Looking for something to quickly pull together for dinner with what you have in your pantry or fridge? Here are some quick and easy ideas where there’s some flexibility with items that can be substituted.
Also check out these eBooks:
Teen & Kids’ Update: Hogwarts Digital Escape Room
Are you up to the challenge? We think you are!
This awesome Hogwarts-themed digital escape experience was created by Sydney Krawiec, Youth Services Librarian at Peters Township Public Library in McMurray, PA. We are sure you will have fun finding clues, gathering information and solving puzzles to escape the room.
Click here to start the adventure. Good luck!
Free Personal Finance Workshops
In partnership with the United Way Financial Stability Center, Open Hearth, Inc. is making a number of FREE Personal Financial Workshop Offerings available to consumers through ZOOM during the COVID-19 pandemic:
- Home Buying Basics
- Good Credit – How to Get It!
- Finances for a Lifetime
- Car Buying: Put Yourself in the Driver’s Seat
- Financing Your First Home
- Save Like a Millionaire!
- Paying for College/Vocational Training
Kids’ Update: Add a Little Music to Your Day!
Whether you’re bored or blue, music can be a great pick-me-up! Ask your parents about songs they liked when they were kids. To find to lyrics to songs you or they half remember, go to Songs for Scouts. If you click on “song” at the top of the page, someone will sing it for you. Check out our favorite, Mama Mosquito! At jBrary, you can learn lots of new songs from youtube videos.
At Classics for Kids, you can learn about Composers and Instruments. Classics for Kids also lets you hear music by the great composers and compose your own! Go to Music Notes: A Guide to Music for Kids to learn about music theory, music history, musical styles, instruments, and more.
Here’s a story about one style of music that you’ll enjoy — Rent Party Jazz!
The Youth Services Staff at the Chester County Library and Hankin Branch are presenting Virtual Storytimes beginning April 27th. They will be for three different ages groups — 0 to 2 Year Olds, 3 & 4 Year Olds, and 5 & 6 Year Olds. Registration is required via the Events Calendar at https://chescolibraries.org/. Virtual Storytimes are not registered as multi-week sessions; you will need to register for each storytime individually.
Virtual Program: The Death of Privacy
Lawrence Husick, a technology attorney and terrorism expert, will discuss modern privacy issues from multiple perspectives. We are surrounded by surveillance cameras, smart phones, facial recognition systems, and other technologies that seem to know more about us than we know about ourselves. What should we think about the erosion of our privacy? Lawrence will discuss legal, social, technological and economic viewpoints. Is it possible to live privately, “off the grid,” in modern American society?
Join us for a Zoom lecture on April 21 at 6:30 p.m. Please register here.
All registrants will receive an email with the Zoom connection information on Tuesday morning, April 21.
National Poetry Month – brush up on your knowledge with these library resources
Did you know that in 1862, Emily Dickinson is thought to have composed over three hundred poems? Or that Robert Frost, who wrote in formal meter, compared his contemporaries’ experimentation with free verse to “playing tennis with the net down”? Maybe you’d like to know more about the works of beloved poet Mary Oliver who passed away in 2019. These facts plus literature and information about poets and their works are available through our library databases.
LitFinder (POWER Library) – discover literature content from more than 150,000 full-text poems, 840,000 poem citations and excerpts, 7,100 full-text short stories and novels, 3,800 full-text essays published in the 16th-20th centuries, 2,400 full-text speeches, and 1,250 full-text plays. It also includes biographies, work summaries, photographs, and a glossary. Within LitFinder’s collection, users can access works from over 80,000 authors from 660 nationalities.
MasterFile Premier – provides subject overviews, full text for magazine articles, an image collection and AP clips. Excellent resource for student research and classroom instruction. Information is rich, reliable, and easy-to-use.
ONEFILE: High School Edition (POWER Library) – offers access to age-appropriate content from magazines, journals, newspapers, reference books, and engaging multi-media covering a wide range of subjects, from science, history, and literature to political science, sports, and environmental studies.
Contemporary Authors (POWER Library) – provides a guide to current authors in popular fields, based on the print set Contemporary Authors
Click here to search our catalog for downloadable eBooks and eAudiobooks about poets and poetry:
And on the web, here are three links about poets and poetry:
- 9 Modern and Contemporary Poets Everyone Can (And Should) Read – from superscholar.org
- The 32 Most Iconic Poems in the English Language – from lithub.com
- Contemporary American Poets – from poets.org
Join the celebration of National Poetry Month
and take advantage of these great poetry resources!
Edible Schoolyard Project
If you are looking for edible education lessons that students can complete at home, you’ve got to check out the Edible Schoolyard Project! There you will find educational resources – created specifically for this time of distance learning – that engage students in understanding how food is deeply connected to so many parts of our lives.
They are developing and posting new lessons every week to support students, families and educators. Be sure to check back frequently! You can also subscribe to their newsletter or Facebook page for more updates!
Backyard bird watching
As the temperatures warm and you spend more time outdoors in your yard or
walking the neighborhood, you may be more acutely aware of the birdsongs in the air as spring gets into full swing. If you have the time, this may be a great opportunity to begin identifying some of the birds creating these beautiful (or possibly annoying) sounds.
There are several free apps available for either iOS or Android phones that can help you in this endeavor. Two of the more reputable ones are the Merlin Bird ID app (created by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology) and the Audubon Bird Guide app (from the National Audubon Society). Learn which birds are most common in your neighborhood at this time of year, look at their photos, listen to their different songs and cries, and find out more about their migration and nesting habits.
Slowing down our pace of life can certainly open up whole new worlds to explore in nature, and free apps like these can help you take the first steps. Happy Birding!
Teen Update: Marvel Comics – Free Access!
Are you a fan of Marvel Comics? Until May 4, fans can access several of the most iconic and beloved Marvel Comics for free on the digital comics subscription service, “Marvel Unlimited”.
In a recent press release the company confirmed that Marvel Unlimited is now offering all fans free access to some of the most iconic stories from recent years. To take advantage of this awesome opportunity, simply update or download the Marvel Unlimited app onto your smartphone via the Apple or Google Play app stores, and click the “free comics” button that appears on the landing screen.
PennDOT COVID-19 Info
Is your vehicle inspection, registration, driver’s license, or other PennDOT-related item scheduled to expire? Visit PennDOT‘s COVID-19 info page to learn about extended expiration dates, 24/7 online services, service updates, and more.
Scroll down PennDOT‘s COVID-19 info page to the Driver and Vehicle Services section to find a list of questions and answers related to Driver and Vehicle Services.
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