Seymour Simon's Blog, page 14

We seem to be having an early "Shark Week" here on the Seymour Science blog! And since it is Writing Wednesday, we thought that we would share this poem, called SHARK TEETH, and ask you to write about what you think is happening in the poem. About the Teeth of SharksBy John CiardiThe thing about a shark is - teeth,One row above, one row beneath.Now take a close look. Do you findIt has another row behind?Still closer - here, I’ll hold your hat:Has it a third row behind that?Now look in and…Look out! Oh my,I’llneverknow now! Well, goodbye. Read this poem several times. After you have read it silently to yourself, try reading it aloud. Then, listen as a friend reads it aloud. When you have read or heard it several times, think about what happens at the end of this poem. Is it funny? Sad? Surprising? Think about looking into the mouth of a shark. What would you see? How would it feel? Notice that the poet uses the word "I." Who is talking in the poem? What is he or she doing? Is there one person talking? Or two? Once you have thought about all these things, click on the yellow "Comments" button at the bottom of this blog post and write your own story of what happened in the scene described by this poem. Happy (gulp) writing! John Ciardi, "About the Teeth of Sharks" fromYou Read to Me, I’ll Read to You(Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1962). Copyright © 1962 by John Ciardi.

This sea bird is easily recognized by its bright-blue feet. Males display their feet to the females as part of the mating ritual, lifting first one foot, then the other to show off the color. Both males and females show a preference for mates with brighter colored feet. And wouldn’t you? Look at that splendid turquoise! Photo: Cory Randell

The Cassini spacecraft continues to send back simply extraordinary photographs of Saturn. The latest is an image of an enormous hurricane currently raging at Saturn’s north pole. The eye - just the eye - of this hurricane stretches 1,250 miles (2,000 km) across. That is the length of the entire West Coast of the United States - from the southern tip of California all the way up to the Canadian border. Scientists don’t know how long this hurricane has been in existence, because when Cassini arrived the north pole was covered in winter darkness (a year on Saturn lasts 29 Earth years). But now that it is light, we can see this huge storm which seems very similar to, though much bigger than what we call a hurricane here on Earth. This photograph is false-color, by the way. That means that color has been added to the original image to help us see the details.

Though we picked our winners at random, we want to recognize some of the other very strong research and writing by the students of Lower Gwynedd Elementary School (and kids from other states, too) as part of the Three Fascinating Facts about Sharks contest. Some of the information that you all found is simply too good not to share! Helen, a third grader in Mrs. Salvitti’s class, wrote: 1. Some sharks remain on the move for their whole lives. This forces water over their gills, delivering oxygen to the blood stream. If the shark stops moving then it will suffocate and die. 2. A pup (baby shark) is born ready to take care of itself. The mother shark leaves the pup to fend for itself and the pup usually makes a fast get away before the mother tries to eat it. 3. Not all species of shark give birth to live pups. Some species lay the egg case on the ocean floor and the pup hatches later on its own. Photo: Gills of a nurse shark And how about these interesting facts from Shelby: 1. Sometimes they will take a bite out of their prey or just sink their teeth in to get a taste before they start really feeding. 2. A shark attack on a human usually occurs in less than 6 feet 6 inches of calm water, and within a relatively short distance from shore. 3.The Megamouth shark is one of the rarest of the shark species. It was discovered in 1976. Photo: Megamouth Shark We loved all these great comparisons from Zac: 1. Every shark has tiny sensors at the tip of its snout to help it find food like a metal detector finding treasure. 2. Sharks have teeth all over their body. Their skin has really tiny spikes, like a prickle bush. 3. A shark’s teeth are in rows like a roller coaster ride. If a shark looses one of its teeth, one will grow back right away and move forward to take the place of the old one. Just like when a person gets off a roller coaster, a new person will take their place for the next ride. Andrew, from 3Go, managed to come up with three unique facts that no one else submitted: 1. Nurse sharks are nocturnal predators. 2. Dogfish are a type of shark. 3. Horn sharks are oviparous. Photo: Horn SharkAnd finally this from fifth grader Cassidy S. This is practically an essay - your information is fascinating, indeed! 1. In New Zealand, there is a shark that barks like a dog. It is called the Swell Shark. It is a catshark of the family Scyliorhinidae. It is found in the subtropical eastern Pacific Ocean. 2. Most sharks give birth to their babies. Only a few sharks lay eggs. Most sharks have six to twelve babies at a time, but a Tiger Shark and Hammerhead can have as many as 40 babies at a time. 3. The Whale Shark is the biggest fish in the world. It has more than 4,000 teeth, but each is less than 1/8 inch long. A shark may go through 1,000 sets of teeth during its lifetime. When a shark loses a tooth, one replaces it. A Whale Shark weighs about 40,000 pounds. We also had two excellent entries from students who do not attend Lower Gwynedd School.Danielle age:11 teacher: Mrs. Hargrave School: Harbins Elementary city: Dacula, GeorgiaFact 1: The blind shark got its name from the habit of retracting their eye balls, which makes their eye lids close.Fact 2: Some sharks don’t eat meat, they eat mollusks and clams and live close to the bottom of the ocean to get their food.Fact 3: Sharks eat different amounts depending on the kind of shark they are. Some sharks can eat a huge amount of food and live of the oils in their liver. When the oil gets low they have the instinct to eat again.Jacob age: 9 Teacher: Mrs Backlund School: Independence Elementry City: Big Lake, MN1. A great white shark can weigh up to seven thousand pounds.2. Sharks have existed for over 300 million years. They are older than the dinosaurs.3. The bull shark is the only shark that can live in freshwater and saltwater.Photo: Great White Shark Editor’s Note: We have checked all the facts and made a few edits to correct inaccuracies, so that everything you are reading here is true. And fascinating!

Thank you to everyone from Lower Gwynedd Elementary School who entered the THREE FASCINATING FACTS ABOUT SHARKS contest. We enjoyed seeing the choices you made and reading your writing using those words. 85 people entered this contest - that is a lot of excellent research and writing! As promised, we have selected two winners of this contest, and both will receive an autographed copy of the new edition of Seymour Simon’sEXTREME OCEANS, from Chronicle Books. We chose the winners at random, using a very cool random number generator website calledRandom.org. Are you ready? Here are the winners of Seymour Simon’s SHARKS contest: Individual Winner: Nathan, from Class 4-O. Nathan’s three fascinating facts were: 1: About 90% of the people who are attacked by sharks survive. 2: If sharks stop moving they start to sink. 3: More people are killed by bee stings than shark attacks. Classroom Winner: Mrs. Stapp’s Kindergarten Class. They wrote: Our Favorite Shark Facts: 1.Sharks lived before the dinosaurs 2. Sharks can smell a drop of blood a mile away. 3. Sharks don’t chew their food. Congratulations to everyone who entered. Be on the lookout for another blog post, because we enjoyed the work you did for this contest so much, we are going to publish some of your writing for everyone to read.

Yesterday, Seymour Simon spoke to all children, all grades, at a Pennsylvania elementary school. We were so pleased and proud at what the school librarian had to say about it that we just had to share it with all of you. Thank you, Holly, for the wonderful feedback!Dear Seymour,Your time at Lower Gwynedd was a gift to our students as well as us oldsters! We were all mesmerized. You modeled the thrill of discovery and thinking as writing… writing as thinking. Your use of comparisons in the "space" presentations made complex numbers and concepts something we could understand. I do not doubt that every child will go home tonight and fly at least one paper airplane. It was a thrilling day for us and one that I hope will plant the seeds for future scientists and writers and educators. Thank you so much.Holly CarlsonLibrarianLower Gywnedd Elementary School

Yesterday I visited a terrific bunch of kids at Lower Gwynedd Elementary School in Ambler Pennsylvania. Afterward, I received a lovely thank you note from Rachel N. Rachel wrote: You have visited my school, Lower Gwynedd. I enjoyed your visiting and all of your books. I really hope that you will visit us next time again. Have a nice day! Thank you, Rachel, for this lovely note. Then, I started to receive letters like these two: Hi, it’s Margaret. I have a question to ask you. What is your passion about writing? your fan, Margaret Hi. I’m Shawn from Lower Gwynedd Elementary. I was really fascinated by your presentation today!! I wanted to tell you a few questions. One is what inspired you to be an author. Two is how do you get the ideas for all of your books? And three is what is your favorite subject to write about? Thanks for reading this BYE!! From: Shawn Both Margaret and Shawn are asking about my life as a writer - how I got started, how I decide what to write about, and why I continue to want to write (my "passion" for writing). No one in particular encouraged me to be an author. I don’t think it ever occurred to anyone in my family that you could actually make a living as a writer. I have always loved writing, and started doing it when I was in second grade. Mostly, in those early days, I was writing because I wanted to get my friends excited about the things I was interested in, like planets and space. When I got a little older, I read a book called THE SEA AROUND US, by Rachel Carson. She is a wonderful writer, I absolutely loved the book, and by the time I finished it, I had realized that I wanted to write about the natural world. I started writing for children because that is where my area of expertise was - I was a middle school science teacher for many years. I get the ideas for my books from observing and reading about the world around me. I have loved nature since I was a young child. Although I grew up in the Bronx - a very crowded part of New York City - the natural world was all around me. There is weather in the city, just as there is in the country. You can see the sun, moon and stars from a rooftop in the city. And I explored a vacant lot on my street, which wasn’t exactly a park, but still had birds, earthworms, small plants, and trees. In fact, when I grew up one of the first books I wrote was called SCIENCE IN A VACANT LOT.I don’t think I can say that I have a favorite subject to write about. I simply write books about things that I find interesting and exciting. And of course, whenever I want to write about a subject, I need to study. I start by looking at research that other people have done. What experiments have they run? What animals have they observed? By studying all the work that others have already done, I learn about the subjects that I write about in my books. As the great scientist Sir Isaac Newton once wrote, "If I have seen further than others, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants." And that brings me to Margaret’s question about my passion for writing. I suppose I love to write because I love to learn, and I get excited about sharing what I am learning with others. Although being an author is my job, it has never felt like "work." As long as kids like you guys enjoy reading my books, I’m going to keep writing them! Editor’s Note: Seymour Simon cannot respond personally to every letter that he receives (or he would never have time to write books!). However, he has created a section on his website calledFAQs, which stands for "Frequently Asked Questions." Readers can find the answers to virtually all their questions by looking at theFAQ sectionon SeymourSimon.com

Using Rich Vocabulary is the goal of today’s Writing Wednesday. Look at this funny-looking creature, commonly known as the "piglet squid." Could I have used richer vocabulary to describe this photograph? What if I described it as a "roly poly, rubber-nosed Cephalopod"? Do you hear the difference in these two descriptions, "funny-looking creature" and "roly poly, rubber-nosed celephod"? Both describe the animal in this photograph, but the second description uses much richer vocabulary to help the reader understand what I am seeing. Click on the yellow "Comments" link at the bottom of this blog and write your own description of this cute animal. Take your time and come up the richest vocabulary you can to help your reader imagine the animal in this photograph. Happy writing! Photo: Cabrillo Marine Aquarium/Gary Florin

Big surprise this morning. Two of Seymour SImon’s popular books,EARTHQUAKESandGLOBAL WARMING, are both part of Amazon’s "Deal of the Day" for today only. Both are available in Kindle version for just $2.99. If you’re thinking of buying either one, today is the day. Thank you, HarperCollins for your good work in getting these books into the Amazon promotion!

I am Skyping this morning with kids at the Mulberry Elementary School in Auburn, Georgia. I know that you guys have been using my website, so I wanted to create a special blog post just for you. Here’s a secret view of what I see while I’m sitting at my keyboard talking with you. Do you see those four little plastic lizards lined up in front of my keyboard? I got them when I spoke at the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis earlier this year. They have an amazing Gecko exhibit going on there, and I liked it so much I asked them if I could bring these little toy geckos home with me.So now, you have a "Seymour-eye-view" of our Skype session!Update: Tuesday afternoonThe students from Mulberry Elementary uploaded their own photo, so now I can see what the Skype session looked like from a "kids-eye-view"!Thanks so much. I really enjoyed all your great questions!