Seymour Simon's Blog, page 9

As a holiday gift to all my readers, we will be opening up the PopUp Library—- FREE eBooks for ALL kids——during the winter break. As many of you know, 2013 was a very big year for me because we launched a high quality digital publishing company called StarWalk Kids Media. I certainly never expected to become a publisher, but when eBooks were first evolving several years ago I was looking for ways to distribute my own eBooks in the highest quality format possible. I ended up founding a digital publishing company (along with a great group of talented children’s media and publishing executives) and our Library is now up to 200 high quality eBooks from more than 40 authors and illustrators whose work you know and trust. Whether or not your school is currently a subscriber, we hope that all kids will sample these books during the holidays. Many families will be acquiring tablets or computers as holiday gifts, and all they have to do is enter the PopUp Library URL—- www.StarWalkKids.com/popup—- into the browser and they will be able to choose and read high interest, professionally narrated eBooks. I think some of my adult readers might enjoy sampling these eBooks, too! We have created a simple, B&W flyer that you can download, print out and pop into students’ backpacks this week so that families are aware of this free reading opportunity over the break. Click on thislink to download. And finally, be on the lookout for my annual Top Ten Countdown of the most popular stories on this blog in 2013. From December 22 through December 31 Liz and I will take a break from working on the blog and turn it over to the year in review. Writing Wednesday really caught on in 2013, and many of the top stories are going to feature student writing. So tell your students to watch this space. They may see their own writing celebrated at the end of the year!

He’s done it again. Seymour Simon has won yet another "Outstanding Science Trade Book K-12" selection by the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA). This makes more than 80 of his books that have received this important designation, which is even more special this year because for the first time the books were judged on their relevance to the newly published Next Generation Science Standards. The judges wrote of EXTREME OCEANS: Captivating photographs support treatment of an intriguing topic, including ocean science technology.Our readers love the book, too. In case you missed it,click here to reada review written by 7-year-old Hagan when the book came out earlier this year.

Writing Wednesday is all about Pandas this week! Below, you will find excerpts from two different books, both titled Panda. In each of these excerpts, the author is writing about the first days of life for a newborn panda cub. The first, by Susan Bonners, is an illustrated story. The second, by Caroline Arnold, uses photographs as illustrations. But those aren’t the only differences between these two books. As you read these passages from the two different books, we want you to think about the differences in the styles of the two authors, and write a paragraph about how they are different. Things you might think about as you are reading: Why would you choose one Panda book over the other? Would you use these books for different purposes (and what purposes)? Why do you think each author chose her style of presentation? What reaction were the authors trying to get from their readers?When you have finished writing about the differences between these two pieces of writing, click on the "Comments" button at the bottom of this post to share your writing with others. Note for Educators: Both of these books are part of the streaming digital collection from StarWalk Kids Media.Click hereif you would like to learn more about subscribing to this high quality, affordable collection of Common Core mentor texts.

I decided to share photos of mymarine reef (salt water) aquarium today because I realizedthat some of you enjoyed seeing the photo of my freshwater aquarium last week. Many of you responded via Twitter (@seymoursimon), and I liked hearing from teachers who keep aquariums in their classrooms, just as I used to. I love keeping aquariums and I particularly enjoy having a reef aquarium because of all the fascinating invertebrates that live there. Here is what is living in my reef aquarium - the black one is called a 3-spot damselfish, there is a pair of clownfish who are together all the time, a yellowtail blue damsel and of course, many living rocks. There is also a fire shrimp (bright red with white antennae - very beautiful) and a porcelain crab, but they both hide under the rock most of the time. I only see them when I feed them and they come out to grab some food.The black fish is the 3-spot damsel, and it’s getting awfully big. I may end up taking it back to the aquarium store—they will put it into a larger tank where it has plenty of room to grow and can enjoy a life swimming with bigger fish. Although I’d hate to give it up, it gives me a great opportunity to think about which new, beautiful tropical fish to add to this environment. I haven’t kept a marine reef aquarium in quite a few years, and when I started reading about what equipment to buy and how to set this one up, I realized that technology really is changing the way we do everything around us. In 1976 I wrote a book for Viking called TROPICAL SALTWATER AQUARIUMS: HOW TO SET THEM UP AND KEEP THEM GOING. Everything (and I mean everything) about the process of setting up a reef aquarium has changed. It is comforting to know that the inhabitants - that is the fish and invertebrates themselves - are still the same.

Every so often, you have to do a big clean up in a freshwater aquarium. There’s too much algae, plants have grown out of control, and it’s just generally overcrowded.That’s how I was feeling this week, so I pulled everything out, washed it all (no soap! it kills the fish!), trimmed back the plants and squeegeed all the glass. The fish were not happy - I think they were a little freaked out with all their hiding places removed.But eventually I got everything back in shape and put it back together. Doesn’t it look great?!

We would like to begin today’s Writing Wednesday by welcoming Mr. Gredder’s 5th Graders from Land O’ Pines Elementary School. We’re looking forward to hearing from you all! Are you ready to write about FOG? Science News Story: Park rangers and tourists alike at the Grand Canyon were treated to a rare sight over Thanksgiving weekend.Everyone rushed to see as word spread that the massive canyon, the longest in the world, was full of fog. Normally air gets colder with altitude. In other words, the temperature drops as you go up in the atmosphere. Occasionally, an "inversion" happens. An inversion means that the cold air stays close to the ground and the moisture condenses into droplets of fog. That is what happened at the Grand Canyon last weekend, filling the huge gorge with a mighty river of fog. "Much better than Black Friday!" National Park Service Ranger Erin Whittaker posted on theGrand Canyon’s Facebook page. "Rangers wait for years to see it. Word spread like wildfire and most ran to the rim to photograph it. What a fantastic treat for all!" Your assignment: Explain this unusual weather event in your own words. Use details from both the photographs and the news story in your description of this Thanksgiving treat. Happy Writing!Photos: Erin Whittaker, National Park ServiceNote for Educators: Did you know that we have more than 50 Writing Wednesday topics archived on SeymourSimon.com? We strive to make these posts evergreen so that you can use them whenever the topic suits your lesson plan. Check out theWriting Wednesday Archivetoday!

A Pennsylvania doctor on a Montana fishing trip caught something very surprising - a 25-pound baby moose! Dr. Karen Sciascia and her guide were fishing in Montana’s Big Hole River when they spotted a moose trying to cross the rushing water. "We were watching this adult female struggling back and forth, and we didn’t see a baby until we got close," said Dr. Sciascia. The current was so fast that even the large adult moose struggled, and when her calf entered the water it was swept downstream. Sciascia and guide Seth McLean followed downriver, finally spotting the tiny moose’s nose just above the water. "We got up alongside it, and I scooped it up from the river under its front legs," Sciascia said. "It was [still] breathing, and I could feel its heart beating real fast." McLean rowed the raft upstream and they dropped off the calf at the other side of the river. The mother had disappeared into the woods but returned to the river after hearing the crying of her young calf. "It was cool to be in the right place at the right time," Sciascia said. Thanks to the Missoulian for the information in this story. Photo: Four Rivers Fishing Company

Look at these train tracks. Can you think of what could have made them bend like that? If you guessed an earthquake, you would be right. This is what was left after a magnitude 7.1 earthquake happened near Christchurch, New Zealand on September 4, 2010. I love this image because it helps us understand just how strong an earthquake is. While that measurement 7.1 may not mean much to us, seeing how the force of that earthquake can bend these solid steel rails really helps us to understand how much energy is released in an earthquake. Imagine if you had been standing on this ground. It would be moving so forcefully under your feet that you would not be able to remain standing. You would be knocked off your feet by the powerful force of an earthquake like this one.Read more in Seymour Simon’s bookEARTHQUAKES. Or, if your school subscribes to theStarWalk Kids Media eBook collection, you can read and listen to Seymour Simon’sDANGER! EARTHQUAKES.

Did you ever have a day when you just feel like you need a hug? This mother and baby giraffe are obviously having that kind of a day, and that is our Cool Photo of the Week.Photographer Marsha Williams tells us that this baby was a newborn. Can you imagine being up and walking when you were less than one day old?

Are you as fascinated by bats as I am? I love to watch them come out just after the sun sets and begin to feed on insects on summer nights. I have not seen as many in recent years because we have a fungus called "white nose syndrome" endangering the Brown Bat here in North America. Scientists are still trying to find a way to protect our native bats. A different species, a large fruit bat known as the Spectacled Flying Fox, is facing its own challenges in Queensland, Australia. It turns out that the problem for these bats is ticks, which dig into the bats’ skin and inject a paralyzing poison. Once their feet are paralyzed, they can no longer hang upside down from tree branches to sleep, and they die.The time of year when the ticks are most plentiful is also the time when most baby flying foxes are born, so rescuers realized a number of years ago that they needed to come up with a plan to save these orphaned baby bats. Veterinarians in Queensland set up the Tolga Bat Hospital, and hundreds of orphaned baby fruit bats are being rescued each year and raised at the hospital until they can be released into the wild. Isn’t is good to see these magnificent wild animals being cared for by humans?Photo: Jurgen Freund / naturepl.com