Great nonfiction picture books by Robert Wells and others!

I love Montessori Services as a source for picture books, particularly on science and math topics. I periodically go through their catalogue and check recommended books out from my library. One of my favorite writers featured is Robert Wells. Solana and I loved both the humor and the explanations of concepts in Can You Count to a Google? What's Smaller than a Pygmy Shrew? and others.

The periodic table in a kid friendly format

This book was recommended by my amazing local public children's librarian: I haven't run it by a science teacher yet, but Solana and I love it. Each element is given a personality and cartoon like image (kind of reminds me of Pokemon), but important facts are given as well.

Trade books in math and science

My challenge to myself this year both as a literacy coach and a parent is to find more interesting books in math and science: there are many out there at all levels. If they match the students' reading level or are read aloud in class, trade books can help students broaden background knowledge, make connections and most importantly, feel excited about the topic! We checked out some recommendations from Science Books and Films that I found in this Edutopia article as well as some of Kathleen Baxter's great "gross out books" recommendations.
Where in Wild-- amazing illustrations that capture the ways both predators and prey use camouflage
What's Eating You? Parasites: the Inside Story-- great use of cartoons and humour to communicate interesting facts about parasites. Solana was fixated on the "Deadly Delivery" malaria page. Another bonus page "The Two-Host Tapeworm Game." Gross but fascinating!
Ouch! How Your Body Makes it Through a Very Bad Day is another winner: up close and personal views of every day body functions, definitely relevant to middle school students.
To be continued!

More science!

We tried out Google Sky Map on my Droid this weekend to look at the night sky. It was pretty exciting to identify planets and constellations. We'd need more research to know what some of the other abbreviations and symbols meant. For some reason, it's even exciting to point at the setting sun or the moon and see them identified on the Droid. Solana ended up giving me some instructions on how to freeze the image to examine it more closely. I'm still challenged in looking for safe educational apps for kids on the Droid-- the Iphone is way ahead in this arena.