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STEM Tuesday
  • STEM Tuesday-- Math-- Writing Tips and Resources
    STEM Tuesday– Math– Writing Tips and Resources
    March 21, 2023 by
      Paradigm Shift Did you see it? The National Council of Teachers of English recently issued the “Position Statement on the Role of Nonfiction Literature (K–12).” I’ll be honest and say that when I was growing up, I never thought of nonfiction as literature. To me, nonfiction was an encyclopedia, a text book, or one of those really dry library books that you checked out when you had to do a report on a cheetah. Sure the cheetah was cool, but the book about it? I had to crawl my way through all of the dusty dry to find the fascinating facts. Look how far we have come… This month we are looking at the literary craft of not just nonfiction, but math nonfiction! And that’s because the world of publishing has opened their arms to cool, crafty, creative presentations of information. And I for one am giddy over it. In fact, NCTE, this group of professional English teachers is...
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  • STEM Tuesday-- Math-- In the Classroom
    STEM Tuesday– Math– In the Classroom
    March 14, 2023 by
      What’s the story of math? It’s more than logical equations, patterns, and exact answers. These STEM Tuesday books tell of math’s history, its use, and how it integrates into the lives of fictional characters. Bring the story of math into the classroom with these fun activities. A Quick History of Math by Clive Gifford, illustrated by Michael Young This book chronicles the history of math, beginning with the Lebombo bone (the very first mathematical object in the world) all the way to the present day. Readers will learn how to count like an Egyptian using hieroglyphs and how to do matha-magic with magic squares. It’s fun and engaging, and also packed with jokes, graphics, and activities.   Classroom activity: Reenact the history of math with micro-performances in the classroom. Have students research a moment of math history from the book. Then ask them to create a little skit to...
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  • STEM Tuesday-- Math -  Book List
    STEM Tuesday– Math – Book List
    March 7, 2023 by
                        Math really is everywhere we look: from the geometry of nature to the physics of a jump shot. This month’s book list showcases the incredible world of mathematics.   It’s A Numbers Game! Basketball (part of “It’s a Numbers Game!” series) by James Buckley Jr for National Geographic Children may not realize it at first, but numbers play an important role in basketball. Math and numbers dominate this sport, from the dimensions of the court to the number of seconds NBA players have to score a basket. This is a fun book filled with math facts pertaining to basketball, colorful graphics, and sports trivia. It also includes a Foreword by the legendary Kobe Bryant.       A Quick History of Math by Clive Gifford, illustrated by Michael Young This book chronicles the history of math, beginning with the Lebombo...
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  • Author Christine Taylor-Butler
    STEM Tuesday– Genetics– Interview with Author Christine Taylor-Butler
    February 28, 2023 by
    I’m delighted to be interviewing one of our own STEM Tuesday team members, the fabulous Christine Taylor-Butler! Christine Taylor-Butler is the author of more than 80 fiction and nonfiction books for children. A graduate of MIT, she holds degrees in both Civil Engineering and Art & Design. Her current project is the speculative sci-fi fantasy series: The Lost Tribes. Her educational publishers and clients include Scholastic, Children’s Press, Pearson, Heinnemann, Cherry Lake, Lee and Low, Sterling and her favorite publisher: Move Books. Christine has been a panelist and moderator at World Science Fiction Convention, North American Science Fiction Convention (NASFIC), ConQuest, Boskone, DragonCon, Snake River, and many others. In addition she has spoken at the American Library Association (ALA), National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), Assembly on Adolescent Literature (ALAN), Missouri Writers Guild. She has served as a past literary awards judge for We Need Diverse Books and Society...
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Contributors

Photo of Heather L Montgomery

Heather L Montgomery

Website: www.heatherlmontgomery.com

Biography

Heather L. Montgomery writes for kids who are wild about animals. The weirder, the wackier, the better. An award-winning educator, Heather uses yuck appeal to engage young minds. She has a B.S. in biology and an M.S. in environmental education and has written a dozen nonfiction books including How Rude! Real Bugs Who Won’t Mind Their Manners (Scholastic) and her upcoming Something Rotten: A Fresh Look at Roadkill(Bloomsbury).