School Age S.T.E.A.M. Storytime & Craft: Earth Day & Arbor Day

Clarence Dillon Public Library

STEAM Story Time & Craft with Miss Carol Levin

Wednesday, Apr. 16, 4:30 pm

        Wednesday, April 16th @ 4:30 pm

This month's theme:  Arbor Day & Earth Day

Join us as we share stories about Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math (STEAM)!

 Ages 5-9 (siblings welcomed)
 

I Love Our Earth - Bill Martin Jr. - photographic celebration (or could use Mother Earth - Nancy Luenn instead)

Song (earth ball, optional puppets): We’ve Got the Whole World in our Hands – traditional

We've got the whole world in our hands
We've got the whole wide world in our hands
We've got the whole world in our hands
We've got the whole world in our hands
We've got our mamas and our daddies…
We've got our brothers and our sisters…
We've got a little bitty baby…
We've got the birds in the air…
We've got whales in the sea…
We’ve got you and we’ve got me…

Spring is Here - Taro Gomi  "Spring is here. / The snow melts. / The earth is fresh. / The grass sprouts." Taro Gomi's clever picture book about the change of seasons couldn't be simpler. The first spread shows a white calf against a hot-pink background. "Spring is here," it says. In the next spread "the snow melts." And indeed, the once snow-white calf is now spotted black and white! 

Song (action) This is the way... tune "Mulberry Bush": This is the way we plant a seed, plant a seed, plant a seed. This is the way we plant a seed so early in the morning...This is the way the sun will shine... This is the way the rain will fall...This is the way the seed will grow... This is the way the flower will bloom...

Living Sunlight: How Plants Bring the Earth to Life - Molly Bang & Penny Chisholm  (572.46 BANG) -- this creative and memorable explanation of photosynthesis will stick with kids for a long time.

Song: And the Green Grass Grew all Around (flannel) – lyrics here: http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2015/04/sing-springhappy-earthday.html 

The Great Kapok Tree  - Lynne Cherry -- The many different animals that live in a great kapok tree in the Brazilian rainforest try to convince a man with an ax of the importance of not cutting down their home.

Action Book: Earth Dance by Joanne Ryder

Didn't get in time: 

Singable book: What a Wonderful World - Ashley Bryan  E Thiele

Mother Earth - Nancy Luenn Gorgeous watercolors accompany this extended metaphorical exploration of our planet (could use instead of  I Love Our Earth

This pretty Planet

skipped Sign Language Song: “Walk the World Now Children”

Craft – construction & tissue paper collages – trees, earth, environmental, spring scenes 

Optional:  music from Tom Chapin’s album This Pretty Planet as kids make crafts 

School Age S.T.E.A.M. Storytime & Craft: Building Bridges

 

School Age S.T.E.A.M. Storytime & Craft: Building Bridges

Wednesday March 19th 4:30-5:30 p.m.

(geared to ages 5-9, but older/younger siblings are welcomed)

Registration Required.

For Women's History Month, we'll share the story of Emily Roebling, the "Secret Engineer" behind the Brooklyn Bridge, then experiment with building a variety of bridges.

As children arrived, had books for browsing on bridges, various versions of "The Billy Goats Gruff" and Rosie Revere, Engineer and other empowering picture books by Andrea Beaty

Read aloud the book Secret Engineer: How Emily Roebling Built the Brooklyn Bridge by Rachel Dougherty, booktalked the other books.

Explored tension/compression & created a human suspension bridge: 

Acted out the story of The Three Billy Goats Gruff (no pictures)

Explored the strength of a beam bridge with this model:

And tested the strength of paper and straw-built bridges: 

More details on all of these projects can be found here: 

https://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2017/07/fairytale-engineering-three-billy-goats.html

CSL Clarence Dillon Library March 2025