Tag: learning

300+ FREE online courses with library card!

If you have a library card with the San Diego Public Library, you can take almost 375 free online courses that further your professional and personal development!

I knew nothing about this amazing opportunity until the above gentleman who works for the library told me about it!

With a library card and access to a computer, anyone can enroll in free Gale Courses that provide 6-week online classes with real instructors. Subjects include everything from Accounting and Finance to Business to Computer Applications to Healthcare and Medical to Law and Legal to Teaching and Education and much more! I was told that completion of certain courses even provides certification.

To see all that is available, check out this webpage.

These free Gale Courses are available through the San Diego Library’s online eLibrary, which you can visit by clicking here.

The eLibrary offers many additional services. Users have access to eBooks, audiobooks, digital magazines, streaming videos, research databases, manuals, and a whole lot more.

Create a free account using your library card and you have access to a huge universe of free online resources!

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Play more, learn more in Escondido!

I love this street art! It’s painted on an electrical box in front of the San Diego Children’s Discovery Museum in Escondido.

Bright, happy colors. PLAY MORE LEARN MORE. Painted Lady butterflies and flowers watered by a rainbow. A bird, a snail, a ladybug. Two kids perched on a mushroom, reading a book.

Mr. Rogers and his quote: Play gives children a chance to practice what they are learning.

The artwork is by Paige and Brenda Townsend (@BrilliantSpectrumArt).

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Art at the Festival of Science & Engineering!

Could kids find and create art at the San Diego Festival of Science & Engineering? Yes!

Today was Expo Day, a free event held at Snapdragon Stadium. Thousands of young people wandered through the stadium’s concourses, viewing STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) displays, and partaking in experiments and activities provided by about a hundred exhibitors!

The annual event is absolutely gargantuan and impossible to cover in one blog post. I’ve blogged about Expo Day several times in past years, when this educational extravaganza was held at Petco Park.

Winding through the crowd, I discovered the Art Pavilion and, with permission from various exhibitors, my camera got busy.

Enjoy a few photos of artwork created by students, teachers and artists attending the San Diego Festival of Science & Engineering. Read the captions!

Families explore the Art Pavilion during Expo Day 2024, a San Diego Festival of Science & Engineering event at Snapdragon Stadium.

Are those molecules or cool sculptures? Kids get creative with the help of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego.

Two hands, liquid and bending light by artist and educator Sheena Rae Dowling.

This cool STEAM artwork, full of creative ideas, won a blue ribbon!

Demand evidence. Think critically. Erica, a biology student at National University, created this scientific artwork!

The Art Club of Patrick Henry High School created these colorful Science Pyramids: Temples of Truth. If you point your phone at the artwork, you can experience augmented reality bursting from each pyramid!

Beautiful art depicting native flora and fauna presented by the San Diego Natural History Museum.

Space exploration art from a C.A.R.T. student.

Lunna, founder of VAINANA, creates art with bananas to fight hunger and promote food sustainability.

The colorful work of EcoArts Kids. Students create environmental art in afterschool programs at several San Diego elementary schools.

Part of the SoRoART group exhibition of soft robotics by SDSU students. Air periodically inflates these lungs, as if they’re breathing!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter)!

Japanese brush painting classes in San Diego!

Would you like to learn the art of Japanese brush painting? Do you live in San Diego? Read on!

Today I enjoyed the 48th Annual Japanese Brush Painting Fall Art Exhibition in Balboa Park. The event was presented by the Friends of Sumi-e. I’ve checked out this fine exhibition several times over the years.

In addition to all the stunning artwork on display, artists were greeting visitors with live demonstrations of this traditional Japanese art.

I watched for a bit. Before my eyes, elegantly applied ink turned magically into stunning, sublimely beautiful images.

Speaking to the smiling artists, I learned there are San Diego Community College Continuing Education classes that teach the art of Sumi-e. Naoko, who you see in the next photo, is one of the instructors!

If you’d like to try your hand at creating brush art, check out this webpage for the classes!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter)!

A big thank you on World Teachers’ Day!

In the one room Mason Street School in Old Town San Diego, younger and older children sat together before the teacher and learned their letters.

Today is World Teachers’ Day!

What would the world be like without teachers? Very poor and very dull.

You probably remember some of your teachers fondly, how they inspired you to learn, grow, expand your horizons, become confident.

Today would be a great day to convey your gratitude!

To help pay for my own indebtedness, I’d like to pass along some information that teachers in San Diego might find very useful.

Write Out Loud offers a variety of inspirational programs that encourage reading and writing. Teachers can make free use of them.

Here they are:

Let Your Voice Be Heard is a poetry contest open to San Diego County students in grades K – 12. Learn about it here.

READ-IMAGINE-CREATE is a contest where Middle and High School Students will READ either the full book, or selections from CIRCE by Madeline Miller or MYTHOLOGY by Edith Hamilton.. Students will RE-IMAGINE the images, themes, or characters and then CREATE a project in a medium important to them. Learn about it here.

Poetry Out Loud is a FREE program for High School students. Students select poems from the National Poetry Foundation Anthology, and memorize, interpret, and recite their poems in a competition at the entry level. Two winners from each competition advance to the Regional Competition and one Regional winner advances to the State Competition. Learn about it here.

“Ripples from Walden Pond” is a 55-minute one-person play written by Richard Platt appropriate for Middle and High School Literature and History Students. Performances are followed by a talk-back with the actor, Steve Smith. Study Guide is provided. This program is provided without cost, through the generosity of passionate private donors. Learn about it here.

Do you know a teacher in San Diego? Let them know these great programs are available!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter)!

Ten year anniversary of Cool San Diego Sights!

WordPress notified me just now that my blog Cool San Diego Sights is celebrating its 10 year anniversary today.

Ten years? Good grief! That means I’m already ten years older!

It’s been fun so far. Hopefully there’s much more to come!

Back when I started Cool San Diego Sights, I didn’t imagine these posts I publish in my spare time, using photographs taken with a rather old camera, could end up on popular news apps like Google News and Newsbreak. Believe me, if you’ve discovered my posts in those places and wonder how they possibly rate as news articles, don’t ask me. As I understand it, it’s all determined by mysterious algorithms. Take my blog for what it is. A curious guy walking around San Diego taking photos!

But what a wonderful opportunity to express my love for my city.

And a great opportunity to meet all sorts of interesting people, too!

Perhaps I’m most thankful that Cool San Diego Sights has allowed many people to discover my Short Stories by Richard website. As a consequence, my short story One Thousand Likes is now included in a 12th Grade textbook, and part of at least one English Literature course at a major international university.

Ten years ago I had no conception such a thing might happen. If there’s a lesson here, it’s that persistence can pay off. Never lose hope!

Once again, thanks to those of you who swing by Cool San Diego Sights from time to time for a few moments of enjoyment. I keep learning new things. I hope you make a few fun discoveries, too!

Onward!

Richard

P.S. I spied a mysterious garden today in a very unexpected place. That’s coming up!

Our People’s Garden in downtown San Diego.

Over the years, a small garden space south of The New Children’s Museum in downtown San Diego has undergone several transformations. Early this morning, during a walk down the Martin Luther King Jr. Promenade, I noticed it is now called Iipay Nyechewuuw, or Our People’s Garden.

A sign near the wooden planter boxes explains that Our People’s Garden was inspired by the Barona Indian Charter School’s Native Plant Garden, and the Barona Cultural Center + Museum’s Native Plant Seed Library.

The garden is now used by the nearby children’s museum to teach kids about the environment and Kumeyaay culture. The Kumeyaay have traditionally used native plants in our region as food, tools and medicine.

I noticed bits of art scattered about, evidently painted by young hands. I added contrast to my photograph of the sign so it can be more easily read.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

The beautiful Birdwing Open Air Classroom.

Beside the San Dieguito Lagoon wetland, near the west end of the San Dieguito River Park, you’ll find a beautiful outdoor space where one can learn about nature and soak in its goodness.

The shady, airy Birdwing Open Air Classroom was dedicated in 2014. It does indeed look a bit like a bird’s wing in flight!

Birdwing may be used as a trailside classroom by teachers, scientists and park rangers. It is also a place for walkers and hikers to relax and gaze out the nearby lagoon.

A short looping path and bridge near the structure passes through yellow bush sunflowers and other native plants. From that path I observed an osprey flying high in the sky–too small for a sharp photograph with my little camera.

The Birdwing Open Air Classroom can be accessed from the Coast to Crest Trail perhaps a quarter mile east of San Andres Drive and the ranger station.

You can learn more about the Birdwing Open Air Classroom here.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Girl Scouts explore STEM in Balboa Park!

Hundreds of Girl Scouts from around San Diego gathered in Balboa Park this morning to take part in the Incredible Race!

Many stations were set up around the park: along El Prado, in front of museums, even in the parking area behind the San Diego Automotive Museum. Girls were being challenged to explore STEM, which stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

During the Incredible Race, teams would solve riddles and proceed station to station where fun, educational hands-on activities awaited.

As I walked through the park, I saw a lot of excited young people running energetically about, enjoying San Diego’s beautiful crown jewel and learning lots of cool stuff, too!

The San Diego Model Railroad Museum demonstrates how to plan and build a model railroad.

Emily Warren Roebling was an engineer who oversaw the construction and completion of the Brooklyn Bridge.

A table with activities near the Fleet Science Center.

Learning about constellations and Women in Astronomy.

In front of the Museum of Us, Girl Scouts could learn about Women in Math.

At the Casa del Prado, one could make binary bracelets and learn about Women in Computer Science.

By the San Diego Natural History Museum, there was a fun dinosaur fossil digging activity and information about Women in Paleontology.

On the platform under the Moreton Bay Fig, curious Girl Scouts learned about electrical circuits and Women in Engineering.

Above beautiful Palm Canyon, a station recognized historically important Women in Photography.

Behind the San Diego Automotive Museum, participants could change a tire on a cool race car!

At the San Diego Air and Space Museum, Women in Flight were recognized, including Anne Lindbergh, the first woman in the United States to earn a glider’s pilot license. She made her first flight in San Diego, at Mount Soledad in 1930.

Girl Scouts could make their own gliders!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Learning the ropes at the Maritime Museum!

Nearly a hundred new hands were “learning the ropes” on San Diego’s historic tall ship Star of India today!

During my visit to the Maritime Museum of San Diego, I asked what all those folks on the deck were up to. I was told they’re learning all about sailing a tall ship. It was the first day of the Sail Training 101 class that is held every year.

There’s a ton to learn–can you imagine? Different masts, yards, sails, all those different ropes and cables, different knots, the jargon–all of it crucial in the sailing of a ship. (I’m a museum member and avid reader of nautical fiction, and I still become confused by much of it!)

Many of these new volunteer crew members, once trained, will be sailing several of the Maritime Museum’s tall ships, including Californian and San Salvador. This coming November the Star of India will sail with those other two ships out onto the Pacific Ocean!

In one upcoming photo, someone down in the Star of India’s hold is raising a heavy bucket full of rocks. That’s practice for hauling on a line–a very common activity on a tall ship!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!