STEAM into the Renaissance with this series

Nomad Press has a fun new series out called Renaissance for Kids. The books in this series invite readers to dive into the Renaissance period and learn about inventors, thinkers, explorers, and artists. The series includes plenty of hands-on STEAM activities... Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math.

Each volume is 112 pages; ages 10 - 15
Titles include: The Renaissance Artists, The Renaissance Explorers, The Renaissance Inventors, The Renaissance Thinkers

Included in the volume on "thinkers" are Nicolaus Copernicus and Francis Bacon. "Being a scientist during the Renaissance could be a lonely business," writes author Diane Taylor. "There were no graduate students to hang out with, no research institutes to work at, and no conferences to attend."

Copernicus watched the night sky. He was an astronomer and noticed that not everything circled the earth once a day. Planets, for example, seemed to wander back and forth. He also suggested that the earth orbited the sun - a break with what people thought, that the sun went around the earth.

Francis Bacon is often called the "father of science". Born in 1561, he was a gifted and prolific writer. He was passionate about science, and thought deeply about how scientists can know when they have discovered the truth of something. He developed a scientific method:

• make an observation
• ask a question
• form a hypothesis
• conduct an experiment 
• analyze the results

Sounds familiar to anyone who's taken a science class. But in the 1600s scientists didn't follow any sort of rigor that would lead to reliable results. So Bacon's ideas were novel.

STEAM projects in this book include drawing with linear perspective, building a supportive arch, and creating your own Utopia.

The "inventors" include Johannes Gutenberg (printing press), Leonardo da Vinci (artist and engineer), Gerardus Mercator (mapping the world), and Galileo Galilei (astronomy and math). These inventors opened up the world for exploration and sharing information.

Prior to a printing press, books were transcribed by hand, and few people had access to them. Once people could mass produce words there were bibles, flyers, news broadsides, and eventually pamphlets in which scientists could share their findings.

da Vinci's sketchbook contains designs for helicopters and submarines, airplanes and cars. Pretty cool, considering he died in 1519!

STEAM projects in this book include building a parachute, making a pendulum, making a map, printing, and playing around with mirror writing.

"Renaissance artists" introduces readers to Michelangelo, Raphael, Botticelli and more, and invites kids to make their own paint using eggs.

"Renaissance explorers" include Vasco da Gama, Ferdinand Magellan, and others. Among activities, kids can make a working compass, build a beacon, create and hourglass, and invent a travel board game.

What I like about these books: They include timelines for each person, provide great biographical details, and mention other scientists, inventors, artists, and explorers living at the same time. Sidebars present quick facts, additional information about the culture, and raise questions for curious readers.

Today we're joining other book bloggers over at STEM Friday, where you can discover other cool STEM books.  Review copies provided by publisher.

Books that help answer How and Why

Kids love to ask questions. Why is the sky blue? How does the car go? Here are two fun books from National Geographic Kids that help answer the plethora of questions we face every day.

How Things Work: Inside Out
by T. J. Resler
208 pages; ages 7-10. (2017)

I love NGK books, but sometimes they get buried beneath a stack of other "gotta reads". This book, published about 6 months ago, is a great place for kids to find inspiration and explanations. It features gizmos, gadgets, construction, auto engineering, and accidental inventions. Inside the pages you'll find the inside scoop on segways, self-driving cars, and sticky situations (think gecko glue). There are bios of engineers, scientists, inventors, and architects who dreamed big and - more importantly - didn't stop when they were told something was impossible. There are plenty of things to try, too. So make sure the kitchen junk drawer is well-stocked this summer and there's a place to invent.

Little Kids First Big Book of Why 2
by Jill Esbaum

128 pages; ages 4-8. (2018) 

 Want to know why you yawn, why bubbles are round, why birds sing, or why weeds grow in gardens? Then this is the place to look. The book is divided into four sections: Me, Myself, and I; Fun and Games; Awesome Animals; and Nature. Each page features photos, easy-to-read text, fun facts, and sometimes a question. Each section contains two hands-on activities and ends with a game. Back matter includes a "Parent Tips" section with nine "beyond the book" activities to share with children. Each activity focuses on some aspect of STEM: observation, experiment, measuring - plus imagination and art. A list of resources includes books and websites for further exploration.

Today we're joining the STEM Friday roundup.   On any other Friday we'd be joining others over at Perfect Picture Book Friday, but it's summer vacation. PPBF will resume in September, but you can always head over to Susanna Hill's ever-growing list of Perfect Picture Books. Review copies from publishers.

Two Truths and a Lie ~ Blog Tour & Author Interview

We’re on day 8 of the Blog Tour for Two Truths and a Lie. Thanks for dropping by to play…

Two Truths and a Lie

by Laurie Ann Thompson and Ammi-Joan Paquette

176 pages; ages 8-12

Walden Pond Press, 2017

When a nonfiction book begins with a warning that some of the stories included are not true – you know it’s going to be a wild read. The thing is, the authors point out, there are lies all around us. Truths, too. Anyone trying to keep up with political news knows that sorting fact from fiction is really important.

But lies aren’t partial to politics; you’ll find plenty of shady stories masquerading as scientific truths. Like stories about a fungus that infects insects and takes over their brains, creating bug zombies. Oops – that IS a true story.

What Laurie and Ammi-Joan (who likes to go by Joan) do in their book is play a game with readers. They present three wacky science stories and challenge you to figure out which one is fake. For example, one group of three animal stories features a chicken who lived without its head – and performed in a circus sideshow, a cave-dwelling salamander that looks like a dragon, and a tree-dwelling octopod that lives in rainforests.

Laurie Ann Thompson

Which two are true? Which is the lie? They tell you at the back, and give lots of source notes for the stories so you can do your own research. They also include a few words about how to tell truth from lie when reading articles online and in the paper. It’s like a guide to finding facts in the news world:

• Stick to facts from well-known and respected sources, such as an established newspaper, museum website.
• When perusing Wikipedia, remember to look at the reference section for citation of sources.
• Train yourself to be skeptical when you read something that is surprising or hard to believe.
• And use your common sense. Ask yourself who gains from this story? How does it fit with what you already know about the world?  Have you seen it on more than one news site?

Keep those tips in mind because in a minute we’re going to play an interview game called “Two Truths and a Lie” with authors Laurie and Joan. The rules are simple: I’ll ask three questions. They will each give two true answers and one lie. See if you can determine which ones are the lies (answers at bottom of post).

But first, an introduction.

Archimedes: Hi Laurie. Hi Joan. I gotta know, do you listen to the NPR show, “Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me”? It’s a bit like your book, but in that show the panelists present 2 lies and a truth.

Laurie: Neither of us had heard “Wait, Wait” before we started working on this book, but now it's one of our favorite podcasts! Yes, it was partially because there is so much really weird but totally true stuff out there, and partially because of all the fake but believable stuff we were seeing, too.

   

Ammi-Joan Paquette

Joan: That’s right! The true stuff we were seeing was so unbelievable that it seemed like a ready-made challenge in believability. Would people be able to tell the difference?

Archimedes: Okay, let’s get started. Remember, readers: each author will give one fake answer and your job is to figure out which one it is.

Question 1: While working on this book, what is the most interesting researching experience you had, the weirdest interview, or most bizarre way you discovered a fact?

Laurie: There were so many, but one of my favorites is when I was looking for a specific article from Life magazine in 1945. I had scoured all of the online databases and couldn't find it. I was working from home, still in my pajamas, and decided to email the reference librarian at my local library to see if they had the issue I needed. Within five minutes I received a reply that they did have it... and an offer to photocopy the article I needed and send it to me! I told her what pages I needed, and within 10 minutes I had a PDF of the full article in my inbox. I hadn't even left the couch, and a thorny research problem was solved for me in 15 minutes. I LOVE librarians, and I LOVE King County Library System!

Joan: One of the most out-there interviews I had was with a curator at the Boston Atheneum. I was researching books bound in human skin and the Atheneum holds one in their collection. In the end, we decided to cut this article from the final book—since we are pointing students to online research, this was not a topic we wanted to spotlight!—but that interview certainly was fascinating and revelatory.

Question 2: Tell me about your daily writing routine.

Laurie: I'm not a morning person, so contrary to popular advice I tackle all of the distracting, smaller jobs first (with coffee!). Then, I take a short lunch break (usually a caprese salad). Finally, I'm ready to dive into an afternoon of focused writing time.

       

Joan: Most people might not know this, but I’m actually a highly advanced android—I know I look like a regular human, but in reality I don’t need to sleep, ever! (Or eat, but of course I do that anyway. Food, amirite??) For this reason, I can work equally well at any time of the day or night. For that reason, my routine can be a bit boring—but there’s lots of time for researching fun facts!

Question 3. Tell about how you came to be a writer - or at least think of yourself as a writer - and why nonfiction?

 Laurie: I was a software engineer until I had kids, then I decided I wanted to stay home with them. In my spare time while they were napping, I wrote a program that would read to them so my husband and I wouldn't have to read the same book 42 times in one day. Once that was up and running, I decided to see if I could build on what I had to make it write, too. It took awhile, but eventually it worked! Computers are very logical and like information, so getting them to write nonfiction wasn't too difficult. I haven't quite worked out the kinks with fiction yet, though. It still feels a bit too... robotic. Stay tuned!

Joan: I actually am a fiction writer—originally, the idea of writing non-fiction intimidated me. We had first thought that I would write the fiction stories and Laurie the non-fiction ones. Once we got started, though, we both found we enjoyed writing the opposite of what we were used to. For myself, the amazing and unbelievable non-fiction stories were the ones which had first sparked the idea for the book—and those have been by far the more enjoyable to write.

 

Today we're joining the STEM Friday roundup. Drop by STEM Friday blog for more science books and resources. Review ARC from publisher        

Joan’s answer to question #2 is fake

Laurie’s answer to question #3 is an outright lie 

Stops on the Blog Tour:

June 5 - Librarian's Quest       

June 7 - Flowering Minds                  

       Pragmatic Mom          

June 11 - Geo Librarian        

June 12 - Book Monsters

June 13 - Smack Dab in the Middle

June 14 - Bluestocking Thinking 

June 15 - Novel Novice 

            LibraryLions Roar

June 16 – here at Archimedes Notebook

June 18 - Nerdy Book Club 

June 19 - Cracking the Cover 

June 20 - Writers Rumpus 

            The HidingSpot 

June 21 - Maria's Melange 

June 23 - Unleashing Readers            

June 24 - This Kid Reviews Books

 

First Big Book of How

Little Kids First Big Book of How
by Jill Esbaum
128 pages; ages 4-8
National Geographic Kids, 2016

This book lives up to its name: it has a little bit of everything in it written in small sections in language kids will understand. Want to know how ice cream is made or how microwave ovens work? It's in there. Want to know about bicycle gears? It's in there. Want to learn the best way to make bread moldy? It's in there too.

The section I like best is the one about animals because - there are OCEAN animals in there!
Jellyfish. Octopuses. Humpback whales.

Jellyfish have long, soft tentacles - but beware! They have venom and can shoot that so fast you don't even know you've been stung until it's already happened.

Octopuses are amazing creatures: they have no bones and can squeeze anywhere, and have three hearts. Also, they squirt ink when they're startled or afraid. There's a couple photographs to show where the ink comes out, and what it looks like. And did you know that the smallest octopus can sit on a penny?

The section about humpback whales focuses on how they communicate with each other. They sing. They make bloop-bloop sounds. They groan and moan. They even slap their tails on the surface of the water. All those sounds must mean something - but what?

There's a table of contents listing topics by group: around the home, human body, animals, and more. There's also an index to aid in searches for specific topics. Each section ends with a game and throughout the book there are lots of hands-on investigations. There's even a page of "parent tips" with additional activities - including a recipe for ice cream. 

Today's review is part of the STEM Friday roundup. Drop by STEM Friday blog for more science books and resources. Review copy from publisher.

Never Insult a Killer Zucchini!

Never Insult a Killer Zucchini  

by Elana Azose & Brandon Amancio; illus. by David Clark

32 pages; ages 7-10

Charlesbridge, 2016

Topics: alphabet, science experiments, humor 

Opening: “I grew zucchinis when I was a boy. They’re my favorite!”

It’s time for the science fair and Mr. Farnsworth is the judge. When the killer zucchini hears Mr. Farnsworth profess his love for zucchinis, it falls in love. Maybe Mr. Farnsworth could be a friend? But when Mr. Farnsworth says, “He looks like a yummy afternoon snack,” all bets are off. The killer zucchini is determined to squash Mr. Farnsworth and stay off the menu. And it uses the science fair experiments to exact revenge until chaos breaks out and only Mr. Farnsworth can save them all. 

What I like about this book: I like that the story is told through dialog balloons and comic-book type illustrations. I also like that the outrageous science fair experiments are introduced in alphabetical order. I love the whimsy of the illustrations, too.

But what I really like is the back matter. “Think the projects in this book are just mad science?” ask the authors. Nope; they all come from the real world – even the “eraser beam” and “invisibility suit”. Each experiment is explained in the back using language that we comic-book readers can understand. 

Beyond the book: Think of the weirdest science experiment someone might want to try. Then find out if anyone has tried it! Antimatter experiments? Yup, being done. Killer zucchini? Not so much, although there are plenty of carnivorous plants. Here’s a video. 

Do some science. You can find experiments at this site. And this one. 

Make some goop! Just follow these instructions. 

Today's review is part of the STEM Friday roundup. Drop by STEM Friday blog for more science books and resources. We're also joining PPBF (perfect picture book Friday), an event in which bloggers share great picture books Susanna Leonard Hill's site. She keeps an ever-growing list of Perfect Picture Books.  Review copy provided by the publisher. 

Decoding Firefly Flash Codes

photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/theloushe/3622541416

If you missed the meteor showers due to rain or moonlight, don’t despair – you can catch the nightly firefly shows. Fireflies fill the dark spaces between the stars with their blinking lights. Watch them long enough and you begin to see that there are different flash patterns. Some fireflies blink many times in quick succession, dit-dit-ditting a zigzag through the dark. Others flash a couple of long, slow blinks and pause, as though waiting for a response. Perhaps they are; within seconds flash-code messages are returned from the tall grass.

With as many as 20 to 30 species in our region, all sharing the same habitat, the nighttime airwaves can get crowded with messages. To reduce confusion, each species has developed its own unique flash code. One species might signal with a long flash followed by two short flashes, while another uses three flashes in a row.

Just as important as what fireflies say is how they say it. Some species hover in place as they flash; others write their love messages in glowing curves as they fly. While some fireflies flash their love messages early in the evening, others don’t even file their flight plans until the night’s half over.

Fireflies divide the night sky spatially as well. Some species fly low, right over the grasses, to flash their messages. Others fly at shrub-height, and even others fly among the treetops. Then there’s color – some fireflies flash greenish-yellow while others produce an orange glow.

To find out more about the fireflies in your back yard all you need is a notebook and pencil, a flashlight covered with blue cellophane (fireflies don’t see blue) and a warm night for watching. Spend a few minutes watching the lights, then jot some notes down. If you can distinguish individual fireflies you might be able to decode their flash patterns. Some of the things you’ll want to keep track of are the colors of the flashes, the pattern (length of flashes), how many flashes are in a series and the interval of time between flashes. If you don’t have a stopwatch you can count seconds by saying “one fire fly, two fire fly…”

You will also want to note such things as time of night you see that particular pattern, how high the male flies and what his flight pattern is, where you saw the responding female, and the temperature.

For more on fireflies, check out Firefly Facts 

Butterfly Season

Baltimore Checkerspot

A couple posts ago I mentioned a chrysalis I’d found – a Baltimore Checkerspot. The adult emerged on July 4, Independence Day for everyone I guess. When I got home from the parade it was hanging out on my porch, drying its wings.

Now I see Baltimore Checkerspots everywhere, checking out the milkweeds and Black-eyed Susans growing wild in my garden. This time of year they’re also checking out egg-laying sites: the narrow-leaved English plantain and the common plantain that make up lots of what passes for my lawn. Their caterpillars – orange-and-black-banded with black spines sticking out – will nosh on plantain leaves until fall and then they’ll find a cozy spot beneath the leaf litter to spend the winter.

Meanwhile, the Checkerspots and other butterflies are flitting about collecting nectar. If you sneak up close, you can watch them unroll their long tongues to reach the nectar in flowers. They also spend a fair amount of time basking in the sun – the Baltimore Checkerspots hold their wings open so you can see their beautiful colors.

Butterflies also hang out in “puddle clubs”. You can see them at the edges of mud puddles, usually a whole bunch of them, and it looks like they’re licking the mud. That’s how they get the minerals they need.

Besides the Baltimore Checkerspot, here are a few of the other butterflies people are finding in back yards of upstate NY:

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Black Swallowtails

Eastern Tailed-Blue

Summer Azure

White Admiral

Pearl Crescents

Orange Sulphur

Common Wood-Nymphs

Silver-spotted Skippers

Dun skippers

Great Spangled Fritillary

Monarchs

European Skippers

Bronze Coppers

Banded Hairstreak

What do you see in your back yard?
If you're looking to get involved with butterfly projects, check out project Butterfly Wings, Monarch larva and journey north projects - links are listed under "Get Involved in Real Science" in one of the right-hand columns.

Nonfiction Monday: Seabird in the Forest

Seabird in the Forest

Written and illustrated by Joan Dunning

32 pages, for ages 5-10

Boyds Mills Press 2011

 

How does a seabird come to nest in old growth forests miles inland from the pacific? Joan Dunning reveals the secret life of the marbled murrelet, a bird that spends most of its time on the water. But for two months of the year a murrelet pair flies inland to nest, laying a single egg. Once the chick hatches the parents take turns flying back to the sea – sometimes as far as 50 miles – to catch supper.

As Joan writes about the murrelet she also tells about the amazing ecosystem high in the canopy of old growth firs. Hundreds of feet in the air seeds sprout into huckleberry bushes and ferns create thick mats that collect water from the fog. There are flying squirrels, bats, and salamanders that never crawl beyond their home tree – creatures Joan captures in illustrations so layered with depth and texture that you forget for a moment that you’re not actually in an ancient forest.

Earlier this month I asked Joan about the art she created for Seabird in the Forest.  She illustrated her previous books with watercolor paintings. “Initially,” Joan said, “I imagined that I would do this one in watercolors as well, but the paintings seemed too light-weight in comparison to the forest. I wanted to represent the complexity of the canopy ecosystem.” The layers of oil paint allow her to do that. “When I painted the moss of the limb, for instance or the bark of the redwood, I felt like I was creating real moss on real bark. It was a very magical experience.”  

Joan paints her illustrations the same size as they appear in the book. Some of the paintings took a few days, she says, while others took weeks. The entire book took about two years to complete.

How did she get her illustrations to look so natural? “I live in a redwood forest,” Joan says. From her work table she looks out on giant trees. “They are second growth - the forest was logged once, but that was about a hundred years ago.  Because the trees get a lot of sun, they are huge and look almost like old growth forest.”   

To keep her work authentic, Joan took field trips to true ancient forests. Several times a month she headed to Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park – about an hour from her house. “It’s an excellent place to see old growth forest, salmon, elk and marbled murrelets,” she says. “Every time I enter the forest, I stop and just gaze at the trees because I am never fully prepared for their breath-taking presence. At dawn there is an abundance of marbled murrelets flying overhead.”

 

You can see some of Joan’s sketches and learn more about her work at her website.  This post is part of the Nonfiction Monday Round-Up hosted this week by Simply Science, A copy of the book was provided by the publisher.

There's No Business Like Snow Business...

not an actual snowflake...

The northeast has had its share of snow this winter. Where does all this white stuff come from?

A snowflake starts as water vapor that condenses on a dust particle. At cloud temperatures of 23 degrees F, the water vapor begins to form ice crystals. As long as the cloud remains supersaturated with water vapor, the crystals grow. When they get too big and heavy, gravity takes over and the crystals fall toward earth.

Air temperature determines the basic shape of the snowflake, and th4e degree of saturation in the clouds determines how fast the crystal grows. Snow crystals tend to grow larger and faster when the air temperature is higher and there is a lot of water vapor.  Lower air temperatures and less water vapor means smaller snowflakes.

Though each snowflake is unique they generally reflect six-sided symmetry. Here are some of the typical types of snowflakes:

• Star-like crystals that have six arms that extend from the center;
• Plates that are flat six-sided crystals with no obvious projections;
• Columns that may be hollow or solid, with flat or pointed ends;
• Capped columns with flat plates on each end;
• Needles - skinny columns that end in points;
• Spatial dendrites that have fern-like branches; and
• Irregular crystals that live up to their name.

Go outside next time it snows and take a good look at the flakes that are falling down. And if you need an expert flake guide, check out Ken Libbrecht’s Field Guide to Snowflakes (2006, Voyageur Press) or check out his website, Snow Crystals. He’s got lots of flake photos online, and even some advice on making snowflake fossils.