March 2 - National Read Across America

Posted on March 2, 2021

This is an update of my post published on March 2, 2010:


Today is the birthday of children's author Dr. Seuss, whose real name was Theodor Seuss Geisel. Born on this date in 1904, Dr. Seuss wrote 44 children's books as well as a few meant for adults. His works have been made into movies, TV specials, and a Broadway musical and have inspired toys and dolls.

I bet a few of these look familiar!

Unfortunately (like a lot of authors from the past), Dr. Seuss was racist, and some of his books have subtle racist overtones - in some of his earlier works, even blatantly racist messages. So, even though Seuss sold a lot of books, in a lot of countries (over 200 million worldwide, in at least 15 different languages) - and even though he has won a lot of awards and has been honored many times (2 Academy awards, 2 Emmys, a Peabody award, the Pulitzer Prize, and of course Read Across America Day being on his birthday!) - even though all of that is true, these days many parents and grandparents are making sure to read loads of books by anti-racist authors in addition to (or maybe instead of) Suess books. Teach for the Change has some great suggestions (scroll down to the pictures of books); here are a few:


I Am Brown, by Ashok Banker

All the Colors We Are, The Story of How We Got Our Skin Color, by Katie Kissinger

Let's Talk About Race, by Julius Lester


Hush! A Thai Lullaby, by Minfong Ho

Please, Baby, Please, by Spike Lee and Tonya Lewis Lee

Peekaboo Morning, by  Rachel Isadora 


I Am Enough, by Grace Byers

The Wonderful Things You Will Be, by Emily Winfield Martin

Be You!, by Peter H. Reynolds



National Read Across America is supposed to be a day when every child can read in the company of a caring adult. I have seen, in the past, lots of events for the day in which the ADULT is reading to a group of kids - and that's fun, too! 

You can watch and listen to kids books being read aloud by famous folks on Storytime Online.

A short bio of Seuss

Geisel was born in Massachusetts and went to Dartmouth College, becoming a contributor and eventually the editor-in-chief of the college's humor magazine. When the college punished him for breaking a rule by making him drop all his extracurricular activities, Geisel began to write using his mother's maiden name (which was also his middle name), Seuss.

Upon graduation from college, Geisel began to work in advertising, using his clever writing and rhyming ability as well as his humorous illustrations. He also wrote humorous pieces for magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post and Life. During World War II he created political cartoons and created posters for the U.S. war effort. He even joined the Army and became the commander of the Animation Department of the First Motion Picture Unit of the U.S. Army Air Forces.

But somewhere in there he managed to write a few children's books. His first, And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street, was inspired by the rhythm of his ship as he crossed the Atlantic Ocean. 


Geisel never had kids of his own, although he was married twice. He died in 1991.


To celebrate the day...

Of course, reading is the way to spend the day! Read silently, read aloud, read together with someone...


You could do a few Seuss-themed activities, as well:

If you own some Dr. Seuss books - and you have permission - you could use crayons to make the illustrations multi-racial. For sure, if you spot racism, talk about it, and decide what to do: ditch the book or edit (rewrite) the book are two ideas.

Make Oobleck! Inspired by Seuss's book Bartholomew and the Oobleck, try out this non-Newtonian fluid that acts like a liquid and a solid at the same time.





Also on this date:





(First Tuesday of March)




Town Meeting Day in Vermont

(First Tuesday of March)


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March 1 - Happy Birthday, Yellowstone National Park!

Posted on March 1, 2021

This is an update of my post published on March 1, 2010:



 
Yellowstone National Park was the first national park in the world. Established on this date in 1872, it features a beautiful lake, forests, a “Grand” canyon, waterfalls, exciting wildlife such as bison and bears, elk and moose...





...But Yellowstone is most famous for having lots and lots of fascinating thermal activity. There are rainbow-colored hot springs, steaming rivers and lakes, mud volcanoes, several thousand steam vents, and from 300 to 500 geysers— more than half of all the geysers in the world! 




Yellowstone has a LOT of geysers.

Yellowstone is mostly in the state of Wyoming, but parts spill over into Idaho and Montana. It is well worth even a long trek to see it! 



Yellowstone Caldera is the largest "supervolcano" in North America and one of the largest in the world. (A caldera is a large crater formed by a volcanic explosion or by the collapse of a volcanic cone.)

Most people think of a volcano as a mountain that sometimes blows its top; Mount Saint Helens in Washington with its 2-square-mile crater is a good example of that “typical” volcano. 

Mount Saint Helens, before and after blowing her top in 1980.


Yellowstone Caldera, which hasn't had a major eruption for hundreds of thousands of years, is a giant depression, not a mountain—but it, too, can be defined as a volcano! All 1,500 square miles of it! 

According to the U.S. National Park Service, fully half of the world's geothermal features (such as hot springs, mud pots, and geysers) are in Yellowstone. With 10,000 different features, no website can possibly show them all, but Terra Galleria has a lot of beautiful images. (After enjoying the thumbnails, and perhaps clicking your favorites to see a larger version, you might want to check out the “large format photos” and “panoramic photos” pages!) 




There are several "virtual tours" of Yellowstone on the internet. This website has links to GoogleEarth's flyover of Norris Basin plus and to various webcams. 

The National Park's website has a photo gallery, videos, and some virtual tours.

Watch geysers erupt on Yellowstone's webcams. 

Make a “geyser” at home! This YouTube video has an activity with soda and Mentos. Be sure to point out to your kids that what is going on in this activity is in no way related to actual geysers, which are created by hot water under pressure! (Also, notice that diet soda works better than sugary soda and is FAR less messy/sticky than “regular”!) 

Watch an animation that explains how geysers erupt. 

More than just geysers! Other features at Yellowstone include (as mentioned above) hot springs and mudpots. And there are terraces. And fumaroles. And and and...!

A fumarole is a hole from which steam and other (sometimes stinky) gases escape. Here are experiments to find out more about hot springs and fumaroles. BE SURE to read the entire instructions and follow those instructions carefully WITH AN ADULT! (Scroll down around halfway down the page to see the instructions.)




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