Resources for Children
2020 Summer Reading Program: Imagine Your Story
The 2020 Summer Reading Program kicks off on June 22 and continues through August 3.
First, parents or guardians can register their children by stopping by or calling the Deltaville or Urbanna Branch Libraries at 804-776-7362 or 804-758-5717. Each child, from 2 ½ years old to rising 8th graders, will receive a reading log, and children up to rising 5th graders will also receive a weekly schedule of story times and virtual performances. Registration will allow each child to participate in the age-appropriate reading contest and ensure a craft kit is available each week for children up to rising 5th graders.
Two professional virtual performances by educational entertainers will also be shared on this website and the Middlesex Library’s Facebook page.
- Sciencetellers’ “Dragons: Return of the Ice Sorceress”: Click here to watch a super “cool” mix of science and story telling.
- Bright Star Theatre’s “Happily Ever After.” Click here to watch a silly, fun performance of Aesop’s Fables.
Weekly story times will be both virtual and outdoors (weather permitting). For the virtual story times, Ms. Mary Ann will read a story for 2 ½ year olds through rising 1st grade, and another one for rising 2nd grade through rising 5th grade each week. A video of the story times will be posted on the Library’s YouTube channel and on the Library’s Facebook page. Starting June 23, the outdoors story times will be at 10:30 A.M. on Tuesdays at the Deltaville Branch, and 10:30 A.M. on Wednesdays at the Urbanna Branch through July 29. Families are asked to bring their own blanket or chairs to sit on and to maintain social distancing between family groups. Craft kits will be available for children to take home at the outdoors story times, as well as available for pick up at the branch libraries. Each week will have a different focus: fairy tales, fractured fairy tales, dragons, unicorns, mermaids, and folk tales.
For the reading contests, children (or parents and guardians) are encouraged to bring in the reading logs weekly to the Library so the child’s progress is recorded and to receive a craft kit. The top three winners in each age group up to rising 5th graders will receive a T-shirt and hard cover book. All other participants will receive their own paperback book at the end of the program and other small goodies. The reading contest prizes for rising 6th graders through rising 8th graders will consist of Amazon gift cards for first, second, and third place, and a free book for all participants. All reading logs will need to be turned in by August 3. Winners will be notified starting August 4.
The summer reading program is designed to keep children engaged in reading and listening over the summer break. Studies show that children who engage in recreational reading can keep up their skill levels over the summer break.
Early World of Learning, World Book Online’s early childhood digital resource, is a child’s first encyclopedia, eBook, and introduction to core early concepts. With read-aloud across all functions, the 60 stories in “World of Reading” and “Trek’s Travels” tie learning together through videos, games, and printable activities. Twelve stories are available in both Spanish and English, and the worksheets also offer written instructions in Spanish. Classic songs, nursery rhymes, and fairy tales complete the program, and are often included in the lesson plan for each story. Just type in your library card number and you’re off!
NoveList K-8 Plus is a comprehensive reading resource for children’s fiction and nonfiction. With a fun and intuitive interface, and extensive proprietary content, NoveList K-8 Plus will help you integrate reading across the curriculum and support your young readers. Click on the logo to start!
Explora High School, Explora Middle School, and Explora Primary School databases provide content suitable to students in each school level. Features include a simple search that quickly delivers relevant results and easy-to-browse categories organized by popular topic.
Kids InfoBits meets the research needs of students in Kindergarten through Grade 5. It features a developmentally appropriate, visually graphic interface, a subject-based topic tree search and full-text, age-appropriate, curriculum-related magazine, newspaper and reference content for information on current events, the arts, science, health, people, government, history, sports and more.
E-Books
Children’s and young adult ebooks are available through Overdrive and RBDigital.
