International Asteroid Day

Did you know that there is an International Asteroid Day?

Asteroid Day aims to raise awareness about asteroids and what can be done to protect the Earth, its families, communities and future generations from a catastrophic event.

It was co-founded in 2014  by Dr. Brian May an astrophysicist and rock legend, Danica Remy  president of B612 FoundationRusty Schweickart an astronaut and Grig Richters a German filmmaker.

Following on from this the United Nations General Assembly officially declared June 30th each year as the International Asteroid Day.

June 30 was chosen because it marks Earth’s largest asteroid impact in recorded history, the Siberia Tunguska event, which occurred on the 30 June 1908 and devastated over 2,000 km2 of forest, an area the size of any major city today.

A declaration was created called the 100X Declaration where scientist and technologist who support the idea of saving the earth from asteroids were asked to sign. But the really cool thing is that everyone has the opportunity to sign. To date the 100X Declaration has been signed by more that 22,000 private citizens.

There is heaps of information, resources, movies, videos, fun stuff plus the countdown until June 30 on the official International Asteroid Day website so check it out. And don’t forget we also have lots of information and books in the library.

 

 

 

 

Live online homework help with AnyQuestions

Need help with those tricky school subjects? Not sure where to start on your project? Have a topic that you want to know more about? Just need a good website?

Then you need to go to AnyQuestions.co.nz

AnyQuestions offers free online schoolwork help to New Zealand school students. You can log on to the website from 1pm to 6pm weekdays during the school year and chat online with a friendly librarian about a schoolwork question.

AnyQuestions librarians are specially trained to help you find the answers you need, without giving you the answers of course! They will guide you to quality information sources and help you gain the skills to do future searches yourself.

AnyQuestions will work with any internet enabled device, such as a computer, tablet or a smartphone. AnyQuestions does look a bit different on different devices but you’re still talking to a librarian, somewhere in New Zealand.

The site is backed by the Ministry of Education and is staffed by librarians from Wellington City Libraries and other libraries around New Zealand.

For more information visit AnyQuestions.

Space and Science Festival – see you there!

Celebrate New Zealand TechWeek 19 – 27th May!

Wellington City Libraries will be at the Space and Science Festival at Onslow College on 19th May. We will have all our robots and programmable toys there for you to have a go with, and lots of Lego! There will be mBots, Spheros, Dash, Ozobot and more. You can even say hello to one of our Nao Robots (and they will say hello back)!

There will be heaps of cool companies, scientists, and tech experts at the Space and Science festival, including a scientist and astronaut from NASA. Take a look at the full list and programme to find out more.

See you there!

 

Make, Create, and Innovate in the April School Holidays

Spin a Sphero, make music, code a cart, and rock with a robot!

You get to be the engineer, architect, or scientist at your local library during the school holidays. Have a go at the latest programmable toys, gadgets and robots, and get creative with Lego and coding games. Open to all ability levels.

 

Ruth Gotlieb (Kilbirnie) Library: Tuesday 17th April, 10.30am

Mervyn Kemp (Tawa) Library: Wednesday 18th April, 10.30am

Cummings Park (Ngaio) Library: Thursday 19th April, 10.30am

Karori Library: Friday 20th April, 2.30pm

Johnsonville Library: Monday 23rd April. 2.30pm

Newtown Library: Tuesday 24th April, 10.30am

Khandallah Library: Thursday 26th April, 10.30am

Central Library: Friday 27th April, 10.30am

 

These free events are for children aged 6+ and run for 1 hour. No need to book – just turn up!

There are eight different robot and coding events happening across Wellington City Libraries during the school holidays. Contact your library to find out more. Follow the our Facebook page or check back on this blog for updates.

 

Space and Science Festival: Saturday the 9th of May

Every wondered what’s out there when you look at the stars? Want to meet an astronaut? What was New Zealand like before humans arrived? What goes on in the mind of a robot?

You might just find an answer to these and many other fascinating questions if you come along to the Space and Science Festival at Onslow College, Johnsonville on Saturday the 13th of August from 12 noon to 4pm.

The Space and Science Festival is an event run by volunteers made up of scientists, astronomers, astrophotographers, engineers, mathematicians, technologists and many more people who all give up their time to help you gain greater understanding of the World and space around us both near and far.

This year Wellington City Libraries and Hutt City Libraries have got together and will have a room at the Space and Science Festival packed full of exciting things including robotics, stop/go animation, coding and lego construction. There will be lots of hands on stuff to get involved with including Red, our Nao Robot who can do all sorts of amazing things, even understand what you are saying!

The website for the festival is www.spacesciencefestival.org – you’ll need to get a ticket to get in (best to buy before you go) – Child: $10 or a Family Pass: $50.

Become an inventor!

If you could design and make something, what would it be? Something so amazing and fantastic that your friends are going to be sooooo jealous.

What about a robot that cleans your room or hover shoes that you could zoom around on. Maybe  a small pill that has all your vegetables hidden inside (even broccoli) and when you swallow it, it tastes like chocolate or strawberries and cream.

This website has some  great inventions that kids have designed and they have been turned into real products.  I really like the scooter.

So get your thinking caps on and start creating. You might like to check out some of these great books to get you started.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Boredom Busters!

Want to confuse and astound your family these holidays? Learn some cool magic tricks, such as the vanishing coin, or balancing a ball on a piece of string! Practise with the step-by-step instructions in these books and see who you can fool. You can find great magic trick books on the shelf under 793.8.

Why not check out our newest book? Magic tricks with coins, cards and everyday objects by Jake Banfield

 

 

 

 

Want to listen to music or an audio book on your smartphone or tablet? Find out how to make your very own speakers for them! Feeling competitive? Build a balloon-rocket car or a soap-powered boat, then challenge your friends to a race and see whose creation is fastest! Check out these great inventions and more in Home Lab: exciting experiments for budding scientists by Robert Winston

 

 

Want to create your very own animated video clip masterpiece? Find out how easy it is to do this by checking out Creating Digital animations: Animate stories with Scratch by Derek Breen. Follow the simple steps and projects using Scratch (free online software). Build a character, create a world and animate your story!

 

 

Want the ultimate challenge these holidays? Work your way through mind-bending  puzzles, riddles and brainteasers in The Mysterious Benedict Society : Mr. Benedict’s book of perplexing puzzles, elusive enigmas, and curious conundrums by Trenton Lee Stewart, based on his Mysterious Benedict Society Books. Check out the Helpful resources on page 130, and the hints on page 140 if you get stuck. Want a good puzzle to start with? Try finding Milligan hiding in a crowd on page 67!

 

And finally…become a master at the dark art of shadow-puppets. Create over a hundred animals from unicorns and crocodiles to dogs and owls, from one-handed to two, easy to challenging. Make your next sleepover story extra creepy with these shapes! Check out The art of making shadows by Sophie Collins.

 

The School Holidays are here!

Looking for something to do for the holidays? Here’s what’s happening in the library.

During the school holidays we will be celebrating World Space Week by creating Space Movies!

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Calling all Space, Film and Technology buffs! Bring your own device, or use one of our tablets to showcase Earth from space by creating a stop-motion animated film.

 

Here’s when the events are on at a library near you:

Week 1:

Mervyn Kemp (Tawa) Library: Wednesday 28 Sept, 11am

Miramar Library: Wednesday 28 Sept, 2pm

Khandallah Library: Thursday 29 Sept, 2pm

Johnsonville Library: Friday 30 Sept, 11am

 

Week 2:

Karori Library: Tuesday 4 Oct, 2pm

Wellington Central Library: Wednesday 5 Oct, 11am

Ruth Gotlieb (Kilbirnie) Library: Thursday 6 Oct, 2pm

Cummings Park (Ngaio) Library: Friday 7 Oct, 2pm

 

Some important notes:

  • Please bring your own device if possible. The library will have a limited number of tablets that can be used on the day.
  • If you bring your own device, it needs to be an Android or iOS tablet or smart phone with a camera
  • Before the event, please download a free app called Stop Motion Studio on to your device.
  • The event is free, and no bookings are required. However due to limited resources and library spaces, librarians may limit numbers on the day depending on how many people turn up.
  • Suitable for ages 7+

Top 10 Children’s non-fiction July 2016

Minecraft domination! This game has taken over the top ten this month!

Other popular books from the libraries’ non-fiction collections covered Arabic language and Matariki. We’ve been having some great clear skies in the evening, giving you a chance to spy out the constellations in our winter sky.

Arabic language books are part of the foreign language collection in the Children’s non-fiction.  There are stories in different languages from around the world as well as dictionaries and books that help with learning a new language.

You don’t have to travel far to use other languages as we are lucky to have people from many different countries living in Wellington.  Great phrases to have handy are “hello and goodbye, please and thankyou”.  Did you know that New Zealand has three official languages? Te Reo. English and Sign Language.

How many languages can you say  these words in? Let us know in the comments.

Ka kite!

 

Here’s your Top 10 for July 2016:

1. The LEGO ideas book, by Daniel Lipkowitz

2. Minecraft: beginner’s handbook, by Stephanie Milton, Paul Soares, Jordan Maron and Joe Bolder

3. Star Wars, David West Reynolds

4. Star Wars character encyclopedia, by Simon Beecroft

5. Minecraft: redstone handbook, by Nick Farwell

6. Minecraft hacks master builder, by Megan Miller

7. LEGO play book, by Daniel Lipkowitz

8. Hacks for Minecrafters, by Megan Miller

9. Minecraft, by Matthew Needler and Phil Southam

10. Cool creations in 35 pieces, by Sean Kinney

Top 10 Children’s non-fiction for April 2016

Factual folios of fantasy worlds! April’s favourite reads are great ways to spur the imagination.  Building your own kingdom (well shelter for starters) from virtual blocks or using Lego in real life.  Have your library loans inspired you to construct any awesome creations? In Small scenes from a big galaxy, Vesa Lehtimäki brings together Lego and Star Wars with some inspired photography.  Check out his flickr account!

1. LEGO books, by Daniel Lipkowitz
2. Minecraft books, by Megan Miller
3. Minecraft, by Stephanie Milton
4. Star Wars rebels, by Adam Bray
5. Minecraft, by Nick Farwell
6. Star Wars, by David West Reynolds
7. Minecraft, by Matthew Needler and Phil Southam
8. LEGO Star Wars character encyclopedia, by Hannah Dolan
9. Small scenes from a big galaxy, by Vesa Lehtimäki
10. Minecraft blockopedia, by Alex Wiltshire