Harnessing the wind

Continuing on our journey through Africa. We will be reading,

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

By: William Kamkwamba & Bryan Mealer

It is the true story of a teenager whose family is starving to death in a small village in Africa.  Young William saves his family farm by constructing a windmill out of scraps he finds in the junkyard.  

This week we will make windmills out of toothpicks and marshmallows and propel a small boat with air. We will also discover how testing the theories in non fiction books can be fun.  

STEAM activities stand for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math.

This is our first exploration of STEAM in our library, 

We are literally going "Full STEAM ahead!"

All aboard,

Mrs. Mercer

Africa

Welcome to Africa.  

We have traveled to 5 of the 7 continents this school year.  I have been waiting all year for this weeks presentation.  Hippo's are Huge, by Jonathan London and Illustrated by Matthew Trueman, is a factual picture book. 

This book introduces students to the facts about Hippo's.  But I love the illustrations the most.  We will be talking about the importance of the illustrations in picture books.  How young readers rely on the pictures to decode words and keep their interest.  On the flip side the older students will be looking for Hippo size facts using different reference materials.   We are digging deep in Africa this week, I hope the kids are ready for the trip of a lifetime.

Fasten your seatbelts,

Mrs. Mercer