Read Across the Ocean -- Virtual Storytime for the Students at Kiwimbi School in Kenya

 

Carol reads EarthDance by Joanne Ryder to the students of Kiwimbi School Kenya. If you want to have a reading that shows close ups of the book, you can find it here.

Possible follow ups:

Book: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer – the true story of a boy from Malawi, who, when a drought threatened his village, used books found in a library to learn to build a windmill from scraps. Read Aloud : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieSIhow18kU

Kids can make their own pinwheels - directions You can meet him "in person" here: Moving Windmills: The William Kamkwamba story 6 min. interview His first TED Talk (2009) William KamKwamba: How I harnessed the wind Updated with TED Talk (2018) (after he studied engineering at Dartmouth University!!) Catching up with inventor William Kamkwamba | William Kamkwamba Interview with Chris Anderson (Also now a full-length Netflix film: "The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind" http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2013/03/incredible-adventures-boy-who-harnessed.html – has more ideas for this title. Another innovative real-life solution to a problem of lack of power:

The Soccket, an energy-generating soccer ball that turns into a lamp

More books that celebrate African inventors:

Book: One Plastic Bag: Isatou Ceesay and the Recycling Women of the Gambia by Miranda Paul tells how plastic bag trash was becoming a terrible problem in a village – even killing the goats – until a clever and enterprising woman and her friends figured out how to take this trash and make it into useful purses that could be sold for income. Reading with music available here Instructions to make them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r354rs7aYzI Related videos: Young woman is recycling plastic into building bricks: https://thekidshouldseethis.com/post/recycling-plastic-waste-to-make-bricks-that-are-stronger-than-concrete https://mymodernmet.com/gjenge-makers-recycled-plastic-bricks/

Book: Galimoto by Karen Lynn Williams tells the story of a young child who uses scraps of wire to create his own toy. Reading Rainbow: Galimoto book starts around 2:50.

Book: Masai and I by Virginia Kroll offers a child's perspective comparing the daily lives of a child in a U.S. city and a Maasai child in Kenya. Musical reading

Book: 14 Cows for America by Carmen Agra Deedy Maasai tribal members, after hearing the story of the September 11th attacks from a young Massai who was in New York on that day, decide to present the American people with fourteen sacred cows as a healing gift. Reading Author interview: My favorite follow up is Tom Chapin's beautiful song "This Pretty Planet" (with beautiful pictures) or Children doing it as a round with Tom Chapin Many more ideas -- and other books I could read -- are here: https://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2015/04/mothers-fathers-of-invention-if-at.html

Here are some of my favorite booklists from "What Do We Do All Day" 

INSPIRING PICTURE BOOKS:

These are picture book lists that will inspire kids to create, dream and spread kindness in their community.

• Books to Inspire Kids to Change the World 
• Books to Teach Kindness
• Books to Inspire Kids to Follow Their Dreams
• Books to Inspire Artistic Creativity
• Books to Inspire Inventors and Engineers
• Picture books about the Theater
• Books Celebrating Screen-Free Life
• Funny Picture Books
• Books about Trying New Things
• Picture Books about Peace
• Growth Mindset Picture Books
• Picture Books about Observation and Perspective
• Nature Picture Books
• Books about New Beginnings

PICTURE BOOKS ABOUT INTEGRITY & EMOTIONS:

• Picture Books that Teach Meaningful Values
• Picture Books to Support Emotional Intelligence
• Picture Books about Mindfulness and Meditation
• Books that Teach Empathy
• Books about Anger, Frustration and General Crankiness
• Books about Fear and Courage
• Picture Books about Perseverance and Determination
• Children’s Books about Happiness
• Picture Books about Lying and Honesty
• Picture Books to Teach Responsible Citizenship
• Picture Books about Friendship
• Picture Books about Communities Coming Together 
  • Picture books about global social justice
  • Picture Books about Refugees
  • 30 Days of Diverse Picture Books for K-1st Grade
  • 30 days of diverse books for 2nd and 3rd grade
  • Picture Books about Diversity and Multiculturalism
  • Read Your Way Around the World: 50 books set in different countries

American Girls Superheroes - True Superheroes

American Girls Club - True Superheroes Party (Sussex County Library Virtual Program)
"Don’t miss this very special meeting of the American Girl Club featuring Carol Simon Levin! Ms. Levin shares stories of remarkable women throughout history (our true Superheroes!). There will be activities too! Miss Jenise hosts. Kindergarten and above. American Girl dolls are welcome, but you don’t need a doll to join in." March 27 @ 11:00 am - 12:00 pm FREE

Superheroes-->Flight-->Real female flyers

Opened by having each attendee introduce her American Girl doll(s), then had a discussion of characteristics of "superheroes." After "able to fly" came up, said that while real people can't fly by themselves, they can become pilots and I was going to share a story about a real person named Bessie Coleman who, despite people saying she couldn't learn to fly an airplane because she was Black and a woman, went on to become a famous aviatrix.

Read: Nobody Owns the Sky by Reese Lindbergh (daughter of Charles Lindbergh)

Booktalked other picture book biographies of aviatrices (above) Jenise Sileo, Sussex County Library Youth Services Librarian sent out this terrific video booktalk after the program)

Showed the Bessie Coleman segment from the Reading Rainbow episode "Ruth Law Thrills a Nation" (starts at 7:45)

Introduced the concept of "lift" then we experimented Asked what they thought would happen if they blew above and below a strip of paper, then using strips of paper, blew and watch how they lift UP either way! (air moving faster above the paper causes low air pressure which counteracts the force of gravity which is how airplanes can fly" 
(“c” from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/education/activities/2412_barrier.html)

Make and fly our own paper airplanes – “classic” plus unusual “Flying Saucer” “Spirit of Alabama” (instructions: http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2013/11/incredible-adventures-flight-school.html)

Here are links for lots of more great paper airplanes: https://www.foldnfly.com/#/1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-2  More ideas at: http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/search/label/Aviators 

Then asked who knew who Kamala Harris was and read her book Superheroes are Everywhere. 

Booktalked: Barack Obama's marvelous Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters (more like this in my program called "Big Dreamers" ) and the new book Dreams for Our Daughters.  

You can find lots of great booklists at: What Do We Do All Day

Profiles of groundbreaking women at A Mighty Girl

Daily math problems from Bedtime Math

More Fun & Educational Ideas for Kids during the Coronavirus Quarantine 

You can hear me read-aloud "Soar Elinor" another book about a daring young female flyer here

We share the story of the plucky young female pilot who flew under four NYC bridges then talk about "lift" and make a paper airplane to fly. Find instructions for a variety of paper airplanes at my website: http://www.carolsimonlevin.blogspot.c...

​ or check out this video: https://tinyurl.com/5EasyPaperAirplanes

​. Want to read "Soar Elinor"? You'll find it here: https://archive.org/details/soarelino...

​. More activities at: https://www.tamilewisbrown.com/soarel...

​. You might also enjoy Flight! by Robert Burleigh (a book about Charles Lindbergh's solo across the Atlantic Ocean) here: https://archive.org/details/flightjou...

​. Interested in learning about other female flyers, check out the links at: https://nobodyownsthesky.wordpress.co...

​ flying! You can find more of my storytime videos at: https://tinyurl.com/Storytime-with-Carol

​. I also have created a compilation of fun family sites for at-home learning at: https://tinyurl.com/familylearningideas

​.

School Age Storytime: Hold Fast to Dreams–Fly High!

 

(K-3rd grade)
At the tale end of  Read Across America week celebrating Dr. Seuss’ birthday and the beginning of Women’s History Month, we shared stories of girls who defied convention, worked hard and followed their dreams. 
(Relates to Dr. Seuss’ book Oh the Places You’ll Go)

 

Amazing Grace – Mary Hoffman  Grace loves acting out stories. Told by her classmates that she can’t play the part of Peter Pan because she’s a girl & black, she learns that she can do anything she puts her mind to.

Asked what they wanted to be when they grew up. Women often were told they couldn’t be what they wanted to be. 

Every-Day Dress Up – Selina Alko – A girl ditches her princess duds in favor of daring dames – Amelia Earhart, Ella Fitzgerald, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Marie Carie & more. Briefly discussed each woman presented. When we discussed Stanton, mentioned women couldn’t even vote in the US until a little less than 100 years ago – had them figure out how old the US is (240 years) so for most of that time, women couldn’t vote. Long battle, Stanton and others spent their whole lives (70 years!) trying to get women’s voting rights.

“It is fun to dress up in princess skirts for dress up or a party, but how would they like to wear long heavy skirts (as heavy as a box of books!) everyday?  They couldn’t bike, or climb a tree, or run and play…”

You Forgot Your Skirt, Amelia Bloomer! --- Shana Corey –  Delightful biography of the suffragist & newspaper founder who founded a movement to get women out of long limiting skirts.

Nobody Owns the Sky: The Story of “Brave Bessie” Coleman – Reeve Lindbergh (youngest daughter of Charles) – No American flying school would teach Bessie because she was black so she sailed to France for lessons then returned to the states with the dream of starting her own school for African American pilots.

Movement – “Stretch High, Bend Low, Reach to the Sky, Then to Your Sides, Spread Your Wings, Turn around , then sit back down.”

Sky High: The True Story of Maggie Gee – Marissa Moss – Maggie Gee, who dreamed of flying from the time she was a girl, finally gets her chance during WW2 when she becomes one of only two Chinese-American WASPs (Women Airforce Service Pilots).

(did a variety of stretches and chants encouraging the kids to dream high & work hard to achieve their dreams)

Previous years: http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2014/03/school-age-storytimes-womens-history.html

Some other great titles:

My Name is Not Isabella: Just How Big Can a Little Girl Dream? – Jennifer Fosberry
To the Stars: The First American Woman to Walk in Space – Carmella Van Vleet
Wilma Unlimited – Kathleen Krull
Elizabeth Leads the Way:Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the Right to Vote – Tanya Lee Stone
I Could Do That: Esther Morris Gets Women the Vote – Linda Arms White
Solving the Puzzle Under the Sea: Marie Tharp Maps the Ocean Floor – Robert Burleigh
many more here: http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2015/03/celebrating-women-history-month.html
and here: http://www.whatdowedoallday.com/2013/03/women-in-history-best-books-for-kids.html

 

More on early pilots:  https://nobodyownsthesky.wordpress.com/

Bedm. 3/16.

SRC: Adventurous Heroes: Heroes of Flight

 

DVD: Eyewitness: Flight showing as kids arrive

Display books about flight (629.13), paper airplanes (745.592) and flyers – biographies of aviators and aviatrices: Wrights, Lindbergh, Earhart, Harriet Quimby, Ruth Law, Bessie Coleman, etc.

Wear flight jacket with "Fifinella" -- open with a discussion of famous (ask: Amelia Earhart, Wright Brothers?) and not so famous flyers (wearing WASP mascot patch - Ann B. Carl, from Somerset County, first American woman to fly jet plane), Booktalk Flight: The Journey of Charles Lindbergh by Robert Burleigh – up 36+ hours, couldn’t fall asleep or would crash, no sandwiches, journal on thigh,  Soar Elinor by Tami Lewis Brown (teenage aviatrix who flew under all 4 NYC bridges on a dare!),  point out other biographies, books on airplanes and flight, and on making paper airplanes.

Read: Daredevil: The Daring Life of Betty Skelton by Meghan McCarthy – pilot, auto-racer, and almost-astronaut!

Experiment: hand out strips of paper, blow and watch how they lift UP!  (“c” from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/education/activities/2412_barrier.html)

Make and fly paper airplanes – “classic” plus unusual “Flying Saucer” “Spirit of Alabama” (instructions: http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2013/11/incredible-adventures-flight-school.html)

Incredible Adventures: Flight School

 

Take Flight! Grades K-6. We’ll hear the amazing stories of some early aviators -- including Elinor Smith’s daring flight under the bridges of New York City, then make our own paper airplanes and see how far they soar!

This is a school aged program introducing children to some early flyers along with techniques for building some simple paper airplanes.  It could be done as a one hour program one day or be stretched out into a multi-session program with one book read each meeting and progressively more difficult airplanes made and tested.  It is also a perfect school-aged for the 2014 Summer Reading Theme “Fizz, Boom, Read.”

Plans:
When when children arrive: Have books on early flyers (biographies), airplanes (629.13), and paper airplanes (745.592) available for browsing.  A bibliography on some overlooked female flyers is here: http://nobodyownsthesky.wordpress.com/bibliography/

Begin with Bernoulli Principle experiment:
http://howthingsfly.si.edu/sites/default/files/attachment/BernoulliBrain-Teasers.pdf
Depending on the ages and interest of those attending, read 1-3 books, interspersing books with building and test-flying paper airplanes (We had kids sit on rug for reading then had them build planes in the same location using cardboards for flat surfaces.  This way we easily modeled how to build the planes and saw who needed help.)

Suggested books to read:

• The Fabulous Flying Machines of Alberto Santos-Dumont – Victoria Griffith (introduces this little-known inventor famous for his personal flying dirigible and considered by some the inventor of the first powered airplane that took off by itself (Wright Bros. required a rail system and wind to get it off the ground.))
• Flight – Robert Burleigh (blow-by-blow account of Lindbergh’s solo non-stop flight)
• Soar Elinor! – Tami Lewis Brown (tells the story of Elinor Smith and her extraordinary flight under the four bridges of NYC) Could also just read one book and then make and race planes. Kids line up to see which goes the farthest, highest, etc. No need for prizes, the race part just gives everyone a chance to stand and fly their planes.

Paper Airplanes:
Classic paper airplane: http://www.exploratorium.edu/exploring/paper/airplanes.html

Flying Saucer airplane: http://www.cbc4kids.cbc.ca/general/the-lab/flights-of-fancy/current/default.html (This site is no longer working, but the plane is really cool and quite simple.   Cut an 8.5x11 piece of paper in half so you have a 4.25x11 piece.  Fold  the 11” edge over about 1cm., then fold that edge over again and again for a total of 5 folds (you should have a thick folded side and about 2-3 inches of unfolded paper left.)  Bring the two ends together with the folded part facing inside. Lap the ends and tape together.  To fly, hold in your hand like a “C” and throw with a twisting motion.)  Here are scans from the original site – I have a request in for permission, but haven’t heard back yet. 



Here’s another interesting airplane from the same site that I have found nowhere else:


Assorted other designs (with video instructions)
http://www.kidspot.com.au/kids-activities-and-games/activity-ideas+30/10-of-the-best-paper-plane-designs+12392.htm
http://www.paperairplanes.co.uk/
http://web.mit.edu/swe/www/PaperAirplanes.pdf
http://www.paperairplaneshq.com/paper-airplanes.html

11/13

Smithsonian Maker Lab p. 44ff. – Dashing Dart, Super Stunt, Graceful Glider

School Age Storytime: "To Fly" -- Stories about Female Aviatrices Who Soared

School Age Storytime (K-4th) : "To Fly"
Stories about Little-Known Female Aviatrices Who Soared

(Inspiring biographical storytime about women who took risks,

includes original newsreel footage (via Youtube) of one of the flights.)

 

The Daring Miss Quimby by Suzanne George Whitaker (Holiday House, 2009)   Lively pictures accompany an exciting text about this flamboyant flyer  or  Brave Harriet: The First Woman to Fly the English Channel by Marissa Moss (Harcourt, 2001)  tells the same story in a fictionalized first person narrative.

 

Original Newsreel footage of the English Channel flight:

 

April 16th 1912 - Harriet Quimby Is Making History   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJQfY1_BwRI

· 

Harriet Quimby was the first American woman to fly across the English channel. Her achievement was overshadowed by the Titanic disaster.
Katherine Stinson Otero, High Flyer  by Neila Skinner Petrick (Pelican, 2006)  Lovely picture-book biography of this daring and adventurous individual or Soar, Elinor! by Tami Lewis Brown (Farrar, Straus, 2010.)  Inspiring biography of the sixteen-year-old girl who flew under NYC's bridges! or Ruth Law Thrills a Nation  by Don Brown (Houghton Mifflin, 1995)   Riveting details  enliven Brown's witty picture book  depicting  Ruth's record-breaking flight.

Nobody Owns the Sky: The Story of "Brave Bessie" Coleman by Reeve Lindbergh (Candlewick, 1998) . Superbly-written narrative verse of this inspiring black flyer who refused to take no for an answer.

Since it was the beginning of the school year, concluded with:

The Wrong Side of the Bed by Wallace Keller (Rizolli, 1992)  Hilarious tale of what happens when Mott literally gets up "on the wrong side of the bed."

Additional titles:

The Fabulous Flying Machines of Alberto Santos-Dumont by Victoria Griffith (Abrams, 2011) (Grade K+)  A  charming introduction to a quirky flyer who loved floating over Paris in his own personal flying machine and became the first man to lift off and land a completely self-propelled plane. 

Flying Solo: How Ruth Elder Soared into America's Heart by Julie Cummins (Roaring Brook, 2013) (Grade 1+) Lively picture book biography of Ruth Elder who planned to be the first woman to fly across the Atlantic. Though that failed, in 1929, she and 19 other women (including Amelia Earhart) flew solo across the country to prove women could pilot as well as men!

Sky High: The True Story of Maggie Gee by Marissa Moss (Tricycle, 2009) (Grade K+)  Taken from interviews with Maggie Gee herself, this is a wonderful picture book biography of one of the only Chinese-American women accepted into the World War II WASP (Women Airforce Pilots)

Flight by Robert Burleigh (Philomel, 1991) (Grade K+)  Breathless text and wonderful paintings convey the excitement of Charles Lindbergh's solo flight over the Atlantic.

McCarthy, Meghan. Daredevil: The Daring Life of Betty Skelton. 2013. Unpaged. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, $16.99 (978-1-4424-2262-9). K-Gr.3. The First Lady of Firsts, Betty Skelton blazed the trail for women in aviation, auto racing, and aeronautics. She soloed when she was just 12 years old and set records throughout her life.

Burleigh, Robert. Night flight: Amelia Earhart crosses the Atlantic. Illus. by Wendell Minor. 2011. Unpaged. Simon & Schuster, $16.95 (978-1-4169-6733-0). K-Gr.3. This uplifting picture book recounts Amelia Earhart’s sky-breaking solo trip across the Atlantic in 1932.

And of course, there are many books on Amelia Earhart, the Wright Brothers, and other flyers.

See also: http://nobodyownsthesky.wordpress.com/

Bedm. 9/2013