Dawn Farm Jamboree!

Wed, 09/04/2013 - 12:35pm by Beth Manuel

Head on down to Dawn Farm's Fantastic 40th Anniversary Jamboree on Sunday, September 8th, 2013 from 1:00 pm to 6:00 pm! Admission and all activities are FREE! This is a great family activity with hayrides, pony rides, and a children’s tent, too. Visit the working farm or bid on unique items in both silent and live auctions. Funds raised from the auctions will help support critical addiction services for individuals who need help and lack resources. For more information, or if you would like to volunteer at the event, call 734-485-8725.

Ready or not, it's time to head back to school!

Tue, 09/03/2013 - 3:58pm by mariah

Just in time, jump.aadl.org is here for parents looking for everything that AADL has to offer kids of all ages. Recommended reading lists, the details on the best upcoming events, homework help, and even guidance on planning your visit to AADL -- jump.aadl.org has it all.




JUMP's is divided into four basic sections:


Recommended Stuff helps you find some of the best books, materials and kits by age or grade, reading level, and topic. Library staff have also compiled handy lists of award winners and favorites.




Plan Your Visit is a section that guides you through the various features in our five locations, gives you links to explore to all sorts of library collections, events and exhibits, and provides tailored information for visiting with various age children and patrons with special needs.




Storytime and Events is your spot for a master list of all of our programs for parents and children.




Homework Help offers direct links to online resources for research and reports, as well as Brainfuse's on-demand/online homework help and information on other in-person fee-free tutoring offered at the Library and in the community.




Whether you're a seasoned library user or new to town, jump.aadl.org gives you the scoop on what's happening for kids at the Library. Take a peek, start exploring, and let us know what you think!

National Sewing Month

Sun, 09/01/2013 - 3:50pm by manz

September is National Sewing Month! Sewing is a wonderful art form that spans generations and brings people together. How many of us learned to sew from our mother or grandmother? How many have taught our own children to sew? It’s an amazing gift to pass down, and a great skill to learn. Even if you just plan on sewing on buttons that fall off! Because guess what? You’re sewing. To participate in a month-long celebration of sewing, AADL has books to get you started on new projects, or get you motivated on ones that have been collecting dust in your craft corner. It’s time to bust out the machine and get to it. Here’s a few new favorites in the AADL collection:

Best of Stitch: Bags to sew

Sewing for boys: 24 projects to create a handmade wardrobe

We love to sew: 28 pretty things to make: jewelry, headbands, softies, t-shirts, pillows, bags & more

The library has SEW MANY great craft books to get you inspired and sewing away. With a wide range of projects from purses to dress, for many different skill levels, the books have you covered with great images and tutorials.

SUMMER GAME 2013: Game Over!

Sat, 08/31/2013 - 12:46am by eli

TIME IS UP PLAYERS! Summer Game has been turned off for 2013 and will be back on June 13th, 2014.

The SUMMER GAME SHOP will stay open for orders through SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 15th, and any unused Summer Game points will roll over to next Summer's Summet Game Shop. Orders will be held for you until OCTOBER 11, 2013, after which they'll be returned to stock if not picked up.

If you have any questions, comments, or need any help transferring points or last-minute mishaps, just contact us and we'll get you set.

For now, Team Summer Game is going to take a little break, then stay tuned for some new features for Points-o-matic, and keep checking http://play.aadl.org for the upcoming off-season game DOWNLOAD QUEST!

To all our amazing players, with all our hearts....

THANKS FOR PLAYING!

THE FINAL COUNTDOWN! New Badges, and the return of the SUPREME SUMMER GAME MASTER SET!

Fri, 08/30/2013 - 6:59pm by eli

It's the LAST DAY OF SUMMER! Well, the last weekday, anyway. And the equinox is still a few weeks away. BUT STILL! SUMMER GAME 2013 ends tonight at midnight, when we uncheck one tiny little box, and ALL FUN DISAPPEARS FROM THE EARTH UNTIL JUNE 2014! Maybe we're just too close to it at the moment. BUT REGARDLESS! Summer Game 2013 has been AMAZING, with 56 MILLION points earned, 50,000 badges awarded, and an astounding 194,000 redemptions of over 800 different Game Codes!

And while it all ends tonight at midnight, the Summer Game Shop will stay open through Sunday, September 15, for you to spend your points. And don't worry; if you don't spend them all, they'll still be right there in your account next year when the Summer Game begins again... on FRIDAY, JUNE 13, 2014... and that's only 287 days away!

But for now, here's your final BADGE DROP of SUMMER GAME 2013!

Let us also direct your attention to the Super Packages Section of the Summer Game Shop, where this year's FINAL PACKAGES have FINALLY BEEN ADDED!



And that's it for this year's badges... an even 200! You've got just a few hours left, until Midnight tonight, to earn those last few points; then stay tuned over the next few weeks for our new off-season games and your chance to help shape SUMMER GAME 2014!



Happy trails, players, and as always......



THANKS FOR PLAYING!

BE A MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE (or at least Summer Game)!

Fri, 08/30/2013 - 1:34pm by mariah

Summer Gamers! We're getting close to the end of the 2013 game. Close, but not quite done yet. You'll have until MIDNIGHT tonight to wrap things up, enter in any more read/watch/listen points, and yes... the EARN MORE BADGES!



We'll have a wrap-up post later today, but wanted to give all of you die-hard players a heads-up that we now have the MASTER BADGES up and running (and on the Badge Page). Yessir (or ma'am!), as before, if you've completed EVERY badge in a particular series, you'll automatically be dubbed a MASTER and awarded a badge befitting your mastery!



So if you're close to scoring a particular master badge, get in there and earn those remaining badges! By this evening you could be a LEGENDARY MASTER, a WILD KINGDOM MASTER, even a SQUEE! MASTER!



When ELSE will you be able to claim such FANTASTIC titles?!?



Get to it, help each other out, and see how MASTERFUL you can really be!

Learning with School House Rock!

Tue, 08/27/2013 - 4:06pm by PattySmith

If you grew up watching Saturday morning cartoons in the ‘70s or ‘80s it is quite likely you can recite the words to the Preamble to the United States Constitution by singing it. In fact, you probably learned a lot of cool things from the ABC short films Schoolhouse Rock! These animated ditties covered math, history, science and grammar in ways that made learning fun. The award winning program came straight out of the advertising world of Madison Avenue. When advertising executive David McCall discovered his son could not remember the multiplication tables, but knew all of the lyrics to the latest rock songs, his advertising mind took over and the wildly popular program was born. (Sadly, in 1999 McCall and his wife tragically lost their lives while on a mission in Albania aiding Kosovar refugees.)

The AADL has a nice collection of Schoolhouse Rock DVDs that can be used both in the home and the classroom. Many of the DVDs have bonus features that include sing-along songs, interactive pop quizzes to help reinforce key concepts and downloadable educator’s guides with web links. Wherever you choose to enjoy the series, prepare to have fun learning with the catchy tunes that taught millions of children that Knowledge is Power!

1 WEEK TO GO! But still time for NEW BADGES and NEW SHOP ITEMS!

Fri, 08/23/2013 - 7:38pm by eli

OH MY WONDERS! There's only one week left in SUMMER GAME 2013! But that doesn't mean that we're out of ideas here at Summer Game Central... in fact, we've got a great crop of new badges, and even FIVE TOTALLY NEW SHOP ITEMS! These are all limited quantity, so please share nicely with other players:







Would you just LOOK at that new stuff? And if you're waiting for the big reveal of our final packages.... just a little longer! They'll all be posted next week so hang in there! And know that all 5 of these new items can be found spread across the final packages... in case you were wondering.



So, without further ado, here are your FINAL PUZZLE BADGES of the summer! There will be a badge drop next friday, but it will consist only of MASTER BADGES for each series, so if you're missing any badges, better earn them by next Friday!

Remember, SUMMER GAME 2013 ends at MIDNIGHT on FRIDAY AUGUST 30th! Then, you'll have until SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 15th to place your orders before the shop closes. So, make these waning days of summer count, and as always....



THANKS FOR PLAYING!

Winners of the 8th Annual LEGO contest! Congrats to all of them!

Mon, 08/19/2013 - 3:59pm by erin

Once again our annual LEGO contest was hotly anticipated and the entries were bigger and better! All ages from Preschoolers through Adults participated in the event. There were a total of 188 entries and the contest was held on Thursday, August 8 at the Kensington Court Hotel. There were six age categories and winners were chosen within each age group. The top three finishers and the People's Choice winners received custom LEGO trophies. The top three finishers also got medals and gift cards to Target. Please congratulate the winners! Photos of the winning entries will be added to this post on to our gallery soon.To see the contest guidelines and start planning for next summer click here.

Preschool Winners:

1st Place - Lucas Long
Runner-Up - Iris Brabbs
Honorable Mention - Steve Samuel
People's Choice - Lucas Long

Best Motorized Project - Vicky Kotsis
Best Architectural/Engineering Project - Becca Van Lent
Coolest Robot = Sanchia Gupta
Best Vehicle - Scarlett Williams
Most Creative - Eliza Farr
Most Sophisticated - Sarra El-Tawil
Best Local Interest - Kevin Chen
AADL LEGO Master Builder - Owen TenBroeck

Grades K-2

1st Place - Brendan Khuu
Runner-Up - Milo Varnum
Honorable Mention - Elizabeth Finnegan
People's Choice - Milo Varnum

Best Motorized Project - Dominic Nazario
Best Architectural/Engineering Project - Emma Khuu
Coolest Robot - Yotam Chopra
Best Vehicle - Yoyun Kim
Most Creative - Jake Williams
Most Sophisticated - Hanna Nilman
Best Local Interest - Catherine Van Lent
AADL LEGO Master Builder - McKenna Ge

Grades 3-5

1st Place - Eliot Varnum
Runner-Up - Betsy Nieman
Honorable Mention - Piper Favors
People's Choice - Eliot Varnum

Best Motorized Project - Brian Khuu
Best Architectural/Engineering Project - Koen Van Nieuwstadt
Coolest Robot - Noah Nieman
Best Vehicle - Jarrett Tseng
Most Creative - Max Mients
Most Sophisticated - Lily Papp
Super Effective Award - Mason Bleed
AADL LEGO Master Builder - Keegan Globke

Grades 6-8

1st Place - Beatrix Dergis
Runner-Up - Casimir Mankowski
Honorable Mention - Bach Nguyen
People's Choice - Casimir Mankowski

Best Motorized Project - Matt Rupp
Best Architectural/Engineering Project - Derek Mrachko
Coolest Robot - Manish & Ashish Venumuddula
Best Vehicle - Hamza Khan
Most Creative - Alexis Boyer
Most Sophisticated - Ryan Sauer
Best Vending Machine - Bilal Ahmed
Best Use of Tactical Nuclear Weapons - Jeffrey Brooks-Conrad
Best Irreverent Treatment of Star Wars - Joey Nieman
AADL LEGO Master Builder - Alex Szumko

Grades 9-12

1st Place - Zachary Petersen
Runner-Up - Matthew Ramillard
Honorable Mention - Aliahna Porter
People's Choice - Pete Johnson

Best Motorized Project - Alex Wochna
Best Architectural/Engineering Project - Ethan Golombisky
Coolest Robot - Justin Forester
Best Vehicle - Tommy Cohn
Most Creative - Pete Johnson
Most Sophisticated - Alez Siple
AADL LEGO Master Builder - Matt Karls

Adults

1st Place - Virginia Falk
Runner-Up - Nieka Appel & Ken Varnum
Honorable Mention - Peter TenBroeck
People's Choice - Peter TenBroeck

Best Motorized Project - Logan Benton
Best Architectural/Engineering Project - Peter Alway
Coolest Robot - David Papp
Best Vehicle - Paul Bierdz
Most Creative - Amy Remillard
Most Sophisticated - Meenu Garg
AADL LEGO Master Builder - Mike Bleed

The End is Nigh! AND THE POINTS KEEP COMING!

Fri, 08/16/2013 - 5:33pm by eli

GEE WHILLIKERS PLAYERS! Summer is drawing to a lovely, sunny close, but SUMMER GAME 2013 keeps on rolling for 2 MORE WEEKS! Yup, you've got until MIDNIGHT on FRIDAY, AUGUST 30 to earn your points, and to keep your minds fresh and interested we've got yet another exciting BADGE DROP! Now, sharp eyed players might recognize a familiar badge in this drop, it's the SUPER PUBLIC SPEAKER BADGE that first dropped back in July!



Well, we have another AADL board meeting this coming Monday, August 19th, at 7 PM on the 4th floor of the Downtown Library, giving you ANOTHER CHANCE to earn the big points and big badge that only comes with that WARM FEELING of CIVIC ENGAGEMENT that you can only get by MAKING A PUBLIC COMMENT! Get there a little early, as comments happen right at the beginning of the meeting, and sign up to address the Library Board, and tell them what you think! And in the meantime, here's a bunch of new badges to work on:

Our final shop reveals are just around the corner; so stay tuned, and as always....



THANKS FOR PLAYING!