Harrington News

With ten young scientists-in-the-making present, the Harrington Library concluded its normal Summer Reading Program on July 31 and awarded five certificates for perfect attendance, those being Kaydence Brown, Annika Walters, Laurel Victor, William Victor and Ethan Victor.

The science portion of the program focused this week on the creation of jitterbugs, dragonflies and bumble bees. Stacey DeWald kept the children actively getting their parts ready while Bridget Rohner was heating the glue gun to administer the necessary part to hold the creations together. Six legs. Insects have six legs, and the jitterbugs, the dragon flies and the bumble bees were not allowed to have more or less. The bees were made on puppet-like sticks, so in theory they would be able to fly. The bodies were begun with construction paper and yarn was added, yellow in abundance, and black more sparingly.

All children are aware that bees have stingers, and once their bees had the stinger in place, these children caused their bees to be animated and attempted to sting the other children. Needless to say, Stacey and Bridget kept this activity to a minimum.

The dragonflies were less exciting, but probably due to the children not having been stung by a dragonfly. All the children loved the jitterbugs. These creatures were formed from a CD which had wires and then pipe cleaners attached for legs. They were able to stand about three to four inches off the table. Duct tape aided in attaching these legs. Hot glue caused the pom-pom balls to cling to the CD and hide the duct tape. A tiny motor and tiny battery were added and these bugs were suddenly in motion. Giggling could be heard from outside their reading room when they saw their finished products.

The dedication of the WSU County Extension office worker, Bridget Rohner, is a wonderful asset to the small Harrington Public Library, and created a wonderful program that otherwise would not have occured.

Each of the weekly sessions in Harrington had two specific scientific experiments that were addressed with the children, which took hours of prior preparation to make it successful with the children. In addition, Bridget became familiar with the $1,000 worth of new reading materials and chose appropriate read-aloud books that would coordinate with the science lesson for that week.

Bridget with her fine assistant, Stacey DeWald, caused a world of science to open before the children's eyes and lives, and created a safe environment in which the children could learn. They kept the children interested and were able to separate sibling rivals and turn frowns into smiles in short order. Their talent and professionalism were greatly appreciated by the Harrington library and the parents of these new scientists.

Please support their work by looking for them at the Lincoln County Fair where Bridget will decorate her booth with art work from the Harrington children. Some of the children might be quite proud to see their handiwork at the county fair.

Since the parents and children found the July Summer Reading Program so successful and fun, it is now being extended for the month of August, Thursdays only, 3-5 p.m. with a slightly altered platform.

Staff will present children's movies, have reading time, coloring or activities time, and a story time. Helpers that are committed to seeing this program continue include Meka Eaton, Terry Howe and Stacey DeWald. Although only ten were present July 31, each seemed likely to come for the August session. Some of the other parents had asked if we would offer a program in August, so we are hopeful that there will be a strong turnout.

Potential movies for the program are available for parents to check on Tuesdays prior to the Thursday showing. Since the library has a wide selection of movies available, we are not concerned about refusing to show some of them. Providing a safe and fun social time for the children is one of our goals.