April Pulley Sayre's Blog, page 16

December Bird 2011

There's a blue one, a green one, and this one. The two parts of its common name rhyme. I photographed this bird in Yellowstone. It stashes pine nuts. Sometimes finds food from careless campers. It is in the Corvidae (crow) family. Still stumped? Find its identity here.

Kids Doing Bumblebee Study

Check it out! Kids did a bumblebee study that was published in a major science journal, Science. Article about their article here. Yes, I'm still following bumblebee news, to share it with those of you reading and creating materials to go with my book, The Bumblebee Queen.

Here are some other activities, within this site, for bumblebee fun.

Signing of Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010

I'm watching the live streaming at whitehouse.gov of the signing of this important bill. Hurray for all those working to reform school lunches and make them healthier. I'm so glad that Michelle Obama has taken on childhood obesity as a major issue for her work as first lady. As many of you know, I've been concerned about this issue for years.Childhood obesity came to my attention because I travel all over the U.S. and see about 15,000 kids each year. Some, alas, are not feeling good. Many seem sluggish and when you don't feel good, it's just hard to learn. I can feel it in a school visit audience. I'm not just talking about the largest kids in class. I'm talking about entire communities of kids who seem ill, barely able to function or respond.  That's why I'm so glad that policy makers, chefs, parents, commuity leaders, farmers, gardeners, and others are banding together to help kids eat better and become more active physically.

My small contribution will be my book Rah, Rah, Radishes: a Vegetable Chant, released June 14, 2011. I've been working on this book for four years, trying to get it published. So, I'm excited about it and its sequel, the fruit chant. I'll be telling the story of this later.

Celery Root, Sorry!

Celery root, also called celeriac, is one of the vegetables I did not include in my upcoming (June, 2011) book, Rah, Rah, Radishes: A Vegetable Chant. It wasn't an intentional oversight. It just didn't fit the rhythm/rhyme. This, well, homely veggie isn't on the top of my shopping list but perhaps I should give it more of a try. A family member made it for Thanksgiving dinner in a lovely salad and it was delicious. So, here are some celery root photos for you to enjoy. Yes it's knobbly! See also celery root along with other root stars such as parsnips and beets at the Hovenkamp's Produce stand in the South Bend Farmer's Market.

Celery root, or celeriac is a variety of celery grown for root size, not the stems we normal see as "celery" in the stores. (Regular celery did make it into the chant, by the way.)

What it is

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-celery-root.html

How to prepare celery root

http://www.learninghowtocook.com/photo-pictorial/38-Fruits-and-Vegetables/38/3/how-to-photo-pictorial-steps-Celery-Root-Peeled-and-Diced.html

A good salad recipe for it:

http://gregcarver.com/blog/2009/the-ugly-vegetable-celery-root/

A soup recipe for it:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/anne-burrell/celery-root-and-potato-puree-recipe/index.html

June 14, 2011 book release:

Hooray for Hoppers!

While cleaning out my files, I found a magazine clipping about grasshoppers,, "Hooray for Hoppers," by Diane Swanson, Ranger Rick magazine.  I love Ranger Rick. It's such an inspiring resource, a perfect monthly gift for the curious kid.  The article says "An average grasshopper can jump a distance 20 times its length. Humans can jump only about five times their length…"

I can imagine educators coming up with some great activities related to these facts. Those activities might go along with my new book, released in February, IF YOU'RE HOPPY, illustrated by Jackie Urbanovic, published by Greenwillow.

Global Education Conference

Author Dorothy Hinshaw Patent and I are speaking Tuesday, November 16th at 4 pm Eastern Time at the Global Education Conference. It's all free and online on the Elluminate platform. You click on the session you want to attend and there's a click through to quickly download the free software to your computer. You can participate, ask questions, chat, and so on. The bandwidth needed is minimal. A microphone is needed if you want to verbally ask a question but you can type them, instead. The Elluminate software works for both IBM and Mac. Look for Dorothy's name on our session. The topic is CONNECTION. We will be talking about connecting kids to nature and writing along with brief coverage of some intricate ecological connections that will fascinate your students.

The conference runs Nov 15-19th. 397 sessions from 62 countries!

Check it out! Just select your time zone to see what's happening.

Sessions are recorded for viewing later, too.

November Animal Wide View

Pronghorn

November Posterior

This creature's rump pattern is a signal. When alarmed, the long white hairs stand up. The rest of the herd can see this flash of white from a long way away. So they all know to flee.  It is the world's second fastest land animal. (The cheetah is the fastest.) I photographed it in SE Wyoming. Click photo for its name.

September Animal Full Photo

Pelican!

October Rodent

Forget the big animals in Yosemite National Park, CA.  This was our favorite seen and photographed there. It has fascinating behavior, somewhat like a fox squirrel, but also a little bit like a prairie dog, too. It does not live in large groups, as prairie dogs do. It does burrow in the ground. It is the California Ground Squirrel.