Make STEAM @ Home

Looking for fun and educational activities when the family is stuck inside during the winter weather? Now you can Make STEAM @ Home with the Ridgefield Library’s new STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) Kits for children ages 4-11. The Library is developing a series of fun, interactive, thematic learning kits about a variety of topics and skills that relate to STEAM and literacy.

Make science at home with Snap Circuits or Osmo. Learn coding with Bee-Bots or Dash & Dot. Engineer with K’Nex or dominos. Make art with a Spirograph or Cursive kits; make math with the Money Kit or the Telling-Time Kit. Drama, knitting and Ozobot kits will be coming in February.

Stop into the Lodewick Children’s Library to see the available kits and bring one home for seven days with the use of your Ridgefield Library Card. STEAM kits are only available for check out from the children’s information desk (and must be returned there) and cannot be reserved. One per family, please; late fees $2.00 per day, up to a maximum of $20. STEAM kits at the Ridgefield Library are made possible by the McGovern Family.

Contributed by Kristina Lareau, Head of Children's Services

It's Definitely Not your Grandfather's Library

Sure, we have 100,000 books and other traditional library materials available for check-out.  We do scores of storytimes and other programs each year designed to aid in early childhood literacy skills development, and dozens of old-fashioned book discussions.  We offer familiar reference and readers’ advisory service and now-expected technology access.  But at the Ridgefield Library, there is always something completely unexpected on the horizon as well, all intended to bring the community together to read, discover, question, connect and thrive.  Mark your calendar now for some of the more exciting and unusual offerings coming in the next few months (more details about all will be publicized as event dates draw near, or visit www.ridgefieldlibrary.org or our Facebook page for updates).

August 11 & 12 – the 3^rd Annual RidgeCon celebration of pop culture

August 21 – Activities at the Library and in Ballard Park on the rare occasion of a solar eclipse.  Along with Parks and Rec, we will be organizing safe eclipse viewings, educational presentations, crafts, games, music and more.

September 15 & 16 – Love your Library (LYL) returns, bigger and better – and featuring a teen playwriting contest and an 18-hole mini-golf course created in the Library!

Hope to see you at these events, or any day, at the Library!

Bookmarks Mark Ridgefield

The Library is currently partnering with The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art on a project dubbed “Bookmarks Mark Ridgefield.” Community members of all ages are invited to be part of Aldrich artist Ruth Root’s ongoing project exploring her love of books.

CREATE. Drop into The Aldrich’s Education Center or check at the Ridgefield Library for times to make and donate your own bookmark to the Library’s stacks.  All the materials you need are supplied, including fabric and paper selections from the artist’s studio.

DISTRIBUTE. Tuck your completed bookmark (or one supplied by the Library) into any book on the Library’s shelves.  Choose a favorite title, or search out something new and interesting.

DISCOVER. Find a bookmark in an item you take off the shelf. Keep it to use yourself, or put it in another book for the enjoyment of a fellow reader.

SHARE. Into social media? Take a picture of a bookmark you have made or found and post it to Facebook, Twitter or Instagram with the hashtag #rlbookmarks.  For fun, make it a selfie or a shelfie!

VISIT. Ruth Root’s work will be on exhibit at The Aldrich through April 3rd. Stop by and learn more about this very creative and inspiring woman.

Making STEAM @ Ridgefield Library

You may have wondered about a colorful new logo on Library flyers and emails, incorporating the phrase “Making STEAM @ Ridgefield Library.”   This is our new initiative to offer activities and programs in Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math to the community. Some may be familiar with the concept of STEM, which has been a hot topic in education and industry. It relates to developing proficiency in these closely-related disciplines to foster creativity and innovation.  More recently, there has been a movement to incorporate an element of art and design into this approach, thus STEAM.

With the opening of our new building and expansion of our technology infrastructure, the Ridgefield Library has been able to embrace the opportunities of this approach through a major expansion in the number and range of STEAM-based programs we can offer. Teens enjoy Crafternoons and Tech Thursdays each month; folks of all ages flock to 3D printing orientations; and programs like Science Scouts and a field trip to the World Maker Faire fill up quickly. Adopting the principle of “Making STEAM” allows us to provide context and connection among all these activities, promote them more effectively and stay abreast of current trends in both school-based education and lifelong learning.  Stay tuned for more STEAM as we move into the New Year.

Cheers for Coding @ the Library

You’re never too old – or too young – to learn the mysteries of coding.  For those of us of a certain age, “coding” is the newer terminology for “computer programming,” and it is fast becoming a ubiquitous job skill, even for fields outside the tech world. In recognition of that fact, educators around the globe have launched a project called the Hour of Code, which seeks to introduce people of all ages and computer experience levels to the basics of coding during Computer Science Education Week (December 7-13 this year). In the few years Hour of Code has been going on, over 146,151,391 people have participated so far.

In Ridgefield the K-8^th grades in the public schools, plus many students at local private schools, are participating in Hour of Code this week.  At the Library, we have scheduled numerous activities to bring others into the coding fold.  We have open lab times available, along with structured hands-on workshops for preschoolers, parents, seniors and more. Check our website for the schedule, come in for help, or go straight to ridgefieldcodes.org to get started on your own.  It’s simple and fun!  The entire Library staff will be participating this year, and we invite you to join us.