Backyard Book Club: James and the Giant Peach Overview
The Backyard Book Club is back in action! For this month’s meeting, the kids read James and the Giant Peach, thanks to a request by one of our members. (Click here for the book spotlight with online resources and other ideas.) We started with a quick talk about what the kids loved best in the book, then went straight […]
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Liquid Chromatography: Separating Plant Pigments
n this week’s book, Gianna had to identify lots of leaves for a school project. We’re going to learn about leaves too with this awesome chromatography experiment by ecologist Heather Hawke. Take it away, Heather! Have you ever wondered why leaves turn color in the fall? They don’t really switch colors – some of those yellows and […]
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Making Recycled Paper
In one of my favorite scenes of Ida B (this week’s book), Ida B’s dad tells her that they need to take care of the Earth. One of the best ways to do this is by recycling! Let’s make our own recycled paper to help take care of the Earth just a little. Materials: newspaper water aluminum […]
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Exploration and Observation: Graphing Water Pollution
In this week’s book, Flush by Carl Hiaasen, Noah fought to keep the water from being polluted. We can help with water pollution too! This week’s activity comes to us from my fabulous little sister Hope Braithwaite, who is the Programs Assistant at the Utah State University Water Quality Extension. So she’s an expert on teaching kids […]
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Desert Animal Olympics
In this week’s book, One Day in the Desert by Jean Craighead George, we met tons of cool desert animals: roadrunner, peccaries, tarantulas, headstand beetles, desert tortoises, honey pot ants, elf owls, foxes, and even a mountain lion. These animals have all made adaptations so they’re fit to live in such a dry climate. But they’re amazing […]
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Moonbird: A Year on the Wind with the Great Survivor B95
About the Book:B95 can feel it: a stirring in his bones and feathers. It’s time. Today is the day he will once again cast himself into the air, spiral upward into the clouds, and bank into the wind.He wears a black band on his lower right leg and an orange flag on his upper left, […]