Kids’ Inauguration Info
Posted on January 14, 2009 at 9:58 am
Celebrate the inauguration of the nation’s 44th president with the help of the fabulously rich and engaging resources of Our White House.
The non-profit, non-partisan National Children’s Book and Literacy Alliance has created a free online presidential inauguration activity guide for parents, teachers, librarians, and community leaders so that young people all across the country can participate in this exciting historic event.
The site is lively, colorful, and engaging and it features:
• an interview with professional speech writer Thomas LaFauci
• the oath of office
• the inaugural ceremony
• inaugural parades
• the White House transition of presidents
Activity projects and discussion question topics about the inauguration include:
• creating your own kids’ inaugural ball
• writing inaugural poetry
• creating parade floats
• designing a new oval office, and more
is a terrific new DVD series from the Smithsonian Network that shows us some of the best ideas about energy, flight, and building materials technology come from observing nature. Biomimetics is the new science of looking to nature for answers to modern challenges. Flies improve search and rescue and cockroaches inspire space engineers. Fish become cars and airplane design mimics birds. Gorgeously photographed, each episode is like a cross between CSI and McGuyver.
, the E. Nesbit classic about children who discover a magical creature and have a series of adventures when he gives them one wish a day. 
, Meryl Streep as a sympathetic psychiatrist in 
and as a Holocaust survivor in 
and as a high-strung food writer in 
, Barbra Streisand as a sympathetic psychiatrist (is there a pattern here?) in 
and as musical comedy star Fanny Brice in 
(plus Omar Sharif as Nicky Arnstein), Carol Kane as a turn of the century immigrant in 
, Brendan Fraser as the only Jew in the fancy prep school in 
, Robin Williams as a club owner named Goldman — or is it Coleman? — in 
, George Segal as a Jewish cop (and Eileen Heckert as his mother) in 
, Ben Kingsley as a Holocaust survivor in 
, Ben Cross as an Olympic athlete in 
, Jessica Tandy as a Southern aristocrat in 
, Dustin Hoffman as Carl Bernstein in 
, Jennifer Gray as Baby who will NOT be put in a corner in 
, and Woody Allen in just about anything.