Seymour Simon's Blog, page 26
October 29, 2012
Frankenstorm - Being Prepared
FrankenStorm, the monster storm that is about to move into the NorthEast is not a joke. Damaging winds, heavy rains, downed power lines and major flooding are almost inevitable in the next few days. This hurricane has the potential to be one of the most destructive storms in history. There are things that you and your family can do to prepare in advance. One of the most important is to listen to local news on the radio, TV and the Internet. Follow the advice and instructions that you get from local authorities. Better to be safe than sorry. If you are going to stay home then it’s a good idea to prepare a basic disaster supply kit. Here’s some of things it should contain: Water, a gallon per person per day for at least three days, for drinking and sanitation.Food, at least a three-day supply of non-perishable food.Moist towelettes, garbage bags and plastic ties for sanitation.Battery powered or hand crank radio with extra batteries.Flashlights and extra batteries.First aid kit.Whistle to signal for help if need be.Manual (not electric) can opener for cans of food.Cell phone with a charger that doesn’t depend upon local electricity.Books, games, puzzles and other activities for youngsters.Medicines and other personal supplies. Be calm and safe. It’s always just best to be prepared for the worst, even though you hope nothing bad actually happens.
October 24, 2012
A Ghostly Writing Wednesday!
Good morning and welcome to a special Halloween Writing Wednesday (which includes a ghostly Halloween treat at the end of this post)! Today, we are going to read from Seymour Simon’s book GHOSTS. As you look at the page below, notice shades of meaning in the vocabulary. How does the author’s use of the adjectives "cold" and "damp" versus just writing "castle" affect the mental image you create? As you read, look for other examples of vivid words the author uses and write about how it enhances the selection. When you have finished, click on the yellow "Comments" link below to post your writing. Seymour Simon had this book recorded by a narrator who has a famous "haunted" voice (he used to be a narrator forThe Twilight Zone).Click below if you would like to hear this selection read aloud. But we warn you, if you are someone who is easily scared, you might not want to press play!Note to Educators: Today’s Writing Wednesday exercise is designed to use in support of CCSS Reading/Informational Standard #1: Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text. GHOSTS is one of the exclusive, recorded eBooks available in the StarWalk Kids digital collection. Click here for more information about signing up for a free, 60-day trial for your school.
October 23, 2012
Cool Photo of the Week: Chilly!
It’s not just humans that find the doctor’s stethoscope is too cold when we go for our checkups. This is Yakini, a newborn gorilla, being examined at the Melbourne Zoo, in Australia. Look at her face. I think we all know that feeling!
Swimming Sharks
I had such a good experience with Mrs. Klott’s second grade class at Scanlan Oaks Elementary School in Sugar Land, Texas last week. They did a big research project and assembled all their writing and photographs into a book that they called SWIMMING SHARKS. This kind of book - where words and photographs work together to tell the story - is called a "photo essay." Many of my books (like my SHARKS book) are also photo essays.Here is what they wrote on the first page: About the Authors: Mrs. Klott’s class is taking a bite out of learning every day, and loves to research science topics. They have already learned about sharks, wild weather, and plants. They have an aquarium full of fish for their class pets. They will continue to grow and learn together for the rest of this school year. They all love to read nonfiction books! This sounds like my kind of class! The whole book is wonderful, but I only have room to show you a couple of pages. These are both great ones.Thank you, everyone, for making this lovely book for me. It is right here in my office, on my desk. I also thank you for your excellent Writing Wednesday work last week. You can read more excellent writing by these second graders by clicking here to see how they analyzed the humorous writing in SILLY SPACE MONSTER JOKES AND RIDDLES. Their writing is at the bottom of the post - click on the yellow "comments" button to see. Great job, Mrs. Klott’s class! It was a pleasure to meet you.
October 22, 2012
Sugar Land, Texas
I am back at my desk after spending last week visiting schools in Sugar Land, Texas (outside Houston). Mrs. Jeffcoat, the librarian at Walker Station Elementary School, sent this great photo of a student, her teacher and yours truly. I am always pleased and humbled to meet avid readers of my books. Thank you for your hospitality and warm welcome, Sugar Land kids!
October 15, 2012
Introducing StarWalk Kids!
Did you notice that we had a very quiet week on the Seymour Science blog last week? That is because we were busy launching StarWalk Kids Media, the new eBook collection for Schools, Libraries and Families! I am the founder and one of the partners, along with my wife, Liz Nealon, who is the former creative director of Sesame Street. I started publishing my own eBooks several years ago, and this past year we decided that it was time to work with other authors, as well. I started calling my friends who are children’s book authors and illustrators - people like David Adler, Johanna Hurwitz, Kathryn Lasky, Laura Vaccaro Seeger, and many others. Like me, all these authors have wonderful books that are still perfectly relevant and interesting to children, and which have been allowed to go out of print for one reason or another. We began to scan, adapt, update, record narration and publish their books as eBooks. Pretty soon we had 150 titles - 10 of which are digital originals like A SHIPMATE’s GUIDE (at right).And so begins StarWalk Kids Media. Some of the advantages of the StarWalk Kids collection are: 1. It’s affordable. I was a teacher for many years, and I know how important this is. In a typical school of 400 students, the entire collection costs less than $1.50 per student for the first year. 2. It’s multi-user. A whole class can read the same book at the same time without check-in/check-out delays or waiting lists. 3. It works on virtually any device. We’ve built gorgeous eReader software, called the StarWalk ReaderTM. Kids access this reader through their browser - so they can read on any device that has Internet access. We’re still working on special software for the iPad - that should be available within a month. 4. We offerAdvanced Search Features for Educators and Parents. You can search for books by author, title, keyword, subject, Lexile® level, Alphabetic reading level and Common Core State Standard (CCSS) links. This provides an easy and accurate method for selecting the right ebook for each reader. 5. Any time, anywhere access. Students can log in and read anywhere that they have Internet access - at home, at school, or otherwise. The StarWalk ReaderTM and streaming StarWalk Kids eBook library are available as of this week (60-day Free Trials for Schools & Libraries; $5.99/month for family subscriptions). Please visit our website - www.StarWalkKids.com - so that you can see what we have been doing, and try it out for yourself!
October 9, 2012
Cool Photo: Frog in a Bog
It is cranberry harvest time all across the US and Canada. Cranberries grow on long vines in peat marshes - soft, marshy ground, usually near wetlands. When cranberries reach their peak color and plumpness this time of year, growers flood the fields with up to 18 inches (nearly one-half meter) of water. Then the farmers use machines to stir up the water - causing the cranberries to break from their vines and float to the top of the water so they can be harvested. Our friend, the author/illustrator Scott Nash (his excellent new novel is THE HIGH SKY ADVENTURES OF BLUE JAY THE PIRATE), took this great shot of an unexpected bonus in amongst the cranberries. And that’s today’s Cool Photo of the Week - a blog about a frog in a bog on Cape Cod!
October 5, 2012
Slide Show: EXTREME EARTH RECORDS
If you haven’t yet had a chance to read my new book,SEYMOUR SIMON’S EXTREME EARTH RECORDS, you can check out some of the powerful photographs and extreme facts in this newslideshowon the Huffington Post Book Blog.Which of the seven Extreme Earth Records in thisslideshowdo you think is the most interesting, beautiful or surprising?Click here to view!
October 3, 2012
Writing Wednesday: Space Travelers
Last month’s amazing photographs of the space shuttle Endeavour traveling to its final home at the California Science Center were both thrilling and quite sad. The retiring of the final shuttle spacecraft marks the end of manned space travel, at least for a while.For today’s Writing Wednesday, we want you to read this excerpt from Seymour Simon’s SPACE TRAVELERS.Your Assignment: As you read, think about why Mr. Simon chose to write about the Voyager 2 probe and other unmanned spacecraft that are exploring the solar system and beyond. And we would like to know your opinion: Do you think there are other civilizations out there that will be able to decode or "hear" the message that we put onboard the Voyager? Why or why not? When you are finished, click on the yellow "Comments" link at the bottom of this article to post your writing. Note to Educators: Today’s Writing Wednesday exercise is designed to use in support of CCSS Reading/Informational Standard #2: Determine the main idea of a text and explain how it is supported by key details; summarize the text. SPACE TRAVELERS is one of the digital exclusive, recorded eBooks available in the StarWalk Kids digital collection. Click here for more information about signing up for a free, 60-day trial for your school.
October 2, 2012
Cool Photo: Firefly Squid
Tourists come from all over to visit Japan’s Toyama Bay between March and June, when millions of breeding firefly squid come to Toyama Bay to drop their eggs. The firefly squid is bioluminescent (buy-oh-loom-ih-NESS-cent), which means that is has special organs in its body that can produce light. Each of the squid’s tentacle has a light-producing organ called aphotophore. The squids flash these lights to attract small fish, on which the squid can then feed. The firefly squid can also light up its whole body to attract a mate. I would love to see this, wouldn’t you?
