Origami for the Holidays

The annual Origami Tree at the American Museum of Natural History
Central Park West at 79th Street, New York City.
www.amnh.org/programs/specials/holiday/?src=kf_c

For over 30 years the museum has celebrated the holiday season with its origami tree. This year the tree is decorated with the theme of Fantastic Creatures: Mythic and Real. This is a MUST GO! If you can’t…at least do some origami. Bears, gorillas, cows, pigs, beavers, weasels panthers, wooly mammoths, buffalos, longhorn sheep, squid, blue whales, walruses, seals, lobsters, sting rays, horseshoe crabs, hammerhead sharks, etc., etc., etc. You get the idea…Get patterns and make some for your science, math, and art celebrating. What fun!

Around this time last year, we at Spigot were getting ready to publish our very first issue, WATER. I took three of my grandchildren to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City to see the special exhibit on WATER. It was worth the trip. The exhibit covered everything—the past, present and future of WATER. But we were especially amazed at the museum itself. The day before we had watched the movie, “Night at the Museum” where every animal and human in the place comes alive. So we were prepared for the sights we would see.
However, two other sites stand out in my mind—first, the subway from Penn Station goes right to the museum. The subway slows down as it approaches the station where we were to get off. And the ceramic walls of the subway tunnel come alive with tiles of animals on them. Then the train stops and you go right to the underground entrance into the Museum. The other memory is of the crowds. It was a Friday and I think every student in New York and New Jersey was at the museum that day. It was crowded. I remember the kids as being so very interested and excited about the very dramatic exhibits all over the place. I’ll bet some smart teachers had showed them “Night at the Museum” movie too.
Val Girandola, Editor in Chief
Spigot Science Magazine for Kids and Classrooms

Patterns, issue #5, is now posted on our website (http://www.spigotsciencemag.com), and it’s all about math.

This issue marks a milestone for us here at Spigot as we have completed our first year of publishing! Patterns joins Simple Machines, The Universe, Trees, and our very first publication, Water. This coming January our Energy issue is coming out. We are pleased with our growing subscriber base and would love to have more feedback about how you are using Spigot with kids and classrooms. vgirandola@spigotsciencemag.com

Time for Science
Teaching science is a noble and necessary part of our educational system. An understanding of science, of how things work, of what makes the world turn and the rain fall, along with a good dose of curiosity, is what brings about inventions and innovations that improve our lives and enhance humanity. Science in the schools however is becoming the victim of a balancing act. Recent studies indicate in some places, as much as 75 minutes of science a week is being sacrificed to the teaching of math and reading/language arts. Instead of balancing the schedule, science is being catapulted overboard. What that means for the advancement of invention remains to be seen.

Integrating Science
Integrating science into other subjects throughout the day is one way to combat this time drain. Spigot does just that. Our TOC ( Table of Contents) links articles to math, geography, language arts, health, social studies, and the arts. Trickles, the Teaching Guide lists vocabulary, skills, reading level and national standards. Our plans for the future include adding a full glossary of the vocabulary words in each issue. Science can be taught in all subjects.

Keeping Science in the Balance
Both Dave and I have been classroom teachers. We know first hand the balancing act that is always lurking there in the shadow of the plan book. I remember wishing there were 6 days in a week (what a crazy thought!) so that I would get in all the instruction in both science and social studies without giving up precious time for either.
No matter what, the language of science is especially important in the early education years. For that language fascinates, stimulates, and prepares young minds to someday make discoveries that will save our world.
Val Girandola, Editor in Chief

Welcome to the Spigot Science Blog

Science is oh, so important for our kids and there are limited reading resources that are age appropriate for upper elementary/middle school kids.  Enter Spigot Science Magazine for Kids and Classrooms™, currently a FREE online e-zine.  We’re on a mission to provide relevant interdisciplinary content that relates to science, so kids will understand and embrace the joy and wonder that science brings to our lives.  This blog is designed for teachers and others who work with kids.  We want it to be interactive and stimulating.  We want you to want to come back every couple of weeks to gain some new ideas and news about what we’re doing to help kids (and teachers) Tap into Learning.  We especially want you to add your ideas to the conversation.

Spigot Celebrates First Anniversary

With the publication of our fifth issue, PATTERNS, Spigot Science Magazine for Kids and Classrooms celebrates it first anniversary.  Wow.  It’s hard to believe.  Right now all five issues, WATER, TREES, THE UNIVERSE, SIMPLE MACHINES, and PATTERNS can be downloaded for FREE at www.spigotsciencemag.com.

 Win a Book for Your Classroom Library

Ponder, our cute little mascot (find him in any issue) loves to make people think, observe, read, and learn.  He is inviting teachers to have their students become “pattern detectives.”  Read Patterns Are Everywhere on page 5 of our November, 2008, issue. Count the number of times the word pattern(s) appears on the page.  Email your best count to vgirandola@spigotsciencemag.com.

  Also tell us how you use Spigot in your classroom. Tell us what you like and what else you’d like to see in Spigot. From the correct word counts, we will select three winners.  They will be able to select a book from Dr. Richwine’s book reviews on pages 22-23 for their classroom library. 

Spigot Extra

Rubber Ducky Patterns (Contributed by Susan MacDougall)

In January, 1992, twenty-nine thousand plastic bath toys, including yellow rubber ducks, blue turtles, red beavers, and green frogs fell overboard in the North Pacific after leaving China.  In 16 years, they have traveled more than seventeen thousand miles and have washed up in Alaska, along the west coast of Canada and the United States, and in Japan and Hawaii.  Now, some have survived floating through the Arctic and have headed toward Maine and Massachusetts in the United States and are expected to start washing up in Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Ireland and Great Britain.  Curtis Ebbesmeyer, a retired oceanographer is studying the paths the bath toys have taken as they float with other flotsam and jetsam through the massive Pacific Gyre, a large-scale swirling ocean current.  If you find one on the beach look for the words "First Years" to see if it is a real toy from 1992. 

Check out the patterns that some of these duckies, turtles, beavers and frogs have traveled at:

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/01/moby_duck.php

http://oceans.greenpeace.org/en/the-expedition/news/trashing-our-oceans/ocean_pollution_animation

For Discussion

What can we do to make Science come alive in our classrooms and in the lives and interests of our students?