Welcome to our Online Newsletter and Virtual Bulletin Board!

Question or Suggestion? Contact cslevin59 (at) gmail.org.

Friday, August 18, 2017

Eclipse Fever, STEM Playground, last days to record your days for Summer Reading Challenge and collect your prizes. What do we say to the kids about Charlottesville?

 

Image result for build a better worldSUMMER READING CHALLENGE:

Saturday August 19th is the last day of the Summer Reading Challenge though you can continue to log in the days from 6/20-8/20 through the following couple of weeks. Our last weekly prize drawing 9/26 and our grand prize drawing 9/6.  Hope everyone found wonderful new favorite books this summer!

 

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Eclipse Fever for Monday is accelerating. Bridgewater Library, RVCC, Science Museums and other locations will be hosting viewing gatherings.

We in NJ will have a partial eclipse between one and four p.m.   Our maximum will look much like this:

The Library will have some glasses to use on Monday or Amazon has certified glasses back in stock and promises delivery in time for Monday..

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2017/08/can_i_still_get_free_solar_eclipse_glasses.html 

 

If you want to make an eclipse viewer

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More pix and ideas at Bridgewater Library’s Eclipse program.

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MORE STEM FUN on Monday

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Bridgewater Library will host its last STEM (Science, Tech, Engineering Mathmatics) Playground on Monday (eclipse night) – families with kids of all ages are invited to drop in anytime between 6 and 8 p.m. to play with our STEM toys.

Starting Sept. 5th, we will be doing a weekly STEAM (Science, Tech, Engineering, ART, and Math) Tuesdays at 4:30. Geared to K-4th graders but open to all ages. No registration required.

 

AFTER CHARLOTTESVILLE

Iin a week after Charlottesville, here are a few suggestions...

Use these books to help talk to kids about racism and prejudice.

http://www.whatdowedoallday.com/picture-books-that-teach-kids-to-combat-racism This is a wonderful site for amazing books to share with your kids.

Speaking of Reading… Want to Raise Your Child to Love Reading? Read These Secrets

By MARIA RUSSOJUNE 29, 2017

 

A class at Public School 682, the Academy of Talented Scholars, in Brooklyn. CreditJoshua Bright for The New York Times

“You’re the children’s books editor?” Someone has said this to me, usually with a smile, at least once a week in the almost three years I’ve been at The New York Times. “What a cool job!” is the subtext. But lurking in the background are almost always other questions, sometimes more pressing ones about kids’ reading in general. “What should my second grader be reading?” a colleague asked the other day, adding, “She’s obsessed with the books in that series with the different flower fairies, and I can’t get her interested in anything else.” A neighbor recently approached me with a worried look and said, “My 10-year-old will only read graphic novels. What should I do?”

Clearly, there’s a lot of uncertainty out there among parents when it comes to children’s books, and also an earnest desire to make the right choices and do the right thing. Parents realize the stakes are high, and childhood passes quickly.

So when the Guides team approached Pamela Paul, the editor of the Book Review, about writing a guide to raising readers, and she asked if I was interested, I jumped at the chance. (Find it here.)

Much of what I do every day is sift through new books, deciding which ones we should assign for review, or which ones might make for a good feature story. I try to balance for different ages, different genres and books by authors from a variety of backgrounds. There’s always the thrill of discovering a book I can’t wait to tell our readers about.

I’ve also learned a great deal. I’ve seen that the classics quite often endure — kids still love “Frog and Toad” and “James and the Giant Peach” — and that new things are happening, too. I’ve watched the We Need Diverse Books movement foster a change in the publishing industry — there were more books published this year than when I started that have children of different races, ethnicities, cultures and abilities occupying center stage, as well as more girls. (This was overdue, given that over half of American kids now are not white — and obviously half are not boys.)

Continue reading the main story

www.nytimes.com/2017/06/29/insider/want-to-raise-your-child-to-love-reading-read-these-secrets.html

Saturday, August 12, 2017

Wrap up the summer with Fairy Tale Theater at Farmstead Arts in Basking Ridge, Carnival & Eclipse Programs at Bridgewater Library, and Fun Math and Book websites

FAIRY TALE FAMILY THEATER @ FARMSTEAD ARTS THIS SUNDAY

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TELLING TALES

WHEN: Sunday, August 13th, at 2:00 pm
WHERE:
the English Barn, Farmstead Arts, 450 King George Road in Basking Ridge
TICKETS: $15 for adults and $10 for children under 18.
Tickets are available at www.farmsteadarts.eventbrite.com.

The show is appropriate for the whole family.

For information, please call Kathy Harris, Operations Manager, at 908-636-7576 or send an email to admin@farmsteadarts.org.

Farmstead Arts is pleased to present a Fairy Tale Family Theater production of Telling Tales for young audiences in the English Barn. Telling Tales features the exciting adventures of Grimm’s Fairy Tale characters Henny Penny, The Bremen Town Musicians, The Golden Goose and more! This is an interactive story-teller theatre performance perfect for audiences of all ages. Telling Tales promises to be an afternoon of laughter and fun for the whole family as they follow these characters on their adventures through some of Grimm’s most beloved fables and stories.

This is an interactive story-teller theatre performance perfect for the young people in your life! Bring the whole family and enjoy an afternoon of laughter and fun as we follow these characters on their adventures through some of our most beloved fables and stories.

The barn is wheelchair accessible.  Anyone anticipating the need for additional accessibility services is requested to make a request by sending an e-mail in advance to admin@farmsteadarts.org.

Funds for these events have been made possible in part by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, through the State/County Partnership Local Arts Program Grant administered by The Somerset County Cultural & Heritage Commission.



Many library branches have solar eclipse programs this month.  Search for “eclipse” in the library calendar ( http://sclsnj.libnet.info/events) for details. The Bridgewater Library and the RVCC planetarium (https://www.raritanval.edu/general-information/newsroom/rvcc-planetarium-gears-up-viewing-total-solar-eclipse) will be set up for viewing from 1-4 p.m. on August 21st.  You can also get a head start this Tuesday at Bridgewater library.

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WRAP UP SUMMER READING WITH THE ANNUAL CARNIVAL. NOTE SUMMER READING ENDS AUGUST 19TH.

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Encourage Math Fun Everyday with Bedtime Math – Bedtime Math books are also available at Bridgewater Library.

One of the coolest, juiciest summer treats is watermelon. This giant fruit grows out of a flower on a plant, so it's actually a berry. You may have tried watermelon, but we bet you've never tried to make one explode. Crazy Russian Hacker and his brother strapped lots and lots of rubber bands around a watermelon. Eventually the rubber bands squeezed the watermelon so tightly that they crushed it. This video shows the guys nervously strapping the rubber bands onto the waiting watermelon. Watch to see the explosion in slow motion -- and the cool rubber band ball it makes at the end!

Wee ones: Find 3 green things in your room, and line them up from smallest to biggest.

Little kids: If your watermelon slice has 7 seeds and your friend's slice has 9 seeds, whose has more seeds?  Bonus: If you've just strapped the 12th rubber band onto your watermelon, what number rubber band comes next?  

Big kids: If the guys just strapped on the 60th rubber band, what number band came 3 bands before that one?  Bonus: The world's record-breaking watermelon weighed 350 pounds. How much more than you does it weigh?

Answers:

Wee ones: Items might include clothes, leaves or blades of grass, crayons or Lego. Try lining them up! 

Little kids: Your friend's slice.  Bonus: The 13th band.

Big kids: The 57th band.  Bonus: Different for everyone...subtract your weight in pounds from 350!

More Ways to Get Bedtime Math!

The bestselling Bedtime Math books: A trilogy of the same fun, offbeat math, plus a new fourth book for older kids!


The app:
A whole archive of math problems, with colorful animations and cool sound effects.  Check it out here at the App Store for iPhone and iPad, Google Play for Android!

The website: Find all your favorite bedtime math problems (BMPs) at www.bedtimemath.org.

Facebook: One more way to get your daily BMP fix.


Looking for some fun book related websites? check out these favorites!

clip_image002 The Roald Dahl Literary Estate presents things to read, watch make, and play -- the online Twits game is simple, fun and funny.

clip_image003 The Ezra Jack Keats Foundation website includes online read-alouds, video, craft ideas and lesson plans, and a great “video game” helping Peter sled down the hill without running into any trees.

clip_image005 Seussville has dozens of interactive games and activities for both the familiar and less well-known tales.

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Pigeon Presents. Mo Willems fans will love helping Pigeon with hot dog toppings, covering up that naked mole rat, or having a dance party with Elephant and Piggie and read, listen, color and play with these kooky creatures!



Looking for pictures from this summer's Fairy Tale Engineering series? You can see them here.