New Year--New Skills, New Possibilities for Kids and Families…at the Bridgewater Library, Around the Area, and Across the Net

 

Somerset County Library System’s New Year, New Skills, New You initiative has several suggestions for families:

• Read and sing with your child every day. How we can help: All 10 SCLSNJ library branches regularly offer story time and sing along programs. Click here to view the calendar.
  
• Learn a new language. How we can help: Learning a new language has never been easier. As an SCLSNJ library cardholder, you have free access to online language and culture learning software. Adults can learn over 60 different languages, including Spanish, Mandarin, and even Pirate, using Mango Languages. Kids can learn new languages with us too! – links coming soon!
  
• Keep connected. How we can help: World happenings are at your fingertips with free access to 70 magazines (including some for kids through teens) through Flipster and free onsite access to The New York Times online. Learn how to use social media in an SCLSNJ tech class - and then connect with us at facebook.com/SCLSNJ and twitter.com/SCLSNJ.
  
• Explore your family tree. How we can help: With an SCLSNJ library card, you can access Ancestry.com onsite at any SCLSNJ library branch for free. You also have free onsite and offsite access to such databases as Heritage Quest and America's Obituaries. SCLSNJ’s local history collection is here to help you find answers to your questions.
  

Going beyond the library walls, check out our MUSEUM PASSES

Looking to explore more cultural opportunities with your kids?  The library offers free Museum Passes to these Museums:

• Grounds For Sculpture
• Guggenheim Museum
• Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum
• Morris Museum
• Museum of Arts and Design

 

LEGO and Model Trains at the Morris Museum:

VISIT SUPPORT EXHIBITIONS THEATRE ART CLASSES

Brick by Brick

This invitational exhibition features innovative works created by LEGO® artists, architects, and engineers who use LEGO brand building bricks to create some incredible art and architecture.  You will be amazed by awesome sculptures of famous buildings, favorite snacks, and memorable masterpieces. The exhibition also includes a large-scale working LEGO model train. Brick by Brick features work by artists Mike Doyle, Blake Foster, David Haliski, and Jonathan Lopes, among others. The Museum will host a series of hands-on programs and events for the whole family. Visit www.morrismuseum.org to learn more. 

Mega Model Trains   Train enthusiasts will marvel at the spectacular 288-square foot model that includes more than forty-five interactive accessories. 

 

Chairs of Inclusion  Ten life sized chairs have been commissioned from professional artists, each of whom has worked with the Center's member artists to create a chair as an art/sculpture object.  The chairs represent the commitment/belief that every person is entitled to a "seat at the table"- in our community and our family lives. 

Morris Museum | 6 Normandy Heights Road | Morristown | NJ | 07960

If you are a Bank of America cardholder, you can visit area museums free the first weekend of each month.  Details here.

bwlibys.blogspot.com also lists events at area museums.  Scroll down the right side  to view “Useful Links for Families” Events – museum name.

Check out our January Programs for Children & Teens at the Bridgewater Library here.

 

Talk, Sing, Read, Write, Play: How Libraries Reach Kids Before They Can Read – check out this National Public Radio story about the kind of thing we are doing in our storytime programs to help prepare your kids to read successfully in school.

Let Your Fingers do More Walking:

What Students Can Learn from Giving TEDx Talks

By Linda Flanagan

When Kate Griffith brought a huge batch of homemade chocolate chip cookies into an 8th grade class, she was doing more than sharing her culinary talents with hungry kids. An 8th grader herself, Griffith was conducting an experiment as part of the background research for her upcoming TEDx presentation. The test was simple: anyone willing and able to wait an hour would be rewarded with three cookies. “One by one, the kids left,” Griffith says, until finally only five of the original 20 kids remained to claim their prize. “My research told me that we didn’t have enough capacity to delay gratification, and we weren’t striving for it.”  Read More.

“My mind is more open to different ideas, and I have the ability to look at things in a different way than I did before.”