Kids (and Grownups) can Experience the Thrill of Science at Free Demonstration at Rutgers and many wonderful area events this month.

 

For December Events at Bridgewater Library, click here:  http://bwlibys.blogspot.com/2013/11/holiday-happenings-at-bridgewater.html

Family Events Around Our Community:

SCIENCE EXCITEMENT AT RUTGERS THIS WEEKEND.

Exploding hydrogen balloons, a physics professor lying on a bed of nails, shattering glass through the use of sound, and much more!

Rutgers University Department of Physics and Astronomy presents their annual Rutgers Faraday Christmas Children's Lecture – an amazing science demo.  (Get there early if you want to get seats at the live show!)

View all shows anywhere over the internet via youtube via this streaming link. Note: overflow seating will be accommodated via an internet TV link to an adjacent classroom.

Speaking of science on the Internet, check out this article:
SCIENTISTS QUIT THEIR DAY JOBS, HEAD OVER TO YOUTUBE
From NPR’s Marketplace:

In the last year, YouTube has become the place to watch really smart people with advanced degrees hold forth on science. The top science channels got hundreds of millions of views with their zippy explanations of dark matter and the periodic table. "Education" videos on YouTube now get twice as many views as "Pets & Animals" videos, according to the company. Science nerds are officially beating out the cat playing a piano, that old juggernaut of online video.

Vsauce, the top YouTube science show, averages 20 million viewers a month—something in the range of NBC’s Sunday Night Football audience. Minute Physics, Crash Course, SciShow and The Brain Scoop are a few of the several shows producing fun, compelling science videos. Even Bill Nye the Science Guy, who hosted an Emmy Award-winning show on PBS in the nineties, has made guest appearances on online shows like ASAP Science.    [MORE]


RARITAN VALLEY SYMPHONIC BAND PRESENTS: A SYMPHONIC CELEBRATION



DREAMCATCHER PRESENTS HOLIDAY SPECIAL IN SUMMIT

CELEBRATE A 1920s CHRISTMAS @ FOSTERFIELDS HISTORIC FARM

www.morrisparks.net

www.morrisparks.net

ADAPTATION OF STORIES WRITTEN BY CHILDREN @ THE BICKFORD THEATRE

The Bickford Theatre at the Morris Museum announces

The Christmas That Almost Wasn’t

WHEN: Sunday, December 8, 2:00 PM
WHERE: Bickford Theatre in the Morris Museum, 6 Normandy Heights Rd., Morristown
TICKETS: $10 for Museum members; $12 for non-members; $9 for groups (20 or more).
To purchase tickets, please call 973.971.3706.
The Christmas That Almost Wasn't provides a special behind-the-scenes peek at the hustle bustle, and near disasters of the Christmas season. Adapted entirely from stories written by children, the play includes three acts. InDinky, The Dancing Reindeer, one of Santa’s reindeer can't decide if she wants to be a dancer or a member of the sleigh team. How Santa Got Well tells the story of an illness that keeps Santa at home on Christmas Eve until a cure appears from the most unlikely of places. Finally, in Santa and the Witch, Santa falls under a witch’s sleeping spell.
The Christmas that Almost Wasn’t is recommended for children ages three to nine. The play is produced by Child's Play Touring Theatre of Chicago, Illinois.

1940s STYLE “LIVE” RADIO SHOW IN DUNELLEN FOR 1 NIGHT ONLY

Dunellen Skylight Theatre Productions presents
WDST Christmas!
A 1940’s style one night only “live” radio show event. A flashback to our past, the show will feature 1940’s songs, classic carols, stories, refreshments, and good old fashioned Christmas fun for ALL!
WHEN: Friday, December 13, at 7:30 PM
WHERE: St. John’s Auditorium, Corner of Washington Ave and First St. Dunellen
ADMISSION: Free-will donation at the door. Suggested donation of $10. For more information visit us on Facebook or e-maildunellenskylight@yahoo.com

LITTLE-PERFORMED “PERICLES” TO GRACE STNJ STAGE THIS HOLIDAY SEASON

Costume renderings by Jayoung Yoon.
To learn more about this production of "Pericles," click here for the interactive Know the Show Guide!

MULTI-CULTURAL CELEBERATION OF HOLIDAY SPRIIT @ CROSSROADS THEATRE: KIDS UNDER 12 GO FREE!

7 LIVINGSTON AVE. NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ 08901
www.crossroadstheatrecompany.org






http://search.mycentraljersey.com/localevents/event//62512-Sensitive-Santa-for-Children-with-Autism-Special-Needs

Thanks to Ruth Ross of njartsmaven.com for some of these listings!



LET YOUR FINGERS DO MORE WALKING!

Best Kids Books of 2013

Bianca Schulze | November 20, 2013 |

The moment you have been waiting for … as picked by the editors and contributors of The Children’s Book Review, here are the best kids books of 2013.

• Best Board Books
• Best Picture Books
• Best Elementary & Middle Grade Books
• Best Young Adult Novels
• Best Series with 2013 Releases

Best Board Books

TouchThinkLearn: Colors

By Xavier Deneux
Introducing TouchThinkLearn books, a format unlike any other. Combining scooped-out die-cuts with raised, shaped elements, each book is designed to offer the youngest learners an irresistible opportunity to explore their universe in a hands-on, multisensory way. Seeing the image, tracing its shape, saying its name: these modes of perception combine in a dynamic way to stimulate understanding of essential concepts. Experience green both in the beauty of a raised leaf’s surface as well as in the caterpillar that munches on the leaf’s edge. Celebrate a moon rising into the night, while simultaneously a sun sets deep into the mirroring page. Translating abstract thought into tangible knowledge, groundbreaking TouchThinkLearn books give early learning new dimension.
Ages 0-4 | Publisher: Chronicle Books | July 23, 2013 | ISBN-13: 978-1452117263

Check out the full list of the best board books of 2013.

Best Picture Books

Maps

By Aleksandra Mizielinska & Daniel Mizielinski
Travel the world without leaving your living room.
This book of maps is a visual feast for readers of all ages, with lavishly drawn illustrations from the incomparable Mizielinskis. It features not only borders, cities, rivers, and peaks, but also places of historical and cultural interest, eminent personalities, iconic animals and plants, cultural events, and many more fascinating facts associated with every region of our planet.
Ages 7-10 | Publisher: Big Picture Press | October 8, 2013 | ISBN-13: 978-0763668969

Check out the full list of the best picture books of 2013.

Best Elementary & Middle Grade Books

Counting by 7s

By Holly Goldberg Sloan

In the tradition of Out of My Mind, Wonder, and Mockingbird, this is an intensely moving middle grade novel about being an outsider, coping with loss, and discovering the true meaning of family.
Willow Chance is a twelve-year-old genius, obsessed with nature and diagnosing medical conditions, who finds it comforting to count by 7s. It has never been easy for her to connect with anyone other than her adoptive parents, but that hasn’t kept her from leading a quietly happy life . . . until now.
Suddenly Willow’s world is tragically changed when her parents both die in a car crash, leaving her alone in a baffling world. The triumph of this book is that it is not a tragedy. This extraordinarily odd, but extraordinarily endearing, girl manages to push through her grief. Her journey to find a fascinatingly diverse and fully believable surrogate family is a joy and a revelation to read.
Ages 10 and up | Publisher: Dial | August 29, 2013 | ISBN-13: 978-0803738553

Check out the full list of the best elementary and middle grade books of 2013.

Best Young Adult Novels

Rose Under Fire

By Elizabeth Wein
While flying an Allied fighter plane from Paris to England, American ATA pilot and amateur poet, Rose Justice, is captured by the Nazis and sent to Ravensbr ck, the notorious women’s concentration camp. Trapped in horrific circumstances, Rose finds hope in the impossible through the loyalty, bravery and friendship of her fellow prisoners. But will that be enough to endure the fate that’s in store for her?
Elizabeth Wein, author of the critically-acclaimed and best-selling Code Name Verity, delivers another stunning WWII thriller. The unforgettable story of Rose Justice is forged from heart-wrenching courage, resolve, and the slim, bright chance of survival.
Ages 15 and up | Publisher: Disney-Hyperion | September 10, 2013 | ISBN-13: 978-1423183099

Check out the full list of the best YA books of 2013.

Best Series with 2013 Release(s)

Heroes of Olympus

By Rick Riordan
Ages 10 and up

Check out the full list of the best kids series books of 2013.

Answers (and more like this) at: http://bedtimemath.org/big-balloon-bash/





The Affordable Care Act (ACA) takes effect in January, 2014.  By March, 2014 all Americans will be required by law to have health insurance.  The Somerset County Library System (SCLS) is hosting information and enrollment assistance services for individuals, families and small business owners at all ten branches through at least March, 2014.
The times and branch location information is as follows:

• Bound Brook LibraryThursdays, 3:30 PM – 8:00 PM
  Saturdays, 10:30 AM – 4:00 PM
• Bridgewater LibraryWednesdays, 3:30 PM – 8:00 PM
  Saturdays, 10:30 AM – 4:00 PM
• Hillsborough LibrarySaturdays, 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM (12/7/2013-3/29/2014)
• Manville LibraryMondays, 3:30 PM – 8:00 PM
  Saturdays, 10:30 AM – 4:00 PM
• Mary Jacobs LibraryThursdays, 3:30 PM – 8:00 PM
• North Plainfield LibraryTuesdays, 3:30 PM – 8:00 PM
  Saturdays, 10:30 AM – 4:00 PM
• Peapack Gladstone Library1^St Saturday and 3^rd Wednesday
  (12/7/13 to 3/19/14)
• Somerville Library12/17/13, 11:00 AM
  1/14/2014, 3:00 PM
  2/11/2014, 6:00 PM
  3/11/2014, 11:00 AM
• Warren LibraryMondays, 3:30 PM – 8:00 PM
  (1/6/14, 2/3/14, 3/3/14, 4/7/14)
• Watchung LibraryFridays, 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM

The enrollment assistance programs are being offered cost free to all Somerset County residents.  Partnering with the CognoSante, on behalf of the US Department of Health, SCLS is offering this service to help local residents in obtaining the health care insurance coverage they will need.
Information that applicants will need to bring in order to complete the enrollment process includes:

• Current healthcare insurance (if applies) and policy numbers
• Information about health care coverage available through current jobs
• Social security numbers (or documentation for legal immigrants)
• Household income
• Employer and income information verification for every member of household requiring coverage (pay stubs or W-2 forms are acceptable)

“We recognized a need for navigating through the ACA process as it is often confusing.  By partnering with CognoSante, we are happy to provide this service,” noted Mun Hwa Chen, head of adult services.
Patrons with further questions can call SCLS at (908)526-4016 extension 105 or visit the website at http://www.sclsnj.org.