• Reviews

    #blogbookaday: Mary Had a Little Lab

    Summary:  “Mary is an enterprising young inventor. She wants a pet, but it isn’t one she can easily buy…so she makes one with the Sheepinator! Mary’s pet sheep and her new invention make her popular with her classmates. But when she starts making sheep for her new friends, things go hilariously…

  • Reviews

    #blogbookaday: Bird Builds a Nest

    Summary:  “It’s time for Bird to build her nest! Follow her as she pulls a worm out of the ground, lifts some twigs that are just the right size, and pushes the twigs into place. Uh-oh! One of the twigs falls to the ground! But after a day of hard work, Bird’s nest…

  • Activities

    AtoZ Blogging Challenge – Lunch At the Library

    Program Name: Lunch at the Library What: We haven’t offered this program before, but I can see how it would be a really great way for libraries in urban and suburban communities to draw in a crowd during the week. Offer a program as often as you want – once a week,…

  • Lists

    60 STEM Titles for 3-6 Year Olds

    stem

    We often are asked by parents for “science books for preschoolers” and after a reference interview, we find that they are looking to teach their kids a variety of science concepts at a young age and finding books that are academic enough to satisfy the parents can be difficult. I…

  • Lists

    18 STEM Picture Book Biographies

    Ada Byron Lovelace and the Thinking Machine by Laurie Wallmark, illustrated by April Chu The Boy Who Loved Math: The Improbable Life of Paul Erdos  by Deborah Heiligman, illustrated by  LeUyen Pham The Girl Who Thought in Pictures: The Story of Dr. Temple Grandin by Julia Finley Mosca, illustrated by  Daniel Rieley Grace Hopper: Queen of Computer Code by Laurie Wallmark, illustrated by Katy Wu Lighter Than Air: Sophie Blanchard, the First Woman Pilot by Matthew Clark Smith, illustrated by Matt Tavares Manfish: A Story of Jacques Cousteau by Jennifer Berne, illustrated by Éric Puybaret Margaret and the Moon: How Margaret Hamilton Saved the First Lunar Landing by Dean Robbins, illustrated by Lucy Knisley Maya Lin: Artist-Architect of Light and Lines by Jeanne Walker…

  • Activities

    Elementary STEAM: Popcorn Science

    popcorn

     Last week I offered a Popcorn Science class for our Fun Friday program.  I actually had two programs – the first for 2nd through 4th graders and the other for Kindergarten & 1st graders. The kids were beyond excited to eat the popcorn, but first I wanted to do a little…

  • Activities

    Science of Superheroes ~ Super-Human Strength

    Today was the first of three “Science of Superheroes” programs we’re offering this summer with a STEM focus for children entering 2nd through 4th grades.  This program went very well for the 22 kids in attendance!  We began by brainstorming all the superheroes we could think of with super-human strength.  The…

  • Activities

    Catapult Science Workshop

    pom poms

    Today we’re going to be creating own very own catapults to test out!  I came across this idea from the Libraryland blog and from the Show Me Librarian blog.  Both had great ideas and I combined them as well as some ideas of my own to create, what I think,…

  • Reviews

    Book Review: The Fourteenth Goldfish

    I was so excited to get my hands on a copy of this uncorrected proof while at ALA in Las Vegas this year.  The Fourteenth Goldfish will not be on sale until August 26, 2014, which means this review is based solely on the advanced read’s copy (ARC) and information…

  • Activities

    Slime Science Workshop

    Our slime science workshop was definitely a lot of fun  – so fun in fact, that I took it with me when I visited summer camp today and we had fun there as well!  I started each program reading the story The Secret Science Project that Almost Ate the School by…