes showing children the possibilities the future can hold, Russell said. Through the hands-on programs like Transform, Build, Sense and Discover, they can get a glimpse of those possibilities, he said.
In Transform, children will learn how science and art have changed the world. Using a green screen, they can take photos of themselves doing just that. Using recycled items, children will make something they can take home in Build. Sense shows how the five senses allow people to interact with the world and will include an ice cream making and tasting component. And, Discover explores the treasures of the natural world.
In addition to those modules, Russell said the library has many more activities including
dinosaur-themed events, movies, theater performances, the popular Motion Commotion music and literacy program and more.
“It’s fun and educational,” he said. “The children are out of school, but they have the library. They have us year round and they have us in a big way in the summer.”
For more information on summer programs visit facebook.com/BrutonMemorialLibrary.