STEAM Resources in the Time of COVID-19

Here is a list of resources for parents, teachers, and kids to use during (and after) this period of isolation. Let's explore the world from the comfort and safety of our own homes!

If you enjoyed reading about the recovery of wolves in BACK FROM THE BRINK: SAVING ANIMALS FROM EXTINCTION check these out:

The Wolf Conservation Center is offering FREE distance learning programs to schools across the US.  Sessions can be taught via SKYPE, Zoom, Google hangout and more!

While you are on the Wolf Conservation site - check out the 8 webcams! Here is one of my favorites. Can you howl like a wolf?

Here is a short reader's guide for BACK FROM THE BRINK.

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Here is an engineering design activity from STEAM author Kirsten Williams Larson based on her book, WOOD, WIRE, WINGS.

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Take a tour - VIRTUALLY - at these great institutions!

Smithsonian National Museum of History   My favorite spot is the Ocean Hall on the first floor. Check it out.

Here are a couple of great books to read for your journey:

Check out SCIENCE SNACKS at the Exploratorium! There are so many to choose from.
I like -- BEE HUMMER.

Read this new picture book with your activity:

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Women's History Month - Reaching for the Stars

When I wrote Leap Into Space, I included many female scientists and astronauts -- Sally Ride, Maria Mitchell, Nahide Craig, Heidi Jo Newberg, and Annie Jump Cannon.  The truth is that women have been involved in exploring the universe for centuries.  Here are some books to add to your bookshelf that celebrates women who have reached for the stars! 

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Women's History Month - Beneath the Waves

Women have been exploring life beneath ocean waves for centuries. These books examine those women and their discoveries. Choose a few to read to your budding oceanographers this spring.

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World Ocean Day!

Happy World Ocean Day! 

Here are some titles to share with your budding oceanographers, including one of my early books that might be in your local library already - OCEANS: An Activity Guide for Ages 6-9! 

Green Earth Book Award

As a former Green Earth Award recipient, I know what an honor it is to be included on this list. Congratulations to all the book creators on the 2018 list! It is so very important to emphasize environmental literacy. Thanks to The Nature Generation for their efforts each year to promote these terrific books! 

The Nature Generation Announces National Green Earth Book Award Winners

Modern day storytellers shed light on complicated environmental issues 

 April 20, 2018– Arlington, Va. — The Nature Generation, an environmental nonprofit, has announced the winners of its United States’ 2018 Green Earth Book Award.

The national award recognizes books that best convey the environmental stewardship message and inspire youth to grow a deeper appreciation, respect, and responsibility for their natural environment.  Winning authors and illustrators in these categories will receive the $1500 award:  Picture Book, Children’s Fiction, Children’s Nonfiction and Young Adult Nonfiction.

“These winning and honor books are tools that offer young and old alike a way to bridge the environmental literacy gap,” said Amy Marasco, founder and president of The Nature Generation.  “I encourage schools, librarians, youth groups and families to make these books available and accessible to our youth.”

Picture Book

 Creekfinding: A True Story, Jacqueline Briggs Martin, illustrated by Claudia McGehee

(University of Minnesota Press) Ages 4-9.

A true story about a man who brought a creek and a whole world of nature back to life after it was long buried under fields of corn. This heartening tale of an ecosystem restored in the Driftless Area of Iowa unfolds in a way that will charm and inform young readers.

Honor Winner:

Out of School and Into Nature: The Anna Comstock Story, Suzanne Slade, illustrated by Jessica Lanan

(Sleeping Bear Press) Ages 6-9.  

  Children’s Nonfiction

 Sea Otter Heroes: The Predators That Saved an Ecosystem, Patricia Newman

Why did one inlet grow healthy seagrass while other ones suffered? Sea otters!  With both irresistible otter photos and scientific diagrams, this book explains ecosystems and how its inhabitants affect it at every level.  Explains the often-damaging effect humans have and ways in which young people can help the environment on a daily basis.  (Millbrook Press) Ages 9-14.

Honor Winners:

The Hidden Life of a Toad, Doug Wechsler  (Charlesbridge) Ages 4-8.

This Book Stinks! Gross Garbage, Rotten Rubbish, and the Science of Trash, Sarah Wassner Flynn (National Geographic Kids) Ages 8-12.

Children’s Fiction

Forest World, Margarita Engle

Award-winning author’s lively novel in verse tells the story of a Cuban-American boy who visits his family’s village in Cuba for the first time. Weaved throughout is the message of importance of biodiversity, and how Cubans are trying to save their own flora and fauna from tourists, poachers, and climate change.  (Atheneum Books for Young Readers) Ages 10-99.

Honor Winner:

The Last Panther, Todd Mitchell

(Delacorte Books for Young Readers) Ages 8-12.

Young Adult Nonfiction

Trashing the Planet: Examining Our Global Garbage Glut, Stuart A. Kallen

Globally, humans create around 2.6 trillion pounds of waste every year. What can we do to keep garbage from swallowing up Earth? Reducing, reusing, recycling, and upcycling are some answers. Learn more about the efforts of government, business, research, and youth as they work to solve our planet’s garbage crisis. (Twenty-First Century Books) Ages 10-16.

 Honor Winner:

Geoengineering Earth’s Climate: Resetting the Thermostat, Jennifer Swanson (Twenty-First Century Books) Ages 13-18.