Our Summer Reading Program isn’t just about logging your reading minutes to earn prizes – it’s also all about the PROGRAMS! Grab your calendars; the READ, RENEW, REPEAT – 2024 Summer Reading Program schedule is here! Never participated in a Summer Reading Program before? Well, there’s no time like the present! Last year our registered readers logged a total of 765,778 minutes of reading. Help us beat the reading record again this year by registering now!
Registration swag bags can be picked up starting June 7 at 2pm at our Kick-off Party that will feature a scavenger hunt, crafts, games, and SRP registration assistance. We have grand prizes for the top three reading-minute-loggers in each age group!
June 7 · 2pm – 4pm | Kick Off Party | ALL AGES |
June 11 · 2pm | Military Working Dogs Demo | CHILDREN |
June 12 · 10:30am | Candle Making | ADULTS |
June 13 · 2pm | Make An Upcycled Mosaic | TWEENS/TEENS |
June 18 · 2pm | EOD & Recycled Robots | CHILDREN |
June 20 · 2pm | EOD & Egg Drop | TWEENS/TEENS |
June 22 · 10:30 | Plant propagation | ADULTS |
June 25 · 2pm | Yoga | CHILDREN |
June 26 · 6pm | Silent Book Club | ADULTS |
June 27 · 2pm | Yoga | TWEENS/TEENS |
July 2 · 2pm | Paint a Pot & Seed Starter | CHILDREN |
July 3 · 10:30am | Macrame Plant Holder | ADULTS |
July 9 · 2pm | Recycling Center Demo | CHILDREN |
July 10 · 6pm | British Trivia Night | ADULTS |
July 11 · 2pm | Airman’s Attic Scavenger & Shopping | TWEENS/TEENS |
July 16 · 2pm | Bird Feeders | CHILDREN |
July 18 · 2pm | Competitive Puzzling | TWEENS/TEENS |
July 20 · 10:30am | Upcycling with Tie Dye | ALL AGES |
July 23 · 2pm | Make a Bug House | CHILDREN |
July 24 · 10:30am | Book Art | ADULTS |
July 25 · 2pm | Book Art | TWEENS/TEENS |
July 26 · 2pm – 4pm | Finale Party | ALL AGES |
Do you have a hard time staying focused long enough to read?
Some of us in the Marketing office also struggle with this! We have dabbled with listening to different audios while reading to help drown out any distracting background noise. You can find audios such as brown, white, and pink noise on Youtube and Spotify. Give it a listen next time you pick up a good book!
Limited research supports brown noise helping concentration, but some studies indicate white or pink noise may be beneficial. Brown noise is a low-frequency background sound that has become popular recently, especially among people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Iavarone, S. (2023, May 25). Can Brown Noise Help People with ADHD? Healthline. https://www.healthline.com/health/adhd/brown-noise-adhd
10 Reasons to Make Reading a Habit
Strengthens Your Brain
Research shows that reading can rewire your brain, create new neural networks and strengthen the white matter in the corpus callosum, which enhances communication between the two brain hemispheres. This allows you to process information more efficiently, helping you learn faster.
Reduces Your Stress
According to a 2009 study conducted at Sussex University, reading reduces your stress levels by up to 68%. In as little as six minutes of being immersed in a book, your heart rate slows, your blood pressure lowers, and your muscles begin to relax.
Strengthens Your Brain
Research shows that reading can rewire your brain, create new neural networks, and strengthen the white matter in the corpus callosum, which enhances communication between the two brain hemispheres. This allows you to process information more efficiently, helping you learn faster.
Expands Your Knowledge
In this digital era, it might be easy to believe that you can only get useful information from a simple Google search. While it may be tempting to believe that multimedia can expand or increase learning, research indicates that the positive impact seen from these types of teaching styles are minimal without reading as the core teaching module.
Improves Your Memory
Studies show that reading improves memory through constantly engaging your brain. You’re working your verbal recall while keeping your short-term and long-term memory activated as you track the information or story line, depending on the type of book.
Improves Your Concentration and Focus
It takes twenty-three minutes to get your focus back on track after being distracted. When you block out undistracted reading time, you’re exercising your focus and concentration muscles. The longer you stay engaged in the book, the more you’re rewarding focus instead of distraction. This will help increase your attention span, making it easier to concentrate on day-to-day tasks.
Improves Your Vocabulary
Researchers at the Centre for Longitudinal Studies found that children who read for pleasure in their spare time knew 26% more words than their non-reading peers! The more you read, the more language you’re exposed to, increasing your vocabulary one book at a time.
Improves Your Communication Skills
Your brain stores the linguistic style of the books you read, which help you strengthen your ability to communicate clearly, both in written and verbal forms. Reading also gives you the ability to see things from someone else’s point of view. You encounter new ideas and gain new ways of looking at the world, and that empathy helps you interact more effectively with the people around you.
Improves Your Mental Health
Reading helps you feel connected to the world in a unique way! You can read about and form connections with characters that are going through something that you might relate to, and studies show that identifying with a character going through a similar struggle alleviates feelings of isolation and loneliness in individuals. You can also find other people reading similar books that you are, and forge friendships based on your shared hobby. Reading groups and book clubs are fantastic ways to do this.
Reading is Entertainment
Reading is a healthy form of entertainment and can help provide endless opportunities to learn and improve, both personally and professionally. In the same way that puzzles are good for the brain, reading keeps your brain active and engaged, which leads to better brain health.
Kwik, J. (2023, February 25). 10 brain reasons to make Reading a Habit – Jim Kwik – medium. Medium. https://kwikbrain.medium.com/10-brain-reasons-to-make-reading-a-habit-aa628d4b498c