We're halfway through Summer Reading!

The first half of our Summer Reading program here at the Watertown Free Public Library has been a great success! 266 readers have signed up and together we’ve logged 783 hours! We’ve already reached our first two reading goals, so we’ve been able to donate a flock of chicks and honeybees to Heifer International!

We’ve also been growing a garden that kids have helped us maintain. We’ve already harvested basil, spearmint, a pepper and, just recently, our very first tomato!

The summer has been full of wonderful programs! Here's a recap of a handful of them.

We started the summer with a Kick-Off program where kids signed up and got to make their own buttons!

Each week, kids have participated in grade-level book discussions in our Lunch Bunch program, always followed by delicious pizza donated by Regina Pizzeria.

Families have loved our weekly music programs, each Tuesday at 11:00 a.m. These programs are perfect for the 5 and under crowd. We’ve enjoyed Ed Morgan, Kids ‘N Harmony, and just look at the kids dancing with Debbie and Friends!

Wednesdays at 1:30 p.m. we have programs for elementary aged children. Illusionist David Garrity dazzled us with Magic and Beyond. Kids learned about a wide variety of animals in our Animal World Experience program (pictured above), and even got to hold some of them. PuppeTree presented a fantastic rendition of the classic picture book Caps for Sale. And Keith Michael Johnson presented the fun and educational Wild about Weather.

Every Thursday, kids in grades 3-5 get a chance for some hands-on participation in Mad Science! So far they’ve learned about Electricity, Mad Messages, and Energy Burst! The Energy Burst program (pictured above) included learning about kinetic energy using catapults.

Fridays, kids in grades K-5 have a chance for some Unplugged fun! We started with a Super Hero Party (pictured above) where kids showed off their super powers playing “Pass the Cryptonite.” They’ve also created Candy Sculptures, and read to therapy dogs in our Dog B.O.N.E.S. program.

To see more photos of our amazing programs, check out our Facebook page! And be sure to check out our online calendar to find out what’s going on for the rest of the summer! There’s still tons of fun on the way!

Week 3 Guessing Jar Winner

Congratulations to Christina, this week's Guessing Jar winner! Christina guessed that the jar contained 2,000 coffee beans, and it contained 1,803. She chose a Jenga set as her prize.

Don't miss your chance to guess! This week, the Guessing Jar contains Swedish Fish. How many do you think there are?

Buzz Buzz! We've donated honeybees!

We've reached our second reading goal of the summer! We just passed 700 hours, which means we're donating honeybees through Heifer International! To find out more about how honeybees help struggling communities, visit Heifer International's website.

We're on our way to our next goal of donating tree seedlings if we read 1000 hours, so keep reading and keep coming to the library to log your hours!

Another Guessing Jar Winner!

Congratulations to our second Guessing Jar winner, Matthew! He guessed closest to the correct number of Italian Glitterati candies in our jar. He won his choice of prizes and chose a giant ball, perfect for these sunny days!

Don't miss your chance at winning! Stop in at the library and try guessing the number of coffee beans (from South America) in this week's Guessing Jar.

We did it!

Congratulations readers of Watertown! Together, we've read 353 hours! That means that we've reached our first reading goal, so we'll be able to donate a flock of chicks to Heifer International and help others around the world!

You can find out more about how donating a flock of chicks will help a struggling community by visiting Heifer International's website.

Keep reading everybody! We've still got three more goals to go! Remember to come into the library and log your hours, and don't forget about our great programs too!

Our First Guessing Jar Winner!

Congratulations to Christopher, the first winner or our weekly guessing jar contest! He had the closest guess as to how many NECCO wafers were in our guessing jar (he guessed 90, and there were 83). He got to choose a prize and chose an Uno Spin game!

Would you like a chance to win? Each week we'll have a candy from a different country in our guessing jar. You can stop in and guess how many are in the jar every week until August 17.

Good luck!