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Meet STEM Children’s Books Author Dr. Rajani LaRocca [ep.71]

Meet STEM Children's Books Author Dr. Rajani LaRocca [ep.71]

STEM children's books

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Episode Summary

In today’s episode, I chat with STEM children’s book author Dr. Rajani LaRocca. Dr. Rajani practices medicine and writes award-winning children’s books that cover a span of topics, many of which include STEM-related topics. During this interview, you’ll hear about her passion for the STEM world, how she incorporates STEM into her children’s books, and so much more.

 

In this episode, you’ll learn:

  • Dr. Rajani’s journey to becoming a STEM children’s books author
  • Her thoughts on the impact children’s literature will have on STEM education
  • Types of stories and book genres that can impact children’s STEM education
  • STEM children’s books recommendations
  • What inspired her to write her STEM children’s books

Meet Dr. Rajani LaRocca:

Rajani LaRocca was born in India, raised in Kentucky, and now lives in the Boston area, where she practices medicine and writes award-winning books for young readers, including the Newberry Honor-winning middle-grade novel in verse Red, White, and Whole. She’s always been an omnivorous reader, and now she is an omnivorous writer of fiction and nonfiction, novels and picture books, prose, and poetry. She finds inspiration in her family, her childhood, the natural world, math, science, and just about everywhere she looks. Learn more about Rajani and her books at www.RajaniLaRocca.com. She also co-hosts the STEM Women in KidLit Podcast.

Connect with Dr. Rajani:

Resources Mentioned:

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Episode Transcript: 

Naomi Meredith  00:00

On today's episode of the podcast, we're going to be hearing from our first-ever children's book author. I had the pleasure to speak with Rajani LaRocca, where not only is she currently practicing medicine but she writes award-winning children's books about amazing topics that all kids should definitely hear about. A lot of STEM topics are included in her books. She is excellent at making connections with the real world and making it relatable to kids in her stories, and even by the way that she speaks. She has so much passion for what she does, and you can definitely hear it in her voice during this interview. We definitely had a great time chatting, and it'll be so much fun for you to listen to. But Rajani LaRocca was born in India, raised in Kentucky, and now lives in the Boston area. She's always been an omnivorous reader, and now she's an omnivorous writer of fiction and nonfiction, novels and picturebooks prose, and poetry. She even wrote a Newberry Award-winning middle-grade novel in verse, Red, White, and Whole. She finds inspiration in her family, her childhood, the natural world, math, science, and just about everywhere she looks. We even talked about how she found inspiration from one of her books when she was walking her dog, which was so funny she said that because I also get a lot of inspiration for this podcast and a lot of products that I create for you guys when I'm also walking my dog. There's a lot of power in walking the dogs in this podcast. Hey, you might even be listening to this podcast while walking your dog. If you don't have a dog, go get one. All the inspiration is there. As I said, I'm really excited for you to listen to this episode. It is definitely a good one. 


Naomi Meredith  01:55

Well, thank you so much, Ragani, for being here! When you popped in on the call, I was admiring your beautiful background, and I thought it was fake because it has this beautiful, symmetrical bookshelf behind you. It's glowing. It's like this aura of STEM and beautifulness and books, and it's just so amazing. I love your background so much! I love your energy already. So I know we're gonna have a great time talking together. So thank you again for being here today.


Rajani LaRocca  02:57

Thank you so much for having me.


Naomi Meredith  02:59

So if you wouldn't mind telling us about yourself, your background, and then your experience, and how those experiences have led you into children's STEM literature. I think you're gonna be such a great guest for our teacher audience out there. We all love books. So I'm just really excited about you sharing about yourself.


Rajani LaRocca  03:16

Excellent. I'm Rajani LaRocca, and STEM topics were actually my first love. I fell in love with math and science. As a little kid, I read a book called Ouch, which is all about cuts and other hurts, when I was very young. It was kind of like a two-colored, slightly illustrated book about all the stuff that happens in our bodies when we get like a little scratch or a little burn, that kind of thing. I remember being fascinated by it, and I thought at the time that if I was this interested in what happens in our bodies that maybe I should go on to become a doctor. So from a very young age, I wanted to go to medical school or at least try, and that is what I ended up doing. So I'm an internal medicine doctor. I take care of adults. I've been a primary care doctor for about a little over 20 years now. And I love it. Along with the science part of it, I also loved math when I was a kid. I was one of those kids who would always be asking my parents to tell me more, kind of like math riddles or puzzles. I had an uncle in India, my dad's younger brother, who was like the only unmarried uncle, so he used to hang out with math riddles and puzzles. One of the kinds of logic puzzles he told us one time turned into my first picture book. I thought, yeah, I thought of that puzzle, and I thought about what kind of character would need to solve that puzzle and how would a kid know how to solve that puzzle. It turned into Seven Golden Rings: A Tale of Music and Math. It involves binary numbers, which was so much fun. 


Naomi Meredith  04:54

Oh, that is so cool. I love how you're actually living out your dream. Not a lot of people can say that I always dreamed of being a teacher, and then I did become a teacher. I never knew I would become a STEM teacher. So that's a whole other journey. I think, like you, I've always enjoyed science and math and hands-on creativity. So it's just really exciting that STEM is something that younger children are being exposed to and interacting with. I mean, in your profession, I'm sure you could see the importance of that and how that's really impactful for kids just giving them that exposure. I like you had a cool uncle. Not everyone has a cool uncle to do math riddles with. 


Rajani LaRocca  05:40

I know, right. That's the best kind of uncle.


Naomi Meredith  05:44

Right? Yeah. I mean, like, I don't think I really hung out with my aunts and uncles when I was younger. Now that I think about it. But anyway, I think that's just so important. I love, like, your primary role isn't a teacher, but you just see that importance with STEM and all of that. So when it comes to math and science in particular, what kind of connections do you see that are making an impact on children, and why those connections are important?


Rajani LaRocca  06:11

Oh, that is such a great question. So to me, I feel like math and science are inherently beautiful. So I think that there is beauty in kind of nature. There's beauty in the way that things are built from, you know, the smallest molecules kind of up to organisms. And I find that endlessly fascinating. I also think that there is beauty, symmetry, and just kind of wonder in math and science. So that's kind of all of the writing that I do for children, and it comes from a place of joy. So I take the things that I find curious or interesting or full of wonder, and I try to put all of those feelings into books about these topics. You know, what's interesting is that I write nonfiction. So I wrote a book called The Secret Code Inside You: All About Your DNA which came out in 2021. Then I have two more science nonfiction books coming out this year. One is called A Vaccine is Like a Memory: All About Vaccines, the history of them, how they work, and why they're important. Then another one is called Your One and Only Heart, and it is about the human heart. It's written in poetry. What was interesting is that The Secret Code Inside You is also written in poetry. That's rhyming poetry. Not easy to do with a nonfiction topic. Only many years after I wrote this book, and it refused to rhyme itself, I've really challenged myself. It was only many years later that I realized that the reason why my brain was rhyming it is that the nucleotide base pairs in DNA always pair up the same way a, b, and g. Then I was like, oh, that's like rhyming lines. So I think to me, I feel like there is poetry in science. That's why the two things come together.


Naomi Meredith  08:04

That's a really cool way of thinking because I can think of so many kids and even teachers that say, I hate math, math isn't for me, it's boring. It's not very exciting. But the way that you describe it, it's how our world works. Everything connects together. Like with any career, especially more careers that are coming up in the future, like more and more STEM anyway, you're going to have to have some STEM skills. So that's a really cool way of thinking about it. Really, with that growth mindset to just reframe the way you think about these complex ideas. It doesn't have to be overly complicated, it is beautiful. Just understanding it from a different lens can be so impactful. I love how, like with your nonfiction topics, you're making it beautiful with poetry because also, those are hard topics to talk about, especially with kids. Those are some hard things, like complex things to think about. It's not impossible, but that's just a really cool way that kids can connect to the story and maybe be like you one day, and oh, this is gonna inspire me to be a doctor, all sorts of different cool things. So that's a really cool perspective to think about the world around us. That's a really neat connection. 


Rajani LaRocca  09:21

Thank you. Earlier this year, I read my picture book to a group of first graders, and one of the first graders had a question that I thought was so great. He asked, how big is an elephant's DNA?


Naomi Meredith  09:37

What's the answer?


Rajani LaRocca  09:39

I said, “Well, how big do you think it is?” He said, “I think it has really big DNA because it's a really big animal.” We had this whole discussion about how the DNA molecules are the same size, no matter whether you're a person or a mouse, or an elephant. And, you know, the number of genes varies. And I said to him, I didn't know the answer to this, but this is another great kind of teaching point that sometimes you don't know the answer, but you can make an educated guess. And then you can go look it up, right, you can go find the place where the answer is. And I said I don't know for sure how many genes elephants have. But I'm pretty sure that we have more than they do. Complicated, right? And he was just like, whoa. And I said, why don't you go and see if you can find out how much DNA an elephant has? But I said the molecules are all the same size. It was so interesting.


Naomi Meredith  10:32

That is such a that's a really deep conversation for first grade. That was amazing. Yeah, anything with animals, though. I mean, I love first-grade content. I don't love first grade as an age, they're my hardest age to teach. But they're very quiet. They have a lot of questions or like their own little things. But yeah, anything you can connect with animals, especially, they just love that. They eat it up.


Rajani LaRocca  10:58

Yeah, and I think the other kind of thing you could think about is like if you were going to design an animal, and you kind of figured out what you wanted the animal to be good at, how would you design them? Then you can kind of look at, you know, animals that already exist and kind of see how they are made up has to do with what they have to do. You can apply that to anything. So now you're gonna make an airplane, how you're going to design your airplane, like what kind of things would be important? It's endlessly fascinating to me.


Naomi Meredith  11:26

Yeah. Oh, that is a great STEM project right there. That is so good. I love that any age could do that, actually. Even think about biomimicry and how we can even look at things that how we can design all the different stuff out there. I was reading a lot about biomimicry, and it's just so interesting. Like, there is a whole wet suit that's designed after Sharkskin because it keeps the germs away in the water. So it's just so fascinating what the world has that we can learn from with our inventing. So the thing I love, as you said, you're a doctor, you're practicing, you write these children's books. So what, like with your experience and with that connection, what type of impact do you think children's literature can have on STEM education? Because oftentimes, people think, oh, you're a STEM teacher, you don't read books to kids. You don't have to read. I know your face. You're like, that's not true. But how do you think those connect together?


Rajani LaRocca  12:28

Oh, my goodness. Okay. So you know, what's really interesting to me is that I'm not an educator, but I have children. Yeah, and I definitely have one child that is all about nonfiction. Just give me the facts, like, just come on. Like, that's his favorite thing to read. Then I have another child who is all about stories. She just loves novels, stories, and all those kinds of things. She just, you know, she loves thinking about different worlds, that kind of thing. So I think the way that literature can help with STEM education is that it can be kind of the gateway if you know if you're interested in stories and in fiction, but there are STEM topics in that fiction. Then it gets kids interested in those topics without having to say, now we're going to learn about this, you know. Similarly, if there are kids who are like, you know, I'm not really interested in reading about a made up thing, I want to know about the real world that we live in and kind of maybe think about potentially future things that might happen. There's a whole wealth of nonfiction titles for kids. And so that's also exciting. That's also literacy. So yeah, I think that they're just kind of many ways to get kids interested. Then the other thing that I haven't mentioned is nonfiction biography. So history and STEM. And it's really cool. And I think, you know, now is a particularly exciting time to be reading these kinds of things and to be teaching these topics because there are so many awesome biographies out now.


Naomi Meredith  13:58

Oh, yeah, I totally agree with you. It's funny, as a kid, I was like your daughter who loved all the fiction reading. I've always loved math and science as I said, but I wasn't really into nonfiction. But now, as an adult, I really enjoy nonfiction. I still love fiction. I read a lot. But they are just so powerful, and you kind of need a balance of both. Because there's importance in both and I absolutely agree. In my classroom, my kids read a lot. They were actually very surprised coming into my room, like, why are we reading? Oh, it's STEM. I know we have to understand the topic so that our projects make sense. We're not just going to randomly create something, we actually have to have some knowledge about the topic and some research because it won't connect together the way that you think it is like that background knowledge is really important. You've probably read a lot in your jobs still, I'm sure.


Rajani LaRocca  14:51

Oh, yes, I have to. Yes, I'm required to, which is good for keeping up on the kind of the latest medical advances. It's good. I won't say that the reading is the most exciting reading. It's important reading. And you know, the other interesting thing is that there's a whole kind of part of medicine, kind of thinking about people's stories, and how important those are in what we do called Narrative Medicine. And that's also really exciting. So that involves reading, but also writing kind of how you feel as a doctor and, like, what it's like to treat people in a situation and also listening and thinking about their stories. Because when people come into your office, they're telling you a story, whether or not they're aware of it, they're telling you their kind of point of view on what is happening. 


Naomi Meredith  15:39

Oh, that is so good that you said that. That's a huge thing, too, is having that empathy, like thinking through that lens of other people, like, we're not just creating just to like, oh, we just made something. But what is the human experience? That's the whole goal, we're trying to help people with all these things. That's what we're really hoping kids to do, to be empathetic and think of others. That's hard. That's hard for a little person. My kindergarteners are trying to have them not pee their pants like they think about themselves. But, like, that's a big, big deal. But thinking about others like that. So I'm so glad that you said that because that's a huge goal. We want our kids, little kids, to be great humans their whole lives. So I think that's really powerful when you talk about those stories out there. So you talked about those narrative biographies, are there other things that kids should be exposed to and other types of stories you think would be impactful? I know your stories are super great, and they're rooted in nonfiction, but just what types of things should kids be exposed to help them with just where they're at in STEM?


Rajani LaRocca  16:42

So you know, one of the things that's interesting to me is making sure that children get a wide variety of different types of books, not just nonfiction versus fiction, but who is telling the story? Why are they telling the story? What kind of people do we know about from history? What kind of people do we not know about? So the exciting thing about nonfiction right now, at least nonfiction biography, is that a lot of people who make significant contributions to science but happened to be women or happened to be from other parts of the world, not the Western world. We're kind of known for the things people are telling those stories. And that's really exciting because you know what? Science and math were not just invented by men, and it was not just invented by the Western world. There was a lot of knowledge for a long time for 1000s of years before Europe even came into the picture, let alone the United States. So there's a lot of fascinating things to be learned from ancient cultures and from women who didn't always have a clear path to a career in a STEM field, you know, who really had to fight, who many times were just told no. So they just went off and did what they could do while they could do it. So it's, I think those kinds of things are really important too. When I was growing up, basically, what the world was telling me without telling me was that basically, white men invented everything. And that's just not the truth. So that's the other thing that's really exciting is that now we're looking kind of for unsung heroes, unsung scientists, and mathematicians.


Naomi Meredith  18:19

Are there any specific women you can think of like stories that are super amazing?


Rajani LaRocca  18:28

Um, okay, hold on. I just have to tell you, I found that I just read this book called The Fire of Stars. It is an incredible book. It is a nonfiction book about the life of the astronomer Cecilia Payne, and it is told at the same time as the story of the birth of a star. 


Naomi Meredith  18:54

Oh, interesting. 


Rajani LaRocca  18:56

It's amazing. So the art is incredible. So Kristen Larson is the author, and the illustrator is Katherine Roy. So it tells the story of the birth of this kind of wonderful astronomer at a time when there were no female astronomers. She was amazing, and in parallel, it tells the story of how a star, a literal star, is born. 


Naomi Meredith  19:23

That's like, your like, up your alley, like poetry. Like that, like beautifulness of like, the real life and the like beauty of it. That's like, totally like, you're like, oh, this is my kind of book. 


Rajani LaRocca  19:35

Absolutely, absolutely. It's just absolutely beautiful, and the writing is beautiful. The art is beautiful. It is impossible to not be fascinated by it, and there are so many layers. I read it. I mean, it is a picture book. I read it like three times, and then I was like, now I'm going to put this aside. I'm going to think about it for a while, and then I'm gonna read it again. There are just so many different layers. It's amazing.


Naomi Meredith  19:56

When you have the books that you've written, you have a whole variety of topics, how have you found your inspiration for those? Like, what made you think that “Oh, this would make a great book for kids!” What helped you be inspired?


Rajani LaRocca  20:08

Yeah. So I mean, a lot of times, the inspiration comes from my own life, right? So there was that math puzzle that my uncle told me and that he told it to me when I was like eight or nine, and I never forgot it. And it was like, Ooh, how do I set a story in ancient India about a kid who knows a lot about music. And he saw parallels between music and this kind of puzzle that he had to solve. And it was really fun. The DNA book came to me because I was walking my dog. I was walking along, and I thought, like, “look at that little guy. He's so cute and fuzzy, and he is not at all like me.” And then I was like, isn't that interesting? And then this kind of line came in, slid into my head saying, there's a secret code inside you, a code called DNA. And I was like, “oh, okay, I think that's something.” And so then I wrote a whole book about that. And it starts with why animals are who they are, and why we are who we are, and so on from there. It's so much fun. And then the vaccine book. I mean, it was inspired because I got my first COVID vaccine as a doctor I got in January of 2021. And I was so grateful. I live with elderly parents, and I was like, “Oh, my goodness, thank goodness.” And then it got me thinking about, well, how did like I mean, I've been giving vaccines and getting vaccines my entire life. But how did they? How did they first get discovered? And I went and did a bunch of research. It was fascinating to me. Do you know why we call them vaccines?


Naomi Meredith  21:30

I have no idea. I'm learning a lot right now.


Rajani LaRocca  21:34

That comes from the Latin word vaca, which means cow because one of the first vaccines that were developed as they realized that if they gave people cowpox, which is a very mild illness, they couldn't get smallpox. So they take cowpox sores and inject them into people. And they got cowpox which was a very mild illness, and then they never could get smallpox, which was so cool. So that's where that came from.


Naomi Meredith  21:58

That's really good. That's actually really, really that's the ultimate science experiment right there.


Rajani LaRocca  22:04

I know. Little scary for the time, it was better than getting smallpox. Yes. Then, Your One and Only Heart, which is the book about the heart. For years, I wanted to write a book about the heart because I thought it was so cool. It's so interesting, right? Like, it's something that we're kind of aware of all the time. But do we really know how it works? And for years, I wasn't sure how to get all this information into a book. And then one day I literally woke up, and I said, it's poetry. And so there are contrasting poems. So the heart is, you know, it's like singular, and it's cooperative, right? It's part of a team. It's electric and muscular. It's, you know, constantly variable, all these things. So each kind of concept has a poem. And I was like, that's it. To me, science is poetry. So there you go. Yeah, and then my other books that have math and science in them, and I just put them in them because I love them. I love my fiction books that have math and science. I'm like, “Well, I love math and science. So I think the kids in this book should love math and science.”


Naomi Meredith  23:04

I think you're a real teacher at heart. Rajani, you have that passion, you're good at connections like this is what we do all the time. We make connections to real world things like you could totally teach in a classroom, I think you'd be okay. I just love your passion for this.


Rajani LaRocca  23:19

You're very kind. You all do so much more than that, but I do love talking to kids. And I know that for the short amount of time that I'm in front of them. I'm like, this is amazing.


Naomi Meredith  23:30

I'm going to have you come to mine because you're great.  You're willing to learn like, that's the cool thing too. You are willing to research more and how to make that relatable for a kid to understand. We need to hear perspectives from people who aren't just teachers. Like I have one perspective. I'm like the gateway to help kids learn more things. I don't know everything. And I tell them that I don't know everything. Like I'm willing to learn, and we'll Google things together. But I think that it's really cool how you're still learning to help inspire you for these books. I also get tons of ideas walking my dog, too. I totally can relate.


Rajani LaRocca  24:13

Yes, the dogs are very inspiring. 


Naomi Meredith  24:16

It's just those cute little paws. You're like, oh, man, I get all the ideas. Well, you mentioned the books. I'm kind of, and I'll list all of them in the show notes for teachers. I know they'll want these in their classroom. But where can teachers find your books and connect with you to learn more?


Rajani LaRocca  24:36

Yes, you can find all the information about me and my books on my website, www.rajanilarocca.com. So it's Rajani LaRocca, and I'm on Twitter and Instagram as well, but the website is the easiest, and then you can find links to all my books, and they're available everywhere. So yeah, and I love connecting with teachers, teachers are heroes. To me, honestly, yeah.


Naomi Meredith  25:02

Well, right back at you. In the medical field, I feel like we kind of have similar mindsets in a way we're in the business of helping others. And so funny, a side note, my DJ for my wedding coming up, so my fiance is a teacher, and we told my DJ, “Oh, yeah, we're teachers.” He's like, “Oh, this is gonna be a great party because teachers and people in the medical field and nurses know how to party.” So I feel like that's why we're getting along very well.


Rajani LaRocca  25:31

That's excellent. I agree. We do know how to party. Yeah. Lot of dancing. 


Naomi Meredith  25:38

I hope so. Yeah. Oh, absolutely. Well, thank you so much, again, for your time and your expertise, and your passion for STEM and inspiring children around the world. It's just really amazing what you're doing with your passion and just inspiring kids. That was just so amazing. And I can't wait to read more of your upcoming books.


Rajani LaRocca  26:01

Thank you so much for having me. Thank you for teaching kids and for inspiring teachers. This is so wonderful.


Naomi Meredith  26:09

Yeah, definitely. Oh, and one last thing. You have a podcast.


Rajani LaRocca  26:12

I do. It is called the STEM Women in KidLet Podcast. So it is all about women who have a background in the STEM field, who then went on to write and or illustrate books for kids. So it's amazing.


Naomi Meredith  26:27

Yeah. All right. Perfect. All right. Yeah, our audiences will be, that'll be up their alley for sure. Well, thank you so much again, and we will definitely chat soon. 


Rajani LaRocca  26:37

Thank you. Take care.

STEM children's books

 

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More About your host, Naomi Meredith

Naomi Meredith is a former classroom teacher turned current K-5 STEM teacher and coach. Her role not only includes teaching over 500 students in her school, but also leading professional development and co-teaching with teachers to help them integrate STEM & Technology.

With over a decade of experience along with a M.Ed. in STEM Leadership and STEM certificate, she helps teachers navigate the best practices, strategies and tools out there.

She truly believes that any teacher out there can learn how to use STEM & Technology in their classrooms effectively. She can’t wait to connect with you and be your guide!

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Are you tired of scrolling online for your next great STEM lesson? Do you feel like there is no time to plan, research and test meaningful STEM lessons, so you throw together a hands-on activity and hope that it works? What systems and routines should you set in place to help students be creative, critically think, and collaborate? 

The Elementary STEM Coach is a podcast for K-5 STEM teachers, classroom teachers, GT specialists, and homeschool parents looking for actionable STEM solutions. Each week, Naomi Meredith will share tools, resources and lesson ideas that are actionable in your classroom and create highly engaging experiences with your students. You’ll learn systems and routines that will create control in the chaos and that will keep you organized all year long. 

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dot-day-stem

5 Dot Day STEM Activities to Try [ep. 16]

5 Dot Day STEM Activities to Try [ep. 16]

dot-day-stem

Check out the full episode on 5 Dot Day STEM Activities to Try:  

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Episode Summary

Dot Day is an international celebration of inspiration and creativity. 

This is a fun one-day celebration that you can implement within your STEM space. 

In today's episode, I will be sharing with you five Dot Day STEM activities that you can implement in your classroom to celebrate this fun day. 

 

In this episode you’ll learn five Dot Day STEM activities you can implement in your classroom:

  • Augmented reality dots
  • Chalk dots
  • Spiral graph dots
  • Dot launchers
  • Stop motion animation dots

Resources Mentioned:

Episode Transcript: 

00:00

Dot Day is an international celebration of inspiration and creativity. This is a fun one-day celebration that you can implement within your STEM space. After reading the book, The Dot, by Peter H. Reynolds, students have the opportunity to create their Dot that represents them. In today's episode, I will share with you five STEM activities you can implement in your classroom to celebrate this fun day. 


00:55

Dot Day, as described on their website, is celebrated on September 15ish. So really, this means you can celebrate on the day of or choose the day in which you want to celebrate creativity, which can be year-round. I have seen all sorts of posts all over social media over the years. There are schools that go all out on Dot Day and even celebrate for a full month. These activities might not take you a month to complete. They're fairly simple, but they're also engaging and can inspire creativity in your classroom. 


01:41

I tried to choose a variety of things and a variety of media to help you celebrate in a way that would work best for you and for whatever grade levels you teach. Don't worry, there are going to be a lot of links and resources that I'm going to be talking about in this episode. I will link all of them in the show notes so you don't have to pause and write them down. I have done all of the hard work for you. So let's jump into these five Dot Day activities. 


02:11

The first activity is Augmented Reality dots. Just to clarify, here is the difference between Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality. Augmented Reality is seeing things in our world. So it looks like things are popping up right in front of our eyes on our screen. It seems like they are there with us. Virtual Reality is when we are entering a world. So it feels like we are in that space. This activity is about Augmented Reality, bringing these dots to life, and making them pop out on the screen. This activity does require tablets, preferably iPads, and you will download the free app called Quiver. 


02:58

In addition, there is a free coloring sheet where students can design their Dot using markers. When they scan the Dot using the app, it looks like a magical 3D sphere is sitting on the table. This activity is so magical for students, and they love it. It's especially great for the younger grades because there is high engagement and low prep. I recommend for your coloring pages, instead of printing one full page, print four to a page and make sure to have extras because kids want to create an extra to try out other designs. This is also a great takeaway because students can take their coloring sheet and download the app at home to try it out with their families. 


03:51

The next Dot Day activity is sidewalk chalk dots. Of course, you're going to read this story before you do all of these activities. Then you will take your students outside to have them design a Dot that represents them. You can also have them decorate the outside grounds of your school. This is especially great if you teach multiple classes in the day and you can take them to different locations around the building. So by the end of the day, there are colorful dots that are just covering your sidewalks. This activity reminds me of the book The Questionnaires, that I truly love, and the book Aaron's Slater Illustrator, where he designs things in his way. So if you want another book pairing to the Dot, I highly recommend these books. Sidewalk chalk is very easy to get your hands on. My favorite couple places to grab it besides Amazon is the Dollar Tree and the Target dollar spot or even clearance sections. 


04:56

This next Dot Day activity has a couple of different options depending on your available resources. This is all about spiral graph dots. Spiral graphs are so beautiful and have so much symmetry. With the way the lines curve and using different colors within those designs, you can do this activity by using a free spiral graph maker. It didn't require a login when I last used this with students. Students can choose different colors within the palettes on the computer and then choose different spiral graph templates or those spiky things and create different spiral graphs within the different kinds of symmetry. I also found a really cool video that shows different artists and how they use spiral graphs within their artwork, which I also recommend adding in that connection. 


05:55

You can even make this an even more hands-on activity if you have spiral graph templates in your classroom already. I've been lucky and have been able to find some in the Dollar Tree. But also check out Amazon as well because you might be able to find those. So this is a great math and art connection to teach students about symmetry and how it's used in this artwork, and how they could design a fun spiral graph to express their creativity. Now, with the online version, there isn't a way to technically save the spiral graphs. So what I recommend is having students take a screenshot and share it within a platform that you use in your classroom, like Flipgrid, Seesaw, or Google Classroom. 


06:39

The next Dot Day activity is Dot ball launchers. One of my favorite robots to use in the K through five STEM space is the Dash robot by Wonder Workshop. This is not sponsored by them; I'm just recommending this robot. If you want to purchase something for your classroom, the Dash robot is so much fun. There are a lot of different coding options. You can also purchase the external accessory, which is a ball launcher. This is a one day activity. The ball launchers are a little bit finicky. And it's not an accessory I use for a ton of different activities. But it's a whole lot of fun, and the kids love it. 


07:24

Set up the ball launchers, download the ball launcher app that connects to the Dash robots, and have different cups or a one-page target sheet with different identifiers and STEM that students can relate to. These things can be like I am a mathematician, I am a creator, I am an illustrator, and they can be the targets that students are launching the ball toward or the thing that they are identifying with for the day. I have a whole collection of these made. I use these light bulbs with these identifiers in my affirmation station that I talked about in the back-to-school episode of the podcast. So make sure to go back and listen to that episode. But this is a fun way to use that same resource with a hands-on encoding activity. 


08:14

For the launcher, there isn't a whole lot of complicated coding. So if you haven't introduced robots or coding within your classroom yet, you can still do this activity. Again, it's a fun one-day thing to try. I like to put students in groups of three and give them specific jobs, which I like to do with robots. Here are the three jobs that I like to assign in their small groups. First, we have the driver, and they are the one who is holding the device and tapping the code that will launch the ball. The second is the navigator. They aren't necessarily touching the device, but they're watching the driver to ensure they're using the right code to launch the ball correctly. The third job is the retriever, and they're the one, like the name says, who will retrieve the ball. Wherever the ball lands, they can switch off jobs based on their own decisions. Or, if you have groups who have a hard time hogging certain jobs, you can set a timer on your screen, and when the timer goes off, that can signify the switch. So a fine coding activity to bring the Dot Day balls to life. 


09:30

The fifth and final Dot Day activity you can try in your classroom is stop motion dots. I love teaching with stop motion animation. It is a really old filming technique, but it pushes kids to think critically, and problem solve in front of the camera. There isn't much screen time when it comes to stop motion animation. It requires so much patience to make the characters and objects move smoothly in front of the camera. In reality, it is just a click of a button to put all the pictures together. My favorite app for stop motion animation on tablets is Stop Motion. I will link that in the show notes. There is a paid version. You can get it, but you don't have to. It works a lot bthan just having kids take a bunch of pictures all at once and just scrolling through the camera roll. 


10:27

If you're using Chromebooks, laptops, or tablets, there are a couple of Chrome extensions that I've played around with before. Or you could get the Hue Document camera. There is actually a whole line of software that goes along with the stop motion animation. For their Dot, for this activity, students can use modeling clay. My favorite clay is the Crayola modeling clay because it's super cheap, and it doesn't dry out, which is awesome. You can reuse it over and over again. Students can create a Dot that will roll into the screen, transform it into something that represents them, and then roll off of this screen. So if I were to create my Dot, I would, of course, have a hot pink Dot, but you all knew that by now. I'm sure I would have a hot pink Dot ball that would roll onto this screen, and possibly transform into a podcast mic. I could add other colors, and then it could squish down back into its pink little ball and roll off the screen. This will be a great way to introduce stop motion animation. It's a pretty easy activity but will take a lot of patience and collaboration to make it all work. 


11:43

As a recap, here are the five STEM inspired Dot Day activities you can try in your classroom. First is the Augmented Reality dots. Next, the chalk dots. Third, the spiral graph dots. Fourth, Dot launchers, and fifth, the stop motion animation dots. Again, all of the resources I mentioned will be linked in the show notes, so you don't have to remember them. If you try any of these in your classrooms, tag me on Instagram at Naomi Meredith underscore. I would love to see how I helped inspire creativity in your classroom.

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More About your host, Naomi Meredith

Naomi Meredith is a former classroom teacher turned current K-5 STEM teacher and coach. Her role not only includes teaching over 500 students in her school, but also leading professional development and co-teaching with teachers to help them integrate STEM & Technology.

With over a decade of experience along with a M.Ed. in STEM Leadership and STEM certificate, she helps teachers navigate the best practices, strategies and tools out there.

She truly believes that any teacher out there can learn how to use STEM & Technology in their classrooms effectively. She can’t wait to connect with you and be your guide!

More About The Elementary STEM Coach Podcast

Are you tired of scrolling online for your next great STEM lesson? Do you feel like there is no time to plan, research and test meaningful STEM lessons, so you throw together a hands-on activity and hope that it works? What systems and routines should you set in place to help students be creative, critically think, and collaborate? 

The Elementary STEM Coach is a podcast for K-5 STEM teachers, classroom teachers, GT specialists, and homeschool parents looking for actionable STEM solutions. Each week, Naomi Meredith will share tools, resources and lesson ideas that are actionable in your classroom and create highly engaging experiences with your students. You’ll learn systems and routines that will create control in the chaos and that will keep you organized all year long. 

Your mindless scrolling days are over! Your new STEM-best friend is now here in your ear buds!

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List of Books about Creativity for Kids

books-about-creativityUse this list of books about creativity for kids to inspire young makers. Read as a class or have these as an collection in your classroom library.

 

This post contains affiliate links. When you purchase through the link, no extra cost to you, but I receive a kickback from purchases. 

 

Interested in more books about STEM & Technology to add to your collection? This list is a small portion from my bigger list of books that you can check out here! 

Books about creativity #1: I'm Not Just a Scribble

Book Title: I'm Not Just a Scribble 

Author: Diane Alber

Sentence Summary: Scribble's life changes when he meets a new kind of drawing, House and their adventures make something beautiful.


Book #2: Scribble Stones

Book Title: Scribble Stones

Author: Diane Alber

Sentence Summary: Plain stones are transformed into works of art to spread creativity and joy.

 

Books about creativity #3: Perfect Square

Book Title: Perfect Square

Author: Michael Hall

Sentence Summary: Paper can be used in many ways than just its typical square shape.

Book #4: Not a Box

Book Title: Not a Box

Author: Antoinette Portis

Sentence Summary: Find new ways to creatively use a box and spark your imagination.

Books about creativity #5: Not a Stick

Book Title: Not a Stick 

Author: Antoinette Portis

Sentence Summary: After being inspired by many uses for a box, try different creations with sticks.

Book #6: Beautiful Oops!

Book Title: Beautiful Oops!

Author: Barney Saltzberg

Sentence Summary: Mistakes can become something great, even more beautiful than you think.

Book #7: The Dot

Book Title: The Dot 

Author: Peter H. Reynolds

Sentence Summary: A simple dot can be transformed into many different creations

Book #8: Harold and the Purple Crayon

Book Title: Harold and the Purple Crayon

Author: Crockett Johnson

Sentence Summary: One color of a crayon can produce many different results.

Books about creativity #9: Ish

Book Title: Ish

Author: Peter H. Reynolds

Sentence Summary: Maybe your original design didn't come out exactly how you wanted, but it might be close enough

Book #10: What does it mean to be an entrepreneur?

Book Title: What does it mean to be an entrepreneur?

Author: Rana DiOrio

Sentence Summary: An entrepreneur is based on an inner drive and creativity to help create the business of their dreams.

 

Connecting literacy and STEM is a great way to book reading comprehension and hands-on learning. Get started with my STEM & Stories Bundle. With 5 ready to go lessons, your students will think creativity when looking at the story in a new way. Check out the bundle in my shop here!

 

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Which books do you already have in your classroom? Which ones do you want to read? Feel free to direct message me on Instagram, @naomimeredith_ and I would love to chat with you!

Want more resources to support Technology & STEM all year long? Grab this FREE downloadable guide that I’ve put together for you!