You Do The Math Series

At Growing with Science blog this week, I’ve teamed up with Sarah at Share It! Science for a week long tribute to STE(A)M. Today we are focusing on math. Sarah is looking at the golden ratio in her garden and I am reviewing the You Do The Math series.

The expert team of Hilary Koll and Steve Mills have developed a unique series of math books illustrated by Vladimir Aleksic. Each feature gritty, real world applications of math with problems to solve embedded within the story. The challenges vary in difficulty and math skills needed.

In Solve a Crime Alex, an undercover police detective, shows how math can help catch a criminal. For example, on one page the reader is asked to use co-ordinates to map the evidence and then look on a grid to calculate the distance between certain items.

Fly a Jet Fighter follows pilot Katie as she handles data, interprets tables, and reads dials and scales. The goal is to create a squadron of jet fighter aces and complete the mission.

Launch a Rocket into Space follows each stage of a space mission to make sure the rocket blasts clear of the atmosphere and returns safely. It features astronaut Michael who helps the reader compete the math exercises and learn about everything from fractions to timelines. A few problems will require a protractor to measure angles.

The questions in these books are real math and will require a pencil and piece of paper to do the work. “What About This” sidebars on most pages give more challenging problems, as well. Fortunately the answers for all the questions are in the back matter.

The graphic-novel-style illustrations are bold and serious, adding to the true-to-life feel.

Although recommended for ages 6-8, these books could also be useful for older children who are struggling with math concepts or don’t quite see how the math they are learning might be useful. The books in the You Do the Math series would be perfect for homeschoolers and after school math clubs because they can be entirely child-directed reading. They would also be useful for children researching certain careers.

Stop by Growing with Science for the full review, as well as more suggestions for activities and resources to accompany the books.

It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

Copyright © 2015 Roberta Gibson at Growing with Science All Rights Reserved.

 

Gordon Parks: How the Photographer Captured Black and White America

Gordon Parks: How the Photographer Captured Black and White America
by Carole Boston Weatherford (Author) and Jamey Christoph (Illustrator)

Booktalk: His white teacher tells her all-black class, You’ll all wind up porters and waiters. What did she know? Gordon Parks is most famous for being the first black director in Hollywood. But before he made movies and wrote books, he was a poor African American looking for work. When he bought a camera, his life changed forever. He taught himself how to take pictures and before long, people noticed. His success as a fashion photographer landed him a job working for the government. In Washington DC, Gordon went looking for a subject, but what he found was segregation. He and others were treated differently because of the color of their skin. Gordon wanted to take a stand against the racism he observed. With his camera in hand, he found a way.

Snippet:
Twenty-five years old and all but broke
when a magazine spread
about migrant farm workers
inspires him to buy a used camera. That $7.50
is the best money he will ever spend.

STEM + the Arts = STEAM

STEAM DIY Activity

Try one of these National Geographic Photographing Your Neighborhood ideas.

It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

Copyright © 2015 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

Over on a Mountain, Somewhere in the World

Over on a Mountain: Somewhere in the World
by Marianne Berkes; illus by Jill Dubin
32 pages; ages 3-8
Dawn publications, 2015

This book will not only have you singing along, but checking an atlas, globe, or whatever mapping app you might have. It’s downright fun and a great addition to the “Over in” series that Marianne Berkes has been adding to over the years.

I like it because it’s a world tour of mountain ranges – and it has animals from every region. Plus Berkes includes a handy map in case you don’t have a globe at hand. Plus it’s a counting song… so it’s win-win all around.

The illustrations are beautiful cut paper, filled with texture and detail.

All the animals in the book act the way that Berkes portrays them. Snow leopards leap, bald eagles soar, and penguins waddle. And they live in the mountains as shown in the book. But they don’t have as many babies as in her rhyme!

There is wonderful back matter for parents and curious kids. Berkes includes mountain facts, reveals the “hidden” mountain animals, and provides more information about the animals featured in the book. There’s also an entire page of “tips from the illustrator” – what fun for the budding artist! And, at the back there is music and words for the song in case you’re chosen to lead the next sing-along.

It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

Copyright © 2015 Sue Heavenrich All Rights Reserved.

Woodpecker Wham!

Woodpecker Wham!
by April Pulley Sayre; illus. by Steve Jenkins
40 pages; ages 4-8
Henry Holt & Co, 2015

Swoop and land.
Hitch and hop.
Shred a tree stump.
Chop, chop, chop!

I love listening to the woodpeckers in spring, as they drum on the dead trees in the woods around me. I don’t like it when they cling to the side of my house and chip away – but those are the little downy woodpeckers and they fly away when I knock on the wall.

So I was especially excited to get a copy of this book to review. I love April Pulley Sayre’s lyrical verse combined with Steve Jenkins’s awesome cut paper artwork. Sayre shares the details of woodpecker life: communicating by drumming on trees, flaking off bark to find insects hiding in the nooks and crannies, preening, flirting, excavating a nest. We get a good look at woodpeckers up close and personal. Plus, now I know who gets my cherries before I get out there with a basket…

Jenkins populates his illustrations with a diversity of woodpeckers. We meet red-bellied and red-headed woodpeckers, downies and sapsuckers, flickers and pileateds.

I especially love the back matter – and there is plenty of it: six pages filled with info about woodpecker tongues, interesting behaviors, dining etiquette, and nest-building. There’s great information about how we can help woodpeckers by making sure they have habitat to live in, and advice about how to find a woodpecker – especially handy for those who don’t live in wood houses adjacent to forested landscapes.

 

It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

Copyright © 2015 Sue Heavenrich All Rights Reserved.

The Ocean Story

The Ocean Story
by John Seven (Author) and Jana Christy (Illustrator)

Booktalk: The story of the ocean is as old as the earth itself. Overfishing, pollution, and oil spills have highlighted the need to take better care of our oceans so that the story can continue to be told.

Snippet:

(The words on this page are:)

BOY: Why is the ocean so big?
MAN: It needs to be big to hold a story that is very old.

See the book trailer.

STEM + the Arts = STEAM

STEAM DIY Activity

You are part of the ocean’s story too. Find out How You Can Help the Ocean and see “how your actions have an impact.” Make a poster showing one thing that you can do right now and “share what you’ve learned with friends and family.”

It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

Copyright © 2015 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

Bee Dancing

Bee Dance
by Rick Chrustowski
32 pages; ages 4-8
Henry Holt & Co, 2015

This seems like a perfect book to end National Pollinator Week – and it’s hot off the press. Written with a second-person point of view, it begins:

When sunlight warms your honeybee wings, off you go on flower patrol!

So begins a day of adventure – and work – for this honey bee flying over a prairie. Simple language allows young readers (and listeners) to join the bee as she returns to the hive and begins the waggle dance. The description is so good that you could do the waggle dance yourself.

The illustrations are multi-media: collage with pastel pencil – and from a bee’s point of view… or maybe a beetle’s point of view. From below, the stems and leaves seem huge, flowers towering above, bees coming in for a landing. And there’s an info-packed page at the back that discusses why honey bees dance.

Head over to Archimedes Notebook for more about pollinators.

It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

Copyright © 2015 Sue Heavenrich All Rights Reserved.

Key Discoveries in Engineering and Design

Key Discoveries in Engineering and Design (Science Discovery Timelines)
by Christine Zuchora-Walske (Author)

Booktalk: What smaller scientific discoveries led up to major breakthroughs such as the assembly line, computers, or the Internet? Who first proposed ideas to solve problems? And how did the solutions change over time? Trace the history of key discoveries in engineering and design with timelines and find out the facts.

Snippet:
Many thousands of years ago, people tasked with raising stone structures faced a problem. How could they make openings, such as windows and doorways, in their structures without weakening them? How could they create roofs and ceilings that would support their own weight and any weight above them? Openings were important for light, ventilation, movement, and defense. Roofs and ceilings, of course, provided shelter for people and objects housed in the space below. But roofs or windows with open space beneath them ran the risk of caving in.

It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

#kidlit Link of the Day:
See how the Pre-K to grade 3 students at Usher Collier-Heights Elementary School in Atlanta, GA solved their STEM Friday engineering and design problem in “the final STEM Friday challenge for the fall season.”

Copyright © 2015 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

Water is Water

Water is Water
by Miranda Paul; illus by Jason Chin
40 pages; ages 6-10
Roaring Brook Press, 2015

Drip.
    Sip.
Pour me a cup.
Water
    is
       water unless…
it heats up.

There are many books about the water cycle – but I don’t remember reading one nearly as fun, nor as lyrical, as this one. Author Miranda Paul takes us on a poetic journey from raindrops to clouds, from snow to swamp.

What I like LOVE about this book: The language. It’s spot on. So is the science. I love how we start with one state of matter – rain – and, with a page turn, it changes into vapor. Later it becomes solid (snow, ice). Paul plays with the water cycle: we see the rain, the clouds, the fog, the snow. But we also see steam rising from mugs of hot cocoa, snowball fights, apple cider. These are also part of the water cycle.

I always hope for back matter, and Paul does not disappoint. She highlights states of matter, concepts of evaporation and condensation, and then points out that we are mostly water. There’s a list of further reading and a short bibliography for curious naturalists.

Head over to Sally’s Bookshelf for some beyond the book activities.

It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

Copyright © 2015 Sue Heavenrich All Rights Reserved.

The Pier at the End of the World

The Pier at the End of the World
by Paul Erickson (Author) and Andrew Martinez (Illustrator)

Booktalk: Follow a day in the life of the denizens lurking in the cold, tide-swept waters beneath a remote pier on the shore of a northern sea.

Snippet:
As dawn breaks at low tide, the pier’s decaying skeleton stands out in the low light. Tall wooden poles, called pilings, hold up a few weather-beaten boards. Around the bases of these pilings, the sea gurgles.

It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

#kidlit Link of the Day:
Mark your calendars! STEM Friday is participating in the 2015 Summer of Learning professional development series brought to you by Share My Lesson. This free AFT webinar on July 9th offers one hour of professional development credit.

Copyright © 2015 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

Two Contrasting Books about Sharks for Kids

In time for World Oceans Day (next Monday June 8, 2015), let’s take a look at two very different picture books about sharks.

Neighborhood Sharks: Hunting with the Great Whites of California’s Farallon Islands by Katherine Roy is an award-winning book about a fearsome predator.

The cover sets the tone, showing a shark with something in its mouth and a suggestion of red blood in the water. Some of the illustrations within the book show the sharks grabbing and eating seals. Certain children are going to find this thrilling and others are probably not. As with any book with potentially disturbing images, it is a good idea to prepare young readers in advance and let them choose whether they want to continue.

That is not to say that this book is about gratuitous violence. In fact, it contains a number of fascinating scientific illustrations detailing the body of the shark, how its blood circulates to help heat up this cold-blooded fish, how its eyes work, how its teeth work, and what makes its jaws unique. Learning facts about any animal definitely helps make it less scary.

In contrast, Wandering Whale Sharks by Susumu Shingu is a book for younger children that follows a gentle giant through the ocean depths.

Like whales, whale sharks swim the worlds oceans feeding on krill and tiny fish with their large mouths. Unlike whales, they are fish and do not have to return to the surface to breathe. In fact, whale sharks are the biggest fish in the world.

As seen on the cover, the illustrations feature the colors black and blue, giving the feeling of being completely under water. The images are incredibly peaceful and the text lyrical, making the book a lovely choice for reading aloud to a group of children.

The backmatter consists of a page of factual information about whale sharks, such as how big they are, where they are found, and how fast they swim (around 2 1/2 miles per hour). The last sentence is particularly poignant as the author points out there is much we don’t know much about these fish and they are vulnerable to extinction.

Wandering Whale Sharks is the type of informational picture book that is likely to appeal to a variety of audiences. Highly recommended!

Interestingly, both of these excellent books were illustrated by the respective authors.

Stop by Growing with Science for the full review, as well as more suggestions for activities and resources to accompany the books.

It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

Copyright © 2015 Roberta Gibson at Growing with Science All Rights Reserved.