Celebrate The Merry Month of May with Programs at the Bridgewater Library and Around our Community.

 

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Upcoming Programs for Kids and Parents at Bridgewater Library:

Join us for stories, songs, movement and fun!  Please come to the program most age-appropriate for your child.  

Programs resume on April 28th.  No Registration Required for any of these. 

Storytime (For Ages 3-6, siblings welcome) Tuesdays  10:00 a.m. Second session at 1:30pm.

Toddler Time (For Ages 18 months-36 months) Wednesdays, 10:00 a.m., repeats at 11:00 a.m.  Also Thursdays and Fridays at 10:30 a.m. 

Baby Time (For ages birth - 18 months) Thursdays  9:30 a.m.

FRIENDS BOOK SALE   Thursday, April 30– Sunday, May 3rd, 2015.

Thursday 9:30AM-8:30PM
Friday & Saturday 9:30AM-4:30PM
Sunday 1-4:30 PM SALE
Monday 9:30AM-noon (Non-Profit Organizations with ID)

Lots of wonderful books and other materials  for kids, teens, and adults!

 

Find It @ SCLSNJ: Hiding In Plain Sight- Blackout Poems (all ages)

Just a few days left to STOP by the Youth Services department and create your very own blackout poem!

April 01 –30, 2015 No registration required.  

Instructions:  Choose a page (we will provide pages). Find the words you want to keep. Black out the rest. Voila: your poem!
You may take the poem with you or ask a librarian to post it on our board.

Family Night Storytime (All Ages)  Monday, May 4  6:00-6:30 pm  Wear your PJs to our all ages storytime! No registration required.

 

Tail Waggin' Tutors (Ages 4+) Tail Waggin’ Tutors: Children Reading to Dogs  Thursday, May 5th  4-5pm  Registration begins April 24th. Tail Waggin' Tutors (Ages 4+)Thursday, May 14th 4-5pm. Registration begins April 30th.

Registration in-person or by phone only.  Did you know that dogs like listening to stories as much as kids do? Come to the Bridgewater Library for Tail Waggin’ Tutors, where children will have the opportunity to practice their reading skills by reading a story to Xena the Therapy Dog, a friendly, eight-year-old chocolate labradoodle. Each child will have 10 minutes to read a favorite story to his or her new, canine friend.

Very Merry Unbirthday Party! (Ages 3-8)  Monday, May 114:30-5:15 pm.  Registration is required and begins on April 27. Join us as we celebrate your unbirthday with stories, games, crafts and prizes!

Big Jeff (all ages)  Friends of the Bridgewater Library Concert Series Saturday, May 16, 2015 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM. Self described as "the hardest working 6 foot 6 inch singer-songwriter in family music", Big Jeff has been delivering performances full of humor, learning and audience participation for the last 10 years. No Registration required.

 

Music & Movement (Ages birth-3 years) Monday May 18th. 9:45 am
Registration required and begins May 4.  Music & Movement (Ages birth-3 years)  10:30 am. Registration required and begins May 4. Clap your hands, stomp your feet, and feel the beat of a fun, lively music class! Led by Beth Stone of Kids' MusicRound.

Picture This: Art & Geometry- Celebrating the "Perfect Square" (ages 4-10)  Monday, May 18, 2015 4:30 PM - 5:30 PM. Registration is required and begins May 4. A square always has 4 equal sides and 4 equal angles, but with a bit of imagination, it can become anything! We'll share books on art and creativity, see what we can make by cutting up a square, explore origami, tangrams, and mathematical puzzles.

Rocket Readers (grades 1-2)  Wednesday, May 20, 2015 4:30 PM - 5:30 PM. Registration is required and begins April 21. At each program we will discuss a book, play some games or create a story related craft. Students should read the book prior to the program. Copies of the books will be available at the Youth Services Reference Desk. Young Cam Jansen and the Baseball Mystery by David A. Adler. When a baseball game is stopped because of a lost ball, Cam uses her photographic memory to find the ball.

Advocacy: Developmental Milestones for Infants and Toddlers Birth to 3 Years. Thursday, May 21, 2015 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM. Registration is required and begins April 16.  Jenniger Blanchette McConnell, PhD will discuss all areas of infant and toddler development, including social emotional, communication, cognition, motor development, and adaptive/self-help skills. She will identify links to helpful resources about child development and explain how to refer to NJ's Early Intervention system for a developmental evaluation at no cost to families. 1.5 professional development hours will be awarded to attendees.

Flutterby Butterfly! (ages 3-6) Wednesday, May 27, 2015 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM. Repeats from 11:30-12:30. Registration is required and begins May 13. Join us for a look at the life cycle of the butterfly with stories, music, movement, and a colorful craft!

Upcoming Programs for Tweens & Teens at Bridgewater Library:

Teen Advisory Board (Grades 7 - 12)  Tuesday, April 28th  7:00 pm - 8:00 pm. Registration required and begins March 24.
TEENS: YOUR OPINION MATTERS! Do you have suggestions for programs, new books, movies, or video games? Then come to one of our TAB meetings! Community service hours will be awarded for attendance and snacks will be served!

Tween Volunteers (Grades 4-6) Monday, May 4th from 7:00 - 8:00 pm Registration required. Make a difference by volunteering at the library! Help out with special projects and earn community service hours.

Tween Advisory Board (Grades 4-6)  Tuesday, May 12th  7:00 pm-8:00 pm. Registration is required. Earn community service hours by making the library a better place for you and your fellow Tweens! Come tell us what books, movies, video games, and programs you’d like at the library!

AROUND THE COMMUNITY: 

THE PHILADELPHIA SCIENCE FESTIVAL

More info here: www.philasciencefestival.org

THE ART OF THE BRICK IS AT THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE IN PHILADELPHIA

WHILE YOU ARE IN PHILLY, CHECK OUT THIS FASCINATING MUSEUM NOW OPEN ON WEEKENDS

The Museum at CHF will be open every Saturday in April--and Saturdays and Sundays from May to September.

Check their website for hours and other information to plan your visit, and stay tuned for updates about special weekend activities and tours.

Shakespeare’s The Tempest to be Performed by the Lord Stirling Theater Company at Farmstead Arts in Basking Ridge May 8 – 23 

PHOTO CREDITS:  Ben Kator

Bernards Township, NJ: William Shakespeare’s beloved play The Tempest will be performed by The Lord Stirling Company May 8-23 in the English Barn at Farmstead Arts.  The play will open on Friday, May 8 at 8pm with additional performances on May 9 at 8pm, May 15 at 8pm, May 16 at 2pm and 8pm, May 22 at 8pm and May 23, at 2pm and 8pm.   Farmstead Arts is located at 450 King George Road in Basking Ridge, NJ. Tickets are $15, or $10 for Farmstead Members, seniors and children. Tickets may be purchased online at www.FarmsteadArtsCenter.org, or at the door.

The Tempest is one of last plays written solely by The Bard. It centers around Prospero, The Duke of Milan, who has been deposed and exiled with his daughter Miranda, to a distant island full of spirits, monsters and a party of shipwrecked royalty.   William Ward of Basking Ridge, NJ, directs and designs this creative interpretation of this Shakespeare play.

http://www.morrismuseum.org Morris Museum | 6 Normandy Heights Road | Morristown | NJ | 07960 VISIT SUPPORT EXHIBITIONS THEATRE ART CLASSES

Visit the museum for free (you still need to pay for theater admissions) using the library museum pass if available. The Morris Museum also participates in the Bank of America Museums on Us program. During the first full weekend of every month, each Bank of America card holder is entitled to one free general admission to the Museum. For further information, visit museums.bankofamerica.com/

 
Star Shows and Laser Concerts AT RVCC PLANETARIUM!

Call 908-231-8805 for reservations! RESERVATIONS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED FOR ALL SHOWS!

 

 

 

 

PLAN AHEAD FOR SUMMER WITH SOMERSET COUNTY PARK CAMP AND ADVENTURE PROGRAMS FOR KIDS AND TEENS

Coyote Kids (Ages 4-6) --a fun nature program full of outdoor hikes, live animals, hands-on activities, games, and crafts!

Eco-Explorers (Ages 7-9) (click here for PDF) 

AWESIM KIDS (Animals, Wetlands, Environmental Science, and Incredible Minds!)  (Ages 10-13) (click here for PDF)

Xtreme Adventure  (Ages 13-16)  (click here for brochure)

LET YOUR FINGERS  DO MORE WALKING:

Report debunks ‘earlier is better’ academic instruction for young children  By Valerie Strauss

Four- and 5-year-old students listen to their teacher, Angie Clark, read at a Des Moines elementary school in 2011. (Steve Pope/AP)

The debate about appropriate curriculum for young children generally centers on two options: free play and basic activities vs. straight academics (which is what many kindergartens across the country have adopted, often reducing or eliminating time for play). A new report, “Lively Minds: Distinctions between academic versus intellectual goals for young children,” offers a new way to look at what is appropriate in early childhood education.

Katz writes that longitudinal studies of the effects of different kinds of preschool curriculum models debunk the seemingly common-sense notion that “earlier is better” in terms of academic instruction. While “formal instruction produces good test results in the short term,” she says,  preschool curriculum and teaching methods that emphasize children’s interactive roles and initiative may be “not so impressive in the short run” but “yield better school achievement in the long term.”

That reflects a finding in a report released earlier this year, titled “Reading in Kindergarten: Little to Gain and Much to Lose,” which says that there is no evidence to support a widespread belief in the United States that children must read in prekindergarten or kindergarten to become strong readers and achieve academic success. You can read about that report here.

Katz also writes in the new report that “earlier is better” is not supported in neurological research, which “does not imply that formal academic instruction is the way to optimize early brain development.” Rather, she says, the research suggests that “preschool programs are best when they focus on social, emotional and intellectual goals rather than narrow academic goals” and provide “early experiences that provoke self-regulation, initiative and …sustained synchronous interaction in which the child is interactive with others in some continuous process, rather than a mere passive recipient of isolated bits of information for stimulation.”  Read More.

Best NJ Playgrounds to Visit

Bored with your local swingset? Here are a few amazing New Jersey playgrounds worth driving to.