CAN YOU MAKE SENSE OF THIS MYSTERY!

                 What is in the bag, Beau?

That is my cat, Beau, using his senses to try and predict what is in the mystery bag.

Challenge your Ss to do the same using their less used senses: hearing, smell, and touch. 

First, make up mystery bags. Lunch sized bags are fine. Use a marker to number each bag: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Make numbers big and in the middle of one flat side of the bag. Use scissors to poke a small hole next to the number on each bag

Put a handfull of one of these Mystery Items in the first  bag, fold the top over and staple shut. Repeat till  each item is sealed in its own bag. 

Mystery Items:

pennies

unwrapped peppermint candies

cotton balls

popcorn

M&M candies

Next, divide Ss into 5 small groups.  Tell everyone what 5 items are in the Mystery Bags. Give each group a bag. Challenge Ss to use their senses one at a time to collect information about what's in the bag. After each observation, challenge them to use their past experiences and these observations to try and identify the mystery object inside their bag.

Have Ss use their sense of hearing first.  Have them shake the bag and listen. 

Next, have Ss gently poke and squeeze the bag. What do they observe using touch? Does that make them want to change their earlier prediction about what's inside the bag? If so, what do they now think the mystery item might be?

Challenge Ss to use their sense of smell this time and repeat the process.  They'll need to make observations, consider what they may have smelled in the past that had that scent, and decide if they want to change their prediction.

Have each group write down the bag number and which item they believe is in that mystery bag. 

Now, have groups switch bags and repeat the observation tests. 

Once every group has examined all 5 bags, allow Ss to open the bags and see what is inside.

Were they right? Which sense helped most?

AND how did past experiences and knowledge about the mystery objects help!?

Beau guessed right! His mystery bag held Kitty Treats.  Now, he's enjoying a book and a nap.

CLICK HERE and I'll read one of my books.

WATCH WILD INVENTIONS AND SHARE THE ACTION!

 

Readers are already having fun discovering the action in WILD INVENTIONS--my newest book from my Lerner Publishing Sandra Markle Science Discoveries series. Are you?

Here's you're chance to get a peek inside the book at one chapter. Investigate how termites and honey bees cool their homes but in 2 very different ways. 

Honey bees leave the hive, gulp in a stomach full of water (actually 2 because a bee has 2 stomachs), and back at the hive spit the water out to wet the walls. Then they beat their wings to fan the wet walls and cause evaporation that cools their home.

MOUND building termites create huge dirt mounds full of tunnels they build one bit of mud at a time that act like air ducts. They keep remodeling the tunnels day and night to direct air flow. Because of this and changing outside air temperatures compared to those inside, the termite's keep hot air rising/cool air sinking. And the interior temperature of their home stays just right for the termites day and night.

NOW!

Watch the video and share the activity to have fun with air heated/rising and cooled/sinking. 

 Wishing you Happy Reading and Discovering!

TALK LIKE A DOLPHIN!

 

Hi, Readers! Did you have a chance to share my newest Scholastic book on Storyvoice? I've had lots of requests to share the steps for the activity. 

And even if you didn't have a chance to share the live Storyvoice action, I know you'll want to share this FUN ACTIVITY. 

You'll be able to make sounds the way dolphins do--by moving air. You can also do what I did to make up your own dolphin name.

CLICK TO PLAY

Don't miss reading to share all the FUN! 

SHARE SCIENCE MAGIC FUN with WHAT IF YOU HAD ANIMAL TEETH!

Hi READERS!

Click on this link to join me and share some science magic FUN!
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fqy4xHHM28

This goes with 

So, read the book for even more FUN! Here's the link to having your very own copy.

Trees Are TREEMENDOUS!

 

There are trees featured in WHAT IF YOU HAD ANIMAL TEETH!?  and WHAT IF YOU HAD ANIMAL HAIR!? (Scholastic). Can you find them?

• 

For that matter, you couldn't read a printed copy of any of my books if it wasn't for trees. 

If it wasn't for trees, there wouldn't be wood pulp.

If it wasn't for wood pulp, there wouldn't be paper.

If it wasn't for paper, there wouldn't be printed books.

Clearly, trees are very important to me. 

I've only ever written one book that's just about trees--OUTSIDE AND INSIDE TREES.  However, as I looked back through the books I've written, I discovered something very interesting. Trees--sometimes whole forests--are an important part of many of my books.  Check it out.

A tree plays a dramatic role in my book LITTLE LOST BAT (Charlesbridge).

In this story, the mother bat leaves her baby in the bat colony's cave nursery and goes hunting for insects to eat. On night, she passes a tall oak tree. 

Read this story to see what is in that tree.
Keep reading to find out what happens next.

And keep on reading to find out happens at the very end of this story.

Trees are a key part of my story FINDING HOME (Charlesbridge).

First, something happens to a forest to start this story. Read and see WHAT HAPPENS!

Then there is a big search for one kind of tree. Read to find out WHY IS THAT KIND OF TREE KEY?

What tree's fruit is a pod the size of a football, hard as wood on the outside and full of beans surrounded by white pulp?

That tree is featured in this next book. It is REALLY IMPORTANT TO ME! My favorite treat comes from it. WHAT TREE IS IT?

  

Trees are more than wood. Trees are WONDERFUL!

JOIN ME FOR WORLD READ ALOUD DAY!

 

Hello, Readers! I'm reading my book Waiting for Ice (Charlesbridge).  This is also to help you celebrate International Polar Bear Day on February 27th. Now, get comfy and listen. 💝

International Polar Bear Day on February 27, 2023 

is a good time to stop and think about how global climate change is challenging these bears. They are the top of their food chain, big, strong and able to survive almost anything except not having enough ice.

CELEBRATE PENGUIN AWARENESS DAY!

 

THE GREAT PENGUIN RESCUE
(Millbrook/Lerner, 2017) is about African penguins. 

This is one of 4 books I've written about penguins. Here are the other three.

A MOTHER'S JOURNEY (Charlesbridge, 2005) is about Emperor penguins.

PENGUINS: GROWING UP WILD (Available on Amazon Kindle) with my photos from camping out with Adelie penguins.

AND COMING SOON! 

COULD YOU EVER WADDLE WITH PENGUINS!?

I love penguins because I had the wonderful opportunity twice to live with 60,000+ Adelies in Antarctica during the summer while they raised their chicks. I also watched Emperors from an icebreaker while they were riding on icebergs (off duty from wintertime egg hatching). And I  saw two more kinds of penguins when I lived in New Zealand: Fairy Blue penguins and Yellow-eyed penguins. 

There I am recording Adelie penguins in action in Antarctica. 

HOW PENGUINS STAY DRY

First, use the link to download a printable picture of an African penguin. You will need two pictures for this activity.  

The picture tells how to correctly color an African penguin with one exception. 

Check out the photo of an African penguin on the cover of THE GREAT PENGUIN RESCUE. African penguins always have that pinkish area by their eyes. Be sure to color the white areas of the penguin too.

Next, you will need a glass of water and aneyedropper. Drip 5 drops of water on the uncolored African penguin. Then drip 5 drops on the colored African penguin. What difference do you see?

The water soaks into the uncolored penguin and beads up on the colored on. African penguins, like all penguins, have a special gland that lets them spread an oily coat over their feathers. Like the crayon wax, that lets their feathers shed water. 

Penguin feathers are incredibly small. I know because I've held some in my hand. But the tiny feathers tuck tightly over each other, like roof shingles, to form a thick, watertight coat. In fact, penguins have more feathers than most birds--as many as 100 feather per square inch.

What looks pink above the penguin’s eyes is a specialbody part that keeps it from overheating. As the penguin’s body warmsup, blood flow increases to that area. The lack of feathers over that area lets heat radiate away as the blood flows through it. That cools the penguin.

PENGUINS ARE AMAZING! 

Celebrate PENGUIN AWARENESS DAY on January 20th!