Kids, teens and pre-teens, didn't have to worry about being bored this summer! The Ozark-Dale County Public Library hosted additional programs this summer just for you! From crafts to movies to games, there was an endless amount of fun you guys had!
Thanks to all who came out and had a blast with us! We're looking forward to next summer!
For more information, call 774-5480.
Special Events in June
These programs were held Wednesdays, June 2 through June 23 in the West Wing of the Library. Check out what fun we had!
**********
Landmark Park's Reptiles!
On Wednesday, June 2, Mrs. Dana Peters and Mrs. Sharon Chambers brought their reptiles from Landmark Park!
To begin the program, Mrs. Peters asked the kids two questions. The first question was to name some reptiles. A few of the answers were lizards, alligators, crocodiles, turtles, and snakes! Good job! The next question was to name characteristics of a reptile. Their answers included reptiles are cold-blooded, lay eggs, dry and scaly skin, have a backbone, and breathe using lungs!
After the questions, Mrs. Peters began talking about a few of the reptiles individually. The first reptile was the turtle. Turtles have no teeth, but have strong jaws! She talked about three specific turtles, too! The first one was the Alligator Snapping Turtle which is the largest fresh water turtle! Wow! It is an omnivore, meaning it eats both plants and other animals, and it isn't a picky eater, either. The snapping turtle has a cool way to go fishing. It'll be in the water, open its mouth really wide and stick out its worm looking tongue! A fish sees its tongue, mistaking it for a worm, and "Snap!" the turtle catches its fish! This turtle is a threatened species because its losing its habitat, "Alligator Snapping Turtle Soup" is a delicacy in some countries, and its shell is often wanted. The next turtle was the Box Turtle in which it completely encloses itself in its shell when it is scared! Mrs. Peters has a Box Turtle at the park named Blueberry because it would only eat blueberries! The final turtle she talked about was Chadley, the Red Eared Pond Slider, who was here today to visit with us. The pond sliders, as their name suggests, has red ears and slides into ponds when it becomes frightened. Chadley can live up to 15 years old! Chadley has long toenails which tells us that the pond slider is a boy. Chadley, and all other pond sliders, would take its long toenails and tickle a girl pond slider underneath her chin to say "Hey, I like you!"
After talking about turtles, Mrs. Peters started a discussion about crocodiles and alligators. Do you know the difference in the two? Well, the crocodile has a long pointy snout, whereas the alligator has a round even snout. The crocodile lives in salt water, and the alligator lives in fresh water. Another way to tell the difference is to examine their snout when its closed, which kind of looks like they're smiling. To demonstrate, Mrs. Peters asked all the kids to smile and picked two kids-one had a toothy smile and the other didn't. When a crocodile "smiles", you can see its teeth. But when an alligator "smiles", you can't see any teeth at all! Both are good mothers and are very protective of their young ones. They are predators and their only worries are mankind!
The final talk of the afternoon was about snakes! Snakes will shed their skin from the tip of their nose to the tip of their tail. Did you know they can animals that are bigger than their own head!? To do so, they have very elastic jaws and are even able to unhinge their jaws to open their mouths really wide! Cool! Some of the venomous snakes in Alabama are the Diamondback Rattlesnakes, the Water Moccasins (or Cottonmouths), Copperheads and the Coil Snakes! So how does a nonvenomous snake protect itself? Well, it can squeeze, or constrict, its prey, imitate other venomous snakes like the Rattlesnake or the Cobra, and as its last resort, bite it anyway! Along with Chadley, an Eastern Indigo Snake also visited us, today! This snake is the largest snake in North America and is found in the south east. It can eat other venomous snakes due to its immunity to venom. They can grow 8-9 feet long and live up to 25 years! They have no fangs, but have big teeth and they burrow in gopher tortoises holes. They are on the threatened species list because they're losing their habitat - the pineforest. The snake that visited us today was 6 feet long and weighed 7.8 pounds!
****************************
Dr. Magic's Magic Show
On Wednesday, June 9, Mr. Dewayne, or aka Dr. Magic, performed an awesome magic show for the kids! To begin the show, he asked the children, "What is needed to perform a magic show?" Some of the answers were a hat, a wand, a box, and a rabbit. Well, Mr. Dewayne doesn't like wearing hats, and the only rabbits he has are the "The Fake Wooden Rabbits of Mystery and Doom!" Now, he did have a box, but he couldn't find his wand, though. No worries, he just searched in a bag that kept changing colors! Finally, he found the wand. He did ask the kids to tell him if it was bending or if it started spinning. The kids shouted that it was doing just that, but whenever he looked at it, it was fixed!
After finding everything he needed for the show, he continued to the next trick. He loves to color and wanted the help of all of the children to color his magic coloring book. So, on the count of three, they all yelled out their favorite color, "Red, Blue, Yellow, Pink!" Oh, No! It didn't work, all the coloring pages disappeared! How did he fix it? He chose a volunteer that had a "very absorbent head" and rubbed the coloring book on his head for a few minutes. Yeah, the pages are back...but they're still not colored! What now? He tells all the kids to reach up and grab the colors in the air, ball it up and real tight and on the count of three, throw at him! 1...2...3...Oh no! They missed, but look! The coloring pages are all colored! Awesome, they did it!
A few other tricks he performed were cool, too! With the help of a volunteer, he made 1 ball become 2 balls and back to 1 ball again! Wow! He tried so hard to pull out the blue scarf out of a bag, but all he could get was the pink. Surely, one of the kids can do it, right? Well, after 3 or 4 kids still pulling the pink scarf, he remembered he forgot to say the magic words! The magic words wasn't hocus pocus or abacadabra, but please and thank you! Will it work now? Yes! It does! Yeah! Another trick was he pushed a sharp stick through a balloon without popping it! Neat! He also made a balloon flower for Mrs. Sandra Holmes, the director of the library!
The final trick of the show was the best of all! He took a big purple box and placed it on the table. Next he took a hollow red tube and showed everyone that it was empty. He even put it on his head to prove it! After putting the hollow tube into the box, he said the magic words and pulled out a Chinchilla! A chinchilla looks and feels just like a rabbit, though!
*******************
On Wednesday, June 16, the children enjoyed an authentic Wild West Show with Cowboy Bruce and his lovely sidekick, Mrs. Vernelle. While all the children were arriving, we enjoyed listening to some cowboy music, I think I even heard Daffy Duck in a song! Cowboy Bruce opened up with a cowboy song named "Back in the Saddle Again" and hoped that we all have a "root a tootin' good time" with his show today! To kick off the show, Cowboy Bruce, with a help of a few different volunteers from the audience, went fishing in honor of "Make a Splash, Read!" summer reading program that begins in two weeks! With each catch there was a question that was asked. The questions were: "What type of animal lives partly in water and partly on land?; What is the most popular freshwater game fish?; What does a toadpole evolve into?; and finally, What is a seacow?" Do you know any of the answers? Will if you don't, here you go, the answers in order are: amphibians, bass, frog, and a manatee! Next, he showed us a few tricks with his ropes and his whips. First of all, he played Cowboy Jump Rope, or aka The Texas Skip. He also got a group of small kids together and lassoed them with his rope! Those kids were definitely brave! After his rope tricks, he demonstrated the purpose of the whip. The whip isn't intended for pain, but for the "crack" noise that is created to keep the herd in line. The tip of the whip has been scientifically proven to be 750 miles per hour any time its used, thats faster than the speed of sound! The "cracking" noise is heard is actually the sound of the whip's tip breaking the sound barrier! Is that cool or what!? With the whip, he sliced through a rose that was held in Mrs. Vernelle's mouth and even through a moving target of flowers! Wow! Finally, he discussed the parts of a herd. The point rider rides ahead of everybody else and make sures that there is a safe pathway for the herd to pass through. The cook is next in line and is responsible for setting up camp and cooking dinner for all the riders in the herd. Next are the swing riders who help turn the cattle in the herd in the right direction. Then there are the flank and drag riders who help keep the herd in line and catch any stragglers. To end the show, he created his own herd. He chose a bunch of kids and gave them each one of the positions mentioned in the last paragraph. He also chose a few kids to be the cattle in the herd. But wait, our summer reading program is Make a Splash, we can't have cattle! So "Abacadabra, all you cattle are now seacows!" The point rider then led his herd of seacows around the room! Cowboy Bruce passed out coloring sheets and even autographed them! Thanks, Cowboy Bruce! Next week, Mrs. Louis Grider will be here with her owls at 2pm! Hope to see you there! ********************************* On Thursday, June 23rd, Mrs. Louis Grider brought her "hooting" owls for us all to enjoy! She talked about the screech owls, barn owls, bard owls, and the hoot owls! The kids were allowed to even pet one of the owls, too! Cool!
Wild West Show featuring Cowboy Bruce
Owls
Come enjoy a day of fun crafts with Mrs. Rosie on Tuesdays, June 1 - July 27 at 10:30 a.m.! This program is recommended for children ages 12 and younger!
********************
Craft Hour - Wands!
On Tuesday, June 1, Mrs. Roseanna Morgan hosted a Craft Hour for the kids! She read the book The Wizard, the Fairy, and the Magic Chicken by Helen Lester. In this book, they each are jealous of the others cool wands! The wizard had a moon wand, the fairy had a star wand, and the magic chicken had a pickle wand! Cool!
As a craft, the kids made their own wands! They got to choose either a star, moon, or pickle wand! Some even made one of each! They all turned out so cool! They colored a picture of one of the chosen wands and attached it to a popsicle stick to create their wand! After that they all had fun creating "spells" and "battling" each other magically!
Along with the wands, Mrs. Roseanna gave them a sheet of trivia questions to test their "speed and intelligence"! Can you solve a few?
1. Why can't a man living in Movile, AL be buried west of the Mississippi River?
2. Some months have 31 days, some 30. How many have 28?
3. How many birthdays does the average man have?
Next week, Mrs. Roseanna will be reading The Octopus Garden and the craft will be creating their own octopus!
Trivia answers: (1.) Because he's alive! (2.) 12-They all have at least 28 days! (3.) One-You only have one birthday!
*****************
Craft Hour - Octopus!
For Craft Hour on Tuesday, June 8, the children enjoyed learning all about the octopus and making their own, too! Mrs. Roseanne read a book about the different types of octopus and showed a video that went along with the story. After watching the video, the kids made their own octopus to take home!
To make the octopus, they were each given two paper plates. On the first paper plate, they colored the face of their octopus. The second plate, they cut into eight strips for the legs of the octopus! After cutting out the legs, they had help stapling them to their octopus head.
After creating all their octopus, they had a delicious snack! Yummy!
Next week, Mrs. Roseanne will be reading The Velveteen Rabbit and we'll be making Friendship sticks!
**************************
Craft Hour - Friendship Sticks
On Tuesday, June 15, the children enjoyed making friendship sticks and Father's Day gifts! Their friendship sticks were made using popsicle sticks that they decorated one side with stickers and crayons and the other side with their names. Then a piece of yarn was added to create a handy holder for it. Now they can trade their friendship sticks with one another, I wonder how many they'll collect! The Father's Day gift was a homemade plaque made out of a paper plate with any design they choose. They had crayons, stencils, and stickers to use to decorate their plaque!
Next week, Ms. Lou will be reading a good bug book and you guys will get to make your own bug!
***************************
Craft Hour - Bugs!
On Tuesday, June 22 the Children enjoyed making "Buggy" crafts! Their first craft was a huge grasshopper! They also made a ladybug!
To make the grasshopper, each child was given an empty two liter bottle, two googly eyes, wings, and legs for the grasshopper. Ms. Lou showed them where to put each part on the bottle. Once done, they all had fun hopping with their grasshoppers, and some even had a mock battle with them!
The ladybug was made using a black and red heart, two black strips, and a black oval. The red heart was cut in half and then glued onto the black heart at an angle to creat the effect of a flying ladybug. Then, they attached the black oval to the top for the head and the strips for the antennae. Once that was done they added black dots to the red heart halves to create the perfect ladybug! Cool!
Ms. Lou had an awesome surprise for all the kids today, too! They each left with a bug catching kit of their own! I'm sure they are going to have lots of fun this summer catching a lot of bugs!
**********************
Craft Hour - Jungle Time
On Tuesday, June 29 the children enjoyed listening to stories about the jungle and puppets. As a craft, they each made either a lion, elephant, or gorilla puppets! Cool!
**********************************
Craft Hour - Rikki Tikki Tavi
On Tuesday, July 6 the children enjoyed learning about Hawaii and their tikki gods! Mrs. Roseanna showed a short video about Hawaii with pictures of some of the native birds, tikki huts, and tikki gods.
Today they made two crafts. One was a tikki god mask using a pattern that they designed themselves. After coloring their mask, they made a paper rose using cut out hearts and petals! Cool!
Next week, we'll be learning all about NASA!
****************
Craft Hour - 3..2..1..Blast Off!
For Craft Hour on Tuesday, July 13 the children learned all about NASA and outer space!
They watched a slide show of the planets, rockets, constellations, and all sorts of NASA stuff! She also showed them pictures of the Space Station, a robot, and a real astronaut! Cool!
For a craft, they made a sun dial! Using a diagram, they cut and folded as instructed. Then cut a hole through the top for a spot for the popsicle stick. The sun dial works in such a way that the shadow from the popsicle sticks aligns with the current time! Cool!
*****************
Craft Hour: Maracas
On Tuesday, July 20, the children made maracas for Craft Hour!
To make them, they were each two empty Easter Eggs. Next, they counted out 5 beans for each egg. After putting the beans into the eggs and closing them, they sealed them shut with decorative stickers. There were some maracas with dolphins and seashells, and even a few with mermaids! Cool!
Summer Reading Program
Make a Splash @ your Library!
For articles, please visit the Summer Reading Program '10 page!
Teen Movie Day
Teens and pre-teens, come enjoy a movie with us on Thursdays, June 3 - July 29 at 1:00 p.m.! We'll be showing recent releases that you are all sure to enjoy! You don't want to miss out on this!
Sherlock Holmes, G.I. Joe (2009), Leap Year, Old Dogs, Did You Hear About the Morgans?, The Box, Valentine's Day, The Fourth Kind, When in Rome
Game Day
On Fridays, June 4 - July 30, from 2:00 p.m. till 4:00 p.m., come enjoy playing video games and board games with us! Ms. Lou has bunches of games to play, so be sure to come on out and have some fun!
***************
Let's Dance!
On Friday, July 16 the children enjoyed playing lots of games! They had fun solving puzzles and dancing with XBox 360 games. And, of course, we can't forget about all the fun with Twister! Cool!
*************
More Rocking out Twister Style!
On Friday, July 9 the children enjoyed playing lots of different games together! Everyone had a chance rocking out with Rock Band again! We had some really good guitar players and singers to play with us!
Some chose to play Twister and get all twisted together! At one point there were almost 6 kids playing Twister, it was hilarious to see how twisted and knotted up they were!
A few girls got together and played The Littlest Pet Shop: Hideaway Haven! Some also played Guess Who!
****************
Rockin' Out Twister Style
On Friday, July 2 the children enjoyed playing lots of games today! They got all twisted into knots while playing "Twister"! They rocked out with Rockband on the guitars and lost their marbles with Kerplunk!
Kerplunk!
On Friday, June 11, the children enjoyed playing many games! Many games were played and they all enjoyed it, too! A few played Goofy Skateboarding at the computer, while another small group played Scrabble Slam. The biggest hit of the day; however, was Kerplunk! With this game, the kids had to make sure none of the marbles in the container fell through when they pulled one of the many criss-crossed sticks. Also, three of the older kids had a blast putting on an impromptu puppet show of "Random Things"!
*********************
Let's go Scavenging!
On Friday, June 4, the children enjoyed having a blast playing games for a few hours! Their first game was a Pictureka card game in which they had to find pictures that started with a designated letter! Cool! After playing a few rounds of that fun game, they had a scavenger hunt where they had to find hidden temporary "Read" tattoos around the Children's Section! They had so much fun with that, that we even hid some toy blocks hidden so they could play again! Another game they tried was Scrabble Slam, a fun word game! After all this fun and games, they enjoyed a variety of delicious snacks! Yum, Yum!
Popcorn & a Movie
Twice a month there was a Popcorn & a Movie program for kids of all ages! Check out what great movies we watched!
Alice in Wonderland (2010), The Spy Next Door, The Magic School Bus: Human Body, Osmosis Jones
Footprint on the Sky: Memories of a Chandler Mountain Spring
