Seymour Simon's Blog, page 27

Science News: Flying Space Junk

Last week in the UK, people from all over England, Scotland and Wales called the police to report very bright lights in the night sky. One caller said, "I’ve seen shooting stars and meteor showers before, but this was much larger and much more colorful." Experts think that what people probably saw was "space junk." Dr Tim O’Brien, from the Jodrell Bank Observatory, said it’s not possible to know the exact source. "It’s hard to say exactly, whether it was a chunk of rock coming in from outer space, burning up in the atmosphere, or a bit of space debris which we call space junk, which is basically man-made stuff from a spacecraft that’s burning up in the atmosphere." I am guessing that it was probably space junk. Meteorites, or pieces of rock, usually blaze across the sky in a matter of seconds. That’s why people call them "shooting stars." The truth is, we’ve left a pretty big mess of old hardware circling our planet. Those things tend to take longer to burn up as they enter our atmosphere, so more people see them. Look at this diagram; the blue sphere is Earth. According to NASA, each dot represents a bit of known space junk that’s at least 4 inches (10 cm) in low-Earth orbit, where the space station and shuttles roam. In total, some 19,000 manmade objects this size or bigger were orbiting Earth as of July 2009. And there are lots of smaller ones, too. No one is quite sure how to do it, but there is no question that it is time for us to clean up our room! CREDIT: NASA/Orbital Debris Program Office.

SeeMore Explorers: Big, Spiky Shells

I was walking on the beach this weekend and came across a lot of very big, brown shells. I used a SeeMore Explorers Observation Log to describe what I saw: I actually knew what the animal was, but I wanted my readers to see how it is possible to figure out what you are seeing in nature. I have always been fascinated by horseshoe crabs. Did you know that they are one of oldest living creatures? They have been around for 450 million years, which means they were here on Earth 200 million years before the dinosaurs! The reason the shell I picked up was so light was because the crab was not in there any longer. Horseshoe crabs molt as they grow - that means that they shed their hard shells when they grow out of them. They walk out of the hard shell, and their inner shell, which they already have, begins to harden, becoming their new outer shell. Horseshoe crabs molt many times - 16 times for males, 17 times for females - before they are fully grown. If the shell had been heavy, then it would have been a dead animal. One other interesting thing about horseshoe crabs is that they are not actually in the crustacean (crab and other shellfish) family. They are more closely related to arachnids (spiders) than they are to shellfish. What a fascinating animal. Now can you see why I’ve always been interested in these prehistoric animals called horseshoe crabs?

Writing Wednesday: Space Monsters!

Welcome to an Out of This World Writing Wednesday! When Seymour Simon was in second grade, he wrote his first book, called SPACE MONSTERS. He loved to imagine that there were aliens living on Mars, and he wrote and illustrated a science fiction story about it. When he grew up, Seymour wrote and published a real book called SPACE MONSTERS, about Martians and other aliens as they appeared in books, movies and television series. That was long ago - the book is long out of print, and all the photographs inside were in black and white. This year, Seymour Simon decided to go back to his favorite topic one more time, this time working with his friend and collaborator Dennis Kendrick on a new eBook called SILLY SPACE MONSTER JOKES AND RIDDLES. They had a lot of fun working on the book, because it allowed them to imagine all sorts of crazy and funny ways that you might draw a space monster. So today, for Writing Wednesday, we’d like you to look at both panels (below) of this joke from SILLY SPACE MONSTER JOKES AND RIDDLES, and think about all the things that make it funny. How are the words that Seymour Simon has chosen unexpected, surprising or funny? And tell us about the details in Dennis Kendrick’s illustrations that make you laugh. When you are finished writing, click on the yellow "Comments" button below to post your writing. Happy Silly Writing Wednesday! Note to Educators: Today’s Writing Wednesday exercise is designed to use in support of CCSS Language Standard #5: Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships and nuances in word meanings; Reading/Literature Standard #1: Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events. SILLY SPACE MONSTER JOKES AND RIDDLES 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.

Cool Photo: Canopy Walk

Today’s "Cool Photo of the Week" is a footbridge in Kakum National Park in Ghana (Africa). Visitors to the rainforest walk across this bridge to take a close look at life in the canopy - both plants and animals. You need to be a brave explorer to cross this bridge, though. While there are hand rails and net walls on either side of you, you are putting one foot in front of the other, walking on a single plank that is just one foot (1/3 meter) wide. And, you’re a sky high 100 feet (30 meters) off the forest floor! I’m not a big fan of heights; I probably wouldn’t walk across this bridge. Would you want to try?

Science News: Heat Resistant Face Paint

When soldiers are in combat, many put camouflage makeup on their faces to help them blend into the environment. Now, scientists have developed a new type of makeup that may help protect them against burns from bomb blasts, like the explosions or roadside bombs that have injured many troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. An explosion produces powerful shock waves, and it also produces huge waves of heat, as hot as 1,112 F (600 C). That is as hot as a burning log, and anyone nearby will suffer severe burns to any exposed skin on their face, hands, etc. Chemists were challenged to make a protective face paint that would have all the qualities of the camouflage paint that soldiers use already: Easy to put on and take off, waterproof, non-irritating to eyes, nose and mouth, include insect repellent (which is usually very flammable), and not rub off easily. And it had to be developed for a wide variety of skin colors - white, brown, light brown, black. "I’m really impressed with this work," said Jamil Baghdachi, a chemist at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti. "This is one of the most practical applications of science that I’ve seen." Photo: Spc. Gerald James, U.S. Army Read More: Science News for Kids, Heat-Resistant Makeup, by Sid Perkins, September 7, 2012.

SeeMore Explorers: Today I Saw�

It’s Thursday, so it is SeeMore Explorers day! Last week, we used an observation log to try to figure out what kind of animal we were seeing. But some weeks, I just want to go somewhere and enjoy many things I can see. I may not know exactly what they all are, but I can enjoy the experience of being out in nature. That’s what I did last weekend when I visited the Innisfree Garden, in Dutchess County, outside New York City. Innisfree Garden was created in the hollow surrounding Tyrrel Lake - a large, deep natural lake. The garden keepers pump water from the lake through a huge system of underground pipes, so that there is water everywhere you look in the garden. There are fountains, pools, streams, waterfalls, and sculptures that spout water (you can walk under them on a hot day!). I walked all the way around Tyrrel Lake, and here’s what I saw: A lovely lake full of lily pads, puffy cumulus clouds dotting the blue sky. A turtle sunning on a log. A pink lily flower, one of the last of the summer. A green frog just before he leaped with a squeak to try to catch a dragonfly (he missed). A water sculpture shooting streams of droplets into the air. A rotting log, covered with moss, full of life inside. A blue heron gingerly wading through the lily pads on delicate, long legs. A mossy path leading to more beautiful sights. My lovely wife Liz, smiling at me.

Writing Wednesday: Amazon Diary

Good Morning, and welcome to Writing Wednesday! Today we’re going to work with an excerpt from a book called AMAZON DIARY.This is a fictional story about a 12-year-old boy named Alex Winter who is flying down to the Amazon jungle to visit his parents, who are anthropologists working there. When the small plane in which Alex is traveling crashes, he ends up living among an Amazon tribe, and keeping a diary about his experience. This book is designed in a very unusual way. First, it uses handwriting (supposedly Alex’s handwriting in his diary) instead of printed text. It also incorporates drawings, doodles, and actual photographs of the Yonomami people. We’d like you to read this excerpt from Amazon Diary and as you read, think about ways in which how the story looks affects how you understand and enjoy what you are reading. From AMAZON DIARY, by Hudson Talbott and Mark Greenberg Your Assignment: Think about how the illustrations and pictures contribute to the story. How is this different than other books you have read? Then, write a reflection about how using diverse (different kinds of) media affects a piece of writing. When you are finished, click on the yellow "Comments" below to post your writing. Enjoy today’s visit to the Amazon! Note to Educators: Today’s Writing Wednesday exercise is designed to use in support of CCSS Reading/Literature Anchor Standard #7: Analyze how visual and multimedia elements contribute to the meaning, tone, or beauty of a text (e.g., graphic novel, multimedia presentation of fiction, folktale, myth, poem). Amazon Diary is one of the newly recorded and reformatted 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.

Magnificent Volcano

Today’s Cool Photo of the Week is an image that I came across of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull volcano erupting. When natural events of this magnitude happen, we are reminded how little control we have of many of the forces at work on our planet. Although these events can be destructive, they are often very beautiful, as well. The black cloud that you see against the night sky is ash being spewed into the air by the force of the eruption. Because this glacial volcano is located underneath an icecap, the hot magma cools fairly quickly, turning to ash and grit. That cooling created the giant cloud of ash that shut down air travel on six continents for over a week back in 2010. The white smoke at the bottom left is steam from the melting ice. And isn’t the lightning magnificent? We often see low energy lightning leaping between particles of lava and ash as they are hurled from the volcanic vent at very high speeds.

Talking with Teachers

This summer, I was very pleased to be invited back to Columbia Teachers College in New York, where I spoke to 1,200 teachers at their Summer Reading Institute.I’ve spoken in many places and received many lovely introductions. But this introduction, by Cornelius Minor, Staff Developer Teachers College Reading and Writing Project, was so funny, nice and unusual that I wrote to him and asked for permission to reproduce it here.Nothing like being introduced by a great writer AND a great speaker! When you receive the job to introduce someone, you check the usual sources… Check to see if there’s an official biography on them… Of if you’re a real rock-n-roll type person and you want all the dirty details, you might check the unofficial biography… You might ask close friends, colleagues, or associates of your subject. So after doing all of those things, I still found it hard to paint a comprehensive picture of Seymour Simon, because in the world of children’s nonfiction writers, Mr. Simon is a Titan. And I’m talking titan in the classic Greek, "I compete with the gods" sense of the word. Have you read his book on sharks? This guy knows the ocean better than Poseidon. There is nothing I can say about him… No accolade that I can call to mind that he has not already earned. The American Assoc for the Advancement of Science Lifetime Achievement Award The New York State Knickerbocker Award for Juvenile Literature The Hope S. Dean Award from the Boston Public Library The Washington Post/Children’s Book Guild Award He has won NUMEROUS Parents Choice Awards The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) has him on speed dial. Several of his books have been named outstanding science trade books for children. He’s even won a Webby Award for his website, SemourSimon.com So what do you say about the guy who has done it all? Who do you turn to if you want the inside scoop? Well, the answer, my friends, is quite simple. In today’s social media obsessed culture, all you have to do is consult their Twitter feed. After all, I follow Kim Khardasian… I would be really ashamed of my life I did not balance all of that bubble-headedness with someone real. And speaking as a lifelong fan of his work, Mr. Simon is as real as it gets. So this is is everything I know about Mr. Simon. In 140 characters or less, of course. August 3, 2012 9:16am—Quote: "I thought summer was a time to relax and listen to the birds; why am I working so hard?" I can answer that for you, Mr. Simon. It’s in your DNA! Mr. Simon was a teacher for 20 years! He has written close to 300 books on everything from weather patterns, to space, to paper airplanes. There are 1200 of us here this week. We could all form book clubs of four people. Each club could take a different Seymour Simon book, and there would be no repeats.—If you put all of his books end to end, you could line a football field—end zone to end zone. ...An entire football field of books that he wrote! There is only one word to describe that. Damn. Let’s face it folks, science is sexy. We live in an age where even the superheroes are scientists. You saw Avengers. Iron Man….Scientist. Hulk…Scientist. Captain America. Created by… say it with me….SCIENTISTS. Thor… Not a scientist, but a god… Remember what I was telling you about Seymour Simon knowing more than Poseidon? This afternoon it is with soulful zeal, and giddy schoolboy fandom that I introduce you to the dean of the children’s science field, Seymour Simon. Seymour Simon Keynote 9 August 2012/Reading InstituteCornelius Minor, Staff Developer Teachers College Reading and Writing Project cornelius@readingandwritingproject.com Twitter: @MisterMinor

SeeMore Explorers Day!

Welcome to SeeMore Explorers Day! Every Thursday will be SeeMore Explorers Day on this website. The idea is to get out in nature and look around you. Take a photograph or draw a picture in your notebook. Write down as many details as you can about what you have seen. Then, come back to school or home and use the resources around you to try to figure out what it is that you have discovered. You can use books, encyclopedias or an Internet search; it is also fine to ask your teacher, librarian or other grownup to help you get started on your research.We have created a SeeMore Explorers log that you can download and print out - it is designed to help you organize your information when you discover something exciting and interesting in nature. Click here to download your copy. Print it out and you are ready to start exploring - just like Seymour Simon does when he is out walking around and enjoying nature!I am going to start things off with this photograph that our daughter Jules sent from Washington, DC recently. She thought that this butterfly was so beautiful that she snapped a picture on her phone and sent it to Seymour and me in a text. And of course, we wondered what it was.We started by writing down everything we could think of in our own SeeMore Explorers log. Here is what we came up with:See how writing down what you see helps you figure out what you are seeing? We would love to see your observation logs. You can scan and upload right to this website if you want to, by clicking on the yellow button at the top of every page that says "Send Us Photos/Video." Or you can mail your observation log to:SeeMore Explorers, 15 Cutter Mill Road, Suite 242, Great Neck, NY 11021Send us your log, and you may find it published right here on SeymourSimon.com!Photo: Jules Kelly