Booktalk: From sea urchins in the Atlantic Ocean to bandicoots on the Australian savanna, animals recycle all over the world. Explore how different animals in different habitats use recycled material to build homes, protect themselves, and get food.
Snippet: A veined octopus lives in the Indian Ocean. He explores the ocean floor. Octopus finds empty coconut halves. He carries the coconut halves for later use. Poof! When the octopus senses trouble, he claps the coconut together and hides inside.
Booktalk: Realistic and practical advice about how teens can live an eco-conscious life, right now. They can take action by themselves, with their family, or as part of a school or community group.
Snippet: What’s in it for me?
By promoting and protecting nature, you can make the places where you live, study, and socialize more pleasant. You could help your family save money by reducing energy bills. If you can help reduce costs significantly, your parent or caregiver might reward you!
It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)
Lola Plants a Garden
by Anna McQuinn (Author) and Rosalind Beardshaw (Illustrator)
Booktalk: After Lola reads a book of garden poems, she wants to plant some flowers. She gets books from the library and chooses her plants. Then Lola and her mommy buy the seeds, make the garden, and mark the rows. Now it’s time to wait. . . .
Snippet:
Lola loves her book of garden poems.
Her favorite poem
is the one about Mary Mary.
Booktalk: In the early 1940s, young women enlisted for peacetime duty as U.S. Army nurses. But when the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 blasted the United States into World War II, 101 American Army and Navy nurses serving in the Philippines were suddenly treating wounded and dying soldiers while bombs exploded all around them.
Snippet: When Ethel cruised into Manila Bay in July 1940, much of the world roiled with conflict. Germany had crushed most of Europe by using a new war tactic called blitzkrieg, where troops, tanks, and airplanes all attacked at once. Now Nazi leader Adolf Hitler prepared to blitzkrieg England. On the Far East, Japan was on the march. The previous month Britain had ordered the evacuation of all British women and children from Hong Kong, fearing Japan would capture the city. The only democratic powers left in the world were the United States and Great Britain.
Booktalk: Begin with the basics as you build and program a simple robot to experiment with motors, sensors, and EV3 programming. Then you’ll move on to a series of increasingly sophisticated robots that will show you how to work with advanced programming techniques like data wires, variables, and custom-made programming blocks. You’ll also learn essential building techniques like how to use beams, gears, and connector blocks effectively in your own designs. More than 150 building and programming challenges throughout encourage you to think creatively and apply what you’ve learned to invent your own robots.
Master the possibilities of the EV3 set as you build and program:
*The EXPLOR3R, a wheeled vehicle that uses sensors to navigate around a room and follow lines
*The FORMULA EV3 RACE CAR, a streamlined remote-controlled race car
*ANTY, a six-legged walking creature that adapts its behavior to its surroundings
*SK3TCHBOT, a robot that lets you play games on the EV3 screen
*The SNATCH3R, a robotic arm that can autonomously find, grab, lift, and move the infrared beacon
*LAVA R3X, a humanoid robot that walks and talks
Booktalk: Celebrate all year long with The Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations—156 poems in English and SPANISH ideal for preK – grade 6. Here is an snippet from Spring by Jane Lichtenberger Patton …
Snippet:
The earth’s in bloom,
new life’s begun.
Spring’s finally sprung . . . at last!
This week’s Poetry Friday Round-up is hosted by Check it Out.
Ferry Tail
by Katharine Kenah (Author) and Nicole Wong (Illustrator)
Booktalk: Walter the ferry dog loved to greet cars as they came on board each morning. Fetching the captain’s newspaper and tasting the cook’s bacon were Walter’s other important jobs. Cupcake the Cat was just about the only thing Walter disliked about being a ferry dog. One rainy day the waves were rough and no one was paying much attention to Walter. Even worse, Cupcakes was poking him with her paw and playing tricks as Walter was being blamed. He decided it was time to leave the ferry!
Snippet:
One gray day the weather matched Walter’s mood. He was tired of rough waves and rainy decks. The passengers were staying inside to keep warm. They were talking, reading, working, and eating. No one seemed to need his help.
My Heart Is Laughing
by Rose Lagercrantz (Author) and Eva Eriksson (Illustrator)
Booktalk: Dani’s been trying her best to stay happy ever since her best friend Ella moved away. But some girls are cruel to her . . It would all be okay if only Ella would move back.
Snippet:
“Dani, Dani,” sighed the teacher, who had overheard the conversation. “Ella is not coming back.”
“You never know,” mumbled Dani.
She was not one to give up hope, even when everything seemed hopeless.
