The Explorer

This month the Youth Digital Media Lab will host a new Get Creative Contest. With more kids signing up for access to the Digital Media Lab, the new Bamboo Fun contest should have many more participants than last time.

Kids will be able to draw a picture with the Bamboo drawing pad and add a personal and creative touch to their artwork. So, instead of doodling in a notebook or on the wall, kids can doodle on the Apple iMac computers with the help of our handy-dandy Bamboo drawing pad. Winners of this competition will receive a cool, distinctive USB flash drive for saving future projects. The deadline for all submissions is Friday, May 25.

The new CTA Yellow Line train station on Oakton, right down the street from the Library, is finally open!

It’s been a long wait and since learning about the grand opening. My 4-year-old son Noah has been counting down the days. Every morning he’d ask what date it was and we checked the calendar: 10 more days, 9 more days…

They had already changed the station sign at the Dempster Street stop  and the new station signs at Oakton/Skokie were in place, but when Noah noticed last Saturday on the Red Line train that they had added the new stop on the CTA system map, he was thrilled!

Monday after preschool he was more than ready to take the Yellow Line and he couldn’t have been happier when he heard the loudspeaker announce “Oakton/Skokie” is next.

When we got on the train to go back to Howard Street, we met another family with three little boys who were just as excited.

Waiting for an event is a great way to talk about the calendar, the months and/or the seasons of the year. It’s also a fun way to learn to count down the numbers in a playful way. Check out some of these titles from the library to learn even more:

We’ve added two new digital material choices to the Youth Services collection especially for our littlest library users and their middle school siblings.

Our new Leapster games are on the Console Games shelf alongside the PlayStation, Wii, and XBox games. Skokie Public Library cardholders can check out a Leapster game for 1-week and can also place a reserve on games that are already checked out. These games are for play on Leapster Explorer and Leapster LeapPad systems.

By popular demand, we’ve reloaded two of our Youth eReaders with titles for younger kids. We call these our “Middle School eReaders” to help you (and us!) tell them apart from our Junior High eReaders. The Middle School eReaders include titles selected especially for kids in grades 3 to 5, plus a few favorites borrowed from the Junior High eBook collection.

Stop in, say hello, and check out some our new tech for tots to teenagers!

We are proud to finally announce the winners of our Get Creative DML challenge. In this challenge, kids were asked to use Photo Booth to creatively illustrate their artistic side. Photos could have been taken with or without friends and once completed, were edited to create illustrations of movement, cool backgrounds, or colorful affects that enhance the photo’s overall look. Judges took a look at all entries and decided that Angelo and Danielle created pictures with slightly more creativity than the other projects. This is not to say that the other projects were not talented, as the arrival at the final decision was not an easy task by any means. Angelo and Danielle both received USB flash drives that are attached to animated characters like Tweety and the Tasmanian Devil. Hopefully by providing them with flash drives for prizes, we will encourage them to use the lab more and save some of their future products on them as well. Check out the winning photos from Angelo and Danielle below.

As we look to spread the word about the Skokie Public Library’s new Youth Digital Media Lab, we thought it would be helpful if we hosted some contests using the different programs our new Apple Mac computers have to offer. From Photo Booth all the way to IMovie, the children enjoy exciting opportunities to let their creative minds run astray. We encourage all kids that come into the lab to get involved with our DML contests so as to partake in friendly competition with their peers. Friendly competition is something I believe is necessary to help raise our participation levels here in the new Digital Media Lab, and with technology always on the rise, these kids will prove to be somewhat more advantageous due to their familiarity with these products.

April 22nd, 2012 is the forty-second anniversary of Earth Day! This is a special day to celebrate the natural world around us and learn ways to protect our planet.

By taking care of the earth, we are creating a healthier environment for all living creatures— from the birds in the air, to the fish in the sea!

In honor of Earth Day, come on over to the Library and make a colorful tissue paper fish! You can hang it on your refrigerator or in your room as a reminder to live an eco-friendly life!

 Here are a few simple steps that you can take to protect our earth:

1. Save water! While you are brushing your teeth, washing your hands or taking a shower, remember to turn off the faucet when you are not using it.

2. Eat the rainbow! Pick colorful, fresh produce for a healthy and eco-friendly snack. Try to buy organic food from local farms. Check out your community farmer’s market and start planting your very own garden! Also, composting is a great way to reuse and fertilize your garden.

3. Lower your carbon footprint by walking, riding your bike or carpooling as much as possible.

4. Use less energy! Take the stairs instead of using the elevator and turn off the lights, TV and computer when you are finished using them.

5. Remember to reduce, reuse and recycle! Get creative! Before you throw something away, try to find another way to use it. You can start with this craft! From now until April 30th, come on over to the Skokie Public Library to make this month’s craft. After you finish, identify which craft material has been reused. Once you have figured it out, head over to the Youth Services Desk and tell them your answer to receive a special prize!

Thanks to a blockbuster release of a movie, it seems that everyone is crazy about The Hunger Games trilogy! The Library now owns 38 copies of the first book and has already ordered 40 copies of the DVD. We don’t know when it’s coming out, but we are ready to take reserves!

So what can you read while you are waiting for your turn? Let me make a suggestion. If you loved Hunger Games, then there’s a good chance you’ll enjoy Starters along with it’s sequel, Enders, which is due out in December. Starters is a futuristic story that takes place after a war (like Hunger Games), where a girl is fighting to survive (like Hunger Games), realizes her romantic feelings for an attractive guy (like Hunger Games) and eventually starts a revolt (like Hunger Games). Of course, the storyline is different, but the intrigue, the fast paced writing, and unethical treatment of teens is all there.

Starters is set in a futuristic Beverly Hills, California where – thanks to a shortage of vaccines and a horrible war – the only living people are the young and the old. Starters, who lost their parents in the war, have to find a way to survive. Enders, who are living until they are 200 years old, want to be able to enjoy the things they used to be able to do. In steps Prime Destinations, a corporate body-bank that offers free make-overs and large sums of money to any Starter who will rent out his/her body. The main character, Callie, desperate to care for her sick, younger brother, agrees to only three rentals. But what will she do when she learns that the Ender who rents her body plans to commit murder?

My colleague, Linda, and I were fortunate to be invited to a celebration dinner with author Lissa Price. We learned that this is Lissa’s first book, and she has already written the screenplay for the movie. Her publisher, Random House, is so excited about Starters, that they’ve created a book trailer which played during the previews of The Hunger Games movie right here in Chicago. So give it a try, and let us know what you think – we’ve already ordered extra  copies of the book!

Like to explore the city on public transportation? Bring a camera or shoot some pictures with your phone to put together your very own ABC or counting picture book!

It’s a great early literacy activity to have your child help you find letters and numbers around you. Point out capital and lower case letters, too. Sound out the letters and words as you discover print everywhere!

Here some titles in our youth collection to inspire you:

City 1 2 3 by Zoran Milich

Counting in the City by Jean Sharp

City Numbers by Joanne Schwartz

City Alphabet by Joanne Schwartz

We’ve just added several new puppets to our collection of Puppet/Book sets! Each puppet is paired with a book and the sets are available for checkout for your at-home storytime fun.

Browse our catalog to see what’s available, view photos of the puppets on our Flickr photostream, and take a look below at the newest additions…

With our weather so unseasonably warm these days, it’s hard to believe that the Winter Reading Club ended only 3 weeks ago on March 1. By the end of the Club, 337 kids agreed that “reading is fun” and read a combined total of 128,565 minutes and exercised for 67,520 minutes. The numbers don’t tell the story but, as they say, “a picture says a thousand words.” Brothers Marcus and David completed the Winter Reading Club and are both the proud owners of a Skokie Public Library warm winter hat. Marcus (the little brother) was chosen in the random drawing to win one of six prize baskets. All the prizes were awarded and every one of our readers was as excited as Marcus.

Only 72 days until summer reading begins and another opportunity to join our Summer Reading Club for your a chance to earn a cool t-shirt and a chance to earn a prize so big that you’ll need two people to carry it home!

Is your preschooler fascinated with numbers? Does he or she like to count everything?

While early literacy and reading has been the focus for many years, early math skills now get the spotlight as well.

Here are some other examples of early math knowledge children will need as they get ready for school:

• Read and write numbers, understand that numbers have meaning
• Know about big, small, long, and short
• Understand about near and far, today, yesterday, and tomorrow

Next time you’re out and about on the bus or the train, take a look around. There are many opportunities to foster early math skills.

Which bus are you taking today? What is the bus number? As the bus approaches, ask your child if it’s the right one. Have him or her compare the number on the bus to the number on the bus stop.

Which train is longer/has more cars: the Yellow or the Red Line?

How many cars each?

Math skills include so much more than just counting!