STEM
Celebrating Earth Day with School Age Kids and Teens
“You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.” -Jane Goodall
If you think about it, every day is Earth Day! Try the books and websites below and find a way to make a difference in the world! These are wonderful choices for upper elementary school age and older.
Books for Older Kids and Teens
Non-Fiction
Tracking trash: flotsam, jetsam, and the science of ocean motion by Loree Griffin Burns
Describes the work of a man who tracks trash as it travels great distances by way of ocean currents.
The Manatee Scientists: Saving Vulnerable Species by Peter Lourie
Highlights the work scientists are doing to protect the manatee, an endangered species.
The Gorilla Doctors: Saving Endangered Great Apes by Pamela Turner
Mountain gorillas are one of the most endangered species in the world. Now they are facing a new threat, from the very tourism that is helping to protect them: exposure to human disease. This is the story of the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project and its work to provide medical care to the gorillas.
Hive Detectives: Chronicle of a Honey Bee Catastrophe by Loree Griffin Burns
Join bee keepers and bee scientists as the investigate the deadly scourge of today’s bee populations-hive colapse.
The Chimpanzees I Love: Saving Their World and Ours by Jane Goodall
Dr. Jane Goodall recounts the exciting adventure of her work with chimpanzees, now an endangered species.
Fiction
Hoot by Carl Hiaasen
Roy, who is new to his small Florida community, becomes involved in another boy’s attempt to save a colony of burrowing owls from a proposed construction site.
Scat by Carl Hiaasen
Nick and his friend Marta decide to investigate when a mysterious fire starts near a Florida wildlife preserve and an unpopular teacher goes missing.
Flush by Carl Hiaasen
With their father jailed for sinking a river boat, Noah Underwood and his younger sister, Abbey, must gather evidence that the owner of this floating casino is emptying his bilge tanks into the protected waters around their Florida Keys home.
Threatened by Eliot Schrefer
Luc is an orphan, until he meets a Professor who claims to be studying chimpanzees, and they head off into the jungle–but when the Professor disappears, Luc has to fend for himself and join forces with the chimps to save their forest.
Online Resources
Earth Day Printables from TIME for Kids: Read about Earth Day projects, calculate your daily water use, learn about sources of energy in the U.S., and more! (K-6)
The Greening STEM Toolkit from the National Envirionmental Education Foundation. This is a 20 page PDF document full of ideas to increase environmental knowledge in K-12 students. It includes projects on gardens, climate, weather, energy efficiency and water resources.
Jane Goodall Institute Learn how to take action helping the environment in your community through the Roots and Shoots program.
-Jenny F.
STEM Saturday: Building and Engineering books for Preschoolers
My young boys are obsessed with tools, construction vehicles and building. After carefully fastening their safety goggles and reminding each other to “keep it safe!” they spend hours playing out imaginative construction project scenarios with each other- building with blocks, Lincoln logs, and drawing “plans” on their chalkboard easel. I bring home lots of books with STEM themes since they are so curious abut how things work. These are some of our favorite titles about building and engineering. What are your favorites? We’d love to hear from you. –Rebecca
Building Our House by Jonathan Bean: A young girl narrates her family’s move from the city to the country, where they have bought a piece of land and live in a trailer while they build a house from the ground up, with help from relatives and friends. Also available: Building Our House DVD
Let’s Build by Sue Fliess: “Lets build a fort! Grab a pencil, draw the plans. We’ll construct it with our hands. Dad and son hit the hardware store. And then they start to build! Raise the walls up, hoist that beam. Real construction takes a team! When they’re all done, they’ll have the coolest fort ever!” – Amazon
Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty : A young aspiring engineer must first conquer her fear of failure.
Iggy Peck, Architect by Andrea Beaty: Ever since he was a baby, Iggy Peck has built towers, bridges, and buildings, which comes in handy when his second grade class is stranded on an island during a picnic.
Dreaming Up: a celebration of building by Christy Hale: “A collection of concrete poetry, illustrations, and photographs that shows how young children’s constructions, created as they play, are reflected in notable works of architecture from around the world. Includes biographies of the architects, quotations, and sources”–Provided by publisher.
I’m a Scientist: Watching Backyard Wildlife in Winter
Even though it’s winter, kids can still find wildlife to watch. Create an atmosphere that promotes going beyond one-dimensional learning, to be engaged learners. Encourage your kids to ask questions, make predictions, observe the world around them, experiment and make mistakes. In other words, encourage them to be scientists! Here are some great books to get your family started. –Jenny
Squirrels by Trudi Strain Trueit: Identify specific squirrel species. Explore their behavior, life cycle, mating habits, geographical location, anatomy, enemies, and defenses. (Backyard Safari series) Ages 7-9.
Snowballs by Lois Ehlert: This fun story about a family of Snow people is a great jumping off point for collage projects and for creative ways to feed backyard wildlife. Ages 4-8.
Birds by Kevin Henkes: A little girl observes the colors, shapes, sounds, and movements of the many different birds she sees through her window. Ages 4-8.
For the Birds: the Life of Roger Tory Peterson by Peggy Thomas: Roger Tory Peterson loved observing and drawing birds. He grew up to be an artist, activist, environmentalist and creator of Peterson Field Guides. Ages 8 to adult.
The boy who drew birds : A Story of John James Audubon by Jacqueline Davies: As a boy, John James Audubon loved to watch birds. There he took a particular interest in peewee flycatchers. While observing these birds, John James became determined to answer a pair of two-thousand-year-old questions: Where do small birds go in the winter, and do they return to the same nest in the spring? Ages 4-8.
The Watcher: Jane Goodall’s Life with the Chimps by Jeanette Winter: Before she became a famous primatologist, Jane Goodall was a curious girl who loved observing animals in her yard. Ages 4-8.
Look Up! Bird-Watching in Your Own Backyard by Annette Cate: A humorous introduction to bird-watching encourages kids to get outdoors with a sketchbook and really look around. Ages 8-12.
Reading Rockets has a great series called Literacy in the Sciences that gives great ideas to inspire kids and families to observe and explore the world around them.
Outdoor Explorations The simple activities of playing in the backyard or taking a neighborhood walk are perfect opportunities to help your child develop the skills of observing, predicting and investigating.
Recording Observations: Journals and Field Notes Let your child of any age have fun recording what they see outside with writing, drawing, or scribbling in a notebook.
Pinecone bird feeder This easy birdfeeder is fun to make with kids of all ages.
Toilet paper tube binoculars Make observing even more fun with a pair of tp tube binoculars!
Holiday STEM: Rotten Pumpkins!
What do you with your Jack-O-Lantern, once Halloween is over? Turn it into a science experiment!
Rotten Pumpkin: a Rotten Tale in 15 Voices by David M. Schwartz shows readers what happens when a pumpkin is left to rot and explains each step of the decomposition process. Not for the squeamish, this book shows close up photos of molds, slime molds, yeast, parasites and other organisms that are attracted to a pumpkin’s rotting flesh. Gross! But watching a pumpkin rotting on your own porch is also a great way to encourage children to ask questions, make predictions, observe and draw conclusions. A teacher’s guide is included.
So, let that pumpkin rot! And if you need help answering your child’s questions about what’s happening, check these resources for answers and more ideas on what you can do with a rotting pumpkin science experiment. –Teresa
What happens to a rotting pumpkin? (from Kids Activities Blog)
Exploring Decomposition with Rotten Pumpkin (from Growing with Science)
Yuck! A Big Book of Little Horrors by Robert Snedden
Tiny Creatures: The World of Microbes by Nicola Davies
The Magic School Bus Meets the Rot Squad by Linda Beech
What is a Fungus? By D.M. Souza
Amazing Authors: David Macaulay
I’m a big fan of the Science Channel’s TV series Strip the City. The show peels the layers (by the magic of computer animation!) from famous cities and lets you see what is beneath the buildings, roads, and sidewalks. The show also takes you “live” underground and lets you see parts of cities that are inaccessible to most of us.
Author and illustrator David Macaulay does the same thing for famous buildings and everyday objects in his books. Parents may remember them from their own childhood. His first title was Cathedral: the Story of Its Construction published in 1973. Through intricate pen and ink drawings he tells the story of the construction of the fictional medieval Cathedral of Chutreaux. This book was a Caldecott Honor book. He continued this series with Pyramid, Mosque, Castle, Mill and the deconstruction of the Empire State Building, titled Unbuilding. In 1988 he used this same technique in The Way Things Work, a fascinating glimpse at the engineering of everyday objects. He updated this title in 1998 in The New Way Things Work and tackled how the human body functions in 2008 in The Way We Work.
Several years ago, he updated Cathedral and Castle with new, color illustrations for a fresh generation of readers. If you remember the original books it is fun to compare them with the newer editions. Within the last year he released a set of beginning readers from Macmillan that detail how a toilet, the eye, a jet plane and a castle is constructed and functions .
Toilet: How it Works was a finalist for the Cook Prize this year. The Cook Prize honors the best science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) picture book published for children aged eight to ten. It is the only national children’s choice award honoring a STEM book. The David Macaulay Studio imprint at Macmillan has additional STEM titles by other authors that are aimed at emerging readers. -Ginny W.
Other resources for David Macaulay:
David Macaulay’s Website
Teaching Books Interview and Video
Tips and Resources to Support Science Learning for Kids
“Humans are natural-born scientists. When we’re born, we want to know why the stars shine. We want to know why the sun rises.” –Michio Kaku
Why is that tree crooked? Why does the moon come out at night? Why does a bumblebee like these flowers? How does that bridge hold all those cars, trucks and bikes? Your child is, by nature, a little scientist eager to ask you an endless amount of questions. Sometimes it’s tiring for parents to field all the “why” questions, but just remember- you don’t have to have all the answers. Sharing in their excitement and curiosity is a good start. Make trips to the library and ask youth librarians for help in locating materials about the subjects that intrigue them at the moment. Stay tuned for some book suggestions later this week with easy science experiments. And check out these tips below.
The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) is a great resource for families with lots of information, ideas, and tips for helping children grow and thrive. They have a wonderful list with tips to encourage and support science learning. For specific science-based activities to try with your child, check out OMSI’s page Science Fun at Home and Science Fun Online.
10 Tips to Support Children’s Science Learning:
1. Value your child’s questions.
2. Explore and find the answers together.
3. Give children time and space to explore.
4. Accept that explorations are often messy.
5. Learn from mistakes together.
6. Invite curiosity.
7. Support further exploration.
8. Encourage children to record their observations.
9. Make good use of your electronic devices.
10. Use items you have at home to experiment and explore.
Summer of Science: Dreamers Change the World
A curious young Jane Goodall climbed into her family’s chicken coop and patiently waited for an egg to hatch. Young Roger Tory Peterson drew birds when he was supposed to be doing schoolwork. As a boy Albert Einstein imagined riding on a beam of light. Leonardo Fibonacci was called “Blockhead” by his peers. His daydreaming allowed him to see patterns in numbers that no one else saw.
What do all of these young dreamers have in common? Their curiosity and passion led them to make revolutionary discoveries in their fields! Summer is the perfect time for daydreaming. Encourage kids to follow their interests- You never know where it might lead! –Jenny F.
Blockhead by Joseph D’Agnese
Young Leonardo Fibonacci loves daydreaming about numbers and is known as “Blockhead” in the city of Pisa. None of his peers would have guessed that his daydreaming would lead to the discovery of what we know today as the “Fibonacci Sequence.” Ages 7 and up.
A Beam of Light by Jennifer Berne
This short and sweet introduction to the life of Albert Einstein emphasizes his imagination-“He looked and wondered. Looked and wondered.” He thought about numbers, he thought about very, very small things and very and very big things-he was a dreamer! Ages 6 to 9.
The Watcher by Jeanette Winter
Young Jane Goodall was a watcher of animals and plants around her and grew up to make groundbreaking discoveries watching the chimpanzees of Gombe National Park in Africa. Ages 4 to 8.
The Boy Who Invented TV: The Story of Philo Farnsworth by Kathleen Krull
As a young boy living on a farm in Utah Philo was fascinated by machines of any kind-trains, the hand-cranked telephone, the phonograph, cameras, alarm clocks and most of all the new invention called electricity! As he grew up he had the idea of catpturing light in a bottle and that led to the invention of TV.
Starry Messenger by Peter Sis
Describes the life and work of Galileo who changed the way people saw the galaxy, by offering objective evidence that the earth was not the fixed center of the universe. Ages 7 and up.
For the Birds: The Life of Roger Tory Peterson by Peggy Thomas
Roger Tory Peterson loved observing and drawing birds. He grew up to be an artist, activist, environmentalist and creator of Peterson Field Guides. Ages 8 to adult.
Leonardo Beautiful Dreamer by Robert Byrd
This picture book illustrates the life of Leonardo da Vinci, whose imagination and curiosity led him to paint such works as the Mona Lisa, and to study a vast range of subjects including human anatomy and flight. Ages 7 to 10.
A Man for All Seasons: The Life of George Washington Carver by Stephen Krensky
Profiles the African American scientist George Washington Carver, who not only put the peanut on the map, but was also one of the first advocates of recycling. Ages 7 to 10.
The Boy Who Loved Math: The Improbable Life of Paul Erdos by Deborah Heiligman
Paul spent his days counting, calculating and thinking about numbers. He could tie his shoes or butter his toast, but he could calculate how many seconds a person had been alive! Ages 4 to 8.
Gregor Mendel: The Friar Who Grew Peas by Cheryl Bardoe
The world’s first geneticist lived a contemplative life of a friar. He discovered how plants, animals and people pass down traits through the generations by studying peas. Ages 5 to 9.
A Wizard from the Start: The Incredible Boyhood & Amazing Inventions of Thomas Edison by Don Brown
From his humble boyhood as a farmer’s son, selling newspapers on trains, reading through public libraries shelf by shelf, and dreaming of new inventions, Thomas Edison went on to create the light bulb, the phonograph, and the motion picture camera. Ages 4 to 8.
Summer of Science: Try Our New Discovery Kits!
What do you want to discover with your kids this summer?
Cedar Mill Library and Cedar Mill @ Bethany now have Discovery Kits available for check out! Discovery Kits are waterproof backpacks filled with books and fun tools for science exploration the whole family can enjoy. Kit themes include Stargazing, Bugs & Butterflies, Wildflowers and more. Check out the complete list here.
Introducing DIY Storytime
Storytime is on break! What do I do with my kids at the library?
Do you count on our storytimes as part of your child’s weekly routine? We have just the thing to help you survive until summer storytime programs begin the week of June 16: A fun, early literacy based DIY (Do-It-Yourself) Storytime featuring Spring and Garden themed books, rhymes, songs and activities!
What is it? Visit us at Cedar Mill, Cedar Mill @ Bethany, or here online for great books and early learning activities to share with your child. Spring is here, flowers are blooming, bees are buzzing, and the dirt is alive with squirming worms and insects! It’s an exciting time of year for young children.
Think about it: Children are multi-sensory learners. Even the simplest walk around the block engages all of your child’s senses and offers opportunities for early literacy, early math and science skills to develop. Stay tuned for our DIY Storytime blog posts full of ideas- books, songs and activities- to share with your baby, toddler or preschooler at home.
Best of the Bookshelf: Can You Guess What I Am? and A Closer Look
Recently for Earth Day, my kids brought home several Earth Day art projects, as well as photos of the “trash walk” their preschool organized one morning to help collect garbage and clean up the neighborhood. We’ve enjoyed reading The Lorax by Dr. Seuss, as well as watching the film version. (My two year old likes to wear a fake mustache and stomp around the house declaring “I am the Lorax and I speak for the trees!”) At the end of one day, before we even got from the school door to the car, my four year old son spotted an empty plastic bottle littering the ground outside and insisted we take it home to place in our recycling bin.
There are many things you can do with children to promote a love of nature, science, and a deep respect for the earth. Get outside. Take nature walks. Visit a farm or museum. Join a community garden. Help your kids slow down, observe surroundings, make discoveries, set up experiments, form predictions, etc. You can also enjoy nature and science-themed stories and nonfiction. Reading Rockets is a solid resource for recommended fiction and nonfiction books and activities organized by theme- such as “Our Green World“- for preschool and school-age kids.
Today’s picks for “Best of the Bookshelf” serve a dual purpose as book and guessing game. Kids will be curious about the brightly-colored close-ups of ladybugs, flowers, clouds, plants, etc. They’ll enjoy guessing what each magnification is a part of. It’s a great way to share a fascination of the natural world while practicing observation skills. Both titles are geared toward preschool and up, but even my toddler enjoyed them during a recent reading session. -Rebecca
Can You Guess What I Am? series by J.P. Percy
“Use the clue to guess what is in the close-up photograph. Turn the page to find out if you are right and to learn more about the object!”–from WCCLS catalog
A Closer Look by Mary McCarthy
“Detailed collage illustrations accompanied by simple text present expanding views of familiar objects in nature, such as a bug and a flower.” –from WCCLS catalog
WiserKids 