The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
Rock the library with Legos, drums, and drama
ONEIDA » Registration is now open for Oneida Public Library’s Summer Reading Programs, which range from the weekly Rock the Library Camp to a one-week theater camp to an intensive LEGO Robotics Workshop. In addition, the OPL’s summer programschedule includes four special events open to all.
The library’s Summer Reading Program kicks off Friday, July 13 at 3 p.m. with a special performance by the Merry-Go-Round Youth Theatre of its newplay “The Bremen Town Musicians.” The original play with music, based on the Grimm Brothers’ fairy tale first published in 1819, follows four aging and neglected farmanimals that take to the road to go to Bremen to become musicians. Along the way, they join forces to face a whirl of misadventures and learn that team work and ad ash of music can win the day.
The regular summer reading program for children in gradesK-5 is theRock the Library Camp, whichwillmeet on Tuesdays from 12:30-2 p.m. from July 10 through Aug. 7. Campers will try their hands at rock music and dance while learning the science andmathematics underpinning music. Registration is required.
Children at the camp will also construct their own drums in preparation for the OPL’s Community Drum Circle and Picnic scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 9 from 6-8 p.m. at Allen Park. Children and their families are invited to bring a picnic supper and any sort of drums, whether factory made or homemade, to provide the beat for a huge drum circle.
The one-week drama camp for young OPL Players, students from grades 3-8, starts Monday, July 16, from 9:30-11:30 a.m. and runs daily until Friday, July 20. Tom Lemery once again presides over the camp and brings a new concept: performance art he calls “DiVERSE-ity,” a kind of poetry slam in which the children learn selected poems and recite them with all the vocal and bodily techniques that the theater can provide to convey emotion. The drama camp will conclude with a public performance July 20 at 5 p.m. at the library with the children performing both monologues and ensemble pieces. Pre-registration is required.
An OPL Summer Reading Program bonus will occur July 19, when Oneida’s own Doug Salati comes up fromNewYork City to the library to present his careermaking children’s book, “In a Small Kingdom,” written by famed children’s author Tomi dePaolo and illustrated by Salati, a 2003 graduate of Oneida High School. The picture book, published by Simon and Schuster last April, is Salati’s professional debut as a book illustrator.
Salati will be appearing at the OPL Thursday, July 19 at 2 p.m. to present “In a Small Kingdom” to children, from preschoolers to third graders, and their parents or guardians. OPL Youth Services Coordinator Megan Gillander will be on hand to help out with a drawing exercise for the children.
At 6:30 p.m., Salati will return to the library for a special presentation on book illustration and publishing for both adults and young adults.
OPL’s summer programming includes a Sum- mer Book Club that meets Wednesdays, July 25 and Aug. 29 from 6-7:30 p.m. July’s selection is “The Wild Robot” by Peter Brown (suitable for children in grades 3-7). Children will share games related to the book’s themes as well as conversation about the book. Parents or guardians who sign up their children can also put in a request to obtain copies of the book club’s selections.
Megan Gillander will present a program call Geology Rocks on Wednesday, Aug. 1, at 6 p.m. Gillander, a geology instructor at Utica College, will teach young people in grades 3-12 how various rocks are created and how to identify the types.
For the sixth year in a row, OPL hosts a week-long First Lego League Robotics Workshop from Aug. 20-24 from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. with a time out for lunch. The workshop is open to students who have at least completed fifth grade and can multiply and divide fractions. Since the workshop is limited to 12 students, preference will be given to those who have never attended a robotics workshop before. Pre-registration is required.
The Robotics Workshop is an intensive five-day introduction to the potential of robotics to aid humankind and improve the quality of life globally. Participants will build and program electronically controlled robots with Legos and power packs under the supervision of Ralph Kohler Jr., and Tandi Paugh fromthe U.S. Air Force Laboratory in Rome.
The Lego Robotics Workshop is part of a nationwide program called the First Lego League, which is sponsored by the U.S. Air Force Laboratory to promote the study of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by young people.
Finally, OPL’s Summer Reading Program will host a Lip Sync Battle onWednesday, Aug. 15, at 6 p.m. for the “tweens.” A spin-off of the television show, the OPL’s Lip Sync Battle will test the show-biz bravura of local tweens and their friends in performing hit songs.
To register children for SRP programs or for more information, parents or guardians should stop by the Oneida Library, 220 Broad St., or call (315) 363-3050.