Embedded Files
Rosie Revere, Engineer
Rosie Revere, Engineer
Author: Andrea Beaty
Illustrator: Dave Roberts
Summary: This book follows Rosie Revere, an aspiring engineer who works to gain confidence and her voice in her creations. This story covers the engineering design process, and celebrating the small victories that engineers face even when they don't succeed. The book also talks about having a support system around you, along with finding creative solutions to problems and inventions.
Focus Questions:
What does Rosie’s aunt teach her about building things?
How does Rosie’s creative process change?
How can failures be something to cheer about?
Have you ever failed at something? Did your failure help you learn or grow?
Posted by: Emma Graczyk
The Most Magnificent Thing
The Most Magnificent Thing
Author & Illustrator: Ashley Spires
Summary:
This book follows an unnamed girl who has a wonderful idea. “She is going to make the most MAGNIFICENT thing! She knows just how it will look and how it will work. All she has to do is make it. The girl tries and fails repeatedly, and eventually gives up in frustration. But after her dog convinces her to take a walk, she comes back to her project with renewed enthusiasm and manages to get it just right. This funny book offers a perfect example of the rewards of perseverance and creativity, and also uses precise action words that are likely to fire up the imaginations of students eager to create their own inventions.
Focus Questions:
What steps did the girl take to make her idea come to life?
How did the girl's failures eventually lead to a success?
How did the girl's attitude towards her engineering process change throughout the story? How did it hurt or help her?
Posted by: Lauren Pio
Emma Ren
Emma Ren
Robot Engineer
Author: Jenny Lu
Illustrator: George Sweetland
This book follows a young girl who has a passion for robotics she loves building things and wants to join a contest to build a robot for her class competition but her partner who is a boy thinks she is not good at building things because she is a girl. This book encourages how to be a thinker, problem solver, innovators and inventors. This book teacher's reader the STEM process along with the steps ask, imagine, plan, create, test, and improve.
Focus Questions:
Has anyone ever told you that you couldn't do something? How did that make you feel, did you give up? Why or why not?
What does being an innovator mean to you? What are some examples of this that we do in our classroom?
What are some ways that Emma problem solves?
Posted by: Miracle Deavers
Big Machines! Big Buildings!
Big Machines! Big Buildings!
Author: Kevin Lewis
Illustrator: Reg Cartwright
Summary:
In this book, a boy witnesses construction and workmen turn an empty lot at the end of his block into a complete different space. The book follows the young boy as he watches the workmen work together with big machines to turn the empty lot into a brand new, big building. After the building's completion, he meets a new friend who moves in.
Focus Questions:
What kinds of machines were used to build the new building?
Where was the new building located?
What were the many jobs the workmen did to build the building?
Can big buildings, like the one in the book, be built by one workman? Why or why not?
Posted by: Jayla Johnson
Be a Maker
Be a Maker
Author: Katey Howes
Illustrator: Elizabet Vuković
Summary:
This wonderful book uses powerful images and prompts to encourage kids to "embrace the mess" and create! It follows a young girl who manages to make anything she thinks of with everyday objects. It sends the message that anyone can be an engineer and come up with great ideas; the hard part is just getting started. Your ideas can even change the world!
Focus Questions:
What type of inventions did you see the girl create? What did she use?
How did her creations help or affect the world around her?
Did the girl always work alone?
Posted by: Lauren Pio
How Machines Work: Zoo Break!
How Machines Work: Zoo Break!
Author and Illustrator: David Macaulay
Summary: This book explains simple machines through an interactive adventure. Two animals, a sloth and elephants get bored in the zoo so they try make an escape plan using the simple machines. They are very different animals but still try to find a way to work together. The book is very appealing to children and even includes a glossary at the end.
Focus Questions:
In what ways can machines be used for many purposes?
Why do scientist need creative minds?
How and why do scientist/engineers need to work together?
Posted by: Vanessa Turner
Rosie Revere Engineer
Rosie Revere Engineer
Author: Andrea Beaty
Illustrator: David Roberts
Summary: Rosie Revere dreams of being a great engineer. After making an invention, she is laughed at and considers giving up, but her aunt encourages her to use her creative mind and not give up. She follows her aunt's advice and constructs a contraption. Even though things don't go as planned, her aunt considers it a win.
Focus Questions:
When scientist or engineers are stuck on a problem, how do they solve the problem?
When something does go to plan, can you still build something off of it?
How could the creations benefit other people around her?
Posted by: Vanessa Turner
Cross Cutting Concepts:
Influence of engineering, technology, and science on society and the natural world
Interdependence of science, engineering, and technology
Andrew Learns about Engineers
Andrew Learns about Engineers
Author: Tiffany Obeng
Summary:
Andrew's journey learning about engineers begins when he creates a new toy! His dad suggested that he could be an engineer when he grows up. From there, Andrew explores the life of an engineer and what their job entails. This book is all about how special and important engineers are to the world!
Focus Questions:
What does an engineer do?
Why are engineers important?
If you were an engineer, what would your day look like?
Would you want to be an engineer? Why or why not?
Posted by: Abby Jankowski
Cross Cutting Concepts:
Cause and Effect
Structure and Function
Stability and Change
Systems and System Models
Mistakes that Worked: 40 Familiar Inventions and How They Came To Be
Mistakes that Worked: 40 Familiar Inventions and How They Came To Be
Author: Charolette Foltz Jones
Illustrator: John O'Brien
Summary:
Did you know potato chips were made on accident? That sandwiches came from an earl too busy to use two hands to eat a meal? Or that X-Rays were also made by accident? This book has forty unusual stories about how everyday objects were created by "surprisingly haphazard beginnings"!
Focus Questions:
Are all inventions made on purpose? How do you know?
What are some reasons people have invented new things?
If you could invent something to solve a problem, what would you make? Why?
Posted by: Abby Jankowski
NGSS Engineering Practices
Asking questions and defining problems
Planning and carrying out investigations
Designing solutions
Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information
Hedy Lamarr's Double Life: Hollywood Legend and Brilliant Inventor
Hedy Lamarr's Double Life: Hollywood Legend and Brilliant Inventor
Written by Laurie Wallmark
Illustrated by Katy Wu
Description:
Based on her real life, Hedy Lamarr leads a double life- she is a fabulous Hollywood actress and a curious inventor. Growing up, Hedy observed everything and everyone she could. She often took apart her trinkets to examine the mechanisms to put them back together. In the book, Hedy is shown using her interests to guide her studies and further her inventions, including her discovery of frequency hopping.
Focus Questions:
What science practices did Hedy start using when she was young? How did this help her?
What problem was Hedy Lamarr trying to solve? Why was this important for her time period?
Hedy worked with her friend to come up with frequency hopping- why do you think it's important to collaborate with other scientists?
Posted by Grace Bostwick
Standards:
K-PS2-1 Plan and conduct an investigation to compare the effects of different strengths or different directions of pushes and pulls on the motion of an object.
K-PS2-2 Analyze data to determine if a design solution works as intended to change the speed or direction of an object with a push or a pull.
1-PS4-1 Plan and conduct investigations to provide evidence that vibrating materials can make sound and that sound can make materials vibrate.
The Way Things Work
Author: David Macaulay
Description:
This book is a collection of different devices and engineering advancements that we use on a day-to-day basis. It is a chapter book, each chapter discusses different mechanisms and their uses and advancements that they've made in improving ways in which we do things. Some examples of chapter titles are "Levers," "The Wheel and Axel," and "Pulleys." This books is for many reading levels and includes plenty of vocabulary to expand student thinking on these subjects.
Focus Questions:
What is a simple machine?
What kind of simple machines do we use?
Have these inventions helped improve our world? How?
Posted by: Samantha Coleman
Science practices:
Asking questions and defining problems
Developing and using models
Using mathematics and computational thinking
Constructing explanations and designing solutions
Little Leonardo's Fascinating World of Engineering
Author: Bob Cooper
Illustrator: Greg Paprocki
Description:
This book is a part of "Little Leonardo's Fascinating World," series. The series explores many scientific concepts and phenomena, this book in particular explores the concepts of engineering and designs that helped improve our world. It ventures into the various kinds of engineering that one can puruse and discusses vocabulary relating to electrical engineers, mechanical engineers, rocket scientists, and so on. There is also a piece where some actual scientists that made historical engineering discovers, such as Archimedes, are discussed.
Focus questions:
What are some different examples of engineers that we see today?
What does an engineer do?
What are some inventions that were discovered in the past that we adapted and still use today?
Posted by: Samantha Coleman
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