>*NEW* Please Touch Discovery Station

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When you visit the library next, take a look at our Please Touch Discovery Center!
Our new Discovery Centers serve to extend activities from our storytimes.

Children are encouraged to explore this area independently or together with their parents or guardians.

This week we are learning all about Braille.

Braille is writing system which enables blind and partially sighted people to read and write through touch. It was invented by Louis Braille (1809-1852), who was blind and became a teacher of the blind. It consists of patterns of raised dots arranged in cells (a small grid in a block) of up to six dots in a 3 x 2 configuration. Each cell represents a letter, numeral or punctuation mark. Some frequently used words and letter combinations also have their own single cell patterns.

We have created a station designed to allow you to write in Braille and experince the Braille alphabet.

Let us know what you think!
-r

Academic Standards:
Academic Standards for Science and Technology: 3.2. Inquiry and Design: 3.2.4. GRADE 4: B. Describe objects in the world using the five senses.:
» Recognize observational descriptors from each of the five senses (e.g., see-blue, feel-rough). (Grade: K-4)

>Science Explorers! Shadows and Light

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What do you need to make a shadow?

Thursday, September 24th was our second science adventure and today we explored shadows and light.

Using the Shadows Kit from What’s the Big Idea, we read books and explored activity stations created to introduce shadows and light.

Young explorer experimenting

Books read:

Frank Asch’s Bear’s Shadow

Robert Clyde Bulla’s What Makes a Shadow

Activity stations:

Shadow Puppet Theater

Using a stage (Cardboard boxes) we experimented making shadows with a variety of objects including small stuffed animals, various cut-out shapes (hearts, shamrocks, etc).

Materials:

Flashlights of different sizes (one came with the kit and a few were kindly donated by Covert Enterprises)

Various objects to experiment with.

We used shamrocks, hearts, cars, trucks, fairies, small stuffed animals.

Young explorers using shadow puppet theater

Shadows To Go

We created Silhouettes of shadows to take home
Materials:
Black construction paper
Chalk
Objects to trace.

Extenders:

The children and their adults were all charged with finding their shadows upon leaving storytime and the library. We had a very fun day. The children were introduced to the concept of shadows and light, the parents had a selection of books to expand the subject and we also were able to provide new vocabulary.

Some fiction and non-fiction titles available for checkout

Books on the subject will be on display in the Mary Case Buchanan Family Room beginning Monday, September 28th.

-r

Science Explorers! is a science themed storytime which introduce and foster a love of science to preschoolers using picture books and simple experiments. Every other month we do math or science themed activities. Join us next month, Thursday October 22nd for Math Exlorers! as we discuss patterns and relationships everywhere.

>Science Explorers!-Soapy Fun with Water

>Science Explorers! is a program designed to integrate science during storytime. Today’s guest was Jennifer Wynne, from Simply Science. Simply Science is a fun, hands on science program designed to stimulate an early love of science while teaching basic scientific principles.

Jennifer Wynne

We had a ball experimenting with water, learning abut surface tension and looking at ‘Tornadoes in a Bottle’.

If you want to try some of these experiments at home, we have several books available for checkout.

J 532 W:Water: Simple Experiments for Young Scientists by Larry White

J532 N: Experiments with Water by Sally Nankivell-Aston and Dorothy Jackson

J532 P: Science Activities-Water by Grahama Peacock

E&L 532 G: Simple Science Float and Sink by Mike and Maria Gordon

These titles and much more are available for checkout!

-r