SUMMER 2020
 SUMMER 2020 ISSUE
505-984-3171
24 hrs
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Art from Gonzales Community School Students. Click for details.

COVID-19 RESOURCES

​Now that we’ve wrapped up our unexpected and unprecedented weeks of remote learning, the kids are putting down their school tablets and asking: What now?
 
We’ve rounded up a collection of online resources for keeping your children entertained this summer, as well as places to get help and the latest on programming at our local institutions.
​
Please email us if you have resources you'd like us to add to this list.
 Libraries
 
The Santa Fe Public Library is now offering curbside pickup of library materials at all three locations. Hours for curbside service are noon to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. To reserve items, visit the library system’s online catalog or call one of the library branches (Main Library: 955-6785; La Farge: 955-4860; Southside: 955-2810). 
 
The library’s digital resources are a treasure trove, too. Their list of home-learning resources allows you to watch streaming movies, television, and documentary films through Kanopy; borrow books, movies and more from Hoopla; read e-books via OverDrive; download and stream songs through Freegal Music; or learn a language through Mango. Through the TumbleBook Library, kids of various ages can peruse a large ebook selection. There’s also a list of general digital learning resources on the website, and you can follow them on Facebook for daily tips and inspiration. To access library-offered digital materials, all you need is a library card. Don’t have one? Send your full name, date of birth, address within Santa Fe County, phone number and email address to library@santafenm.gov and get a card number to use now.  
 
The Vista Grande Public Library in Eldorado is holding a summer reading contest that runs from June 1 to July 31. You can track your child’s reading each week and submit the total online or using a paper log that you can pick up from the library or print at home and then drop off or email in a photo of it. There will be weekly drawings for prizes, as well as prizes for the top readers and a final raffle for a custom-sized bicycle. The library is also offering free grab bags for kids each week, available curbside from 10 to 11 a.m. Tuesday through Thursday. ​
Activities
 
The ABQ BioPark Botanic Garden and Tingley Beach reopened to the general public on June 14, in outdoor areas only. Special precautions at the Botanic Garden include online timed ticketing, one-way paths and extra cleaning will be in place. The BioPark Aquarium, Zoo and indoor areas at the Garden remain closed during this initial reopening phase.
 
The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum has assembled a wonderful collection of family art projects inspired by O’Keeffe’s own work, with whatever materials you have at home. Help your little one make a cloud painting, draw trees or practice photography, and share their creation on social media with #okeeffeinspired.

El Rancho de las Golondrinas, Santa Fe's colonial-era living history museum, lets you bring the history alive at home, with history quizzes, profiles of famous people in New Mexican history, cultural crafts like cornhusk dolls and homemade soap, traditional recipes and "Old Timey" games.  
 
The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture's YouTube channel has dozens of educational videos from past lectures, panel discussions, and demonstrations on turquoise, food sovereignty, archaeology and and more. There’s a curriculum packet that provides mapping projects, coloring pages, plant activities and doll making instructions and virtual galleries online.
 
The Museum of New Mexico Foundation has compiled ways to interact digitally with all of its sites, including four state museums in Santa Fe (Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, Museum of International Folk Art, the New Mexico History Museum and the New Mexico Museum of Art), eight historic sites statewide and the Office of Archaeological Studies, through links to these sites' Facebook pages, YouTube channels, online exhibits and lectures that will bring these resources to your home.

The Museum from Home section of the Santa Fe Children's Museum's website has a ton of how-to videos, tips, projects and more. Explore science projects, do some guided exercises, learn to grow a seedling and discover other fun links and activities. The museum is also offering “virtual field trips” on a reservation basis.
 
The New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Scienceoffers videos, experiments, and much more to experience rom your home. 

Discover virtual visits to the New Mexico Wildlife Center with the center’s wide-ranging collection of videos on the creatures it houses. Meet an American kestral, listen to a rattlesnake’s tail, see a great horned owl, watch a turkey vulture at “play” and more. The center's Facebook page also hosts live streams (but you can catch up later on their YouTube channel if you miss them). 
 
The Santa Fe Botanical Garden is offering a virtual version of its popular Friday morning Garden Sprouts program, designed for ages 3 to 5, via Zoom, as well as programs for adults. It also has printable science and nature workbooks for kids.
 
Normally, the nonprofit Reading Quest offers tutoring for more than 300 students during the school year in Santa Fe schools and at its Reading Center for free or on a sliding scale. They’ve got a great and easy-to-navigate list of digital resources and recommendations, including their own video library with a growing collection of tutorials and songs to support students who are learning to read in English.
 
Cooking with Kids works in school classrooms and cafeterias to provide free-of-cost nutrition education to more than 5,000 children in northern New Mexico. At their website, you can access a huge library of culturally diverse kid-friendly recipes, how-to videos, activities for kids and links to food-related resources.

Site Santa Fe has launched a digital learning program with ​free educational workbooks for elementary through high school students, exploring topics such as art, geography, history and social studies as they relate to their current exhibit "Displaced: Contemporary Artists Confront the Global Refugee Crisis." 

​Wise Fool New Mexico, which expands our sense of imagination, courage and possibility through circus arts and puppetry, is offering online classes for kids and adults, with sliding scale options, through Zoom.

Meow Wolf artists have pulled together a collection of games, projects, and prompts to unleash your creativity at home, plus a list of resources for folks in Santa Fe, Albuquerque and Española. 
Tell me a story! 

Story times at Santa Fe Public Library are temporarily suspended, but the library's YouTube channel offers read-alouds by our favorite SFPL librarians and others (including Santa Fe Mayor Alan Webber reading from "Winnie the Pooh."  Other resources on the channel include activities from Science After School, readings by local authors (including numerous readings from storyteller Joe Hayes) and Bilingual Books and Babies.
 
Listen to celebrity storytellers reading children’s literature at the children’s literacy website Storyline Online. Familiar faces include Oprah Winfrey, Wanda Sykes, Al Gore, Bradley Whitford, Sean Astin and Mary Steenbergen.
 
This one’s literally out of this world: Storytime from Space lets you and your children hear stories read by astronauts in orbit.
 
Hear well-known children's stories translated into Spanish and spoken by a native Spanish speaker at The Spanish Experiment. You can read along in Spanish or English. 
Get support

Make the New Mexico state government’s "I Need Assistance" website your first stop for support resources. The sections in its resource guide are broken into easy-to-understand issues that might apply to you, such as, “I lost my job. What do I do now?” and “I can’t pay my mortgage. What can I do?”

SHARE New Mexico hosts New Mexico's largest, most up-to-date and comprehensive Resource Directory for community resources and social services. The directory, which is searchable by location and area of need, covers everything from child care and senior services to education and housing.
 
The United Way of Santa Fe County has a detailed list of resources specifically for families, with information on childcare, food assistance, utilities and rent, as well as links to help with parenting during this stressful time. They are continuing to serve families with virtual visits in their Postpartum Support, First Born, and Family, Friends and Neighbors programs, and online social get-togethers to break down isolation and share support. To enroll in any of their services, click the link for their referral form here. 

Opportunity Santa Fe, Expanding Opportunity for Young Families, and NM Health Equity Partnership joined forces to compile a Santa Fe Community Resource Guide to help community partners and families get what they need. The website, which offers information in both English and Spanish, includes links to COVID-19 information, food resources, education, child care, parent support, housing, transportation, mental health and more.

Santa Fe Public Schools is providing free breakfasts and lunches to all children through age 18. Two breakfasts and lunches are provided from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays and one breakfast and lunch is provided on Fridays via drive-up at Capital High School, Chaparral Elementary School, El Camino Real Academy, Kearney Elementary School and Sweeney Elementary School. (Note: If your child isn't in the car, you'll need to give their name, school and grade if applicable. Check out the menu here.

The Food Depot, northern New Mexico's food bank, is giving out free meals to kids ages 1 to 18 through its 2020 Summer Food Service Program. Now through July 31, Monday through Friday, pick up lunch from 11:40 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. at the Boys & Girls Clubs at 6600 Valentine Way in Santa Fe. From July 1-31, you can also get lunches at these Boys & Girls Club locations: Camino de Jacobo from 11 a.m. to 11:20 a.m.; Santa Cruz from 11:15 a.m. to 11:45 a.m.; and Valle Vista from 12:30 p.m. to 1 p.m. Now through July 31, Monday through Friday, lunches will also be available at Country Club Mobile Home Park, 6151 Airport Road, 11:15 a.m. to 11:45 a.m.; Riverside de Santa Fe Mobile Home Park, 7460 Riverside Loop, noon to 12:15 p.m.; Cottonwood Mobile Home Community, 6441 Cypress, 12:30 p.m. to 12:45 p.m.; and Sangre de Cristo Apartments, 1801 Espinacitas St., 10:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. 

The Sky Center, a program of the New Mexico Suicide Intervention Project, is providing free counseling for northern New Mexico families with children up to age 23, by video conferencing or phone. Call (505) 473-6191 or email theskyctr@gmail.com. 

All Together Santa Fe offers a comprehensive guide aimed at city residents but useful to other residents as well. It’s broken into categories: workforce, business community, and health and wellness.

El Rancho de las Golondrinas' education department is working with The Food Depot, Santa Fe Valet and Youthworks to provide meals and activities. Families in the La Cienega area can pick up grab-and-go meals from 3 to 4:30 p.m. in Las Golondrinas' parking lot, 334 Los Pinos Road in Santa Fe. 
We're glad to note that Santa Fe is adding new programs and services all the time to help families through this unprecedented time. If you have resources you'd like us to add to this list, please let us know. Thanks! 
- Compiled by Kristen Cox Roby
Lily Lopez, fifth grade​
Ruby Dust, Kindergarten
Xavion Madrid, 6th Grade