Happy New Year! Do you have a "Reading Resolution?"

Ask someone. Many of take the year end to think about what we accomplished or better yet what we might like to set for a goal, resolution, for the new year! 
That might even include reading, your window to the world---

Here are some suggestions to get you started: 

• The month of January, the American Library Association, will be recognizing many new titles with awards for excellence in books & media. 

• Taft CHS also will be receiving a new informational title (NH+) and graphic novel  (GH+) month that will be added to the collection from Junior Library Guild. 

Finals Week Library Schedule

 Your Taft Library Research Center will be open every day during finals week! 

Everyday in the morning at 7:45am before your first final on Tuesday, December 13, between finals during your morning 1/2 hour break, and after the second final until 1:30pm thru Thursday, December 15. 

Friday, December 16 is a minimum school day! Stop in to "check-out" some great reads for your holiday break! Remember you can also download e-books using the EBSCO e-book collection for Taft CHS. Stop in for the username and password and get reading--

 books image under public domain, http://www.pixabay.com

Teen Tuesdays @ Woodland Hills Branch Library

Every Tuesday at 4:00pm for teens ages 11-18 the Woodland Hills Branch Library, 22200 Ventura Blvd., offers opportunities for teens! Meet your YA Librarian, Ms. Megan Young!

• December 6 Teen Council Meeting Join the teen council and earn volunteer hours as well as making a difference at both your library and the community of Woodland Hills
• December 13 Gingerbread House Design Challenge Get in the holiday spirit by creating a fun gingerbread house made of graham crackers. You can bring your creation home or enter it in the design contest
• December 20 Electronic Greeting Cards   Light up  someone's holiday with a special handmade greeting card. These cards use circuits and lights to create a fun and memorable gift.

 

snowflake image under CC with public domain license at pixabay.com

Teen Read Week October 9-15, 2016

Teen Read Week, READ for the fun of it! is a national initiative of the Young Adult School Library Association (YALSA) to encourage teens to be regular readers and library users. Vote for the 2016 Teen's Top Ten until October 15! Watch the video about this year's Top 10. 
Plans are underway for Teen Read Week here at Taft CHS. Learn more at your Taft Library Research Center.
1. Vote for your Top Ten!
2. Signup for the Taft CHS Library Advisory Committee: Meet monthly and plan programs, author visits and more!
3. Design a bookmark contest for bragging rights and prizes!
4. READ for the fun of it! Photo Booth! We HAVE the props!!

Banned Websites Awareness Day September 28

Each year, Teacher Librarians and other educators promote an awareness of how overly restrictive filtering affects student learning. Blocking of educational, legitimate websites as well as educational social media tools in schools and libraries limits student learning.

Numerous resources and the ACLU activity "Don't Filter Me" are available at the American Library Association to use in your classroom. Are your First Amendment rights being protected?

Banned Book Week September 25-October 1

STAND UP FOR YOUR RIGHT TO READ! Banned Book Week celebrates the idea that the freedom to read and access to ideas can transform lives. BUT when books are challenged or banned, readers are blocked from seeing all viewpoints and perspectives. 

What's the difference between a challenge and a ban?
A challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict access based on the objections of a group or individual. A ban is the removal of those materials! 

Challenges do not simply involve a person expressing a point of view; rather, they are an attempt to remove material from curriculum or library, thereby restricting access by others!

During Banned Book Week, thousands of libraries and bookstores focus on the harms of censorship and celebrate the right to choose reading materials without restriction---your freedom to read!

 

Makerspace "Build-a-Bridge" Contest: Tuesday 4.26.2016

Don't miss it! It's the first, maybe annual Taft CHS Makerspace engineering "Build-a-Bridge" event at lunch in the library. Bring it---

Activity Focus: This activity will focus on how bridges are engineered to withstand weight. Students will work in teams of two-four to design and build their own bridge out of Popsicle sticks and glue. Each team will test their bridge using weights (a toy car), evaluate their results and present their findings to the whole audience. 

• Team of two to four competitors
• Discuss the problem you may need to be solve
• You determine how many Popsicle sticks you will use---and the steps you will take to create the bridge
• What type of design is the strongest? 
• An attitude to win by creating a bridge the required length made with the fewest number of Popsicle sticks possible!
• (ALL of the supplies will be here)
• Test your bridge---The bridge needs to withstand the weight of a toy car (supplied)
• Evaluation and winning design!! (Bragging rights and prizes)
  

By Themightyquill (Own work) "Cable Stayed Bridge." Wikimedia Commons.org. 23 Feb. 2013. Web. 25 Apr. 2016. .
[CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons,