Discover Dirt

The New Lebanon Library will present the program “Rock Around the Block – A Wild and Wacky Look at Rocks, Minerals, Fossils and Dirt!” on Friday, August 16, at 3 pm. This program, which is free and open to the public, is ideally suited for children in grades kindergarten and up, although it will interest rock hounds of all ages. An ice cream social will follow.
Steve “The Dirtmeister” Tomecek will explore how early human beings first used rocks as tools and weapons and will show examples of some of the important minerals that are still used today. Next, with the help of volunteers from the audience, “The Dirtmeister” will demonstrate some of the ways that minerals come together to form igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks. Selected audience members can even try their hands at whipping up some “Class A” dirt!
The program concludes with a look at fossils and what they tell us about past life, as audience members get to handle some real dinosaur bones. Following the program, Tomecek will be available to meet and greet the audience and give them a chance to get a close up look at the rock and mineral samples. He will also be available to autograph copies of his three National Geographic books, Everything Rocks and Minerals, Rocks and Minerals and Dirt.
Tomecek is the Executive Director and founder of Science Plus, Inc. He began his professional career as a geologist  specializing in geomorphology and soils. The title “Dirtmeister” was hung on him over 30 years ago by his students at the New York Botanical Gardens, where he taught courses in soil science for many years. He served as the Associate Director for the Science Museum of Long Island and as the Science Program Supervisor for the New York Hall of Science. He currently serves as the Science Advisor for Age of Learning, Inc. and as a writer for the National Geographic Society, Chelsea House Publishers and Scholastic, Inc.
For more information, please call the Library at 518-794-8844. The Library is located at 550 State Route 20, ¼ mile north of the yellow blinking light at the intersection of Routes 20/22.