Rainwater Library
Story Hours
Bi-monthly Program
The Earle A. Rainwater Memorial Library
provides a work-study program for at-risk children living in government housing in
Childersburg. This program has been in affect for two years now and the number of
children attending is continuously growing. During the first year the children were
introduced to the various aspects of the library. They were taught to use the
reference section as well as the computers.
The older group consists of children ages 9-18.
Characters from history and science are the main focus for instruction.
The younger groups consists of children ages
4-8. The main objective in the lessons is character education.
Barbara Curry reading to a group of children
Summer Story Hours
- The Earle A. Rainwater Memorial Library offers a variety of events in the summer for the children of Childersburg and the surrounding areas.
- There is a weekly movie day on Wednesdays at 1:00p.m. Disney movies will be shown and popcorn will be served for snack.
- Story Hour for the two local government housing neighborhoods will be Tuesdays and Fridays at 4:00p.m.-5:00p.m.
- Story Hour for the children in the Summer Reading Program will be every Thursday at 11:30a.m.-12:30p.m.
New Children's Room
We are proud to have a new Children's Room!
We have been working hard to convert the Alabama Room into a children's room for
the past month. The children enjoy the new room and all the new additions such as
the TV/VCR, video check-out and games.
Tips on Having a Successful Story Hour
- Become familiar with any at-risk community in your area.
- Apply for grants for children's services.
- Don't be afraid to spend you own money. Smaller libraries may not have the funds to support a program fully so librarians often spend their own money on materials.
- Be patient with the program at first. It may have a rocky start but it will grow with time.
- Show enthusiasm when you are instructing. Children pick up on emotions so when you are excited about a subject, they become excited as well.
- Choose topics of interest. Ask the children if they have certain ideas that they would like to discuss. Also create small science experiments that all the children can comprehend no matter the age.
- Invite guest speakers to come to talk to the children. The D.A.R.E. officer, K-9 unit, fire fighter and paramedics are poplar guest for the children. Also, any volunteers that could dress up as certain story characters would be nice.
- *Read educational magazines for ideas.
- *Use the Internet. The Internet is a great resource for educators. If offers free lesson plans, patterns, ideas and other materials that you may need for a session.