Explore Predators and Prey!: With 25 Great Projects

Description

Hunting, hiding, trapping, and tricking are just a few of the strategies used by animals in the wild to ensure they eat enough without being eaten themselves! In Explore Predators and Prey! With 25 Great Projects, readers ages 7 through 10 explore the physical and behavioral adaptations of predators and prey and their impact on the environment. Predators, such as hawks and foxes, have keen eyesight and sharp beaks and teeth to help them catch their prey. Prey, such as mice and rabbits, have large ears to hear danger and can move quickly to escape their enemies. Animal populations are closely integrated with each other and the surrounding environment. A change to one population causes changes to all others. Readers discover how repercussions can affect nature, including humans, and are encouraged to consider their own actions with an eye toward the effect on the environment. In Explore Predators and Prey, kids actively learn about body tools and behavior strategies as they test their own abilities to hunt and hide in a series of science-minded activities. Fun facts and colorful cartoons make learning entertaining and links to online primary sources and videos make the content accessible to all learners.

Cindy Blobaum is an educator and naturalist who has written several books for children, including Explore Night Science!, Explore Gravity!, Explore Money!, and Explore Honey Bees! for Nomad Press. She lives in Des Moines, IA, with her family. Matt Aucoin hold's a master's of fine art from the Center for Cartoon Studies and teaches drawing to preschool-age children. He lives in Windsor, VT.

Always In The Middle Blog "Future scientists can rejoice at this new title from Nomad Press. The 90 pages are filled with 25 projects, which could be used by homeschoolers, students in lower grades as an independent study, or by a teacher with his or her entire 3rd or 4th grade class. . . Colorful illustrations break up the text and the fun, motivating projects will be sure to entice many new learners to list science as their favorite subject." Booklist "This title in the Explore series focuses on predators and their prey, encompassing everything from mammals to insects to plants. The upbeat, direct-address prose is aided by colorful layouts and cartoon drawings, jokes, facts, and activities. An introductory chapter overviews the predator-prey relationship and the scientific method (including a worksheet example) and provides a journal-making project. Subsequent chapters discuss diverse ways various predators and prey hunt and survive, like using venom, camouflage, or traveling in groups, and touch on ecological issues. . . With broad-ranging, intriguing information, accessibly conveyed scientific concepts, and plenty of key vocabulary terms, this is useful resource for educators. Plenty of questions sprinkled throughout the text invite engagement as well. In addition to the usual back matter, further reading resources include websites, many of which are accessible via QR codes." Puget Sound Council for the Review of Children's Media Recommended -- Superior in style, liveliness, integrity and format "This series, each book subtitled "With 25 Great Projects" is one that merits a place in every library serving children. Each book begins with a timeline, and a solid introduction. "Words to know" are defined throughout the book, and QR codes lead to interesting videos. (If the QR codes don't work the book provides keyword prompts to lead young researchers to the right information.) Science practices are defined, and interesting projects follow that teach important principles. An extensive index, bibliography, and glossary follow. This book focuses on predators and prey-how animals hunt, and how they avoid being hunted. There's interesting information to be found here, and the projects are unique and STEM oriented. Buy the whole series." Praise for other books by Cindy Blobaum Explore Honey Bees! With 25 Great Projects National Science Teachers Association "Explore Honey Bees! With 25 Great Projects is a fun primer for those who want an overview of one of the hardest workers on our planet: the honey bee. . ." Booklist Online "Information abounds in this multifaceted collection of all things honeybee. The brief, chatty narrative passages are accompanied by sidebars that clearly define vocabulary words and offer trenchant discussion questions with strong appeal for either individual readers or group discussion. . ." School Library Journal "Featuring well-organized chapters and colorful illustrations, this title sheds light on bee anatomy, social structure, life cycle, products, and more. Readers will gain a greater respect for these insects and an appreciation for their importance to humans. . . Younger students will appreciate the images and accessible directions, while the vocabulary and content are challenging enough for older readers. A solid text that lends itself well to classroom use as well as to individual research." Shara Buffington, homeschooling parent and beekeeper Explore Honey Bees! is great for studying science and nature, and I love that you can intertwine lots of different subjects into honey bees and do units on math, history, language arts, vocabulary, and art." Sue Heavenrich, writer and educator "The kid-friendly, hands-on activities in this book provide a great way to learn more about the honey bees flying through your neighborhood." Explore Gravity! With 25 Great Projects National Science Teachers Association "Are you looking for projects about gravity that are equally interactive as well as instructive? Explore Gravity! is sure to be one of the more popular science books in your class." School Library Journal "Gravity's pull is hard to resist, and this title introduces the topic in a kid-friendly, activity-based way. . . Not only educational but super fun, the activities include measuring air, spinning a basketball, dropping objects, making a water tower, and even constructing a Calder-inspired mobile. This title will appeal to young scientists and teachers alike." Marla Conn, Educational Consultant "Explore Gravity! provides endless opportunities for students to make text-to-text, text-to-self, and text-to-world connections! The great flow of ideas and activities incorporate the cross-curriculum subject areas of STEM, offering many opportunities for teachers and parents to expand and do more. Presents scientific theories of the past and challenges students to look at how modern technology changes the way we interpret them." Explore Night Science! With 25 Great Projects School Library Journal "Six chapters cover the when, and why's of night; seeing, hearing, smelling, and feeling the night; and, finally, night lights. . . Information on what happens at night, nocturnal animal adaptations, and fun facts such as the reason that pirates wear eye patches will keep kids interested. This one will be worth staying up past bedtime for." Always In The Middle Blog Future scientists can rejoice at this new title from Nomad Press. The 90 pages are filled with 25 projects, which could be used by homeschoolers, students in lower grades as an independent study, or by a teacher with his or her entire 3rd or 4th grade class. The format is easy to follow with each chapter having a different focus: Chapter 1-Hide and Seek! Chapter 2-Tools of the Trade Chapter 3-Eat It Up! Chapter 4-Staying Safe Chapter 5- Other Animal Eaters Chapter 6- Living Together Before you even begin, there's an introduction describing the scientific method and showing young learners how to make a predator and prey journal. It will be their go to spot for recording everything learned in each investigation. Every chapter begins with a question to help guide their explorations. Here's an example from Chapter 5: If mosquitoes disappeared, what effect could that have on other animals and the ecosystem? Next you read the chapter and follow through with the projects, easily identified by their green background. The steps are laid out with easy to understand directions. Support for learning extends to online with QR codes, where the user can use a tablet of phone to view a website or video. No problem if you don't have access that way as the web addresses are listed in the glossary along with definitions of the scientific words used throughout the book. Colorful illustrations break up the text and the fun, motivating projects will be sure to entice many new learners to list science as their favorite subject. Visit Nomad Press and Amazon to see more of this wonderful learning resource. After introducing what predators are, and their prey, this book jumps right into strategies for hunting and hiding. If you don't want to be eaten you might try camouflaging yourself, or disguising yourself with odors. If you're a predator you might adopt certain strategies, such as stalking, or use tactics like echolocation. Or you might wait in ambush to attack some unwary snack walking by. Every chapter is loaded with hands-on activities to try, and lots of fun facts, new words, and even a few jokes. * Archimedes Notebook *