November 1, 2012
Good morning. It’s Thursday, so it’s time for SeeMore Explorers.
A couple of weeks ago, Seymour Simon and I took a walk up to Bash Bish Falls, the highest waterfall in Massachusetts. As we were walking along the creek, heading up the trail to see the waterfall, we came upon this interesting looking thing growing on the side of a tree. I took photographs from both above and below.
It looks like a fungus, or maybe a mushroom. I decided to use the SeeMore Explorers Observation Log to try to find out what it is.
I typed the words "orange brown tree fungus spongy bottom" into Google. The first website that came up in the search was a "Mushroom and Fungus Identifier" on a website called Healthy Home Gardening. This seemed promising. I opened on the website, and started clicking through lists of photos, looking for images that resembled what I had seen.
I soon found several things that looked quite a bit like what I was looking for, and I noticed that all of them had the word "shelf" in their name. I could tell that what I was seeing was either a Shelf Mushroom or a Shelf Fungus.
Back to Google, where I typed in "shelf mushroom" and did a Google image search this time. Sure enough, I found several credible, scientific websites with photographs of shelf mushrooms that looked very much like what I had found.
What interesting things have you seen outdoors lately? You can download your own copy of SeeMore’s observation log here. Fill it out and share it with your friends, your classmates, your teacher or your family. Let people know what interesting things you are seeing, and what a good nature detective you are!
Posted by: Liz Nealon
October 31, 2012
Good morning, and welcome to Writing Wednesday. Today, we’re going to share an excerpt from a lovely book by Caroline Arnold and Richard Hewett, called WILD GOAT. Once you have read this and enjoyed the photograph of these adorable kids, you can write about it and post your writing for others to read! 
Your assignment: Tell us what you learned from the words in this selection. What did the pictures teach you? How did the words and pictures work together to help you understand the world of these baby goats?
When you have finished, click on the yellow "Comments" link at the bottom of this blog to post your writing.
Note to Educators: Today’s Writing Wednesday exercise is designed to use in support of CCSS Reading/Informational Standard #6: Distinguish between information provided by pictures or other illustrations and information provided by the words in a text.
WILD GOAT is one of the exclusive, recorded eBooks available in the StarWalk Kids digital collection. Click here for more information about signing up for a free, 60-day trial for your school.
Posted by: Liz Nealon
October 30, 2012
We are a little bit late with our posting of today’s Cool Photo of the Week because of the power outages here on the East Coast. But, we’re back online just in time to share this special, COOL HALLOWEEN PHOTO OF THE WEEK!
This ghostly sight is known as the Cygnus Loop Nebula, a supernova remnant that is about 1,500 light-years away from Earth. This nebula is the gassy remains of a supernova - the gigantic explosion when a huge star blew itself up.And since the Cygnus Loop Nebula looks like a ghost, it reminds me to wish all my readers a Happy, Out of This World Halloween!
Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Posted by: Seymour Simon
October 29, 2012
Here are a few reasons why weather forecasters are so worried about Hurricane Sandy, nicknamed Frankenstorm.
- Sandy is a very large hurricane, one of the largest ever to strike the United States mainland. Instead of having winds and rain a few hundred miles across, Sandy is much bigger. That means many more millions of people are going to experience high winds, heavy rains and powerful storm surges along the coast.
- Sandy is a very slow moving storm. It will stay around for days rather than hours.
- Sandy is not weakening as it reaches the coast. It’s expected to join forces with cold air masses and become a hybrid storm like a Frankenstein Monster Storm or "Frankenstorm."
- Sandy arrives on the coast during a full moon, the highest tides of the month. Sandy’s winds combine with the high tides could push tidal waters 11 feet higher than normal.
- Sandy will bring in cold air and snow as well as wind and rain. Cold air will join with the warm air of a tropical storm and bring snow as well as wind and rain. So the problems of cold weather storms and warm weather storms are wrapped into one.
- Sandy is likely to affect New York City, the nation’s largest city. That’s bad news for a city whose many subway tunnels are lower than the surrounding ocean waters.
All in all, Sandy the Frankenstorm is no joke. It’s a dangerous storm that may turn out to be the worst in the history of the Northeast United States.
Posted by: Seymour Simon
October 29, 2012
FrankenStorm, the monster storm that is about to move into the NorthEast is not a joke. Damaging winds, heavy rains, downed power lines and major flooding are almost inevitable in the next few days. This hurricane has the potential to be one of the most destructive storms in history.
There are things that you and your family can do to prepare in advance. One of the most important is to listen to local news on the radio, TV and the Internet. Follow the advice and instructions that you get from local authorities. Better to be safe than sorry.
If you are going to stay home then it’s a good idea to prepare a basic disaster supply kit. Here’s some of things it should contain:
- Water, a gallon per person per day for at least three days, for drinking and sanitation.
- Food, at least a three-day supply of non-perishable food.
- Moist towelettes, garbage bags and plastic ties for sanitation.
- Battery powered or hand crank radio with extra batteries.
- Flashlights and extra batteries.
- First aid kit.
- Whistle to signal for help if need be.
- Manual (not electric) can opener for cans of food.
- Cell phone with a charger that doesn’t depend upon local electricity.
- Books, games, puzzles and other activities for youngsters.
- Medicines and other personal supplies.
Be calm and safe. It’s always just best to be prepared for the worst, even though you hope nothing bad actually happens.
Posted by: Seymour Simon
October 23, 2012
It’s not just humans that find the doctor’s stethoscope is too cold when we go for our checkups.
This is Yakini, a newborn gorilla, being examined at the Melbourne Zoo, in Australia. Look at her face. I think we all know that feeling!
Posted by: Seymour Simon
October 23, 2012
I had such a good experience with Mrs. Klott’s second grade class at Scanlan Oaks Elementary School in Sugar Land, Texas last week.
They did a big research project and assembled all their writing and photographs into a book that they called SWIMMING SHARKS. This kind of book - where words and photographs work together to tell the story - is called a "photo essay." Many of my books (like my SHARKS book) are also photo essays.
Here is what they wrote on the first page:
About the Authors:
Mrs. Klott’s class is taking a bite out of learning every day, and loves to research science topics. They have already learned about sharks, wild weather, and plants. They have an aquarium full of fish for their class pets. They will continue to grow and learn together for the rest of this school year. They all love to read nonfiction books!
This sounds like my kind of class!
The whole book is wonderful, but I only have room to show you a couple of pages. These are both great ones.
Thank you, everyone, for making this lovely book for me. It is right here in my office, on my desk.
I also thank you for your excellent Writing Wednesday work last week. You can read more excellent writing by these second graders by clicking here to see how they analyzed the humorous writing in SILLY SPACE MONSTER JOKES AND RIDDLES. Their writing is at the bottom of the post - click on the yellow "comments" button to see.
Great job, Mrs. Klott’s class! It was a pleasure to meet you.
Posted by: Seymour Simon
October 22, 2012
I am back at my desk after spending last week visiting schools in Sugar Land, Texas (outside Houston). Mrs. Jeffcoat, the librarian at Walker Station Elementary School, sent this great photo of a student, her teacher and yours truly. I am always pleased and humbled to meet avid readers of my books. Thank you for your hospitality and warm welcome, Sugar Land kids!
Posted by: Seymour Simon
October 15, 2012
Did you notice that we had a very quiet week on the Seymour Science blog last week? That is because we were busy launching StarWalk Kids Media, the new eBook collection for Schools, Libraries and Families! I am the founder and one of the partners, along with my wife, Liz Nealon, who is the former creative director of Sesame Street.
I started publishing my own eBooks several years ago, and this past year we decided that it was time to work with other authors, as well. I started calling my friends who are children’s book authors and illustrators - people like David Adler, Johanna Hurwitz, Kathryn Lasky, Laura Vaccaro Seeger, and many others. Like me, all these authors have wonderful books that are still perfectly relevant and interesting to children, and which have been allowed to go out of print for one reason or another. We began to scan, adapt, update, record narration and publish their books as eBooks. Pretty soon we had 150 titles - 10 of which are digital originals like A SHIPMATE’s GUIDE (at right).
And so begins StarWalk Kids Media. Some of the advantages of the StarWalk Kids collection are:
1. It’s affordable. I was a teacher for many years, and I know how important this is. In a typical school of 400 students, the entire collection costs less than $1.50 per student for the first year.
2. It’s multi-user. A whole class can read the same book at the same time without check-in/check-out delays or waiting lists.
3. It works on virtually any device. We’ve built gorgeous eReader software, called the StarWalk ReaderTM. Kids access this reader through their browser - so they can read on any device that has Internet access. We’re still working on special software for the iPad - that should be available within a month.
4. We offer Advanced Search Features for Educators and Parents. You can search for books by author, title, keyword, subject, Lexile® level, Alphabetic reading level and Common Core State Standard (CCSS) links. This provides an easy and accurate method for selecting the right ebook for each reader.
5. Any time, anywhere access. Students can log in and read anywhere that they have Internet access - at home, at school, or otherwise.
The StarWalk ReaderTM and streaming StarWalk Kids eBook library are available as of this week (60-day Free Trials for Schools & Libraries; $5.99/month for family subscriptions). Please visit our website - www.StarWalkKids.com - so that you can see what we have been doing, and try it out for yourself!
Posted by: Seymour Simon
October 9, 2012
It is cranberry harvest time all across the US and Canada. Cranberries grow on long vines in peat marshes - soft, marshy ground, usually near wetlands. When cranberries reach their peak color and plumpness this time of year, growers flood the fields with up to 18 inches (nearly one-half meter) of water. Then the farmers use machines to stir up the water - causing the cranberries to break from their vines and float to the top of the water so they can be harvested.
Our friend, the author/illustrator Scott Nash (his excellent new novel is THE HIGH SKY ADVENTURES OF BLUE JAY THE PIRATE), took this great shot of an unexpected bonus in amongst the cranberries. And that’s today’s Cool Photo of the Week - a blog about a frog in a bog on Cape Cod!
Posted by: Liz Nealon
