new posts in all blogs
Viewing: Blog Posts Tagged with: Teachable Moments, Most Recent at Top [Help]
Results 1 - 10 of 10
How to use this Page
You are viewing the most recent posts tagged with the words: Teachable Moments in the JacketFlap blog reader. What is a tag? Think of a tag as a keyword or category label. Tags can both help you find posts on JacketFlap.com as well as provide an easy way for you to "remember" and classify posts for later recall. Try adding a tag yourself by clicking "Add a tag" below a post's header. Scroll down through the list of Recent Posts in the left column and click on a post title that sounds interesting. You can view all posts from a specific blog by clicking the Blog name in the right column, or you can click a 'More Posts from this Blog' link in any individual post.
By: sylvandellpublishing,
on 9/26/2011
Blog:
Sylvan Dell Publishing's Blog
(
Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:
news,
global warming,
animals,
national geographic,
Arctic,
Sylvan Dell,
Teachable Moments,
learning books,
teachable moment,
Sylvan Dell Posts,
Add a tag
Good new too all! There may be a hidden silver lining to global warming…well, in the Arctic at least. According to a new study, the persistent change in climate may very well improve the quality of air in the polar region. This good news is rare seeing as global warming in the Arctic is increasing at a more rapid rate than in other areas of the planet. Due to warming, air pollutants from industrial regions travel to the Arctic. In turn, these pollutants only speed up the warming. It is a vicious cycle!
Now, I’m sure you are asking, “Where is the good news?” Well my friends, global rainfall is also predicted to be a widespread result of global warming. Lucky for us, rain serves as a natural cleanser. As said by the scientist leading this recent study, Timothy Garrett, “Precipitation is the atmosphere’s single most efficient way of removing particulate pollution.” Raindrops take the pollutants with them. Simple as that! Due to this redeeming natural occurrence, rainfall may already swipe pollution from the air before it even reaches the Arctic.
Read about another vicious cylce in our book, “In Arctic Waters,” by Laura Crawford. I promise, this cycle is more forgiving and much more exciting! Through this wonderfully illustrated book, join in the rhythmic, building fun of Arctic animals as they play and chase each other around “the ice that floats in the Arctic water.” What happens to interrupt and spoil their fun? Go and see for yourself!
For even more fun with reading, dive into another one of our titles, “The Glaciers are Melting!” by Donna Love. In this book, Peter Pika is sure the glaciers are melting and is off to talk to the Mountain Monarch about it. Joined along the way by friends Tammy Ptarmigan, Sally Squirrel, Mandy Marmot, and Harry Hare, they all wonder what will happen to them if the glaciers melt. Where will they live, how will they survive? When Wiley Wolverine tries to trick them, can the Mountain Monarch save them? More importantly, can the Mountain Monarch stop the glaceirs from melting?
0 Comments on A Hidden Silver Lining as of 1/1/1900
For the first time, scientists are closely studying the Pacific leaping blenny. Surely you are asking yourself, “What in the world is that?” The leaping blenny, my friend, is a land dwelling fish that walks! This fish lives and moves agily along the rocky coast of Micronesia. While this fish breathes through its gills and skin, it still requires water to survive. It has not completely leaped away from its evolutionary track.
Now that fish can walk, check out our book, “Tudley Didn’t Know,” by John Himmelman. In this crazy adventure, a turtle named Tudley finds out he can fly, leap, and glow among other things. He keeps discovering talents he never knew he had. When it comes to it, he learns how to protect himself and open his friends’ eyes to new possibilities.
This book teaches a lesson that is inspiring for children of all ages. If fish can walk and turtles can fly, then what’s stopping children from reaching for new possibilities as well?
By Kathy Stemke
When most animals were growing arms and legs and climbing out of the water, whales were growing fins and walking into the water. Whales changed, or evolved from warm-blooded, air breathing animals that lived on land to ocean dwellers. Their earliest known ancestor looked like a short antelope with hoofed feet. This mammal had a bone in their ears that is still found in whales today.
HOW DID IT HAPPEN?
About 57 million years ago, certain animals lived near the sea and would hunt just off the shoreline for fish. Because the sea was not very deep they could do this easily. When they needed to go into the deeper waters, the whale’s ancestors that were the best swimmers survived. They reproduced in greater numbers than those who weren’t good swimmers.
Slowly, over millions of years, these creatures changed into animals that spent more and more time in water. Gradually, their front legs became smaller and were useful as flippers, while the hind feet became larger and helped move the animal through the water. They further evolved for diving and hearing under water. Smooth skin and loss of protruding ear parts and hind limbs streamlined whales for swimming. The nostrils moved to the top of the head to make it easier to breath and swim at the same time. A layer of blubber replaced hair for warmth.
HOW BIG DO WHALES GET?
Some whales are the largest living creatures ever to exist on earth. The body, supported by water, is able to reach enormous size. They can grow bigger than the biggest dinosaur. An elephant could sit on a blue whales tongue. Its heart is the size of a small car! A blue whale weighs over 150 tons. The longest whale measured in at over 110 feet. If you laid him out on the ground he would take up the length of nine family-sized cars!
REMNANTS FOUND IN TODAY’S WHALE!
Inside the fin of a modern whale, you can still find the bones of an arm and hand. Today’s whale is also equipped with a pelvis bone, which is not needed anymore. And unlike fish, modern whales have lungs and nostrils called blowholes, and must surface occasionally to breathe.
Paleontologists have found key remains of bones and skulls that help to prove whale evolution. Fossil records continue to be documented. Whales certainly changed in a most unusual way. By reversing the water to land trend of most animals, and becoming an efficient mammal for ocean life, it is one of the most fascinating evolutions of all time.
To learn more, check out: http://www.whale-world.com/whale-evolution.html
This is been quite the week for news, some of which has been quite unpleasant to share with young children. I find myself thinking of young children alone in crushed buildings and how scared they must be. It’s hard for children here to avoid seeing the photos or hearing the news and I’m sure they have lots of questions about earthquakes.
Pandas’ Earthquake Escape comes out in March. Like the recent Haitian earthquake, the earthquake that hit China on May 12, 2008 killed or injured hundreds of thousands of people. However, that earthquake also hit right in the middle of the territory where endangered Giant Pandas live. This book follows a mother Giant Panda and her cub that escape from their refuge during the earthquake. Will they survive on their own? What is rocking their world? We are right in the middle of translating the book in order to get the eBook up with audio and all the links. For now, here is a link to the book’s homepage that includes a preview PDF. http://www.sylvandellpublishing.com/Panda.php. While not all links are working yet, the For Creative Minds link (http://www.sylvandellpublishing.com/ForCreativeMinds/Panda_FCM.pdf) is live and you are welcome to print and use.
And, we made a special Richter Scale Magnitude chart to help too! http://www.sylvandellpublishing.com/images/RichterScale_Magnitude.pdf
Arctic blast:
While temperatures may be somewhat more “normal” now, the recent cold weather affected more than people. Cold-stunned, endangered sea-turtles have been washing ashore or found just off shore floating. While many sea-turtles have died as a result of the cold, sea-turtle hospitals across the southeast and Texas are doing everything they can to help the injured turtles.
SeaWorld Orlando took in nearly 100 cold-stunned turtles between January 6 and January 11. Aquarists are warming up the animals with heat lamps and blankets, and providing warm fluids. Each animal has also received a physical exam to check their internal temperatures and look for infections caused by their cold condition. Once the weather warms up and the animals receive a clean bill of health, the park’s Animal Rescue and Rehabilitation Team will return all of them to Florida waters.
Over in the Panama City, FL area, the Gulf World Marine Park has been caring for over 600 sea turtles. Local businesses and Wal-Mart have donated blankets and kiddie pools to help get the turtles warmed up.
What is cold-stunned? As mammals, we are warm-blooded. We keep our body temperature constant. A normal temperature for humans is 98.6. Reptiles (like sea-turtles, snakes & lizards) are cold-blooded. They warm themselves by the air or water around them. That’s why you might see reptiles basking in the warm sun—to warm themselves. Under normal circumstances, sea turtles migrate to warmer weather during the winter. Usually the ocean water around Florida would be warm enough. However, with the recent cold snap, the water temperature has dropped, causing the sea-turtles’ body temperatures to drop too. If they get too cold, they can no longer move, swim, or catch food.
For a variety of news articles or more information, please visit www.seaturtle.org: http://www.seaturtle.org/news/
Strong character, doing what’s right and helping each other and the animals around us is what it is all about!
Here is a one-week code to access Sylvan Dell’s related titles as auto-flip, auto-read, 3D-page-curling, and select
Since January is Hobby Month, it is a good time to encourage children to start a new hobby. By this, I don’t mean taking on another sport or team event, but something that they can do by themselves to entertain themselves (without a computer or TV). Hobbies can help them to develop a strong interest in something. Who knows, maybe it will lead to a career someday.
Potential hobbies:
Crafts: these don’t have to be messy or costly.
• Puppet making (have them make paper bag puppets of book characters and put on a play!)
• Sewing
• Beading
• Candle making
• Origami
• Model making (cars, airplanes, etc.)
• Making just about anything out of anything! (Make as high a structure as you can that will support a one-pound book…out of straws and pins).
• For some really cool ideas on making things that teach science (kids won’t know they are learning), visit http://www.sciencetoymaker.org/ (Great in classrooms too!)
Art
Painting (finger, watercolor, markers, crayons etc.)
There are lots of “how to draw books” available from your library or bookstore
Making stained glass (kits available in craft sections)
Cooking and baking: younger kids can make lots of edible things using only a microwave. More on “kids in the kitchen” next week.
Birding: (see previous Teachable Moment—eBook code still valid)
Nature Journaling: Give the kids a notebook for them to write, draw and paste goodies that they’ve found.
Collecting something: this doesn’t have to be stamps or coins! What interests your child? Are they interested in animals? Let them collect pictures of animals and make a scrapbook or put on a bulletin board. A few old nature magazines or a new subscription to one might help encourage them to learn a little more about them.
Rocks (or shells?) Get a good identification guide to help them learn and sort.
Here is a one-week code to access Sylvan Dell’s related titles as auto-flip, auto-read, 3D-page-curling, and selectable English and Spanish text and audio eBooks:
Code expiration date: 01/11/2010
Please click on the following link:
http://www.sylvandellpublishing.com/ebooktrials.php?e=ZT6M9B
Available titles:
Julie the Rockhound: When a young girl finds a sparkly rock buried in the dirt and discovers that it cleans to a beautiful quartz crystal, she is fascinated and becomes a “rockhound.” Join Julie as her dad shows her how to dig for minerals and explains the wonders of crystal formation. Combining clever wordplay with earth science, young readers learn about Earth’s most abundant mineral ‘treasure.”
Sort it Out!: Packy the Packrat’s mother has had enough! It’s time that he sorts through his ever-growing collection of trinkets and puts them away. Told in rhyme, the text leads the reader to participate in the sorting process by categorizing Packy’s piles of things according to like characteristics and attributes.
You can access the For Creative Minds section for all the books here (in English and Spanish): http://sylvandellpublishing.com/ForCreativeMinds.htm and the free, 20-40 pages of teaching activities here: http://sylvandellpublishing.com/TeachingActivitiesPage.htm
Please look for these books at your library or favorite bookstore too.
Make Your Own Nature Scrapbook
Find a spot outdoors to sit and observe nature; a park, the beach, a lake, the woods – it can even be your own backyard.
Look around. Write down the words that describe what you see.
What type of day is it? Is it windy, sunny, or cloudy? Has it just rained or snowed? Is it hot or cold?
What time of day is it? Is it early morning, noon
The next few weeks are not just about celebrating Christmas or Hanukah. Winter officially starts on December 21 (winter solstice). A recent Teachable Moments blog discussed migration and hibernation as ways that animals deal with changing seasons. This issue is about birds. The migration and movement of birds is something that even young children may notice. It’s always fun to watch the different formations of birds as they are flying, or just the sheer numbers.
Experiential Learning:
From December 14, 2009 to January 5, 2010, people all over the Americas are participating in this year’s annual Christmas Bird Count (CBC). http://www.audubon.org/Bird/cbc/. The Great Backyard Bird Count will take place in February (12-15, 2010): http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/To participate in either of these count, contact your local Audubon chapter: http://www.audubon.org/states/index.php, birding groups in your area or click here: http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/howto.html. You can count birds that you see in your backyard or even at a feeder!
This year is the 110th year that the CBC counts have been done! Over a century of data has helped scientists to spot significant drops in numbers indicating areas of concern. See how Christmas Bird Count helps protect species and their habitat; http://www.audubon.org/Bird/cbc/howcbchelpsbirds.html
For those of you who have used our free, on-line cross-curricular teaching activities, you may have noticed that we frequently use data from the Great Backyard Bird Count in our math section. http://sylvandellpublishing.com/TeachingActivitiesPage.htm
Ponder-able questions:
• What do you do to stay warm and protected during the winter?
• What part of a bird’s body helps it to stay warm?
• Why do some birds migrate and others do not?
• What types of birds spend the winter where I live?
• What do the birds eat in the winter?
• How is that the same as or different from what they eat in the summer?
• What can I do to help birds in the winter (especially in cold areas)?
Ponder-able questions related to the Great Backyard Bird Count data http://gbbc.birdsource.org/gbbcApps/results: (where you live)
• Which bird had the highest count in year _____
• Which birds had the highest count in each of the last five years?
• Are there big changes?
• Why do you think there are so many of this type of bird at this time of year?
• For birds that didn’t have high numbers: why do you think there are so few of these birds here in the winter?
• How have the numbers changed over the years? By specific bird or overall.
Bird books to read:
Code expiration date: 02/17/2010
Please click on the following link:
http://www.sylvandellpublishing.com/ebooktrials.php?e=J5XDSA
Christmas Eve Blizzard (a timely Christmas morning miracle)
The Best Nest
Loon Chase
Henry the Impatient Heron
Baby Owl’s Rescue
If You Were a Parrot
Whistling Wings
Please note that our eBooks are a great resource for teachers in the classroom or after-school programs (can be projected) and are fun for children to use at home too. Enjoy!
0 Comments on Teachable Moments: For the Birds! as of 1/1/1900
By: sylvandellpublishing,
on 11/29/2009
Blog:
Sylvan Dell Publishing's Blog
(
Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:
Teachable Moments,
hibernate,
hibernation,
migrate,
muskrats,
terrapins,
tundra swans,
winter,
animals,
migration,
moose,
eagles,
raccoons,
wolves,
sea turtles,
loons,
track,
humpback whales,
salmon,
Add a tag
As the weather turns cold and winter approaches, we add layers of clothes and turn up the heat. What do animals do to prepare for the cold?
Adapt:
Some animals prepare for cold weather by gathering food and storing it for the upcoming winter when it will be harder to find. Can you think of any animals that do this?
Other animals are able to find food through the winter and grow thicker layers of fur. Can you think of any animals that do this?
Hibernate:
Some animals go into a deep sleep over the winter. They usually will eat lots of food in the fall then go to sleep in a den or a deep burrow. A true hibernating animal’s breathing slows way down and its body temperature drops.
Some animals sleep heavily for long periods but will wake up every occasionally to eat.
Migrate:
Seeing birds flying south in the fall is common. They are not only flying to warmer climates for warmth but to be able to find food that is more readily available. They usually follow the same routes every year. Some animals learn the routes by following other animals (mother?) but other animals seem to know where to go by instinct. Scientists aren’t sure how the animals know how, when, or where to go.
Birds are not the only animals that migrate to warmer weather during their winters. Can you think of any other animals that go south for the winter? Do you know any people who go south for the winter? Where do they go?
Not all migrations have to do with warmer weather. Some animals migrate as part of their life cycle. Life cycle migrations may take place every year and similar animals may gather in special spots to find mates or to have babies.
Other animals might migrate only when giving birth or to lay eggs in a specific location (where they were hatched).
Websites of interest:
ParkWise (Alaska National Parks’ e-classroom): Migration: http://www.nps.gov/akso/parkwise/Students/ReferenceLibrary/general/MigrationBasics.htm
Tracking animals. Sometimes scientists put satellite collars on animals so they can track their movements. This helps us to understand how, where, and when animals move around the earth. Here are some sites where you can follow various animals:
WhaleNet: (tracks seals & whales) http://whale.wheelock.edu/whalenet-stuff/stop_cover.html
SeaTurtle.org: (tracks sea turtles) http://www.seaturtle.org/tagging/
Journey North: (tracks whooping cranes, hummingbirds, monarchs and other animals) http://www.learner.org/jnorth/
Alaska Seal Life Center: (tracks seals) http://www.alaskasealife.org/New/rehabilitation/index.php?page=rehab-tracking.php
Wild Tracks: (manatees) http://www.wildtracks.org/Florida/home.html
Ideas for experiential learning:
Keep a wildlife journal for one week. Identify what animals you see and what they are doing. Do you think they are getting ready for winter? Do you see any signs of animals even though you might not see the animals themselves?
• Bird feathers
• Chewed pinecones
• Chewed acorns or nuts
• Scat (droppings)
• Animal tracks
• Bones
What are some ways that humans prepare for cold weather? How do the clothes we wear change with the seasons? Why?
Do we eat any foods now that we might not eat during the hot summer? What foods and why?
In the book, Whistling Wings, the young tundra swan flies about 1,000 miles without stopping to rest or eat.
• Look at a map and figure out how far 1,000 miles is from where you live. Could you walk there without stopping to slee
This time of year is full of stories of Pilgrims and the Native Americans that helped them to survive their first year. When the European explorers and colonizers first arrived in the “New World,” they found all kinds of new (to them) and interesting foods: potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, chocolate, vanilla, tobacco, beans, pumpkin, peanuts, cashews, blueberries, wild rice, squashes, sweet potatoes, quinine, and corn.
Corn was actually created (in what we now call Mexico) by breeding two unlike plants—over five thousand years ago! Corn became a staple food for the people living throughout all of the Americas.
While they may not have understood the whys of it, the early Americans knew or figured out that corn by itself was an “incomplete” food (nutritionally) and usually served it with beans, which rounded out the required nutrition. In fact, they often planted the corn with beans and squash, known as “the three sisters.”
Ponder-able questions:
What foods do you eat on a daily basis that come from corn?
What holiday (Thanksgiving in particular) foods do you eat that come from corn?
What non-edible things do you use that come from corn (or the corn plant)?
How do you think corn spread from Mexico to all Native Americans throughout Central, North, and South America?
How is the way corn is used in Mexico the same as or different from the way the Native Americans used corn with the Pilgrims in what is now New England?
What are some ethnic corn-based foods found in:
- New England
- Southeast US
- Southwest US
- Pacific Northwest US
- Mexico
How does the geography of those areas affect the types of food the natives ate in general?
What are some things that you eat today that you would not have been able to grow or find in your geographical area several hundred years ago?
Experiential Learning with Indian Corn:
At this time of year, Indian corn is easily found in grocery stores—mostly as a decoration. How is Indian corn the same as or different from the corn on the cob you might eat in the summer?
Ask children how they think the corn got so dry.
How would they dry it?
Why would it be important for the corn to be dry before using as flour or cornmeal?
Ask the children how they would remove the kernels from the cob, and then let them do it. (This can be a little messy if they start “flinging” the kernels around. I suggest letting them hold the corn inside of a large pot and pushing the kernels off directly into the pot.)
If you happen to have a mortar and pestle, let them grind a few kernels into corn meal.
What other (non-electric) things could they use to grind the corn into a corn meal?
How has the corn changed and why?
The Indian corn can be ground into meal using a coffee grinder. I recommend doing a handful of kernels at a time, so you do not overload the machine. Grind it as finely as possible. I even separated the finely ground meal fr
Welcome to the first of our planned weekly “Teachable Moments” blog. Whether you are a parent with young children or a teacher in the classroom, we want to help you to use events around you as literacy-related, science and math based experiences.
This is a great week for viewing the night sky with children!
Tonight (Monday, November 16, 2009) is a New Moon. New Moons rise and set at approximately the same time as the sun, which is why there is no moon visible at night. If away from big city lights, that means that you can see a star-filled sky (as long as there aren’t clouds).
And seeing lots of stars early in the week means you’ll be able to see lots of shooting stars (aka meteors!). The Leonid meteor shower peaks just before dawn on November 17. NASA forecasts that there will be as many as 195 meteors per hour during the peak. (http://leonid.arc.nasa.gov/) But, you should be able to see meteors any time, just by going outside when stars are visible. For planning purposes, the next major meteor shower is the Gemind shower, around December 13 and 14—, which is, coincidentally near a New Moon. It is much easier to see the meteors around a New Moon than a Full Moon, just because the sky is darker.
And, if you are up very late (or very early), you can see Saturn (with a telescope) as it rises after midnight. http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/education/saturnobservation/viewing2009/. And here’s some information on what you might be able to see: http://soc.jpl.nasa.gov/resources/saturnPosterViewing.pdf
Astronomical tables (moonrises, sunrises, Saturn rises, etc.) can be found pinpointed to your city and state here: http://www.usno.navy.mil/astronomy
Here is a one-week code to access Sylvan Dell’s related titles as auto-flip, auto-read, 3D-page-curling, and selectable English and Spanish text and audio eBooks:
Temporary eBook Viewing Code: TPKXBH
Code expiration date: 11/23/2009
Please click on or copy and paste into your browser the following link:
http://www.sylvandellpublishing.com/ebooktrials.php?e=TPKXBH
Available titles:
How the Moon Regained Her Shape (based on Native American folklore about moon phases) Native American names for full moons in November are Frost Moon or Beaver Moon.
Pieces of Another World (about a father and daughter watching meteors together) What’s the different between a meteor, meteoroid, or meteorite? See the book for the answer.
Saturn for My Birthday (Jeffrey wants Saturn for his birthday but his dad better hurry up and order as the shipping may take a while)
You can access the For Creative Minds section for all the books here (in English and Spanish): http://sylvandellpublishing.com/ForCreativeMinds.htm and the free, 20-40 pages of teaching activities here: http://sylvandellpublishing.com/TeachingActivitiesPage.htm
Please look for these books at your library or favorite bookstore too.
Ideas for experiential learning:
If watching the Leonids meteor shower, count how many meteors you see in one minute. If they are falling at that rate, how many meteors might you see in an hour?
Older children can graph results over given time passages. Are there more or less meteors as time passes?
Make the “comet cookie
Read about another vicious cylce in our book, “In Arctic Waters,” by Laura Crawford. I promise, this cycle is more forgiving and much more exciting! Through this wonderfully illustrated book, join in the rhythmic, building fun of Arctic animals as they play and chase each other around “the ice that floats in the Arctic water.” What happens to interrupt and spoil their fun? Go and see for yourself!
For even more fun with reading, dive into another one of our titles, “The Glaciers are Melting!” by Donna Love. In this book, Peter Pika is sure the glaciers are melting and is off to talk to the Mountain Monarch about it. Joined along the way by friends Tammy Ptarmigan, Sally Squirrel, Mandy Marmot, and Harry Hare, they all wonder what will happen to them if the glaciers melt. Where will they live, how will they survive? When Wiley Wolverine tries to trick them, can the Mountain Monarch save them? More importantly, can the Mountain Monarch stop the glaceirs from melting?
Can’t wait to read Pandas’ Earthquake Escape.
Coming soon! I wish it were here already to help children understand all about earthquakes.