We had forty participants at our Kickoff program to our Summer Reading Challenge! Families came to our Studio On 4th to dance, make musical instruments and rock out! Here’s a video of some of the highlights of the program: We had a Wii set up for dancing: We made […]
The Science of Making Music
Published on :This afternoon we had a program at Pasadena Library about how to make a musical instrument–something that would produce not just noise, but definite pitches that you could change or manipulate. We learned about aerophones, chordophones, idiophones and membranophones, and then got a chance to make our own DIY instruments. […]
Tablets and Tech for Kids: an iPad toys open house!
Published on :We had a fun tech program for kids yesterday, a kind of open house for the iPad apps and toys we have acquired! We played with Wonder Workshop robots and Osmo game systems, toys that extend the two-dimensional screen of the iPad to three-dimensional play. Kids and parents had a lot […]
Kids’ Writing Workshop: Revising!
Published on :On Friday, May 8, we focused on revising using a multi-layered approach I playfully call “Miss AnnMarie’s Thirteen Steps to a Perfect Final Draft.” Is any final draft ever perfect? I don’t know… but if you follow these steps you WILL get about as close to perfect as is possible for […]
Free Comic Book Day May 2nd, 2015
Published on :We kicked off Free Comic Book Day 2015 at 1 pm on Saturday with a visit from three comic book artists, who shared with us their art, their passion and their insights. We held the event on the 4th Floor Studio. After getting lots of inspiration from […]
Kids’ Writing Workshop: Blackout Poetry!
Published on :April is Poetry Month, so last Friday our Kids’ Writing Workshop focused on blackout poetry. First I gave each kid a famous poem, by authors such as Shakespeare, Keats, Byron, Shelley, Dickinson, Poe, Kipling, Frost, and Silverstein. The kids had to read their poem first and get a feel for […]
Family Makerspace
Published on :Families spent an afternoon at the library tinkering and creating. We set up several drop in stations with LittleBits, 3D printing pens, Rainbow Looms, and Legos. The 3D printing pens extrude heated plastic filament that cools almost instantly into a solid, stable structure. You can draw up into the […]
Happy Birthday, Salina Yoon!
Published on :March 14, 2015 was not only Pi Day, but also the birthday of one of our favorite authors and illustrators, Salina Yoon! To commemorate this very special occasion, Salina shared a couple of her newest books FOUND and STORMY NIGHT (and even made it rain!). We gave away party hats, little […]
Preschool Dance Party!
Published on :On February 20th, we held a Preschool Dance Party up on our Studio on 4th. We danced, shook shakers, and waved scarves. Here’s the playlist we used for the party. Most of these cds are available for check-out at the library – click on the CD image to be taken […]
What does being American mean to you? And how do you write about that?
Published on :The theme of this year’s One City, One Story short story writing contest is depicting what being an American means to you, or what your family’s story is, whether your parents or grandparents may have immigrated here, or what your experience has been in this country. That’s a tough subject […]