What are your favorite books for engineering?

Merry Christmas!  Happy Holidays!  Happy New Year!  This is proving to be a delightful holiday for me, without extensive travel.  I am spending sweet time with family and friends, and also have much-needed hours to myself.

I've been doing a little planning, thinking about ways to enhance my teaching, and indulging in book, article, and blog searches on the internet - lots of fun.  I love the internet - so much to learn, so many great ideas being shared.

Yes, this blogpost is for teachers...

What do you read to children to encourage building, engineering, inventing in your classroom?

In the spirit of all those "top ten" and "countdown" new year lists, I thought I'd share my favorite books for this, in hopes that others will comment with their favorites....

Anyone who knows me knows that I love to do engineering with preschoolers.  We build, invent, and test ideas using recyclables, found objects, and tape.  Through the years, I continue to find more and more great books, and the engineering fun just grows and grows.  Here are ten books I am loving right now:

1. Regards to the Man in the Moon by Ezra Jack Keats.

This is often the very first picture book that I share with children, to get them excited about building and creating. This sweet story tells of a child who is being teased by others because his family owns a junkyard. His family scoffs at the idea of this being ridiculed, noting that all one needs is a little imagination. With imagination in tow, the child creates a spaceship that takes him to the moon; soon, all the children are joining in on this inventive play, creating machines from junk. This is a great book to invite children to look at things differently - to see the possibility of found materials such as recyclables and other "junk."

2.  The Three Little Javelinas by Susan Lowell.  

I love the story of the Three Little Pigs because it really is a classic engineering story - how to build a house that is structurally sound and can stand up to the mighty breaths of a wolf? The children thoroughly enjoy having their homes subjected to the engineering test of a blow dryer wolf.  It seems my preschoolers are always acquainted with this classic tale, so I enjoy spicing up the storytelling by sharing Susan Lowell's clever version, featuring javelinas from the southwest and a very hungry coyote. Preschoolers love having a real villain in the story - and seeing him outwitted. This story provides a very playful way for children to experience failure, to share ideas with one another about how to make a house stronger, and to try, try, try again.  

3.  Hannah's Collection by Marthe Jocelyn.

This book is new to me just this year, suggested by my colleague Hannah Lott (who swears the book is not about her).  This book is great for introducing the creative mindset that an engineer or inventor needs - seeing multiple uses for things.  Here, Hannah loves and collects all sorts of small, disposable things - paperclips, popsticle sticks, buttons. Her teacher invites everyone to bring in a special collection and Hannah is unable to decide which particular collection she likes best.  In the end, she invents a sculpture created from all her items, and decides to start building a new collection of these fun sculptures.  Adorable!

4. Twenty-One Elephants and Still Standing by April Jones Prince.

This picture book shares the true story of P.T. Barnum testing the soundness of the Brooklyn Bridge by allowing his elephants to parade across. This is an excellent book for underscoring the significance of engineering tests - engineers are not simply making things, but ensuring that they are sound, viable, successful.  (Another opportunity to emphasize those fabulous mindset skills we are trying to cultivate - working hard, not giving up, editing and modifying our work as necessary.) It is exciting to have this engineering feat told at a child's level, with captivating illustrations.  My preschoolers cringe at the idea of using elephants to test the bridge and openly protest it being done; several have asked me not to continue reading the book, for fear that the bridge will topple with the elephants.  I love the empathy in these little ones! When I hear the children's protests, midway through the book, I share with them the footnote from the back of the book which notes that P.T. Barnum loved his elephants and knew them to be extraordinarily intelligent - elephants sense the strength of things with the tips of their feet; they would not have walked across the bridge if they did not instinctively know that the bridge was stable.

5. Henry Builds a Cabin by D. B. Johnson.

This is one in a series of playful books that tell vignettes about a bear modeled after Henry David Thoreau.  As such, the books are written on two levels - for both children and adults, with children enjoying the basic story and the adults appreciating the clever references to Thoreau's philosophy. In this book, Henry builds a very simple cabin for himself, after seeking ideas from his friends.  I work with children who are very "Thoreau" in their approach to engineering - you think they are asking for advice, but they have wrapped their mind around their singular, focused and simple way of creating and they are quite at peace with that.  I am reminded of a class years back where the children were creating machines "to get Curious George out of the water" - one dear preschooler took a piece of string and insisted he would throw George a rope to get out of the water. A true minimalist.


6. Beautiful Oops by Barney Saltzberg.

This clever pop-up book "sets the mood" for engineering and inventing and it is a quick read that I can pull out over and over again when the need is there. It provides a straightforward and succinct way for me to introduce an essential ingredient in children's engineering - to learn from failure and dare to try again.  This book cleverly illustrates the value of the "oops" - the opportunity to improve something, to consider a new way, and the importance of persistence, of keeping at something.   There is something fun to check out and investigate on every page.   The only downside to this book - it is not one of those books that I let the children hold without adult supervision, since I want to have it around for years to come.  (But, should this book's current state one day be changed by a child's hands, I'm inspired and ready to be create my own "beautiful oops.")


7. If I Built a Car by Chris Van Dusen.

In this book, a boy imagines all the different features and details his dream vehicle would have. I love the imagination of this narrator, and how he stretches his ideas to outlandish extremes. I appreciate that he begins his thinking with a blueprint drawing, which is something that I encourage my preschoolers to do, too. Whenever I read this story aloud, I always find an exponential increase in creativity and whimsy of my student's engineering projects and their narratives.  Certainly, there is also some blatant "copycatting"...what preschooler can resist adding a pool to their newly-invented car once you see that this guy has?  Because this book is specifically about a child's invention, I think it gives children permission to let their imaginations flow, too.



8. The Glorious Flight by Alice and Martin Provenson. 

This book tells the true story of Louis Bleriot's 1909 invention of an airplane that flies across the English Channel. I usually ham it up when I read this by talking in a French accent.  I love Louis Bleriot's preoccupation and fixation with creating this plane, and the images of his family supporting him in this pursuit.  It is another great story for emphasizing the value of persistence, and the pictures of the disastrous flight trials and broken planes always capture children's attention.

9. Sky Boys: How They Built the Empire State Building by Deborah Hopkinson and James E. Ransome. 

This book is new to me this holiday season (I always treat myself to new books!!).  The book provides beautiful illustrations of the creation of the Empire State Building, describing the process and hard work involved in this engineering feat.  The story is told from the perspective of a young boy who watches the building grow.  I hope to get the children thinking about buildings that we see being created in our own neighborhood, and how the construction changes over time.

10. Steven Caney's Ultimate Building Book by Steven Caney.

This is not a picture book, but a fabulous reference and study book - a science corner book -  for both adults and children to peruse.  The book defines and explains structures and forms in an easy, accessible way.  There are innumerable building project ideas, for children of all ages, providing fun ways to stretch children's play and thinking.   Let me quote directly from Steven Caney's introduction:

 "I never minded bulding my own playthings. In fact, I rather enjoyed planning and executing a building project and then playing with my contraption and trying to make it work."  He speaks fondly of his grandfather's basement workshop, full of "The kind of broken stuff that gets saved just in case you need to replace a missing part someday.  But to me, this was magical stuff and the inspiration for inventions."  

Isn't this attitude precisely what we want to inspire in children when we encourage engineering and inventing?

Well, those are my current favorites.  I know that you have some great engineering book ideas, too.  Please share them!


Happy New Year!!

Keeping them safe and healthy

Yesterday,
we had an emergency lockdown,
blinds drawn,
children moved to the far side of the room,
all of us huddled together,
doors locked,
for a reason that proved
oh so minor and trivial
in light of the tragedy that unfolded in Newtown, Connecticut.

Schools experience lockdowns.
Preschoolers experience these.

I want to write about our adult "face" with children at these times.

I'm not talking about Newtown,
where unbelievable pain and horror actually happened,
to so many beautiful, innocent children and families.
My heart breaks.


For most of us,
we experience
almost 
crises.
Such as yesterday at my school.


Here in the Washington, DC area, I have taught preschoolers during many threats, fears, crises:
Tuesday, September 11, 2001.
Three scary weeks in fall 2002, as our area was under siege by a sniper.
Hurricanes.
Earthquake!
Numerous other smaller events.

All of these,

almost 
crises
for my school, my class of preschoolers.

Testing our preparedness.

Throughout all of these, it is so very clear to me -


Adults who have children in their lives
need to put down their computers,
put away their phones,
turn off the television,
do not talk about the horror that has - or might - happen.
Instead,
be present with these little ones,
projecting faces of joy, resilience, strength.

This is what we teachers know to do.

My school's note to families ended with the following directive:

Please contact me directly if you have any questions or concerns. I urge you to take care that all communication regarding this event be limited to adults only and not happen in the presence of children.

Herein lies the key to how we keep children safe and healthy:

Let children have happy childhoods.

Keep them safely buffered from our adult hell.

How?

Let me share from yesterday's lockdown.

We teachers began closing our blinds and curtains.

A child, "Why, Ms. Ingram? Why are you closing those? Are we doing shadow puppets?"

Me - "Oh that would be fun! We might! Let's play a new thing - let's all of us play over here! Ooooh, we could put our chairs like this and make a wall, and all of us stay on this side of it!  That would be fun!"

My entire class moved to the "safe" side of the room, not knowing 'why.'

A game, a delightful, magical, unexpected, different kind of game.

We teachers got down on the floor and played with them.

All of us jammed together.

We talked, laughed, goofed around.

We followed the children's lead - piggybacking off their thoughts, 

What if we were in a movie theater?

What if this was a race track?

What if there were dinosaurs?

No, a bear!

In our house?

I wasn't taking any notes, I can't recall every moment...

Truly, it was one big improv,

caught in the moment,

where whatever idea the children threw at us,

we tried to incorporate, tried to work with,

tried to "play."

Yes, my mind was in two places at once,

wondering about the actual emergency,

and, simultaneously, putting on a 

perfectly positive face and acting totally "present."

When we got word that the crisis was averted, 

we continued playing, and quietly started to enlarge the area of play, back to the norm of the entire classroom.  I truly believe that the children had no idea that there was any "crisis" at all.

Which, I truly believe, means we teachers did our jobs.

All of us adults need to do our jobs.

Let children have happy childhoods.

Keep them safely buffered from our adult hell.

Here's the amazing truth I have come to discover -

I have the very best job in the world. 

When I allow myself to be present with these little ones,

at a time of such unspeakable pain,

when my heart is breaking, 

when the world seems so cruel,

when I allow myself to be present in their play,

it is such a gift.

I am surrounded by children,

immersed in their laughter, hope, and joy.

I hope there is lots of play this weekend.

Lots of hugs and kisses,

laughter and goofiness.

Keeping our precious little ones safe and healthy.

****
Stacey Shubitz shared this beautiful quote from Jordana Horn in her Two Writing Teachers blogpost A National Tragedy Affects Us All:

 If a handful of people can change the world for the worse, then I am certain that a handful of people can change the world for the better

What was your childhood like?

What was your childhood like?
How did you spend your days when you were three years old?
Who did you spend your days with?
Did you go to school?
Were you in a large group of same age children?
How much time did you spend outdoors?
How regimented were your days?

It is remarkable to me how things have changed for preschoolers
since I was young.

Imagine, in school all day long!

I wonder about this all the time.


Teaching in a public charter elementary school,
I feel almost continual tension between
"institutional" rules, regulations, goals, and
children's developmental needs.

Public education for preschoolers is
such a great opportunity for families.
We need to ensure it is a great opportunity for preschoolers.



In my teaching,
I try
to never lose sight of the individual needs of the children,
to let children have considerable flexibility in how their day goes,
to try as much as possible to follow the child's lead.


I truly believe that preschoolers
- three year olds -
should
more or less
follow their own drummer,
to pursue and develop their own interests,
to learn through play that they themselves choose.




Every day,
every day,
as much as possible,
I let the children

choose what they want to do,
dress up in costumes,
leave up what they build, to return to again at a later time,
get snack when they want,
get messy.





Every day,
every day,
as much as possible,
I let the children

run and run and run,
immerse themselves in great stories,
take off their shoes,
talk, sing, get loud,
play outside,
hide in special nooks,
laugh and be silly,
play with abandon, immersed, captivated,
experience the magic of learning.




Every day,
every day,
as much as possible,
I follow a routine but ignore the clock.






Every day,
every day,
as much as possible,
I try to be present with children.
I try to be alongside.
I try.




I am convinced
it is possible
to create learning experiences
that meet all the institutional rules, regulations, goals, and
also meet
children's developmental needs.

I wonder about it all the time.