Summer Reading Program

Maureen Ambrosino has posted excellent directions for adding this at http://readsinma.blogspot.com/2009/06/adding-bruins-question-to-your.html

If you want your kids to participate in the Bruins fun this summer, please add this question to your registration form!

I am beginning to go out to libraries to train/retrain/refresh staff on how to best use the online reading program tool!

The following are open to anyone who would like to receive this training. Just be sure to let me know by dropping me an email!

West Newbury – June 1 – 9:00-10:30
Memorial Hall, Andover – June 4 – 2:00-3:30
Westford – June 5 – 2:00-3:30
Lynnfield – June 10 – 1:00-2:30

Sometimes the most unlikely pairs make the best partners

The Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC) is embarking on a partnership with the Boston Bruins to promote our Summer Reading Programs. Our goal is to increase the visibility of the Summer Reading Program and, in the process, attract more teens and non-users into libraries and the programs. The new partnership ultimately sends the message that libraries and reading are for everyone, even tough guys like the Bruins.

A few short weeks ago, we were approached by the Bruins as part of their goal of expanding their presence in the community. They are active community citizens and strong believers in promoting literacy. We, (the MBLC and you), the network of community libraries, bring a ready-made reading program to the partnership while the Bruins bring their widespread awareness and popularity and substantial marketing reach. We both agree we can accomplish more as a team than each one could alone.

What can we accomplish at this stage in the game? By all accounts it is short notice to get things started for this summer. Although next year we’ll be working with the Bruins on a fully-integrated program with a long head start for planning, promotion and production, we did not want to give up on the idea of getting something on a smaller scale started this year. As a result, we’ve created a few elements to help connect the Bruins to our 2009 program. We hope you will choose to join us in the next few weeks through opportunities we will create to help you to join in the fun.
[Read more →]

There are 45 communities in the Northeast using the ReadsinMa online summer reading program tool!
There is still time to participate! This is our third summer and year of having the Evanced Solutions’s summer reader program and we look forward to more years! If you don’t have a web site assigned to your library, let Susan Babb know and she’ll help you get set up and train you!

www.ReadsinMA.org is supported by your local library, the Massachusetts Regional Library Systems, and the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, with funding from the Institute of Museums and Library Services, an independent federal agency that grows and sustains a Nation of Learners because lifelong learning is critical to success.

Materials should be arriving at your libraries this week.
Please check your orders carefully to make sure you got everything.
Let me know if there are any problems!

The results are in and we have our slogans for the 2010 statewide
summer reading program!!!

For Children, the slogan will be:

Go Green@Your Library

For teens, the slogan will be:

tnk GrEn! (text message for Think Green)

Thanks to all who voted!

Summery greetings on such a wintery day!

This is for anyone who has or wants to run the online summer reading program component! Many of you already have websites for this program and are listed at readsinma.org. Some of you have the web sites but aren’t listed there. If you have any question about whether or not your library has been set up, please contact me.

The templates for Summer 2009 are fantastic! Wait until you see the one for the teens! You CAN see it if you look under the style sheets in your maintenance side.
As well, Evanced has been hard at work in making their program even more user friendly. The new organization of the System Maintenance is very clear and easy to navigate.

I am offering one workshop on Evanced:

ReadsinMA Roundtable
Thursday May 21, 2009
10:00 AM until 12:00 PM
Get ready to gear up for summer with ReadsinMA.org, our year-round online reading program. If your Program Setup skills are a little rusty or you need some help customizing your program with this summer’s theme and artwork, this hands-on workshop is just what you need! Bring your questions, suggestions, or programs to share too. Susan Babb, Youth Services Consultant at NMRLS, will lead the workshop.
Location: NMRLS Training Lab, Danvers
Register here!

BUT I am very willing and able to come to YOUR library and train YOUR staff on this program whether it is a refresher or for the first time. It’s simple: email me and we’ll set it up. I ask only for one favor: that if I come to your library we can open it up to a few of your neighbors!

This is the third summer of this program and we are looking to having a successful launch! Please do contact me for training!

There are free online webinars available
to help you get trained – or give you a refresher – on how to set up
your ReadsinMA page for the summer. I know a few libraries are thinking
far ahead and working on their programs already. The Regions will be
offering training this spring, some in-person and some via Evanced
Solutions “Massachusetts Only” webinars, but if you are ready now there
is training available. Just visit the Evanced training calendar at this
URL:
http://host.evanced.info/lib/eventcalendar.asp
and look for the Summer Reader trainings in green text. (Note: you may
need to copy/paste this URL into your browser if it “breaks” in your
email.)

Lots of good ideas!

Shelley shared some excellent resources like NASA, Goddard Space Center (Maryland), the Christa McAuliffe Center at Framingham State College, and NSTA. As she put it, there are a gadzillion of resources in these web sites and all free to use!

Some program ideas:

North Shore Amateur Astronomy Club which offers a lot of local resources
Check with your school’s science department – maybe a teacher or high school student would like to do a program for your library
Museum of Science – Night Sky travelling program
Dunn Middle School Planetarium, Danvers
Mendel Observatory, Merrimack College
Eclipse party – July 22 eclipse
moon trees

Books:

Arty Facts Space & Art Activities by Polly Goodman. Lots of great activities, especially to use outside.
Night Sky Star Finder by Storm Dunlop. Includes an actual star finder chart.
Kingdom of the Sun by Jacqueline Mitton. Published by National Geographic.
Zoo in the Sky: A Book of Animal Constellations by Jacqueline Mitton. Published by National Geographic.
Space Station Mars by Daniel San Souci.
Boy, Were We Wrong About the Solar System by Kathleen Kudlinski.
11 Planets: A New View of the Solar System by David Aguilar. Includes a fun space mnemonic: My Very Exciting Magic Carpet Just Sailed Under Nine Palace Elephants.
Easy to make Spaceships – this is an older book but has great activities making things which really fly! the Flying flapper is one of the activities.

Movies:
Star Wars series
Apollo 13
October Sky
ET
Cat from Outer Space
My Favorite Martian (TV)
Mork and Mindy (TV)

Display ideas:
“elevator to space”
planet distances and sizes

Amesbury Public Library
West Elementary Library, Andover
High Plain Elementary, Andover
Memorial Hall, Andover
Andover West Middle School
Sanborn Elementary School Library, Andover
Bancroft School, Andover
South Elementary, Andover
Beverly Farms, Beverly
Beverly Public Library
Boxford Town Libraries
Burlington Public Library
Francis Wyman & Memorial School Libraries, Burlington
Newbury Town Library
Gleason Library, Carlisle
Peabody Institute Library, Danvers
Mosey Greeley Memorial, Dracut
Dunstable Public
TOHP Burnham, Essex
Parlin Memorial, Everett
Georgetown Peabody
Gloucester High School
Sawyer Free Library, Gloucester
Langley-Adams Library, Groveland,
Hamilton-Wenham
Essex Ag Tech High School
Haverhill Public
Ipswich Public Library
Lawrence Public Library
Reuben Hoar Library, Littleton
Pollard Memorial, Lowell
Lynn Public
Lynnfield Public Library
Manchester Public
Melrose Public
Merrimac Public Library
Nevins Memorial Library, Methuen
Flint Public Library, Middleton
Nahant Public Library
Newburyport Public Library
Stevens Memorial Library, North Andover
Flint Memorial Library, North Reading
Peabody Institute Library, Peabody
West Branch/Peabody
Peabody/South Branch
Revere Public
Rockport Public Library
Salisbury Public
Saugus Public Library
Stoneham Public Library
Swampscott Public Library
Tewksbury Public Library
Topsfield Town Library
Tyngsborough Public Library
Lucius Beebe Memorial Library, Wakefield
G.A.R. Memorial Library, West Newbury
J. V. Fletcher Library, Westford
Winthrop Public Library