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Informal Learning

New Community Dialogue Resources to Support Equity in Your Library

2021-01-27T16:16:27-07:00

The STAR Net team has been hard at work gathering resources to support Community Dialogues (including virtual dialogues during COVID) from around the informal education world. Consider these resources a sneak peak of the new STAR Net Community Dialogue site that's coming soon. In the meantime, we hope you enjoy our draft resources, and feel free to reach out to us with questions or comments! To access all the new resources, use the clickable PDF below to navigate. Follow the instructions, or head directly to the areas that are of interest to you! (Make sure you click into the image, to activate [...]

New Community Dialogue Resources to Support Equity in Your Library2021-01-27T16:16:27-07:00

World Origami Days are Here! 20 Days of Workshops and Tutorials

2021-01-27T16:29:22-07:00

Like so many conferences, festivals, and other events, World Origami Days has gone virtual this year. Beginning on October 24, the birthday of Lillian Oppenheimer (1898-1992), who founded the first origami group in the USA and was one of the founders of OrigamiUSA and the British Origami Society, this event will host workshops and tutorials daily through November 11, which is Origami Day in Japan. Everyone who registers will receive links to the videos of the daily tutorials in November, so don't worry if you miss one or a few. There is a page of templates for folding a flapping bird [...]

World Origami Days are Here! 20 Days of Workshops and Tutorials2021-01-27T16:29:22-07:00

A Chill in the Air and Color in the Trees

2021-01-27T16:42:42-07:00

There's been a bit of a chill in the air the last week or so, a frequent thumping on the roof of pecans falling out of the tree in the yard, and a sense of frantic feasting radiating from the hummingbirds who frequent the feeders on my porch.  Autumn is here. One of my favorite things to do as the seasons slip away from summer and toward winter is to walk through wooded areas and collect brightly colored leaves.  This is something my mother did with me as a very young child on my great grandparents' farm.  I still have the [...]

A Chill in the Air and Color in the Trees2021-01-27T16:42:42-07:00

Strengthen Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility in STEM

2020-08-12T12:41:12-06:00

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility are fundamental values in the library community. The work to strengthen these areas is necessary and ongoing and can be done at the personal level, as a team, and with our communities. Below are some resources to help guide the journey towards ensuring people, especially those facing the greatest barriers in our society, have equitable and accessible opportunities in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math). If you have additional resources you would like to share, please add them in the comments. Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Resources: DEIA for You Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion 101 Dr. [...]

Strengthen Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility in STEM2020-08-12T12:41:12-06:00

STEAM From Home: Soap Magic

2020-07-27T08:04:05-06:00

Like everyone else, the question of connection looms large during this pandemic. Connection with patrons, connecting ideas - how to provide these meaningful experiences remotely? Especially STEAM for a young audience. When so much of the learning is experiential, how can we can reach our patrons? I have a glass half full (depending on the day) situation wherein I have two naturally curious, creative, youngsters at home, one of whom (my son Desi) is willing to be on camera. While this provides its own set of challenges (filming with my children is akin to trying to get an eager cat to [...]

STEAM From Home: Soap Magic2020-07-27T08:04:05-06:00

10, 9, 8, 7….3, 2, 1, Launch America!!!

2020-05-26T22:12:05-06:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful, safe, and socially distanced Memorial Day Holiday! Now to prepare for the historic event tomorrow that will mark the first launch of American astronauts into space in an American rocket from an American launchpad since the shuttle program was retired in 2011. The crew for this mission are Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley:                   They will be launching from Launch Complex 39A in a SpaceX Crew Dragon carried into orbit by a Falcon 9 rocket.  The lift-off is scheduled for 4:33 p.m. EDT, Wednesday, May 27. For special access to additional information, [...]

10, 9, 8, 7….3, 2, 1, Launch America!!!2020-05-26T22:12:05-06:00

Julie Andrews Reads Aloud and Remote Control BirdBrain Robots

2020-05-21T14:15:20-06:00

Hello again! I wanted to point out two online resources that I failed to mention yesterday. One is Julie's Library.   Julie Andrews and her daughter, Emma Walton Hamilton have begun offering podcast storytimes.  I first knew of  Julie Andrews as the main character in the movie "The Sound of Music," but by the time she performed in that movie she was already famous.  She'd already performed in "My Fair Lady" and "Camelot" on Broadway, in "Cinderella," a made for television musical, and "Mary Poppins," on the big screen.  She has also written quite a number of noteworthy books for children, including: The [...]

Julie Andrews Reads Aloud and Remote Control BirdBrain Robots2020-05-21T14:15:20-06:00

Build Your Own Solar System and Resource Update

2020-05-20T23:47:31-06:00

Hello everyone!  I hope everyone is healthy and at home. To start off, I want to share this really cool resource I found this morning, and which has kept me distracted (granted that isn't hard to do) for longer than I care to admit.  It's an online game in which you get to create your own solar system, and watch it develop through time.  Thankfully it isn't real time, or we'd be waiting for interesting developments for a veeerrrry loooooooong time.  Instead, it passes through a million years every minute. That's 1,000,000 years every minute.  Keep an eye on it the [...]

Build Your Own Solar System and Resource Update2020-05-20T23:47:31-06:00

Happy Superhero Day!

2020-04-28T21:37:18-06:00

April 28 is National Superhero Day! Marvel marked the day by celebrating the heroes on all our minds and thoughts these days - nurses, doctors, EMT's, first responders, medical researchers, grocery store workers, restaurant workers offering curb-side and delivered meals, long-haulers and delivery drivers, production workers, and all the thousands of others who risk their lives daily by going to work so that the rest of us can shelter in place. So why don't we celebrate our favorite superheroes on their day? To learn about some of the more famous classic superheroes, we can take a look at their biographies at Superhero [...]

Happy Superhero Day!2020-04-28T21:37:18-06:00

World Book Day and GISH Scavenger Hunt for Covid-19 Relief

2020-04-23T16:53:15-06:00

Happy World Book Day, everyone! Also known as World Book and Copyright Day and International Day of the Book, this celebration that is more well-known in the U.K.  than in the U. S.  was first held in 1995.  Organized by UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization to promote reading, publishing, and copyright, World Book Day takes place on April 23 each year.  This particular date was chosen because it is the anniversary of the deaths of several famous authors: Miguel do Cervantes, William Shakespeare, and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega/La Inca, as well as others.  This date is the [...]

World Book Day and GISH Scavenger Hunt for Covid-19 Relief2020-04-23T16:53:15-06:00
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