STEM Friday

March 15, 2019March 14, 2019

Butterflies in Room 6

This week we’re highlighting the newly-emerged picture book, Butterflies in Room 6: See How They Grow by Caroline Arnold.

Follow along with the children in Mrs. Best’s kindergarten class as they hatch painted lady caterpillars from eggs, feed the caterpillars a special diet, and wait patiently for the butterflies to emerge from their chrysalids. As you can see from the book cover, nothing is as mesmerizing as a freshly-eclosed live butterfly!

Caroline Arnold is both the author and photographer for the book and she has captured some fun and incredible images of both the insects and the children. Her 2017 book with a similar format, Hatching Chicks in Room 6, was a winner of the Cybils Award for Elementary Nonfiction.

Back matter includes answers to questions about butterflies, a vocabulary list, links to butterfly information online and suggestions for further reading about butterflies.

Butterflies in Room 6 is a must have to accompany a unit on insect life cycles or project raising painted lady butterflies. Fly out and get a copy today!

Visit Growing with Science blog for more information and activity suggestions.

March 15, 2019March 14, 2019

The Nebula Secret

Explorer Academy: The Nebula Secret
by Trudi Trueit (Author)

Booktalk: Cruz leaves his tranquil home in Hawaii to join 23 talented kids from around the globe to train at the Explorer Academy with the world’s leading scientists to become the next generation of great explorers. But for Cruz, there’s more at stake. No sooner has he arrived at the Academy than he discovers that his family has a mysterious past with the organization that could jeopardize his future. In the midst of codebreaking and cool classes, new friends and augmented reality expeditions, Cruz must tackle the biggest question of all: Who is out to get him, and why?

Snippet: It wasn’t a swish, like a fish or turtle passing. It was a good pull. And it could mean only one thing: shark! Cruz tried to slide to the left side of his board, away from the shark, but it had a firm hold on his ankle. He was being dragged down, away from the surface.

Don’t panic! KICK!

Cruz clung to his surfboard, the only thing that would keep him afloat, and kicked with all his might. If he could manage to turn around, he could use the board to bop the shark on the nose and break loose. As he struggled, a million thoughts raced through his head.

Stupid! Sharks feed at dusk. You should have gone in when Dad called. You’re not supposed to drown. Stupid!

He was swallowing water. He couldn’t breathe.

No. No! NO!

The words pounded in rhythm to his heart.

He would not die this way.

With his lungs burning and his energy waning, Cruz twisted his body in one last effort to strike a blow. He lashed out and his fist hit something smooth and hard. Bubbles swarmed around him. He saw a yellow snake. No! A tube. This was no shark. It was a person!

See the book trailer.

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

March 15, 2019February 18, 2019

Ocean books for Early Readers

I love the National Geographic Kid’s books for early readers. Here are two recent books in their “Readers” series that focus on the ocean

In the Ocean
by Jennifer Szymanski
48 pages; ages 2-5

This book is a level 1 co-reader, meaning that it’s a book for a shared reading experience between a kid just learning to read and a parent or older reader. It is divided into four chapters of 6 to 10 pages: Water in the ocean; Ocean homes; Animals in the ocean; and People and the ocean.

Each spread introduces a single idea, such as what oceans are, how waves move, or what coral is.

The left side presents text for the older reader. Text on the right side (I Read) is in larger font. Some words are bolded – words about the ocean, places, action words. After each chapter is a section called “Your Turn” – a matching game or other activity for kids to do to further explore the ocean.

Tide Pools
by Laura Marsh
32 pages; ages 4-6

This is a book for kids who are beginning to read on their own. It opens with a color-coded table of contents. Topics are presented in yellow and orange sections, while green indicates an activity. Throughout the pages you’ll find text boxes with seashell icons. Labeled “Tide Pool Talk”, these highlight new words which are also featured in the photo-glossary on the last page. The Q & A boxes are fishy jokes, and others provide labels and information about the photos. It’s a fun way for beginning readers to learn that information comes from text AND captions, labels, and sidebars. I love the “cool facts” about tide pool critters.

Head over to Archimedes Notebook for another book review (Coral Reefs) and some fun links.

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

March 8, 2019March 6, 2019

Solve This!

Solve This!: Wild and Wacky Challenges for the Genius Engineer in You
by Joan Marie Galat (Author)

Booktalk: From the first wheel to the International Space Station, the miracles of engineering are all around us. Think cars, bridges, skyscrapers, and yes — even bubble wrap! Engineers dream up new ideas and bring them to life while figuring out creative solutions to problems they encounter along the way. But how do they do it? Find out as YOU take the challenges in this book! Then see how different National Geographic explorers tackled the challenge. (Psst! There’s often more than one solution!)

Snippet:
The Situation:
Your friend left a library book at your house, but you can’t return it because you’re quarantined with the flu. Fortunately, you live next door to one another and your bedroom windows are across a mere 15-foot (5-m) expanse. How can you deliver the goods without leaving your room?

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

March 8, 2019February 12, 2019

Explore dolphins with an expert

Absolute Expert: Dolphins
by Jennifer Swanson, with Justine Jackson-Ricketts
112 pages; ages 8-12
National Geographic Kids, 2018

Justine Jackson-Ricketts is a marine biologist who loves dolphins. Good thing, because she is our guide into the world of dolphins. She does research on community ecology – that means she is learning how dolphins interact with each other and their environments.

In this book she and Jennifer Swanson team up to tell us all about dolphins, beginning with how they are related to each other and where to find them. Then we get a close-up look at dolphins, inside and out. They have streamlined heads so they can cut through water quickly, and their flippers have bones that look almost like fingers. They’ve got rubbery skin, layers of blubber, and a brain designed for problem-solving.

What I like about this book: The photography is gorgeous! And I really enjoy having Justine along for the read, because she (and Jennifer) explain everything in terms a non-dolphin can understand. I love the “Deep Dives” at the end of each chapter – hands-on activities that extend your understanding of life as a dolphin. And I love the Dolphin Personality Quiz. Turns out I’m a bottlenose dolphin. Click-ck-ck! Squeeeek? Bzzzzt!

Head over to Archimedes Notebook for another dolphin book and some beyond-the-book activities.

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

March 1, 2019

Animal Noses by Mary Holland Stands Out

Today at Wrapped in Foil we are highlighting the new STEM picture book Animal Noses by Mary Holland, whose previous title, Animal Mouths, received a NSTA/CBC Outstanding Trade Science Award.

Unless they are stuffed up due to a cold or allergies, we generally take our noses for granted. However, they serve two critical functions: they allow us to breathe and to provide our sense of smell. In this book, readers explore how many different animals use their noses in special ways, including for finding food, finding mates, communicating with one another, and being alert to danger.

The book is illustrated with photographs of animals ranging from bald eagles to shrews, which allows the reader to see the range of different noses. There’s even a luna moth, which although it doesn’t have a nose, has structures that serve the same purposes.

Arbordale books always have wonderful pages to explore in the backmatter. In this case the “For Creative Minds” section has a detailed explanation of the sense of smell and “Fun Facts” (like the fact an albatross can smell it’s food 12 miles away!), as well as activities. You can see the pages here.

Overall, Animal Noses is a fun and educational look at a particular animal sense that will appeal to educators, and also thrill young naturalists and scientists. Sniff out a copy today!

March 1, 2019

The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
by Valerie Bodden (Author)

Booktalk: A historical account–including eyewitness quotes–of the devastating 2010 explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig and the resulting oil spill’s harmful environmental impact, ending with how the disaster’s victims are memorialized today.

Snippet:

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

March 1, 2019February 12, 2019

Bats!

The Secret Life of the Little Brown Bat
by Laurence Pringle; illus. by Kate Garchinsky
32 pages; ages 6-9
Boyds Mills Press, 2018

The sun has set. A July sky dims, then grows darker.

For most of us, that means time to sleep. But for Otis and his family it is time to WAKE UP! There’s so much to do before they fly into the night. The book takes us into the family life of little brown bats, how parents know their pups, and first flight.

What I like about this book: It’s such a personal look into the lives of little brown bats. I love the nearly step-by-step instructions Laurence Pringle gives us on how to hunt using echolocation – not that I’ll ever use it (unless I’m hunting moths maybe). If the bat’s name, Otis, seems familiar that’s because it comes from the genus name Myotis, which means mouse-eared. The illustrations are perfect – with a soft feel that you almost want to snuggle up to.

Head over to Archimedes Notebook for another book review and some hands-on activities.

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

February 22, 2019February 21, 2019

The Squirrel Manifesto

The Squirrel Manifesto
by Ric Edelman (Author), Jean Edelman (Author), and Dave Zaboski (Illustrator)

Booktalk: A modern-day fable in the spirit of The Ant and the Grasshopper that teaches kids–and their parents–the value of spending money, saving for the future, and giving to charity.

Snippet:
If we save just a little
a couple nuts at a time,

it leads to what matters:
Squirrel Peace of Mind.

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

February 22, 2019February 13, 2019

Snowman – Cold = Puddle

In some places spring is already poking through. Not where I live – that won’t happen for another month. Maybe more, given the unpredictable nature of this winter … But I couldn’t wait for things to totally thaw to share this book, published just a couple weeks ago.

Snowman – Cold = Puddle, By Laura Purdie Salas; illus. by Micha Archer
32 pages; ages 4-8. Charlesbridge, 2019

science + poetry = surprise!

“Science is why and how a flower grows,” writes Laura Purdie Salas. “Poetry is looking at that flower and seeing a firework.” This book may look like math, but it is poetry in disguise. Laura takes us on a seasonal deep dive, exploring spring through a series of equations.

snowman – cold = puddle
breeze + kite = ballet
1 dandelion X 1 breath = 100 parachutes

Smaller text includes more information about these seasonal observations, along with context. For example, dandelions depend on wind to spread their seeds. And some of those seeds can travel hundreds of miles before settling down.

What I ~~like~~ love about this book: What a fun way to explore a season! And turning math into poetry is definitely a plus. I like that she includes a variety of math functions (addition, subtraction, multiplication) and divides her poem into three acts: early, mid-, and late spring. I like that there are two levels of reading this book, the math-poetry and the nature notes.

I love the artwork! In her notes at the back of the book, Micha Archer says that for her, spring = color. She used collage to create the illustrations, layering tissue papers, using crayon-rubbing resists with watercolor washes, carving her own stamps, then snipping, slicing, and gluing down the papers. She used oil paints to add the children’s faces.

But what I really, really, really love about this book is the equation she has left readers to solve on the very last page.

you + the world = ?

Head over to Archimedes Notebook for some Beyond the Book STEM-ish activities.

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