Here at Lafayette, we have reading down to a science: we're checking out biographies and fiction about inventors and innovators, creating collaborative projects, and sharing book recommendations with classmates.
Who Was Alexander Graham Bell? by Bonnie
Bader. Mr. Watson… Come Here… I want to see
you! These are the first words Alexander Graham Bell spoke into his newfangled
invention. The inventor
dreamed of creating a device that could transmit speech electronically: the telephone forever changed the way the
world communicates.
Who Were the Wright Brothers? by James
Buckley. To dream, to fly, to soar higher! As
young boys, Orville and Wilbur Wright loved to play with simple machines and
mechanical creations. As young men, they worked with bicycles and motors. As adults, the brothers worked together to build and fly the world’s first successful airplane.
Video Celebrating the Wright Brothers' First Flight,
Featuring Ella and Ella as Orville and Wilbur!
Who Is Jane Goodall? by Roberta Edwards. Off to Africa! Young Jane Goodall loved animals and wanted to
study them in their natural habitats. At age twenty-six, the British scientist
traveled to Africa and began her ground-breaking observation of chimpanzees.
Who Was Jane Goodall? Video Project by Kathyrn, Sydney, and Mia.
Who Was Leonardo da Vinci? by Roberta
Edwards. Inside the Mind of a Renaissance Man: Leonardo
da Vinci was a gifted painter, a talented musician, a devoted scientist, and an
inspired inventor—a fascinating man who lived at a fascinating time—Italy
during the Renaissance.
Who Was Leonardo da Vinci? Video featuring Lilly and Ryan.
Who Was Ben Franklin? by Dennis B. Fradin. Let’s Go Fly a Kite! Ben Franklin was a
man of many talents. An author, a printer, a publisher, and a statesman, he was
also an avid scientist and inventor. With the help of a kite, he famously
discovered that lightning is electricity.
Who Was Steve Jobs? by Pam Pollack. The Apple of Our Eye: Steve Jobs, co-founder of
the multinational technology company, turned a youthful obsession with
computers into a successful business and a fascinating life story.
Who Was Steve Jobs? Interview by Lila, Ella, Sophia, and Zoya.
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| Who Was Steve Jobs? Poster by Sarah. |
Who Was Thomas Alva Edison? by Margaret
Frith. A Light-Bulb Moment! One day in 1882, Thomas
Edison flipped a switch and illuminated Manhattan with incandescent light—
forever changing the way we work and live. Edison produced thousands
of inventions, including the phonograph and an early
version of the movie camera.
Who Was Marie Curie? by Megan Stine. Nobel Prize Winner: Polish-born Marie Curie
partnered with her scientist husband to perform pioneering work in physics and
chemistry. Together they discovered two elements and advanced the study of
radioactivity.
Who Was Marie Curie? Video Project by Sadie, Josie, and Lily.
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| Who Was Marie Curie? Diorama Project by Emily E. |
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| Detail of Emily's Who Was Marie Curie? Diorama. |
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| Detail of Emily's Who Was Marie Curie? Diorama. |
Back in Time with Thomas Edison by Dan Gutman. Time-Travel Adventure! Thirteen-year-old
Robert "Qwerty" Stevens uses the time machine he finds in his back
yard to visit Thomas Edison's workshop in 1879. Qwerty helps the famous
inventor develop the electric light bulb but needs his sister’s help to
return to his own time.
Phineas L. MacGuire… Erupts! by Frances
O’Roark Dowell. Science and Friendship: Disaster nearly strikes when fourth-grade
science whiz Phineas MacGuire is forced to team up with the new boy in class on
a science fair project. His partner’s
quirky personality may jeopardize the assignment, but then Mac decides to do
some investigating….
The Fourteenth Goldfish by Jennifer L.
Holm. Science Can Change the World… But Can It Go Too
Far? Ellie doesn’t like change: she misses fifth grade; she misses her old best friend; she misses her
dearly departed goldfish. One
day, a strange boy shows up—a bossy boy who looks a lot like Ellie’s
grandfather, a scientist who has always been obsessed with eternal youth.
The Fourteenth Goldfish Video Project by Ellie, Emily, and Sarah.
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle. Science Fiction Classic: Assisted by three
otherworldly women, Meg Murry, her brother Charles Wallace, and their friend
Calvin O’Keefe embark on a journey through space and time in search of Meg’s
father, a physicist who disappeared while working on a secret government
time-travel project.
Without a doubt, inventors and innovators transport us to other times and places. Walt Disney was an American entrepreneur and film producer. A pioneer of the animation industry, he introduced numerous developments in cartoon production:.
Without a doubt, inventors and innovators transport us to other times and places. Walt Disney was an American entrepreneur and film producer. A pioneer of the animation industry, he introduced numerous developments in cartoon production:.
Who Was Walt Disney? Video Project by Oliver, Jack, Jackson, and Devon.
Benjamin Franklin once said, Tell me and I
forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn. No doubt about it, Reading
Road Trippers are involved, and we’re learning a lot about invention and
innovation!
Where will Reading Road Trip takes us next?
The
experiment continues….
