A few months ago I shared with you our science plan for this school year. When creating our Magic School Bus lesson plans I also included several recommendations for picture books for each video presented. Today I have another book to add to that list under Unit 3: Energy, specifically the topic of electricity. It’s a book put out by Amber Jack Publishing called Eddie the Electron by Melissa Rooney.
Eddie the Electron is a very active electron who is not satisfied being attached to a helium atom inside a balloon with another rather boring electron. He wants action, and he keeps talking to the reader of the story about his boring electron life until he finally gets some action. It’s a silly story that kept my girls laughing and say, “oh no!” over and over.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t remember much about my chemistry days in high school. Electrons, protons, and neutrons almost sound like a foreign language to me. I know they exist. I know they are important. And I know that they group themselves up in different ways to for chemical elements, but that’s about it.
And let me just admit it–teaching about something you cannot see to elementary students is a challenge because…well…because they can’t see it. I think that is why I most appreciated this book. It made the learning of something unseen so much easier to understand (even for me)!https://www.youtube.com/embed/y6vVzEzrbPU?rel=0
What Eddie Teaches About Electrons
What has been most amazing about the reading of Eddie the Electron has been some of the facts the girls picked up about electrons just by listening:
- Electrons are smaller than a speck of dust
- Electrons can fly at the speed of light.
- A helium atom is made up of two protons and two electrons.
- Electrons get excited and move a lot faster when heated.
So how would I go about teaching elementary kids about electrons?
If you want to teach your younger elementary kids about electrons, download my Magic School Bus Lesson Plans, complete days 34 and 35, and read Eddie the Electron with your kids. They will love it, and they won’t even know they are learning some complex chemistry in the process.
Get Eddie the Electron
You can order Eddie the Electron on Amazon or receive 10% off your total purchase of books through Amber Jacks’ website (not Amazon) with coupon ihomeschool10. This offer expires October 31, 2015 though so hurry. Note: this discount does not apply to author services.
About Melissa Rooney
Several years after earning her Ph.D. in Chemistry, Melissa Rooney decided she did not want to be a career Chemist. As she has always loved and collected children’s books, Melissa decided to utilize her Ph.D. and write her own children’s book, which transformed into Eddie the Electron. Melissa has said, “I am confident that, by presenting these scientific concepts to children at an early age, Eddie would increase the likelihood that they would be comfortable and interested in such ‘complicated’ ideas.” She currently teaches a workshop to go along with Eddie the Electron called Eddie the Electron and Your Future in Science.
To learn more about the author of this book, check out Melissa Rooney’s website. You can also visit Amber Jack Publishing on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, and Google Plus.
