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Children made guitars during Storytime at Scurry County Library Tuesday morning. The library’s summer reading program will be available for children ages two through high school through July 18.
The 2018 summer reading program at the Scurry County Library is off to a good start this year.
As of last week, Children’s Librarian Amy Hodges said there were 341 participants and that 676 reading hours had already been turned in.
Last year, the library had 316 participants at the end of the program with an estimated 2,300 hours submitted.
“I think the summer reading program is going fabulous this year,” Hodges said. “We’ve had good attendance so far, and the parking lot has been full every time.”
Though attendance is soaring, Hodges encourages more children to sign up.
“They can still sign up throughout the summer,” she said. “After they turn in three reading hours, they can start winning prizes and coupons. We still have plenty of prizes to give away because our local businesses have really stepped up this year.”
Prizes include coupons, pencils, T-shirts, book bags, iTunes gift cards, bluetooth headphones and other items.
Participants may register at the library through July 13. The summer reading program will end July 18 with an awards ceremony.
The theme of this year’s program is “Libraries Rock.” Activities will include a swim party on June 27 and a rock ’n’ roll 1950s show and dress up day on July 11.
Children ages two through five meet at 10:30 a.m. Tuesdays. Children ages six through 11 meet at 10:30 a.m. Wednesdays. Junior high school and high school students meet at 10:30 a.m. Thursdays.
Though several activities are scheduled for the summer, Library Director Linda Jones said that reading is the most important part.
“The biggest thing is that school-age kids, especially those who are just beginning to read, will slide throughout the summer,” she said. “Their reading levels will decline between now and when school starts. If they want to get better at reading, they need to practice.”
Every age group will keep a reading log throughout the summer to keep track of the amount of time they spend reading. Time will be kept in 15-minute increments, such as 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 45 minutes, one hour and so on.