STEM Series (Andrea Beaty)

Children ask question.  Children make messes.  Children become hyper-focused. 

These actions can drive adults crazy!  They are also the inspiration for a series of books by author Andrea Beaty and illustrator David Roberts.

Children are introduced to STEM career options in this series that celebrates childhood wonder as well as shows the potential of “childish” play and thinking. Written in poetic free verse, each story intertwines realism with the fantastic.  The books empower children with imagination and ingenuity as well as model resourcefulness and perseverance. 

The next time a child drives you crazy with questions, makes a big mess trying to create, or becomes too focused on one idea, remember that those qualities can blossom into something beautiful. 

Iggy Peck, Architect

Publisher Summary:

Some kids sculpt sand castles. Some make mud pies.  Some construct great block towers.  But none are better at building than Iggy Peck, who once erected a life-size replica of the Great Sphinx on his front lawn! 

It’s too bad that few people appreciate Iggy’s talent—certainly not his second-grade teacher, Miss Lila Greer.  It looks as if Iggy will have to trade in his T-square for a box of crayons…until a fateful field trip proves just how useful a master builder can be.

What’s to Love:  The protagonist is creative, passionate, and expressive.  Miss Greer overcomes her fear and prejudice.  Ultimately, Iggy shares his talent with others by helping and teaching. Click HERE for a teaching guide.

Rosie Revere, Engineer

Publisher Summary:

Where some people see rubbish, Rosie Revere sees inspiration. Alone in her room at night, shy Rosie constructs great inventions from odds and ends. Hot dog dispensers, helium pants, python-repelling cheese hats. Rosie’s gizmos would astound—if she ever let anyone see them.

Afraid of failure, she hides them away under her bed. Until a fateful visit from her great-great-aunt Rose, who shows her that a first flop isn’t something to fear—it’s something to celebrate.

What’s to Love:  Rosie thinks outside the box. When her project does not succeed, her great-great aunt teaches her that  “true failure [only] can come if you quit.”  Despite set backs, Rosie dreams “the bold dream of a great engineer.”  Her example inspires her classmates to dream and to experiment.  Click HERE and HERE for teaching guides.

Ada Twist, Scientist

Publisher Summary:

Why are there pointy things stuck to a rose?  Why are there hairs up inside your nose?  Ada Twist’s head is full of questions.  Like her classmates Iggy and Rosie, Ada has always been endlessly curious.  But when her fact-finding mission and elaborate science experiments go too far, her frazzled parents banish her to the Thinking Chair. Will all that thinking change her mind?

What’s to Love:  Ada begins by asking questions like who, what, when, and why.  Those questions lead to more questions.  She then uses them to design an experiment.  Her enthusiasm and determination are contagious.  Not only do her classmates catch it, but young readers will too!  Click HERE for a teaching guide.

Poetry Friday: Science Verse (by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith)

I am thrilled to share this week’s poetry collection—Science Verse (by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith).  These two authors know how to turn things upside down and make your rethink how you look at everything from fairy tales to science!  This collection is no exception.   The book begins with a group of children in class.  Their science teacher tells them that if they listen closely they will “hear the poetry of science in everything.”  One of the students is zapped with a curse of science verse.  He begins to think of everything in the form of a poem.  The poems and pictures that follow are his journey through the world of science and language.   

The duo uses nursery rhymes, popular songs, and famous adult works as models for their entertaining, educational, and, at times, irreverent poetry.  “Lovely” parallels Joyce Kilmer’s “Trees.”

“Lovely”

I think that I ain’t never seen

A poem ugly as a spleen.

A poem that could make you shiver,

Like 3.5 … pounds of liver.

A poem to make you lose your lunch,

Tie your intestines in a bunch.

A poem all gray, wet, and swollen,

Like a stomach or a colon.

Sometimes like your kidney, lung,

Pancreas, bladder, even tongue.

Why you turning green, good buddy?

It’s just human body study.

This next selection follows the rhythm of the children’s song “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad.”

“Food Chains”

“I’ve been working in the food chain,

All the livelong day.

In the middle of the food chain,

I’ve got no time to play.

Can’t you see the green plants growing?

That’s energy, okay?

Consumer eats up the producer,

Predator eats prey.

Who’s for lunch today?

Who’s for lunch today?

Don’t you just wonder, who’s for lunch today?

Predator or prey.

Predator or prey.

Eat or be eaten, that’s the only way.

Under “Why Scientists Don’t Write Nursery Rhymes” is a “Mary Had a Little Lamb” parody.

“Mary Had A…”

Mary had a little worm.

She thought it was a chigger.

But everything that Mary ate,

Only made it bigger.

It came with her to school one day,

And gave the kids a fright,

Especially when the teacher said,

“Now that’s a parasite.”

As the book comes to a close, it is revealed that the student with the science verse curse was asleep (in class) the whole time!  Science Verse is witty and entertaining, but it also has several educational tie ins.  Subjects covered are evolution, water cycle, human body, space/astronomy, dinosaurs, food chains, chemistry, scientific method, senses, matter, and life cycles.

Teaching Opportunities:

• Poetry:  students can write their own poems using nursery rhymes, children’s songs, or other poems as models.
• Sound Devices:  identify rhyme, alliteration, consonance, and so forth
• Figurative Language:  identify and discuss examples (similes, puns, personification)
• Science:  use a poem to begin a science lesson or unit study; discuss what is revealed through the poem about the subject
• Critical Thinking:  look carefully together to distinguish fact from fiction in the poems

 Today is Poetry Friday!  Check out other great poems and anthologies at the round up at Book Talking.