News & Blog

In this week’s book, Sierra got in big trouble when she brought her mom’s lunch bag by mistake because there was a knife in it. The knife was probably there so Sierra’s mom could cut her apple right before she ate it so it wouldn’t go brown. Do you agree? Let’s see if we can come […]

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 […]

In this week’s book, some of the characters had body parts made of tiny, intricate gears. Today we’ll make our own gears and learn a little about how they work! Gears are wheels that turn each other. To start out, make some wheels by cutting different size circles in cardstock. (We traced ours from the bottom of […]

About the Book: A few things to know about Dylan: He is the only boy in his entire town—so forget about playing soccer. His best friends are two pet chickens. His family owns the world’s only gas station/coffee house—their pies are to die for, but profits are in the hole. Criminal instincts run in his family—his […]

On page 3 of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, we learn that the Herdmans burned down Fred Shoemaker’s old broken-down toolhouse when they started a fire with Leroy Herdman’s “Young Einstein” chemistry set. Let’s do some chemistry that’s more fun and much, much safer! So what is chemistry anyway? It’s studying matter and how it reacts and […]

In Cosmic, Liam gets to go on “The Biggest Thrill Ride in the History of the World”–a trip to the moon! Let’s make some indoor rockets and see if we can launch them all the way to the ceiling. Materials needed: fishing line or string, drinking straws, balloons, shuttle picture, masking tape 1. Prepare the launch site. String fishing […]

In Kepler’s Dream, Ella adjusts to life in a new place and is challenged to find her true north. For today’s science activity, you’ll find your true north and learn something about the place you live! It’s time for part 2 of our sundials activity from astronomer and physicist Laura Cotts! For this activity, you’ll just need a piece […]

Jacob Wonderbar and his friends broke the universe and were afraid that they’d destroyed their own galaxy. You probably know that a galaxy is a big, big group of stars, and that the galaxy we live in is called the Milky Way. But let’s learn some more about galaxies and make our own galaxy art! There […]

This week’s book, Anne Ursu’s Breadcrumbs, is full of snow. In fact, Hazel watches the snow fall in the very first scene and admires its “perfect geometric patterns.” So let’s take a closer look at the geometry of snowflakes! Most snowflakes have hexagonal symmetry, which means that there are six lines you could draw through the […]

In Matthew Kirby’s Icefall, there is an abundance of ice. It become almost a character, sealing the fjord, groaning and growing, and it certainly plays a tremendous role in the climax of the book. And there’s no shortage of ice in Mr. Popper’s Penguins either! Let’s take a look at ice from a scientist’s perspective and explore some of […]