If you have to chose just one night in April to go out and look at the stars, NASA scientists say it should be April 21st when the Lyrid meteor shower from the Comet Thatcher peaks. This short clip from ScienceCasts, A Wonderful Night in April gives a great introduction.
Snapshot Day: A Day in the Life of Your Library
Libraries remain a great source of information and books and introductions to other cultures and worlds.
Thursday, April 12, 2012, is Snapshot Day: A Day in the Life of Your Library. A lot more happens in a library than checking out books. Sure, that’s part of it, but people head to this invaluable resource in town for all sorts of assistance. The American Library Association hosts an annual Snapshot Day, this year taking place on Thursday, April 12
Playrific has quite a bit of content about libraries and how kids can and do use them as a source of books and a place for activities. Most public libraries have children’s sections and many offer activities for learning by age and/or grade. We’re featuring media about kids using their public libraries.
- Arthur Loves the Library
- Library Manners – Can You Teach My Alligators Manners? – Disney Junior Official
- Harry and his Bucket Full of Dinosaurs
- We Give Books – Read online
While researching this blog I discovered several sites and articles that may be of interest and might inspire parents to take their children to visit their local libraries.
This past February 12 (2012) was National Libraries Day in the United Kingdom. Although this celebration was in the UK, that celebration of Library Day is not unique as indicated by a number of statewide and local “Library Day” events around the US:
If your local library is pointed to as an “obsolete” idea in the digital age, read 16 Reasons Why Libraries and Librarians are Still Extremely Important
What’s happening in your library?
Playrific will be at Essex County AEYC, April 11
Essex County AEYC will host a Best Practice Exposition focusing on Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) on April 11, 2012 and Playrific has a booth
The conference features
- Teacher displays of STEM curriculum
- Vendors
- Leaders in the field
- Keynote speaker Johanna Booth-Miner, Early Learning Center Director, Presenter, and Consultant on connecting children to science and nature
- EEC training certificate (Curriculum competency)
- Light supper buffet
- Door prize
- Prizes to STEM Display participants
The Best Practice Exposition provides you with the chance to be recognized as a leader in the field of Early Learning. People who attend the fair will have an opportunity to learn from you as they view your display, try out an activity you might have for them, and ask you questions about how you make this work in their own classrooms.
… judges from the STEM field will choose winners of special awards.
The expo will be at Northern Essex Community College, Technology Center, Haverhill Campus. The program is from 6:30-8:30 PM.
If you’re at the conference, stop by and meet Diana Kooy, our education consultant.
Celebrating Holidays Around Us (Easter)
Easter is a Christian feast and holiday celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ on the third day after his crucifixion at Calvary as described in the New Testament. Easter is preceded by Lent, a forty-day period of fasting, prayer, and penance. The last week of Lent is called Holy Week, and it contains the days of the Easter Triduum, including Maundy Thursday, commemorating Maundy and the Last Supper, as well as Good Friday, commemorating the crucifixion and death of Jesus. Easter is followed by a fifty-day period called Eastertide or the Easter Season, ending with Pentecost Sunday. The festival is referred to in English by a variety of different names including Easter Day, Easter Sunday, Resurrection Day and Resurrection Sunday.
Easter is a moveable feast, meaning it is not fixed in relation to the civil calendar. The First Council of Nicaea (325) established the date of Easter as the first Sunday after the full moon (the Paschal Full Moon) following the northern hemisphere’s vernal equinox. Ecclesiastically, the equinox is reckoned to be on 21 March (even though the equinox occurs, astronomically speaking, on 20 March in most years), and the “Full Moon” is not necessarily the astronomically correct date. The date of Easter therefore varies between 22 March and 25 April. Eastern Christianity bases its calculations on the Julian calendar whose 21 March corresponds, during the 21st century, to 3 April in the Gregorian calendar, in which the celebration of Easter therefore varies between 4 April and 8 May.
Playrific curators have found media from across the web in celebration of Easter:
- The Miracle of Easter Book, an interactive book
- An Easter Day song for children
- How to make Amazing Easter Egg art!
We have many pieces that help children understand the meaning of Easter as well as family activities and stories around Easter themes.
Celebrating Holidays Around Us (Passover)
Passover, one of the most widely observed Jewish holidays, began at sunset on April 6. It commemorates the story of the Exodus, in which the ancient Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt. Passover begins on the 15th day of the month of Nisan in the Jewish calendar, which is in spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and is celebrated for seven or eight days.
We have several videos for children celebrating Passover, including
- Ma Nishtana – 4 Questions for Passover
- The story of Passover (in Playmobil)
- Shalom Sesame – Les Matzarables
If you have suggestions of other videos, TV shows or other media that celebrate Purim or other holidays, please let us know by emailing content@playrific.com or use the form below:
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