Posts Tagged writing tips

Books to Inspire You to Explore the Outdoors (safely)

By Jennifer Swanson on June 22, 2020 / Articles, STEM

Hopefully this blog post finds you all well and safe. I’m imaging it also finds you perhaps a bit anxious to get outside. After all, it is summer, and while I don’t know what the weather is like where you live, here in Florida, it’s glorious! A perfect time to get out and about and explore.

But what if where you live it’s not the right time to get out much yet. What can you do to keep your kids — and yourselves — occupied for the next few weeks while things open up? What can you do? Why not bring the outdoors inside or at the very least get creative with your own little outdoor spot. I’m talking about getting creative with SCIENCE outside. (come on, if you know me, you knew this was going to be a science post) 😁

Are you ready to get your outdoor science on? GREAT! —> Head to your bookshelf!

That’s right, inspiration for how to imagine, invent and discover great outdoor science is right there among the books.

What are you interested in? Bugs? Moths? Birds? Cool!

Check out a few of these books.

Or perhaps you have more of a technology bent and want to understand how animals and technology go together.

For that check out my new book BEASTLY BIONICS

And who says that animals are the only bits of science you can see outside or around your house? What about cars? or buildings?

Finally, what if you are just inspired to invent something? Try out these fun new books

For MORE great ideas of how to use STEM/STEAM books to create fun at home,

check out our STEM Tuesday Blog, which has three years worth of activities for kids/parents/teachers —

and also STEAMTEAM2020 website which highlights new books coming out in 2020!

Now that your interest has been piqued, it’s time to DO something with your new knowledge.

Your challenge is to observe, design, draw, build and create something new.

Come up with a new type of animal– one that doesn’t exist but you think it should
Design a new type of bionic robot that mimics the way an animal moves or reacts that would be helpful to humans
Draw a picture of a car or building that would be awesome to drive or live in
Write a story about your creation and share it with your friends and family
Make a game or puzzle for others to try to guess what you drew
Turn your living room into a new type of ecosystem (be sure to ask your parent’s permission) and take everyone on a safari

Science really IS all around you. It starts with your imagination. Time to let that imagination and inspiration SOAR!

I’d love to see what you come up with. Leave a comment/picture below and you’ll be entered to win a copy of my new Beastly Bionics book!

Happy inventing!

STEM Tuesday– SHARKS!– In The Classroom

By STEM Tuesday on June 16, 2020 / Articles, Sharks, STEM Tuesday

I was so excited when I saw the theme for this month. In elementary school, my daughter fell in love with sharks. Through her, I learned to love sharks, too.

This month’s list of books is packed with great choices. I read a few as I thought about activities that would be great to pair with them.

The Great Shark Rescue: Saving the Whale Sharks
by Sandra Markle

The whale shark is my personal favorite, so I had to read this one! It looks at dangers facing whale sharks. In doing so, it covers a lot of information about whale sharks and where and how they live.

World’s Weirdest Sharks
by Paul Mason

This book introduces readers to many different sharks. While the title says they are weird, I would describe them as amazing.

We Need Sharks (The Animal Files)
by Lisa Bullard

This book looks at why sharks are important and why we should care about them. It looks at sharks in food chains and the important roles they play in ecosystems.

Sharks Are Awesome
by Patricia Hutchison

This book is a celebration of sharks. Sharks are everywhere and have been around a really long time. They come in all sizes, have 7 senses, inspire new ideas, and help balance ecosystems. Like the title says, Sharks are Awesome!

Here are some ideas for exploring sharks further and for (hopefully) shifting the way people think about them.

Create a Shark Super-Hero

Sharks are often portrayed as sinister, scary things. It’s easy to cast them as villains. Challenge readers to create a shark super-hero based on the sharks they read about. They could pick a specific shark or draw on characteristics all sharks share for inspiration.

Here are some additional questions that might help spark ideas when creating a shark super-character.

What are the special abilities the shark has? How would that make it an awesome super-hero?
Who would be the shark’s arch-nemesis (villain)? Think about things that endanger sharks and other ocean creatures. How might a super-shark save the day?
What if the super-hero was more like the X-Men or Batman? What would make that super-hero special and shark-like?

Once readers have imagined a shark super-hero, challenge them to create a story where the shark-hero saves the day. For those who prefer creating graphic novels, there are some shark drawing and graphic novel resources below to help.

Showcase an Amazing Shark

With all the amazing sharks out there and in these books, at least one had to spark each reader’s interest. Challenge them to share what they found amazing with their friends, family, and/or fellow classmates. One way to do this is with a promotional poster.

I might title my poster “It’s a Whale of a Shark!” Pretty corny, I know. It’s tough coming up with a catchy slogan, but it’s fun to try.

Here are some other things that would be good to include:

A picture of the shark.
How big the shark gets, perhaps compared with something of similar size. For instance, in World’s Weirdest Sharks, whale sharks are described as being as long as a double-decker bus and as heavy as 5 rhinos.
Where the shark lives.
What, and how much, it eats.
Special abilities or features of the shark.

This could be converted into an aquarium-type classroom display, where different sharks are in “tanks” around the room. There are many ways to run with this idea.

Drawing Sharks

I promised some resources for drawing sharks or creating graphic novels. Here they are:

Author/illustrator Jarrett Lerner has tons of drawing and graphic novel resources on his website, including some that feature sharks. https://jarrettlerner.com/activities

Author and former art teacher Kathy Barbro has quite a few pages on drawing sharks on her website Art Projects for Kids:

https://artprojectsforkids.org/how-to-draw-a-cartoon-shark
https://artprojectsforkids.org/draw-a-megalodon-shark
https://artprojectsforkids.org/how-to-draw-a-shark

There are steps and a video for drawing a shark on Mocomi: https://mocomi.com/how-to-draw-a-shark

Author Lynn Plourde has a great graphic novel resource here: http://www.lynnplourde.com/uploads/31/Documents/2-CREATING-GRAPHIC-NOVEL-LINKS.pdf

Here is another blank template: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Free-Graphic-Novel-Comic-Book-Templates-598158

There are many more out there if you do a little searching.

Explore More Online

Several of the books talk about shark-tracking projects researchers use to gather information about different sharks. Some of these are available online for everyone to see. Check them out and see what kinds of sharks have been tracked closest to your home.

Ocearch – https://www.ocearch.org – Ocearch tracks many different species. Their main page shows animals they are tracking, with recent pings blinking. The different colored dots indicate different animals; sharks are blue. There are also yellow whales, green sea turtles, and more. Have fun exploring the different creatures and where they’ve been. Some of them travel truly astounding distances.

Conservation International has a whale shark tracker here: https://www.conservation.org/projects/whale-shark-tracker. There are lots of interesting videos and other things on their website, too, including a quiz to find out “What Kind of Shark Are You?” – https://www.conservation.org/quizzes/what-kind-of-shark-are-you.

Many aquariums also have lots of great information on their websites. Here are some of my favorites that feature sharks:

The Georgia Aquarium is (I believe) the only aquarium in the Western Hemisphere that has whale sharks. They’re amazing to see in person. They’ve got lots of info on their website, too. https://www.georgiaaquarium.org/animal/whale-shark

The National Aquarium in Baltimore has a web cam where you can try to see and identify sharks and other sea animals: https://aqua.org/Experience/live#btr. They have additional information about animals found there. Sharks in Shark Alley are listed here: https://aqua.org/Experience/Shark-Alley.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium also has a live shark cam: https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/animals/live-cams/shark-cam. At the bottom of that page and around the site there are links to stories, animals, and more that are worth exploring.

The Shedd Aquarium also has lots of information about sharks on their website. The Wild Reef’s a good place to start, then see where your fancy takes you: https://www.sheddaquarium.org/exhibits/wild-reef.

I hope you have fun exploring sharks. Perhaps soon, you’ll even be writing a love poem to sharks!

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Janet Slingerland loves learning about science, history, nature, and (well) everything, which she then turns into a book. She regularly visits aquariums with her family and has even touched a shark or two – or in the case of this picture, a ray. She was able to write about whale sharks in her book 12 Epic Animal Adventures. To find out more about Janet and her books, check out her website: janetsbooks.com

STEM Tuesday– Symbiotic Relationships– Writing Tips & Resources

By STEM Tuesday on May 19, 2020 / STEM Tuesday, Symbiotic Relationships

Photo by Nils Larson

The Writer’s Walk: Nurturing Creativity in Difficult Times

Every day, as part of my writing process, I take a walk outside among Joshua Trees and, in spring, golden California poppies. Often a writing problem weighs on my mind: an opening that’s not quite right, a subplot that’s stumbling, a structure that’s just not working. As my feet pound the ground, my brain is only partially occupied by the scurrying rabbits and calling quail. My mind wanders just as I do. And in those moments I often have a breakthrough, an “aha moment” that leaves me eager to return to my manuscript.

We are living during a difficult time when so many of us are encouraged to stay indoors to keep ourselves, our friends, and neighbors safe. Yet one thing we are still allowed to do is to go outside for exercise. And we need to. Humans have a symbiotic relationship with nature. We need nature, and it needs us.

Even before I read Melissa Koch’s FOREST TALK, one of the books on this month’s booklist, I knew humans had a symbiotic relationship with trees. We breathe in oxygen released by trees. Trees use the carbon dioxide we exhale for photosynthesis. But here’s what Koch wrote that astonished me: “Trees don’t just make people physically healthier. They also improve our spiritual well-being.”

Koch goes on to cite several studies that show being among trees or even simply seeing trees out a window helps us heal faster and reduce stress, blood pressure, anxiety, and negative thoughts. The Japanese government even coined the term “forest bathing,” which involves walking in the woods and using all your senses to take in your surroundings as a way to improve mental health.

I’d argue this symbiotic relationship holds the key not just to our sanity but to our creativity too.

Starting a Writer’s Walk Practice

There’s no time like the present for starting a writer’s walk practice. Before you do, a few ground rules.

First, leave your headphones at home, so your senses are fully engaged with the world around you.
Leave your notebook at home too. The idea is to keep your body and your mind moving.
When you begin, focus your attention on a few deep breaths in and out. Notice the feeling of the ground beneath your feet.

Eventually, your mind may wander. This is good. When it does, magical things might happen. Things like:

Story sparks – As you walk, observe animals, even little insects. What kind of bird did you hear? Why is the sky suddenly filled with butterflies? What makes those wispy, thin clouds? Back home, that wondering might turn into research and even writing about a new topic. But there’s no pressure if it doesn’t.
Storing up sensory details – Use your walk to closely observe your surroundings. Note not only the sights, but also the smells, sounds, and textures. What do things look like and sound like? Can you think of analogies? Now file those details away for future use. One day when you need to capture how the leaves rustled or the birds called, you’ll remember, and these details will reappear in your writing.
Poem practice – I love poems for their ability to capture a single moment in exquisite detail. When you observe something interesting on your walk, maybe an autumn leaf floating in a rain puddle, challenge yourself to craft a little poem in your mind. No need to write it down. It’s just an exercise in paying attention and noticing small details, a way to remind yourself to focus on individual moments and concrete details in your writing.
Solving problems – I can’t tell you the number of aha moments I’ve had during my daily walks. The key for me is to think about my problem right before I begin. Then I clear my mind and focus on my breath, the feel of my feet, letting my mind wander. If and when my brain is ready, it might wander back to my story and play with the problem.

So, if you are allowed, get outside and take a writer’s walk. Your mind, your body, and your writing will thank you!

O.O.L. F (Out of Left Field)

Can’t get outside right now? Relax by watching a nature webcam here.

Experience California’s golden poppies live on their own webcam:

The app Headspace is offering free meditations during the pandemic, including a 10-minute walking meditation, perfect for a writer’s walk.

ReadWriteThink shares a wonderful Poetry Walk lesson from Patrick Striegel.

Read more about how walking boosts writing with this article from Publication Coach.

The New Yorker reports on how walking helps us think.

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, 2020), THE FIRE OF STARS, 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.

Posts Tagged writing tips

Books to Inspire You to Explore the Outdoors (safely)

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