STEAM MA

Drinking water is a great way to calm down.

Happy Summer Solstice!
Here's a dandelion to celebrate.

Let's do some Skip counting!

That's How We Count by 5! Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

"Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations" - Mr. Spock, Star Trek

Today we met an adult who communicated with his children in ASL.

I saw him signing to his son before a lecture that I was about to introduce. I was excited to see someone signing, then realized I am too much of a beginner myself with ASL and would not be able to sign many of the words I needed to communicate. This was a space science conference for kids!

I walked up to the director of the event and asked if anyone had arranged an ASL interpreter. That there is someone who might need it. The organizer worried that maybe he left someone out, he said no one asked for an interpreter but wanted to make sure everyone is ok. I nodded to the man signing, and the child watching him intently. Might they need an ASL interpreter?

The organizer grinned from ear to ear and said this was a good friend of his and he can hear and understand spoken English very well, and no worries. He's Mute, not Deaf. And his children are fluent in English, too.

During a break at the event I got to meet the ASL speaking man's wife and two children. His older son is really into space, so the whole family came out to this event to encourage the son with his interests. What a great conversation we enjoyed!

Oh, and this Mute man? He is also fluent when typing/ writing 4 other languages!

When explaining to our girls, one responded: "Wait. His brain is just wired differently? A person can be hearing and also Mute? And a linguist? Now that's actually really awesome."

Awesome indeed.

It is in our differences that we gain strength.






Here's a photo someone took of me at this conference. I'm wearing a bright blue polo shirt and standing in front of a title slide that says "Space Crops, NASA, and You." The photo is from yesterday. I wish I had taken photos of the group we spoke with today! I didn't take a photo of the family we met.

Line all the way down. Starts at the top and meets up again.
Ten.
Practice writing numbers with us!

Make a circle and go back down.
Nine.
Practice writing numbers with us!

Approach each challenge with a playful heart.

I got my seven year old who doesn’t really like math yet to read a 208 page book about databases. Without trying. How you say? There is a book series aimed at mid grade and older kids called “The manga guide to”… and it’s mostly comics. It’s a translation of a Japanese series which feels like the learning equivalent of a cheat code. Also in the series are guides to electricity, molecular biology, calculus and other subjects your kids might think are too hard or ‘not fun.’ To be honest I learned things as an adult. The ten year old who likes math liked it too and started reciting facts from it many adults don’t know yet.

Oh this sky is gorgeous.
Our friend's post about photographing clouds reminded me of something!

Do you know about NASA Globe Observer? It's a citizen science project, all you need is a phone to capture meteorological observations to take photos of the sky. They use the geolocated photos to connect satellite data with ground observations.
https://www.globe.gov/