Posts Tagged book clubs

Say Hello to STEAMTeam2020!

By on January 20, 2020   /   Book Lists, For Librarians, Nonfiction  

The Mixed Up Files blog is excited to help the get word out about this New Release group, STEAMTeam2020! 

 

Looking for some great new STEM/STEAM (Science, Technoloy, Engineering, Art and Math) and titles to add to your classroom or library this year? Look no further than STEAMTeam2020.

What is STEAMTeam2020? A group of 40+ children’s authors who are passionate about all things science and technology and have new books releasing in 2020– both nonfiction and fiction!

Why create STEAMTeam2020?  It’s sometimes tough to get the word out about new books and even more difficult for teachers and librarians to discover them. That is why a lot of authors are teaming up to create debut groups, like this one. There are groups that highlight picture books and middle grade, but until now there hasn’t been a new release group dedicated solely to STEM and STEAM books.

Why are STEAM books so important?  STEAM-related books bring the spirit of inquiry, discovery, and creative problem-solving to your learners while engaging them in rich literacy experiences. ​

Who is part of STEAMTeam2020?

 

Jennifer Swanson                            Carrie Pearson                  Nancy Castaldo

Kelly Starling Lyons                         Lisa Amstutz                       Sarah Albee

Marie-Therese Miller                     Buffy Silverman                 Michelle Lord

Laurie Wallmark                              Tonya Bolden                    Kate Messner

Steve Swinburne                              Randi Sonenshine             Kirsten W. Larson

Jen Malia                                           Loree Griffin Burns          Marta Magellan

Pat Zietlow Miller                            Stacy McAnulty                 Alexis O’Neill

Vicky Fang                                         Darcy Pattison                  Julie K. Rubini

Melissa Stewart                               Rajani LaRocca                 Ruth Spiro

Jenna Grodzicki                              Lindsay H. Metcalf           Heather L. Montgomery

Elizabeth Pagel-Hogan                   Aneta Cruz                         Patricia Newman

Linda Zajac                                       Sue Heavenrich                 Janet Slingerland

Lynn Huggins-Cooper                    Danielle Dufayat               Ella Schwartz

Laurel Neme                                     Gillian McDunn                Kourtney LaFavre

Maria C. Marshall                            Maria Gianferrari             Angie Smibert

 

 

What are some of the books you can look forward to seeing? 

Here is a preview. These are the books from STEAMTeam2020 authors that are releasing in January 2020.

 

 To see more, visit the website www.STEAMTeamBooks.com 

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram at #STEAMTeam2020

  Join us on #MGBookChat on January 27th on Twitter. Look for us at many upcoming conferences (NSTA, ALA, ILA, NCTE, etc.)

Help us get the word out about STEAM/STEM books!

(And don’t forget to check out the Mixed Up Files very own STEMTuesday blog which will give you tips on how to use STEM/STEAM books in your classroom!) 

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Reading Restaurant

By on January 8, 2020   /   Articles, Common Core & NGSS, Curriculum Tie-in, For Teachers  

by Robyn Gioia

I was introduced to Reading Restaurant at a school get-together. Our school shared a professional day with teachers from a top-rated school in another district. Our assignment was to bring our favorite teaching units to share with everyone.

We met with the reading teachers. A manila folder was handed to us by two smiling masters. The manila folders were designed to look like restaurant menus. On the front cover was the title Reading Restaurant. When you opened the folder, you were met with a menu of different projects.

Instead of book reports or summaries, students have the opportunity to do a creative project.

Just like a restaurant, students select from each menu section. Their final selection must equal 100 points. For example, if they chose a 70 point dinner, they must choose another item worth 30 points.

The projects vary and can be tailored to the level and interest of your students. Some of the cool things are designing movie theater posters, writing and performing a play, or creating a cereal box that highlights selected literary elements with a playable game on the back. Of course you can add your own projects, but the restaurant menu format and a variety of projects is a big winner with the kids.

In my class, students usually mull over the selections. At the end of the month, each student presents their project to the class. I use a rubric to grade their project and presentation skills. Afterwards, the student audience is allowed to ask questions of the presenter. This generally creates a lot of excitement and generates a lot of interest in the different projects and featured books.

 

 

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STEM Tuesday–A Partridge in a Pear Tree and other Birds this Holiday Season– Book List

By on December 3, 2019   /   Birds, STEM Tuesday  

 

Happy December! We’ve decided to have fun with the holiday song featuring a partridge in a pear tree and highlight some of our favorite middle-grade STEM titles about birds. Take a “gander” at these books for the budding ornithologists in your classroom.

Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.orgKakapo Rescue: Saving the World’s Strangest Parrot by Sy Montgomery, photographs by Nic Bishop

The last remaining Kakapo parrots live on a remote island off the coast of New Zealand. Explore recovery efforts in this Scientists in the Field title by noted author Sy Montgomery.

 

Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.org Beauty and the Beak: How Science, Technology, and a 3D-Printed Beak Rescued a Bald Eagle by Deborah Lee Rose and Jane Veltkamp

Discover the uplifting story of how one bald eagle was treated with a 3D-printed prosthetic beak after a devastating shooting.

 

Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.org Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.orgMoonbird: A Year on the Wind with the Great Survivor B95  and  The Race to Save The Lord God Bird both Phillip Hoose

These two titles from a National Book Award-winning author tell the stories of two fascinating birds. Moonbird is a banded bird, who has flown the equivalent mileage of flying to the moon and halfway back. In The Race to Save The Lord God Bird Hoose recounts the dramatic story of the ivory-billed woodpecker.

Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.org Snowy Owl Invasion!: Tracking on Unusual Migration by Sandra Markle

If you found Moonbird fascinating, this title will also keep you turning the page. Markle’s book describes the unusual sightings of snowy owls during 2013 and the reasons they were found outside of their native Arctic home.

 

Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.org Crow Smarts: Inside the Brain of the World’s Brightest Bird by Pamela Turner, photographs by Andy Comins, with art by Guido de Filipppo

If you think that the term “bird brain” is an insult, think again. Turner investigates the intelligence of crows in this Scientist in the Field title. Readers will never look at a crow in the same way again.

 

Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.org I Love Birds: 52 Ways to Wonder, Wander, and Explore Birds with Kids by Jennifer Ward , illustrations by Alexander Vidal

Ward offers some great activities for young birders in this early middle grade.

 

 

Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.org Owling: Enter the World of the Mysterious Birds of Night by Mark Wilson

While we’re sleeping the night is alive with creatures, including owls. Wilson brings the night alive in this book about these nighttime predators.

 

 

Like Phillip Hoose, Sneed B. Collard III is an author who returns to the subject of birds again and again. Check out these three titles:

Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.org Fire Birds: Valuing Natural Wildfires and Burned Forests

Natural forest fires impact many human and animal species, including birds. Sneed reveals the complex relationships between fire and thriving plant and animal communities.

 

 

Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.org Warblers and Woodpeckkers: A Father-Son Big Year of Birding

Discover Collard’s birding expeditions with his 13-year old son. A wonderful book about a passion for birding and a parent-child bonding experience.

 

 

Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.org Woodpeckers: Drilling Holes and Bagging Bugs

It’s always a treat to watch a woodpecker pound a tree with its beak to reach a tasty meal, but how do they do it without getting brain damage or harming their beak? Collard delves into the world of woodpeckers in this book.

 

STEM Tuesday book lists prepared by

Nancy Castaldo has written books about our planet for over 20 years including, THE STORY OF SEEDS, which earned the Green Earth Book Award, Junior Library Guild Selection, and other honors. Nancy’s research has taken her all over the world from the Galapagos to Russia.  She strives to inform, inspire, and empower her readers. Nancy also serves as the Regional Advisor of the Eastern NY SCBWI region. Her 2018 multi-starred title is BACK FROM THE BRINK: Saving Animals from Extinction. Visit her at www.nancycastaldo.com. 

Patricia Newman writes middle-grade nonfiction that empowers young readers to act on behalf of the environment and their communities. A Sibert Honoree for Sea Otter Heroes, Newman has also received an NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Book Award for Eavesdropping on Elephants, and a Green Earth Book Award for Plastic, Ahoy! Her books have also received starred reviews, been honored as Junior Library Guild Selections, and included on Bank Street College’s Best Books lists. During author visits, she demonstrates how young readers can use writing to be the voice of change. Visit her at www.patriciamnewman.com.

 

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