Posts Tagged ‘Current Events’
Posted on January 12, 2012 by Suzan Woodard in Classroom Ideas, Integration Ideas, Personal Experiences, Reading Lists, Writing.
Tags: Current Events, Environment, Matilda Snake, Reptiles, Snake Books for Kids, Writing Online
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Wildlife Conservation Society photo of the colorful Matilda viper.
Mention the “S” word and you’ll usually get polar reactions. Some people express revulsion, while others indicate fascination for all things viper. But, it’s safe to bet that everyone has a snake story to tell.
My oldest daughter stepped on a copperhead in her bare feet while playing in our yard. My geologist father stared a few rattlesnakes down in his day while doing field study, and I found a sizeable black snake nesting under the pine shavings in a horse stall a few years back. There was a snake in our church gym’s rafters at a girls’ youth group sleepover, and my mom found “Mr. Thin Lips” lounging on the grill on her porch. Similar anecdotes by students could be the launching pad for writing stories on Big Universe – ones full of sequence words, action verbs and descriptive adjectives!
We all escaped unscathed, except for a few heart palpitations. Our inquisitive chocolate Labrador Retriever was the only family member to ever be bitten. She had a run-in with a copperhead. Her nose swelled, but the vet said she would recover quickly. And, she did.
I’m not particularly fond of being startled by snakes. I’d much rather observe them from behind a nice thick pane of glass or read about them. Big Universe Learning has numerous children’s books about snakes and reptiles that make this possible. These online books are pretty interesting and are the perfect supplement to science units about reptiles or the environment. (See list below.)
Why did I pick this topic for my blog? Well, it’s not because I really enjoy scaly things, but I do love zoology, scientific discovery and current events. An Associated Press (AP) article today heralded a new green-horned snake named after a little British girl called “Matilda.” The rare lemon-colored snake was found in Tanzania and was introduced to the world in the December issue of the scientific journal Zootaxa.
“Only three new vipers have been discovered across Africa the last three decades, making the find rare and important,” according to the AP article.
“My daughter, who was 5 at the time, became fascinated by it and used to love spending time watching it and helping us look after it,” said Tim Davenport, the director of the Wildlife Conservation Society in Tanzania, who – along with two teammates – discovered the highly endangered snake two years ago. The find was kept under wraps until a conservation plan could be initiated.
Big Universe’s Snake Books for Children
BigUniverse.com has a boo-tiful collection of online Halloween books for children.
I love the fall. I hate Halloween. I love apple cider. I hate blood and gore. I love pumpkins, but Jack-o-lanterns creep me out. I love to read books, but I hate to watch horror films. It’s pretty black and white with me. Some would say I’m boring or too literal. I say, “To thine own self be true.”
When I was 20, I saw “Friday the 13th.” It was peer pressure, pure and simple. I didn’t sleep well for weeks. When I was 30, I saw “Silence of the Lambs.” I was well into my third trimester with my daughter, Hannah. I had no idea what the movie was about when I entered the theater. My unborn baby got so much adrenaline that evening that she could have auditioned for River Dance and been a shoo-in. I’m still trying to forgive my husband for that ill-advised date.
I’ve never watched “Jaws,” “The Exorcist,” “The Shining,” “Nightmare on Elm Street” or “Poltergeist.” I’d rather curl up with a good book. There’s never any manipulative musical score lurking in the pages of a book, and if the story line gets overly suspenseful, I can just put the book aside for a while.
Oct 31 is fast approaching, but I am not putting up any freaky porch decorations, planning a trip to the local haunted house, or taking any spooky hayrides. I just despise being scared or startled. The physical electric shocks that run up my arms are not pleasant. The pounding heart is no fun either.
I am not alone. According to Dr. Glenn Sparks, a Purdue University communications professor who studies people’s reactions to terrifying imagery in media, about one-third of the population falls into this category. He says our kind just doesn’t see any redeeming value to stories that leave us frozen with fear. However, that leaves about two-thirds who do.
The 2011 Halloween Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey by the National Retail Federation indicates that seven out of 10 Americans plan to celebrate Halloween this season – the largest number in the nine years that the NRF has conducted the poll. Spending is expected to be a little over $72 per person with total expenditures tallying $6.86 billion. That’s a whole lot of candy corn and faux spider webs, if you ask me!
In a WebMD article, Dr. Sparks said that some studies show that males like to be scared more than females. “It’s not that they truly enjoy being scared, but they get great satisfaction being able to say that they conquered and mastered something that was threatening. They enjoy the feeling that they ‘made it through.’”
Some girls fit into this category for sure. I had middle school and college friends that loved riding roller coasters and jumping off the 10-meter diving tower at a nearby water park. Some of my daughters’ friends fit this category. You probably have a few of these future bungee jumpers in your own classrooms right now! Very often they are the ones with the skinned knees, casts on their arms and oozing shenanigans. If you can harness this energy and direct it, these kids can learn all sorts of things and be highly successful. I like to think of these children as leaders in disguise!
…So, I remind you to know your children – whether they are your own or kids in the classroom. Some will gravitate toward scary tales like zombies to a graveyard, while other sensitive types will prefer more sanitized or realistic tales. Know where your children are developmentally. It’ll help you direct them to reading material they will enjoy. Understanding their families’ cultural backgrounds and spiritual beliefs are an additional piece to the diversity puzzle. Your Hispanic children may observe the Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos), while others may observe All Saints’ Day, All Souls’ Day or Reformation Day.
Children’s Halloween Books at Big Universe
- Five Trick-or-Treaters, Grades K and up.
- Gruesome Grub Halloween Party, Grades K and up.
- Kid’s Halloween Party, Grades K and up.
- Halloween, Grades K and up. (Audio included)
- When I Go Trick-or-Treating, Grades 1 and up.
- Haunted Party, Grades 1-2.
- Boo Cow, Grades 1-3.
- Penelope and the Monsters, Grades 2-3.
- Haunted Houses, Grades 4-6.
- Ghosts, Grades 4-6.
- The Secret of Grim Hill, Book 1, Grades 4-6.
- Grim Hill, Book 2: The Secret Deepens, Grades 4-6.
- The Shade, Grades 5-9.
Have a fun and SAFE holiday. (Don’t forget to brush those teeth and floss after sampling your Halloween candy. )
*NOTE: For the adrenaline junkies in your classroom, check out the children’s picture books highlighted in the Big Universe blog “Extreme Sports Books for the Reluctant Reader.”
* NOTE: Don’t forget to enter the Charlesbridge dragon-themed writing contest for children, K-3rd Grade. The deadline for entries is Dec. 31, 2011. Prizes include an author school visit and a $100 certificate for books. Click this contest submission guidelines link to read more about the rules.
Read about pumpkins in English or Spanish on BigUniverse.com.
What feeds the rumor mill? Well, sadly, just about anything. Often rumors are linked to people’s common fears, making them sound plausible even though they may be an oversimplification of the truth or downright fabrications.
As of late, the rumor of a pumpkin shortage has been broadcast far and wide. It’s October, so this of course feeds into everyone’s imagination. No pumpkins! No jack-o-lanterns! No pumpkin pie! Halloween and Thanksgiving are cancelled! Oh the humanity!
While some farmers did experience vine crop loss this year because of catastrophic flooding and uncooperative weather, losses did not stretch from Canada to Mexico or the East Coast to California. Some “cucurbits” growers did fine, so local shortages are being remedied by our marvelous transportation system. Produce stands are getting their supplies from neighboring patches – perhaps even out-of-state farms – a common occurrence in our commerce system. A pumpkin may cost a wee bit more at the grocery, but I doubt many tykes will go without.
One thing’s for sure. BigUniverse.com didn’t suffer a pumpkin shortage. We have plenty to go around – thanks to the beauty of the 24×7 eBook! We carry the English language variety, “Pumpkins” by author Jacqueline Farmer and illustrator Phyllis Limbacher Tildes. There’s a Spanish version too, titled “Calabazas.” Both picture books from Charlesbridge Publishing are leveled for kindergarten through Grade 3 and include an online reading comprehension quiz.
Charlesbridge has also posted a picture book on Big Universe, titled “Piggies in the Pumpkin Patch.” It’s a poetic tale of porkers plotting a peculiar path during a romp through the barnyard. It has strong picture and text support, directional words, figurative language and provides the opportunity for vocabulary and mapping skills development, as well as exposure to life science, organisms and their environments.
Pumpkins have shown up in literature for a long time. Remember Cinderella’s coach? How about Peter, the pumpkin eater? And, of course, a pumpkin plays an important role in Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.”
The 1901 edition of "Mother Goose" featured this William Wallace Denslow illustration with the "Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater" nursery rhyme.
Mother Goose Rhyme
Peter, Peter pumpkin eater,
Had a wife but couldn’t keep her;
He put her in a pumpkin shell
And there he kept her very well.
Mr. Pumpkin
(Same tune as “Where is Thumpkin?”)
Mr. Pumpkin, Mr. Pumpkin,
Eyes so round. Eyes so round.
Halloween is coming. Halloween is coming.
To my town. To my town.
I’m an Orange Pumpkin
(Same tune as “I’m a Little Teapot”)
I’m a little pumpkin
Orange and round.
Here is my stem,
There is the ground.
When I get all cut up,
Don’t you shout!
Just open me up
And scoop me out!
Pumpkin Poem
One day I found two pumpkin seeds.
I planted one and pulled the weeds.
It sprouted roots and a big, long vine.
A pumpkin grew; I called it mine.
The pumpkin was quite round and fat.
(I really am quite proud of that.)
But there is something I’ll admit
That has me worried just a bit.
I ate the other seed, you see.
Now will it grow inside of me?
(I’m so relieved since I have found
That pumpkins only grow in the ground!)
Other Pumpkin Unit Enrichment Links
**NOTE: While the great “pumpkin shortage of 2011” may be easy to remedy, real-life rumors, gossip and slander may not be so easy to handle. PBSKids.org has some online material that may be useful if this is an issue in your classroom. (Just click the link provided.) Words are powerful. Use them wisely.
Pair online children's books from Big Universe with current events to add "life" to your classroom.
If you’ve read any of my blogs in the past year or so, you know that I am enamored with many things…kids, children’s books, literacy and current events…to name a few. Just like planets sometimes align and make a bright light in the night sky, this week’s current events are providing a stellar opportunity to use real-life events as teaching moments.
Whirling, swirling, rocking, rolling and social revolution are words that come to mind….
Hurricane Irene is barreling toward the North Carolina coastline and is projected to travel through Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York and Boston. That’s a lot of nature to contend with, especially after the 5.8 magnitude earthquake that rocked the Eastern seaboard on Aug. 23.
(Or, was that quake simply the reverberation of my husband’s 50th birthday, the AARP card arriving in the mail, and the fact that we had just become empty-nesters?)
The roller-coaster ride also was evident in the stock markets here and around the world. The world of Libyan citizens is rocking too. Social revolution has a way of doing that!
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was at the eye of the storm 45 years ago, as he fought for social justice. It’s rather symbolic that the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial dedication ceremonies are still in the eye of the storm – thanks to Irene. Many of the week’s star-studded events have been changed by organizers after consulting with the National Park Service, the Mayor’s office in D.C. and FEMA regarding safety issues. The official dedication will be rescheduled for this fall. Organizers posted this Dr. King quote on their King national memorial website: “We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.”
And finally, 91 years ago today, Aug. 26, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was declared in effect. It guaranteed women’s right to vote. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt was a huge supporter of civil liberty. Not only did she actively work for women’s right to vote, but she supported racial equality and civil rights. In fact, after she was no longer at the White House she joined the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and worked with Dr. King.
These current events can serve as a diving board into deeper discussions in the classroom. What’s really cool is that Big Universe’s online bookshelves have books related to all these topics! While teaching in preparation for national testing must be considered, every classroom has some wiggle room and breathing space for branching out. And, Big Universe is there for you. Take advantage!
Pairing Kids Books & Current Events
For more ideas about using news events in the classroom, read “10 Ways to Use Current Events in the Classroom” or “Add Life to Your Teaching with Current Events.”
Posted on August 18, 2011 by Suzan Woodard in Reading Lists.
Tags: Coins, Current Events, Dollar, Dollars and Sense, Financial Literacy for Kids, Math, Math Books for Children, Money, Shel Silverstein, Teaching Children about Money
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Big Universe has children's books that help teach the value of money.
Even though prices at the pump are falling, few are naïve enough to think that it signals an end to economic turmoil. We all know we are in a heap of trouble: debt, unemployment, high food prices, spiraling stock value and dwindling savings. Um, did I mention debt?
Somewhere along the line, we adults missed the money lesson, “Dollars and Sense.” We didn’t listen when our mamas told us, “Money doesn’t grow on trees, you know.” Well, I guess it appeared it did for some, but even that greenery is suffering from severe root rot.
I suspect it’s going to take some radical changes to address this blight. We may have trouble digging ourselves out, but there’s still time to teach our children their lessons about financial literacy. Building good habits now may help this generation avoid having to break bad ones later on.
I say start teaching financial literacy young – as soon as the risk of swallowing pennies passes. No, wait! We can start teaching them before that! We can begin by setting a good example at home. We can take our children and grandchildren shopping, show them the grocery list and talk about the value of coins, bills and a personal budget. An allowance presents a framework for teaching lessons on saving, spending and sharing, and a lemonade stand and chores help children draw the link between work and financial reward.
There are many ways to enrich financial literacy lessons at school too: games, books, hands-on activities and even poems. Here is a humorous poem by Shel Silverstein, followed by a nice list of online books about money on Big Universe. For an extensive list of other math books on the website, visit my blog titled “Math Class Need a Makeover? Try Some Good Books.”
Smart
My dad gave me one dollar bill
‘Cause I’m his smartest son,
And I swapped it for two shiny quarters
‘Cause two is more than one!
And then I took the quarters
And traded them to Lou
For three dimes — I guess he don’t know
That three is more than two!
Just then, along came old blind Bates
And just ’cause he can’t see
He gave me four nickles for my three dimes,
And four is more than three!
And I took the nickels to Hiram Coombs
Down at the seed-feed store,
And the fool gave me five pennies for them,
And five is more than four!
And then I went and showed my dad,
And he got red in the cheeks
And closed his eyes and shook his head–
Too proud of me to speak!
- by Shel Silverstein
Books About Money on Big Universe
- “American Coins and Bills,” Grade Level 3-5
- “Our Economy In Action,” Grades 3-5
- “USING MONEY on a Shopping Trip,” Grades 2 and up
- “USING MONEY at the Lemonade Stand,” Grades 1 and up
- “Around the World with Money,” Grades 4 and up
- “How Coins and Bills Are Made,” Grades 3-6
- “Bank Tellers Then and Now,” Grades 2-3
- “Money Through the Ages,” Grades 3-4
- “Shopping in the City,” Grades 1 and up
- “Counting at the Market,” Grades K and up
- “The Shopping Cart,” Grades K and up
- “What Color is Your Piggy Bank? Entrepreneurial Ideas for Self-Starting Kids,” Grades 4-9
Big Universe offers an assortment of baseball books for children -- just in time for summer reading.
Major League Baseball has a new official historian named John Thorn. Mr. Thorn is an established sports author, who loves baseball, history and words. He’s channeled that passion into his latest project – a children’s book titled “First Pitch: How Baseball Began,” published by Beach Ball Books.
Big Universe has an online collection of children’s baseball books too, so I compiled an easy-to-tackle summer reading list for all the young sports enthusiasts. (See list below.)
Big Universe thinks summer reading is vital to the educational process, and so do I. My girls read tens of thousands of pages each summer (no kidding!), and I have no doubt that this practice contributed to their highly successful academic careers.
Books read during the summer keep developing brains primed for learning, feeding children’s natural curiosity and desire to learn. Summer reading underscores lessons learned in the previous school year and helps remediate issues for struggling learners. Exposure to new books readies students for vocabulary, formats and new material they’ll see in their classrooms in the fall.
Children’s Books about Baseball
Go to the "Read" page on Big Universe and click on the "Browse or Search for Books" tab to find the "Summer Reading Lists" drop-down tab.
NOTE: Big Universe has compiled age-leveled book lists, as well as other assorted topical book lists for SUMMER READING. Students can tackle one or more lists, or they can pick and choose various Big Universe titles, logging books or reading minutes as they go. Simply go to Big Universe’s “Read” page, find the “Browse or Search for Books” sidebar, and click on the “Summer Reading Lists” tab to get a drop-down list of suggestions. Themes include: Animals, Chapter Books, Cultures, Humor, Nature, Science and Sports.
Or, click on one of the following blogs for other thematic book lists:
Big Universe's "Tornadoes" picture book will help answer kids' questions about these powerful storms. (NOAA photo)
Children’s minds are a wonderful realm – a place where the road is paved with Who’s and How’s and Why’s, leading all the way to the kingdom of knowledge.
With questions, children seek to answer the great mysteries of life and slay the dragons that threaten. They try to make sense of their environment and gain some independence.
Last week, the questions might have been “Who invented Brussels sprouts?” or “How do ocean tides move in and out?” This week, I suspect thousands of children are asking, “Why do tornadoes happen?”
In light of current events, the tornado question might be a very hard one to answer. Sometimes books can help. There are many kid-focused websites that put this weather phenomenon into terms they can grasp. One way or another, these questions need to be answered. Take the time to work this one out.
BigUniverse.com offers several weather books, and I’ve tracked down a few websites with lesson plans about tornadoes.
10 Places to Find Out About Tornadoes
- “Tornadoes” (book) (Reading Level Q. Interest Age: 3-12)
- “Investigating Storms” (book), pages 14-17, (Reading Level R. Interest Age: 9-12)
- “Rourke’s World of Science Encyclopedia, Volume 4: Earth Science” (book), page 45, (Interest Age: Grades 3-8)
- “Our Powerful Planet: The Curious Kid’s Guide to Tornadoes, Earthquakes and Other Phenomena” (book), pages 16-17, (Interest Age: Grades 2 and up.)
- WeatherWhizKids (website)
- KidStorm SkyDiary (website)
- TornadoWordTwister quiz (website)
- Create a Tornado experiment (website)
- National Geographic: Eye in the Sky—Tornadoes (website)
- FEMA Tornadoes: A Kid’s Guide (website)
To learn more about using current events as an educational resource in the classroom, read these Big Universe Blogs by Suzan Woodard.
“10 Ways to Use Current Events in the Classroom”
“Add Life to Your Teaching with Current Events”
“Dealing with Death Through Books”
“Baby, It’s Cold Outside! Cue the Weather Books”
“Mark Civil Rights Anniversary with Rosa Parks Bio”
Posted on April 22, 2011 by Suzan Woodard in Personal Experiences, Reading Lists.
Tags: Biofuels, Current Events, Earth Day, Eco-friendly Books for Children, Endangered Animal, Footprint, Free Coffee at Starbucks, Going Green, Kids Books About the Environment, nature books, Save the Planet, Solar Energy, Wind Energy
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Earth Day 2011: Big Universe and Starbucks are both eco-minded companies.
It’s Earth Day.
I celebrated by stopping in at Starbucks for a cup of free Earth Day coffee and spent the next hour catching up with my husband and daughters, who are all on Easter break. Not one of us texted anyone, Googled anything or had ear buds in our ears. It was sweet.
When I got home, I picked a bouquet of wild flowers. I am blessed to live in the countryside and can get my floral fix from my own backyard, rather than having to buy hothouse blooms shipped from across the country. I also played in my herb garden, pulling a few blades of grass from among the basil, mint and oregano. My 11 egg-producing hens clucked nearby. (This is my stab at being a locavore – a person who eats local or regionally grown foods.)
If I had the funds, I’d install some solar panels on the backside of the barn roof and the house. Heaven knows we get enough sun here in South Carolina. This spring, it’s been “in like a lion” and “out like a lion,” so a wind turbine would probably have generated some wattage, too.
While those eco-friendly options may not be feasible right now, I can still do my part. We recycle, watch our water consumption, combine errands on our trips about town to reduce gas usage, and we compost leaves, grass clippings and all our food scraps. It’s the least we can do to protect the health of the earth we live on.
Both of my girls are fairly green-minded. They’ve been raised that way, as was I. A little information and instruction and some behavior modeling go a long way. You, too, can influence the little people in your life to respect the environment. It’s their future.
Earth-friendly Books on Big Universe
Get It While It’s Hot
FYI…If you hurry, you can probably still get a free cup of joe (or tea) at your local Starbucks. Just remember to take your own travel mug or tumbler, which are eco-friendly.
Last year, Starbucks estimated that 1.2 million people in the United States and Canada took advantage of the company’s Earth Day promotion. Starbucks is trying to raise awareness about how easy it is to reduce the amount of paper and Styrofoam that ends up in landfills. The company offers a similar incentive daily throughout the year. Take in a reusable mug and the barista will take 10 cents off your drink purchase.
Happy Earth Day!
Posted on April 11, 2011 by Suzan Woodard in Reading Lists.
Tags: Bellwether, Crafts for Children, Current Events, Diversity, Eleanor Coerr, Grief, Hiroshima, Japan Earthquake, Natural disasters, Origami Cranes, Radiation, Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes, Tsunami
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Making origami cranes is the perfect companion activity after reading the children's picture book "Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes."
It’s been one month since a magnitude 9.0 earthquake shook Japan and caused a devastating tsunami to hit the shoreline, killing thousands, destroying towns and triggering one of the worst nuclear accidents in history.
It’s a lot of sadness and destruction for adults to take in, let alone kids! But, we are the adults, and we need to do what we can to help children cope with tragedy.
Many primary teachers have opted to reread the classic children’s book “Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes” to their students. It promotes discussion, and talking helps children process scary current events and natural disasters. It develops their vocabularies so they can express their thoughts and work through worries.
Sad, But Hope Filled
Written in 1977 by American author Eleanor Coerr, the non-fiction children’s book tells the story of Sadako Sasaki, a Japanese girl, who lived in Hiroshima in 1945 during the atomic bombing. Over time, Sadako develops cancer from radiation exposure. To cope with her overwhelming circumstances, she places her hope and energies into folding 1,000 paper cranes. Folklore said a person who created 1,000 origami cranes would be granted a wish.
Sadako worked diligently, but her illness overcame her. After her death, funds were raised to build a memorial for all the children who died as a result of the nuclear attack. In 1958, a statue of Sadako with an origami crane was dedicated at Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial. The statue’s plaque reads: “This is our cry. This is our prayer. Peace on Earth.”
Diversity Training
”Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes” has been translated into many languages and is used in peace, empathy and diversity training. However, because of the subject matter, the book is generally not recommended for children younger than 8 or those who are extremely sensitive.
A third-grade teacher in Portland, Ore., organized an after-school event a few days ago based on the “thousand cranes” concept to promote compassion for Japan, her native homeland. Attendees made 1,000 cranes and are now aiming for 3,000. Sponsors are donating $2 per origami crane, which will be donated to disaster relief in Japan.
The Children’s Museum of the Upstate in Greenville, S.C., hosted a similar project to help local children express their concern for their peers across the ocean.
“Starting today, we will dedicate a space for visitors to make paper cranes and write notes to show support for the people of Japan,” said museum CEO Mary Sellers in a recent news story by TV station WYFF. “Paper cranes are an important symbol in Japan as they represent good fortune, hope, goodwill, and due to the children’s book ‘Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes,’ they have also come to symbolize peace.”
Crane Craft Links
If you’re interested in making paper craft cranes with your children, check out these three instruction resources. (Please use recycled paper.)
Big Universe and Japan
Also, consider “Japan” as a companion read. It’s a children’s picture book authored by Colleen Sexton and published by Bellwether, one of BigUniverse.Com’s publishing partners. Bellwether’s “Tsunamis,” “Bullet Trains” and “Investigating Plate Tectonics” also are featured on Big Universe and all have a Japan link. Or, read “Our Powerful Planet: The Curious Kid’s Guide to Tornadoes, Earthquakes, and Other Phenomena.”
Well Worth a Look!
I also highly recommend the expansive children’s book list for children K-8, compiled by the Japan Society of New York. It’s a 39-page PDF, but well worth a look!
Note: If the accident in Japan has prompted you to incorporate the subject during class time, you might be interested in reading the following blogs about current events, natural disasters and global citizenship.
“10 Ways to Use Current Events in the Classroom”
“Good Books Foster Global Citizenship”
“Add Life to Your Teaching with Current Events”
“Dealing with Death Through Books”
The Shuttle Discovery
The wheels of space shuttle Discovery touched down around noon today at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, having successfully completed 39 missions and traveled millions of miles over its 27-year service. While the ship will be retired from its forays into outer space, the scientific contributions will continue “to infinity and beyond.”
The space ship will “offer scientific insight to future engineers,” said mission management team chairman Mike Moses in a statement on the NASA website. “‘The vehicle itself is a science platform,’ he said, adding that parts of Discovery will be pulled from the spacecraft and evaluated.”
Two other shuttle missions are in the planning stages for the Endeavour and Atlantis spacecrafts. These current events offer the perfect opportunity to improve literacy by incorporating everyday news into classroom lessons. (For more ideas, read “10 Ways to Use Current Events in the Classroom” or “Add Life to Your Teaching with Current Events.”)
Children can learn more about the shuttle program at Big Universe.com, an educational website with an extensive online library of children’s picture books. Books on the shuttle, astronomy, space, astronauts, planets, technology and other facets of science are only a click away. It’s a great resource for kids who need to write a report about outer space or astronomy, or who need background information for a science project.
Space and Astronomy Books on Big Universe
NOTE: To view additional NASA teaching resource materials for educators, go to the following links: K-4 and Grades 5-8.
