Sandra Markle's Blog, page 28

Spider Fun And Games

My Arachnid World Series, featured a number of spiders:
Black Widows: Deadly Biters

Orb Weavers: Hungry Spinners

Fishing Spiders: Water Ninjas

Wolf Spiders: Mothers On Guard

Jumping Spiders: Gold-Medal Stalkers

 Tarantulas: Supersized Predators

The following games and activities will let you have fun investigating spiders.
Can You Solve The Mystery?

The spiders below have been separated into two groups--those that have a common feature and those that don't. What feature do the spiders in Group 1  share?


Group 1 Group 1
Group 2 Group 2



Did you guess that the feature the spiders in Group 1 share is having two middle front eyes that are bigger than their other eyes?

Now brainstorm at least three other features  you could use to regroup the spiders into groups: those that share the feature and those that don't.
Here are two possibilities to get your creative juices flowing:
1. Group 1: Those that are light colored; Group 2: Those that aren't.
2. Group 1: Those that look hairy; Group 2: Those that don't.



Having  two big middle eyes is a feature jumping spiders share.
Jumping spiders depend on their eyesight to catch prey, the animals they kill to eat. They have eight eyes: four looking forward, two on top of their head, and two toward the back of their cephalothorax (head and chest-like area).  Jumping spiders can spot prey as much as twenty body lengths--about 15 inches (38 cm) away.Jumping spiders can move their big middle eyes separately to look in two different directions at once. Find out more about jumping spiders in Jumping Spiders: Gold-Medal Stalkers


Make A Toy Spider


Make a toy spider you can hang from the ceiling to watch dangle and spin.



You'll need four pipe cleaners (the bigger the better), a paperclip, a rubber band, and a 36-inch (91 cm) piece of string or package ribbon.
1. Place the four pipe cleaners side-by-side and twist together in the middle. Spread the ends of the pipe cleaners apart and bend to form the spider's eight legs.
2. Bend one end of the paperclip around the middle of the toy spider. Hook one end of the rubber band over the other half of the paperclip.
3. Tie one end of the string to the free end of the rubber band.





With an adult partner's permission and help, attach the free end of the string to the ceiling, the top of a bookcase, or the top frame of a doorway. Then enjoy watching your spider in action.


A spider's silk comes from nozzlelike parts called the spinnerets on the end of its abdomen.Silk starts as a gooey liquid. It becomes a solid strand when the spider fastens it to something--even its own leg--and pulls.All spiders spin silk to stay safe as they travel. As they move around, they trail a silk safety line. From time to time, the spider produces a bit of sticky silk to glue this line to the surface it's crossing. That way it the spider falls or leaps and doesn't jump quite far enough, it doesn't crash. It can climb back up its silk line and keep on going.






Orb weaver spiders do much more with their silk. They use it to build a web snare that can catch flying insects without breaking. Then the spider shoots bands of silk over the prey. She keeps on spinning while her feet turn the prey around and around. Wrapped up, the prey can't escape. And it can't easily bite and injure the spider.

The strands of an orb weaver spider's web are tougher than Kevlar, the material used to make bulletproof vests.







 Find out more about orb weaver spiders and their silk traps in Orb Weavers: Hungry Spinners.


Go On A Web Hunt

Go with an adult partner to look for spider webs in you're area. Look for the following:



1. A web between two branches

2. The biggest web (Take along a tape measure and, with your partner's help, measure the diameter or distance across the web. Be careful not to touch or damage the web)

3. The smallest web (Measure this one too.)

4. A web that looks neat and tidy

5. A very messy-looking web

6. A web with trapped insect prey



If you have a camera, take photos of the webs you find. Print out your favorites to display or make into a book. If you and your adult partner would like to capture and preserve a web, be sure there isn't a spider on the web. Then follow the directions on this website.


Eat Like A Tarantula


Some spiders, like tarantulas, are able to crush and partly break up the prey they catch. However even the biggest tarantulas can't chew and swallow chunks of food. They bring up digestive juices that break down their food and change it into a gooey liquid. Then the tarantula sucks this food in.
To get a feel for eating like a tarantula start with a fruit-flavored gelatin. Work with an adult partner to follow the directions to prepare the gelatin. Chill until the gelatin is solid. Next, scoop a spoonful of the solid gelatin into a glass. Use a spoon to mash and break the gelatin into small pieces. Then pour enough apple juice into the glass to cover the gelatin. The apple juice will act like digestive juice. The gelatin should now be a gooey liquid. Use a straw to drink this liquid treat.
The biggest tarantulas, like the female pinkfoot goliath pictured with the snake, are so big the distance across their outstretched legs is as big as a dinner plate. Being big lets a tarantula hunt and catch prey too big for most spiders to safely tackle.  The snake in the picture is a two foot (0.5 meter) long fer-de-lance snake. Not all tarantulas are giants, though. The Paloma dwarf tarantula has a leg span just over an inch (2.5 cm) across.  Of course, that's still bigger than many kinds of spiders.
Find out more about tarantulas in Tarantulas: Supersized Predators

The Twelve Arachnids of Christmas!

Grab copies of the twelve books in my exciting ARACHNID WORLD series published by Lerner (2010-2011) to join in the fun. You see my true love is an arachnologist, someone who studies all kinds of arachnids. So this year my Christmas gifts were very different, but definitely ones I'll always remember.




On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave me to a black widow in a fir tree.








As I watched, that black widow spider dangled upside down from a silk thread. Next, its exoskeleton (armor-like covering) split open along the back. Then the spider pushed and pulled and crawled out of its exoskeleton.
What in the world just happened? To find out, read Black Widows: Deadly Biters pages 22 through 23.


On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me two striped bark scorpions--one big female 3 inches (7.5 cm) long and a smaller male.





As I watched, the male grabbed the female's pedipalps (body parts near the mouth). He tugged her forward and then they turned around in a circle. They did this over and over for hours.
What was happening to my scorpions? To find out, read Scorpions: Armored Stingers pages 28 and 29.









On the third day of Christmas, my true love gave to me three female Carolina wolf spiders.




As I watched, a round ball about one-third as big as the spider and stuck to its spinnerets split open. Hundreds of tiny spiders crawled out and climbed onto the big spider.
What's likely to happen next? To find out, read Wolf Spiders: Mothers On Guard pages 26 through 29.










On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me four wind scorpions.






Almost at once, one of the wind scorpions ran straight up a nearly vertical rock. How did it keep from falling off? To find out, read Wind Scorpions: Killer Jaws pages 24 and 25.











On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me five tarantulas.


One goliath bird-eater tarantula was holding a gecko. As I watched it sank in its fangs and brought up digestive juices.
Why in the world did it do that? To find out read Tarantulas: Supersized Predators pages 32 and 33.







Then keep on reading quickly to let me know whether I should stay to watch or run away. Two of the other tarantulas have turned their hairy rear ends toward me and look ready to rub these with their hind legs.
Help me decide what action to take by reading pages 30 and 31.








On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love to me six female cross spiders spinning their webs.






As I watched, a fly landed on one spider's web. That female ran to the fly and shots strands of silk over it.
Why did she do that? To find out, read Orb Weavers: Hungry Spinners pages 24 and 25.









I kept on watching and saw a fly zip into another spider's web. I expected the web to break, but it didn't. Why not? To find out, read page 17 and page 22.



On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me seven fishing spiders fishing in a pond.






At just that moment, a bat flew past and all the fishing spiders dived beneath the surface. They stayed underwater for nearly thirty minutes.
How were they able to stay underwater for so long? To find out, read Fishing Spiders: Water Ninjas pages 22 through 23.









On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me eight crab spiders lurking inside flowers.







Some goldenrod crab spiders were inside yellow flowers and they were yellow. Other goldenrod crab spiders were inside white flowers and they were white.
How were these spiders able to be just the right flower color to hide and wait to ambush insects? To find out, read Crab Spiders: Phantom Hunters pages 22 and 23.






On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me nine harvestmen packed close together and bobbing up and down.


Why were they doing that? To find out, read Harvestmen: Secret Operatives page 21.


On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me ten ticks-a-sucking blood from their host.





As I watched these female dog ticks over several days, their bodies swelled up until they were nearly six hundred times bigger.
How in the world could they swell so big? To find out read Ticks: Dangerous Hitchhikers pages 14 and 15.

Why can a tick's bite make people and animals sick? Read pages 28 through 36 to find out.







On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me eleven jumping spiders jumping.


As I watched, one leapt from one leaf to another to catch an insect.
How could it possibly jump so far? To find out, read Jumping Spiders: Gold Medal Stalkers pages 22 and 23.

What's the record for how far a jumping spider can leap? Read pages 46 and 47 to find out.




On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me twelve mites-a-multiplying on a bean plant.


At first, I couldn't see the tiny two-spotted mites sucking on one of the plant's leaves. In less than a month, the plant was nearly covered with web strands dotted with tiny mites. They were sucking the plant's juices and producing even more two-spotted mites.
How did there get to be so many so quickly. To find out, read Mites: Master Sneaks pages 36 and 37.

Yes, my arachnid Christmas this year is one I'll always remember. After all, it's the year I received:

12 mites-a-multiplying11 jumping spiders jumping10 ticks-a-sucking 9 harvestmen bobbing8 crab spiders lurking7 fishing spiders fishing6 orb weavers spinning5 tarantulas4 wind scorpions3 wolf spiders2 scorpionsAnd a black widow in a fir tree

Get Wild For Wild Horses

Moving to a new place can mean adjusting to a very different way of life. That's what happens to the horses in my book, Race the Wild Wind (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2011). These activities will let children dig deeper into the story, think about what such a major life change is like, and get to know the real Sable Island Horses that inspired the book.

First of all, this story is set on a real place, Sable Island. Look just inside the book's cover. You'll find a map that shows you where this island is located off the coast of Nova Scotia on the east coast of Canada.


The heart of this story is about adjusting to a new place and way of living. Find this picture in the book to find out how life changed for one young stallion. Next, talk about and then write about a time you moved someplace new or that something about your life changed.
*What changed for you?
*What about that change was especially hard for you?








Find this picture in the book. The horses didn't know each other when they first came to the island. What changed as they did get to know each other? Why do you think the stallion sometimes ran as fast as he could?


Read what happened to the young stallion when he broke through the ice to get a drink of water. Why was this an important change in his life?





The horses living on Sable Island did't have any natural predators, such as wolves or mountain lions. However, living there was sometimes dangerous. Read the story to find at least three things that made life challenging—even deadly.



Verbs are powerful words. Action verbs—ones that make you feel the action you're reading about—make a story much more exciting.

For example, check out some of the action verbs that bring Race the Wild Wind, to life.
"Barking and wriggling, the seals stampede into the surf."
"Storms claw at beaches and dunes."
"Stinging rain pelts down. Waves charge ashore."












Find at least two more places action verbs ramp up the story.
Clues:

You'll find one where the horses are swimming ashore as the ship sails away.

You'll find another where the young stallion goes after the colt in the blinding fog.



Of course, there are many more action verbs in this exciting story.






Now enjoy pictures of the real wild horses living on Sable Island today. Then make up your own story about the life of one special horse--one that's just been born. Be sure and use action verbs to power up your story.

Soaring like Eagles--Share The Adventure

Soaring like Eagles is an action-packed adventure that will take you, along with 12-year-old Kate, into the remote wilderness of Snowbird Mountain in North Carolina--the heart of the Cherokee Nation. In discovering a grandfather she didn't know she had, 12-year-old Kate also finds a new life that's far different from anything she ever dreamed of--and life-threatening danger from poachers.







When you're ready, download the book and start reading to jump into the adventure. For an extra fun challenge, find the answers to each of the questions as you share the action with Kate.




Kate wanted to try and find her grandfather. She needed $52.49 for a bus ticket to Cherokee, North Carolina.

She only had $11.00 of her own money.

How did she, little-by-little collect the additional money she needed for her trip.



What two reasons did Kate give for getting a round trip bus ticket to Cherokee instead of a one-way ticket?


[image error]
This German shepherd, named Nvya, is an important character in the story.

How did he react to Kate at first?

What did Kate do to try and make friends with Nvya?

When did Nvya first begin to accept Kate?

At what point do we know Nvya has fully accepted Kate?





BONUS CHALLENGE:Now, outline Kate's developing relationship with her grandfather starting with how they felt about each other when they first met until they really felt like family.


[image error]


These are leaves from a sassafras tree. Why was it so important for Kate to find and collect these leaves after her grandfather Tsan was shot?

[image error]


Take a peek inside Tsan's mountain cabin. Imagine trading living in your home for living in this house. Did you notice that there isn't any television? Kate didn't even have a bed. She had to sleep in front of the fire. Make list of all the ways living in Tsan's house was very different for Kate.




This is the mountain stream near Tsan's cabin. It's where Kate caught fish and went to think when she needed time alone.







At first, she's afraid of being alone at night in the forest. Later, she feels quite at home.

What do you think changed?

What would you like, if anything, about moving to such a wilderness place?

What would you really miss about where you live? What does Kate miss most?



[image error]


Describing something by showing how it's like something else that's familiar is called a metaphor. It's a powerful way to paint pictures with words.






"The sun was already a fat orange ball hanging just above the mountain's peak."

This is how Kate described the day when she first met her grandfather. What does that word picture tell you about the time of day?



[image error]


Find at least two more metaphors in the story.


Clues: You'll find one describing Tsan's cabin.







You'll find another when Kate describes how the pine tree trunks look in the fog the morning after the storm, her first morning on Snowbird Mountain.





*Ready to tackle a BIG challenge?

Then look at the events in the timeline below the picture.

This list tells what happened when Kate and her wounded grandfather, with Nvya's help, escaped the young Cherokee poacher.


But the list is out of order. You'll need to decide what happened first, second, and so forth.


*Kate and Tsan went along the narrow ledge to the cave.

*Nvya, the German shepherd, chased the chicken to draw the poacher away from the cabin.

*Kate, Tsan and Nvya head through the forest to Soquah's house.

*Kate, Tsan, and Nvya stayed inside the cave until it was dark.

*The Indian attacks Kate.

*Father Paul comes to the rescue.

*Kate made a hole in the floor and crawled out to watch the young Indian.

*Nvya attacks the poacher to defend Kate.

*Kate runs to Tsan's cabin.

*The young Indian catches Kate.

*Tsan leaves Kate alone in the forest.



[image error]





This eaglet, nicknamed Baby, becomes another important character in the story.

How did rescuing the eaglet help Kate develop a relationship with her grandfather?













A myth is a story to explain how something in the world began.


Tsan tells the Cherokee myth of how a spider helped all of the animals of the world get fire and warm up.

Search the following on-line sites for other Cherokee myths.
http://www.sacred-texts.com/nam/cher/...

Website One

Website Two

After reading some of these myths make up one of your own to explain how one of the following came to be:





Hurricanes

[image error]

Corn









What did Tsan see in the sky the day Baby made her first flight? What did he decide he had to do?








It's time for the exciting climax of the story.

Read and enjoy.

Then tell in what order did the events happened







*Kate climbed up the inside of the fireplace chimney

*The poachers set Tsan's cabin on fire

*Kate jumped to the ladder dangling from the helicopter

*Tsan and Kate tried to beat out the flames and stop the fire

*Part of the cabin roof crashed in













Books end but stories never do.

They spark your imagination with ideas about what must have happened afterwards.

Imagine what may happened to Kate, Tsan, Baby, and Nvya in the year after the story ends.

Write a short story about what happens after the end of Soaring like Eagles.

Help Solve The Case of the Vanishing Golden Frogs

Frogs of the world need you to be a science detective and help solve a scientific mystery. Scientists investigate real world problems and work to find solutions. Right now, scientists are working on The Case of the Vanishing Golden Frogs (Millbrook, 2011). They're after a serial killer--one guilty of killing so many frogs that some kinds no longer exist outside of safe places, like zoos.



So if you're ready to join the science detective task force for this case, check out a copy of the book and dig in.

Can you identify the killer in time to save the Panamanian golden frogs?

Can you find a way to stop this killer before even more kinds of frogs become victims?


Karen Lips discovered the first frog victims. Read pages 6 and 7 to find out:

1) When did she make this discovery?
2) Where in the world were the bodies?
3) Why was it important that the dead frogs were not decayed?

Just as detectives get help from a Medical Examiner, Karen Lips turned to a pathologist, someone who studies diseases.

[image error]
Here's the clue the pathologist discovered when he looked at a sample of the frog victim's skin with a microscope. Check it out on page 8. He reported that it wasn't like anything he'd ever seen before.





So Karen Lips decided to check out the three usual suspects that kill animals:

*Habitat (home territory) Destruction

*Pollution

*Climate Change





Keep on reading to investigate and learn the answers to following questions.


What kind of habitat do Panamanian golden frogs need to be healthy? Find out on pages 10 and 11.





Why was habitat destruction proved not guilty of killing the golden frogs? Find out on page 9.


















Why would polluted streams be a big problem for adult golden frogs?

Why would polluted water be especially bad for tadpoles, baby golden frogs?




Before you decide, visit this site to see the stages a frog goes through from egg to adult.















Why did Karen decide water pollution definitely wasn't killing the golden frogs?
See page 12.





What two things did Karen Lips then check out to prove climate change wasn't the frog killer? Check page 14.












Joyce Longcore finally identified the frog killer as a chytrid fungus, a kind of plantlike living things. What did she see that let her figure out this was the killer? Dig into this on pages 18 and 19

Because she was the first to identify this new kind of chytrid fungus, Joyce was allowed to name it. She called it Batachochytrium dendrobatidis--Bd for short.



Now that the killer's identity is known, your job is to stop it from killing more golden frogs.







So you'll need to find out these two things about how this killer attacks its victims? Use the clues you've already discovered to answer these questions.

1) Who's more at risk--adult golden frogs or tadpoles?

2) In what kinds of environmental conditions is Bd most likely to kill?


[image error]

Armed with that profile of the killer you can help the scientific SWAT team save Panamanian golden frogs from being killed by Bd.




Read pages 32 through 38 to find out which of the steps listed below needs to be done first, second, third, and so forth.

*Carry golden frogs in plastic bags to cleaning sites.
*Ship healthy frogs to zoos with special golden frog habitats.
*Breed golden frogs in zoo habitats to maintain the golden frog population.
*Collect both male and female golden frogs from their wild habitat.
*Treat captured golden frogs with a fungus-killing chemical for ten days.





What are two things being done to try and wipe out chytrids so frogs can be safe in the wild? Explore pages 40 and 41.






Brainstorm other possible things you think could be tried to make frogs safe from chytrids in the wild. Come up with at least two possibilities. List why these ideas might work? Suggest any possible reasons these ideas might not work.

Now, it's time to use what you've learned to launch OPERATION SAVE OUR FROGS.
First, find out what kinds of frogs, such as bullfrogs or leopard frogs, live in your area. Ask a local park ranger, someone at the local library, or someone at a local zoo.


Bullfrog

[image error]

Leopard frog

















Next, learn more about each kind of local frog and make a booklet with a chapter for each local kind of frog. Draw and color a picture of it. Also tell the following information:

*How big is an adult?
*What does it eat as an adult? As a tadpole?
*What kind of conditions does it need to live as an adult? As a tadpole?

Find out if chytrids are a problem locally and, if so, what can be done to protect the frogs. Would one of the ideas you had for getting rid of chytrids possibly work? If you think it would, share your idea with someone in your local environmental protection agency or with your teacher.



[image error]


Also, check whether local frogs could be in danger from any of the usual suspects: habitat destruction, water pollution, climate change.









Search for the following clues:
1) Signs of habitat destruction, such as bare eroded land that was once green fields or forests.




2) Sources of water pollution, such as factories near rivers, streams, or lakes.

3) Evidence of climate change. To dig up information about this clue, interview your parents and grandparents. Ask if they remember your local climate being warmer or cooler or dryer or wetter in the past.

If you discover any of these clues, brainstorm with your friends and family and plan ways you can help your local frogs. Then work together to help local frogs stay safe.

Check out these efforts being done to save frogs around the world.

Are frogs worth so much detective work and effort?





Definitely! Without frogs there would be lots more insects in the world eating our food crops and spreading diseases to plants, animals, and people.






We need to solve The Case of the Vanishing Golden Frogs for the sake of Panimanian golden frogs, all the world's frogs--and for ourselves.

Make Butterfly Memories

The best memories are the times we share. So I developed these activities for children to enjoy while reading my book, Butterfly Tree (Peachtree Publishers, 2011).





First, the heart of this book is about making a memory—taking time to do something together you can remember sharing forever. Talk about and then write about a special time you remember sharing with someone.

*Where and when did it happen?

*What happened?

*What was the key moment of that shared time?


[image error]

Of course, there are also places we'd like to go and things we'd like to do to make memories. Talk about and then write about something you'd like to share doing together.







Now, explore the special memory Jilly and her mother share in Butterfly Tree.




When Jilly first spots something strange in the sky out over Lake Erie, what does she think it looks like? Read and discover.








Describing what something looks like by comparing it to something else is called a metaphor. Basically, something unfamiliar is described by telling how it's like something familiar. A metaphor can be a powerful way to use words to paint a picture in someone's mind. Try it.

Sit quietly for a few minutes either indoors or outside. Look around. Pick out something to focus on. Then think how you could describe what it looks like to someone who's never seen it by comparing it to something else--something familiar.

Next, share your metaphor. Ask the person to describe the visual image your words painted in their mind. Trade metaphors back and forth to work together building a description.

Here are some places and times you could use metaphors to partner building a description others can enjoy too.
*A sunset
*A stormy day
*An animal in action: a bird taking flight; a squirrel in a tree; a cat playing





When Jilly first sees the orange cloud in the sky, she makes lots of guesses of what it might be. Each of those guesses probably instantly made Jilly think of a different possibility for where the cloud came from and why it's over Lake Erie. What did Jilly imagine the cloud might be? Read and discover.




Spend some time cloud watching with someone. Look out a window or go outside on a wonderfully cloudy day. Focus on one cloud that looks like an animal, an object, or something totally magical. Tell a short story about that cloud and what you imagined about it.

Then write your cloud story. Be sure to include at least one metaphor to help your reader see what you're describing.




Jilly's ready to run away because of the orange cloud she's spotted, but her Mom suggests they go searching for where the cloud landed.

What orange things do Jilly and her Mom discover in the woods before they find the orange cloud? Read and discover.





What happens to reveal what the orange cloud really is? Don't miss reading to find out!


[image error]

Mom says she remembers seeing the butterflies when she was a girl. Why do you think she didn't just tell Jilly what the orange cloud was?









Now, discover more about monarch butterflies.


The Circle of Life

Look at these images of the stages of a monarch butterfly's life cycle.


[image error]

Egg
The female lays her eggs on the leaves of milkweed plants. Caterpillars hatch out in about four days.


Caterpillar
Caterpillars eat their egg case and keep on eating. They eat the milkweed leaves they're on. They eat nearly twenty-four hours a day for about two weeks.


Pupa
The caterpillar spins a silk pad on the under side of a leaf. It grips this with tiny legs, called prolegs. It hangs in a J-shape and molts. This way it sheds its exoskeleton, or outer covering.






That hardens to form a chrysalis, a protective case. Inside the chrysalis, digestive juices break down a lot of the caterpillar's old body. Using energy from stored up fats, a new body grows from the old one bit by bit.


[image error]

Adult
After about two weeks, an adult monarch butterfly emerges from its chrysalis. It takes several hours for its wings to fully inflate and harden. Then it flies off to feed on nectar, the sweet liquid produced by flowers. It lives from two to eight weeks. During this time, the males and females mate. Then the females lay their eggs, starting the cycle over again.


Butterfly Inside
Experience what happens when a caterpillar turns into a butterfly. Cut out and color an adult monarch.

Then fold this up small and push it inside a balloon.
Have an adult partner blow up a balloon just enough to partly inflate it. Tie the neck to seal the balloon.

Cover the balloon with paper mache. To do this, first snip newspaper into strips about an inch (2.5 cm) wide and 6 inches (25 cm) long. Cut at least 25 strips. In a bowl, mix one-half cup flour with enough water to make a runny paste. Dip one paper strp into the glue mixture. Hold the strip over the bowl and slide between your thumb and fingers to remove excess paste. Smooth the strip onto the balloon. Repeat until the whole balloon is covered up to the neck. Smooth your fingers over the wet balloon. This will help seal the edges of the paper strips. Set the balloon in a clean, dry bowl. Turn frequently for a few hours to help it dry evenly. Leave overnight.

The balloon now represents the chrysalis inside which the caterpillar is changing into an adult butterfly. Use scissors to carefully snip into the balloon just below the neck. That will pop the balloon. It will deflate and separate from the inside of the paper mache. Carefully pull out the balloon. Open it and pull out the folded up adult. Unfold the adult slowly.

In real life, the adult butterfly's body gives off a special chemical that helps break open the chrysalis. Then the adult crawls out and hangs upside down from its chrysalis. Its abdomen squeezes over and over, pumping fluid into the wings. The big wings slowly unfold. The butterfly flaps these wings while they dry and become strong. Then it's ready to fly.


Scavenger Hunt

Now, go on an on-line scavenger hunt to track down the answers to these questions.




How can you help monarch butterflies?

[image error]

Why is a viceroy butterfly colored to mimic a monarch butterfly?

Also, don't miss the fun, interactive jigsaw puzzles on this site.



[image error]

Where do monarch butterflies go to escape cold winters?
Watch the slide show at The Magic of Monarch Butterfly Migration


Also find out what is the longest any monarch butterfly has flown to date during its migration?


Wonder how monarch know where they're going when they migrate?

Journey North's Monarch Butterfly Migration Tracking Project reports
"This is a question that scientists are still working to answer. People working at the University of Kansas with Chip Taylor have shown that they use the sun, and also probably the earth's magnetic field to know which way is south during the fall migration. But we don't know how they find the specific spots in Mexico. Personally, I'm not sure that we'll ever be able to answer this one—which I think is kind of nice. I like mysteries!"






If you like science mysteries too, after you finish reading Butterfly Tree you'll enjoy another of my books The Case of the Vanishing Golden Frogs: A Scientific Mystery (Millbrook, 2011). It's the story of a real-life science mystery. Solving it meant the difference between life and death for Panama's tiny golden frogs.

Have A Pack Of Fun!

[image error]
I'm delighted to share my book
Family Pack (Charlesbridge, 2011).



















I have always been fascinated by wolves. I first had an opportunity to investigate the lives of wolves and wolf pack behavior when I wrote Growing Up Wild: Wolves (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2001).






















Later, I interviewed experts who have spent long careers studying wolves in the wild to write Animal Predators: Wolves (Carolrhoda Books, 2004).


That was when I talked to Dr. Doug Smith, director of the Wolf Restoration Project at Yellowstone National Park. I'll never forget the day he told me the story of Female 7, one of the first wolves set free in Yellowstone in March, 1995. Almost seventy years earlier, people trapped and killed wolves to eliminate this top predator from Yellowstone National Park.



All those years later, people realized, you can't fool with mother nature. Every animal in an ecosystem has its role. Wolves helped eliminate sick, weak, and old animals keeping populations of grazing animals, like elk and deer, from becoming huge—too big for there to be enough food for them to eat.




What struck me as exciting was that the young wolf scientists called Female 7 didn't choose to remain part of the pack people artificially created. She immediately set off into the wilderness on her own. Of course, no one knows exactly what she experienced or how she reacted. Family Pack is her story as I imagine it happened. The ending is known. Female 7 and Male 2 met. I suspect it was love at first sniff. When they mated and had pups, their family pack became the first naturally formed pack in Yellowstone. Scientists called it the Leopold pack. Over the years since then, the pack has grown into one of the strongest and largest packs in Yellowstone National Park. Female 7 and Male 2 are no longer living. However, their descendants continue to hunt the same territory Female 7 first claimed when everywhere she went hers were the first wolf prints to mark the ground in over seventy years.

























You may want to share these activities before you read Family Pack. Or enjoy them as follow-up fun to reading this story.





1. Family Pack opens with a young female wolf heading off on her own into Yellowstone National Park. There are no other wolves anywhere around. Imagine if you were suddenly in a wilderness where you were the only human. How would you feel about that? What might you find exciting? What might make you feel frightened?










2. For wolves, the world is given shape and texture as much by scents as by colors and shadows. Close your eyes and have an adult partner guide you into different rooms of your home. Can you tell where you are just by what you smell?






Next, close your eyes while your adult partner cuts or peels an orange, an apple, or a banana. Sniff this fruit. Then have your partner hide the mystery fruit so you can't look at it. Use crayons or paint to color a piece of paper, sharing your impressions of this fruit based solely on how it smelled. For example, rather than using orange to show that fruit choose a color to share how sweet it smelled and make the color dark or light to indicate whether the odor was strong or faint. Sniff the mystery fruit again and decide if you want to add additional colors to share additional impressions you get of this fruit.





Finish by showing your picture to another family member. Can they identify whether your picture shares an orange, an apple, or a banana? Then have your partner reveal the mystery fruit and let everyone share sniffing and tasting it.




3. At one point in the story, the young female thrusts her muzzle skyward and howls. Where she used to live, her voice would have drawn a chorus of other wolf voices and the arrival of her family. Try it! Have family members scatter throughout the house. Then you move to wherever you want your family to meet up. Start your family's chorus by tipping your head back and giving a good loud howl. Have each family member join in with a howl that is slightly different than yours and thus uniquely their own. Each family member should also move toward you between howls. Repeat until your entirely family has found you.



[image error]


Did howling help you find each other?
Did you find you were quickly able to identify each family member by their individual howl?
Imagine how you would feel if, like the female wolf in the story, you howled and your family never found you?






4. The young female wolf finally becomes able to catch prey to feed herself by practicing her hunting skills. Name at least five things practice has helped you learn to do better.


[image error]


5. Finally, one day, the young female discovers she's no longer the only wolf in her home territory. When she first meets the young male they sniff each other, rub heads, and lick muzzles. Like wolves, people have customs for greeting someone new? Think about how people you know respond to being introduced to someone.









What are the traditional customs for greeting new people in each of the following countries:
Cambodian
China
France
Grenada
India
Japan
New Zealand Maori
Singapore
Thailand
Tibet

If you're not sure about the local customs for greeting people, click on each of the following links to investigate.

Greetings in Other Cultures

How do greetings differ around the world?

Greetings Around the World






6. Family Pack has a very happy ending. I don't want to spoil it by telling you what happens. You'll need to read it for yourself. Once you do, decide why this is such a happy ending for the female wolf.



Don't miss the websites and books to explore, plus the amazing wolf facts, that are supplied at the back of Family Pack.

AHA MOMENT

Hi Friends,

I'm still at the Santa Barbara Writers Conference and today brought one of those moments I live for--the AHA MOMENT. It was delivered by Catherine Ann Jones who is noted for lots of great screenplays and TV episodes including some for Touched By An Angel. What was my AHA MOMENT? It was that I needed to be able to go into my novel's story equipped with a clear understanding of the structure that I could distill into just 2 sentences. Sentence one should include: the title, the genre, introduce protagonist (good guy) and antagonist (bad guy), establish the scene (where it happens), and share the inciting incident. Sentence two needs to tell the story within the story, meaning what happens to take the protagonist through his or her story arc--the all important transformation. For example, the character could go from totally lacking self-confidence to being a strong leader. Working through writing those two sentences for the current YA novel I'm totally immersed in gave me fresh insights into what I've accomplished and made me think of things to tweak to make my characters and the plot their living in stronger.

Catherine shared something else that added to the AHA MOMENT for me. That is that the conflict of the story is made up of three concentric circles. The outermost circle is the external conflict that's in the story's world. Moving toward the center, the next circle is inter personal conflict--what's happening between characters. The innermost circle in the one of inner conflict--what's happening to the protagonist as he or she is transformed during the story. A good example is Casa Blanca. LOVE THAT MOVIE!!!! The external conflict is that the story is set in the middle of WW II. The second circle of conflict is between Bogart and Bergman. There are also some subplot conflicts here with secondary characters. The whole trying to get passage out of Casa Blanca. The innermost circle is Bogart's character's personal conflict. He became cynical when Bergman's character ran out on him in Paris. At the beginning of the movie all he cares about is himself and making money. At the end, he selflessly helps the woman he loves leave with another man. And, of course, Bogart gives us his famous quote about the lives of three little people not being important in the overall scheme of the war.

I hope reading this gave you an AHA MOMENT too. Think about it. And while you're at it watch Casa Blanca with these new insights in mind. Here's lookin' at you, friends!

A View From A Conference

Hi Fellow Writers,

I'm currently attending the Santa Barbara Writers Conference in Santa Barbara, California and WOW what a great experience. For one thing, it's incredible to have a chance to spend entire days with people who don't think you're nuts because you hear voices--they do too. The voices of their characters talking in their heads. And discussions about plot and pacing and character arcs are all consuming. There are 264 students here from ages 17 to 80-something and 26 super talented teachers. I start every day at nine and the last evening session is always still going strong when I drag myself off to bed about midnight. Sleep doesn't always come quickly, though, as ideas for my WIPs (works in progress) begin to swirl and sort themselves out. Last evening, I had the opportunity to participate in something I've always wanted to try--improv. I think it could also be called "improve" for authors. An acting instructor led this activity as a way for us to think about the subtext for our characters--what isn't being said but is the emotion driving the dialog between two characters in conflict.

Conflict is what it's all about. If a story doesn't have it, it's just a conversation and boring as dirt. Actually dirt is probably more entertaining.

The key thing editors reviewing my work have told me is "lean it up". I love Hemingway so I have no problem with that style element being in vogue. I was actually a little surprised, though, because I already write that way. Brief descriptions slipped in at key moments to ground the scene and make you feel what the characters are experiencing. But now, I need to tighten even more. So when you're looking over your own work keep that in mind. If it's obvious who is talking, just let them say it. Use action verbs like cringed and smirked rather than describe feelings and expressions. And when writing action scenes don't let the characters take time out to think about anything.

To squeeze the essence out of what I'm learning--make readers experience the story as if it's a movie playing out in their mind. Done right, a good book is the best movie of all because it has the reader's imagination to bring it to life.

FICTION ROCKS and RULES---Part One

I haven't been blogging for awhile because I've been writing like crazy. However, I've been feeling the tug of getting back to it, reaching out to all of you—my friends in the writing world--somewhere out there in cyberspace.

I'm sure you're asking, "What have you been writing?" I'm writing novels and that's what I want to share in this next series. It'll be quite different than my Writing Non-fiction series. That was drawn from nearly thirty years of writing experience.


This time I'm sharing where I am now--looking to what I want to be publishing in the future, specifically romantic suspense and YA (Young Adult—which in my opinion is way more adult than it used to be).

Have I published in either of these genres?




Yes, my YA novel The Fledglings was published by Delacorte Books for Young Readers in 1992 and reprinted in paperback by Boyds Mills in 1998. Happily, it won two awards. So I've tested the waters and long been interested. I simply haven't had the opportunity in my career—or taken the time, depending on how you want to look at it—to jump in and swim.





I'm telling you this because I want you to understand that I'm going to be sharing with you what I'm discovering myself about the craft of writing fiction. Make no mistake, it is a craft and like any other it takes practice and effort. Above all, it requires a passion to succeed that will carry you past the rejections with the courage to revise or start fresh, but definitely to keep on writing.

So I've learned there are rules to writing fiction and that's what I want to share first. Let's start at the top.

Rule #1: To write it you have to read it.

Each genre has its own specific style and certain aspects of "what's expected." That has also changed over time.



You only have to read a Dashiell Hammet mystery, such as his famous Maltese Falcon, published in 1930, and a book by a current mystery writer like Lynda LA Plante's Blind Fury to see what I mean.






Pick your favorite authors for your favorite genre and read, read, read, read, read. Let it be fun, but pay attention to things like: how was the story set up to hook you into the book, when and how were the protagonist (hero/heroine) introduced, when and how was the antagonist (bad guy/gal) introduced, how did the plot unfold.





This is a good spot to stop and make a list of your favorite authors in your genre. And by the way, pick one genre. It's like non-fiction where publishers won't buy a book that can't be plugged into the Dewey Decimal System categories.

You have to be able to tell a publisher your book is romantic suspense or paranormal or dystopian, sci-fi, or whatever. Looking down the road, that will also help you know what publishers are likely to be interested in publishing your work when you're ready to pitch your book.





Different publishing imprints only publish certain genres. And don't worry there are plenty of on-line sites that will tell you which genres each publishing imprint features.

There we have Rule #2: Choose a genre and focus on it.


One more rule for today and it's a big one.

Rule #3: Come up with a big idea for your book.

It's best to be able to put that idea in the form of a question.

For example, "Will a group of adults and two children be able to survive until a storm passes and they can be rescued from an isolated island that's been overrun with all kinds of living dinosaurs?"

Did you recognize this as the idea for Jurassic Park?


[image error]

You need an equally fresh idea and one that's likely to capture the attention of a lot of readers.



Make lists of the blockbuster books that have become movies, such as The DaVinci Code, Pirates of the Caribbean, Fatal Attraction. Let your list grow and grow. Then analyze it. What were the big ideas?




Next, start a list of your own. What's out there that grabs your interest and could capture an audience?




Could you spin a story around that idea? One with characters readers can care about?





By the time you--and I--get that far, we'll be ready to roll on to plotting. That part of writing fiction has rules of its own.



I've got to go write because I hear my characters talking to each other in my head. Which goes to show, if you hear voices, you're not crazy, you're a fiction author.

I'll be back soon.