Read Across America Day - 2026 - Bedminster School Kindergarten - An Unusual Day at School!

 

The "Cat in the Hat" came to Bedminster School to read to the kindergarten classes at Bedminster School to celebrate Read Across America on Dr. Seuss's birthday. 

Read: The Wrong Side of the Bed by Wallace E. Keller. Opened by asking what does it mean to say that you woke up "on the wrong side of the bed," then read this splendid story of a day that went completely upside down! (Also discussed gravity.)

Shared the poem "Eight-oh-Three" about racing for the school bus from the collection Lunch Money & Other Poems about School by Carol Diggory Shields.

Sang (with props): By the Way by Joe Scruggs - lyrics here  (video with tune here)

Read: Just Another Ordinary Day by Rod Clement. Read the first two pages without showing the pictures, then showed them so the children could see that Amanda's ordinary day has her riding to school with a Tyrannosaurus rex, having lunch with an alien, sailing a pirate ship at library, and riding home on an elephant!

Got the wiggles out by reading and acting out: Quick as a Cricket by Audrey Wood

And looking toward their futures, read: Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters by Barack Obama - sharing this inspiring tribute to thirteen groundbreaking Americans whose the ideals that have shaped our nation - from the artistry of Georgia O'Keeffe, to the courage of Jackie Robinson, to the patriotism of George Washington.

(I was reading to three classes but if the group had been smaller and I'd had more time, I would have loved to follow this up with a discussion of what these kindergarteners would want to do for the world when they grew up).

Closed with the poem "Clock-Watching" from Lunch Money & Other Poems about the agonizing slow clock movement - with the surprise twist that it is the TEACHER waiting for the school day to end!

Sang "The Wheels on the Bus" as the kids lined up to leave.

More ideas here: https://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/search?q=school+daze

Bedm 3/2/2026 25 minute time slog

Read Across America Day - Changemakers

 A storytime celebrating brave and determined people who have worked to change the status quo....

• Steadfast : Frances Perkins, champion of workers' rights by Jennifer J. Merz.
• Frances Perkins witnessed NYC's Triangle Fire and made it her life's mission to aid workers -- she championed worker safety laws in NY then become FDR's secretary of labor - the 1st woman US Cabinet Member and the force behind the New Deal.

You don't need to be a grownup to make a difference:

I am Ruby Bridges by Ruby Bridges
When Ruby Bridges was aged just six, she became the first African American student to integrate an elementary school in the South. Based on the pivotal events of 1960 and told from her own point of view for the first time, this is a poetic reflection on her experience that changed the face of history and the trajectory of the Civil Rights movement. Also showed pages from The story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles
Received too late to share but a great teacher resource: Dear Ruby, hear our hearts : letters to civil rights activist Ruby Bridges by Ruby Bridges

Booktalked: Sit-in : how four friends stood up by sitting down by Andrea Davis Pinkney and Opening the road : Victor Hugo Green and his Green Book by Keila V. Dawson

Greta Thunberg by Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara ; illustrated by Anke Weckmann
The inspiring true story of Greta Thunberg, the environmental activist. When young Greta learned of the climate crisis, she stopped talking. She couldn't understand why people in power were not doing anything to save our Earth. One day she started protesting outside the Swedish Parliament, creating the "School Strike for Climate." Soon, lots more young people joined her in a global movement that shook adults and politicians alike. She had found her voice and uses it to inspire humans to action with her powerful message: "No one is too small to make a difference."  (Didn't discover until afterwards: Greta and the Giants : Inspired by Greta Thunberg's stand to save the world by Zoë Tucker - a fictionalized but tells true story at the end - would make a good readaloud) or consider Our house is on fire : Greta Thunberg's call to save the planet by Jeanette Winter

Sang the inspiring words with the book: 

This little light of mine  illustrated by E.B. Lewis

Through the words of a well-known African-American spiritual dating back to the days of slavery, a little boy finds that through simple, kind acts he has the power to let his light shine and warm the world around him

Finished with the wise advice from: 

• Be a king : Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream and you by Carole Boston Weatherford ; illustrated by James Ransome   "You can be a King. Stamp out hatred. Put your foot down and walk tall. You can be a King. Beat the drum for justice. March to your own conscience. Featuring a dual narrative of the key moments of Dr. King's life alongside a modern class as the students learn about him, Carole Weatherfor's poetic text encapsulates the moments that readers today can reenact in their own lives.

And asked the kids what they could do to make the world better...today & in the future

Bedminster School 2nd Grade 2/28/24

Earth Day Storytime - Special Needs - Virtual

Earth Day plans -- School Age Special Needs (virtual)

Book: I love our Earth  by Bill Martin Jr.

Song (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…

Book: Living Sunlight: How Plants Bring the Earth to Life by Molly Bang & Penny Chisholm

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...

Counting book: Down in the Garden: Counting Book by Anne Geddes 

Song (flannel): A Squirrel Lives in the Tree (Tune: Farmer in the Dell)

A squirrel lives in a tree.  A squirrel lives in a tree
He’s as cozy as he can be -- A squirrel lives in a tree.
Continue with:
A snail lives in a shell…Oh, yes it suits him very well.
A bear lives in a cave…He comes out to give a wave.
A fish lives in the sea…We will all just let him be.
A bird lives in a nest…That’s where she goes to take a rest.

Action book: EarthDance by Joanne Ryder

Song (flannel): And the Green Grass Grew all Around (flannel)

Song on Rachel Buchman’s “Sing a Song of Seasons” (Children echo words in italics)

 

In the woods, there was a hole (there was a hole)

The prettiest hole (the prettiest hole)

That you ever did see (that you ever did see),

Oh a hole in the woods, a hole in the ground,

And the green grass grew all around, all around

And the green grass grew all around.

 

And in that hole (and in that hole)

There was a root (there was a root)

The prettiest root (the prettiest root)

That you ever did see (that you ever did see)

Oh a root in hole and a hole in the ground

And the green grass grew all around, all around

And the green grass grew all around.

Continue with:

tree  -- tree on a root, root in the hole, hole in the ground, and the green grass grew…

branch – branch on a tree, tree on a root,
root in the hole, hole in the ground…

nest – nest on a branch…

egg – egg on a nest…

bird – bird in the egg…

Guessing Game book: It Looked Like Spilt Milk by Charles G. Shaw

More ideas:

https://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/search/label/Earth%20Day%20%26%20Environment

More Songs: 

Sing Spring–Happy Earthday!

No time for: Tap the Magic Tree by Christie Matheson (interactive), We Planted a Tree by Diane Muldrow, Picture a Tree by Barbara Reed, Mother Earth by Nancy Luenn

4/28/22 - Dover Nicole's class (Special Needs)

School Age Storytime: “Soup’s On”

School Age Storytime: “Soup’s On”   K-2 Bedminster School

Featuring soup stories and songs, incorporating fiction and non-fiction, concepts of alphabet, emotions, and months of the year, and participatory storytelling of a classic folk tale.

Kdg only: Book: Growing Vegetable Soup – Lois Ehlert (vocabulary, non-fiction concepts of gardening & food prep)

“Piggy Back” Song/Action: This is the Way we… make the Soup (lyrics for this and all other songs below) (reinforces sequencing)

All classes:  Interactive story with props (pot, puppets, & veggies): Stone Soup  (Participatory storytelling, mentioned old story many variants – I use the Ann McGovern version with old lady and young man - script and songs here: https://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2014/02/school-age-storytime-soups-on.html)

Song/Flannel:  "Alphabet Soup" by Tom Chapin (reinforces alphabet) 

Book: Mean Soup – Betsy Everitt (A great idea for a difficult day – could also make "Mean Cheerios!") (Alternative: That is NOT a Good Idea -- Mo Willems)

Song:  "If you are happy and you know it…" .. sad, angry, excited, etc.

Book : Monkey Soup – Louis Sachar – author of Sideways Stories from Wayside School  (child makes her father a special kind of soup to help get him well – silly!)   Don't try this at home! 

Book/Cards/Song: Chicken Soup with Rice – Maurice Sendak, tune by Carole King from “Really Rosie” concept: the names of the months (Watch on Youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSJ0FDplzjk , more tracks from the musical here: https://www.youtube.com/results?sp=mAEB&search_query=really+rosie)

Book (1st & 2nd grade):  Armadilly Chili – Helen Ketterman (Armadillo fails to get help from her friends in chili preparation but when they return with "sackfulls of apologies plus apple cider, cornbread, and brownies, she finds sharing dinner with friends is best of all. This is a  folktale variant of "Little Red Hen" – which I challenged students to identify midway through the story.)

Song/Action: “Doing the Chocolate Shake” (chocolate soup)

1/20/2020

School Age Storytime & Craft: Earth Day

 

Earth Day Heroes: A non-fiction “un-common core”  K-2nd grade storytime featuring inspiring stories of diverse people who have made a difference to our planet. Introduces American and global environmental history and issues, non-violent change agents, along with a book about photosynthesis and the interdependence of all life on earth. Also includes songs, sign language and gorgeous images (visual and literary) of our planet. Not all items used with all groups.

Spring finally arriving – flowers outside – opened with poem  “Spring Is” by Bobbi Katz from Sunflakes: Poems for Children.

Book: The Camping Trip that Changed America: Theodore Roosevelt, John Muir, and our National Parks by Barb Rosenstock (The true story of how a camping trip in California with John Muir inspired Teddy Roosevelt to preserve America’s natural wilderness – long but the kids enjoyed.)  Could also booktalk John Muir: America’s Naturalist by Thomas Locker (gorgeous illustrations)  Miss Lady Bird’s Wildflowers by Kathi Appelt (President’s wife’s advocacy led to the beautification of America’s highways.)  and  Redwoods by Jason Chin (A boy is transported through the pages of a book into a forest of these magnificent trees.)  (Mentioned they can see a sequoia/redwood tree in nearby Buck Gardens.)


Book/Song: This Land is Your Land by Woody Guthrie
or Song: “We’ve Got the Whole World in Our Hands” (traditional – optional props/puppets: world globe ball, brothers/sisters, bird, fish – lyrics http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2015/04/sing-springhappy-earthday.html.)

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

And the Green Grass Grew all Around (flannel) – lyrics here: http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/2015/04/sing-springhappy-earthday.html Song on Rachel Buchman’s “Sing a Song of Seasons” (Children echo words in italics)

 

Take a Walk Outside (from Pick Me Up, Fun Songs for Learning Signs – played the song from the album as we “danced with our hands”)

Book: Wangari’s Tree’s of Peace: A True Story from Africa by Jeanette Winter (The inspiring story of the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Winner who spear-headed the reforestation of Kenya despite threats and jail time.)  (Mentioned “biography” – non-fiction about a person)

Action Book: Earth Dance by Joanne Ryder (Kids stood up and acted out this poetic tribute to our earth. Touches on the ideas of earth science, gravity, seasons, and planetary rotation)

Finished with:

(Younger classes) Book: I Love Our Earth by Bill Martin Jr. and Michael Sampson (Dan Lipow’s photographs are “eye candy” – a splendid look at the earth’s gorgeous diversity.)

(Older classes) Book: Mother Earth by Nancy Luenn ( personification of the earth “The ground is her skin, Mountains her bones, Trees and plants her living hair, Birds are her songs, And the listening stones her ears…”  remind listeners that we must use her gifts well, and return them with respect and love. Gentle watercolor illustrations by Neil Waldman)
Sign Language Song: “Walk the World Now Children” from Tom Chapin’s Album Some Assembly Required. Find signs here: http://www.signingsavvy.com/ – skipped at Bedminster 2018 because didn’t get album in time.  Used at Milltown.

 

Milltown afterschool program:

Book: The Camping Trip that Changed America

Book/Song: This Land is Your Land

Book: Wangari’s Tree’s of Peace: A True Story from Africa

Sign Language Song: “Walk the World Now Children”

Booktalked and read selections from other titles.

Craft – torn construction paper collage – earth, environmental, spring scenes (some kids asked, could they use “random”? – I responded “Sure” and introduced the concept “abstract art”)

(Played music from Tom Chapin’s album This Pretty Planet playing as kids made crafts.)  Didn’t remember to use Earth Ball with song “We’ve got the whole world in our hands. Could use next time.)

More Earth Day programs here: http://carolsimonlevin.blogspot.com/search/label/Earth%20Day%20%26%20Environment

Bedminster K-2, Milltown Afterschool 4/2018

School Age Program: Play with Poetry

 
This was a program to encourage kids to play with poetry then write some of their own.  (K-5 at Bridgewater, K-2 at Bedminster School)

Poetry Program – You’re a Poet though You May Not Know It  “Today we’re going to write some poems of our own -- but first we’re going to hear some poems to get our own creative ideas flowing and get some tips about poetry-writing…”

.2017: Order varied in some groups

• Opened with Prelutsky’s “I Told the Wizard to His Face” from Monday’s Troll (skipped at Bedminster, book unavailable, instead opened with short poems “The Tickle Rhyme,” “Glowworm,” & “Bugs” (p.13-14) from Sunflakes)
• Talked about different kinds of poetry – asked what made a poem (sometimes rhyme & rhythm, form, imaginative language).
• Played “Yankee Doodle” rhyming game --  Newfangled Yankee Doodle Poems http://www.gigglepoetry.com/poetryfun/newfangledfib.html
• Shared these tips from Jack Prelutsky Pizza, Pigs, and Poetry – anyone know of him (show his books) –keeps writing notebook (used page numbers below)
  
  Write about something that really happened (ok to exaggerate though!):
  Ø p.5 “I Wonder Why Dad is so Thoroughly Mad”
  Ø p.18 “My Mother’s Rules”
  Ø another poem about his mom’s rules: p.23 “Deep in Our Refrigerator”
  
  Brothers, Sisters, Pets, Friends and Toys make good subjects:
  Ø p.30 “My Baby Brother” (also “Brother” p. 65 in Sunflakes selected by Lilian Moore)
  Ø p.58 “Oh, Teddy Bear”
  Ø p.64 “My Brother Shaved His Teddy Bear”
  
  Poems don’t have to be long:
  Ø p.33 “Oysters”
  Ø (also “The Tickle Poem” p.14 in Sunflakes )
  
  Images can inspire poems:
  Ø p.65 “Spring Is” in Sunflakes selected by Lilian Moore)
  Ø p.43 “We’re Fearless Flying Hot Dogs”  (skipped some of these, no time)
  Ø p.39 “Forty Performing Bananas” (re-writing playing with language – read section),
  Ø p.53 “I’m Building a Bridge of Bananas”
  Ø p.74 “The Turkey Shot Out of the Oven”
• Poems can inspire images:
  Ø Show Shape/Concrete Poems from Doodle Dandies (First Burst of Spring, Giraffe, Butterfly) by J. Patrick Lewis & A Poke in the Eye (p.2,3,17,20,21,27), by Paul B. Janeczko
• Make up new verses to poem/song “Alligator Pie” from Dinosaur Dinner by Dennis Lee  (Judy Freeman put it to music -- feel free to give me a call if you want the tune), having kids select food, a rhyming consequence activity, a rhyming object and a non-rhyming related object, e.g.

Alligator CHEESE, Alligator CHEESE
If I don’t get some, I guess I’m gonna SNEEZE.
Take away my GARDEN, Take away my BEES,
But don’t take away my Alligator CHEESE!

• Shared two pet poems (p. 19 & 14)  from Who Swallowed Harold by Susan Pearson then read the mixed-up menagerie poems from Cock-a-Doodle Moooo! by Keith DuQuette and showed example of acrostic & blackout poems. 
• Kids then created poems of their choice – combo animal poems, shape poems, blackout poems, alligator pie new verses, rhyming poems or acrostic poems. 
• Surprise ending fun:
  from Lunch Money and Other Poems About School by Carol Diggory Shields
  p. 16 "School Daze Rap"
  p. 35 "Clock Watching"
  
  Hands on – Writing our Own Poems – Options:
  
  o Using what we just discussed, write a poem
  o If you need ideas, try: “I am” poem (handout below, more at: http://www.pinterest.com/teaching101/writing/)
  o Poetry Starter (source unknown): “Every day when I go out, I fill my shoes with sauerkraut…. (supply a page with these two lines as the starter )
  o Acrostic Poem (Handout below)
  o How to Write an "I Can't Write a Poem" Poem (Handout http://ettcweb.lr.k12.nj.us/forms/cantwrite.htm)
  o Write a Structured Poem – ideas from the book “A Kick in the Head”
  
  
  

 
 
o Write a Shape Poem|

This and many more here: https://www.pinterest.com/ginger9892/concrete-poetry/
o Write a Blackout Poem

from: http://learningparade.typepad.co.uk/learning_parade/2011/07/newspaper-blackout-poems.html

Handouts:

Acrostic Poem  (I wrote these instructions out for the kids)
An Acrostic Poem is a poem that uses a name or a word to begin each line in a poem. Write your name or a word vertically down the left side of this sheet of paper. Begin each line of the poem with each letter of your name and write about yourself. After you are finished, decorate the page with your favorite things. (If you would like to get your poem back, please write your name & phone number on the back.)


 

4.2017 Bridgewater:

Additional Resources:
http://teacher.scholastic.com/poetry/index.htm  Jack Prelutsky and others
www.hmhbooks.com/poetrykit/  lots of poetry ideas based on HMH books
http://www.gigglepoetry.com Bruce Lansky’s poems, contests, ideas
www.poetry4kids.com poems, contests, ideas + a rhyming dictionary
www.poetryzone.ndirect.co.uk/index2.htm place for kids to publish their own
www.teacher.scholastic.com/writewit/poetry/jack_home.htm (jack prelutsky’s writer’s workshop)

Display books: Imagine a Day …Night… Place – Sarah Thomson & Rob Gonsalves,  A River of Words JB Williams, Sad Underwear Judith Viorst, lots of other poetry books… New  in 2016 Daniel Finds a Poem – Micha Archer

School Age Storytime : Fall & Apples

 

A storytime for K-2nd grade celebrating the season
emphasizing empathy & compassion (with a nod to the idea of Rosh Hashonah – new year, new beginnings).

 

Kindergarten:

 

Book: Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert. Creativity & Imagination.

 

 

 

Book: One Red Apple – Harriet Ziefert (simple beautiful celebration of the cycles of an apple tree)

 

Flannel Song: A Wiggly Worm (Tune: Boom! Boom! Ain’t it Great to be Crazy!)

                Chorus: Yum! Yum! Don’t you know I love apples?

                                Yum! Yum! Don’t you know I love apples?

                                Red and Green and yellow, too…

                                Yum! Yum! Don’t you know I love apples?

 

                Way up high in an apple tree, I saw two eyes look at me.

                I reached for an apple, it started to squirm…oops! I found a wiggly worm!  Chorus

 

                That wiggly worm is a friend of mine.  We eat apples all the time.

                 I let him crawl back to that tree… hey!  That worm is looking at me! Chorus

 

Book: One Green Apple by Eve Bunting --This beautiful (and beautifully illustrated) story emphasizes understanding and compassion as Farah, a new student from an unnamed country, goes with her class on a field trip to an apple orchard (defined) and finds that though she is different and doesn’t know the language, she can be accepted and will find friends here.

 

Participatory Storytelling/Props:  The Little Red House with No Doors & No Windows, a Chimney On Top & a Star in the Middle (Tip: instantly turn flannel pieces into hanging signs for kids to wear using plastic paper protector sleeves with stiff paper inserts & yarn ribbon to hang around each child's neck, act out the wind blowing the trees and the “plop” of an apple falling in the farmer’s backyard. Prop: real apple & knife to slice horizontally.)

 

Action: Apple Pie chant (suit actions to words)

Chorus:  Apple, apple  (slap legs twice, then clap hands twice)  Apple Pie!

 

First you need apples

So you pick them, pick them  chorus

    Put them in the sink

    And you wash them, wash them chorus

Then you take the apples

And you cut them, cut them chorus

   Next you roll the crust

   & you roll it, you roll it chorus

Drape it in the pan

& you pinch it, you pinch it chorus

    Take some cinnamon sugar

    And sprinkle it, sprinkle it chorus

Put it in the oven

& you bake it, you bake it chorus

   Take it out of the oven

   & you smell it, you smell it chorus

Take out your knife

& you slice it, you slice it chorus

   Take some ice cream

   & you scoop it, you scoop it chorus

Then you take the pie

And eat it, eat it!! Chorus

 

 

Singable Book: Ten Red Apples – Pat Hutchins (numeracy: 1-10 numerals, one-to-one correspondence, subtraction, animal identification, animal sounds)

Read parts of The World’s Birthday by Barbara Goldin (Rosh Hashonah story) but a bit long for this group.

1st & 2nd Grade:

 

Book: One Green Apple by Eve Bunting (opened by asking who spoke another language at home, then speaking gibberish and having them imagine going to school and not understanding what their teacher & classmates were saying)

 

Asked: “What’s worse than finding a worm in your apple?” – finding half a worm!

Book: Seed by Seed : The Legend of Legacy of John “Appleseed” Chapman by Esme Raji Codell  (Seed by Seed, Deed by Deed – talked about how they – kids – can make the world a better place : being a more helpful member of the family, helping a fellow student who is being ignored or bullied, cleaning up litter, etc.)

 

Apple Pie Chant (above) 

 

Book: New Year at the Pier : A Rosh Hashonah Story by April Halprin Wayland (talked about different kinds of new years – the Jewish new year tradition of apples & honey and Tashlich tossing bits of bread into water and  saying sorry to start the New Year with a “clean heart.”)

Participatory Storytelling/Props:  The Little Red House with No Doors & No Windows, a Chimney On Top & a Star in the Middle – urged kids to practice this story with each other – then tell it to family members tonight. (wonderful practice for listening skills, sequencing, speaking skills)

Bedm. 10/16

On Your Mark, Get Set...Engineer! What is Engineering?

What is Engineering? (Ages 7-11)

Join Civil Engineer Carrie Feuer P.E. as we explore what things around us are engineered and brainstorm/prototype our own inventions!

As kids are arriving, display non-fiction, biography, picture book & fiction books on engineering & inventions – optional read one to the early arrivals. 609s, 620s, plus Dotty Inventions (and Some Real Ones Too) – Roger McGough (J609 MCG),  Rosie Revere, Engineer - Andrea Beaty (& her Iggy Peck, Architect), The Most Magnificent Thing – Ashley Spires, If I Built a Car / House – Chris Van Dusen, Hooray for Inventors – Marcia Williams (609.22 WIL) (graphic novel), So You Want to Be an Inventor – 608 St. George, Girls Think of Everything– Catherine Thimmesh (609.2 THI),  Imaginative Inventions 609 HAR, Incredible Inventions: Poems 811.008 INC,11 Experiments that Failed – Jenny Offill, You Choose (JFic You) series.

Biographies about: Elijah McCoy (The Real McCoy, All Aboard), Edison, Jacques Cousteau, Leonardo Da Vinci, Odd Boy Out: Young Albert Einstein, It’s a Snap: George Eastman’s First Photograph, The Man Who Made Time Travel – Lasky (JB Harrison), Earmuffs for Everyone: How Chester Greenwood became Known as the Inventor of Earmuffs – Meghan McCarthy, Spic-and-Span: Lillian Gilbreath’s Wonder Kitchen – Monica Kulling,  Electrical Wizard: How Nikola Tesla Lit Up the World - Elizabeth Rusch,  In the Bag: Margaret Knight Wraps Its Up -- Monica Kulling, The (Boy Who Harnessed the Wind – William Kamkwamba & Bryan Mealer, Ben Franklin’s Big Splash – Barb Rosenstock

Opened by asking: What is engineering?  What is an engineer?  What do engineers do? Do they know any engineers.

Carrie Feuer pulled out some manufactured objects and asked – is this engineered?     What do engineers look like? – share some non-stereotypical pictures (at bottom of this program plan).

“Scientists study the world as it is; engineers create the world that has never been.” --Theodore van Karman, physicist and NASA aerospace engineer

Explore the Engineering Design Process:

http://www.dowlingmagnets.com/science/magnet_kits/

 

https://girlstartblog.wordpress.com/2010/02/16/design-process/

Group the kids into teams (<= 4 people) – challenge: “design and build a device that will slow the descent (define) of an object”  (The original SciGirls resources used the word “parachute” but the scigirls training suggested making it a more open-ended challenge – the directions below have been modified to reflect that.)   

Before they start designing -- Ask – why would you need something like this? (SciGirls research discovered that girls particularly like to think about reasons for tech) Possible answers: people jumping out of airplanes, humanitarian delivery of food or medicine to places that a plane can’t land, escape from a tall building…

 

Parachute Parade www.pbs.org/parents/scigirls/activities/parachute-parade/

Materials

• Several items from this list: plastic wrap, tissues, paper towels, plastic bags, tissue paper, coffee filters, handkerchiefs, straws 
• 1 toy minifigure (Lego, for example)
• string or thread or yarn
• scissors
• tape
• paper and pencil
• optional: stopwatch

Directions

1. Your challenge is to make something that will slow the descent of a toy minifigure  (You can work in groups of up to 4 people). 
2. Take a few minutes to brainstorm designs before beginning.
3. Then we’ll test them and see how they work.  We’ll see which design helps our Lego guy/gal to fall the slowest (has the most drag).
4. We can make a prediction before testing. (Stand on a chair and use a stopwatch to time each descent and/or hold two at the same height and drop them at the same time – which has the most drag?)
5. Look at your results. Was your prediction correct? Why did one minifigure descend slower than another?

See More Tips in the PDF

More info at scigirlsconnect.org/

 

http://www.slideshare.net/chelseafowler399/women-in-engineering-majors

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3299632/Cyber-sexism-hits-female-engineers-Women-roles-profession-stereotypes-portraying-job-boys.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sponsored/education/stem-awards/12005798/tackling-engineering-stereotypes.html  http://girltalkhq.com/breaking-stereotypes-mona-shindy-is-australias-first-muslim-navy-captain-engineer/

https://fortunedotcom.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/gettyimages-554996413.jpg?w=1024   http://s3-eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/centaur-wp/theengineer/prod/content/uploads/2014/10/20080000/Roma_Agrawal_Shard_2-752x500.jpg

more at:  http://www.goodnet.org/articles/this-what-engineer-looks-like 

additional pictures of an unconventional mechanical engineer – Lyra Levin, Chief Mechanical Engineer at Megabots.com – building a 15ft high robot & hanging from one of its arms…

and at Burning Man 2015 building a musical Tesla coil:

More Pix at https://www.facebook.com/coupdefoudre2014

7.2016 BWL

Next time: Water Water Everywhere & Not a Drop to Drink! (Ages 7-11)

Join Civil Engineer Carrie Feuer P.E.  as we do hands-on explorations of how water goes from dirty to clean.