Here we have historic must-see video footage of NASA rocket scientists planning the exciting LCROSS Moon-crash project, including the launch and return.
If you look closely, you’ll see top NASA scientist, Albus Dumbledore, convening the planning session. Can anyone identify any of the others in this video?
This, of course, is the work of cinematic genius Georges Méliès.
Illustrated by Connie McLennan
ISBN: 978-1-934359-96-9
Published by Sylvan-Dell Publishing, emphasizing Science and Math through Literature
Twinkle, twinkle, starfish dear,
hiding in the shallows here.
Just beneath the waves you lie,
like a star tossed from the sky
Twinkle, twinkle, starfish dear,
hiding in the shallows here.
Mother Osprey: Nursery Rhymes for Buoys and Gulls, written by Lucy Nolan and illustrated by Connie McLennan, is a collection of fun and entertaining parodies of many favorite Mother Goose nursery rhymes. But the rhymes inside Mother Osprey are parodies with purpose. Math and counting skills, science and history are all lessons taught in these poems. Don’t think “Boring” when you see that this book teaches hard subjects like math or science. The rhymes and illustrations are pure enjoyment in themselves.
Most of Lucy Nolan’s rhymes are pure silly fun that kids will enjoy listening to over and over and even memorizing; the rest vividly illustrate a point in time from history. An appendix in the back adds more facts and explanations that the parent or teacher can use to draw young listeners further into a teaching moment. A map shows where each of the habitats is located.
Twinkle, Twinkle starfish dear, quoted above, places the starfish in its natural habitat and opens up rich opportunities for discussing the shallows and beaches along a rocky coast. What other animals life nearby? What do they eat? What eats them?
But Lobster Pies is just plain silly:
Old Mrs. Wise
made lobster pies all on a winter’s day;
her greedy son
grabbed every one
and took them clean away.What a surprise
for Junior Wise
lay inside that croaker sack.
When he sat on a bench
to eat a pinch,
the lobster pies pinched back!
Nursery rhymes satisfy at many levels: they’re great fun to listen to, with their rhymes and the rhythm of their meter. They’re pleasing for the strength of their imagery. They easily capture a child’s imagination, slipping into their memories and never losing their ability to bring enjoyment. Children seem to never tire of repeating them over and over and the verses are a natural invitation to singing. Nursery rhymes teach children language skills and the repetition packs information into their young, developing brains and they help develop their ears for word use and phrasing.
Mother Osprey is a perfect gift for your child or your child’s classroom teacher, whether in preschool, kindergarten, or the early grades. The rhymes are a perfect starter to get children to focus on some part of the environment, or a place. They introduce elements of nature in an interesting way, which leads naturally to a discussion of what is in the rhyme.
The Capital Times, a Madison-based online and weekly newspaper, has an article with words of wisdom of what every college student should know. The Cap Times asked their question of knowledgeable folks at the University of Wisconsin, Edgewood College, and my own Madison Area Technical College (Go Wolfpack!), and they gleaned lots of great, helpful information.
My favorites:
(Very practical and true, from Carlotta Calmese at MATC)
Carlotta Calmese, associate dean of retention and student development, Madison Area Technical College:If you are a first-time college student know that:
1. It is not a “more advanced” high school; college is VERY different and more demanding.
2. You do not have to decide what you will major in or do RIGHT NOW, you have a lot of time to figure that out.
3. Take full advantage of all that college has to offer (faculty connections, student life, co-curricular activities, etc.).
4. Get connected to academic support services before you really need them.
5. If you didn’t have to study in high school, know that you WILL have to do so in college – so learn how to study.
6. You will be treated as an adult and will be expected to make adult decisions, even if you are 17 or 18.
7. You are responsible for your own education.
8. How well (or poorly) you do in college may have long-term consequences.
9. If you make a mistake, AND YOU WILL, know that tomorrow is a new day to get it right the second time around.
10. Faculty do not stay up all hours of the night trying to make their exams more difficult for you.
11. Take time to really get to know your teachers.
12. We will not be calling your parents to tell them you did not come to class today.
(From Lorin Toepper, also at MATC)
Lorin Toepper, executive director of economic and workforce development, MATC:There are three basic ways of learning: self-, peer- and instructor-directed. Self- and instructor-directed require no explanation. Peer-directed learning, however, is often underestimated by students. It is when the student works with other students to master a skill or concept. The most common format for this includes the dreaded group project. While students tend to dislike this method, it truly reflects the collaborative approach used in the workplace and in social endeavors. That’s why instructors use it so much. A more subtle but equally effective approach to peer-directed learning are study groups that arise informally. These can be one of the best ways to learn because the students in this informal cohort group teach each other. I highly recommend to any college student that they form a study group for each class in which they are enrolled. It makes learning so much easier and enjoyable.
Some wise advise to manage money well and keep down the debt:
Susan Fischer, director of student financial aid, UW-Madison:
Students who rely on financial aid to assist them with educational expenses face many challenges as they begin the academic year, but there is one unique challenge that rises above most of them in my mind. That challenge is the recognition and then subsequent need to spread out the resources they receive in August and September over the course of four-plus months; an amazing budgeting feat that most folks employed full time would find difficult, let alone a person starting their college life.
So take a couple of hours to plan out the big and small expenses that you know about now and make sure to have one category of “surprises” that will most certainly pop up. Easy goes it in the miscellaneous/entertainment spending categories. Get a part-time job: 15 hours or less per week. You will not only earn money to help with your college expenses but it will help you budget your time. Then calculate out the actual take-home pay from your part-time job, remembering that taxes, etc., reduce that old paycheck.
And remember: There is an inverse relationship between the ease of borrowing money now and the difficulty of repaying it later. Take advantage of living like a student when you are one so you don’t have to live like one after you graduate!
Getting to know teachers is so easy, and so smart!
Barry Orton, professor of telecommunications, Division of Continuing Studies, UW-Madison:
Each semester, every student should try to get to know at least one of their professors well enough so that the professor knows the student by name. Professors almost always welcome students with questions, so that’s a great way to accomplish this goal. First, do the reading, and then go to the professor’s office during office hours, introduce yourself, and ask an intelligent question seeking clarification or more detailed information. Your professors will remember you and that’s the first step toward humanizing a very large campus.
A proverb from the Bible says, “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” We get similar advice from Tim Alexander
Tim Alexander, associate director of athletics and head men’s and women’s soccer coach, Edgewood College:
1. Seek out those who will make you better.
Where you are a year from now and even five years from now will be determined by the people you spend the most time with. Your thoughts, beliefs, tendencies, even language will rise or fall over time to match that group. Smokers hang out with smokers, partiers are more comfortable around partiers and champions find other champions.
2. Start preparing for life after college.
You need to look for opportunities during your daily life that will help you prepare for life after college. It is not how tall you are, how smart you are, not even how many times you fail, but the telling sign is how many times do you get back up and fight on to succeed.
3. Financial knowledge.
I see too many students who are not prepared for the financial concerns that will face them in college. Learn from people you trust and most of all your parents. They did not get to where they are without some ups and downs during the early years of their lives.
I take issue with Marc Kennedy
Marc Kennedy, communications director, Wisconsin Union:
Take advantage of all the opportunities available for students at the Wisconsin Union. It’s more than a comfortable place to … relax on the Terrace and watch the sailboats …
Nothing, I mean Nothing, is more important than sailboats! And, if you’re in Madison, head down to the Terrace and join Hoofers Sailing Club, learn to sail, and sail all the rest of your life. That’s what I did and what I’m doing. This advise is from me, Senor Parrot.
And to finish, and partly reiterate what others have said, as well, is Alfonso Studesville, a wise, long-time career counselor at MATC, and all-around Good Guy:
Alfonso Studesville, career counselor, MATC:
Read and learn about the policies, programs and information resources at your school. Even kindergarten is not what it used to be.
Manage your finances to get you through the semester. Post-secondary students should come with money, checkbook or debit card to pay for books in case financial aid is delayed or emergency expenditures come up. Create a budget and follow it.
College is not a continuation of high school. Therefore, you may need to change some of your habits as well as some of your beliefs.
You are responsible for your education and getting the work completed and in on time.
Please have reliable transportation to get you to and from school on time.
If you have children, you should have three baby-sitters you can use.
Make a plan, set your goal and stay focused on your educational goals.
Show up on time and ready to learn.
Learn to take tests and notes. It will help you to learn content for any subject.
Have good technology skills.
Ask for help – each institution has a large staff of advisers, counselors and others to assist you.
Seek out and join college organizations, clubs and groups to have an informal learning experience.
Eat right, exercise, get enough sleep, and balance your weeks.
Know your rights as a student to appeal what you believe is unfair.
Learn to say NO to others who distract you from studies and school responsibilities.
Limit your text messaging and phone calls, and use the time to study more.
Make good and wise choices. They will impact the rest of your life.
But school has started and now she’s motivated. Now she wants to read.
We bought a set of BOB books, the first set. It was sort of a start-over point. I hate the pictures, but my daughter finds humor in them. It turns out to have been a good decision. These books have the sort of repetition of sounds and word groups that helps her recognize the words more quickly. She catchess her mistakes more quickly, she is gaining speed and confidence, she is reading with less effort and that has sparked in her quite a bit of enthusiasm for reading more. Each book in the set builds upon the one before it. So, I repented my disdain for the BOB books and I have become an ardent convert. And, best, my girl carries them around and reads them on her own.
Like many others, I’m sorry to see PBS‘ long running show, Reading Rainbow, leave the air. From what I heard on NPR as I drove in to work today, the funding decision rested on the choice to give reading mechanics a higher priority than actually reading something engaging and interesting.
The two go hand in hand, I think. Moreover, with out general knowledge, reading is difficult to impossible for kids to comprehend as they grow older and more advanced books have the tacit assumption that readers know something of the environment in which the book is set, whether it’s literature, history, or science. Starting early, reading the best books, as promoted on Reading Rainbow, is an excellent way to build that foundational knowledge that our kids need.
Levar Burton - Host of Reading Rainbow for 25 Years
There’s a growing perception that the focus on educating kids who aren’t up to speed, such as we have with No Child Left Behind, is reducing the opportunity for better readers, and better students in general, with a distinct disadvantage in the world marketplace.
This is probably true. School’s a breeze and they’re unchallenged. Until they’re challenged to perform.
Sometimes a kid just thrives intellectually, regardless of the level or quality of instruction. Most thrive best with a challenge and high expectations. We’re losing that environment and losing Reading Rainbow is more evidence.
Levar, sorry it had to end this way. You did an outstanding job for all those years and you deserve our thanks for all you’ve done for the kids all across this country. Thanks, and hope to see something else great, soon.
I learned to drive in South Dakota many, many years ago. Back then, and maybe still, I don’t know, we could drive when we were 14 with restricted licenses from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Most of us were driving before we ever took Driver’s Ed. I remember well those driver’s ed films, way before video, of bodies pulled from burning cars and lots of real, dead people.
Now we have texting to contend with, too. I’m sure you’ve seen people texting, or otherwise fiddling with their phones while driving, and not paying attention to their driving, or they wouldn’t be driving so badly. Our friends in Wales, that part of England that bonnie Prince Charles is prince of, has a new texting video designed for scaring kids into thinking before succumbing to the urge to communicate dangerously. Here it is:
It’s about right, don’t you think?
Lego Robots are amazing. They’re easy to construct. My youngest was able to help assemble one when she was only 5 years old (and she’s 6 now). The programming is simple, with assembling programs as easy as dragging action components and setting some simple parameters on a computer screen. If you outgrow the computer brain that Lego provides, there are third party brains that snap in and let you program more complicated routines in languages like C. This is great for your teenager.
Lego Robots are also helpful for teaching complex concepts in math. Here is a short news clip of math teachers learning how to use Lego Robots in the classroom:
The video is courtesy WHSV.com in Virginia.
The Warlord’s Messengers (Warlords)
The Warlord’s Alarm, A Mathematical Adventure
Children’s Books by Virginia Walton Pilegard
Illustrated by Nicolas Debon
Also in the series, The Warlord’s Puppeteers
Powerful, rich and proud, the Warlord always seems to find himself in a bind. Young Chuan somehow always gets him out with one sort of invention or another, and always with good, old fashioned clever thinking. Always using his brain, Chuan, and sometimes with the help of his friend Jing Jing, solves every problem using mathematical or scientific principals learned illustrated in another context.
These books are very fun to read. Despite the “Warlord” in every book, there is no violence, except in one, where the young boy, Chuan, and the artist to whom he is apprenticed are kidnapped. Each book emphasizes problem solving, which makes them ideal for stimulating younger students eager to learn. They would also make a great supplement for learning about ancient Chinese culture since they are set in feudal China. At the end of each book, author Virginia Walton Pilegard shows how the Chinese really did use solutions similar to Chuan’s and she includes a fun craft or other activity for kids that applies the same science. The publisher also has study guides available at their website.
Study Guides:
The Warlord’s Beads
The Warlord’s Fish
The Warlord’s Kites
The Warlord’s Puppeteers
The Warlord’s Puzzle
Bubble Homes and Fish Farts by Fiona Bayrock
Illustrated by Carolyn Conahan
ISBN 9781570916694
On the strength of several reviews a couple months ago, I went out and got Bubble Homes and Fish Farts
My family spends a lot of time exploring a local lake in kayaks or sailboats and we enjoy looking for cool stuff. My 6-year old has an old root beer bottle with a cap that she uses to collect her lake specimens, usually weeds and other floating stuff. She’s already beginning to look closely at nature. As we read through the book last night I spent time talking about what we might find in the lake that’s making those bubbles we see from time to time. Now, we have even more things to look for now. I then reminded her of the spittlebugs inside the foamy bubbles on many of the plants in the neighborhood that we look at while walking the dog. All this was fun for her and made a connection in her mind.
Along the way in this book, I did learn about fish FaRTs, that is, Fast Repetitive Ticks. Herring, at night, swallow air and pass it out the other end, possibly using this to communicate amongst themselves in the dark ocean waters. There’s an experiment for you – how do you test the communication theory? I remember when I was young, and way up north in the frigid taconite country of Hibbing, Minnesota. In winter we’d all be outside shivering and talking excitedly but never hear a word that another was saying. Our words froze up in our breath and fell onto the snow covered playground with hushed clunks. We’d pick a few of our frozen conversations up and take them inside, where they’d thaw out and produce a random, nonsense conversation as our words escaped their frosty prisons. Maybe herring farts will be like that. We just need to pop the bubbles to hear what they’re saying. I can see a research grant proposal here! Stranger ones have been funded.
New cover image for the retitled book and series: Sluggers #1: Magic in the Outfield
Original cover and title for book: Barnstormers: Game 1
The story begins with Griffith, his sister Ruby, and young brother Graham, and a strange baseball with an odd hole nearly all the way through it. Unlike any other baseball they’d seen, it was something their dead father had carried with him during the war. Now the ball was a reminder that they were still a family, a symbol of togetherness. They’re traveling with their mother, and eight men, a traveling baseball team, that earns its living by playing teams from the different cities they visit.
They stop first in Cincinnati, where bizarre things happen during the game, things they and their team can see, but no one else can. Is their father’s old baseball some connected to all these strange events?
I first heard about this book over at Boys Read Boys Rule! where Carl and the others have been raving about it. And now its my turn to rave. Magic in the Outfield (Sluggers)
Both baseball buffs, Bildner and Long have reached back into history to describe the game as it was played in the late 1800′s. Their love of the game comes through in the great descriptions and drawings of the big game between The Travelin’ Nine and the local Cincinnati team and they incorporate the jargon that was current for the time, adding a nice sense of the times that helps you experience the game as it was played back then.
Cool Science News – New York Times Simply Science Science News for Kids Senor Parrot’s Perch
