Bird nests

Mother bird feeding her baby

Two years ago, we watched a pair of birds build a nest on our back porch right next to the door. We were fascinated by their clever use of material, which included not only natural items such as twigs but also remnants of a bright pink feather boa that had dropped some of its feathers. Ryan's depiction to the left captured his interpretation of how the mother bird was feeding the babies in the nest. Journaling about the birds was just something he chose to do as we watched the bird family grow. This is right in line with what Amy's previous post featured!

So what do birds use in making their nests besides pink feather boas? Irene Kelly's (2009) Even an ostrich needs a nest: Where birds begin opens with a page of illustrated items birds can use: twigs, grass, and spider silk, along with paper clips, rubber bands, and socks!  Full page spreads include a descriptive caption in the upper left corner, such as "Some birds don't need a nest at all" (such as penguins) and "Most birds build a cup-shaped nest" (such as robins). The text is laid out in various alignments, often curving around the watercolor and ink illustrations. Towards the end of the book, the location of each featured bird is identified on a world map, making a great connection with geography. The final page includes a "You can help!" page with a list of materials that birds might use in making their nests around your home. Feathers are included, though not specifically from a pink boa! You can find more of Irene's books on her website. And if you want to see a live feed from an eagle's nest, check out the streaming bald eagle cam in Minnesota, funded by their state lottery (who knew??!!). 

As long as we're on the topic of bird nests, let's continue with the ubiquitous Canadian geese that seem to reside on every golf course and at any water-bound park. Personally I prefer to watch them flying in V-formation overhead than to share the picnic grounds with them, but maybe that's from a few close calls with a protective goose parent. April Pulley Sayre's Honk, honk, goose! Canada geese start a family (2009) is a perfect read-aloud for young children about Canadian geese's nesting, feeding, and yes, those protective instincts. Simple sounds made by geese sliding in water, chasing predators, emerging from eggs, etc are highlighted in italics font  throughout the text ("Crack! Crick! Peep! The chicks were hatching!").  Cut-paper collages fill each page.  The last page spread includes additional information about geese migration, geese species, and geese families. The author's note includes the references used in ensuring accuracy of the information. April's website has many educator resources for her books, so check out what else she's written! 

Clouds

Despite travel delays caused by the the prevalence of cumulonimbus clouds in East Tennessee, we made it in plenty of time to the International Reading Association conference in San Antonio. Today's cumulus clouds signaled beautiful weather, perfect for walking from our hotel to the convention center (where we took this picture!).

Cumulonimbus, cumulus... where did these terms originate? Read The Man Who Named the Clouds by Julie Hannah and Joan Holub (2006) to find out about how Luke Howard, an 18th century citizen scientist, created a classification system for clouds just like Linnaeus did for organisms. What we love about this book is that the narrative of Luke's life is accompanied by suggested activities to monitor the weather - a perfect pair of literacy and science for younger intermediate level students! As a read-aloud, you can select pertinent pages to depict Luke's interest in clouds (beginning at age 10) and his strategies for communicating his ideas about cloud classification to the scientific community.

If you are looking for a weather-related book for older kids, consider Close to the Wind: The Beaufort Scale by Peter Malone. This book chronicles the the life of Francis Beaufort, a 19th century naval officer who wanted to categorize wind speed on a numerical scale. Although the Beaufort Scale is not nearly as well known as cloud types, the impact of different wind speeds is definitely visible around the school yard (such as the different position of the school flag). With period-style font and vivid illustrations, this book is an engaging independent read.

The Human (and Canine) Perspective of Space-based Engineering

"I wanted to share the human element of the Apollo 11 landing... but was there really any need for yet another moon book?"

And so began the conversation we had with author Catherine Thimmesh at the NSTA convention last week about her book TEAM MOON: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon.  This is not just another moon book! Clearly Houghton Mifflin saw the unique perspective Catherine wanted to share about this lunar landing mission, and in saying "YES!" to her initial musing, a unique gem was on its way to publication in 2006. With text geared at an upper elementary/middle school level, Catherine weaves the stories of some of the 400,000 "behind the scenes" people into an engaging narrative about this epic moment in human history.

If you are teaching research strategies using primary sources in science, social studies, or ELA, TEAM MOON can serve as an exemplary model. From Walter Cronkite's commentary about the grainy photos of televisions images to the quintessential photo of an astronaut footprint in lunar dust, the visual images and quotes that Catherine meticulously selected engage and inform the reader. The final 17 pages of the book include an Author's note about her research, two pages of sources, chapter notes, an index, and a glossary. Direct quotes from interviews, mission transcripts, and oral history resources are included in the chapter notes. Brief summaries of other Apollo missions are provided, along with websites for further information.  AAAS also has a set of activities based on this book.

If you are looking for another book about the earlier days in the "space race" for this age group, you might want to consider the graphic novel Laika by Nick Abadzis (2007). Although this is not a purely informational text (there are fictional elements in addition to the true story of the canine cosmonaut), it is similar in that the narrative presents the human (and canine) stories in the forefront of space missions. Warning: Keep the tissues handy for this one!

Amy and I are heading to to the IRA convention tomorrow, and we will be sharing these books along with many others in our "science books worth celebrating" session on Saturday!

Keep an eye out for Sylvan Dell

We had the opportunity today to sit and chat with with Darcy Pattison and Terry Jennings, two  award winning authors who write for Sylvan Dell publishers. Their enthusiasm and excitement about their books, Desert Baths (Darcy) and Gopher to the Rescue! A Volcano Recovery Story (Terry) reminded us of why we keep coming back to see Lee & Donna German, who started the publishing company, every chance we get.

We first met the folks from Sylvan Dell at the 2008 NSTA Convention in Boston, when their books The Rainforest Grew All Around, ABC Safari (both of which are perfect for the tough K-1 crowd), and Ocean Seasons (for the older 3rd -5th crowd) caught our eye. Over the past five years, we've seen their collection of offerings grow to over 80 books focusing mostly on science (and math & and geography) concepts for elementary age learners. Many of their books have won awards...including some International Reading Association/Children's Book Council's Teachers Choice Awards & some NSTA Outstanding Trade Book Awards--two of our favorite "lists" for good books! They also quite impressively rely on a cadre of scientists in the field who vet each book, ensuring accuracy. These are books teachers can use knowing the information is correct.


However, Sylvan Dell offers unique opportunities to push the reading experience beyond the pages of the book with some of the more unique aspects of their publications.Teachers will likely be impressed with the "For Creative Minds" sections included at the back of each book. (Follow this link to see the Creative Minds pages for Ocean Seasons!) These pages include a variety of ways to extend the concepts explored in the book in cross-curricular ways, often including more detailed information, related maps and charts, fun little quizzes, and even experiments. But...

...one of the most exciting parts of the Sylvan Dell way of doing things has to be their online supplemental resources. Each book has its own homepage with an array of "extras" that include .pdf previews of each book, teaching guides, quizzes, related websites, and even interviews with the author. They also have a searchable standards database that links books with individual state standards or vice versa. And, just in case that wasn't appealing enough, Sylvan Dell offers eBook options in both English or Spanish (text AND audio!). They even offer some free trials and actually have pretty good deals for school site licenses.

If you ever get to NSTA or IRA or any of trade shows Sylvan Dell attends, keep an eye out for them and be sure to stop by the booth and introduce yourself to Lee and Donna (or any of their friendly employees!). But even if you don't get out much, you can spend a few hours exploring their books and resources on the website. Enjoy!

The Science Trade Book Blog for Busy Teachers

Welcome to our new blog, Perfect Pairings: Linking Science and Literacy! We were inspired to start this blog to share all of the great books we have been reading over the past few years. We have been looking at science trade books from science (Kristin) and literacy (Amy) perspectives, and are getting ready to present at the NSTA National Convention in San Antonio Texas with some of the authors of the NSTA/CBC Outstanding Science Trade Books.

One of the books we're going to share at our session (which is tomorrow at 1:00 in room 216B at the Convention Center, if you're here in San Antonio) is Blockhead: The life of Fibonacci by Joseph D'Agnese. It's a wonderful biography of Leonardo Fibonacci, told through his own eyes, from his youth in Italy, through his world travels and exposure to Arabic numbers, and ultimately to his discovery of what we now know as the Fibonacci sequence. The young mathematician is portrayed in this book as one who questions the world around him, wondering about nature and architecture and observing details that many seem to overlook. In the book it is this inquisitive nature that ultimately leads to the discovery of nature's famous sequence. D'Agnese seamlessly integrates famous problems (multiplying like rabbits, anyone?), applications of the sequence (pinecones, flower petals, sunflower seeds), and the Fibonacci spiral into the story in a way that engages the reader, while John O'Brien's illustrations provide a visual representation of each. And, the author wraps up the book with a one page explanation of what we actually know about Fibonacci's life (which is nice in terms of sorting out what's fact and what may be a bit of fiction in the story) and a "Can You Find?" page that invites readers to look for specific examples of the Fibonnaci sequence hidden in the illustrations,  challenges (and guides) them to find applications in real life, and even poses some pretty good  higher order thinking questions. It would make the perfect read aloud for 2nd grade and up. (Even though the text language is such that younger students would likely understand it, it would likely push the boundaries of their attention spans!)

And if you like the whole idea of exploring the Fibonacci sequence, you might also check out Sarah C. Campbell's non-fiction book Growing Patterns: Fibonacci Numbers in Nature, which uses vivid photographs, taken by Sarah and her husband, to show examples of the Fibonacci sequence in nature. She, too, includes additional information on Fibonnaci, his now-famous numbers, and other related information (The Golden Ratio, The Rabbit Problem, Golden Spiral, etc.) in the final pages of the book, and has some ideas for use in classrooms on her website (check out the "For Teachers" section in particular!). And, just in case you're here in San Antonio, think about coming to tomorrow morning's session (9:30-12:30 in the Marriott Rivercenter, Salon L) where you can meet and interact with Sarah (and Amy) and a number of other science trade book authors or a Saturday morning session (9:30-10:30) where Sarah (and Kristin) will talk about using scientists' stories in teaching!

That's enough for now--we've got to head back over to the Convention Center and check out more of the sessions (and exhibits!). Looking forward to sharing more books tomorrow!