This is a simple STEM activity that you can use during your science lessons
about trees, tree life cycles, habitats, and the environment. It can also be
used as an Earth Day activity. Keep reading to learn more!
Showing posts with label environment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label environment. Show all posts
Can You Grow Pine Trees From Seeds? STEM Activity
I remember when I was a little girl, I loved going outside and collecting
pinecones. Some pinecones I'd paint and decorate with glitter. Others I'd
smother with peanut butter and birdseed and give to the squirrels. And, others
I'd keep in a basket on my front porch just because they were pretty and I liked
how they smelled. It wasn't until I was older that I learned how important
pinecones are to a tree's life cycle.
Do You Speak Tree? by Josh Oaktree
In April 2021, Josh Oaktree wrote a graphic novel for children called
Do You Speak Tree? Do You Speak Tree? is a wordless
children's book with a powerful message to its readers... save our trees! It's
about a tree named Oakie who is distraught when he sees his forest being cut
down. Oakie seeks out help from his friend Art and together they organize a
peaceful protest to halt its destruction. Keep reading to discover what happens
next and to learn how you can use Do You Speak Tree? in the classroom.
A Dinosaur Made Me Spill: A Water Cycle Adventure by Carla Mae Jansen
The water cycle is one of my favorite science units to teach to my second and
third graders. There are lots of fun STEM experiments and children's books to
make learning about the water cycle exciting. Carla Mae Jansen is in the
process of publishing her new children's book about the water cycle... A Dinosaur Made Me Spill... that would be a fun addition to the unit. Its release is planned for this
upcoming summer (2022). In today's guest post, author Carla Mae Jansen writes
about A Dinosaur Made Me Spill, how she came up with the idea for the
book, and how you can preorder it on Kickstarter. Keep reading to learn more!
This is a guest post written by Carla Mae Jansen, author of
A Dinosaur Made Me Spill. To learn more about guest posts, please
visit the
Authors, Publishers, and Sponsors
page.
Disclosure:
Affiliate links
to Amazon are included in this post.
Planet Power! Types of Renewable Energy
By the time children reach third and fourth grade, they traditionally start
learning about different types of energy. Some of the ones they learn about
are:
🍎 kinetic energy
🍎 potential energy
🍎 light energy
🍎 sound energy
🍎 heat energy
🍎 thermal energy
🍎 electrical energy
🍎 mechanical energy
However... times are changing and more and more schools and homeschool
families are introducing types of renewable energy. What is
renewable energy? How many different types of renewable energy are there? How
can renewable energy help us? Keep reading to learn the answers to these
questions and more!
The inspiration for this blog post came from the children's book Planet Power by Stacy P. Clark. Planet Power is a nonfiction children's book about six types of renewable energy... hydropower, solar power, wind power, tidal power, geothermal power, and wave power.
We Are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom
We Are Water Protectors... written by Carole Lindstrom and illustrated by
Michaela Goade... is a children's book inspired by the Indigenous-led
environmental protests that have been held across the United States. In 2021,
this book received the Caldecott Medal for its illustrations.
We Are Water Protectors is a historically significant book, not only
because it shines a light on the environmental protests happening, but also
because Michaela Goade is the first Indigenous illustrator to win a Caldecott
Medal. Keep reading to learn more about We Are Water Protectors and for
three social studies minilessons you can use in your classroom.
Over and Under the Snow by Kate Messner
Winter is almost here in the northern hemisphere and many children are learning
about animals and animal adaptations such as migration and hibernation. I
recently discovered a book that works really well for an integrated science +
art + language arts lesson. It’s called Over and Under the Snow and is
written by Kate Messner. It’s an excellent book for teaching about hibernation,
which animals hibernate, and which ones don't. Keep reading to learn more!
Disclosure: Affiliate links to Amazon are included in this post.
Fun Facts About Sloths
Last week, I wrote a blog post about
Slothee Wants Coffee, a children's book by Nikki Pezzopane and Cameron
Fica. In Slothee Wants Coffee, a sloth named Slothee traveled the
world in search of the perfect cup of coffee. Today's blog post is full of
fun facts about sloths like Slothee. Keep reading to learn more about
these fascinating... and absolutely adorable... animals!
Fun Facts About Mountain Lions and P22
Earlier this year I wrote a blog post about the children's book
The Cat That Changed America by Tony Lee Moral. The Cat That Changed America tells a fictionalized account of
the mountain lion P22 that lives in Griffith Park in downtown Los
Angeles. Even though P22 is a bit of a celebrity in the Los Angeles
area, people outside of Los Angeles were surprised to learn there really is a
mountain lion living in the middle of the city! They wanted to learn
more about P22 and mountain lions in general. In this blog post, I'll be
sharing five fun facts about mountain lions and relating them to P22.
Keep reading to learn more!
Disclosure:
Affiliate links
to Amazon are included in this post.
One Plastic Bag: Isatou Ceesay and the Recycling Women of the Gambia by Miranda Paul
Plastic shopping bags became widely used in the 1980s. They're popular
with manufacturers because they are cheaper to make than paper bags and
popular with consumers because of their convenience. (How many of us
have carried four or five bags of groceries in one hand while bringing them
into the house, right?)
Manufacturers have justified making plastic shopping bags by claiming it was
good for the environment... it reduced the number of trees being cut each
year. However, plastic shopping bags have actually hurt the environment
in large parts of the world. One Plastic Bag by Miranda Paul is
the true story of how plastic shopping bags have wreaked havoc in one
community and how a woman named Isatou Ceesay was determined to do something
about it. Keep reading to learn more about One Plastic Bag, how
you can use it in the classroom, and for a simple art enrichment activity that
repurposes plastic shopping bags.
Incredible Animals by Dunia Rahwan
If you're a frequent visitor to Kelly's Classroom Online, then you know I enjoy
writing posts about animals. So far, I've written about
bees,
groundhogs,
reindeer, and
rhinoceros. I even compiled a list of children's books about
animal poop! If you enjoyed those posts, you will enjoy today's post about Incredible Animals by Dunia Rahwan. Incredible Animals is a
fact-packed, nonfiction book about animals from all over the world. If
you've enjoyed reading my
Fun Facts About Animals
series, you will definitely enjoy reading this book. Keep reading to learn
more about Incredible Animals and for a FREE animal research printable
you can use it with.
How to Make Earth Day Seed Bombs
Earth Day is almost here... are you looking for an easy-to-make craft your
students and children can make? Stevie Rae from 🌱🌍 Funtimes Daily Fun and Learning 🌍🌱 and her family recently made some Earth Day-themed seed bombs
using items that can be purchased inexpensively at a dollar store. In
this guest post, Stevie Rae describes how they made their seed bombs and
shares some of the photos she took along the way. Thanks, Stevie!
The following is a guest post by Stevie Rae. To learn more about
sponsored posts, please visit the Authors, Publishers, and Sponsors page.
Disclosure:
Affiliate links
to Amazon are included in this post.
Watch Over Our Water by Lisa Bullard
The amount of water that we have in the world right now will always be the
same. We will never have any more of it... and we will never have any less
of it. The water is in the rivers, lakes, streams, and oceans. It's
in the air. It's in the ground. It's locked in ice.
And... only 1.5% of it is accessible and drinkable. This poses a
serious problem. If only 1.5% of the world's water is accessible and
drinkable, how do we take care of what we have? How can we make sure it's
not wasted? What can children do to help?
The Adventures of Scout by The3engineers
A few weeks ago I wrote about the book Saving Planet Earthly
by our friends at ClimateScience.
Saving Planet Earthly introduced the important topic of climate change
to children. It explained what climate change is, what causes it, and
how we can minimize its effects.
Like ClimateScience, the3engineers is another nonprofit
organization whose mission is to educate children about environmental issues
and to encourage them to make small changes that will add up to make a huge
difference. The3engineers have written a series of audiobooks
called The Adventures of Scout, the first three of which... Plastic On
Our Beaches, The Bees Are Missing, and Endangered Animals... are
currently available on
their website. Keep reading to learn more about the3engineers, their
mission, and how they came up with the idea for Scout!
Saving Planet Earthly by ClimateScience
Climate change is a hot topic to talk about right now... a topic that is also controversial. Some people believe in climate change and the science behind it, whereas others deny its existence and declare it a hoax. Of course, there are plenty of people in the middle who have heard about climate change but don't really understand what it is. So... what is climate change? What are the causes of it? Is climate change something cyclical, something brought about by humans, or a combination of both? If climate change is for real... is there anything that can be done about it? To help answer these and other questions children may have, three authors from ClimateScience wrote the book Saving Planet Earthly. Saving Planet Earthly is a lighthearted children's book that takes a serious look at climate change and what we can do about it. Read on to learn more about this book and how it can be used in the classroom.
The Cat That Changed America by Tony Lee Moral
P22 is a mountain lion that has captured the hearts and imaginations of the
people living in the Los Angeles, California area. Mountain lions are
solitary creatures that normally live in mountains, forests, and deserts.
However, P22 became famous when he was discovered living in a park... in
downtown Los Angeles! Who is P22? How did he wind up in downtown Los
Angeles? How did he change America? Tony Lee Moral answers these
questions in his book The Cat That Changed America. Keep reading to
learn more about The Cat That Changed America, P22, and how you can
integrate geography and map skills into your lessons about this book!
Disclosure:
Affiliate links
to Amazon are included in this post.
Is It an Insect or a Spider?
Spiders and insects are not the same. Even though we often refer to them both as 'bugs' and they are both arthropods, spiders and insects are actually two different species. Spiders are classified as arachnids. They are in the same family as scorpions, ticks, and mites. Insects have their own classification, however. There are a lot of different insects such as flies, bees, beetles, ants, etc. How can you tell whether a 'bug' is a spider or an insect? It can be confusing if you aren't sure what to look for. Read on to learn how to tell the difference between the two!
This is an updated version of a blog post I wrote in 2016.
How to Grow Celery from Scraps + STEM Activity
A couple of years ago I had an interesting conversation with my second and third-grade class. We were having a conversation about edible plants and some of the children were grossed out when they made the connection between vegetables and the plants we eat. Carrots are roots? Gross! Lettuce is a leaf? Gross! Celery is a stem? Gross! My students truly did not know where their vegetables come from. They knew that vegetables come from the grocery store, often in cans and freezer bags. They knew they could find fresh vegetables in the produce section... but most of them did not know anything more than that. To help your students make the connection between plants and the foods they eat, you can use their food scraps to grow veggies in the classroom. Keep reading to find out how.
Disclosure:
Affiliate links
to Amazon are included in this post.
The Cloud Book by Tomie dePaola
Many 2nd and 3rd grade students learn about clouds in their science
classes. They learn about how clouds are formed in the atmosphere, what
the different types are, and what each type forecasts. If your students
need to learn about clouds in your class, keep reading. In this blog
post, I'll introduce you to The Cloud Book by Tomie dePaola and a
twist on a traditional cloud craft.
This is an updated version of a blog post I wrote in 2014. Disclosure:
Affiliate links
to Amazon are included in this post.
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