World Water Day -- Perfect Picture Book Friday

Today is World Water Day. 2019 Leaving no one behind.

This is a perfect picture book for World Water Day, environmentalists, farming, sustainability, and caring for our earth.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40899042-i-am-farmer

I Am Farmer: Growing an Environmental Movement in Cameroon by Baptiste and Miranda Paul is a book about clean water, gardening, and making the world a better place. It is a book about a man who took what was considered a derogatory nickname, "Farmer", and turned it into a life changing grassroots effort sowing the seeds of a better world. 

As I sit at my computer in my home, a glass of clean water at the ready, I think about why people in the United States should care about reading this book. We have drinking water, we have farms, and food is readily available. Yet, this is not the full truth.

Water testing in local schools showed high levels of lead in many of the sinks and drinking fountains. Thankfully, the facilities and operations department took steps to keep children safe and remove access to the faucets and fountains that were a problem.

Flint Michigan suffered a horrible water crisis that is still not fully resolved. Even if the water is safe, there are trust issues that leave the residents fearful and hesitant to drink the water.

Droughts in the US impact millions of people every day. 

We can learn how we can improve the world from one man's grassroots efforts in Cameroon.

Farmer Tantoh always loved working in the dirt. He wanted to be a farmer. After he recovered from Typhoid fever which he contracted from drinking unclean water, his mission expanded to ensure that others would not suffer as he did. 

This book takes a child into the dirt, offers a broader understanding of the world beyond their neighborhood, and offers actions that children and adults can take here and abroad. If that's not enough, there are more lessons in this story. When you know who you are and what is important to you, you don't care about being teased and given a silly nickname. You make it work for you. You follow your dreams and do what you believe in.

This poetically written biography/call to action makes a wonderful read-aloud. Liz Zunon's collage illustrations are bright and beautiful using photographs, cut paper, watercolors, and hand lettering. Zunon also illustrated Miranda Paul's One Plastic Bag: Isatou Ceesay and the Recycling Women of the Gambia Both of these books would be great to share any day of the week.

In 2005 Farmer Tantoh, started the Save Your Future Foundation. Check it out. You can help locally and globally.

Want to learn more about gardening with kids? https://kidsgardening.org/gardening-basics/

Planting Trees: https://www.usgs.gov/science-support/osqi/yes/resources-teachers/

Spring tree and flower crafts: https://handsonaswegrow.com/spring-art-projects-for-kids/

Become and Environmentalist now: https://lookforlittlehelpers.com/2018/04/16/environmental-service-learning-projects/

And if you want more perfect picture books check out Susanna Hill's Perfect Picture Book Friday post.

Happy Pi Day -- Story, Drawings, Books, and a Recipe

Hooray for Pi Day! 3.14159 . . .I admit it took me a long time to understand the very basics of Pi. But I can now use it to figure out the circumference of a circle and the radius or diameter of a circle of any size.

If you want to know the diameter of a Maple tree to figure out if it's large enough for tapping for Maple Syrup, Pi will help. Just measure the circumference of the tree and divide by pi. (3.14159 . . .)

Not sure of  the circumference of your hoola-hoop? Measure the diameter and multiply by pi.

What I like the most about Pi Day is that it uses math and strives to make it fun. . . and tasty.

This year, I am wearing my Einstein shirt not because he invented Pi, he didn't, but today would have been his birthday and he did some pretty cool stuff and had some wonderfully creative thoughts and ideas.

He said, "Imagination is more important than knowledge." He believed that we need to go beyond our collection of knowledge and come up with new ideas, thoughts, and possibilities.

So I took these two ideas and used my imagination to write a 50 word short story for a writing contest called 50 Precious Words, put on by Vivian Kirkfield.

Here's my story:

The Pi(e) Problem: an ala mODE to Pi Day

By Sarah Tobias, 50 precious words

My mathematician parents fill their office with equations. They mutter, “Could pi be the solution?” Aha! I've got it! I measure, mix, roll and stuff then wait by the oven. Ding! It’s done. I cut. I plate. I carry it to their office. “I hope this pie solves your problem.”

And I created three little Pi Cartoons.

If you would like to read and learn more about Pi check out this blog post of Science Books for Kids for a list of books.

If you are in the mood to do a little Pie baking, I can recommend this yummy Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp. It's almost pie, just no crust. I have swapped out the fruit and used apples too. Delicious!

Well, there you have it. Happy Pi(e) Day!