STEM Friday

One North Star: A Counting Book
by Phyllis Root; illus by Beckie Prange and Betsy Bowen
36 pages; ages 8-12
Univ Of Minnesota Press, 2016

Who lives here under one north star?

One by one, we meet the plants and animals that share the land beneath the star. Phyllis Root takes readers on a field trip through bog and marsh, along river and around lake, across prairie and into the woods, counting flora and fauna as we go. The woodcut and water illustrations by Beckie Prange and Betsy Bowen provide additional opportunities to explore diverse habitats and plants and animals living there.

What I like about this book: Each spread introduces different species. For example, One moose… but on the next page it’s two bats and one hawk. By the end of the book we’ve met 55 different plants, birds, fish, insects, mammals, and herps. I also like that Root includes the reader in her book. “You live here, too,” she writes. “We all live together under one north star.” Nine pages of back matter provide further opportunity for curious young naturalists to explore each habitat and the wild things living there. And (very important) – how to locate the north star in the sky above you. I give this book a constellation’s worth of stars, and One Big North Star.

Head over to Archimedes Notebook for more sky books and some hands-on activities (including how to make a telescope).

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

Copyright © 2019 Sue Heavenrich All Rights Reserved.

If You Played Hide-And-Seek with a Chameleon
by Bill Wise (Author) and Rebecca Evans (Illustrator)

Booktalk: A fanciful look at what would happen if kids played games with twelve different animals.

Snippet:

BONUS! Download the Activities

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

Copyright © 2019 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

by Laura Purdie Salas; illus by Claudine Gévry
32 pages; ages 5-9
Millbrook Press, 2019

Soak up the sun, breathe in the breeze, munch crunchy apples that fall from the trees.

Because nights are growing longer, days are getting colder, and soon snow and ice will cover the landscape. Laura Purdie Salas shows how different animals prepare to survive the winter. Some, such as hummingbirds and butterflies, migrate. Others store up nuts and seeds, or build layers of fat, and spend the winter napping. And others grow extra layers of hair so they can keep warm.

What I like about this book: Rhyming text reveals survival secrets of twelve different animals, from worms to mammals. And yes, humans are counted amongst those mammals. A line of smaller text, offset by squiggly lines, offers additional details. Claudine Gévry’s illustrations are filled with details inviting readers to explore the spreads that show animals across the two seasons of autumn and winter.

And there is back matter! Salas provides more information about the three basic winter survival strategies: migrate, hibernate, or tolerate. Following pages tell more about the migrators, hibernators, and tolerators, and end with a glossary.

Check out the “Beyond the Book” activities over at Archimedes Notebook.

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

Copyright © 2019 Sue Heavenrich All Rights Reserved.

Spontaneous Human Combustion
by Craig Boutland (Author)

Booktalk: This book explores the phenomenon of spontaneous human combustion — what can we learn about it through historical documentation and the theories surrounding it?

Snippet:

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

Copyright © 2019 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

Biodiversity: Explore the Diversity of Life on Earth (Build It Yourself series)
by Laura Perdew; illus by Tom Casteel
128 pages; ages 9-12
Nomad Press, 2019

We share our planet with millions of other species – from bacteria to plants to fungi and animals. This tremendous variety of life on Earth is called “biodiversity”, a shortened way of saying “biological diversity.” In six chapters, author Laura Perdew introduces biodiversity, why it’s important, threats to biodiversity, and how we can protect it.

In discussing climate change, Perdew discusses human activities that contribute to a warming planet, such as burning fossil fuels and deforestation. The warming planet is melting polar ice, causing sea levels to rise and flood coastal habitats. The increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere reacts with ocean water to create acidic ocean water which, in turn threatens coral reefs and clams. Perdew also delves into pollution, habitat loss, invasive species, and over-exploitation of resources. Fortunately, there are things people can do, from implementing conservation policies to developing new energy technologies to taking personal actions.

In addition to informative text and photos, each chapter contains a comic strip, text-boxes of “words to know”, quick facts, sidebars, and primary source links with QR codes (urls listed at the back). There are more than twenty hands-on STEM activities, from field trips to making things. Want to make bio-gas? You’ll need some help from microbes, but all you need are a plastic bottle, an uninflated balloon, and some dead leaves. There are directions for making a water filter and even instructions for making your own smartphone-microscope.

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

Copyright © 2019 Sue Heavenrich All Rights Reserved.

Save the Crash-test Dummies
by Jennifer Swanson (Author) and TeMika Grooms (Illustrator)

Booktalk: Cars take us to work. To school. To soccer practice. To the grocery store and home again. Can you imagine a world without them? It’s not easy! One of the reasons we can use cars so much in our everyday lives is because they are safe to drive. But that hasn’t always been the case. If it weren’t for the experiments conducted over decades that involved all kinds of crash test volunteers–dead, alive, animal, or automated–cars as we know them might not be around. And then how would you get to school?

Snippet:

See the book trailer.

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

Copyright © 2019 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

I See Sea Food
by Jenna Grodzicki
32 pages; ages 4-9
Millbrook Press, 2019

Pineapples, pancakes, and chocolate chip cookies are tasty treats. But did you know they all live in the ocean?

Wait! Really? Chocolate chip cookies? Ok, maybe not cookies, but chocolate chip sea stars live in the ocean. So do pineapple fish, pancake batfish, and pizza crust sea slugs! Excuse me – I’ve got to grab a snack now, but I’ll be right back…

… OK, where was I? <brushing cookie crumbs off keyboard>

Oh yes, What I like love about this book:

• the mouthwatering names of sea creatures. In addition to pizza and cookies, there are fruits (sea apples and banana wrasse) and vegetables (cauliflower jellyfish and lettuce sea slugs). So it’s a well-balanced menu – er, book;
• the delicious photos of the fish and sea slugs and sea stars;
• the “fast facts” sidebars for every creature, providing species name, size, range and habitat, and what eats it;
• and the breezy, fun way Jenna Groszicki introduces each creature. For example, when discussing egg yolk jellyfish she subtitles her text “sunny-side up”. How imaginative!

Plus, dare I say it, Back Matter! In addition to a glossary and further reading, there’s a “Sea Food or Me Food?” quiz.

Head over to Archimedes Notebook to explore the Deep Dark Sea with Gail Gibbons, and some Beyond the Books exploration.

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

Copyright © 2019 Sue Heavenrich All Rights Reserved.

My new Focus on STEM column: Coding is in the October Quick Tips for Schools and Libraries newsletter.

Booktalk: Catch up on computer science with this list featuring female coders, interactive guides, and other coding activities.

Snippet: The first computer-to-computer message was sent on October 29, 1969, and the system crashed before the entire message was entered. (Sound familiar?) Only the letters “L” and “O” were delivered to the other three computers. Fifty years later, even pre-readers are learning to write computer code. As December’s annual Hour of Code approaches, look to these recent books about coding to inspire and prepare.

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

Copyright © 2019 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

by Ann Marie Stephens; illus. by Jia Liu
32 pages; ages 4-8
Boyds Mills Press, 2019

Don’t call these mathematicians “bird brains” – because they are busy solving problems. Cheeping and chattering, they count rocks, flowers, and how many steps it takes to reach the park. Once there, they play – and add. With three chicks swinging high into the air, and six more at the lowest vertex of the arc, there are nine in all, swooshing through the air – while one holds up a scorecard so we can keep count.

What I like about this book: This is a great resource for teachers, homeschoolers, and parents who are looking for a fun way to introduce the idea of addition. Each spread shows a different way to add up the chicks – and back matter explains the different ways that you can use to represent addition. Most of us are familiar with basic equations and tally marks, but this book includes number bonds, counting on fingers (or feathers, depending on your species), number lines, and more.

Head over to Archimedes Notebook for a review of Pigeon Math and some hands-on activities.

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

Copyright © 2019 Sue Heavenrich All Rights Reserved.

At Growing with Science blog last week I wrote about a saguaro cactus flowering in September (they usually flower in June). This week I found a lovely picture book that celebrates them, The Night Flower by Lara Hawthorne.

Lara Hawthorne is an illustrator, so it is no surprise this book is an incredible visual treat. The first thing you notice is the stunning cover with a bold white saguaro flower standing out against the black background of night. The image above doesn’t do it justice because because many of the details are outlined with a metallic shiny gold. It has a luminescent 3-D effect.

Inside, the book starts with an informational paragraph about the saguaro cactus. From there gentle rhyming text takes the reader on a journey through one day and night in the desert. Along the way readers meet many different animals and learn about the role the saguaro plays in their lives.

You won’t want to skip the fully-illustrated back matter. Hawthorne describes the life cycle of the saguaro and names the parts of the plant. Next she asks “Did you spot…?” In a two page spread she shows the different creatures mentioned in the text, giving more information about each and challenging the reader to go back through the book to find them. She ends with a glossary of the scientific terms she used.

The Night Flower is a picture-perfect introduction to a unique plant and its habitat. It can be used to accompany a unit on deserts or plants, or to prepare for a trip to Arizona. Poke around in a copy today!

Be sure to check Growing with Science blog for more information and suggestions for related activities.

Copyright © 2019 Roberta Gibson All Rights Reserved.