Following the success of the NM Science Fiesta, Explora is excited to be able to continue to offer FREE, compelling virtual science content. Here, we are pleased to share with you a series of brief YouTube videos featuring eight New Mexico STEM professionals.
In these compelling interviews, these women share first-hand accounts of what it is like for women to both become and work as professionals in science and engineering fields in New Mexico.
REFORMA de Nuevo Mexico will provide a ZOOM link to participate in the the fifth annual New Mexico Science Fiesta. The NM Science Fiesta is one of the largest science education events in
New Mexico and REFOMA de Nuevo Mexico is on the planning committee.
SAVE THE DATE! The 2020 NM Science Fiesta will take place September 18-26, featuring three different types of virtual
events, all free to the public: Science Destinations, Science in the Community, and the Science Fiesta
Expo. NM Science Fiesta Planning Committee, led by Explora,
will provide support, ideas, and a Presenter’s Guide.
Back to School STEM "Grab-n-Go" will be distributed in the parking area of the Las Cruces Makers Market while supplies last beginning at 9am on Saturdays in August. If you miss us, please contact us through the survey available on this blog, and we will mail you a STEM book and "Imagine Your Story" backpack. Thank you to Explora for providing English/Spanish STEM science experiments and special thanks to The Stocker Foundation.
Pick up a free bilingual and STEM book packet at Dona Ana County Free Little Libraries. Complete the survey on this blog if you could not find a packet in your NM Free Little Library and RNM will mail one to you.
Miss New Mexico Teen Tourism, Valeria Marquez and Miss New Mexico Tourism, Daisy Cervantes along with Brianna Pena, have been busy this summer, with virtual science bilingual presentations including in packets from Explora Science Center in Albuquerque along with the New Mexico State Library's summer reading program information and links with a fun activity, New Mexico Book Bingo.
We are limited at the Downtown Craft and Makers Market this summer through October, but have offered curb-side distribution during the virtual storytime. Please wear a mask and practice social distancing, we do sanitize the materials in the NM Free Little Libraries, but please wipe down if you get one, before you use the books, experiments, etc. RNM is grateful to The Stocker Foundation, who has provided us with the resources to keep education during the summer months and provide support for the beginning of the school year. RNM has supported the summer reading program at Hatch Public Library, please visit the virtual storytime and the library, if you are in the area for more details. Look for us on September 26 for a virtual Cuentos Storytime featuring our NM Latinas through ZOOM with an opportunity for an open mic. Email us for some details at nwnmac1@gmail.com
Every year Explora offers a variety of summer programs that provide STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math) engagement and enrichment and prevent summer learning loss. This year, due to the COVID-19 school closures, the “summer slide” is a bigger issue than ever before. To combat this learning loss, Explora will serve over 1,500 students this summer with a variety of STEAM-rich learning experiences aligned to state content standards. Explora offers unique investigations for a range of grade levels, in order to keep imaginations and brain cells active with STEAM! Choices include in-person camps at Explora, the Anderson Abruzzo International Balloon Museum, and the Agri-Nature Center in Los Ranchos; virtual online STEAM camps; virtual Summer Family Science Nights; and Explora @Home learning kits. Financial assistance is available for all summer programs, on request. We don’t want anyone to miss out on summer camp!
Special thanks to Explora for proving English/Spanish Science Projects to REFORMA de Nuevo Mexico for the NM Free Little Libraries book packets.
Lt. Governor, Howie Morales is promoting "Imagine A Story" summer reading and invites you to register, read and log books. Register then look for the Lt. Governor's storytimes!
Featuring: Dona Ana County in New Mexico at the Hatch Public Library with weekly virtual storytimes and activities and the Las Cruces, Thomas Brannigan Memorial Library with virtual storytimes, crafts, and teen activities.
RNM continues to promote and provide resources for summer reading with help from Miss New Mexico Teen Tourism heling distribute packets at Las Cruces and New Mexico Free Little Libraries. The bilingual book kits include Spanish/English STEAM experiments from Explora Science Center in Albuquerque and play New Mexico Book Bingo. Complete the survey on this blog if you could not find a packet in your NM Free Little Library and RNM will mail one to you. Look for us at the Downtown Craft and Makers Market this summer through October, limited dates and please wear a mask and practice social distancing for your safety. RNM summer reading promotion and NM Free Little Library book packet is sponsored by The Stocker Foundation.
Although our focus is Dona Ana County, we do stop and "seed" packets across New Mexico. If you would like a packet... fill out the survey on this blog and we will send it out to you, ASAP, along with the opportunity to win $100 gift card in August and October.
Recently, RNM visited a pocket park, since the Las Cruces Craft and Makers Market was unavailable, to distribute books and STEAM activities in a "TO-GO" project. Sponsored by The Stocker Foundation.
By: Flo Trujillo, Youth Services Coordinator, Farmington (N.M.) Public Library
Librarians and other educators often worry about the “summer slide” — the decline in academic skills that occurs over the summer, especially among low-income families who may lack the resources to attend summer camps or the like. This year, we can add the “COVID-19 slide” to our list of concerns.
STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) learning can be especially hard to encourage at home, where kids don’t have access to supplies or even spaces where they can spread out and make a big mess. But there are plenty of simple science activities that kids and families can do with minimal space and supplies, especially if the library can provide some guidance.
[Interested in STEM programming grants? Learn about current ALA opportunities to support activities like these.]
Here are a few of my favorite simple science activities to do with kids. You can post these videos straight to your website or social media channels, or if your library is doing curbside pick-up, you could give away or circulate program kits with everything the kids will need.
Sprouting seeds
I’ve had success making simple take-home projects, and some of my most popular have been seed-growing kits. I package five sunflower seeds and a little potting soil in a Ziploc bag and add instructions for how to plant them. Sometimes I stash these kits in a Little Free Library (our local police department has several in collaboration with the library) along with a couple books about plants, usually one early childhood board book and a second chapter book for older kids.
To make this activity more fun and get the kids excited, you could share this time-lapse video of sunflower seeds germinating.
Dissecting an old-school floppy disk
Kids love taking things apart to understand how they work. Why not use that enthusiasm to help them learn about old technology?
I once came across a lot of old floppy disks in my library and hosted a program where kids got to tear them apart to see what was inside. I included some history about the technology and called it a “time capsule” program.
I’ve also held in-person “dissection” programs where kids took apart a computer mouse and a Furby. For the Furby, I gave everyone lab coats and they pretended they were surgeons. Using schematics that I found online, we opened up the Furby and everyone took out one piece. Then we repeated the process backwards and everyone replaced one piece. At the end, we turned it back on, and it still worked. We called it a “FrankenFurby.”
This would also work as a take-home program. There are lots of so-called “teardown” videos online; you could post a teardown video of a cassette tape and give out samples for kids to follow along at home. The most important part is that the kids get to be curious.
Lighting an LED light with a potato
Kids love electricity. One of my favorite home sciences experiment is creating a battery from a potato.
All you need is a few potatoes, a couple galvanized nails, pennies, wire and an LED diode light. (These are very inexpensive; you can buy them on Amazon in packs of 100 for less than $10.)
Thirsty candle, color mixing and other experiments from Explora
Living in New Mexico, I am very familiar with Explora, a great education center that offers interactive experiences in STEAM (STEM+Art=STEAM). On their website, Explora calls itself “part science center, part children’s museum, part free-choice school, park grandma’s attic, part grandpa’s garage, part laboratory, part neighborhood full of interesting people and part of many people’s lives.”
Explora has excellent bilingual activity cards that explain a simple experiment, the science behind it and how it is relevant to people’s lives, including the career fields that work in the area. Like the seed-growing kits, I have created take-home kits for these Explora experiments and left them in Little Free Libraries. Here are PDFs of the experiments:
Cooking is all about science and math. With a few inexpensive ingredients that most families already have at home, teens and tweens can make homemade pizza crust and learn the chemistry behind it. You could post a recipe online, share a video about the science of pizza (or another kid-friendly recipe), or hand out bags with pre-measured ingredients. Ask kids to post their creations on social media with the hashtag #cookingathome.
For me, the goal is not just to get kids cooking, but to think about why something did or didn’t work. Did your brownies come out hard and flat? Maybe it’s because you forgot the eggs — their yolks have lecithin, which helps make things moist and fluffy.
The STAR Net STEAM Equity Project will help public library workers in small and rural communities offer outstanding, culturally responsive STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) programming and exhibitions for their patrons, especially often-underreached Latino populations.
Interested in participating? Submit a 15-minute survey about your community by July 20 to get started.
Passport Booklet (2).pdf
