PickyKidPix is now in 8th grade but only less than halfway through. She tells me that her curriculum covers Colonial America, the Industrial Revolution in science, the American Revolution, the Civil War, the French and Indian War, the Constitution, and Racism. I’m creating multicultural picture book lists for middle school in hopes of helping teachers…
Winter Holiday Picture Books Giveaway & Kid Lit Blog Hop
The Kid Lit Blog Hop is now monthly! To celebrate the holidays in December, I’ve picked out five new picture books to share and I’m giving them away to five different winners. The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg Can you believe that it’s been thirty years since The Polar Express was published?! This story about…
10 Diverse Picture Books for 7th Grade
Our 7th grade curriculum includes the rise of civilizations, early humans, Ancient Rome, Ancient Greece, Mesopotamia, and Ancient Egypt. The science curriculum is focused on biology. What multicultural picture books should I add to this list? Thanks for sharing! p.s. Here are all the books in this series: Diversity Picture Books for 4th Grade Diversity…
11 Diverse Picture Books for 6th Grade
I consulted my 8th grader, PickyKidPix, about her middle school curriculum. She pays attention to everything going on so she remembers what she studied and notices what other grades are doing. She said that her teachers have generally covered the same curriculum they have always done which seemed to naturally follow Common Core but that…
STEM Engineering Toy Car to Build
My son tried out the Meccano Mountain Rally 25 Model Set. He likes to assemble things but hasn’t really had a lot of opportunity to use tools so I thought that would be fun for him. It’s a kit with a lot mechanical pieces and a detailed instruction manual on how to assemble it. My son…
The Magic of Kinetic Sand
Kinetic Sand is a three-dimensional building toy made of 98% sand and 2% polydimethylsiloxane that mimics the physical properties of wet sand. Think of it as a concoction of sand + Silly Putty. That’s actually what it is. It has an addicting “feel” quality to it. It looks like brown sugar but you can use…
Processing: Coding for Kids
This week is Computer Science Education Week! I have been trying to get my 11-year-old son to program as a way to combat his love of screen time. It turns out that he likes making his own games so it’s a win-win situation. We started off when he was in third grade — he’s now in…