Spring is ... Noisy!

In upstate NY you hear spring before you see it. Sure, the red maple buds have brushed the slopes with a blush of color, and the coltsfoot is blooming yellow like a dandelion that forgot its leaves. The forsythia is almost out and the sky is blue, for brief moments.

USGS photo in public domain

But what you really notice about spring coming is the noise. It doesn't creep in on tiny cat feet. No, spring makes a splash with an evening of peeper symphonies. 

Peepers are tiny frogs, no longer than your average paper clip and maybe as wide as a kid's thumb. They're tree frogs that, this time of year, migrate to ponds in search of a mate. And that's what all the singing is about - guy peepers seeking gal peepers.

A peeper song sounds just like a chick peep, with a rise at the end. To make that sound the guy - and it is the guys who sing - takes a deep breath, closes his mouth and nostrils, and then pushes air across the vocal cords. Put a bunch of guy peepers in a pond and get 'em singing and it sounds like jingle bells - and the sound can travel far, at least half a mile.  If you don't have peepers in your neck of the woods, click here to listen.

Week 2 book winner

A lot of people entered the contest for "A Place for Fish" - thank you to all who participated. The lucky winner is Jessica, another upstate NY homeschooler who says she loves visiting the Finger Lakes. Congratulations, Jessica. And, as they say, the book's in the mail.

Celebrate Earth Day

This week I’ve been focusing on Melissa Stewart’s book, A Place for Fish. Now it’s time to take some action – and just in time, too, because it’s Earth Day.

There are plenty of things you can do to make the world better for fish, even if you don’t live close to the ocean or a lake. One of the easiest things to do is stop using plastic bags and plastic water bottles. The problem is that plastic doesn’t decompose – it stays around in the environment for hundreds of years. Some of the plastic garbage has made its way into the floating garbage patch in the Pacific Ocean. You can help fish and other sea life by using fewer plastic bags, bottles and other disposable items.

The pollution we put into the air affects our oceans and lakes. Sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and even carbon dioxide can change the chemistry of water bodies, harming fish and marine creatures. We can reduce the amounts of pollution we put into the air by being more thoughtful about the energy we use. For example: walking or riding a bike instead of driving, turning off lights and TVs when you leave a room, even unplugging your laptop when you’re not using it.

You’ve probably heard that everything runs downhill. The same thing is true for water – rain falling on your street will flow into a stream that will flow into a river that will eventually end up in a lake or ocean. That means that chemicals you spray on your lawn eventually end up in water where fish live. So does oil from leaky cars. Another way you can help fish is to reduce the amount of chemicals you use on your lawn and to make sure that when you see oil leaks on the driveway you let someone know.

This Earth Day what will you do to help make the world a better place for fish?
 

Book Giveaway Reminder:

You could win your very own copy of A Place for Fish. This particular contest is limited to folks who live in the United States. Entering is simple- just send an email to: sueheaven{at}gmail{dot}com. Contest ends Sunday night April 24.

Interview with Melissa Stewart

Welcome to Day 10 of Peachtree’s Fins, Wings & Things Blog Tour. Today – an interview with Melissa Stewart, author of A Place for Fish – and a chance to sign up for the book giveaway if you haven’t already (rules at bottom)

You write that "Fish make our world a better place." Was there something in particular that inspired this book?

Melissa: This book is part of a series. It started with APlace for Butterflies . Then came A Place for Birds and APlace for Frogs. Fish seemed like the perfect complement to these other titles. Water covers more than 70 percent of our planet, and it is home to all kinds of fascinating creatures. I thought some of them deserved attention. It’s easy to overlook the dangers of over-fishing or polluting our oceans and waterways. I hope my book will help kids see the importance of caring for the water as well as the land.

 How long did it take you to do all the research that went into this book? And did you get to travel to any cool, new places?

Melissa: I researched this book off and on for about three years. Much of the information came from interviews with scientists studying the featured fish. I also drew experiences from past trips to Costa Rica and the Galapagos Islands. I’ll never forget the thrill (or maybe it was terror) of swimming with hammerheads in the Galapagos. I visited the New England Aquarium in Boston while researching this book and  saw their great display of seahorses and lots of other fish—both freshwater and salt water species.

Each spread has two kinds of text—a simple main text across the top and more detailed explanations running along the side of one page. Why did you set the book up in this way?

Melissa: When I was writing the first book in this series, A Place for Butterflies, I was substitute teaching at a school in Hudson, MA. When I was covering a first grade classroom, a fourth grade teacher brought her students in so the kids could meet with their Reading Buddies (also called Book Buddies in some schools).  The students were using books written at first grade level.

I thought the program was a great idea. Not only were the younger students improving their reading skills, the older students took pride in their role as mentors. But I thought the program might be even more successful if the students used books with sections written at each child’s level. That’s when I decided to create two layers of text in my book. The simpler main text is perfect for younger students. And the more detailed sidebars make it easy to share the book with slightly older students. Then the students can look at the art together and discuss the content. Teachers liked this style of presentation so much that I have even written multi-age level activities for some of the books. 

What specific things can we do to help coral reefs?

Melissa: Coral reefs are probably the most critically endangered ocean ecosystems. And that’s bad news because an estimated 90 percent of all ocean life depends on them directly or indirectly. Besides not keeping coral-reef fishes in home aquariums, we should all avoid buying shells and corals collected at coral reefs. If you snorkel or scuba dive at a reef, it’s important not to touch or stand on the living corals. And if you live near coral reefs, don’t pour household cleaners or other chemicals down the drain. Some of these chemicals make corals weak, so they can’t fight diseases. Others make seaweeds and sea grasses grow so quickly that they smother corals.

What did you learn in writing this book?

Melissa: Wow, I learned so much. What I hope kids will take away from the book is that fish—and every other kind of creature on Earth—has an important role to play in their habitats. When species disappear, entire ecosystems suffer in ways that are often hard to predict in advance. That’s why it’s so important to live in a way that shows our respect for the amazing array of living things that share our world.

  

Book Giveaway

You could win your very own copy of A Place for Fish. This particular contest is limited to folks who live in the United States. All you have to do to enter is send an email to: sueheaven{at}gmail{dot}com.

If you can, leave a comment on this blog about what things you are doing or will do to protect watery places and the fish living in them, and consider becoming a “follower”.

The contest for this book ends Sunday April 25.

Remember to come back tomorrow – Earth Day – and don’t forget to visit Peachtree  for the rest of the Blog Tour schedule.

A Place for Fish & book giveaway

Welcome to week 2 of Peachtree Publisher’s Fins, Wings & Things Blog Tour. During this week's countdown to Earth Day I'm celebrating things with fins. Come back Thursday for an interview with author Melissa Stewart , and Friday for ideas on how you can protect rivers, lakes and oceans. And make sure you enter this week’s Book Giveaway (below).

A Place for Fish

By Melissa Stewart, illustrated by Higgins Bond

32 pages, for ages 6 -10

Peachtree Publishers 2011

There’s a lot to love in this book, starting with the range maps filling the endpapers. So I was engaged before I even reached the title page – but what do you expect when you team up an award-winning writer with a scientific illustrator?

Fish, writes Melissa, make our world a better place. But sometimes people do things that make it hard for them to live and grow. Throughout this book she shows the different roles fish play in their ecological communities, and how children can help make sure there will always be a place for these finny creatures.

Some fish are harmed by the chemicals power plants produce when they burn coal. What can we do? Find other ways to make electricity – or even reduce the amount we use….

And then there are the sidebars and fish profiles. As Stewart highlights the diversity amongst fish found across North America, she focusing on the specific environmental challenges each species faces. The lined seahorse of the Chesapeake Bay was affected by fertilizers washing into the bay. Salmon populations declined when sediment from logging roads eroded into their streams. But in each case, people took action to help make a place so fish could live and grow.

Why do we need fish? They’re part of a food chain that includes bears, birds and even otters. Melissa lists things children can do to help fish, tosses in a few fishy facts (lipstick contains ground-up fish scales) and provides lots of resources.

Book Giveaway

You could win your very own copy of A Place for Fish. This particular contest is limited to folks who live in the United States. Entering is simple- just send an email to: sueheaven{at}gmail{dot}com.

 I invite you to leave a comment about what things you are doing, or will do to protect watery places and the fish living in them, and consider becoming a “follower”.

The contest for this book ends Sunday April 25.

Remember to come back Thursday for an interview with Melissa Stewart.

Check out the complete tour schedule at Peachtree.

We have a Winner!

Thank you to all who entered the book give-away contest for "Planting the Wild Garden". I engaged the services of my in-house statistician (recent college grad).....

And the winner is: Melissa, a homeschooling mom who also happens to be a gardener. Congratulations Melissa!

Stay tuned: a new book giveaway contest starts tomorrow.

Plant a Garden for the Earth

bumblebee on thistle

Next Friday is Earth Day. Here's one simple thing you can do to make the earth a better place: plant a garden for pollinators. Many kinds of bees and butterflies – even bats – carry pollen from the anthers (male part) in one flower to the stigma (female part) of another, allowing for fertilization and fruit production.

One out of every three bites of food we eat is made possible by a pollinator - without them we wouldn’t have strawberry jam, pizza, or applesauce. Not only that, 80 percent of all flowering plants rely on pollinators for survival.

But some native bees and butterflies are having a hard time surviving. Overuse of pesticides can kill of beneficial insects, including those that pollinate our food crops. Fragmenting the landscape, due to development, makes it hard for butterflies and bees to find important food sources so they can raise their young.

You can give pollinators a helping hand – and keep them doing their job – by planting the kinds of flowers they need. You don’t a lot of space to grow flowers that provide nectar for pollinators. But it is important to plant native species. Here’s a list of some plants that are rich in pollen or nectar – you might even find some of them growing in an abandoned lot or along a roadway in your area:

Aster (Aster)

Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia)

Currant (Ribes)

Elder (Sambucus)

Goldenrod (Solidago)

Huckleberry (Vaccinium)

Joe-pye weed (Eupatorium)

Lupine (Lupinus)

Penstemon (Penstemon)

Purple coneflower (Echinacea)

Rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus)

Rhododendron (Rhododendron)

Sage (Salvia)

Stonecrop (Sedum)

Sunflower (Helianthus)

Wild buckwheat (Eriogonum)
Willow (Salix)

Book Giveaway

Enter to win a copy of  Planting the Wild Garden. This particular contest is limited to folks who live in the United States. All you have to do to enter is:

1. Become a follower on Archimedes Notebook if you’re not already (it’s easy – just click on the “follow” button at the right);

2. Leave a comment on this blog about why wild gardens and weedy places are important; and

3. email me at sueheaven{at}gmail{dot}com to let me know you’ve entered so I can email you if you win. I promise I won’t keep any email addresses.

The contest for this book ends Sunday April 17.

Blog Tour: Interview with Kathryn Galbraith

Welcome to Day 3 of Peachtree Publisher’s “Fins, Wings & Things Blog Tour”. Today – an interview with Kathryn O. Galbraith, author of Planting the Wild Garden and a chance to sign up for the book giveaway if you haven’t already (rules at bottom).

What inspired this book? Do you have a garden or did you get burdocks on your socks?

Kathryn: I have a garden, but the idea for Planting the Wild Garden came along more the "burdocks-on-your-socks" sort of way.  I was at a ten-day writing conference held in a huge state park one summer. The area was crisscrossed with paths through meadows and scrubby fields. During my morning walks I watched small brown rabbits nibbling grasses, and flocks of goldfinches perched atop prickly purple thistles. I knew that if I strayed into the fields, I'd risk carrying the fields home with me. Burs caught on socks, jeans and the tails of my shirts. Those images stayed in my mind for a long time before I discovered a way to knit them all together.

I love the female as farmer! What inspired that?

Kathryn: I consider myself very lucky because I have four wonderful brothers.  Being the only girl, I always wanted to do what they did – and more.  In short, I was born a happy feminist.  In my writing, I try to always be aware of how easy it is to fall into old stereotypes.  In the first draft, the story began with a grandmother and her grandson, but in later drafts, I changed it to "A farmer and her boy" because of the sound and simplicity of the words.

How did you do the research for this book?

Kathryn: I did lots of research - some by foot and some by books.  Both were important to me.  When I was finished, I had a fat file of drawings, photographs and notes.  I didn't use all of what I learned, but having more than enough information allowed me to select out the most interesting facts and images.

 

Did you watch scotch broom pods shatter and spit out their seeds? 

Kathryn: It seems as if Scotch broom is everywhere in Washington state - in fields, along the highways, even on the hillside behind my house. On hot summer days in August you can hear the pods pop open from quite a ways away. To actually see the seed fly, though, you need to be standing quite close.

Can you talk about how people aid seed dispersal? 

Kathryn: Early in our country’s history, seeds hitchhiked across the ocean in bushels and barrels of feed for the cows and goats, and were caught up in clothing and equipment. Families brought favorite seeds to bring “a bit of home” with them and also brought seeds of healing plants. In today’s world, invasive species have traveled unnoticed in the cargo holds of planes and ships, on imported animals and plants, and even on patches of mud from the wheels of cars.

Book Giveaway

Enter to win a copy of  Planting the Wild Garden. This particular contest is limited to folks who live in the United States. All you have to do to enter is:

1. Become a follower on Archimedes Notebook if you’re not already (it’s easy – just click on the “follow” button at the bottom of the right column);

2. Leave a comment on this blog about why wild gardens and weedy places are important; and

3. email me at sueheaven{at}gmail{dot}com to let me know you’ve entered so I can email you if you win. I promise I won’t keep any email addresses.

The contest for this book ends Sunday April 17.

Remember to come back Friday for an Earth Day activity.

There are more stops (and book giveaways) on today's tour - check out the complete schedule at Peachtree

Nonfiction Monday & a Blog Tour

Welcome to Day 1 of Peachtree Publisher’s “Fins, Wings & Things Blog Tour”. I’m starting the week off with a review of Planting the Wild Garden. Come back Wednesday for an interview with author Kathryn Galbraith, and Friday for ideas on how you can make the world a better place with gardens. And make sure you enter the Book Giveaway (rules below).

Planting the Wild Garden

By Kathryn O. Galbraith, illustrated by Wendy Anderson Halperin

32 pages, for ages 4 – 8

Peachtree Publishers 2011

I love books that engage me from the moment I open the cover, so I got lost in Wendy Halperin’s excellent illustrations of seeds covering the end papers. And I spent a long time on the first spread, admiring the drawings of pumpkins, peas and cabbages from germinating seed to flower to fruit.

I also love the way Kathryn Galbraith begins the story: “The farmer and her boy plant their garden.” Maybe it’s because gardening was one thing I shared with my boys. Or maybe it’s because many of the farmers I know are women.

The farmer and her boy plant seeds, but over in the meadow other seeds are planted – and not by farmer’s hands. Galbraith’s lyrical language and Halperin’s detailed drawings take us on a whirlwind tour of seed dispersal. Seeds fly on the wind and on birds; they shatter from pods – snap, snap, like popcorn from a pan. Some seeds are carried away by rain; others hitch rides on furry tails or wooly socks. And even others are buried and forgotten. And all of them help make the roadsides and vacant lots and meadows beautiful.

Take some time this week to look at the plants growing in wild gardens around your neighborhood. And check out some seed activities at Growing With Science.

Book Giveaway

Enter to win a copy of  Planting the Wild Garden. This particular contest is limited to folks who live in the United States. All you have to do to enter is:

1. Become a follower on Archimedes Notebook if you’re not already (it’s easy – just click on the “follow” button at the bottom of the right column);

2. Leave a comment on this blog about why wild gardens and weedy places are important; and

3. email me at sueheaven{at}gmail{dot}com to let me know you’ve entered so I can email you if you win. I promise I won’t keep any email addresses.

The contest for this book ends Sunday April 17.

Remember to come back Wednesday when I’ll be hosting an interview with Kathryn Galbraith.

And don't forget to check out the other blog tour stops today, starting with Rebecca’s post at A Word’s Worth. Check out the complete tour schedule at Peachtree.

This post is part of the Nonfiction Monday Round-Up  hosted this week by Apple With Many Seeds  

Review copy provided by the publisher.

How to Measure a Raindrop

There’s always water vapor in our air. Sometimes it collects in clouds and then, when it gets heavy enough, falls to earth as rain.

Most people think of raindrops as tear-shaped. But a French scientist, who filmed falling droplets, found that air resistance causes raindrops to change shape as they fall. He documented large, round drops that flattened as they fell, growing wider and then filling with air like a jellyfish or a parachute . When the parachute inflated, the drop burst apart into smaller droplets. All of this activity happened fast, too - within 6/100 of a second.

So how big are these raindrops when they finally reach us? Meteorologists – scientists who measure such things – say that raindrops range anywhere from 1/100 of an inch to 1/4 inch in diameter. 

You can measure your own raindrops. What you need:

• shoebox lid
• ruler
• flour
• bowl
• fine mesh sieve

Fill the shoebox lid with flour and use a ruler to smooth the top so it is level.

During a gentle shower, hold the shoebox lid out in the rain until about 15-25 raindrops have fallen into the flour. Bring the lid inside to see what you’ve found. Flour absorbs water, and since the flour is a powder it will hold the shape of the raindrop together.

Now set the sieve over the bowl. Carefully pour the flour from the lid into the sieve, shaking it gently. This will sift flour into the bowl and leave the raindrop lumps behind.

Gently pour your flour-preserved droplets onto a sheet of paper and measure them.

You can find more rainy day activities at weather wiz kids.