Monthly Archives October 2020

STEAM at Home: Fireworks in a Jar

Today we are going to do a simple project making fireworks in a jar. This is cool and quite fun to watch, and a simple lesson in liquid density. Materials: Glass Jar or Glass (make sure it is clear) Small Dish Cooking Oil Food Dye (3 or 4 colors) Toothpick Water Getting Started: Fill the glass jar with water, but leave some room at the top. Take your little dish and cover the bottom with cooking oil. Add 3-5 drops of food coloring, keeping the drops separate. Take your toothpick and dab the drops of food coloring to break them
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Categories: Featured, Homepage Kids, Homepage Teens, Kids, Library News, and Teens.

Mindfulness Practices for Teens

It’s an understatement to say that 2020 has been an unusually stressful year so far. This is the perfect time to draw on Mindfulness Practices, a teen program we’ve previously done both on Zoom and in the library. But with school back in session, we thought another scheduled Zoom meeting might not be the best way to help teens relax. Instead, we’re offering a series of three recorded Mindfulness sessions with yoga and Mindfulness educator Cristina Ortiz. You might know Cristina from her previous work as a teacher in White Plains schools. In addition to her certifications as a yoga
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Categories: Featured, Homepage Teens, Library News, and Teens.

Wellness from the Edge: Mindfulness Practices

It’s an understatement to say that 2020 has been an unusually stressful year so far. This is the perfect time to draw on Mindfulness Practices, including techniques to help teens manage stress and promote wellbeing. On this page, you'll find a series of three recorded Mindfulness sessions with yoga and Mindfulness educator Cristina Ortiz. Teens can watch at a time that’s most helpful to them, whether it’s a way to unwind in the evening, or a much-needed break during a stressful day. Cristina has thoughtfully paired each video with a printable page to help teens continue using what they’ve learned
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Categories: Featured, Homepage Teens, Library News, and Teens.

Celebrate Eat Better, Eat Together Month

Food is a delicious part of life, made even more delicious when shared with family and friends. October is Eat Better, Eat Together Month so here you’ll find books to tickle your funny bone and recipes to make you the best chef ever. Read the stories out loud while eating your favorite treats or surprise your loved ones with your new delicious recipes. Either way, may you have “good fun and good eats!” You may think that the biggest benefit of eating together as a family is to ensure everyone has food in their stomachs. However, sharing meals does more
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Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.

Diwali: A Celebration of Light

Diwali, or Dipawali, is India‘s biggest and most important holiday of the year. The festival gets its name from the row (avali) of clay lamps (deepa) that Indians light outside their homes to symbolize the inner light that protects from spiritual darkness. This festival is as important to Hindus as the Christmas holiday is to Christians. Over the centuries, Diwali has become a national festival that's also enjoyed by non-Hindu communities. For instance, in Jainism, Diwali marks the nirvana, or spiritual awakening, of Lord Mahavira on October 15, 527 B.C.; in Sikhism, it honors the day that Guru Hargobind Ji,
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Categories: Authors & Books, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.

STEAM at Home: Human Robot

This week’s STEAM At Home project will teach you a little about coding, without needing a computer. Materials: Printable Scratch Blocks (or you can make your own!) Paper Scissors Tape – scotch and masking tape Pen Another Person Background: Scratch.mit is a website used for teaching simple coding and computational thinking. You drag and drop blocks into your work area to create a program, the coding is done in the background. They use visuals, simple language, and a snapping feature to fit your blocks together, making it easy to write a computer program. You need a computer and internet connection
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Categories: Featured, Homepage Kids, Homepage Teens, Kids, Library News, and Teens.

Register Now: Pause and Reflect Writing Workshop

Pause…and Reflect: Stories from Your Side of the Window. Join us for this 8-session online creative writing workshop beginning October 6th. Through exercises and supportive evaluations, you’ll learn techniques that will help you get at the heart of your stories from the pandemic. At the conclusion of the workshop, you are invited to have your story recorded and preserved on film (see the last workshop's film below) to show us how, for all the distance, the walls and windows, the lack of touch, we are still intimately connected. This workshop welcomes all writing levels. Ultimately, these stories will become part
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Categories: Classes, COVID-19, Events, and Library News.