September 30, 2010
This is something that I have been meaning to post for awhile. When Seymour spoke at the Literacy Conference at San Angelo State University earlier this year, he was introduced by district education specialist Dedra Carter. Dedra had been up very late the night before making this wonderful "animoto" slide show - complete with text and music - to introduce Seymour. It is very touching, and the emotion reflects the way we felt about our week there. Lots of love right back at you, San Angelo!
CLICK HERE to view Dedra Carter’s animoto video introduction to Seymour Simon’s speech.
Posted by: Liz Nealon
September 28, 2010
Edwin Hubble, a great American astronomer, died 57 years ago today, September 28th in 1953. Hubble? Does his name ring a bell?
Well for one thing, the Hubble Space Telescope was named after him, though he had nothing to do with its planning or construction. This photograph of the gigantic Pinwheel galaxy was shot by the Hubble Telescope. Space Age scientists wanted to honor Hubble because he made some of the most important discoveries in modern day astronomy.
In the early decades of the Twentieth Century, Hubble was an astronomer at the Mt. Wilson observatory which had the largest telescope in the world at that time. 
Hubble discovered and proved that some of the dim, fuzzy patches of light photographed through the Mt. Wilson telescope were actually entire galaxies, similar to our own Milky Way Galaxy. The recognition that the Milky Way was only one of billions upon billions of galaxies in the universe forever changed the way astronomers think of space.
The other great discovery he made was based on the “redshift.”
No, it has nothing to do with football or politics. An astronomer’s “redshift” has to do with the color spectrum of distant galaxies. A spectrum of light is made up of the colors, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. It seems that the more distant a galaxy is, the faster it seems to move and the more its color spectrum shifts toward the red. This is the basis of the Big Bang theory, which proposes that the universe began with an intense explosion of energy at a single moment in time (about 13 billion years ago) and has been expanding ever since.
Hubble would have been proud that the Space Telescope was named after him.
Posted by: Seymour Simon
September 21, 2010
As teachers and students settle into the new school year here in North America, I’m busy doing my homework — editing and revising my Science Dictionary. It is now available and searchable for kids on my website, and we’ve added lots of new photos to entice casual browsers. It is also being re-published next year by Dover. So, it’s time for an update.
My process has certainly changed since I first wrote the Dictionary just over 15 years ago. The first time around it took me several years to write it, because I had to research over 2,000 entries by hand, at the library. Now, with the Internet, I am revising and updating the entire volume in a matter of months. That’s what I call progress!
Speaking of progress, the list of new entries has made me realize how much of a scientific and technological revolution we’ve experienced since I first published this book, back in 1994. New entries (which either didn’t exist or weren’t relevant to kids 15 years ago) include: Internet, avatar, cell phone, International Space Station, Hubble Space Telescope, GPS, global warming, digital, forensic science, CT-Scan, oil pollution....the list goes on and on. And of course, Pluto is re-defined as a "dwarf planet, an object in the Kuiper Belt."
One of the great things about publishing on the Internet is that it’s a fluid, evolving media. That means it is possible to continue tweaking, adding, revising and updating my Science Dictionary. So, if there are words that you think should be included, send me a note or comment here.
Posted by: Seymour Simon
September 20, 2010
I can just imagine how excited I would have been for this event when I was a young kid and a member of the Junior Astronomy Club at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. Wait a second there, young Seymour — I’m STILL excited about it! Here’s what’s going on this evening: Jupiter, the biggest planet in our solar system, will be overhead in the night sky at midnight, shining brighter than everything except the Moon.
Jupiter and Earth each revolve around the sun in their respective orbits. Earth takes 365 days, one Earth year, to make one revolution. It takes Jupiter nearly 12 Earth years, 4330 Earth days, to make one revolution around the sun. That means that the two planets are rarely very near each other in their orbits. But not tonight. Earth and Jupiter are the closest together in space that they will be for the 12 years, until 2022.
If you look through even a small telescope or a pair of high-magnification binoculars you should see Jupiter’s four big moons (called the Galilean moons because of their discovery in 1610 by the great scientist Galileo). Galileo used a small telescope that is about 20x magnification.The four moons he discovered are name Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto.
Here’s a photo of Jupiter and the shadow of Io on the surface of the planet. This was taken by Anthony Wesley of Australia (he used a much higher magnification, so you won’t be able to see Jupiter quite like this).
Posted by: Seymour Simon
September 15, 2010
Thanks to the producers of The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!, who gave us this Limited Edition Canvas Tote packed with 4 Dr. Seuss books and Cat in the Hat stickers, so that we can give it to one of YOU!
TO ENTER:
Write us a rhyme about why you like The Cat in the Hat. You can either post it as a comment on this blog entry, or email it to simon@seymoursimon.com.
EXTRA ENTRIES:
o Join Seymour’s Facebook Author Group
o Follow Seymour on Twitter
o Tweet or RT this post and include the link to the post.
o Become a member of Seymour Simon.com
o Comment on any other non-giveaway post on the Seymour Science blog
o Blog About this Giveaway with a link back here (5 extra entries)
This giveaway ends at midnight EDT on September 19th. Good luck!
Posted by: Liz Nealon
September 15, 2010
If you haven’t yet seen THE CAT IN THE HAT KNOWS A LOT ABOUT THAT! from PBS Kids, you’re in for a real treat. The animated series, which premieres this month on PBS stations nationwide (check local listings), stars Martin Short as the beloved Cat, and is designed to spark a love of learning and an interest in science in preschool-aged children.
We first heard about the program from PBS Kids’ programmer Linda Simensky earlier this year, when she was on a panel that Liz chaired here in New York. Simensky described the meeting where she heard the initial pitch for the series. She recognized the drawing power of the popular Dr. Seuss books, of course, but needed to be sure that the program had the kind of genuine, rich, educational focus that PBS Kids requires. "I asked them {the program makers} point blank, ‘what’s the curriculum?’ And they responded very simply: ‘Physics.’" You don’t hear that every day in a preschool story pitch.
In the end, THE CAT IN THE HAT KNOWS A LOT ABOUT THAT! sets its educational sights more broadly on the organizing idea of Exploration, for which narrative stories are particularly well suited. In each episode, the Cat in the Hat and his friends Sally and Nick go on a science adventure, such as flying with birds to discover how and why they migrate, or taking a snowcat to the Arctic to explore freezing and melting.
One of the things I liked about the episode that I screened is that there is a subtle shift from the books, where the Cat knows all and the kids are along for the ride. In this new television series, program makers are careful to keep the kids in the driver’s seat, leading the exploration, while the Cat functions as an instigator, cheerleader, and source of gentle mayhem.
Encouraged by the Cat, the children (acting as surrogates for the child viewers) are the ones who figure things out by engaging in science inquiry.
Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss) wrote The Cat in the Hat in 1957, as a response to a national concern that children were not learning to read. The book became an instant classic, and the books were animated for television/DVDs. Seeing how well suited Dr. Seuss and his towering, Rube Golberg-like contraptions are for science education, it’s a wonder no one has ever done this kind of adaptation before!
One of the things that I like best about the program is that it encourages children to find wonders in the world in the familiar world around them. This is particularly relevant to me, as I grew up in a city neighborhood in the Bronx (one of my first books, "Science in a Vacant Lot," was designed to engage urban kids in everyday exploration). Jay Ingram, the Canadian science journalist, author and broadcaster, who is one of the Science Advisors on THE CAT IN THE HAT KNOWS A LOT ABOUT THAT!, says that this is an important underlying premise for the series. "Backyard nature is full of riches. The issue is that most don’t think about small-scale nature - most people are, if anything, birdwatchers, not insect watchers - so much of it goes unnoticed."
As with any PBS...
read morePosted by: Seymour Simon
September 10, 2010
We’re feeling pretty happy here at SeymourSimon.com because The Mom’s Choice Awards® has named Seymour Simon’s Collins Smithsonian series. among the Best In Family-Friendly Entertainment, awarding its coveted Gold Seal!
The Mom’s Choice Awards® (MCA) program recognizes authors, inventors, companies, parents and others for their efforts in creating quality family-friendly media, products and services. Parents, educators, librarians and retailers rely on MCA evaluations when selecting quality materials for children and families. And, the Mom’s Choice Awards® seal helps families and educators navigate the vast array of products and services and make informed decisions.
Thanks to the media professionals who act as judges for recognizing the series. It is an honor to have this seal of approval.
Posted by: Liz Nealon
September 1, 2010
Just in time for Back to School we are running a funny contest on SeymourSimon.com. We want to see entrants "Go Gorilla!" by uploading videos of themselves imitating real gorilla behavior.
(Photo: Reuters)
The Grand Prize Winner earns a free Seymour Simon Skype session with their class — now there’s a way to get in good with your new teacher! And, there are lots of other great prizes.
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o THIRD PRIZE: Twenty randomly chosen videos will receive personally autographed photographs of Seymour Simon.
o SECOND PRIZE: Ten randomly chosen videos will receive personally autographed copies Seymour Simon’s GORILLAS book.
o FIRST PRIZE: The top five best videos will be posted on the Seymour’s website for everyone to see.
There is nothing to lose, and a lot to win! Click here to find out how to enter, study up on what gorillas do, and send us your video today!!
Posted by: Liz Nealon
August 28, 2010
Many of you have been following the articles written by our 10-year-old environmental blogger, Alana G. We first met Lana back in June, when she wrote to me about how distressed she was about the oil spill in the Gulf, asking what she could do. I replied that although she might not be able to directly influence what happens in the Gulf, she could decide to act environmentally and be a voice for Earth in her community.
I also offered her a chance to write for this blog, suggesting that perhaps she would write three or four stories over the summer, since there is a lot of work involved in actually doing the activities before you can write about them.
Alana surpassed all expectations. She formed her friends and their families into a group called Kids Today for a Better Tomorrow. She landed her own segment, "Alana’s Corner," on a local radio show. She even spoke in front of her City Council and convinced the local Chamber of Commerce to support her group’s activities. And today we are publishing her final blog posting of the summer - her NINTH article!
Alana has asked if she can continue to do an occasional piece of writing for us during the school year, and her mother supports that (as long as she keeps up with her fifth grade schoolwork). I would certainly like to continue to follow Alana’s activities. How about you?
- Seymour
Hello fellow Shipmates,
I have a question for you. Have you ever been to a "Farmers Market?" Maybe there is one close to your home or maybe you have visited one while on a vacation or road trip. If you have that is great but for those of you who haven’t been to one there is no need to worry. Alana G was on scene. 
For those of you who might not even know what a Farmers Market is, I got the low down on these secret markets.
I grabbed my special clipboard and jotter (all good reporters have to carry around their reporter stuff) and bravely ventured out into the unknown…the place where animals roam and food is plentiful…. Okay, Okay…I just wanted it to sound exciting. Te he. I went out and paid a special visit to my local farmers’ market to do some investigating which by the way isn’t secret at all. I thought they were secret markets that only come around once a week so they could hide from the super market giants… but apparently, they have permission to hold these special gatherings. LOL. Silly me. 
It was sooo cool. I met many new friends and I learnt so much. Here is what I learned. Farmers Markets are usually held weekly in some form of outdoor setting like a parking lot or public center. It is where a bunch of local farmers and vendors come together to serve the public directly without you having to go into a store to buy things. Awesome!!! They had me at "Outdoors."
Farmers’ Markets are known for selling locally grown and very fresh produce. Some people think that farmers’ markets allow farmers to pick produce when it’s at its best flavor, preserving the vitamin and mineral content of the fresh produce…which for us kids is great because we totally need our vitamins if we...
read morePosted by: Seymour Simon
August 26, 2010
Posted by: Seymour Simon
