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STEM Tuesday
  • STEM Tuesday-- Plants-- In the Classroom
    STEM Tuesday– Plants– In the Classroom
    July 8, 2025 by
      Most plants obtain their energy by converting sunlight into food, which makes them a target for hungry animals. But not all plants are defenseless. Some plants fight back, and a few even become a threat to those trying to eat them. These books explore many interesting plants and the strategies and adaptations they use to survive. They make a great starting point for nature explorations, classroom discussions, and activities!   Killer Carnivorous Plants by Nathan Aaseng  Plants gather energy from the sun and turn it into leaves, flowers, fruit. Animals, who can’t produce their own food, eat the plants. But what happens when you turn the food chain upside down? When the plants are the hunters and animals the hunted? In this book you’ll meet sticky traps, trigger traps, and pits of death. There’s also a handy survival manual for carnivorous plants.   Classroom Activity – Build a Carnivorous Plant Model How do carnivorous plants trap animals and insects?...
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  • STEM Tuesday-- Plants-- Book List
    STEM Tuesday– Plants– Book List
    July 1, 2025 by
    Rooted to the ground, plants are pretty much stuck in place. Most of them get their energy from turning sunlight into food – which makes them a target for hungry animals. But some plants fight back, and some turn the food web completely on its head. These books might inspire you to think about plants in a different light. Rooted to the ground, plants have to find nutrition, fend off predators, and survive whatever conditions the environment throws at them. From water lily leaves that could serve as rafts to a flower that smells like a rotting corpse, meet the plants that thrive by using brilliant and bizarre adaptations. Beware the killer plants – the leaves that sting, the jaws that trap. This book, not for the faint-of-heart, is the perfect read for kids who want to know about the bird-catching plant, vampire vines, and corpse flowers. For older readers,...
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  • Notes of Hope when the world is too much
    Notes of Hope when the world is too much
    June 28, 2025 by
    When it seems like the world is just too much for our kids, when we witness hurt, fear, loneliness, a middle schooler’s loss of family or friends, it’s time to spread some hope. This is exactly how Libby, who comes from a long line of bullies, fights her reputation after finding a stone painted with the words Create the world of your dreams, in Flight of the Puffin by Ann Braden. In searching for ways to create that world, Libby, a lonely and art driven middle schooler, sets off a chain reaction of notes of hope when she writes You are awesome on an index card and leaves it outside for someone else who might need a bolster to find. My own decision to create Notes of Hope with my students came as a project at Mount Mary University to coincide a visit from Diana Chao, originator of Letters to...
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  • STEM Tuesday-- Cephalopods -- Author Interview with Lynne Kelly
    STEM Tuesday– Cephalopods — Author Interview with Lynne Kelly
    June 24, 2025 by
    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 Lynne Kelly, author of Three Blue Hearts (October 2025). The book involves Max, a twelve-year-old who lives in the shadow of a powerful father and struggles with expectations that don’t match his own interests. One day, while visiting a beach town with his mother, Max sees an octopus that he thinks is dead. Instead, the octopus is injured and Max makes it his mission to find help and care for it. In doing so, he not only learns about how unique these creatures are, but finds the strength to set his own path for his life.   Christine Taylor-Butler: Hi Lynne. You’ve written several books about kids and animals. Have you always wanted to be a writer? Lynne Kelly: No, I always loved books but didn’t think about writing...
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Stephanie Jackson

Biography

Stephanie Jackson’s poems and prose have been published in Cricket magazine and various literary journals including Touchstones, where she’s been a contributing poetry editor. A nature-loving creative, she writes picture books, middle-grade novels, and more. Professional memberships include the Authors Guild, the American Night Writers Association, the Society of Children’s Writers and Illustrators, and the Women’s Fiction Writers Association. She’s a contributing blogger for STEMTuesday.com and you can find her online at StephanieWritesForKids.com.