Thursday, July 28, 2011

Legopalooza


We started by listening to directions and building a creation from verbal directions. Wow, that was hard!!

And then on to the fun. Everyone had to create a historical landmark. They were judged on Creativity, Authenticity and Originality. congratulations to our Winners.

First Place with The White House, Michael Raffaele
Second Place with the Tank on the Green, Noah Lovejoy
third Place with the Twin Towers is Brian Dugan

Great Job!!




Created with flickr slideshow from softsea.

Men of the Hunger Games



The Hunger Games Reveals Gale and Peeta
Source: EW

July 27, 2011



The cover of the new issue of Entertainment Weekly features a first look at The Hunger Games' Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth as Peeta and Gale. What's more, there are promises of further debuting images from the highly-anticipated novel adaptation when the magazine officially hits the stands this Friday.


Read more: The Hunger Games Reveals Gale and Peeta - ComingSoon.net http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=80399#ixzz1TOL4ZCmd







Dotti Enderle

* * *

CROSSWIRE (Boyds Mills/Calkins Creek)

* Texas Institute of Letters Young Adult Award Recipient

* June Franklin Naylor Award for Best Children’s Book on Texas History

* WWA Spur Award Finalist

www.dottienderle.com

Science Fun--Surface Tension


Today was our last Science Fun. Aiden Collentine did a great job teaching about Surface Tension using water and dish soap, floating paper clips and the second experiment used milk and food coloring, with dish soap, to create an explosion of color. The mosaic below shows some of the fun! Click on the image to see a larger view. Thanks also to Sam Taub who assisted Aiden for the program.

The Science Fun program was terrific. Thanks to all who participated!!!!

Monday, July 25, 2011

July 22nd Summer Reading Raffle Winner


Congratulations Catherine!! Keep Reading

Is Jordan Comeman the next Speilberg?


Interview With Grant Winner/Filmmaker Jordan Coleman!
Payin' the Price


We were super lucky to have Jordan Coleman, 15-year-old filmmaker and 2009 Do Something Award finalist, stop by the office today to screen his new film "Payin' the Price." Before heading to Martha's Vineyard, where his film will be shown as part of their 2011 African American Film Festival, Jordan told us a little about how he got into the business of film making for good!

DoSomething.org: When did you start making films?

Jordan Coleman: I started making films when I was 13 with my mom's help. There's no better team! I saw how a lot of African-American boys weren't focusing on their school work. They just wanted to get famous, so they focused on playing basketball or making up raps, or just trying to be cool. They weren't understanding that work is what got celebrities to where they are today.

DS: Why did you choose film as your approach to taking social action?

JC: I chose film because a lot of teens love movies. I thought that if I made a movie about teen issues, a lot of teens would see how important the issues really are. I felt like Superman almost—I wanted to use my powers for good. I've always really enjoyed giving back. My mom had a not-for-profit organization that would give away bookbags—it's in the blood.

DS: How did you make your first film?

JC: I used my money from my job with The Backyardigans (editor's note: Jordan was the voice of Tyrone the Moose on the show!) to hire a camera guy—that was the first step. I went around the street asking random people how they feel about education, but then I saw that the [the movie] got boring. I wanted to bring it to a different level, so I asked my mom how I could get celebrities to be in the film. She said I should contact their agents, so I did. They emailed back instantly saying their people would love to be in the film. We had Kobe Bryant, Reverend Al Sharpton, and Busta Rhymes.

DS: What do you want for the future?

JC: My dream is to become a successful filmmaker so that I can expand my audience so that it’s not just teens. I want to make films for everybody. I want to relate my films to my peers. My next film is about sexting.

DS: What about a bullying film?!

JC: My 10-year-old brother is writing a script about that right now!

DS: Uh-oh. Competition. What would you say to a teenager who wasn't on The Backyardigans and doesn't have the money to hire a camera guy?

JC: I'd say to save your babysitting money to buy a little flip camera. As long as you have a camera and an imagination, you can do it. As long as you have an imagination and you have hope, you can do anything. There were times that I didn’t think that my films would be successful, but I had hope and I prayed. I made them my priority—I put sports to the side; I put my friends to the side. Hard work pays off. If you're serious about something, you can get it done.

Friday, July 22, 2011

Silver Scottie Won at Your Library




Our annual Monopoly Tournament was held last Wednesday with all of our excited participants vying for the Silver Scottie.

The First Place and winner of the coveted award was Missy Macnamara
Second Place winner was Maria Carter and
Third Place winner was Harley Ostreicher

Congratulations to you all!!

View slideshow

Do You Know the Phases of the Moon? Science Fun



Sophia and Vincent Rago did a fun science experiment with balloons showing how your position with respect to the moon determines the phase you see. They reinforced the phases of the moon facts by letting the students create the phases of the moon with oreo cookies--yummmmm!!

Pinball Wizard at Your Library



What a fun way to learn about the principles of levers. Howard Ho led this wonderful workshop with the help of Aiden Collentine and Sam Taub. The participants created their own pinball machine out of shoebox lids, cardboard, bottle tops and straws.

What a great experiment. No one wanted to leave!!

Rocketry at your Library


What a wonderful job the YA's are doing on Science Fun.

Look at Carly's lesson on Intro to Rocketry
They built balloon rockets propelled by balloons and bottle rockets propelled by
air squeezed through straws inserted in bottles.
What a Fun Lesson!!

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Iron Chef 2011


Sorry for the wait. The slideshow for Iron Chef is finally complete.
Our secret ingredient was tortilla shells. The ingredients consisted of sweet
(chocolate chips, cool whip, cookies, chocolate syrup, fruit etc) savory (nuts, torilla chips, salsa, onions) or traditional (pizza sauce, cheese, mashed potatos, onions etc)

Everyone was very creative and came up with all kinds of combinations which our judges, Amy Hambidge and Joe Russo claimed to be surprisingly tasty.

Our winners were Carly Kleinstern in First Place by a landslide with her Rocket a la Blastoff.
Amanda Corbi running for Second Place with the Sweet and Hot Pizza and
Jarod Riedl in Third Place with his Chocolate and Blueberry Surprise.

Congratulations to Everyone--you did a great job.

Now Watch Our Creations!!

View slideshow

Monday, July 18, 2011

Congratulations Andre Cardenas and Brian Dugan

Andre was our First Week Summer Reading Raffle Winner.
Way to go!!





Brian Dugan(above) was our Second Week Summer Reading Raffle Winner!!
Keep up the good work!

Friday, July 15, 2011