2012 Dream Big...Read!

The 2012 Summer Reading theme was Dream Big...Read! At the Chester County Library the youth services department chose to focus on the sky and the night as the main themes. We decided to focus the Infomaniacs program on learning about high-interest concepts like animals and space. This was the schedule for the summer.

Week 1: Dream Big! Space Stations
Week 2: Dream Big! Amazing Animals - How They Sleep
Week 3: Dream Big! Spectacular Stars
Week 4: Dream Big! Going Batty
Week 5: Dream Big! Clouds

Here are a few books that may work for your program.
Life on a Space Station
Animal Hibernation
Icarus at the Edge of Time
Fly Guy Presents: Bats
Clouds (younger audience)
Clouds (older audience)

2013 Dig into Reading

The 2013 Summer Reading theme was Dig into Reading! At the Chester County Library the youth services department chose to focus on the underground. We decided to focus the Infomaniacs program on things that could be found underground and the people who may have put them underground... or who found them! This was the schedule for the summer.

Week 1: I Dig Buried Treasure!
Week 2: I Dig Gardening!
Week 3: I Dig Rocks and Minerals!
Week 4: I Dig Underground Animals!
Week 5: I Dig Dinosaurs!
Week 6: I Dig Mummies!

Here are a few activities from this summer.
Arr, Matey
Pirate Fact or Fiction 
Magic Treasure Rocks
Glove Gardening
Dinosaur Rocks

Here are a few books that may work for your program.
How to Be a Pirate
I Wonder Why Pirates Wore Earrings
Seed to Plant
Animals Under Our Feet
Ants
How the Dinosaur got to the Museum
Dinosaurs Big and Small
A Kid's Life in Ancient Egypt

2014 Fizz! Boom! Read!

The 2014 Summer Reading theme was Fizz! Boom! Read! At the Chester County Library the youth services department chose to focus on experiments, science, and hands-on learning. We decided to focus the Infomaniacs program on reading informational text directions to complete an experiment for all sessions. This was the schedule for the summer.

Week 1: Fizz! Boom! SLIME!
Week 2: Fizz! Boom! ICE CREAM!
Week 3: Fizz! Boom! CATAPULT!
Week 4: Fizz! Boom! BUBBLE!
Week 5: Fizz! Boom! FLY!
Week 6: Fizz! Boom! SNOW!

Here are three examples of the experiment guides each child took home.
Bouncy Ball
Marshmallow and Stick Building
Marshmallow Catapults

Here are a few books that may work for your program.
Joe-Joe the Wizard Brews Up Solids, Liquids, and Gases
Change It! Solids, liquids, gases and you
Milk to Ice Cream  
Oobleck, Slime & Dancing Spaghetti  (resource, not real aloud)

2015 Every Hero Has a Story

The 2015 Summer Reading theme was Every Hero Has a Story. At the Chester County Library the youth services department chose to focus on biographies and real heroes. We decided to focus the Infomaniacs program on artists and different styles of artwork. This was the schedule for the summer.

Week 1- O'Keeffe's Story
Week 2 - Kandinsky's Story
Week 3 - Warhol's Story
Week 4 - Mondrian's Story
Week 5 - Calder's Story
Week 6 - Monet's Story
Week 7 - Graphic Novels tell a story

Here are some resources used during this program.
Hey Kids, Meet Wassily Kandinsky 
Graphic Novel Template
Tree Sculpture Instructions 

Here are a few books that may work for your program.
Georgia's Bones
The Noisy Paint Box
Fabulous! A Portrait of Andy Warhol
Sandy's Circus
Art Panels, BAM! Speech Bubbles, POW! Writing your own graphic novel
A Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippin 

The Presentation Slide Show

Thank you for attending the program Infomaniacs! Using Informational Text in School-Aged Programming at the Pennsylvania Library Association (PaLA) Annual Conference in State College, PA on October 6, 2015.

Click here to review the presentation.

More Great Ideas!

Please visit our dedicated Pinterest board with Summer Reading Club ideas. These boards include all the ideas we liked; some we used, some we didn't. Many of the ideas inspired Infomaniacs! programs, the others we are holding on to, just in case we need them!
https://www.pinterest.com/amintschenko/

To contact the presenters: 

April Mintschenko, Youth Services Outreach Librarian
Chester County Library
amintschenko@ccls.org

 Meghan Lynch, Business Outreach Librarian
Chester County Library
mlynch@ccls.org