S2E14: Exploring STEAM in Early Childhood
Nebraska Extension Early Childhood Program Area-Emily Manning, Dr. Holly Hatton, Ingrid Lindal, Erin Kampbell, Linda Reddish, Katie Krause, and LaDonna Werth
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04/29/2025
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In this episode of The Good Life in Early Life, we delve into the exciting world of STEAM education in early childhood, featuring insightful interviews with experts in the field.
Join us as we sit down with Sarah Paulos, a former Nebraska Extension Early Childhood Educator turned lower elementary science teacher. Sarah shares her dissertation findings about incorporating local rural knowledge into science, misconceptions about teaching science to young children, and highlights her favorite STEAM resources for educators.
Next, we chat with Jackie Steffen, an Early Childhood Educator, about the 2025 STEAM Imagination Guides. Jackie walks us through the contents of these innovative guides, discusses her favorite children's book from this year, and invites listeners to an upcoming training session aimed at exploring the guides in-depth.
Tune in to gain valuable insights into integrating STEAM concepts into early childhood education, discover new resources, and hear firsthand experiences from passionate educators dedicated to nurturing young minds.
Resources:
2025 STEAM Imagination Guides- https://child.unl.edu/Nebraska-STEAM/
June 30th 1 pm STEAM Guides Overview and Training for Educators and Parents- https://go.unl.edu/june30afternoon
Project Learning Tree- https://www.plt.org/
Project Wild- https://www.fishwildlife.org/projectwild
Nebraska Game & Parks Education resources- https://outdoornebraska.gov/learn/educator-resources/education-programs/
The following music was used for this media project:
Music: Afterparty Review by Sascha Ende
Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/2962-afterparty-review
License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
"Wholesome" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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- [00:00:00.000]This is The Good Life in Early Life a production of Nebraska Extension I'm your host Emily Manning
- [00:00:12.600]an Early Childhood Extension Educator in Seward County in this episode we are exploring STEAM
- [00:00:18.080]in early childhood. For those who may not be familiar with that acronym it stands for
- [00:00:23.320]science technology engineering arts and mathematics. We have two fantastic guests
- [00:00:28.900]with us today to talk about the topic and share some resources that are available for parents and
- [00:00:33.580]educators. Our first guest is Sarah Paulos who was previously with the Nebraska Extension as an Early
- [00:00:39.320]Childhood Educator, but who has now moved into a new position. I'm going to let her share where
- [00:00:44.740]she currently is working and her expertise in this field of STEAM in early childhood.
- [00:00:50.240]All right my name is Sarah like Emily said and I am actually the lower school science teacher
- [00:00:55.680]at Brownell Talbot's in Omaha, Nebraska.
- [00:00:57.800]So I teach kindergarten through fourth grade science, so they strictly get science from me.
- [00:01:02.960]They have a homeroom teacher and I get to do the fun thing of being a science teacher and coming
- [00:01:06.640]in and doing all the fun stuff with them. So science is my expertise area specifically
- [00:01:10.540]life science, so I usually do a lot with biology or ecosystems things like that with animals that's
- [00:01:17.600]kind of my favorite area so I have other things that I have to teach as well but that's my favorite
- [00:01:22.180]area of science. Thanks so much for sharing Sarah that sounds like a fascinating job you are perfect
- [00:01:27.280]for this talk.
- [00:01:27.780]For sure and our next guest is Jackie Steffen and she is also with the Nebraska Extension Early
- [00:01:34.200]Childhood team. So I'm going to have Jackie share where she works and some of her specialty areas
- [00:01:40.540]within Extension. Awesome, thanks Emily. So like Emily said my name is Jackie Steffen and I'm a
- [00:01:45.880]Nebraska Extension Early Childhood Educator. I'm located in Hardington, Nebraska and I serve a
- [00:01:51.720]series of counties up in northeast Nebraska, and what I do is I really provide resources
- [00:01:57.760]trainings and deliver research for anyone who works with young children birth to age eight.
- [00:02:04.520]And so I have a soft spot for all things books and all things literacy, so as a former elementary
- [00:02:10.360]teacher I enjoy bringing reading to life and doing programs related to that. And Jackie is going to
- [00:02:17.200]share later a fantastic resource that we have in Nebraska Extension. I can't wait for you all to
- [00:02:22.520]hear about that, but first we're going to get started with a question i ask all my guests what
- [00:02:27.740]is a favorite memory from your childhood or a funny story about you i can go ahead and go first
- [00:02:33.760]so when i think back to my childhood i spent countless hours out on our front porch playing
- [00:02:40.440]school i have wanted to be a teacher ever since i was a little girl and i would teach anything
- [00:02:46.880]and anybody who would listen and play with me so i was often found out on the porch teaching
- [00:02:53.060]my cats or teaching my dolls and i was especially happy when my
- [00:02:57.720]dad would join in and i could teach a lesson on compound words or read him a favorite story of
- [00:03:04.080]mine so i had lots of great teachers growing up and i like to dress up in my mom's high heels
- [00:03:10.440]put a blanket around my shoulders to look like a fancy teacher and play away out on the front
- [00:03:15.880]porch i love that jackie you are destined to be an educator for sure and shout out to all those
- [00:03:22.820]wonderful teachers who inspire us each and every day you have a lasting impact on
- [00:03:27.700]us sarah how about you what's a favorite memory or funny story for me since i'm a science teacher
- [00:03:33.700]i've always been interested in science and animals i've always had animals as a kid we i remember
- [00:03:39.500]when i was younger and i wanted a cat really bad and so my parents got me a stuffed animal
- [00:03:44.840]cat for christmas and i was like no that's not that's not what i want and what i wanted so then
- [00:03:50.180]we had this cat that kept showing up on our porch and it actually ended up being our neighbor's cat
- [00:03:54.440]and they were like really allergic and so they kind of just kicked us out of the house
- [00:03:57.680]and it was just roaming the neighborhood and it would come to our house and it was so snuggly and
- [00:04:02.400]it would just like snuggle with me on the porch because i couldn't bring it inside because they
- [00:04:06.120]were like no we don't need any more cats so we went on vacation and my mom said well if the
- [00:04:10.700]cat's still there when we come back then we'll talk about it so when we got back from vacation
- [00:04:15.080]it didn't show up for a couple days and i was like devastated because i was like oh my gosh
- [00:04:19.040]this cat well then it showed up and so we ended up getting this cat like i said i've always been
- [00:04:23.440]into animals and the zoo is like my favorite place to go kind of come by naturally i guess so
- [00:04:27.660]that's kind of what i remember is just always having animals and being around animals and i
- [00:04:31.720]used to want to be a veterinarian and i can't really deal with the blood so i went to the next
- [00:04:36.820]best thing and just talking about animals and um using animals and educations yeah cool i love that
- [00:04:42.360]common thread between your stories is that cat you know witnessing the adventures so it's always
- [00:04:47.640]nice to reflect on those memories of a kid and um we're going to be talking about steam in early
- [00:04:53.900]childhood and sarah you have particular expertise in this area
- [00:04:57.640]given your dissertation do you want to explain a little bit of what you explored in your
- [00:05:01.760]dissertation so i finished my phd from university of nebraska lincoln back in december of 2024
- [00:05:07.960]and so my area that i chose to explore was all around play space education as well as what's
- [00:05:15.680]called local rural knowledge i lived up in northeast nebraska for over 10 years and so
- [00:05:21.740]that was kind of my area of interest is how children that grow up in a rural area how their
- [00:05:27.620]experiences like on a farm or in a rural community how those then translate into science
- [00:05:32.500]learning so my dissertation was in two phases the first phase was all about interviewing adults and
- [00:05:38.640]kind of seeing what local rural knowledge they had growing up in a rural area you know what kinds of
- [00:05:43.640]things that they learned that were related to science how those how are those things important
- [00:05:47.740]to them or how do they still resonate with them and so one of the things that came out which
- [00:05:52.240]makes sense i mean was the idea that weather is a really important facet of farming
- [00:05:57.600]and agriculture which again like i said makes a lot of sense we have farmers that are very
- [00:06:01.560]concerned about the weather what's going to happen is it going to rain snow freeze drought all these
- [00:06:05.880]different things so that was kind of the the topic area that i chose to then dive a little bit deeper
- [00:06:11.220]in with the kids so they i had two groups and it was all kind of preschool age so it was three to
- [00:06:17.080]five year olds and they got to come to a week-long summer camp and they did it in two different
- [00:06:21.040]counties and then all of the activities and content was all around weather and so for one of
- [00:06:27.580]the camps it was very specific to like local knowledge like how you know what kinds of
- [00:06:32.620]sayings and things do you hear from your parents or your grandparents or people in your community
- [00:06:37.620]and so there's there's a lot of like what we think of like farmer's almanac type stuff and so
- [00:06:42.860]different sayings that revolve around you know moon patterns or clouds or things like that and
- [00:06:48.620]it's interesting because a lot of those phrases that we use there's some science behind it so
- [00:06:53.220]there's you know there is some kind of science concept behind those phrases and so
- [00:06:57.560]with one part of the camp or one camp I used like really heavy with those phrases to try to see if
- [00:07:03.400]the kids knew any of those things like they drew some pictures they got to do a weather journal and
- [00:07:07.600]kind of look at we went outside and kind of could journal some of the things that they were looking
- [00:07:11.780]at and then the other camp was more just a general weather so just things that they would learn in
- [00:07:15.820]preschool anyways like what is this type of cloud or you know what happens when it rains and things
- [00:07:20.920]like that so one was more of a very heavy local world knowledge and then the other was kind of a
- [00:07:27.540]just weather content and activities and so what came out of it is that you know children that are
- [00:07:33.440]exposed to and actually have that intentionality of utilizing that local world knowledge tend to
- [00:07:39.740]relate more to science and kind of be more in tune to what's going on so even though the children
- [00:07:47.320]that were in the general group still learned you know they learned about weather and kind of they
- [00:07:52.640]had a growth in in their content knowledge as well as like their skill sets it wasn't
- [00:07:57.520]as pronounced as it was with the children that were mostly with learning about local
- [00:08:02.020]rural knowledge and kind of how that relates to them and their you know their farming practices
- [00:08:06.540]or their family practices and that sort of thing so it's very interesting and i would like to
- [00:08:10.520]do it in other places because the other thing with local rural knowledge is it's different
- [00:08:14.520]in different communities just because everybody kind of grows up in a different
- [00:08:18.180]mindset you know you have different family farming practices or there's different types
- [00:08:23.280]of agriculture in different places so it's kind of interesting just to kind of look at it that way
- [00:08:27.500]and it's never been utilized with early childhood there's been research on it with older kids and
- [00:08:32.940]how they relate to it but as far as early childhood this as far as i know was one of
- [00:08:37.540]the first kind of times that it was utilized with littles so that is so fascinating i love that it
- [00:08:44.320]makes so much sense i mean you're activating that kid's prior knowledge on the topic and it's also
- [00:08:49.520]helping connect these science concepts to their life and to what they're experiencing
- [00:08:53.520]now because oftentimes when you're learning something why am i learning this
- [00:08:57.480]why does it matter well if you connect it to their everyday experiences and what they're seeing
- [00:09:02.400]and the industry around them it just naturally answers that question for them i need to learn
- [00:09:07.720]about science because science is used by farmers they need to know about this every day they need
- [00:09:12.760]to know how it works so that makes total sense i love that thanks for sharing and thanks for
- [00:09:17.920]working in this field and expanding the knowledge in this topic area i always got to give a shout
- [00:09:22.480]out to the researchers working in the field because it's a lot of work i wanted to ask you
- [00:09:27.460]are some common misconceptions about introducing steam to young children and how can educators
- [00:09:33.780]address these misconceptions yeah sure so i would say one of the main misconceptions is that
- [00:09:40.480]especially when you talk about like lower elementary preschool kindergarten that sort of
- [00:09:44.560]age group is that it's very they can't do those things like they can't do experiments or they
- [00:09:49.440]don't understand how to do that and to some extent that might be true as far as they may
- [00:09:54.380]not understand the actual science concepts behind things
- [00:09:57.440]you know to the extent of like you know how does photosynthesis work in a plant or something like
- [00:10:02.880]that they may not understand how it all fits together but they can still understand like
- [00:10:07.260]hey a plant needs a sun needs the sun and needs water and has to have those things in order to
- [00:10:12.540]survive and so like with my kids that i'm working with now we do a lot of experimenting and they
- [00:10:18.000]have a science journal that they go through every day and they record things so it does take a
- [00:10:27.420]this is how we record information this is why it's important because we want to be able to tell
- [00:10:32.040]others hey this is what we learned from this process but i think the misconception is that
- [00:10:36.820]well that's that's a lot of work and they just don't really understand but the more that we can
- [00:10:41.100]expose them to it and get them to kind of start building that foundation the better it's going
- [00:10:45.680]to be for them later on so even though that we may not see those results right away as they progress
- [00:10:51.440]and it's going to be interesting for me now that i'm in the teaching position is because i'm starting
- [00:10:57.400]kindergarten and i will be able to be with them every year through fourth grade and so i'll kind
- [00:11:01.720]of be able to see that progression and so hopefully you know that's one of the things i kind of want
- [00:11:05.660]to keep up with and we do a lot here at the school is you know collecting data and kind of trying to
- [00:11:11.420]understand what is their growth process because we do a lot with skills and so it's not as content
- [00:11:17.160]heavy we do a lot of content but we want to be able to see those science skills and those process
- [00:11:23.080]skills grow more than just the content because they're going to get the content no matter
- [00:11:27.380]what it's going to continue on and overlap and all that but we want to know like how can they
- [00:11:31.580]communicate this or how can they problem solve or how do they try to figure out how to run a test
- [00:11:36.880]or things like that and so that's one of the things that we really focus on here and i think
- [00:11:41.660]especially you know when you're working with early childhood those are what we really want
- [00:11:45.580]to look at like the content it will be there and you know if they're interested in it then
- [00:11:50.060]they'll probably pick it up quicker but we really want to be able to understand and try to see those
- [00:11:54.420]science process skills and there's a lot of different ones
- [00:11:57.360]too and it's not just you know communication or problem solving creativity is in there as well
- [00:12:02.200]and so looking at how we can incorporate that with the little littles and then kind of helping
- [00:12:08.840]them as they build that foundation as they get older so i've even gone into some of the
- [00:12:13.020]preschool classrooms and talked about different things like i have spiders and such and so they
- [00:12:17.520]were doing a spider study and so they had all these questions about how does a spider make a
- [00:12:27.340]kind of a starting point is what are they interested in what do they want to know because
- [00:12:32.000]if they're interested they're gonna they're gonna learn it like i always tell you know when i worked
- [00:12:36.500]for extension i would teach teachers i would say how many kids do you know little kids that know
- [00:12:40.860]all these names of dinosaurs these are long names of dinosaurs i don't even know all the names of
- [00:12:46.080]dinosaurs and i have kids that are telling me so they they're capable of doing it it's just a
- [00:12:50.620]matter of you know kind of observing and kind of taking the time to listen and understand what they
- [00:12:55.540]want to do and what they want to kind of move forward with
- [00:12:57.320]move forward with, and then running with it, because you can kind of take a topic and go in
- [00:13:02.000]so many different directions with this. I think it's just really important to listen to them and
- [00:13:06.980]kind of take what they ask and their questions. And then you can you can run with it and take it
- [00:13:12.040]anywhere you want to go. I love that that philosophy about focusing on skills, like a
- [00:13:16.880]teaching philosophy, where you focus on the skills that they're acquiring first, and you kind of let
- [00:13:22.020]content take, you know, the backseat. And then you let the child's interest drive those that
- [00:13:29.740]content that you explore, because you know that they're going to engage with it deeper when they
- [00:13:34.340]have interest and show interest in it, and it will help them attain those skills. And then you can
- [00:13:38.740]plan accordingly based on what kind of skills they need to obtain. So now what are your favorite
- [00:13:45.300]activities or resources related to STEAM that you would recommend to educators or parents?
- [00:13:52.000]To help incorporate STEAM into everyday activities.
- [00:13:55.540]I pull in things from Extension. I pull in things from Project Wild. I pull in things from
- [00:14:01.420]Growing Up Wild or Project Learning Tree. So to what Jackie's going to be discussing later
- [00:14:06.960]is the STEM Imagination Guides. And I use those all the time. So I use those,
- [00:14:10.920]and not just for littles either. So like I'll use those even with my fourth grade too. And so I can
- [00:14:15.580]tailor them to any level that I work with. And so I think Jackie will talk about that too. But
- [00:14:21.040]that's one really nice thing about those is that, you know, I use them. I have an afterschool science
- [00:14:25.640]club that I have. And so I'll use it in there. So we just did an ocean theme last semester. So I
- [00:14:30.340]used all the STEM imagination guides from our ocean theme. And we did the majority of the
- [00:14:34.820]activities from that. How can parents and educators find that?
- [00:14:37.660]So for Project Wild and Project Learning Tree, you can get on like Nebraska Game and Parks has
- [00:14:42.920]a lot of stuff on their website in regards to like growing up wild. Project Learning Tree is
- [00:14:47.200]through the Forest Service. And they have a lot of resources on their page as well,
- [00:14:51.020]the specific curriculum is not available as far as like in its entirety, but they have
- [00:14:57.560]individual lessons that you can download. And typically they have a class and it's open,
- [00:15:01.680]from what I understand, you can do it whether you're a teacher,
- [00:15:04.140]teacher, homeschool, parent, Girl Scout leader, anybody that's interested in the curriculum and
- [00:15:08.980]utilizing it, then you can take any of their courses. And Growing Up Wild is the same way.
- [00:15:13.140]And here in Nebraska, they do a lot because their headquarters is in Lincoln, or at least for Game
- [00:15:18.100]and Parks. But there's classes and stuff all over. And usually on their websites, they have
- [00:15:22.640]where classes are going to take place. But if you don't take the courses, there's resources on those
- [00:15:28.200]web pages that you can look at. And then of course, our Sim Imagination Guides are on our UNL page.
- [00:15:33.080]Thank you so much for sharing those resources with us, Sarah. I know that you have to leave now
- [00:15:37.420]for another meeting. Thank you so much for joining us today.
- [00:15:40.380]Yeah, thanks for having me. And hopefully, everybody has a great day.
- [00:15:43.520]Thanks, Sarah. Well, Sarah did an awesome job hyping up the STEM or now they're called STEAM
- [00:15:50.060]Imagination Guides that U Extension has. And so that's what we're going to focus on next is these
- [00:15:55.600]wonderful guides that are available for educators and parents and family members to utilize. So I
- [00:16:03.060]think to start us off, let's kind of just start off with an overview of what are the STEM or STEAM
- [00:16:09.600]Imagination Guides. All right. Well, the STEAM Imagination Guides are a great resource for
- [00:16:14.100]parents, caregivers, really anyone who loves reading to young children. And they are guides
- [00:16:20.080]that are developed for children ages birth to age eight. And what it is, is it's a guide that
- [00:16:26.720]is tied to a high quality children's book that is connected with the summer reading theme. So each
- [00:16:33.040]year libraries have a theme for their summer reading program. And so what we've done with
- [00:16:37.880]Nebraska Extension is we've selected books that go along with that theme. And then we've created
- [00:16:44.240]these guides and the guides have conversation starters included with them. And those conversation
- [00:16:49.800]starters are really designed to help parents and caregivers have a shared reading experience with
- [00:16:56.300]young children. The guides also have three different extended learning opportunities. So
- [00:17:03.020]to make learning come to life and bring the book to life as well. So there's a STEAM component,
- [00:17:07.800]and that activity is the activity that's probably the most detailed. And then we also have a nature
- [00:17:13.400]exploration activity and a creative arts activity that's with each guide. And so really what these
- [00:17:19.920]expanded learning opportunities are designed to do is support literacy development, make a strong
- [00:17:25.520]connection between young children and the adults who are reading to them, and also make a connection
- [00:17:30.860]to local libraries. Thanks, Jackie.
- [00:17:33.000]And in full transparency, I am also on the team who helps select the books and write the guides
- [00:17:39.000]for the STEAM imagination guides. And it's been such a fun process. We've taken feedback from
- [00:17:44.220]those who have taken the guides from previous years or from our pilot, and we really made some
- [00:17:49.340]changes based on that feedback because we want to make sure that they're relevant and helpful to you
- [00:17:54.360]and your roles. And one of the changes that we made was that we've actually increased the number
- [00:17:58.080]of books that we selected this year. We have 12 books. Previously, it was eight. And we different
- [00:18:02.980]the book selections and the guides. So now we have a set of books and guides that are specifically
- [00:18:08.300]for infants and toddlers. And then we have eight books that are specifically for preschool. Then
- [00:18:13.780]we've also added in the ELG or early learning guidelines standards that's based on the
- [00:18:19.160]Nebraska Department of Education standards to make it a little easier for educators to
- [00:18:23.180]do their documenting and planning and preparation for their lessons. So we're really excited. We're
- [00:18:32.960]a little bit longer. So would you provide a brief history of this project? Sure. So this program
- [00:18:38.860]actually started back in 2014 and it was really a partnership between Nebraska Extension and local
- [00:18:45.340]libraries up in northeast Nebraska. So libraries were looking for educational programs that they
- [00:18:53.580]could bring into their library that tied in with their summer reading program. And so what Nebraska
- [00:18:57.840]Extension did was they developed four different lessons using 4-H curriculum that went along
- [00:19:02.940]with their summer reading theme. And this was such a success within the pilot year that the following
- [00:19:09.240]year we expanded across the state and then we were soon beyond our borders, reaching many children,
- [00:19:15.320]grades kindergarten through sixth grade with this programming. But what we realized after getting
- [00:19:21.300]feedback is that there was a large population of children that we were missing and those were the
- [00:19:26.240]children who were in child care. And so we thought, well, why are we expecting children to come to us?
- [00:19:32.920]How about we bring the summer reading program to them? And so that's when we developed a second
- [00:19:38.700]component of the summer reading program, the STEAM imagination guides that we're talking about here
- [00:19:44.080]today. So currently, we have a 4-H component still that targets kindergarten through sixth grade.
- [00:19:49.940]And then we had the early childhood component, the STEAM imagination guides. And these guides
- [00:19:55.620]were developed so that anyone who loves reading with young children can download these guides
- [00:20:00.620]and have the summer reading program.
- [00:20:02.900]Really anywhere. So in child care centers, in home settings, in camp settings, the guides
- [00:20:08.840]are really versatile.
- [00:20:09.720]Excellent. Thanks, Jackie. It's always fun to hear the history of how this project has
- [00:20:14.260]evolved over time and changed to fit the needs of Nebraskans and to help spread the love
- [00:20:20.820]of learning and literacy across our state. So let's dive into the current guides, the
- [00:20:26.480]set of guides for 2025. What can parents and educators get excited about and expect from
- [00:20:32.500]these guides?
- [00:20:32.880]So this year, I'm super excited about our guides because they are, they're all about
- [00:20:40.000]art and creativity. So we are really hoping to spark an interest in the arts and really
- [00:20:45.740]develop kids' curiosity and wonder. So this year's theme is Color Our World, and we've
- [00:20:51.520]developed 12 different guides that go specifically with that theme where children are able to
- [00:20:56.680]explore books and activities about color. They get to look at different shapes and just
- [00:21:01.980]learn about self-awareness.
- [00:21:02.860]Yeah, they're a really fun set of books that we selected for this year. And again, I'm
- [00:21:08.100]just super proud of these guides, and they're super fun. I just want everyone to know about
- [00:21:12.080]them. Where can people find these amazing resources, and how can they find the books?
- [00:21:16.880]Yes, so these resources can be found on our website, and our website is go.unl.edu backslash
- [00:21:24.480]imagination. And when you get to our website, you're going to see that it has a really kind
- [00:21:29.160]of easy layout to follow. So it gives you a brief overview of what you can find on our
- [00:21:32.840]about the program, which we've already talked about here today. And then it also gives you the
- [00:21:37.620]opportunity to download a sample of a lesson to really see what it looks like. So you can get an
- [00:21:43.380]idea for the flow. And as you're looking at the website, you're going to see all of the different
- [00:21:47.500]books that are featured. And under each book, it gives you a brief example of the different lessons
- [00:21:53.060]and activities that are incorporated with that book. And so it gives you an overview to let you
- [00:21:57.640]know, like, is this a good fit for me? There's red buttons on our website where you're able to
- [00:22:02.820]download the guides. And when you download the guides, it will take you out to a Qualtrics site
- [00:22:07.560]and you enter in your name and email address. And then you'll get emailed a link with a file
- [00:22:12.520]where you can download one of the guides that you are interested in, or you can actually download
- [00:22:17.680]all of the guides. So all of the resources are right there ready for you. And something else
- [00:22:23.320]that's really cool about this website is it's kind of like a vault of reading resources. So
- [00:22:28.720]you're going to find that there's a button for archived STEAM Imagination
- [00:22:32.800]guides. And those are guides that have been created in previous years. And so you'll find
- [00:22:37.820]that there's guides that are all about adventures, about kindness and unity, maybe your favorite
- [00:22:43.120]fairy tales. There's animals and animal habitats. There's books and guides that are designed around
- [00:22:48.800]oceans. And so we know as a team, we design these guides each year to go with the summer
- [00:22:54.560]reading theme. But we don't only want these books read during the summer. We know that
- [00:22:59.060]great books can be read multiple times and anytime throughout the
- [00:23:02.780]year. And so I just encourage all parents and early childhood professionals to check
- [00:23:07.660]out the website, peruse through the archived guides as well. Think about what books you
- [00:23:12.240]might have in your collection and what the children that you're reading to are interested
- [00:23:16.840]in. And you might find the perfect guide to share with them. Yeah. And actually, the week
- [00:23:21.560]that we're recording it, there's a lot of days like it's Earth Day and then it's Arbor Day
- [00:23:26.400]this week. And so we have some guides, like actually quite a few of our guides have those
- [00:23:32.760]connections to it. And so if you were wanting to do some lessons or activities around nature
- [00:23:37.840]or connections to like Earth and Arbor Day, you might be able to find that pretty easily within
- [00:23:42.700]the guide. So I'd encourage you to check these out. Thank you so much for sharing about where
- [00:23:47.260]they can find these resources. And I believe that these have been shared with all the libraries in
- [00:23:52.280]the state of Nebraska. So if someone doesn't have a book on hand, they could easily request this
- [00:23:57.160]through an interlibrary loan or just contacting their local library. They might have these on
- [00:24:01.580]hand already. Is that correct?
- [00:24:02.740]Correct, Jackie. I think they all got the list right.
- [00:24:05.640]That is absolutely true. So all libraries are aware of the books that go with this year's
- [00:24:10.400]STEAM Imagination Guides. We can't make the promise that they have them all on their
- [00:24:14.460]shelves. But like you said, Emily, an interlocal library loan is an option. And otherwise,
- [00:24:19.780]another option is to go online because you can find storybook readings that go along with a lot
- [00:24:25.380]of these stories as well. Otherwise, you can check out your local favorite bookstore to have
- [00:24:30.120]access to these books as well.
- [00:24:31.640]Wonderful.
- [00:24:32.720]And I know it's hard to have a favorite from our guides this year and the books that we've
- [00:24:37.660]selected this year because they're all really fantastic. But if you could, Jackie, which
- [00:24:43.740]book would you pick out of the group to highlight?
- [00:24:47.140]Well, one of my favorite books this year is Perfect Square. And Perfect Square is written
- [00:24:52.220]by Michael Hall. And it's all about a square who loves his four corners and loves his four sides,
- [00:24:57.920]so loves everything about himself. But each day of the week, something changes and Square gets
- [00:25:02.700]transformed. And when he gets maybe transformed by being ripped or having holes poked in him or
- [00:25:09.000]being cut apart, he transforms into something new. So maybe like a field of flowers or a fountain
- [00:25:15.300]that's in the garden. So a variety of different things throughout the book. And so it goes through
- [00:25:19.960]each day of the week. And when it gets to Sunday, Square is feeling kind of excited, like, hey,
- [00:25:24.640]something new and exciting is going to happen today. And he's waiting and waiting and waiting.
- [00:25:29.040]And nothing happens. And suddenly, the four corners that he loves
- [00:25:32.680]and the four equal sides that he loved kind of feel like he's being boxed in or like he's being
- [00:25:38.260]constricted. So he decides to make an adjustment himself. So he draws a line from top to bottom,
- [00:25:44.440]and then from side to side, and he turns himself into a window and is able to see all of the great
- [00:25:49.200]things that he's transformed in to throughout the week. And so I just think that book is a great book
- [00:25:55.400]about being flexible and being okay with change and the STEAM Imagination Guide activity that goes with
- [00:26:02.660]that is square sculptures. So helping children think about turning a square into something new.
- [00:26:08.520]And the first thing that children can do is actually they're able to use blocks. So maybe
- [00:26:13.380]taking blocks and making them into one thing and then changing the blocks around and making them
- [00:26:18.120]into a different thing. So they're becoming comfortable with creating something new.
- [00:26:22.940]And then the activity goes a little bit further where children are given a square piece of
- [00:26:32.640]paper, they can wrinkle, shred, cut the paper or really manipulate it any way that they want to
- [00:26:37.160]manipulate it and then turn it into something new. And we've had lots of different children do this
- [00:26:44.460]activity so far this year and I just think it's neat to see what their creativity is. So we've
- [00:26:50.000]had squares turned in to volcanoes that are erupting. We've had squares turned into little
- [00:26:56.020]band-aids or we've had squares that have been turned into a tent with a little person's head
- [00:27:01.940]peeking out of it. So we've had squares turned into little band-aids or we've had squares that
- [00:27:02.620]have been turned into a tent with a little person's head peeking out of it. So we've had squares
- [00:27:03.900]turned into little band-aids or we've had squares that have been turned into a tent with a little
- [00:27:03.900]person's head peeking out of it. So we've had squares turned into little band-aids or we've
- [00:27:03.960]had squares turned into little band-aids or we've had squares that have been turned into a tent
- [00:27:04.020]I think Perfect Square Emily would probably have to be one of my favorite ones because of that
- [00:27:09.840]sculpture activity that goes with it. But I also like that story because the creative arts
- [00:27:14.980]activity introduces the children to Pete Mondrian, so a famous artist. And if you have the
- [00:27:22.140]opportunity to look at any of his artwork, you're going to see that his artwork is filled with
- [00:27:27.000]squares and rectangles. And oftentimes they're colored with primary colors. And so I think
- [00:27:32.600]that creative arts activity allows children to look at a famous masterpiece, and you're able to
- [00:27:38.500]have a conversation about art appreciation with them. What do they see? What do they notice? What
- [00:27:43.380]do they wonder? What does this painting make them think of? Or how does it make them feel?
- [00:27:49.080]And then they have the opportunity to pretend that maybe they are trying to be Pete Mondrian
- [00:27:55.920]and recreate that image in their very own unique way. And so I really just love everything.
- [00:28:02.580]About that guide. And I think it's a great opportunity because they're never too
- [00:28:06.820]young to be introduced to famous artists and famous works of art and just to have that
- [00:28:11.200]appreciation for the arts around them. Thanks for sharing that resource, Jackie. And I and
- [00:28:16.080]if our listeners are more curious about learning about these guides, we have an opportunity coming
- [00:28:21.420]up again on June 30th at 1pm, where we will dive more into these guides. And it's only an hour
- [00:28:28.360]long, but we really cover a lot. We cover that the template of the guides,
- [00:28:32.660]what's included, we give you some ideas for how this these guides can be changed and adapted for
- [00:28:38.920]your various settings, and just give you a general overview and answer questions about the guides and
- [00:28:44.180]the books that are included. So mark your calendars for June 30th, if you're interested
- [00:28:49.080]in learning more about these guides, but the guides are available right now too. So feel free
- [00:28:53.360]to check those out, download them, try out some of those activities, you don't have to wait for
- [00:28:57.340]June 30th. But we will be there for you if you want to join us on June 30th. Anything
- [00:29:02.540]else you'd like to add, Jackie, before we end our time together?
- [00:29:05.920]Emily, thank you so much for inviting me to be a part of this podcast. Reading is
- [00:29:10.100]just so powerful. And I think it's such a great way to be able to spark curiosity, learning
- [00:29:15.540]and really to make a connection with young children. And so that's why I have a true
- [00:29:20.520]passion for these guides. So it's helping to bring books to life in a fun and playful
- [00:29:25.740]way. So I hope listeners check them out.
- [00:29:27.820]Thanks so much for being here, Jackie. Appreciate you sharing this resource with us and with
- [00:29:32.520]our listeners.
- [00:29:33.520]It was a lot of fun.
- [00:29:34.520]Thank you.
- [00:29:36.440]This has been another episode of The Good Life in Early Life, a Nebraska Extension Early
- [00:29:41.420]Childhood production with your host, Emily Manning. For more information on early childhood,
- [00:29:46.280]check out our website at child.unl.edu. If you like the show, subscribe and tell your
- [00:29:51.240]friends to listen. The show production team is Emily Manning, Dr. Holly Hatton, Erin Campbell,
- [00:29:57.200]Ingrid Lindahl, Linda Reddish, Kim Welsandt, LaDonna Wirth, and Katie Krause. See you next
- [00:30:02.500]time. And thanks for listening. Bye-bye.
- [00:30:04.600]- Bye.
- [00:30:05.440]you
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