Education – Booktalking #kidlit

Avis Dolphin

Avis Dolphin
by Frieda Wishinsky (Author) and Willow Dawson (Illustrator)

Booktalk: Avis Dolphin doesn’t want to sail to England on the Lusitania. War is raging in Europe, and the Germans threaten to sink the ship. Avis is lonely and afraid until she meets a kindly professor whose stories of a magical island help her face an uncertain future. (The stories the professor tells Avis are illustrated in a graphic-novel form, creating a story-within-a-story.)

Snippet:
I know about U-boats. They’re submarines hiding under the sea, waiting for ships, like foxes hiding in the bushes, waiting to pounce on rabbits or deer. When U-boats spy a warship, they launch a torpedo! And if a ship is hit, that’s it. The ship sinks. But until today I thought U-boats were only after warships.

I tap Hilda on the shoulder, “Maybe the warning is real. Maybe . . .”

STEM + the Arts = STEAM

STEAM DIY Activity

See a primary document, the 27-page SUPPLEMENTARY cargo manifest for the Lusitania’s last voyage.

The Long, Long Journey: The Godwit’s Amazing Migration

The Long, Long Journey: The Godwit’s Amazing Migration
by Sandra Markle (Author) and Mia Posada (Illustrator)

Booktalk: Crackle! Crackle! Crunch! What’s hatching from that egg? It’s a young bar-tailed godwit. She will spend the summer in Alaska learning to fly, find her own food, and escape from scary predators. Her long, long journey begins in October when she flies to New Zealand. This 7,000-mile flight is the longest nonstop bird migration ever recorded. Follow along on her amazing voyage!

Snippet: The little female bar-tailed godwit at last breaks free of her egg. She steps into the world on long, wobbly legs. It’s nearly midnight, but it’s June in Alaska and still light. A cool wind blows the chick’s downy coat. She shivers, lifts her beak and squeaks, “Peep! Peep!”

STEM + the Arts = STEAM

10 Myths About Teaching STEM Books and How You Can Teach STEM in Your Classroom Now

Mark your calendars! STEM Friday is participating in the 2015 Summer of Learning professional development series brought to you by Share My Lesson. This free AFT webinar offers one hour of professional development credit.

Overview

Title: Teach STEM Now

Date: Thursday, July 09, 2015

Time: 01:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time

Duration: 1 hour

It’s Nonfiction Monday!

Key Discoveries in Engineering and Design

Key Discoveries in Engineering and Design (Science Discovery Timelines)
by Christine Zuchora-Walske (Author)

Booktalk: What smaller scientific discoveries led up to major breakthroughs such as the assembly line, computers, or the Internet? Who first proposed ideas to solve problems? And how did the solutions change over time? Trace the history of key discoveries in engineering and design with timelines and find out the facts.

Snippet:
Many thousands of years ago, people tasked with raising stone structures faced a problem. How could they make openings, such as windows and doorways, in their structures without weakening them? How could they create roofs and ceilings that would support their own weight and any weight above them? Openings were important for light, ventilation, movement, and defense. Roofs and ceilings, of course, provided shelter for people and objects housed in the space below. But roofs or windows with open space beneath them ran the risk of caving in.

It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

#kidlit Link of the Day:
See how the Pre-K to grade 3 students at Usher Collier-Heights Elementary School in Atlanta, GA solved their STEM Friday engineering and design problem in “the final STEM Friday challenge for the fall season.”

The Golden State Warriors

The Golden State Warriors
by Mark Stewart (Author)

Booktalk: Who will win the NBA Finals this year? Read about your favorite basketball team in the Team Spirit series. Here is a snippet from The Golden State Warriors.

Snippet: When Wilt Chamberlain joined the NBA, Philadelphia coach Frank McGuire boasted that the seven-footer would score 100 points in a game. Chamberlain was amazingly quick and strong. Other players simply could not handle him. All he needed to make his coach’s prediction come true was a little help from his friends.

It’s Nonfiction Monday!

#kidlit Link of the Day:

“Share My Lesson will offer four days of free online professional development from top education leaders during June and July. There will be sessions for everyone, including new teachers. And the best part? You receive one professional development credit for each session you attend.”

[Illustrations by Daniel Baxter]

Teaching with Story: Classroom Connections to Storytelling

#kidlit Book of the Day: Teaching with Story: Classroom Connections to Storytelling from August House

Teaching with Story: Classroom Connections to Storytelling
by Margaret Read MacDonald (Author), Jennifer MacDonald Whitman (Author), and Nathaniel Forrest Whitman (Author)

Booktalk: An invaluable resource book for using storytelling in the classroom, this book correlates with the Common Core Standards and covers “The Seven C’s” of Storytelling: Community, Character, Communication, Curriculum, Cultural Connections, Creativity, and Confidence.

Snippet: We will use the Common Core Standards as our guide and we will highlight the direct links that storytelling has with many of the standards we are already trying to teach. If someone ever questions the fact that you are spending time telling tales, you can explain how many different standards you are addressing every time you tell a story.

It’s Nonfiction Monday!

Literary Link:A new first for the Carnival of Children’s Literature–our May 2015 Carnival of Children’s Literature Roundup links to 2 #kidlit book tours!

Will and Wendy Build a Website with Digital Tools

Will and Wendy Build a Website with Digital Tools
by Darice Bailer (Author) and Sean O’Neill (Illustrator)

Booktalk: Will’s family is moving to Australia, and he’s worried he’ll miss his friends from his old class. But Wendy has an idea! They’ll build a class website so they can keep in touch. They’ll write news stories, add hyperlinks, and even upload photos. What news will Wendy and Will share?

Snippet:
Will and Wendy were ready to post news on the website. “Remember what Mrs. Gold told us,” Wendy reminded Will. “We shouldn’t write things on the Internet that aren’t safe for a stranger to read.

“No addresses or full names either,” agreed Will. “And Mrs. Gold or another adult should read what we write before we post it.”

It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

Mr Strike Out

Mr. Strike Out by Anastasia Suen (writing as Jake Maddox)

A baseball novel

David Gray is notorious in his baseball league, notorious for striking out, both as a pitcher and a batter. He spends so much time practicing his pitching, he has never honed his batting skills. After learning about the great Babe Ruth, David becomes determined to be a better all-around player, which means he’ll have to learn how to bat. With some help from a teammate, David hopes to never hear the words “Mr. Strike Out” again.

Copyright: 2007
Guided Reading level: J
Lexile Level: 380L
ATOS Level: 2.7
AR Quiz Number: 109968
Library Binding / Paperback: 72 pages
Publisher: Stone Arch Books

Book Activities:

Play Math Baseball (If your answer is correct, you will get a hit!)

Explore the Science of Baseball. Test your baseball reaction time, learn how to throw a curveball and how to find the “sweet spot” on a bat.

At Teachers Corner, you can print baseball journal pages, and create your own baseball crossword, word search or word scramble pages.

Find out what happened Today in Baseball History.

June Quick Tips: Focus on STEM

My June Quick Tips: Focus on STEM column, Testing, Testing: Summer Science Experiments has 6 new books for children and teens to use this summer!

Have you read these three?

Explore Natural Resources! With 25 Great Projects.
by Anita Yasuda

Plastic, Ahoy!: Investigating the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
by Patricia Newman

Genetics: Breaking the Code of Your DNA
by Carla Mooney

Nonfiction Monday

It’s Nonfiction Monday!

If It Rains Pancakes: Haiku and Lantern Poems

If It Rains Pancakes: Haiku and Lantern Poems (Poetry Adventures)
by Brian P. Cleary (Author) and Andy Rowland (Illustrator)

Booktalk: What is a haiku? It sounds like a sneeze. And isn’t a lantern a light source? Actually, they are two types of ancient Japanese poetry. See how each form works– and how these little poems can contain big surprises! (And when you’ve finished reading, you can try your hand at writing your own haiku and lanterns!) Here is a lantern poem…

Snippet:

Slush—
gulping
icy treat.
Getting brain freeze.
Whoa.

This week’s Poetry Friday Round-up is hosted by Buffy’s Blog.

AIR SHOW + Fan NONfiction from Starwalk Kids Media

You’ve heard of fan fiction, those stories that fans write about their favorite characters. Thanks to StarWalk Kids Media, the next big thing for young writers is going to be fan NONfiction!

StarWalk Kids Media Awarded NSF Grant to Build Collaborative Learning Environment

(NEW YORK) June 2, 2014 – StarWalk Kids Media, a leading provider of high quality children’s eBooks for Schools and Libraries, has received a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to build a Collaborative Learning Environment featuring the StarWalk Writer™ — technology that will enable children to collaborate in real time to create nonfiction writing that will be published in a student-created, community published database.

Designed to make learning and teaching reading in complex nonfiction subject areas like science and social studies more effective and exciting for upper elementary and middle school students, the StarWalk Kids Collaborative Learning Environment will integrate three specific types of interactivity proven to help children develop literacy skills: Writing to read, Writing for an audience, and Writing together. The company will also support educators by providing both curriculum support materials and professional development tools.

“At StarWalk Kids Media we are committed to serving the growing community of educators who are working to empower their students with 21st Century digital literacy skills,” says StarWalk Kids publisher Liz Nealon, adding, “Collaboration has always been a hallmark of science learning in particular, so it seemed like a natural next step to enhance our eBook offering by creating a real time, online, global environment where students from diverse geographic areas and experiences can write together and publish their work.”

The development of the StarWalk Kids Collaborative Learning Environment is supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1415774. It will utilize the Collabrify™ software development kit (SDK) developed by Elliot Soloway, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor at the University of Michigan School of Education and Cathleen Norris, Regents Professor, University of North Texas under previous NSF grants IIS-1249312 and IIS-1123965.

ABOUT StarWalk Kids Media: StarWalk Kids Media, recognizing the importance of equipping students with 21st Century digital literacy skills, publishes an award-winning collection of 500 engaging, enhanced eBooks for children in grades K-8. Founded by renowned children’s science author Seymour Simon and former Sesame Street Creative Director Liz Nealon, the StarWalk Kids collection includes books by many well-known authors and illustrators such as David Adler, Jim Arnosky, Johanna Hurwitz, Pat Mora, Laura Vaccaro Seeger and Jane Yolen. The company’s aim is to provide children and educators with a tightly curated collection of high-quality fiction and nonfiction titles supporting the Common Core. The StarWalk Kids Reader™ software works on virtually any device, allowing multiple simultaneous access for students at an affordable, annual subscription price. The StarWalk Kids platform, which currently serves more than 300,000 students in the US and abroad, has been awarded the QED seal, signifying “Quality. Excellence. Design” by the Digital Book Awards.

Website: www.StarWalkKids.com

Twitter: @StarWalkKids

Facebook: StarWalk Kids Media

Pinterest: StarWalk Kids

I am so very pleased with this news because my STEM picture book, AIR SHOW will be a part of that eBook collection soon!

AIR SHOW book cover