Library provides STEAM lesson to Hawthorne Elementary

The Lorain Public Library System ventured Oct. 18 to Hawthorne Elementary School, 610 W. 20th St. in Lorain, to provide a lesson to the students as part of their outreach program.

The program, Discovery on the Go, sponsored by the Lorain Public Library System Foundation, and implemented by board of directors Joanne Eldridge Tucker and Gloria J. Buxton, includes resources to provide a Science Technology Engineering Art and Math (STEAM) lesson for the students at Hawthorne.

“We want to provide the additional hands-on learning experience STEAM provides for the elementary students in Lorain,” Buxton said. “We have lessons created that adhere to the Ohio State Standards of education.

“The program works with what the teachers are teaching, and we are looking to expand to other elementary schools in the Lorain City School District as the program continues. I want to personally thank Stephanie Alexander-Johnson, the principal at Hawthorne, for opening up her doors and making this possible.”

Brittany Craig, outreach librarian for the Library System, said the Oct. 18 program’s main focus was on germs.

“We have a book that will be read to the students and then a craft will be done,” Craig said. “They are short books, and we have two different books that will be read depending on grade level.

“We will then have the students grab some craft supplies to make their own germ.”

Craig said the program is open-ended.

“The grades vary in the school, so the program is adaptable,” she said. “The students are able to create the germ how they see fit. Allowing them to make whatever they want, keeps them invested.”

Craig said it takes time to properly prepare the lesson.

“We have a guide that allows us to know the state standards and adapt the lesson accordingly,” she said. “We make sure it’s aligned with what the teachers have them learning.

“The program also has to incorporate aspects of STEAM. In this case, we have life science and visual arts represented.”

Craig said the outreach programs adds another dimension to the library.

“We get out and come to where the community is,” she said. “It makes things more accessible, and it allows us to meet people in the community so we know them when we see them later at the library or at another event.”