Posts Tagged homeschool

STEM Tuesday– Award-Winning MG STEM Titles–Book List

By on December 7, 2021   /   Award-winning MG STEM Books, STEM Tuesday  

 

 

Hurrah, it is time to celebrate all the recent award winning middle grade STEM titles! These books are the best of the best, the cream of the crop, the cherry on top of the sundae. You’ll surely want to add them to your reading list. Drumroll…

NSTA 2020 Outstanding Trade Books

Beyond Words: What Elephants and Whales Think and Feel by Carl Safina

Readers will follow researcher Carl Safina as he tracks elephants and monitors whales. A wonderful young edition of the bestselling adult title. 

Dreaming in Code: Ada Byron Lovelace Computer Pioneer by Emily Arnold McCully

If you’ve enjoyed the many picture books on this STEM pioneer, it’s time to step into her deeper story in this middle grade book. 

The Electric War: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse and the Race to Light the World by Mike Winchell

Readers will find the competition to be the first to light the world inspiring.

Poison Eaters: Fighting Danger and Fraud in our Food and Drugs by Gail Jarrow

This many starred title introduces readers to the creation of the Food and Drug Administration. 

The Woolly Monkey Mysteries: The Quest to Save a Rain Forest Species by Sandra Markle

Sandra Markle captures a conservation recovery team’s efforts to save a rainforest animal in her latest book. 

Undaunted: The Wild Life of Birute’ Mary Galdikas and Her Fearless Quest to Save Orangutans by Anita Silvey 

This book follows two previous award winning biographies by Anita Silvey. You’ll want to read all three! 

Best STEM Books, NSTA   

Save the Crash Test Dummies: An Action-Packed Journey Through the History of Car Safety Engineering by Jennifer Swanson

Readers will dive in to the history of car production and the science behind car safety measures. 

Saving the Tasmanian Devil: How Science is Helping the World’s Largest Marsupial Carnivore Survive by Dorothy Hinshaw Patent

Step out of the cartoons for this latest book in the popular Scientists in the Field series that explores the recovery of this iconic species. 

AAAS/Subaru Prize Winners   

Can You Hear the Trees Talking? Discovering the Hidden Life of the Forest by Peter Wohlleben

Based on the NY Times bestseller The Hidden Life of Trees, this young edition is filled with facts, simple activities, photos, and more to engage readers in forest ecosystems. 

Green Earth Book Award Winners 2021

One Earth: People of Color Protecting the Planet by Anuradha Rao

Discover extraordinary stories of environmental activists in this award winning title. 

Condor Comeback by Sy Montgomery, photographs by Tianne Strombeck

The story of the recovery of California condors is a great edition to the Scientists in the Field series.  

Kids vs. Plastics: Ditch the straw and find the pollution solution to bottles, bags, and other single-use plastics by Julie Beer

Plastic fills our lives. This title is filled with shocking stats and surprising facts. Find out how to reduce plastic use and create a more plastic-free future. 

Mathical Book Prize

How we got to the Moon: The People, Technology, and Daring Feats of Science Behind Humanity’s Greatest Adventure by John Rocco

Beautifully illustrated, this took serves as a guide to the people and technology behind the moon landing. 

Grasping Mysteries: Girls Who Loved Math by Jeannine Atkins

Jeannine Atkins works her magic on this collective biography, novel-in-verse of several STEM pioneers who began their life as girls who loved math. 

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Nancy Castaldo has written books about our planet for over 20 years. Her titles have earned numerous honors, including the Green Earth Book Award, Junior Library Guild Selection, NSTA Outstanding Trade Book, Eureka Nonfiction 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. She is a certified National Geographic Educator.

Watch for her upcoming books, including WHEN THE WORLD RUNS DRY and THE WOLVES AND MOOSE OF ISLE ROYALE, a Scientist in the Field title, in 2022. Visit her at www.nancycastaldo.com. 

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Sibert Honor author Patricia Newman shows young readers how their actions can ripple around the world. Using social and environmental injustice as inspiration, she empowers young readers to seek connections to the real world and to use their imaginations to act on behalf of their communities. One Texas librarian wrote, “Patricia is one of THE BEST nonfiction authors writing for our students in today’s market, and one of our MUST HAVE AUTHORS for every collection.”

Titles include: Planet Ocean (new); Sibert Honor book Sea Otter Heroes; Green Earth Book Award winner Plastic, Ahoy!; The NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Book Eavesdropping on Elephants; California Reading Association’s Eureka! Gold winner Zoo Scientists to the Rescue. Visit Patricia online at her website, on Twitter, on Facebook, and on Pinterest.

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STEM Tuesday– Tectonics: Volcanoes, Ring of Fire — Interview with Author Katie Coppens

By on November 23, 2021   /   STEM Tuesday, Tectonics/Volcanoes  

Welcome to STEM Tuesday: Author Interview & Book Giveaway, a repeating feature for the fourth Tuesday of every month. Go Science-Tech-Engineering-Math!

Today we’re interviewing Katie Coppens, author of Geology is a Piece of Cake. It’s a “truly delicious, hands-on way to study science in action,” says Kirkus Reviews.

Mary Kay Carson: Tell us a bit about Geology is a Piece of Cake. How did the book come about?

Katie Coppens: I’m a middle school science teacher who uses analogies to help my students understand concepts. One of the analogies my students have enjoyed is learning the difference between a rock and a mineral through cake; where minerals are like the ingredients for cake and the cake is like the rock. Year-after-year, I kept expanding cake examples to a range of concepts in geology, such as fossil formation and plate tectonics. My students benefited from these analogies and the ideas kept coming. Then, I thought of the title for a possible book, Geology is a Piece of Cake, and it all went from there. I started writing, baking, taking photos of cakes, and developing recipes for kids to do that have geological thinking embedded into them. Using this hands-on method is fun and helps concepts resonate!

MKC: Care to share a favorite research experience?

Katie: My children were two and four years old when I wrote the book. For months, I was baking and testing recipes and my kids and I developed a love of baking together. They also became accustomed to having cakes for dessert because it was important to taste test the cakes that had recipes in the book. When I finished writing, my kids were disappointed that the daily desserts stopped. They were delighted when I wrote the companion book Geometry is as Easy as Pie, which teaches math concepts through pie and pie recipes.

MKC: How would you describe the book’s approach?

Katie: Cake is a great hook for kids (and adults!)! It’s a hands-on, delicious way to better understand geology. In addition to teachers’ use in the classroom, parents have also enjoyed making the recipes with their child and learning together. Out of all of the cakes, I think the extrusive molten lava chocolate cake (at left) is the most fun. It represents an extrusive igneous rock and when you cut into it, the chocolate lava flows out!

MKC: To whom did you imagine yourself writing to while drafting the book?

Katie: I was imagining my 6th grade students with every step of writing, which is why I dedicated the book to them! I kept thinking about the questions they ask and they were my inspiration behind writing the book in a question and answer format. One of my favorite moments as an author is when readers reach out to me and with this book, I’ve received emails with photos of the cakes kids have made with their geological thinking! I have a YouTube channel that includes a fun video that some of my students made when they baked a cake from the book.

MKC: Do you choose to write about STEM books?

Katie: I’ve been a teacher for 20 years and have written eight STEM-themed children’s books. I’m also an advisor of my school’s STEM club. My favorite part of STEM is that it encourages creative and critical thinking!

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Katie Coppens is an award-winning middle school science teacher who lives in Maine with her husband and two daughters. She’s written eight STEM-themed books for kids and writes a column for the National Science Teaching Association’s Science Scope magazine called “Interdisciplinary Ideas.” Her goal in both teaching and writing is to encourage curiosity and make learning fun. For more information on her books, go to www.katiecoppens.com or follow her @Katie_Coppens on Twitter.

Win a FREE copy of Geology is a Piece of Cake!

Enter the giveaway by leaving a comment below. The randomly-chosen winner will be contacted via email and asked to provide a mailing address (within the U.S. only) to receive the book.

Good luck!

Your host is Mary Kay Carson, author of Wildlife Ranger Action Guide, The Tornado Scientist, Alexander Graham Bell for Kids, Mission to Pluto, and other nonfiction books for kids. @marykaycarson

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STEM Tuesday– Tectonics: Volcanoes, Ring of fire– Writing Tips & Resources

By on November 16, 2021   /   STEM Tuesday, Tectonics/Volcanoes  

How to Start a Story

What’s one of the hardest parts of writing? Writing very first paragraph (like this one)! The first paragraph of any piece of writing, also called the “lead,” has to accomplish a lot. It must give the reader an idea of what the piece is about. And it must pique the reader’s interest and encourage them to keep reading. How do writers do it?

To find out, I studied the openings in several books from this month’s book list.

Start with a Question

Did you notice I used this technique to begin this blog post? It’s the same technique Kathleen M. Reilly uses to open her book, FAULT LINES & TECTONIC PLATES:

“Did you know that the surface of the planet Earth is similar to one enormous puzzle? A puzzle is made up of anywhere from a few pieces to thousands of pieces. And each piece has a very specific shape that allows it to fit perfectly against another piece of the puzzle, right?

Take a close look at the shape of the continents on our planet. If you study them very carefully, you’ll see that they kind of look like puzzle pieces. …”

What else do you notice about Reilly’s beginning? She uses second-person point of view (you) to address the reader directly. That makes you feel like you’re part of the story. She also introduces the analogy of the puzzle, which she builds on subsequent paragraphs. It helps her explain plate tectonics in a reader-friendly way.

But are questions the only way to start a story? Nope. Read on.

Start with a Scene

In THE BIG ONE, Elizabeth Rusch starts her story this way: “At first you don’t notice the shaking. You think a bus or truck is rumbling by. But the trembling doesn’t start. A few seconds later, paintings and photos on the wall swing slightly. Glasses and dishes rattle. Thud. Bang! Objects all around you – cellphones, water bottles, books – slide off surfaces and clatter to the ground. …”

What do you notice about this opening?

Just like Reilly, Rusch has used second-person POV to put the reader in the story. But she’s gone even farther. She’s put the reader in the middle of the action – an earthquake! She’s used details from the five senses to help us see, feel, and hear what it would be like to experience an earthquake as it happens. And the action is unfolding minute-by-minute, like a television or movie. It’s a captivating opening for sure.

Make It Personal

Johanna Wagstaffe starts with a personal recollection in FAULT LINES: “When I was four years old, I lived with my family in Tokyo, Japan. I remember seeing the polite nods and warm smiles in the crowded subways, riding on the back of my mother’s bicycle through the alleys of the city, and wishing we could visit the five-story Sanrio store. I also remember the regular earthquake drills in our kindergarten class. We would scramble to get under the desks and then line up and march outside. It seemed like a fun game at the time, but there was a seriousness about it.

I first felt the ground move one day when I was playing at home after school. …”

Wagstaffe goes on to relate her first-hand experience of an earthquake.

What is your response to this opening?

Like Rusch, Wagstaffe paints a scene filled with vivid details, but instead of having us imagine ourselves in the middle of the action, four-year-old Wagstaffe is the main character. And she’s the main character and a character in real trouble – an earthquake. What will happen to her? We have to keep reading.

Your Turn

Grab several nonfiction books and study the first paragraph of each. How does the story start? Has the author used one of the techniques we’ve discussed or something different? Did the opening give you an idea of what the book is about and get you excited to read more? Why or why not?

Whenever you’re stuck, remember all these options for openings. Test some out and see what works.

More great posts about story beginnings:

Kirsten Williams Larson author

Kirsten W. Larson

Website: kirsten-w-larson.com

Biography

Kirsten used to work with rocket scientists at NASA. Now she writes books for curious kids. She is the author of  WOOD, WIRE, WINGS: EMMA LILIAN TODD INVENTS AN AIRPLANE, illustrated by Tracy Subisak (Calkins Creek), an NSTA Best STEM BOOK, A TRUE WONDER: The Comic Book Hero Who Changed Everything, illustrated by Katy Wu (Clarion), which earned two starred reviews, and the forthcoming, THE FIRE OF STARS: The Life and Brilliance of the Woman Who Discovered What Stars Are Made Of, illustrated by Katherine Roy (Chronicle, Spring 2022), as well as 25 nonfiction books for the school and library market. Find her at kirsten-w-larson.com or on Twitter and Instagram @KirstenWLarson.

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