Common Core IRL: Multimedia resources on volcanoes (ages 9 - 12)

Volcanoes certainly grab your attention, with their enormous size, ferocious explosions and deadly force. About 1,500 volcanoes are currently active, threatening more than one billion people on Earth! But how do we help our students learn about these rumbling giants?

Today, our Common Core IRL team is uncovering a range of resources to help students learn about volcanoes. Alyson at KidLit Frenzy, Cathy and Louise at The Nonfiction Detectives, Travis at 100 Scope Notes and I have been sharing ideas all summer on the Common Core. It's certainly a hot topic!

Here at Great Kid Books, I'm investigating multimedia resources to engage students, establish important background knowledge, and help develop their listening comprehension skills.

National Geographic: Volcanoes 101 (click to open)

Forces of Nature: Volcanoes 101
National Geographic Kids website
Video (without ads on the National Geographic Kids site)
Length: 3 minutes
Grades 3 and up

With dramatic images and clear narration, this National Geographic video introduces a wide range of volcanoes. Students will be fascinated by many pictures of flowing lava, billowing gas clouds and smoking mountains. The combination of visuals and clear narration helps students acquire new vocabulary words they'll need to tackle reading about this subject.

The fast paced images will hold students' attention, although the video covers too much information too quickly for students to absorb all of it at once. In fact, it might be interesting to ask students if there are any visual features, such as titles or captions, that might help make this video a better learning tool. In any case, this video serves as an excellent introduction for students interested in learning about volcanoes.

Note that the same video is available on the National Geographic site, along with several other volcano videos; however, advertisements precede the videos on the regular site and not on the National Geographic Kids site.

BBC News: video & article (click to open)

Mexico Eruption: Volcano crater viewed from the air
BBC News, 11 July 2013
Video & news article
Length: 30 seconds
Grades 3 and up

This brief television news report provides an excellent example of how active volcanoes can affect people's lives. The Popocatepetl volcano, just east of Mexico City, had been relatively quiet for much of last year. But this July, it started spewing ash and gas, causing concern for the 50,000 people living in neighboring towns. This news report is brief and succinct, making it accessible for elementary students. For a longer follow-up article, I might suggest Fox News Latino's article Mexico's Popocatepetl Volcano Gets A Check Up, published August 1, 2013.

Common Core connections:
The Common Core State Standards explicitly call for students to listen to information presented in a variety of diverse media formats. As the authors of the CCSS write in Appendix A,

"If literacy levels are to improve, the aims of the English language arts classroom, especially in the earliest grades, must include oral language in a purposeful, systematic way, in part because it helps students master the printed word... Oral language development precedes and is the foundation for written language development; in other words, oral language is primary and written language builds on it."

As librarians, we must provide our students with engaging multimedia experiences to learn about the world around them. Even in upper elementary grades, students are able to comprehend more complex material by listening to a multimedia presentation than reading about it. It's important to help students understand this, so that when they're interested in a subject they can seek out different ways of learning about it.

These resources directly connect to the following Common Core State Standards:

CCSS SL4.2: Paraphrase portions of a text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.
CCSS SL5.3: Summarize the points a speaker makes and explain how each claim is supported by reasons and evidence.

After watching the BBC news report, students can work in pairs to summarize the news and explain how the recent eruption is affecting local people in Mexico City. After watching the National Geographic Kids video, students might add to the class chart tracking information they are learning about volcanoes. It might be helpful to pause this longer video at a few strategic points to have students talk about terms they are hearing. Learning new academic and content vocabulary is especially important when exploring a new topic.

I have been absolutely fascinated learning about volcanoes. I know it's a bad pun, but I feel like I'm just barely scratching the surface of this topic. If students are interested in them, help them find a range of resources, starting with easier basic introductions and then building up to more complex resources. Check out these other posts from the Common Core IRL: In Real Libraries.

• KidLit Frenzy: Volcanoes for beginning readers
• The Nonfiction Detectives: The Krakatau Eruption for middle grade readers
• Great Kid Books: Multimedia resources for elementary students
• The Nonfiction Detectives: The Day the World Exploded - for upper elementary readers

Many thanks to my colleagues and contributors with Common Core IRL: Alyson Beecher, Louise Capizzo, Travis Jonker and Cathy Potter. We hope to continue to bring you topics throughout the year.

©2013 Mary Ann Scheuer, Great Kid Books

Rogue, by Lyn Miller-Lachmann (ages 12 - 16)

Wow, oh wow. If you want a book to grab you, take you on a gripping ride and make you think about what it means to be a friend, check out Rogue by Lyn Miller-Lachmann. My twelve-year-old read this, utterly intrigued by this story, and right away told me that I had to read it. Boy was she right!

Rogue
by Lyn Miller-Lachmann
Nancy Paulsen / Penguin, 2013
your local public library
Amazon
ages 12 - 16
*best new book*

Kiara knows that she’s different, a mutant like her hero Rogue from the popular comic book series The X-Men. As she says right from the start in this compelling first-person narrative,

“It usually took the new kids two weeks to dump me, three weeks at the most.” (p. 1) 

In fact, Kiara has Aspberger’s Syndrome and cannot process the social cues around her or the emotions surging through her. Kiara feels intensely isolated now that her mom has left to pursue a singing career in Canada and her father has emotionally withdrawn. It often seems that Mr. Internet is Kiara’s only source of information and support.

When Chad’s family moves next door, Kiara is desperate to make and keep a friend. Against her better judgment, she joins Chad on his trips to buy large quantities of Sudaphed. At first she believes that it’s just to help his little brother’s cold, but she soon realizes that Chad’s parents are running a meth lab out of their home. Chad certainly manipulates Kiara, but he does not completely reject her.

As Kiara and Chad become closer through their shared love of BMX biking, they each discover a sense of accomplishment and pride. Kiara makes exciting videos of all the kids doing stunts on their bikes, posting them to You Tube. The kids all love the attention her dramatic videos get, and she feels a special place - for once in her life.

Miller-Lachman raises multiple questions through this gripping, gritty story: What does it mean to be a friend? How do you find your place and your talents in the world? While this is certainly a story about a young girl coming to terms with Aspberger's Syndrome, it's much more a story about what it means to be a friend.

The graphic climax creates a tense narrative in which there are no tidy answers. Kiara and Chad both grow, but their journeys are difficult and will continue that way. This is certainly a book I would recommend for kids in middle school or high school, because of the impact of drug and alcohol use. It's intense, but realistic - with clear consequences.

I found it really interesting to read on Lyn Miller-Lachmann's blog about her school visit with the 8th grade at Hackett Middle School. She talked to the kids about the problems Kiara has making friends, and then asked for their advice to Kiara. It's fascinating what the kids had to say, that they recognized that Kiara needed help, and then how Miller-Lachmann transitioned the discussion into bullying.

Take a look at the beginning of Rogue on this Google Books preview:



The review copy was kindly sent by the publishers, Nancy Paulsen / Penguin. If you make a purchase using the Amazon links on this site, a small portion goes to Great Kid Books (at no cost to you!). Thank you for your support.

©2013 Mary Ann Scheuer, Great Kid Books

Summer recharge ...

The joy of escaping into a book!

I'm sorry for the silence these past few weeks. I've been recharging, spending time with my family and catching up on many things I've been wanting to do for a while. And yes, I've been doing lots of reading!

I love being able to connect specific books with the memory of where I read them and how it felt at the moment. Last summer, I loved reading When Life Gives You O.J. by our favorite pond in the Sierra mountains.

This summer, I savored reading P.S. Be Eleven in the glorious sunshine on our back deck when the children were away at camp. Ah, peace -- for a moment. I'll be sure to write about it soon - it's a book I can't wait to share with students this fall.

My other favorite moment has been watching my own kids find their ways into getting lost in a book or two this summer. Most often it's been those long, stretched out moments when they've been bored and I've refused to organize something. I've tried to limit the electronics - for both myself and them - during the day and late at night.

Some of their recent favorites have been:

• The Adventures of Superhero Girl, by Faith Erin Hicks
• Ottoline and the Yellow Cat, by Chris Riddell
• Awkward, by Marni Bates
• Steve Jobs, by Walter Isaacson, audiobook read by Dylan Baker

Quite an eclectic mix! Graphic novels, illustrated fiction, an ebook checked out through the public library, a full length audiobook (listened to while surfing Pinterest and Instagram). Really, the most important thing is giving them choice but also insisting that they carve out some time during the summer for reading.

The other funny, odd, but telling observation is that while my kids love reading, they have chaffed at summer reading requirements. They want to discover their own taste in reading. They hate it when school invades on this and tells them what to read. This is especially true if it's a long book, challenging in some way, or really different from the genres they typically like. I just wish more teachers would read Donalyn Miller's The Book Whisperer. If you've seen your own kids have negative experiences with required summer reading, please give that feedback to your children's teachers. Let them know that there are other ways to encourage/require reading over the summer!

So now that I'm feeling more recharged, I'm hoping that I can get back into sharing some of the books I've loved this summer! As always, if you make a purchase using the Amazon links on this site, a small portion goes to Great Kid Books (at no cost to you!). Thank you for your support.

©2013 Mary Ann Scheuer, Great Kid Books

Image "Caught Reading" shared via Creative Commons, from John Morgan.

Interview with Bruce Hale, author of Playing with Fire (ages 9 - 12)

Today we have something a little different - what I'm hoping is a new regular feature: a chance for some of my favorite kid-testers to interview one of their favorite authors. Natchez and Isla are both avid readers, entering 6th and 7th grade. They love a wide range of books, and one of their new favorites is Bruce Hale's Playing with Fire.

Bruce Hale is a go-to author in my library for kids who love action blended with humor and mystery. My students love his Chet Gecko mystery series and his graphic novel-hybrid Underwhere series. This summer he's kicking off the new School for S.P.I.E.S. series with Playing with Fire.

Playing with Fire
by Bruce Hale
illustrated by Brandon Dorman
Disney / Hyperion, 2013
find it at Amazon
your public library
ages 10 - 13

Natchez wonders what inspired you to write Playing with Fire. What made you want to write a book about an orphanage that taught kids how to become spies?

Bruce Hale: PLAYING WITH FIRE represents the coming-together of several ideas and loves. First, ever since I was a kid, I've loved spy stories. James Bond, Get Smart, The Bourne Identity, Mission Impossible -- all these and more inspired me to want to write a spy story myself. Second, I had a yoga teacher in Hawaii who was like the ultimate drill sergeant -- crusty on the outside, but big-hearted underneath. She spoke in a kind of hybrid of Japanese and broken English, and she was such a character, I wanted to put her in a book someday. And third, I had an odd what-if thought: What if an orphanage was actually a covert school for spies? When all these influences came together, I hit upon the title "Shanghai Annie's School for Spies (and Merry Sunshine Orphanage)." For a long time, all I had was the title, but eventually I developed that germ of an idea into the book it is today, with my old yoga teacher in the Hantai Annie role.

Isla is interested in why you made Max such a stubborn kid. She noticed that the book had lots of different emotions running through it and lots of different characters. Tell us about creating Max's character.

Bruce Hale: It was difficult to find Max's character at first -- until I interviewed some people who work with foster kids, along with a former foster child. Then I started to understand some of the challenges these kids face and how it might affect their personality. For Max, I decided that the foster-family experience made him tough, stubborn, and sarcastic. The stubbornness would help him survive this strange situation he'd been thrust into, and the sarcasm would let me add some humor, which I always love to do. Writing this character was a fun challenge for me, as I'd mostly been doing light, funny books like Chet Gecko, without much emotional development in the characters.

I'm curious whether you draw on any of your own childhood experiences when you are writing - whether things you went through, books you read or pop culture from when you were a kid.

Bruce Hale: Most of my stories come from my imagination and some light research. But in this case, I based Max's relationship with his dad upon the one I had with my dad. We loved each other (he's passed on now), but we had a challenging relationship. Although I didn't use our exact situation, I did draw from the emotions of it. Also, as I've mentioned, I put my old yoga teacher into a supporting role as Hantai Annie. And of course, all my exposure to spy stories over the years helped shape the plot and give me ideas, like the villains' shark tank (from an old James Bond movie) and the kids crawling through the ducts (from every other spy and thriller movie).

What books drew you to reading when you were a kid? How do you try to put elements of those in your writing today?

Bruce Hale: I was a reluctant reader at first -- more interested in running around causing trouble than sitting still and reading. That all changed when I was in third grade, on a day my family still calls The Day The TV Died. My parents resisted getting a new TV for months, and instead, they read to my brother and me. The first series that really captured my imagination was Tarzan of the Apes, and I burned through that series and everything else by Edgar Rice Burroughs. From there I moved on to adventure books -- mostly classics like Ivanhoe, Robin Hood, and The Call of the Wild. And after that, I read voraciously in a wide range of genres.

I think those adventure books helped define what I like (most of the time) in a good read: breathless action, tons of suspense, and situations that really challenge the main character. Today, I try to put some of those elements in nearly everything I write -- even the funny stuff.

Isla is curious why you chose to set Playing with Fire in London.

Bruce Hale: Even though I deliberately didn't mention any names of cities (to preserve that mysterious feeling), I felt from the beginning that the story would be set in London. Maybe it's because of all the British spy movies and TV shows I saw growing up. Somehow, with all the fog, the history, and so forth, London just feels more spy-like than, say, Pittsburgh.

Finally, Natchez really wants to know if there's going to be a sequel to Playing with Fire!

Bruce Hale: I just finished writing the sequel to PLAYING WITH FIRE. It's called THICKER THAN WATER, and it'll be out in Spring 2014. The third book, untitled as of yet, is just getting underway. I'll be working out the plot over the summer.

Check out this video and a feel for Playing with Fire. Bruce Hale introduces is and then reading a sneak peak from the story.



The review copy was kindly sent by the publishers, Disney / Hyperion. If you make a purchase using the Amazon links on this site, a small portion goes to Great Kid Books (at no cost to you!). Thank you for your support.

©2013 Mary Ann Scheuer, Great Kid Books

AASL Best Apps for Teaching and Learning: SimplePhysics (ages 8 - 16)

The kids at my school library have loved exploring new math and science apps. They love the ways that these apps build in game experiences to make learning FUN! I love how engaged the kids are with thinking, problem solving and learning key concepts and facts.

One of our favorites has been SimplePhysics. It's hooked kids who love puzzles, experiments and building things. Check out the whole list of AASL's Best Apps for Teaching and Learning to find out about all of the science, technology, engineering and math apps that our panel recommends!

SimplePhysics
by Jundroo, LLC
available for iPhone, iPad & Android
currently $1.99
ages 8 - 16

SimplePhysics lets you design complex structures for everything from tree houses to Ferris wheels. Verify the structural integrity of your design with a stress test. Great engineering is not enough, however -  you have to keep your project under budget to win the game! Don't use too many resources, or you'll blow your budget.

Here, you can see one of the first challenges: building a tree fort. The goal is to build a stable tree fort that will hold enough weight, with only using structures attached to the tree. After you build your structure, you get to test it with the four weights and see if it will hold them. This allows kids to really see the results of their buildings, and see which joints are strong and which are weak.

This is a more complicated challenge, requiring kids to build a bridge across a canyon. It has to hold the weight of the freight train. Kids love testing their creations and seeing the train crash to the bottom if their bridge isn't strong enough!

This is a screenshot when kids are testing the strength of their creation, in this case they are building stairs. The stairs must withstand enough weight and pressure. The app shows the load bearing of the different beams.

And this might have been my students' favorite challenge. They had to build a structure that protected the dummy against an explosion. You can guess how much fun they had testing it! One of the things I liked best watching kids use this app is how much talking occurred as they were using it. Three kids would gather around the iPad and talk about what they were putting where, why it was working, which option they should choose. They could test out their theories and quickly adjust them.

Head over to AASL's Best Apps for Teaching and Learning to discover more great apps for engaging kids with science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

©2013 Mary Ann Scheuer, Great Kid Books

AASL Best Apps for Teaching and Learning 2013: Book Apps

The American Association of School Librarians is a wonderful professional organization to support school librarians in their work with students, teachers and parents. For the past year, I have been part of the task force to recommend the Best Apps for Teaching and Learning.This week I'd like to share our recommendations for 2013.

AASL has honored apps of exceptional value to inquiry-based teaching and learning. The apps foster the qualities of innovation, creativity, active participation, and collaboration and are user friendly to encourage a community of learners to explore and discover. Our task force organized the apps we recommended into the following five categories:

• Books
• Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM)
• Organization & Management
• Social Sciences
• Content Creation

This week, I will share a sampling of the apps we recommended. For the full list, please head over to the AASL Best Apps for Teaching and Learning website.

Our committee selected five book apps to recommend, ranging from fun books for kindergartners to in-depth science books for high school students. One of my favorites has been Fam Bam: Got to Have Music.

Fam Bam: Got to Have Musicdeveloped by See Here Studios & RnB Productions
featuring Brandy, Ray J, Sonja & Willie Norwood
available for iOS Universal (iPad/iPhone/iPod)
ages 4 - 8
currently $2.99

Fam Bam is a playful, fun app that celebrates how important it is to respect everybody's own tastes. Featuring music and narration by rhythm-and-blues singer Brandy Norwood and her family, this app engages children with its playful tone, love of music and cartoon animation. Everyone in this family loves music, but each person has their own favorites and doesn't want to listen to the others' music. What's a tight-knit fam bam to do? The conflict resolves with a fun twist as everyone learns to compromise.

You'll get a fun sense of this app from the trailer:



Fam Bam has big kid appeal. They love all the different musical styles. The cartoon illustrations are upbeat and fun, and appeal to elementary school kids - they love the fact that it's narrated by the little dog! My students have enjoyed listening/reading it over and over, and yet I think it also holds an important message for all our kids. Work together to appreciate everybody's tastes and reach out to find a compromise that works.

I especially like my colleague Sue Bartle's suggestion that a Fam Bam is any tight-knight community. We can talk about a family, a classroom, a group of friends as a fam bam. It would be fun to have a class create their own Fam Bam story about music, art, or books that they like.

Have fun exploring these and the other apps that AASL recommended as the Best Apps for Teaching and Learning 2013.

©2013 Mary Ann Scheuer, Great Kid Books