Fun with Nature Projects: Bubble Wands, Sunset in a Glass, and More
by Megan Borgert-Spaniol (Author)
Booktalk: Photos and step-by-step instructions guide readers through projects that introduce them to the science of nature. While making a volcano or a thermometer, readers will learn about light, temperature, and more.
Snippet:
It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)
Copyright © 2019 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.
Rotten! Vultures, Beetles, Slime, and Nature’s Other Decomposers, by Anita Sanchez ; illus by Gilbert Ford
96 pages; ages 7-10
HMH Books for Young Readers, 2019
“It’s a rotten world,” writes Anita Sanchez. No matter where you look, from the backyard compost pile to the landfill – and even in the back of your fridge – things are decomposing. And that’s a good thing, because imagine what the world would be like if nothing broke down. Decomposed. Rotted away. What would happen to dead animals, orange peels, that pile of dog poop?
In this book we meet dung beetles –the little critters that especially love the dung of plant-eating animals. Turns out, dung beetles are major players in the battle against global warming.
We meet vulture and other scavengers that feed on the flesh of dead animals. Scavenging is a pretty good strategy because dead meals don’t fight back!
We meet the “fun guys” of the decomposer club, fungi. They excel at breaking down the tough bonds that hold molecules of wood together, Sanchez writes. They turn fallen logs into humus – crumbly dark soil perfect for growing new plants. We meet ants, termites, slugs and slime molds, and even take a field trip into our own homes to check out what’s rotten.
I love the way Sanchez makes rotten things sound like the most exciting stuff to look for! And her hands-on challenges: follow sandwich crusts and a “rot it yourself” test. And I really like the last chapter about Rotten People – and we’re not talking about scallywags, thieves, and politicians!
It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)
Copyright © 2019 Sue Heavenrich All Rights Reserved.
So You Think You Know About… Velociraptor?
by Ben Garrod (Author)
Booktalk: Discover dinosaurs, new science, how to find a fossil and ask an expert — world-renowned paleontologist, Dr. Ben Garrod.
Snippet:
See the book trailer.
It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)
Copyright © 2019 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.
The Secret Life of the Skunk (Secret Life series)
by Laurence Pringle; illus by Kate Garchinsky
32 pages; ages 6-9
Boyds Mills Press, 2019
This book takes us inside the underground burrow of a striped skunk and her kits. The burrow is a cozy place, lined with soft leaves and grasses. It’s filled with warmth, earthy smells, and mama skunk’s musky scent. As the kits grow, they begin exploring outside the den. Eventually mama takes them on a foraging expedition, digging up beetle grubs to show them how to find food.
What I like about this book: Kate Garchinsky’s illustrations are so soft that you almost feel the furry little kits. And Laurence Pringle finds the best words to describe skunk sounds: squeak, squeal, churr, twitter. I love the narrative arc of the story told over one season of the skunks’ lives: from birth in the spring, through summer growth, and into the fall when they are preparing for winter dormancy. I also like the back matter where you can learn a lot more about skunks, check out words in the glossary, and find a short list of books about skunks.
Head over to Archimedes Notebook for some beyond-the-book activities.
It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)
Copyright © 2019 Sue Heavenrich All Rights Reserved.
Summer Green to Autumn Gold: Uncovering Leaves’ Hidden Colors
by Mia Posada (Author / Illustrator)
Booktalk: Find out why leaves change color in autumn. Back matter offers additional scientific details as well as suggested further reading and links to hands-on activities.
Snippet:
It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)
Copyright © 2019 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.
Two recent books use pop-ups to invite young children into their habitats. They are written by Libby Walden and illustrated by Clover Robin, with paper engineering credits to Martin Tyler. Originally published in England, Kane Miller released them in US this past spring (2019).
Across the Savannah
In the early morning haze / The noble lion loves to laze.
Pop-up pages introduce readers to six different savannah animals: lion, giraffe, hippo, meerkat, and elephant.
On the Mountain
In the whispering mountain breeze / Two wolf cubs run between the trees.
In this book each pop-up page introduces the reader to an animal you might find when hiking on a mountain: wolf, trout, bighorn sheep, black bear, and bald eagle.
What I like about these books: Simple, rhyming text describes where each animal lives – beneath the rippling surface of a mountain lake, a muddy watering hole, in deep burrows, or on a jagged rocky slope.
Sidebars contain fun facts and additional information about each animal and the habitat. And the pop-ups provide an abundance of details that will have kids searching for more.
Beyond the Books:
Try your hand at making a pop-up book about animals in your back yard.
Review copies provided by the publisher.
It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)
Copyright © 2019 Sue Heavenrich All Rights Reserved.
Let’s take a look at the natural history comic book and leveled reader for kids, We Dig Worms by Kevin McCloskey.
Kevin McCloskey’s book allows young readers to explore earthworms inside and out in a fun way. He shows the anatomy and life cycle of earthworms, emphasizes the importance of earthworms in their natural habitat — as food for other animals, for their role in the decomposition of plant waste, and as aerators of the soil — and includes discussions of earthworm behavior.
As if that weren’t enough, in the back matter are tips and suggestions for parents and teachers on how to read comics with kids, with emphasis on going “for the shared pleasure.” Wonderful!
We Dig Worms is a resource that young readers will want to return to again and again. Pick up and enjoy a copy today!
Be sure to visit Growing with Science blog for an inside look at the book and for related activity suggestions.
Copyright © 2019 Roberta Gibson All Rights Reserved.
Migration: Incredible Animal Journeys
by Mike Unwin (Author) and Jenni Desmond (Illustrator)
Booktalk: Animals of all shapes and sizes make epic journeys across our planet, through harsh weather, avoiding hungry predators, in their efforts to survive. Travel around the globe with some of the world’s most incredible animals and discover their unique migration stories.
Follow the emperor penguin through snow, ice and bitter temperatures; watch as the great white shark swims 10,000 km in search of seals; track huge herds of elephants, on their yearly hunt for water and be amazed at the millions of red crabs, migrating across Christmas Island.
Snippet:
POLE TO POLE
The Arctic tern travels farther than any other–all the way down the Atlantic Ocean to the Antarctic. While it’s winter in the Arctic, it’s summer in the Antarctic. So with twenty-four hours of daylight there, the tern can keep fishing as long as it likes.
It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)
Copyright © 2019 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.
Wait, Rest, Pause: Dormancy in Nature
by Marcie Flinchum Atkins
32 pages; ages 4-8
Millbrook Press, 2020 (released fall 2019)
If you were dormant, you would pause—
waiting,
resting,
huddling,
curling,
napping.
When conditions get tough, some animals head elsewhere. But others – they tough it out by going into a dormant stage: estivation, hibernation, diapause, torpor. Plants go dormant as well. You’ve watched deciduous trees lose their leaves when days grow shorter and colder. The trees hunker down for the winter, waiting for the right condition to break dormancy and produce flowers and leaves.
What I like love about this book: I love the lyrical language that Marcie Atkins uses to show plants and animals going dormant – and then reawakening. The pages are filled with verbs that kids can act out. They are filled with engaging photos of buds and bugs, worms and wildlife. And there is awesome back matter: descriptions of different kinds of dormancy, suggestions for further reading, and websites to explore. If I gave stars, I’d give ‘em all to this book!
Check out “beyond the book” activities over at Archimedes Notebook. Review copy provided by the publisher.
It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)
Copyright © 2019 Sue Heavenrich All Rights Reserved.
My new Focus on STEM column: More Summer Travel is in the August Quick Tips for Schools and Libraries newsletter.
Booktalk: Celebrate two historic travel achievements with a summer travel book display and activity center.
Snippet: This past July, we celebrated the first moon landing that happened fifty years ago. Fifty years prior to that, John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown flew an airplane with an open cockpit through fog and ice from Newfoundland to Ireland in the first nonstop, transatlantic flight. And it has now been five hundred summers since Ferdinand Magellan and his crew of 270 left Spain in five ships on their quest to circumnavigate the globe.
It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)
Copyright © 2019 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.
