September 18, 2012
Today’s Cool Photo of the Week is an image that I came across of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull volcano erupting. When natural events of this magnitude happen, we are reminded how little control we have of many of the forces at work on our planet. Although these events can be destructive, they are often very beautiful, as well.
The black cloud that you see against the night sky is ash being spewed into the air by the force of the eruption. Because this glacial volcano is located underneath an icecap, the hot magma cools fairly quickly, turning to ash and grit. That cooling created the giant cloud of ash that shut down air travel on six continents for over a week back in 2010.
The white smoke at the bottom left is steam from the melting ice. And isn’t the lightning magnificent? We often see low energy lightning leaping between particles of lava and ash as they are hurled from the volcanic vent at very high speeds.
Posted by: Seymour Simon
September 14, 2012
This summer, I was very pleased to be invited back to Columbia Teachers College in New York, where I spoke to 1,200 teachers at their Summer Reading Institute.
I’ve spoken in many places and received many lovely introductions. But this introduction, by Cornelius Minor, Staff Developer Teachers College Reading and Writing Project, was so funny, nice and unusual that I wrote to him and asked for permission to reproduce it here.
Nothing like being introduced by a great writer AND a great speaker!
When you receive the job to introduce someone, you check the usual sources… Check to see if there’s an official biography on them… Of if you’re a real rock-n-roll type person and you want all the dirty details, you might check the unofficial biography… You might ask close friends, colleagues, or associates of your subject.
So after doing all of those things, I still found it hard to paint a comprehensive picture of Seymour Simon, because in the world of children’s nonfiction writers, Mr. Simon is a Titan. And I’m talking titan in the classic Greek, "I compete with the gods" sense of the word. Have you read his book on sharks? This guy knows the ocean better than Poseidon. There is nothing I can say about him… No accolade that I can call to mind that he has not already earned.
- The American Assoc for the Advancement of Science Lifetime Achievement Award
- The New York State Knickerbocker Award for Juvenile Literature
- The Hope S. Dean Award from the Boston Public Library
- The Washington Post/Children’s Book Guild Award
- He has won NUMEROUS Parents Choice Awards
The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) has him on speed dial. Several of his books have been named outstanding science trade books for children.
He’s even won a Webby Award for his website, SemourSimon.com
So what do you say about the guy who has done it all? Who do you turn to if you want the inside scoop? Well, the answer, my friends, is quite simple. In today’s social media obsessed culture, all you have to do is consult their Twitter feed. After all, I follow Kim Khardasian… I would be really ashamed of my life I did not balance all of that bubble-headedness with someone real. And speaking as a lifelong fan of his work, Mr. Simon is as real as it gets.
So this is is everything I know about Mr. Simon. In 140 characters or less, of course.
August 3, 2012 9:16am—Quote: "I thought summer was a time to relax and listen to the birds; why am I working so hard?"
I can answer that for you, Mr. Simon. It’s in your DNA! Mr. Simon was a teacher for 20 years!
He has written close to 300 books on everything from weather patterns, to space, to paper airplanes. There are 1200 of us here this week. We could all form book clubs of four people. Each club could take a different Seymour Simon book, and there would be no repeats.—If you put all of his books end to end, you could line a football field—end zone to end zone. ...An entire football field of books that he wrote! There is only one word to describe that. Damn.
Let’s face it folks,...
read morePosted by: Seymour Simon
September 13, 2012
Welcome to SeeMore Explorers Day! Every Thursday will be SeeMore Explorers Day on this website. The idea is to get out in nature and look around you. Take a photograph or draw a picture in your notebook. Write down as many details as you can about what you have seen. Then, come back to school or home and use the resources around you to try to figure out what it is that you have discovered. You can use books, encyclopedias or an Internet search; it is also fine to ask your teacher, librarian or other grownup to help you get started on your research.
We have created a SeeMore Explorers log that you can download and print out - it is designed to help you organize your information when you discover something exciting and interesting in nature. Click here to download your copy. Print it out and you are ready to start exploring - just like Seymour Simon does when he is out walking around and enjoying nature!
I am going to start things off with this photograph that our daughter Jules sent from Washington, DC recently. She thought that this butterfly was so beautiful that she snapped a picture on her phone and sent it to Seymour and me in a text. And of course, we wondered what it was.
We started by writing down everything we could think of in our own SeeMore Explorers log.
Here is what we came up with:
See how writing down what you see helps you figure out what you are seeing? We would love to see your observation logs. You can scan and upload right to this website if you want to, by clicking on the yellow button at the top of every page that says "Send Us Photos/Video." Or you can mail your observation log to:
SeeMore Explorers, 15 Cutter Mill Road, Suite 242, Great Neck, NY 11021
Send us your log, and you may find it published right here on SeymourSimon.com!
Photo: Jules Kelly
Posted by: Liz Nealon
September 12, 2012
Welcome to Writing Wednesday, where every week we give you a chance to post your writing here on the Seymour Science blog. Today we thought we’d have some fun, and let you do a piece of creative writing about space. It’s "Science Fiction" Writing Wednesday!
The Topic: Saturn and its rings. Saturn is one of the "gas giant" planets in our solar system. Often, when I try to describe the size of objects in the solar system, I find that I need to use comparisons. The numbers are just so huge that no one can imagine what they mean. For example, I can tell you that Saturn’s circumference (which you would measure by wrapping a giant tape measure around its equator) is 235,298 miles or 378,675 kilometers. But who can really imagine how large 235, 298 miles is? I can’t.
A better way to think about this is to use a comparison. To give you an idea of how big Saturn is, we can compare it to Earth. Saturn’s circumference is 9.4 times larger than Earth’s circumference. We can all understand that that is BIG.
Now, for the science fiction part. I found a great image this week (thanks to the USA Science and Engineering Festival for sharing!). This picture is also designed to help us understand how huge Saturn is, by imagining how long it would take to drive all the way around one of the rings. Of course, no one could never ever really do that. But doesn’t knowing that it would take 258 full days if you were driving 75 miles per hour the whole time help you to understand just how huge Saturn is?
Your assignment: Imagine that you are in a that spaceship/ truck, driving on Saturn’s rings at 75 mph. Write a paragraph or two describing what that journey would be like. What are Saturn’s rings really like? Are they solid? What are conditions in space? Tell about the food and water you would need. Would you be lonely? Use what you know about Saturn and about space to imagine what you would encounter. Use lots of descriptive details to make you imaginary journey come alive for your reader.
When you are finished writing, click on the yellow "Comments" at the bottom of this post to enter your writing.
Photos: NASA, Earth Sky Photos
Note to Eucators: Today’s Writing Wednesday excercize is designed to support CSSS Writing Standard #3: Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.
Posted by: Seymour Simon
September 11, 2012
You may have already seen this magnificent photograph of Mars, taken by the mast camera on the Curiosity rover. Everyone has marveled at how much it looks like Earth, with its gravely surface and sandy dunes.
Here is a cool fact that you may not have heard about this photograph. If you were standing on Mars, these are not the colors that you would see in front of you. The dust in the planet’s atmosphere makes everything look very red, including this sandy dune.
The reason this photograph isn’t red is that NASA’s engineers are doing something called "white balancing" - adjusting the colors to make the scene look the way it would with the kind of light we have here on Earth. They do this to help out a particular bunch of Earthlings - the geologists who are studying the images with eyes that are trained to recognize rocks, minerals and other substances in more familiar light.
Posted by: Seymour Simon
September 10, 2012
We are so pleased to welcome lots of new users to the Seymour Science blog this week. It is exciting to know that kids, parents, and educators are using this resource, because we create it for YOU! Take a look at the list called "Labels" on the left hand side of the blog page. These are links to lots of stories that we have posted here in the past. As you browse around I’m sure you will find topics in which you are interested. Just click on the label name, and all the stories with that label will pop right up for you to read. For example, if you click on the label called Space, you will find all kinds of interesting stories and photographs from space. Dog lovers should try the label Dogs - I think you will like what you see!
Interacting with Seymour on his blog is also a great way to practice Internet safety. Did you notice today that it takes a few hours before your comment shows up after you post it? That is because we check every single comment on the website to be sure that you are all using the Internet safely before we make the comment live on the website for everyone to see.
We noticed recently that some kids are leaving comments with both their first and last name - not a good idea if you are under 13 years old (don’t worry, we changed your last name to just an initial before we made them live). So, we thought we would take a moment this morning this morning to remind students about five important "Internet Rules of the Road." You should follow these rules if you are writing a comment, uploading a photo, or uploading a video anywhere on the Internet, not just on SeymourSimon.com.
1. Never give your full name. Use just your first name, or your first name and last initial (I would be "Seymour S").
2. Never give your exact address. If you want to say where you are from, keep the answer general. For example, "Alicia N. from Texas." Or "Jeremy S., from Lee Road School."
3. I bet you have already figured out that you should never give your email address or telephone number to anyone you meet on the Internet. That is a BIG no no!
4. DO practice kindness when you interact with other kids on the Internet. Treat people you meet with respect, just as you would want to be treated. If something is too mean to say directly to someone’s face, then it is too mean to write on the Internet.
5. Your parents and teachers can and should be able to see what you are doing on the Internet. Share your activities with them when they ask, and let them help you with learning the Internet Rules of the Road.
Teachers and librarians, this is also a chance to remind you to get parental permission before you send us any photographs of your students.
We are always glad to hear from you here at SeymourSimon.com, and we want to keep everybody safe.
Keep on writing! I love to hear from you!
Posted by: Seymour Simon
September 10, 2012
It was a hot day on Saturday, and I decided to have some ice cream. After a couple of cold, delicious bites - OUCH! Brain Freeze!!
Have you ever had this feeling when you eat or drink something cold? All of a sudden you get a sharp headache. It doesn’t last long, but for a few seconds, it’s pretty uncomfortable.
It turns out that researchers have learned quite a bit about brain freeze by designing an experiment where they asked volunteers to sip a very cold drink, right up against the roof of their mouth. The volunteers were told to raise their hand as soon as they felt brain freeze starting, and raise their hand again when the headache stopped.
While this was happening, scientists were looking at a scan of each volunteer’s brain. When the brain freeze headache started, a rush of blood suddenly flowed into the anterior cerebral artery, which is located in the middle of the brain, behind the eyes. This increased blood flow caused the artery to expand, pushing painfully against the tissue surrounding it. Then after a few seconds - and right when volunteers raised their hands a second time - the artery rapidly returned to normal size.
The brain is one of the most important organs in our body - it needs to work well all the time. The brain is also quite sensitive to temperature, so researchers think that what is probably happening is that your body is rushing warm blood to the brain tissue to make sure your brain stays warm when you eat something very cold. Once the temperature in the brain rises back to normal, the extra blood isn’t needed, the artery goes back to normal size, and the pressure stops, which stops the pain.
So next time you have brain freeze, you can be glad that your brain is taking care of itself. And relax, because it will be over soon!
Read and learn more about your brain - the part of of your body that makes you, you!
Posted by: Seymour Simon
September 5, 2012
Good morning, and welcome to Writing Wednesday, where every week there is a new opportunity to publish your creative writing on the Seymour Science blog. This week, we are asking you to read an excerpt from Seymour’s newest book, SEYMOUR SIMON’S EXTREME EARTH RECORDS, and then help other readers of this blog learn more about the Hottest Place on Earth.
Your assignment: Do research, using Seymour Simon’s Extreme Earth Records, other books in your library or the Internet, to find out why the hottest place on Earth is called "Death Valley." Write two or three paragraphs telling other readers of the Seymour Science blog how the hottest place on Earth, Death Valley, got its name. Use action verbs and strong adjectives to help your readers understand what it might feel like to be in the Hottest Place on Earth.
When you are finished writing, click on the yellow "Comments" at the bottom of this post to enter your writing!
Note to Educators: Today’s Writing Wednesday exercise is designed to use in support of CCSS Writing Anchor Standard #4: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
Posted by: Liz Nealon
September 4, 2012
Good morning, and welcome back to a new school year on SeymourSimon.com! The Tuesday after Labor Day always feels like the beginning of the school year to me (reminding me of the many years that I was a teacher). So happy new term to all kids and teachers.
I spent the last day of my summer vacation at the Columbia County (New York) Fair. Many of the kids who live on farms in the county belong to 4H, and we loved seeing them exhibiting their animals, as well as their artwork and other projects. How did you spend the last days of your summer vacation?
Now that you are back in school, we look forward to hearing from our regular readers again, as well as getting to know new Seymour Science users this year. For those of you who are just joining us, here is what you can expect to find every week on SeymourSimon.com:
Monday: Science News
Tuesdays: Cool Photo of the Week
Wednesdays: Writing Wednesday, where you have a chance to write and publish your work on my website.
Thursdays: SeeMore Explorers. This is a new feature for this school year. There is nature all around us, and every Thursday we will track down a new discovery, record what we are looking at, and use what we know to try to identify what we are seeing. We started doing these SeeMore Explorations over the summer. Click here to see an example.
Friday: A new Science Joke or Riddle
And of course, there is also my online Science Dictionary, where you can browse for as long as you like, exploring cool science information. We also love to publish your photographs, videos and writing - so please click on "Send Us Photos/Video" in the yellow bar at the top of every page to share your great science stuff.
Welcome back to an exciting new school year. I look forward to sharing it with you.
- Seymour
Posted by: Seymour Simon
September 4, 2012
This is Caddy, a baby wombat, who was rescued from her mother’s pouch after her mother was hit by a car. Wombats are marsupials, a group of mammals that are known for carrying and feeding their young in a pouch. Volunteers from a wildlife shelter in Melbourne, Australia took her in and made her a cloth pouch to live in. It is hung off the side of a crib, just above the ground, so that it feels to Caddy as though she is in her mother’s pouch.
Caddy is sharing the nursery with several other rescued wombats that are her size and being fed a special milk mixture from a bottle. After she is old enough, she will be released back into the wild.
Photo: Craig Borrow / Newspix via Rex USA
Posted by: Seymour Simon
