The Discover Earth activities focus on Earth science topics close to home—such as local weather and the plants, animals, crops, and environmental features unique to your region—as well as a global view of our changing planet. There are icebreaker activities, science investigations, weather observations, crafts, and more! The activities are designed to be easy to implement, and they require readily available—and generally inexpensive—materials. The activities are designed for use with audiences in the following four age ranges: 5–7, 8–9, 10–13, and teens. Reading games—customized for ages 5–9, 10–13, and teens—combine book lists and reading logs into take-home adventures that support the hands-on activities. The reading games and reading lists can even be customized to suit your institutions’ resources and needs! The Facilitator's Resources packet includes background information, resource lists, and other information designed to assist you in facilitating the activities.

Discover Earth: Hands-on Activities is part of the STAR Library Education Network (STAR_Net), led by the National Center for Interactive Learning at the Space Science Institute. Network partners include the American Library Association, the Lunar and Planetary Institute, and the National Girls Collaborative Project. Discover Earth is supported through a grant from the National Science Foundation. The module was developed for libraries to use in support of the Discover Earth: A Century of Change traveling exhibit, though it may be implemented independently.

Librarians, scientists, engineers, educators, museum staff, and others are invited to join the STAR_Net online community! The website fosters collaboration among professionals who want to provide or support Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) learning experiences in libraries. Please join the online community and share your experiences implementing the Discover Earth activities with your colleagues.

If you or your colleagues will be attending the American Library Association Annual Conference this summer, please consider joining us to learn more about resources and opportunities available to your library through this project. We will feature some of the hands-on activities in the module! “Discover Earth: How to Present Programs about Earth Sciences in Your Library” will be held on Sunday, June 24, from 1:30–3:30 p.m. Hear from public library exhibit hosts and learn about a Community of Practice for librarians and scientists who want to create innovative STEM programs in libraries. Speakers include Paul Dusenbery and Lisa R. Curtis, National Center for Interactive Learning/Space Science Institute; Stephanie Shipp and Keliann LaConte, Lunar and Planetary Institute; Susan Brandehoff, ALA Public Programs Office, and Karen Peterson, National Girls Collaborative Project.

The program was from 4–7 p.m. and for grades six through twelve. When teens arrived at the event, they were greeted and told to say goodbye to their loved ones. They checked in and were sent into a room to prepare for the reaping. While the teens anxiously waited to find out in which District they would be placed, three staff members went into another room and sorted them into Districts. Their names were written on a District name tag, which was pulled out of a bowl and read aloud. Teens then sat with their District teammates and waited to be led into the arena.

Once in the arena, instructions were given, and a video message from President Snow (library Director Holly Sorensen) was played. Finally, there was the cornucopia, where teens had a chance to earn bonus points for their District. One teen from each team got to race to the center of the room where a number of cards lay. Each card was for a different event and a different amount of points. Each District had to strategize about which event would be their weakest and try for extra points there. The challenges that they would be facing were:

• “Will it Kill You?” in which teens had to identify edible and poisonous items ranging from pine bark (landscaping chips) to trackerjacker venom (malt vinegar). Points were given for correct answers.

• “Hunting” was a survival scavenger hunt that took place over our entire second floor. Districts had to answer the questions on their list by finding items in the collection. For example, teens had to find a particular book via call number and then answer a question using the index to help find the answer. Points were awarded for different questions based on difficulty level.

• “Survival Skills” was knot-tying. Teens had to tie three knots ranging in difficulty from easy to hard, with a minute for each knot. Each knot was worth a variety of points.

• “Camouflage” was a lot of fun. Each teen had to have their face decorated, in whatever way they wanted. Some teens went full out with jungle camouflage; others kept it subtle and glamorous, like Capital citizens. Points were awarded based on creative use of paint.

• “Weapons Training” was Wii archery. When teens arrived at this task, they each got a chance to get a feel for how the archery game worked before it counted for actual points. Teens had to strategize because the shooter (Katniss) would move farther away from the target after several shots. The Wii game kept score so the final tally was written down.

• “Peeta’s Bakery” gave districts a chance to relax and eat a delicious cookie—after they decorated it as Peeta would have. There were two point levels teens could try for: a District 12 cookie or a mockingjay design.

Once the library was closed, teens were let out into the library to compete in the games. Besides Gamemakers, other library staff (Peacekeepers) helped keep the program running smoothly by helping out at each challenge. A cannon would sound every ten minutes to let teens know to move on to the next event. Once they had completed the challenge, Districts would line up to wait for the cannon to race off to the next challenge. The winning District, District 7, received 74th Annual Hunger Games pins, and all teens received Hunger Games–themed mini pins from Café Press. The teens had a fantastic time at the program, and staff was really impressed at how smoothly everything went. We’re looking forward to planning our next after-hours program!

Be sure to check out the video that Brodie created:

Celebrate May Day

Journey back to Puritan New England, when two cultures clashed. This Launchpad on Nathaniel Hawthorne’s classic tale, “The May-pole of Merry Mount,” provides background materials and discussion questions to enhance your reading and understanding of the short story, including videos with editors Amy A. Kass and Leon R. Kass conversing with guest host Yuval Levin, editor of National Affairs, about the story.

Pablo Neruda: A Conversation with the Sea

Pable Neruda was a multi-faceted poet stylistically, writing unforgettable love poems and odes to everyday objects as well as poetry dealing with the labors and struggles of the common man. Critic John Leonard of the New York Times said of Neruda: he “was, I think, one of the great ones, a Whitman of the South.” This interactive Launchpad will guide you through several resources to learn about Neruda’s life, works, and one of his poems from Odas elementales, “Oda al mar.”

Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience”

However much Henry David Thoreau wished to avoid politics and government, they both impacted his life. Like many Americans in the North before the Civil War, Thoreau was morally opposed to slavery. Further, he viewed the U.S.-Mexican War (1846–48) as an unjust aggression against a neighboring country and also as a means by which the southern states would acquire more territory for slavery. What does a citizen do when moral conscience comes into conflict with an objectionable law? Guide your students through a close reading of Henry David Thoreau’s famous essay in this Launchpad.

Bridging Cultures to Japan

The year was 1841. Japan was an impenetrable stronghold, totally isolated and off-limits to the West. Sailors and whaling ships inadvertently entering Japanese coastal waters were summarily turned away and threatened with violence if they did not leave. Herman Melville had his immortal character, Ishmael, speak these prophetic words: “If that double-bolted land, Japan, is ever to become hospitable, it is the whale-ship alone to whom the credit will be due; for already she is on the threshold.” As it turned out, fourteen-year-old Manjiro Nakanohama, by means of a whaling ship, would cross that threshold to open the door! Celebrate National Asian Pacific Heritage Month with our first Japanese “ambassador.” Connect with an interactive map of his voyage and timeline and trace his fantastic round-trip journey across the Pacific.

Coming of Age in the Holocaust, Coming of Age Now

For Jewish American Heritage month, explore Coming of Age, a free, interactive classroom resource created by the Museum of Jewish Heritage featuring primary sources, artifact explorations, discussions, and activities for learning about the Holocaust. Middle and high school students encounter the Holocaust through the eyes of youth who survived it, with individual testimonies and more.

EDSITEment News

Did you know EDSITEment lessons are now aligned with Common Core Standards through Thinkfinity? Search standards by state.

Every finals week UD’s Alumni Association and a local pizzeria sponsor free pizza, while the provost’s office sponsors free coffee, taxi rides, and chair massages. Recently, student feedback and chatter on Twitter has inspired our Finals Week themes and perks. Mentions of our library on Twitter are tracked daily, and as Communications and Outreach Librarian I respond and retweet many of them. I use Twitter to gather positive and negative feedback about the library and to design services with an impact.

In spring 2011, a student tweet about having bad breath at the library inspired our “Stay Fresh at Roesch” theme. Two students tweeted about #RoeschBreath which they explained was the way your breath smells after spending too much time in the library (smells like musty books!) We ordered 4,000 mint candies with the “Stay Fresh at Roesch” slogan printed on the wrapper and had them around study spaces. We also hoped this might help with the common mispronunciation of our name (Roesch rhymes with fresh). One of the first students to notice the theme was the student who originally tweeted about Roesch Breath:

Love that #ClubRoesch offers mints to prevent #RoeschBreath #StayfreshatRoesch

#ClubRoesch is another Twitter trend that has existed for almost three years. A student study group started using this nickname for themselves and it caught on. Now students typically use the nickname or hashtag to refer to the library itself. We had the popular hashtag printed on blue highlighters and gave those out as prizes for Foursquare check-ins. In fall 2011, with the help of the Student Government Association, we launched the “Become a Club Roesch V.I.P.” program, where one student could win their own study room for finals by checking in to the library on Foursquare. Our winner received a key to a large study room complete with gift cards from her favorite restaurants, sparkling cider, and champagne glasses. The Sunday before finals we had a midnight dance party, “Rock Around the Christmas Tree,“ with more than one hundred students in attendance. Students tweeted song requests beforehand to make it truly theirs. We handed out glowsticks, and an eight-minute dance party ensued.

In a couple of weeks we’re launching “Stress Less at Roesch” with fresh fruit and extended chair massage hours. The Club Roesch V.I.P program is back, and the excitement is building. Now students enter to win by liking our Facebook status, retweeting us, or checking in Foursquare on Monday, April 23. A dining hall and the student-run coffee shop are donating gift certificates to create a V.I.P prize package for the winner, complete with library swag.

My daily interactions on Twitter via the library’s account show students that someone is listening. We’re also able to make an impact by making some of their comments, suggestions, and ideas into realities. I think a lot of students are really clever and have funny and important things to say. Twitter is a great way to see what students are saying and an outlet for finding creative programming ideas by students.

In his official proclamation, the president said, “It is the painter, the author, the musician, and the historian whose work inspires us to action, drives us to contemplation, stirs joy in our hearts, and calls upon us to consider our world anew. The arts and humanities contribute to the vibrancy of our society and the strength of our democracy, and during National Arts and Humanities Month, we recommit ourselves to ensuring all Americans can access and enjoy them.”

Featured Events

• In New York, the Poet’s House (a library with a collection of more than 50,000 volumes of poetry) invited several poets, both local and international, to come discuss their art. These talks ranged from Brazilian poet Regis Bonvincio speaking about contemporary South American poetry, to scholar John Festiner, who gave a presentation on how poetry (starting with the Psalms and continuing through the centuries) could help save our world.
• Several branches of the Los Angeles Public Library played host to the LA Opera Company. Among the nine libraries selected, the Porter Ranch branch welcomed Rose Vardanian to speak about Wagner’s Siegfried, and Joann Porter Toll came to the Burbanks branch to discuss Handel’s Tamerlano. Each event was followed by a discussion over pastries and coffee.
• The Blake Library in Stuart, Florida, presented the independent film Pants On Fire as part of its Southern Circuit Filmmakers series, a program put on in association with The Arts Council of Stuart. The screening was followed by a discussion with the producer/director Colin Campbell.
• As a partner in the Brattleboro Literary Festival, Brooks Memorial Library in Vermont sponsored several programs presented by published writers and poets, including Pulitzer Prize winner David Hackett Fischer. Other hosts include the scientists Hannah Holmes and Irene Pepperburg as well as a biographer of Gerard Manley Hopkins, Paul Mariani.

Other Resources

• The Americans for the Arts website has many useful links and ideas. Of special significance is its map of events happening around the country and list of 101 Things You Can Do to Celebrate National Arts and Humanities Month.
• Visit the National Arts and Humanities Month’s Facebook page.
• The National Assembly of State Arts Agencies has several useful links, including draft proclamation letters and publicity kits.