January 12, 2012

Educators who are considering inviting Seymour Simon to speak in their school district may be interested in this note that we received from elementary school media specialist Donna McAndrews following his weeklong visit to schools in Niskayuna, New York.

Last week Seymour Simon visited our elementary school to speak about his science writing.  Our students were thrilled to meet him, and I was so proud of their enthusiasm and intelligence during his presentations. 

To prepare the students for this visit, we spent a few weeks looking at as many of his books as we could.   The students noticed the story-quality of Seymour’s books, and they found that learning a new science concept was easier when Seymour made a comparison to something they already knew.  So much like their own classroom teachers would do! 

In one fourth grade class we needed a model for writing our nonfiction paragraphs on the Iroquois.   Even though our subject was not science-related, each student was able to find a page in one of Seymour’s books that illustrated a good nonfiction paragraph with an introductory sentence and supporting examples, as well as other details like using comparisons to explain new concepts.  Not only did these students write really solid paragraphs, but they checked out the books they used because they wanted to read more!

In addition to looking at the books, all of our third, fourth and fifth grade classes explored the Seymour Science Blog on the website.  They had a blast learning about science topics from each blog post.  We asked them to respond by posting a thoughtful comment that included something they learned from the post as well as something they wonder about after reading that blog.  This was a really good first step in learning how to use blogs in an educational setting to further your own learning, not just to react to something some else posts. 

More excitement was generated when Seymour and Liz created the "Butterfly or Moth?" contest for our students.  Classes in grades K - 2 and individual students in grades 3 - 5 all participated in this endeavor!  Again, the expectation was that their online comments should reflect their learning and should be clear and easy-to-understand.  The students worked hard to research the differences between moths and butterflies, and they articulated their answers clearly in their blog comments.  I think they would have worked hard even if there wasn’t a prize at the end.  They really enjoy learning something new and sharing what they know.  It’s as simple as that!

I am hopeful that in the near future we will find a way to add Seymour’s many digital books to our library’s catalog so our students can borrow them for use on their own devices. 

Thanks, Seymour, for bringing science and writing to life for our Niskayuna students!

Thank you, Donna, for your very kind words. Your students were indeed well-prepared for Seymour’s visit, and when educators like you and your colleagues do advance preparation, it is always a more successful experience for both the children and the author!

When Seymour Simon visits a school district we try to maximize the payoff for the students by showcasing their research, writing and artwork on SeymourSimon.com. These interactions are designed to create an opportunity for each student to have a personal, relevant and satisfying experience reading, analyzing and writing nonfiction text (very important in these early days of implementing the Common Core Standards).  

We encourage educators who use this site to give us feedback on how you are using the materials we create with your students, and in particular, how we can do it better. We love to hear from you! 

December 12, 2011

Here’s a cool idea. Daniel and his teacher, Ms. Vega, have created a game called "Fishing for Sharks." The paper sharks in the tank all have questions taken from my book. The student "catches" the shark on his fishing line, and answers the question about sharks.

Nice job, Daniel!

December 3, 2011

This week we ran a contest called BUTTERFLY or MOTH? for students in the Niskayuna, NY school district, where I was visiting. We showed two photographs, side by side, and asked you to tell us which was a butterfly and which was a moth…..and give three reasons why. We had 256 students and classes leave comments on the blog with their answers. Wow!

How did we come up with a winner among the many correct answers? The winner was randomly chosen by a true random number generator on the website www.random.org. First we listed all the entries on page after page, in order of when they were received. We had 256 entries, so there were 16 pages of entries with 16 entries on each page. Then we used the random generator, first to pick a page number and then to pick a number on the page. The winning pick was Alexandra L. in Class 4V at Glencliff Elementary School.

Alexandra wrote:

Insect A: moth

1. Moths rest with their wings open.

2. They do not have a club on their antennae.

Insect B. Butterfly

1. They rest with their wings closed.

2. They have a little club on their antennae.

The class pick was a little different. We put each class entry on a small slip of paper, put all of the class entries into a paper bag and then I put my hand into the bag and picked up one of the slips of paper without looking. The winning slip of paper was Mrs. Robitaille’s 2nd grade class in Hillside Elementary School. They wrote:

Insect A is a moth. We know this because the moth’s wings are dull, the moth’s wings fold back, and the antennae are feathery. Insect B is a butterfly. We know this because its wings are folded up, its wings are colorful, and it has a bulb at the top of its antennae.

Congratulations to both winners. You will receive your signed copy of BUTTERFLIES in the mail this week. More than that, congratulations to everyone who entered the contest! All of your entries have been posted as comments on my blog. Look for your name and your entry on my website, www.seymoursimon.com. Some of you put your comments on stories other than the contest story, so if you don’t see it there, you’ll probably find your comment under another blog story.

Keep in touch by telling me what book of mine you’re reading and what subjects you like the most!

I had so much fun talking to you last week; did you enjoy my speaking? Tell me one thing you remember from what I said!

December 1, 2011

A student named Nequira wrote last night with a good question that I often hear when I speak in schools. 

Nequira asked: How do you come up with what you want to write, what pictures you are going to use, and what title you’re going to put on the cover?

          I have loved nature since I was a young child. Although I grew up in the Bronx – a very crowded part of New York City – the natural world was all around me. There is weather in the city, just as there is in the country. You can see the sun, moon and stars from a rooftop in the city. And I explored a vacant lot on my street, which wasn’t exactly a park, but still had birds, earthworms, small plants, and trees. When I grew up I became a science teacher, so it was natural that when I started to write books, I was writing about science and nature topics that interest me.

Then, the hard part starts! Whenever I want to write about a subject, I need to study. I start by looking at research that other people have done. What experiments have they run? What animals have they observed? By studying all the work that others have already done, I learn about the subjects that I write about in my books. 

Readers often ask about how I get the photographs for my books. Sometimes I travel to places myself and take the photographs. I have photographed glaciers in Alaska, volcanoes in Hawaii and wildfires in California. Other times, I arrange to use other people’s photographs. Often these are specialists - like a scientist who has been living in Antarctica and observing penguin behaviors. Someone like that has photographs that I could never get in a single, short trip.

In the case of my newest book, BUTTERFLIES**, we searched long and hard for the perfect photograph for the cover. We finally found this one from photographer Kha Dang, who also raises butterflies for the Butterfly Magic Exhibit at the Tucson Botanical Gardens.

When it is time to decide on the title, I talk with my editor, who works at the company that publishes and sells the book. The editor gives me notes, suggestions and corrections on my writing (much as your teacher would), and also makes the final decision about the title.

Sometimes it is easy to pick a title (like BUTTERFLIES), but sometimes there is a lot more discussion before we finally settle on the right title. 

For example, my eBook FUN FACTS ABOUT PETS was originally going to be called DOGS’ FEET SWEAT. Which do you think was the better choice?

Also, I wanted you to know that FUN FACTS ABOUT PETS is a free book that I created for Barnes & Noble when they launched the Nook Color last year. If you have a Nook Color or an iPad (with the "Nook Kids for iPad" app loaded) in your classroom or library, this book will automatically download to the device. 

November 30, 2011

Wow! After I spoke at the morning assembly at Craig Elementary School here in Niskayuna, NY, Ms. O’Sullivan’s third graders went back to their classroom and started writing. At the end of the day, they presented me with an envelope full of writing and drawings. These were lovely thank you notes, which I appreciated very much, but they were more than that. Each student wrote a full page about animals, space, science, my books and my presentation. What a bunch of good writers!

Here are some of their drawings and samples of their writing.

Ben set the scene with a drawing of me in the assembly, holding the little ball that I use to talk about space.

Dear Mr. Simon,

You were very enthusiastic! I like The Paper Airplane Book best.

- Grace

Every word you said sounded so interesting. I want to read a lot of books.

- Cyrus

-      Paige

Cat drawing by Andy.

Here is a fact about the gray wolf: Their only predator is Man.

- Shae

Mars drawing by Ava

I read more than 30 of your books and want to download your digital books on my iPad.

- Your favorite little book kid, Chris.

Now I know more about nonfiction, and maybe I can make a book myself and it might be nonfiction just like you.

- Abby

Fun fact: every man who has ever walked on the Moon was an Eagle Scout.

- Ethan

Olivia’s drawing of me flying a paper airplane  

I like space books too. I will try looking for the Space Monster book and read it.

- Bhaya

And perhaps best of all, the letters were all gathered together in an envelope that included their full return address, right down to the zip code for the universe! Do you know how to write your return address so that it includes your location in the universe? Click here to find out.

Earth and Moon by Michael

November 23, 2011

It is easy to see that there is a big Seymour Simon school visit week coming up - we have been getting so many comments from new readers on the Seymour Science blog. Students in the Niskayuna, NY schools - this contest is for you!

Two lucky winners are going to receive personally autographed copies of Seymour Simon’s new book, BUTTERFLIES. Here is what you have to do to enter:

1.    Write a comment on this blog post and tell Seymour whether each of these photographs is a butterfly or a moth.

2.    Tell him how you identified it. Give at least two reasons for each insect.

3.    Tell us your name (first name only), school and email address. Be sure to double-check the spelling of your email address, because that is how we will contact you if you are the winner.

4.    Be sure to post your entry by midnight, Friday, December 2. The contest ends then.

Two winners will be chosen randomly from all the correct entries. Older students may enter individually, and we will pick one winner. Students in grades K-2 may enter as a class and work with their teacher to enter the contest; there will be one classroom winner.

What if you don’t know how to tell the difference between a butterfly and a moth? You can find the answer right here on the Seymour Science blog. Look at all the entries under the label "Butterflies." We guarantee you that you will find the answer there!

So, get to work and send us your entries today. Your comments will be invisible until everyone has a chance to enter. Once the contest is over, we will post everyone’s writing.

Good luck!

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READERS: Are you wondering how to add your own "comment" to this blog? Click here for exact directions on how to add a comment so you can become one of our Seymour Science writers! We also want you to be safe and not share too much information when you write on this blog, so please take a minute to read about how to stay safe on the Internet. We love to hear from you, so give "comments" a try! 

November 18, 2011

Calling all NCTE Attendees! The 2011 convention of the National Council of Teachers of English opens today in Chicago, and I’m in the Windy City for the event. I have three items on my agenda today:

A book signing at Andersons Bookstore (booth 1301) at noon.

A book signing at the HarperCollins booth at 2:30 pm.

And, I’m featured in a panel moderated by extraordinary  Literacy Instruction expert Linda Hoyt at 4pm (Chicago Hilton, Conference Room 4M, 4^th Floor). Here’s the description of the panel: Seymour Simon, acclaimed author of 250 nonfiction titles, will offer insights on how he infuses nonfiction craft elements to make complex content accessible for readers. Then, panelists will show how K-8 writers can learn from the master by focusing on reader understanding-integrating sophisticated craft elements as they construct nonfiction writing. 

Please come by and say hello. I’m so excited to meet teachers who are using this website with their students!

And, if you’re not able to attend, you can download the handout that I have prepared for the session from my website. It is chock full of guidelines for writing exciting non-fiction, accompanied by numerous examples from my books.

November 7, 2011

I often hear from college students who are studying to be teachers and doing author studies on my books and my writing style. I am always flattered and honored to learn that future teachers have chosen to study my work and plan to use my books in the classroom. Thank you, if you are one of them!

Here are two letters I have received recently, both of which are quite typical of the kind of questions that often come up. I decided to answer them here on the blog, as a way of sharing the information with other education students.

Dear Seymour Simon,

I am presenting an author study on you and your work for my Literacy in the Elementary Classroom class at Moravian College in Bethlehem, PA. I am contacting you to ask you for any help that you may be able to give me. I chose to focus my attention on three books in particular, Killer Whales, Cats, and Knights and Castles. I am developing three activities that correlate to each book. These activities focus on either fluency, phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary and comprehension. I also need to write a paper on you (biographical information) and your writing style. Anything that you can do to help will be greatly appreciated!

Jordan Mertz, Moravian College

 

Mr. Simon

I am a student at Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas. I am currently enrolled in a literature for children and adolescents class. My instructor has asked all of her students to present to the rest of the class an Author Illustrator Study. I was reading information about you on your web page but I did not see answers to a couple of questions that I would like to include in my study. What are you hobbies and what do you like to do in your spare time?

For this lesson we also have to prepare a snack for the class that pertains to the author. I was wondering what is your favorite snack?

Thanks,

David Honeycutt

To answer Jordan’s question, I would say that although you could use my books to cover any of these topics, I think that nonfiction photo-essays are particularly well-suited to teaching vocabulary and comprehension. In all three of the books that you are focusing on, your students will come across words that are unfamiliar. One technique that you can teach your students is to look for the little word inside the big word. For example, from the books you have chosen, this would apply to the word "purebred" in CATS, the word "blowhole" in KILLER WHALES, and "crossbow" in KNIGHTS AND CASTLES. You can also encourage your readers to make connections by using all the resources on the page - photographs, graphs and other illustrations - to help them decipher unfamiliar words. Use open-ended questions to initiate discussion that will help students expand their comprehension of the text.

Schools around the country are using my Seymour Science blog to encourage and reward student efforts as growing readers and writers. Last April we had an enormously successful month as readers celebrated Earth Day 2011, culminating in the...

October 21, 2011

I recently received a letter from Mrs. Koller’s 4th/5th Grade Language Arts Class in California, asking a question that I’m often asked when I visit schools. So, I thought I would answer it here, for everyone to read. 

Dear Mr. Simon,

  We loved your book VOLCANOES!! After reading it in our Houghton Mifflin readers, we read the section, "Meet the Author." The students wanted to know - what made you decide to retire from teaching and become an author? Do you ever miss being in the classroom?

Photo: Corpus Christi Caller-Times. Photographer: Michael Zamora. Reprinted with permission.

May 25, 2011

Every year I go to a conference called the International Reading Association. It is a place where publishers show all of their books (and introduce their authors) to teachers from around the country.

I was there last week with my wonderful colleagues from HarperCollins.This is me, signing books. There was such a long line, it wrapped around the booth and down the next aisle! These women do such a good job coordinating a very complicated schedule, and they always make sure to showcase my books and organize a signing.

So, I want to say thank you to Patty Rosati, Laura Lutz, Robin Tordini and Stephanie for all the work they do to prepare for IRA. It is a pleasure to join you guys each year.

Teachers, they also write a fun blog called The Page Turn, "an inside look at books for Teachers and Librarians." Check it out for lots of great inside information about authors and the latest books from HarperCollins. 

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