Archives for August, 2010
2011 Hands-On Explorer Challenge
Posted by Read the contest rules and find out how to enter.
Looking for inspiration? Read excerpts from the 2009 Hands-On Explorer Challenge winning essays.
Photograph courtesy Cayman Islands Department of Tourism
Posted by Have you ever wondered what climate change looks like? A climate park located in Jotunheiman National Park in Norway opened in April to help visitors understand the environmental impact of global warming. At Klimapark kids and adults can observe glaciers, snowdrifts, melt-offs,
permafrost. There are also tours under the Juvfonna
ice patch, the only ice tunnel in Northern Europe.
Archeologists have discovered hundreds of artifacts in the mountains surrounding the park due to unusual glacier melting, some up to 1,700 years old.
Klimapark also offers a summer “Klimacamp” in August, where kids can camp in the area, explore the land, and learn about the history of Norway. The camp is free, but there are a limited number of spots, so campers are selected through an application process.
Photograph courtesy Espen Finstad, KlimaPark 2469
Visit the Klimapark website.
Find out more about Klimacamp.
Posted by BOOK NAME: The London Eye Mystery
AUTHOR: Siobhan Dowd
Welcome to August’s first book club meeting! We’ve just started reading our book for this month, The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd.
If you have a copy and you’ve read the first five chapters, click “See More” to talk about your book.
If you haven’t gotten to chapter five yet, stop here!
Have you seen ladybugs near where you live? Did you know that the ladybugs you see may not be from a native ladybug species? Over the years, native ladybugs have become rare, while species of ladybugs that come from other places have become more common. The Lost Ladybug Project is looking for native ladybugs (and counting invasive ladybugs, too) to find out why the native species are becoming so rare.
You can help by finding and photographing ladybugs! Visit the Lost Ladybug Project website with your parents to learn how to find ladybugs and send in your pictures.
Get the facts on ladybugs in the Creature Feature.
Photograph by Paul Garcia, My Shot
Posted by BOOK NAME: Nature Girl
AUTHOR: Jane Kelley
Being stuck in Vermont with no internet, cell phones, best friends, or TV was NOT on Megan’s summer to-do list, but it was on her parents’. Megan leaves home with her family to go to Vermont, only to find that her days will revolve around hiking, watching her sister and her boyfriend flirt, and drawing for hours upon end.
Megan isn’t so sure she will survive this vacation, especially when she gets lost on the Appalachian Trail. Once lost, she has a choice; she can wait for help or hike the whole trail to prove to everyone she can survive.
I think the author created a typical family in this book and the characters were so predictable. Although I did like the book, it wasn’t good enough to read again. In the book, Jane Kelley kind of re-created and modernized My Side of the Mountain, using a girl instead of a young boy.
In this book, Megan learned a lesson about not giving up and being brave. When she got lost in the woods, I thought that maybe she’d come to love nature and the woods. It seems like Megan just learned her lesson and the Appalachian Trail was used to make her lesson more interesting. Megan DID learn and understand her wrong doings in the end, but it was rough getting there.
This book is recommended for girls ages 9 to 12. It didn’t have any crude language or anything frightening in it. Nature Girl is a calm, humorous book with a few illustrations drawn by the character, Megan, on her journey through the Appalachian Trail.
