Top Ten List, Freshman Year

10. Do not spend a ton of money trying to make your dorm look cool.

Simple is easiest and cheapest.

9.  Join something, anything....maybe several somethings. There are literally all kinds of clubs and groups available. This is the easiest way to meet a friend. Even one friend can make a huge difference in your adjustment to being a college student. It will also help you to not go home every chance you get.

8.  You may find that you talk and text less and less with friends from high school. That's normal, and remember, they're finding their way, too. Maybe at one point, you'll reconnect. Meanwhile, go ahead and make new friends. Often, college friends stay lifetime friends.

7.  And while we're at it, don't be surprised if you don't stay together with your romantic-interest person. Talk to him or her about what you both expect once college begins. You might not be on the same wavelength about it---better to know than to be disappointed.

6.  Preferably before the start of classes, locate and print out the syllabus for each class. It will clearly spell out what's going to happen and what's expected of you, and will also indicate your instructor's contact information such as office hours.

5. Have you heard of the Freshman 15? It's no lie: When you can eat anything, you'll eat anything. Fifteen pounds is going to be tough to take back off. Try not to put it on in the first place-think fruits, veggies, whole grain, not fast food, fries, and Cheetos. Get out and move, too: exercise will help keep you balanced and healthy.

4.  Before classes start, walk through your schedule, that is, find where the rooms are before the first day. Walk it a couple of times. You'll feel a lot better on the first day with some clue where you're going. You could draw it on a piece of paper (or find a printed campus map) and highlight your class locations. Take a screenshot of it on your phone to refer to.

3.  It's OK to change your major, but if you are undecided (be honest with yourself), then don't take classes that aren't going to transfer. Speak to an advisor to be sure.

2.  Get familiar with the campus library. Not only does it have great references for reports (and help from librarians), it's also a quiet, well-lit place to study. This is going to be key in doing well.

And last, but not least...……….
1.  Enjoy your time in college. You hear it all the time, but just think how fast high school went by and you'll get the picture. Everybody's low on funds, everybody hates tests and studying, everybody is sleep-deprived. Talk about fun!

There's Nothing To Do

We're approaching the 4th of July, so most of you have been out of school for.... about a month?


And you're bored already, right? Because while you might say you hate school, once you're out there's "nothing to do." For instance, you couldn't do these:

• Learn to cook or bake, and then make something for your family or friends
• Try a new sport or learn more about one you think you aren't good at

• Take a walk.
• Take pictures, maybe with an old film camera. See how creative you can get: take pictures close up, try for cityscapes, notice the odd thing on the ground, try making videos.
• Get a book or find a source online about another language and learn to say 10 sentences in that language.
• Learn all the words to three songs.
• Pick a new word from the dictionary every week and learn it:Pronunciation, meaning, origin.
• Volunteer someplace---and be creative, find a business or organization that's not necessarily looking for a volunteer but you find it interesting, go in, introduce yourself, and see if they'd like some free help.
• Give yourself a reading challenge: Three books a month? Five?
• See if you can lose 5 pounds-research the healthy way to do it
• Build something. From whatever. Make it up.

• Set a goal of walking a certain number of miles per day, week, month, or for the summer. Keep track and see if you got it done.
• Do you know someone who's a good dancer? Ask if he/she will teach you the moves.

• Start tracing your family tree: Ask questions of parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles. Write down what you learn. Get names and dates. Make a chart, and do some research. Here's a good free resource: https://www.familysearch.org/ask/partners/myheritage

• Visit the library and see what treasures it holds. They sometimes have free classes, too...
• Try a no-social media day: Could you do it? What about leaving your phone behind as you go about your day?

We interrupt this can't do list to give props to your local library...…. Did you know they offer..

• Gaming activities
• Storytime for little ones, including an evening family story-telling
• STEM activities
• Cooking activities
• Bike fix-it clinics
• Exploring outside activities
• Graphic novel design activities

-All at a cost of exactly 0 dollars, which is pretty hard to beat.. Go to the library websites and check it out:  Anoka County- https://www.anokacounty.us/1758/Libraries and Hennepin County: https://hclib.org/




Here are links to various summer ideas for all ages.

https://www.edutopia.org/blog/summer-learning-resources-matt-davis

https://www.pbs.org/parents/thrive/simple-tips-for-summer-math-learning

 https://www.tynker.com/parents/#/ts/courses/learning-paths/advanced-languages  *Tynker has a fee

 https://thekrazycouponlady.com/tips/family/online-activities-keep-your-kids-busy-summer

 https://www.education.com/resources/

https://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/profdev073.shtml 

Free online games for high school age https://www.commonsense.org/education/top-picks/10-great-free-games-for-high-school-students

But of course, these are all things you couldn't do. Because.. you're busy??

Earth Day 2019

Here are links to Earth Day videos selected for 2019:

This gives some cheering information about how we have helped the planet, and also some endangered species: https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=earth+day+videos+&&view=detail&mid=2AE28C7AC09274129E972AE28C7AC09274129E97&&FORM=VRDGAR  

 A company that makes shoes from recycled materials: https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=shoes+from+recycled+materials&&view=detail&mid=A7689B4F3B15CE4E5EAAA7689B4F3B15CE4E5EAA&&FORM=VRDGAR

This video is from 2018 and especially highlights the ocean: https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=earth+day+videos+&&view=detail&mid=CD6DCB483E2ED85B73E3CD6DCB483E2ED85B73E3&&FORM=VDRVRV

 

There's  great full length film called Wings of Life, by Disney. Here is a trailer for the movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VRvhFLRCk0 *Earth Day hint: This is available at both Hennepin County and Anoka County Libraries: The ultimate in being kind to the earth, your local library.

Jacques Cousteau was a great explorer of the oceans.  https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=film+oceans&&view=detail&mid=C684E771DB17F0714C8EC684E771DB17F0714C8E&&FORM=VRDGAR  There are several Cousteau films available at your local library.

 

A Clip from Chasing Ice, which is available as a full length film at Hennepin and Anoka County Libraries: https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=film+chasing+ice&&view=detail&mid=0B8211E771A63DC05D760B8211E771A63DC05D76&&FORM=VRDGAR

What causes air pollution? Here's a short National Geographic video that explains it: https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=air+pollution&&view=detail&mid=BF4FB807702A85A9AE44BF4FB807702A85A9AE44&&FORM=VRDGAR

Let's start by doing a small thing like using less or no plastic bags when we buy something. Pick up that piece of litter you see on the sidewalk and put it in a trash bin. Don't be the person who just leaves garbage in a parking lot. Walk when you can to save on the emissions from your car as well as the gas you 'need.' And the old saying: 'Use it up, fix it, or go without' is still valid today.

And That's Just The First Line!

"The past is a foreign country, they do things differently there."

"Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board."


In order to get interested in a book, it needs to have a good first line to capture your interest. These are first lines from some books you may or may not have read.  The first is from a book titled "The Go Between," and was written by L.P. Hartley in 1953. The second was from "Their Eyes Were Watching God," by Zora Hurston, and that was written in 1937.  Don't those sound interesting? Do the opening lines make you wonder what the book is about?

Which of these books have you read? Look them up in your library for some great escapes!

     1. Mr. and Mrs. Dursley of Number 4 Privet Drive were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.

      2. I went to sleep with gum in my mouth and now there's gum in my hair........

     3. The night Max wore his wolf suit and made mischief of one kind and another, his mother called him "Wild Thing!"

      4. Once there was a tree, and she loved a little boy.

      5.  Call me Ishmael.

      6.  It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the season of Light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.

        7. The cold passed reluctantly from the earth, and the retiring fogs revealed an army stretched out on the hills, resting.

       8. You better not never tell nobody but God. 

       9. In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since. 

      10. He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream and he had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish. 

      11. It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.

      12. When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow.

      13. All children, except one, grow up.

      14. My suffering left me sad and gloomy.

      15. My high school friends have begun to suspect I haven't told them the full story of my life.

Here are the titles of the books they are from, the years written, and authors.
1-Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, 1997, J.K. Rowling
2-Alexander and the Horrible, Terrible, No Good, Very Bad, Day, 1972, Judith Viorst
3-Where the Wild Things Are, 1988, Maurice Sendak
4-The Giving Tree, 1963, Shel Silverstein
5-Moby Dick, 1851, Herman Melville
6-A Tale of Two Cities, 1859, Charles Dickens
7-The Red Badge of Courage, 1895, Stephen Crane
8-The Color Purple, 1982, Alice Walker
9-The Great Gatsby, 1925, F. Scott Fitzgerald*
10-The Old Man and the Sea, 1952, Ernest Hemingway
11-1984, written in 1949, George Orwell
12-To Kill a Mockingbird, 1960, Harper Lee
13-Peter Pan, 1911, J.M. Barrie
14-The Life of Pi, 2001, Yann Martel
15-A Long Way Gone, Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, Ishmael Beah, 2007

*Fitzgerald was from Minnesota

Here are web sites to give you some ideas for great reading:
Young Adult books:

https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2018/01/10-of-the-best-young-adult-books-of-january-2018.html

Adult books: http://www.vulture.com/2018/01/10-of-the-most-exciting-book-releases-for-2018.html



Ask your friends to recommend books they have read. If you like an author, try another book by the same author. The library website can suggest books based on your interests. And don't be shy about asking your local librarian to suggest books you would enjoy. You can re-visit books you loved when you were little (and share them!). Try a genre (type) of book you don't normally read: Science Fiction, History, Biography, Self-Help (Life advice), books about animals, Religion....categories are almost limitless...
Here's how to find different non-fiction (facts) books by their numbers:

You and your friends might have interesting books you can swap, or some titles may be available for free download. Try taking a book outside and reading there on a nice summer's day. It's way better than texting. Honest.

it's Free!!! Free Stuff for College Students

Here are some freebies you can take advantage of as a college student:

• Pocket points-Get points for not using your phone during lecture time. Earn enough points and use them for food at places like Pizza Hut, Papa Johns, and Panda Express. https://pocketpoints.com/

• Free software: Check out Autodesk, Imagine, and OnTheHub for free software available to college students.
• Anoka-Ramsey students can download Office 365 free. Ask someone in the Computer Lab how.
• Consider volunteering at an event: You may get free admission and/or food as a thank-you.
• Printing is available for free at the campus Computer Lab: it's on the lower level in T124.

• The Minneapolis Institute of Art is always free to everyone. You may think you'd never use that.... but what about that art project? An essay? History? https://www.tripsavvy.com/the-minneapolis-institute-of-arts-2369462
• Walker Art Center is free on the first Saturday of every month, and on Thursdays after 5:00. https://walkerart.org/

• The St Paul Chamber Orchestra offers free tickets to college students.Free!!  Do you need to go to a concert for class credit? There you go! https://www.thespco.org/studentsfree/

• Your public library offers some freebies: Would you like a free ticket or two to arts events (like a free dance lesson or a stage performance, for example)? Get a SmARTpass from one of the many metro-area libraries. The pass is free!! Do you need a place for your group to meet or a quiet place to study? You can use a conference room (ask a reference librarian to sign you up), check out music on CDs, (are you studying Berlioz, or do you want to hear the soundtrack from a movie??)  and take free classes at the library as well. Hennepin County Library: https://hclib.org/ and Anoka County Library: http://www.anokacounty.us/1758/Library

• Project Gutenberg offers lots of books to download for free. Is there a book you need to read for class (or for fun)?? And rest assured: Books take up very minimal memory on a computer or e-reader. There are over 50,000 books here for free download:  http://www.gutenberg.org/

• Would you like to have an online newspaper available every day, at least to get the headlines?? The Washington Post is free in digital form. https://www.washingtonpost.com/
• College students get 6 months free of Amazon Prime: fast delivery for no charge. Be sure to cancel at the end of your free trial, though.

Do you know any other freebies available to college students?

Summer Bucket List 2.0

Here are some ideas to keep your brain functioning and your days less boring for Summer 2017:

 

• Make an entire meal for your family: Plan it, make it, clean up afterwards. If you already do this, try something new.
• Take a walk around your neighborhood and see how many different types of trees you can recognize.
•  Press some flowers--just put them under something heavy, or between the pages of a thick book, and wait
• Make a fairy garden without buying anything:

• Try to take an unusual picture every day for a week. Or two weeks. A month?
• Or, take tons of pictures all summer and then make an album or collage right before school starts-there are photo apps with a collage feature. Share with friends you haven't seen since the end of this school year.
• Fly a kite
• Visit your library. Get a library card if you don't already have one.
• While at the library, find a book that has an interesting title or whose author has an odd name. Read it. Did you like it, or not? Why?

• Re-read something you liked a while ago. Or exchange favorites with a friend.
• Built a blanket fort, or a cushion fort. Maybe build one outside.
• Clean your room. Put up some cool decorations you make yourself. It will shock your parents.
• Think up a great Halloween costume: you have lots of time--but how awesome would it be if it was all ready?!!

• Dance.
• Learn origami.  http://www.origami-instructions.com/simple-origami.html

• Try your hand at making paper. https://www.thoughtco.com/how-to-make-handmade-paper-604163
• Measure the rainfall in a rain gauge all summer. Keep track of how much rain we get in total from the last day of school until September 1.

• Write something on the sidewalk with chalk, to brighten someone's day.
• Look for minnows in a lake. Watch how they behave.
• How many rainbows will you see this summer? Try to get a picture of each. They fade fast.
• Go to a free outdoor concert--Look for free concerts available by looking up your city website.

For example, these free concerts are held at the Coon Rapids Dam, Pavilion 3: https://www.anokacounty.us/941/Summer-Concert-Series

 

Do one good deed every day without asking anything in return:

• Give someone a smile.
• Open a door for someone
• Before the end of the school year, say thank you to a custodian for keeping your school in order.
• Pull some weeds
• Put something away even if you didn't get it out
• Pick a flower from your yard, put it in a vase, set it out to enjoy
• Leave a dollar somewhere for someone to find

• Call your grandparent just to talk for a while
• Buy lemonade from a kid's lemonade stand
• Go up to someone shy in a gathering and start a conversation.
• Sit quietly with someone having a hard time
• Share a snack with someone
• Post something positive on Facebook

What's on your summer bucket list 2017?

 

 

 

 

 

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Little Free Libraries

Have you seen Little Free Libraries springing up around your neighborhood?


Here's their story....

Todd Bol, whose mother was a teacher, built a model of a one-room schoolhouse, put it on a post in his yard, and filled it with books to be borrowed. He built a few more and gave them away. A friend joined his effort and eventually, with organization, it became Little Free Libraries. Read more:

https://littlefreelibrary.org/history/

You can make a Little Free Library, just look on their website for how to do it.

https://littlefreelibrary.org/

The idea was to make a few books available for whoever would like to read them....

Childrens' books or adult books....

Any container can be a LFL....

Take a book, give a book.........

Let someone else enjoy a book you did.

Find something interesting..

And when you're done, return it and try a different one.

Check out a Little Free Library today!!

And That's Just The First Line!

"The past is a foreign country, they do things differently there."

"Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board."


In order to get interested in a book, it needs to have a good first line to capture your interest. These are first lines from some books you may or may not have read.  The first is from a book titled "The Go Between," and was written by L.P. Hartley in 1953. The second was from "Their Eyes Were Watching God," by Zora Hurston, and that was written in 1937.  Don't those sound interesting? Do the opening lines make you wonder what the book is about?

Which of these books have you read? Look them up in your library for some great escapes!

     1. Mr. and Mrs. Dursley of Number 4 Privet Drive were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.

      2. I went to sleep with gum in my mouth and now there's gum in my hair........

     3. The night Max wore his wolf suit and made mischief of one kind and another, his mother called him "Wild Thing!"

      4. Once there was a tree, and she loved a little boy.

      5.  Call me Ishmael.

      6.  It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the season of Light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.

        7. The cold passed reluctantly from the earth, and the retiring fogs revealed an army stretched out on the hills, resting.

       8. You better not never tell nobody but God. 

       9. In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since. 

      10. He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream and he had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish. 

      11. It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.

      12. When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow.

      13. All children, except one, grow up.

      14. My suffering left me sad and gloomy.

      15. My high school friends have begun to suspect I haven't told them the full story of my life.

Here are the titles of the books they are from, the years written, and authors.
1-Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, 1997, J.K. Rowling
2-Alexander and the Horrible, Terrible, No Good, Very Bad, Day, 1972, Judith Viorst
3-Where the Wild Things Are, 1988, Maurice Sendak
4-The Giving Tree, 1963, Shel Silverstein
5-Moby Dick, 1851, Herman Melville
6-A Tale of Two Cities, 1859, Charles Dickens
7-The Red Badge of Courage, 1895, Stephen Crane
8-The Color Purple, 1982, Alice Walker
9-The Great Gatsby, 1925, F. Scott Fitzgerald*
10-The Old Man and the Sea, 1952, Ernest Hemingway
11-1984, written in 1949, George Orwell
12-To Kill a Mockingbird, 1960, Harper Lee
13-Peter Pan, 1911, J.M. Barrie
14-The Life of Pi, 2001, Yann Martel
15-A Long Way Gone, Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, Ishmael Beah, 2007

*Fitzgerald was from Minnesota

Here are web sites to give you some ideas for great reading:
Young Adult books:

http://time.com/100-best-young-adult-books/

Adult books:
https://www.goodreads.com/choiceawards/best-books-2017

Ask your friends to recommend books they have read. If you like an author, try another book by the same author. The library website can suggest books based on your interests. And don't be shy about asking your local librarian to suggest books you would enjoy. You can re-visit books you loved when you were little (and share them!). Try a genre (type) of book you don't normally read: Science Fiction, History, Biography, Self-Help (Life advice), books about animals, Religion....categories are almost limitless...
Here's how to find different non-fiction (facts) books by their numbers:

Try taking a book outside and reading there on a nice summer's day. It's way better than texting. Honest.