For Teachers

STEM Tuesday All About Conservation – In the Classroom

By on April 10, 2018   /   Book Lists, Common Core & NGSS, Conservation, Cross-Curricular, Curriculum Tie-in, For Teachers, Nonfiction, STEM Tuesday  

 

This month’s STEM Tuesday Theme is All About Conservation. Click here to see the list of books chosen by our STEM Tuesday Team for the month of April.

Here are a few ways to use this month’s books in the classroom, extending learning beyond simply reading. Enjoy these suggestions, and as always, we welcome your additional suggestions in the comments below!

Explore our National Parks. 

Park Scientists: Gila monsters, Geysers, and Grizzly Bears in America’s Own Backyard by Mary Kay Carson, with photographs by Tom Uhlman, will take readers to three National Parks that deliver on the promise of adventure!

  • Use this fact-packed book to chart the differences between plants and animals found in Yellowstone National Park, Saguaro National Park, and Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Discuss habitats, climate, altitude, and other factors that influence what species thrive where.
  • Map it out. Use map pins to locate all of America’s National Parks. Find the distance from your school, home, or library to the nearest National Park. Which park is the farthest from you? Discuss reasons why some National Parks receive more visitors than other.
  • In 2016, the National Park Service celebrated its 100th anniversary. Embark on a fact-finding mission to learn who started the park system and why. What are our oldest parks? Newest? Largest? Smallest? Are any in danger of being shut down? What impact does our park system have on the conservation of native species in America?

A Whale of a Tale!

Whale Quest: Working Together to Save Endangered Species by Karen Romano Young offers an in-depth and up-close look a one of the ocean’s most intriguing animals.

Check out the Whale Guide Starting on page 104, the author provides detailed profiles of the world’s most watched whales.

Make a game of it. Middle-graders love trading cards, and The Phylo(mon) Project offers printable trading cards and games that will make whale research fun and interactive. Find them right here.

Geoengineering Earth’s Climate: Resetting the Thermostat  by Jennifer Swanson (who happens to have been the mastermind behind STEM Tuesday here at The Mixed-Up Files of Middle-Grade Authors) takes a careful and objective look at all sides of a modern and, often politically-charged, topic.  Swanson asks straight out: Is geoengineering too risky? Or is it our best hope of survival?”

Hold a classroom debate:  Middle graders are the perfect age to introduce the idea that there are two sides to most issues. Divide into two groups, one that will highlight the positive contributions of geoengineering and one that will point out its harmful effects.  Using carefully-designed rules for classroom debate (ones that include respect for others’ opinions, careful listening, and an understanding that audience members may come to differing conclusions), hold a classroom debate. Invite another middle-grade class to listen in. Take a pre-debate poll and a post-debate poll. Analyze listeners’ knowledge and feelings about geoengineering before and after hearing both sides of the issue.  For a great, recent article about how to run a middle school classroom debate, click here. 

A perfect fiction pairing to this month’s topic!

Endangered  by Eliot Schrefer is a fictionalized account of a young girl’s experiences growing up in the Democratic Republic of Congo and her unexpected affection for a small bonobo named Otto.

After reading the book, take a look at these video resources for more information about this fiction tale, steeped in fact.

Librarian Preview: Endangered

Scholastic Book Clubs Interview with Eliot Schrefer

Eliot Plays King of the Mountain with Bonobos

Tool Use Among Bonobos

Join the CONSERVATION conversation!

What books are you reading that fit into this month’s STEM Tuesday Theme: All About Conservation?  What classroom activities have you done that were a hit with middle-grade learners? Leave a comment below! We love hearing from you!

This week’s STEM Tuesday post was prepared by

Michelle Houts delights in the wild and wacky side of finding fun facts for young readers. She writes both fiction and nonfiction and often finds the nonfiction harder to believe than the fiction. Find her on Instagram and Twitter @mhoutswrites and on the web at www.michellehouts.com.

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Experiencing the National Museum of African American History and Culture

By on April 4, 2018   /   Book Lists, Diversity, For Teachers  

Last year, my multi-racial extended family and I spent the Thanksgiving holiday in Washington, D.C. We planned our trip around a visit to the National Museum of African American History and Culture. This experience was profound.

Visitors enter on the ground floor and descend three levels. The bottom level, which covers the forcible removal of Africans and transport on slave ships to the colonies, has low ceilings and tight corridors and dim lighting to simulate the passage. The next level documents what life was like for enslaved people in the Americas. It’s less physically confined than the lower level but equally intense with many artifacts including a cabin from the years of slavery. The next level begins with the Civil War and ends with the Civil Rights movement. It includes a devastating and gutting memorial to fourteen-year-old Emmett Till.

At this point in the experience, you are back on the main entrance level, and you proceed up through three more above ground levels. How different these are than the lower levels! Light enters through the scrollwork covered windows. Everywhere is sound and color and exuberance. These three levels are a joyous celebration of the contributions African Americans have made in technology, sports, science, music, art, dance, literature, politics, and culture. It makes you want to sing and dance and cheer. It makes you grateful for the richness African Americans bring to our cultural experience.

All of us were deeply affected by the museum, and I was reminded that both kinds of African American stories—those of tragedy and those of celebration—are equally important. Not just for black and brown kids, for ALL kids. We often talk about books being mirrors of and windows to a wider world… Well, let’s do it!

Build empathy with Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes and The Stars Beneath Our Feet by David Barclay Moore.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Celebrate with Young, Gifted and Black by Jamia Wilson and Andrea Pippins and Black History Flashcards by Urban Intellectuals

 

 

 

 

 

 

TRAVEL TIP: I recommend the museum to everyone visiting D.C. If you can, I suggest dedicating two days to the museum, one for the lower three levels and another for the upper three. Tickets are hard to get so check the website for details.

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April New Releases

By on April 2, 2018   /   Book Lists, Common Core & NGSS, Cross-Curricular, Curriculum Tie-in, Diversity, Fiction, For Kids, For Librarians, For Parents, For Teachers, MUF Contributor Books, New Releases, Nonfiction, STEM  

While April is supposed to bring showers, let’s all hope it actually brings good weather to some places across the country. But, if you do find yourself inside on a rainy day, check out some of these amazing new books. They are sure to delight!

Let’s start with a big Congrats to two of our very own MUF members, Michelle Houts and Tricia Springstubb, for their new books!

Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.orgCount the Wings by Michelle Houts ( Ohio University Press)

When you look at a bird, do you see feathers and a beak? Or do you see circles and triangles? Artist Charley Harper spent his life reducing subjects to their simplest forms, their basic lines and shapes. This resulted in what he called minimal realism and the style that would become easily recognized as Charley Harper’s. Art fans and nature lovers around the world fell in love with Harper’s paintings, which often featured bright colors and intriguing nature subjects. Count the Wings is the first book for middle-grade readers about Harper’s life and work.

Cody and the Heart of a Champion by Tricia Springstubb (Candlewick Press)

What secret is Spencer keeping? Will Wyatt and old P.U. finally become boyfriend and girlfriend? Why does Pearl listen to that big boss Madison? Cody’s got a lot to figure out in the fourth and last book in this lively, award-winning series about a diverse cast of characters and their adventures.

 

Rebound by Kwame Alexander (HMH BFYR)

From the New York Times bestselling author Kwame Alexander comes Rebound, a dynamic novel in verse and companion to his Newbery Award-winner, The Crossover, illustrated with striking graphic novel panels.

Before Josh and Jordan Bell were streaking up and down the court, their father was learning his own moves. In this prequel to Newbery Medal winner The Crossover, Chuck Bell takes center stage, as readers get a glimpse of his childhood and how he became the jazz music worshiping, basketball star his sons look up to.

 

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Warriors: A Vision of Shadows #5: River of Fire by Erin Hunter (Harper Collins)

Erin Hunter’s #1 bestselling Warriors series continues in A Vision of Shadows #5: River of Fire. This hardcover edition includes a double-sided jacket with a bonus poster!

StarClan’s prophecy has been fulfilled, and the long-lost SkyClan has returned to its rightful place among the other four warrior Clans. Many cats believe the danger is past. But after moons of division and strife, ShadowClan is in danger of falling apart forever….

 

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The Creature of the Pines (The Unicorn Rescue Society) by
by Adam Gidwitz (Dutton BFYR)

A fully illustrated, globe-trotting new middle grade fantasy-adventure series about mythical creatures and their cultures of origin, from the Newbery Honor-winning author of The Inquisitor’s Tale.

Elliot Eisner isn’t exactly excited about starting at a brand-new school in a brand-new town; he’d much rather stay at home and read a book. But things take an unexpected turn when he finds out his weird new teacher, Professor Fauna, has planned a field trip for Elliot’s very first day. Along with a new friend–brave, outspoken Uchenna Devereaux–Elliot gets caught up in a secret group of adventurers, The Unicorn Rescue Society, whose goal is to protect and defend the world’s mythical creatures. Together with Professor Fauna, Elliot and Uchenna must help rescue a Jersey Devil from a duo of conniving, greedy billionaires, the Schmoke Brothers.

 

 

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Wedgie & Gizmo vs. the Toof  by Suzanne Selfors (Katherine Tegen Books)

Wedgie LOVES the new micro-pig next door. And she LOVES him! They both like to go for walks and roll in smelly things. They are going to be in the school pet parade together. They are best friends. But Gizmo knows the truth. The pig is Wedgie’s new sidekick. Super Wedgie and the Toof have teamed up to stop Gizmo from taking over the world.

But they will not win! Gizmo is an evil genius. He is smarter than most comic book villains. And more powerful than even Darth Vader! He ordered a flying machine online and he will use it to set free all the guinea pigs at the pet parade.


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Point Guard (Home Team) by Mike Lupica (S & S BFYR)

Gus and Cassie have always been on the same team off the field, but in this third novel in New York Times bestselling author Mike Lupica’s Home Team series can they stay friends when they’re on the same court?

 

You Go First by Erin Entrada Kelly (Greenwillow Books) Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.org

Twelve-year-old Charlotte Lockard and eleven-year-old Ben Boxer are separated by more than a thousand miles. On the surface, their lives seem vastly different—Charlotte lives near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, while Ben is in the small town of Lanester, Louisiana. Charlotte wants to be a geologist and keeps a rock collection in her room. Ben is obsessed with Harry Potter, presidential history, and recycling. But the two have more in common than they think. They’re both highly gifted. They’re both experiencing family turmoil. And they both sit alone at lunch.

 

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The Backward Season (Wishing Day) by Lauren Myracle (Katherine Tegen Boooks)

Now that her sisters Natasha and Darya have had their turn, Ava Blok finally gets her Wishing Day. But after seeing the unintended consequences of the wishes her sisters made, she’s not sure what to wish for. The only thing she’s certain of is that it’s her job to set things right.

 

 

Hopeful that she can put her broken family back together, and eager to prove her pessimistic older sisters wrong, Ava realizes that fixing the future means changing the past. Will the journey her wishes take her on end up costing her everything?

 

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