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Fun with Science and Math
for Parents and Children
This is the last in this series of newsletters covering three workshops from the Every Child Ready to Read Project that is on a special topic. In May we looked at Fun with Letters,
June was Fun with Words, and now, the Fun with Science and Math workshop. All three workshops can be presented to parents, grandparents, and/or childcare providers, however the child is also present. Here is a brief look at this workshop.
To present the workshop, librarians are encouraged to display an assortment of materials for children ages two to five including picture books and informational books related to science
and math, also activity books parents can use to find science and math activities that their children may enjoy. Also, you should have a fun math or science activity the families can do together. The case is made that the more a child learns about the world
around her, the more words she will be exposed to. Children are natural scientists and mathematicians who use basic science and math concepts every day by exploring, predicting, sorting, classifying, comparing and contrasting. The manual has a sample science
activity that you can do by exploring ice cubes (or you can do your own activity). Another activity has children learning new words by observing pictures of a monarch butterfly. Then simple math concepts are discussed such as more and less; large and small;
long and short; and shapes and repeated patterns. The suggested math activity is using machine tape to measure the height of the children present. Though the manual does not mention this, if you have legos or duplos, there are various math concepts you could
introduce using them, plus it would provide a fun play activity.
A handout on books about science and math is included in the
Every Child Ready to Read manual. However, I would like to mention a few of my favorites that have been published in the last year that are not included in the bibliography since it was compiled several years ago.
Davies, Nicola.
I Don’t Like Snakes. Candlewick, 2015.
Dickson, Irene.
Blocks. Nosy Crow, 2016.
Henkes, Kevin.
When Spring Comes. Greenwillow, 2016.
Heos, Bridget.
I Fly: The Buzz About Flies and How Awesome They Are. Holt, 2015.
Jenkins, Martin.
Fabulous Frogs. Candlewick, 2016.
Kleber, Dori. More-igami. Candlewick, 2016.
Shannon, George.
One Family. FSG, 2015.
New Books of the Month
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The Cookie Fiasco. By Dan Santat. Disney-Hyperion, 2016. ISBN: 978-1484726365, $9.99.
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We Are Growing. By Laurie Keller. Disney-Hyperion, 2016. ISBN: 978-1484726358, $9.99.
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Many of us were disappointed to hear that Mo Willems has written his last Elephant and Piggie book. Not only did kids love them, but they were fun to booktalk, and I even acted
out a few of the stories with props. But all good series must come to an end, and now at least other authors/illustrators have a chance to win a Geisel Award or a Geisel Honor Award as the Elephant and Piggie books won numerous times over the years!
There is now a new beginning reader series (Yikes! They also could win a Geisel Award!) called the Elephant and Piggie Reading Series. Each book is introduced by the Elephant
and Piggie characters in a few short pages, and at the book’s end, Elephant and Piggie also conclude the story. Different authors/illustrators will write each book and supposedly, these are some of elephant and piggies’ favorite books to read. The dialogue-driven
text is written in a storytelling style, and the books could be read to younger children who have not yet learned to read, because of their silly humor. The first two books are being released September, 2016, but many more will follow.
After attending the American Library Association Conference in Orlando, Florida this June, I literally ran into Mo Willems at the Orlando airport food court and chatted with him while
we both ate lunch. He will be editor for the entire series, which is a new role for him (editor). So, his talents now include: cartoonist; writer and animator for Sesame Street where he garnered six Emmys; stand-up comedian in NYC; animator for other TV series;
author and illustrator for numerous award-winning books; producer of children’s videos that have won the Carnegie Medal; and now, editor. Some people have a never ending list of talents!
Here is a brief recap of the first two books in the series arriving this fall:
The Cookie Fiasco. Four friends, hippo, croc and two squirrels, have a problem. There are four
of them, but only three cookies. How can they make an equal number of cookies for all of them to enjoy?
We Are Growing! Walt and his friends are grass blades that are really growing! Each of them
has a special characteristic: the tallest; the curliest; the silliest; etc. But Walt feels he is not anything special. It takes a lawn mower to bring them all back to size for Walt to realize what his specialty is.
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