STEM Tuesday

STEM Tuesday– Chemistry– In the Classroom
February 10, 2026 by Jennifer Swanson

How Do Molecules Stay Together? by Madeline J. Hayes, illustrated by Srimalie Bassani How Do Molecules Stay Together? is a picture book that introduces readers to some basic chemistry concepts. This could be a good read-aloud as an introduction to chemistry, although I suspect older students may find the call-and-response phrases a little too childish for their liking. Marie Curie for Kids by Amy M. O’Quinn This is a book that’s great for readers who love history and activities. Follow Marie Curie’s life from a bright, young girl in occupied Poland through her Nobel prize winning discoveries. This book is packed from activities that explore a wide range of topics, including geography, culture, and science. I read this book in its e-book version, which had some formatting issues that occasionally made it challenging to absorb. This could be an opportunity to explore those areas with an activity. (See below) The Radium Girls by Kate Moore What happens when people...
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STEM Tuesday– Chemistry– Book List
February 3, 2026 by STEM Tuesday

Chemistry is everywhere! It helps us understand how the world works. Explore many aspects of chemistry with biographies, a cookbook, a graphic novel, a study guide, amazing true tales, and several fascinating informational texts! Who Was George Washington Carver? by Jim Gigliotti This book introduces Carver, a famous American agricultural scientist, educator, and scientist. Born into slavery in 1864, Carver became the first Black student at Iowa State Agricultural College and then its first Black professor. His research with plants which focused largely on peanuts, revolutionized Southern agriculture. Maria Orosa Freedom Fighter: Scientist and Inventor from the Philippines by Norma Olizon-Chikiamco This book shares the inspiring biography of a remarkable woman who studied chemistry and pharmaceutical science and created super-nutritious foods to save the lives of many people in the Philippines during a time of crisis. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Elements: The Powers, Uses, and Histories of Every...
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STEM Tuesday Author Interview: Jasmine Ting
January 27, 2026 by STEM Tuesday

Welcome to STEM Tuesday: Author Interview, a repeating feature for the last Tuesday of every month. Go Science-Tech-Engineering-Math! Today, we’re interviewing Jasmine Ting, author of Forests in Danger (A True Book: The Earth at Risk). The book explores forests around the world and invites kids to learn how climate change is impacting these biomes and what we can all do to protect these ecosystems! Andi: What forest fact that you learned surprised you the most? For me, it was the sheer number of insect species in the Amazon rainforest! Jasmine: I think the fact that 25% of the world’s modern medicines come from rainforest plants surprised me. I feel like we’re all so used to this idea that medicine is produced in laboratories and those types of environments that we forget—many of the things we have come from nature. Though, of course, Indigenous people who safeguard these forests are very well...
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STEM Tuesday– Forests/Temperate Trees — Writing Tips & Resources
January 20, 2026 by STEM Tuesday

Hello, and welcome back to STEM Tuesday’s Writing Tips and Resources. I’m Stephanie. The intersection of trees and writing is a well-traversed one. I’ve been meaning to write about it for years, to really analyze the motif across children’s literature. Trees are symbolic of many nouns… people, places, things, and ideas. At least for me, trees invoke feelings of magic, wonder, stability, and safety. I feel confident in surmising the same is true of others; otherwise, why are they so prevalent in these writings? As an English major, Sigmund Freud captured my attention because of his essay The Interpretation of Dreams which in my humble opinion—along with The Uncanny—remains his most relevant work informing literary analysis. In the former essay, he explored the significance of dream-elements in proportion to each other. In terms of story (the supposed dream), and in service of the writing craft, how could his insights become...
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