Category: Homeschool

Arts/Crafts, Education, educational activities, Holidays, Homeschool

ELA Activity: A Superhero for Today

Kirsten W. Larson

Each month, I spotlight a book-based educational activity teachers and homeschooling parents can use with their students. This activity is adapted from the educators’ guide for A TRUE WONDER, created by Marcie Colleen. You’ll find the complete guide here.

This is the book cover for A TRUE WONDER: The Comic Book Hero Who Changed Everything by Kirsten W. Larson, illus. Katy Wu.

Superhero costumes galore

It’s October, and nearly time for trick-or-treating. This is the time of year you’ll see kids everywhere dressed up like Black Panther, Spiderman, Ms. Marvel, or Wonder Woman.

Times have changed since Wonder Woman was created, as more superheroes have have joined the ranks representing more and more people in our society. For today’s activity, have students begin by making a list of today’s popular superheroes. Then have them answer:

  • What do these superheroes have in common?
  • Are there any who stand out as unique? How so?
  • Do you see any room for more diversity? How so?
  • Wonder Woman was created so that young girls could see themselves in her heroism. Where do you see a need for kids today to see themselves in a superhero?

Create your own superhero for today!

Have students create their own superhero. They should draw a picture of their superhero, list what makes them a hero (and super!), and create a poster introducing them to others.

Education, Homeschool, Writing

Up Your Writing Game Through Summer Reading

Kirsten W. Larson

School’s out for the summer! What’s one of my favorite summertime activities? Why reading, of course. I’ll read at the beach, by the pool, in a hammock, on a roadtrip. (I’m starting to feel like Dr. Seuss here.)

But here’s a sneaky secret. All the books I read aren’t just for entertainment. They pull double duty as writing craft instruction.

When I read, I notice elements of the writing craft, like an author’s use of sensory details, lyrical language, story structure, the balance of text and illustrations, and more. Then, when I am trying to accomplish something in my own writing, I refer back to these books to help show me the way.

Every book I read becomes a mentor text. The Iowa Reading Research Center defines a mentor text as “written pieces that serve as an example of good writing for student writers.” They are invaluable for young writers, as well as published authors. Every seasoned author I know uses mentor texts.

But here’s the thing. A mentor text is only helpful if I can remember what you read. How do I record what I’m reading? Through mentor text record form.

I’ve developed a Google form authors and teachers can use to record their mentor text reading. When you click the link, you will be forced to save a copy to your own Google drive. Once saved, you can fill out a form for each book you read, and save your records electronically. Or you can print off the form if you prefer to work on paper.

a picture of the My Mentor Text Form

Looking for more mentor text resources? Fellow author and educator Marcie Flinchum Atkins has a wealth of resources on her website. Find them here.

Looking for mentor text recommendations? Check out educator Jen Vincent’s Teach Mentor Texts.

Education, Homeschool, Science/Math

STEM Activity: The Life Cycles of Stars

Kirsten W. Larson

Cecilia Payne’s groundbreaking discovery of what makes the stars paved the way for more star discoveries, including how stars are born and eventually die. That’s right, just like humans, stars have life cycles.

To learn how stars are born, read THE FIRE OF STARS with your students, including the back matter, A STAR IS BORN. Then study how stars’ lives end using these resources:

Next, invite your students to use what they’ve learned to fill in this star life cycle worksheet.

the-life-cycles-of-stars-worksheetDownload
Education, Homeschool, Science/Math, Writing

Mnemonics: Crafting creative memory aids

Kirsten W. Larson

A mnemonic is a clever and creative way to remember something, using a pattern, sentence, or phrase. You may use “ROY G BIV” to remember the spectrum of light: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. Some people use “My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nachos” to recall the order of the planets starting closest to the sun: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

Recalling Star Classifications

In Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin’s day, people used a mnemonic to remember the classifications of the stars, a system developed by Harvard’s Annie Jump Cannon. The color classes from hottest to coolest are O (blue), B (bluish), A (blue-white), F (white), yellow-white (G), orange (K), and red (M), as you can see in the image below. You can learn more about star classification at ScienceNotes.org.

This image shows the colors of the stars from hottest to coldest.

In those days, they used the mnemonic, “Oh, Be A Fine Girl Kiss Me” to remember the star classes. Today, some have updated it to “Old Bob Always Favors Green Ketchup More.”

You try

Can you think on another mnemonic to remember star classes?

Is there something else you want to remember? Could you develop a mnemonic to help you remember it? Now draw a picture to accompany your phrase.

The Fire of Stars

Learn more about astronomer and astrophysicist Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, who discovered star ingredients, in THE FIRE OF STARS. The helped lay the foundation for future scientists to discover why stars have such tremendous energy and why they burn so brightly.

Arts/Crafts, Books, Education, Homeschool, Science/Math

Make Your Own Stellar Scene

Kirsten W. Larson

Each month, I’ll spotlight a book-based educational activity teachers and homeschooling parents can use with their students. This activity was created by FIRE OF STARS illustrator Katherine Roy. It appears in our educators’ guide, which you’ll find here.

James Webb Telescope image of the Southern Ring Nebula.
Southern Ring Nebula IMAGE credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI 

Make Your Own Stellar Scene

The James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021 and is the largest optical telescope in space. It is capable of producing high-resolution photographs of ancient, remote galaxies like no telescope before it. Show images that the James Webb Space Telescope has taken to the class. 

  1. What are the different colors and shapes in these photographs?
  2. How do the photographs make them feel?
  3. How big or small do you think these scenes are? 
  4. What marks or textures could be used to represent these scenes in a drawing? 

Explain that illustrator Katherine Roy used an old toothbrush dipped in ink and watercolor to represent the star storyline in THE FIRE OF STARS: The Life and Brilliance of the Woman Who Discovered What Stars Are Made Of. To make their own stellar scenes, students will need:

  • paper
  • old toothbrushes or paint brushes 
  • watercolor, paint, or ink 
  • water 
  • salt 
  1. Make a swirling circle in the middle of your paper. 
  2. Get a little more paint or ink on your brush and make bigger swirls. These are the gases orbiting your newly formed star.
  3. Try making some thick marks. Now try making some thin marks. What feels right to you? 
  4. Try adding spatter marks and salt to represent dust and particles.  

When the paintings are completed, display the paintings in a classroom gallery for their own view of the cosmos.  

THE FIRE OF STARS book cover
Arts/Crafts, Education, Homeschool, Science/Math

Constellation Projector

Kirsten W. Larson
This is a picture of author Kirsten Larson with the finished constellation projector.

Here’s an activity linked to THE FIRE OF STARS (Chronicle Books) perfect for the budding astronomer in your life. This constellation projector is simple to make with common household items. And the results are stellar, which you’ll see at the end!

What you’ll need

You will need: a flashlight, a toilet paper tube, tape, glue, scissors, sharp pencil, popsicle stick for spreading glue (optional) and constellation printable.

You will need:

  • a flashlight (or your phone flashlight)
  • a toilet paper tube
  • tape (washi tape looks really nice if you have it)
  • glue and a popsicle stick for spreading it if you want
  • scissors
  • sharp pencil
  • constellation printable, which you’ll find here at Homeschool 123 Homeschool 4 Me
  • Optional: construction paper or scrapbook paper to cover your toilet paper tube OR markers to color it.

Directions

This is a picture of Kirsten showing the constellations that have been punched and cut out.
  • Print out or copy the constellation printables on your printer, reducing them to 30 to 50% of the full size. You want the constellation to fit within the circle of the toilet paper tube.
  • Using the sharp point of the pencil, punch holes where the stars are on the constellation. Be very careful so you don’t poke yourself!
  • Cut a large circle around the constellation and and make little snips around the circumference so the edges fold more easily over the toilet paper tube.
  • Put glue on the edges where you’ve snipped, and glue the constellation over the toilet paper tube.
  • Cover the paper edges with washi tape or plain old scotch tape if you don’t have it.
  • You can decorate your toilet paper tube with markers or construction paper, and write the name of the constellation on the side.
  • When you are finished, go into a dark room or closet and put your flashlight inside the toilet paper tube to enjoy your constellation.
Kirsten showing how to bend the paper around the tube.
This is an image of the constellation project projecting lyra onto a wall.

For a video of a similar project, see this one from Natskies.

Education, History, Homeschool, Writing

Real Life Wonders Activity

Kirsten W. Larson

Each month, I’ll spotlight a book-based educational activity teachers and homeschooling parents can use with their students. These activities are pulled from the educators’ guides developed for my books by author and former educator Marcie Colleen. You can download the full A TRUE WONDER educator’s guide here.

This is an image of a female volunteer

Every day we are surrounded by people who quietly fight for the common good or stand up for what they believe is right. These outstanding individuals show what the power one person has to impact our neighborhoods and communities.

Who are the superheroes in your community? Interview and write a report or make a presentation about someone in your own community who you think makes a positive impact. This can be done as a whole class, in groups, or as individuals. Here are some things you can discuss:

  • Why you believe this person to be a hero to the neighborhood and community.
  • Describe the person activity/activities that significantly benefitted their neighborhood.
  • How long has the hero contributed to the neighborhood? What was their most recent activity?
  • Describe the creative and innovative methods used by the hero to benefit their neighborhood.
  • Include any other interesting information relevant to the hero’s activities.
  • What is this hero’s impact to the neighborhood and/or community at large? Include documentation such as pamphlets, articles, presentations, photographs, newsclippings, letters of support, etc. if applicable.

Present these reports to the class. Invite the heroes for a “Real Life Wonder” celebration.

Books, Education, Homeschool

Dear Olivia Sage: Writing a Persuasive Essay

Kirsten W. Larson

Each month, I’ll spotlight a book-based educational activity teachers and homeschooling parents can use with their students. These activities are pulled from the educators’ guides developed for my books by author and former educator Marcie Colleen. You can download the complete WOOD, WIRE, WINGS educator’s guide here.

Dear Olivia Sage: Writing a Persuasive Essay

As her dream outgrew her apartment and her wallet, Lilian needed to turn to others for help. One such person she turned to was Olivia Sage, one of the richest women in the world. But often people don’t just hand money to anyone who asks. Lilian needed to ask Olivia Sage while providing enough details to inform Olivia what her money would be used for. She needed to persuade Olivia Sage to help her.

Ask your students if they know what “persuade” means. If not, can they make any guesses?

Discuss:

  • What it means to persuade
  • Times you might want to persuade someone (e.g., persuade your parents to letyou stay up late, persuade your teacher to not give a test)Writing to persuade tells the reader what you believe, gives the reader at least three reasons why you believe it, and has a good ending sentence. You want to try and convince the reader to agree with you.
  • Pretending to be Lilian Todd, have students write a persuasive essay to Olivia Sage stating why they need money and why she should give it to you.

Use the following TREE structure:

T = Topic sentences

R = Reasons

E = Ending

E = Examine
Share your essays with the class. Which is the most persuasive? Why do you think so?

Speaking and Listening Extension: Create a TV commercial or PowerPoint presentation to encourage people to read Wood, Wire, Wings: Emma Lilian Todd Invents an Airplane. Be sure to incorporate the TREE structure!

Arts/Crafts, Education, Homeschool

What Makes a Hero Lesson Plan

Kirsten W. Larson

Each month, I’ll spotlight a book-based educational activity teachers and homeschooling parents can use with their students. These activities are pulled from the educators’ guides developed for my books by author and former educator Marcie Colleen. You can download the full A TRUE WONDER educator’s guide here.

The Hero In Me

Brainstorm a list of the qualities and actions that make Wonder Woman a hero. Then undertake the following project:

  • Have each student lay down on a large piece of butcher paper while someone traces their body with a pencil. Alternatively, download a printable worksheet, like this Superhero Cape printable from Nurtured Neurons for students to use.
  • Once the student has the silhouette of their body or cape, they can write the things that make Wonder Woman a hero outside the outline.
  • Inside the outline, they can write some of the qualities they share with Wonder Woman or ways in which she has inspired them.
  • Then students can decorate their silhouette or cape. Photos and other images can be added to create a collage.
  • For extra fun, challenge students to come up with their own superhero name. (For grown ups, you can find a superhero name generator here.)
Homeschool, Writing

Creativity is Messy…

Kirsten W. Larson

If I could share one thing with young writers of all ages, it’s that creativity is never a linear process. It’s always full of detours, rabbit holes, and dead ends. And that’s frustrating, but it’s also wonderful! There’s magic in that messiness.

For example, I’ve recently become reacquainted with my notebook pages from when I was first noodling around with a new structure for THE FIRE OF STARS (five years ago now!). Below are my messy and illegible notes. Don’t worry. I’ve included captions to help with the translation.

  • My first ideas for the parallel story structure: “Girl & star in sky & follow both through the pages.”
  • Playing with synonyms to find something lyrical: “collapse, break apart, fracture.”
  • Playing with rhyme: “swirl, twirl, whorl, whirl.”

Before I got to this point with THE FIRE OF STARS, I’d been researching and working on various drafts for almost three years, trying to find just the right way to tell the story of astrophysicist Cecilia Payne. But nothing had come together in quite the right way — yet.

Creating these messy scraps in my notebook through scribbling , experimenting with words, and (badly) sketching led to my eventual creative breakthrough with the book.

The process is a lot like star formation. It stars start with tiny “bits” — dust and hydrogen atoms. Soon the tiny pieces start to clump together, slowly growing until they explode in a breathtaking show of light.

This is also the way Cecilia Payne worked. She tried different things, hit obstacles, and needed a lot of patience before everything came together in her final, ground-breaking discovery.

Creativity — whether writing or science — is messy … and that’s a beautiful thing. So grab your notebook and collect scraps of words, snatches of an idea, and all your swirly scribbles.