Posts Tagged middle-grade nonfiction

STEM Tuesday– Digging Up History/Archeology — Book List

By on September 3, 2019   /   Archeology/Paleontology, STEM Tuesday  

 

This month we dig into the science of archaeology. By getting down and dirty, these scientists discover long forgotten civilizations, locate sunken ships, and solve puzzles. These books introduce readers to archaeologists and their findings and highlight how improvements in technology help make these discoveries possible.

Digging into Archaeology

 

Archaeological Discoveries of Ancient America by Frank Joseph
One way to understand the history of America is through examination of artifacts archaeologists uncover. This book examines the use of DNA and carbon dating to explain out of place artifacts (Viking ruins), debunk frauds, confirm lost cities, and explore the truth of our past.

 

Archaeology: Excavating our Past edited by Heather Moore Niver
An in-depth examination of the field of archaeology. Discusses the types, training, techniques, history, and recent discoveries. It includes sidebars of important archaeologists and their finds.

 

 

Mummies Exposed! by Kerrie Logan Hollihan
New technologies, such as such as X-ray imaging, carbon-dating, and DNS analysis, help scientists uncover fresh facts about the dead. This book explores desert mummies, ice mummies (the oldest cold case ever!), bog bodies, a princess, and mummy medical mysteries.

 

 

Two books by Lois Miner Huey who works as a historical archaeologist for the State of New York:

Forgotten Bones: Uncovering a Slave Cemetery
In 2005, the installation of a new sewer in New York became an archaeological treasure trove with discovery of a hundred-year-old skull. Follow the scientists who piece together the colonial history of a forgotten cemetery and slavery in the north.

 

Children of the Past: Archaeology and the Lives of Kids
Children of the twenty-first century have a lot in common with kids from long ago. Their clothes looked different and they ate different foods, but children living thousands of years ago did household chores, played with friends, and created art.

And for arrrr-chaeologists of the deep:

The Whydah: A Pirate Ship Feared, Wrecked and Found by Martin W. Sandler
Ahoy, mateys! If ye be looking for a combination of pirate adventure and marine archaeology, this be it. The Whydah is the only pirate ship found and excavated. [Sept 19 is Talk Like a Pirate day; link: http://talklikeapirate.com/wordpress/how-to/]

 

 

Modern Technology Meets the Past

 

The impact of technology in history and archaeology by Alex Woolf
From metal detectors to computers, technology has transformed archaeology. This book examines satellite surveys, LIDAR, SONAR, and dating techniques beyond radiocarbon that help scientists analyze artifacts and human remains.

 

 

Digging deep : how science unearths puzzles from the past by Laura Scandiffio
Examine discoveries about life in the Stone Age, lost cities, Franklin’s expedition to find the Northwest Passage, the grave of King Richard III, and ancient art. It’s cool how the stuff archaeologists discover affects the way we view history.

 

Archaeologists at work

 

Robert Ballard: Explorer and Undersea Archaeologist (Makers of Modern Science) by Lisa Yount
Ballard combined his passion for archaeology and the submersible, Alvin, to discover the RMS Titanic, Bismark, Isis (Roman Ship), and others. His work, and his mapping of the ocean floor, changed science.

 

Archaeology: Cool Women who Dig by Anita Yasuda
Explore archaeology through the work of three women working in the field. From historical archaeology to marine archaeology you’ll learn more about women pioneers in field research, various methods of investigation, and possible career options.

 

 

The Hero Schliemann: The Dreamer Who Dug for Troy by Laura Amy Schlitz
Quick, engrossing look at the “archaeologist” who inadvertently discovered Troy. Full of mistakes to avoid and “fake news.”

 

 

STEM Tuesday book list prepared by:

Sue Heavenrich writes about science for children and their families, from space to backyard ecology. Bees, flies, squirrel behavior—things she observes in her neighborhood and around her home—inspire her writing. A long line of ants marching across the kitchen counter generated one of her first articles for kids. When not writing, you can find her committing acts of science from counting native pollinators to monitoring water quality of the local watershed. Her most recent book is Diet for a Changing Climate (2018).

 

Maria is a children’s author, blogger, and poet passionate about making nature and reading fun for children. She was a round 2 judge for the 2018 & 2017 Cybils Awards. And a judge for the #50PreciousWords competition since its inception. Two of her poems are published in The Best Of Today’s Little Ditty 2016 and 2014-2015 anthologies. She is the parent of two amazing adults and lives in the Pacific Northwest with two Pixie Bob cats. When not writing, critiquing, or reading, she bird watches, travels the world, bakes, and hikes. Visit her at www.mariacmarshall.com

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STEM Tuesday — Pets — Interview with Author Jodi Wheeler-Toppen

By on August 27, 2019   /   Common Core & NGSS, Pets, STEM Tuesday  

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 Jodi Wheeler-Toppen about her just-released book CAT SCIENCE UNLEASHED: Fun Activities to Do with Your Feline Friends. School Library Journal says: “This book will be a delight to children who love cats and want to learn more about them using hands-on experiments.”

Mary Kay Carson: Tell us a bit about Cat Science Unleashed.

Jodi Wheeler-Toppen: Cat Science Unleashed is a book of science-based activities to do with your cat. The activities are fun–make your cat a toy that also tests her sniff-skills, find out how well your cat knows her territory, test her hearing and her night-vision, for example. They’ll show you cool things about your cat’s anatomy, physiology, psychology, etc. A lot of the activities also help you learn about the peculiarities of your special kitty–there’s a personality test, for example, where you can see how your cat compares to thousands of cats from around the world.

MKC: Developing cat-based activities must have been challenging!

Jodi: I wrote this book as a pairing to go with Dog Science Unleashed, which I also wrote. And I can tell you, the cat book was more of a challenge! For the dog book, my friends would drop their dogs at my house for the day and I would try activities with them (because I wanted to see how they worked with a variety of pups). But cats are so attached to their territories–it would terrify most cats to be dropped off at a strange house with a stranger. So I had to go to them and coax them out from under the bed or on top of the refrigerator or whatnot and try to engage them in my activities. It often worked best if I got the cat’s favorite person to try the activities while I watched.

Jodi Wheeler-Toppen is a former high school science teacher, with a Ph.D. in science education. She’s passionate about presenting science as exciting, suspenseful, and understandable. The author of more than a dozen science books for children and teachers, she also has a series on teaching strategies and activities from the National Science Teachers Association Press. Visit her at onceuponasciencebook.com

I got in trouble with one of my friends. I tested her three kittens for their paw preference by placing butter in a jar and watching how they got it out. She says that now, every morning when she makes toast, one-two-three little faces pop up over the countertop demanding butter! Sometimes an experiment would go great with one cat and then I’d never get it to work again. There was this fun one where I cut out detailed silhouettes of an angry cat and a peaceful cat and taped them to the wall. One pair of kitties gave great responses, arching their backs at the angry cat and rubbing against the peaceful one. But then I could never get another cat to respond, so I didn’t put it in the book.

MKC: How would you describe the approach you took to writing this book?

Jodi: I tried to work backwards from the science to the activities. So I looked for science ideas that were super cool or seemed important if you were going to understand your kitty. Then I thought, what is the craziest way we could look at this? What could you do with your cat that would be really fun or funny or would make Princess Fluffy super happy? I want it to be fun, for kids and their cats. I also want people to come away amazed at their purrfect pets!

MKC: Why do you choose to write STEM books?

Jodi: I was a high school science teacher and I am still very involved in STEM education through writing and staff development. Life circumstances made it difficult for me to stay in the classroom, so writing is a way I can still teach. Plus, it’s so much fun to take a topic and think about what’s really cool, what would people really get a kick out of about this, and focus there. So much more fun than having to always stick to the education standards!

 

Win a FREE copy of Cat Science Unleashed!

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 The Tornado Scientist, Alexander Graham Bell for Kids, Mission to Pluto, Weird Animals, and other nonfiction books for kids. @marykaycarson

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STEM Tuesday — Pets — Writing Tips & Resources

By on August 20, 2019   /   Common Core & NGSS, Pets, STEM Tuesday  

Using Super Senses

Most humans rely on their eyes to learn about the world; sight is our dominant sense. But as you learned last week, life is far different for our furry friends. They don’t see nearly as well as we do.

So how do dogs and cats make up for their less-than-stellar vision? They use other, supersensitive senses like smell. Did you know dogs have 40 times the number of scent cells humans do? And both dogs and cats use whiskers to make sense of their surroundings. I learned these fascinating facts from this month’s books about our beloved pets. And comparing and contrasting our senses led me to think about how authors use our senses — and sensory details — when writing.

Everything Dogs Dog Science Unleashed

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Souping Up Sensory Detail

Writers have a superpower. They can magically teleport readers into a book. A good book sucks the reader into the action. It’s like being in a favorite movie or video game. How do writers perform that trick?  Sensory details.

Since humans rely on vision, our natural inclination as writers is to provide lots of details related to what we see. For example, we might write, “A pink starfish clung to the gray rock.” Pink and gray are both visual details.

Yet to truly capture a setting, we must act more like dogs and cats and employ our other senses too. What does the starfish’s ocean home smell like? If you could touch the starfish, would its skin feel lumpy or smooth or rough? What does the sea smell or taste like? Is it salty?

To help you make the shift to your other four senses when writing, try this exercise.

  1. Highlight sensory details in your work. First, pick a paragraph. Then grab a pack of highlighters or colored pens. Highlight any details you included about sights, sounds, smells, textures, and tastes. Use a different color for each sense. Do you notice a pattern? Is your writing packed with visual description? Are there senses you’ve left out entirely?
  2. Close your eyes. Imagine yourself in your setting or sitting next to your character, and think about what you might hear, smell, taste, and feel. Real writer tip: If you’re writing about a place you’ve never visited, find a video online and listen. Or, take a trip to a local museum, zoo, or aquarium to suss out smells, sounds, and even textures if you can find touch tanks or petting programs.
  3. Revise. Go back to your paragraph and add sensory details that help give your reader a fuller picture of the world you’re writing about.

This is a technique I use each and every time I revise. I hope it helps you too!

 

Kirsten W. Larson used to work with rocket scientists at NASA. Now she writes books for curious kids. She’s the author of WOOD, WIRE, WINGS: EMMA LILIAN TODD INVENTS AN AIRPLANE, illustrated by Tracy Subisak (Calkins Creek, February 2020), CECILIA PAYNE: MAKING OF A STAR (SCIENTIST), illustrated by Katherine Roy (Chronicle, Fall 2021), along with 25 other nonfiction books for kids. Find her at kirsten-w-larson.com or on Twitter/Instagram @KirstenWLarson.

THE O.O.L.F. FILES

This month, the Out Of Left Field (O.O.L.F.) Files provides links to learn more about pet senses and resources for fine-tuning your sense of smell and touch.

  • Learn more about dogs and their senses with the Dogs! A Science Tale app from the California Science Center.
  • Watch this video (and use the accompanying lesson) from Ted Ed to find out how dogs sniff and process smell.
  • Want to see what your dog sees? Check out this Dog Vision app.
  • Ready to work on your sense of smell? I can’t guarantee you’ll be able to pick out the individual scents in a pile of stinky trash (dogs can do this!), but you can train yourself to notice smells in your world. Try this Mystery Smells experiment from KidsHealth to help you tune in to smells all around.
  • What’s it feel like? Did you know your skin is the biggest sensory organ in your whole body? Learn to tune into your sense of touch with these fun activities from the University of Washington.
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