Cities: Discover How They Work with 25 Projects (Build It Yourself) - Softcover

Reilly, Kathleen M.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1619302179 ISBN 13: 9781619302174

Publisher: Nomad Press, 2014

Synopsis

To a child, a city is a chaotic, vibrant community whose workings can seem quite mysterious. How did people create subways? How does the water get to the very top of a skyscraper? Is there any organization to a bustling metropolis? Cities: Discover How They Work gives kids a view into the inner functioning of urban areas. They’ll learn about all the parts that come together to make cities work and how they’ve grown and changed since the very first riverside settlements.

Fascinating sidebars, unique illustrations, Words to Know, and fun Did You Know facts combine with age-appropriate hands-on activities to make learning about complex urban environments fun and reinforce learning. Projects include creating subway cut-aways to understand how transportation systems work, building an aqueduct to learn how cities get water, and experimenting with skyscraper design and water filtration. This STEAM title, which integrates science, technology, engineering, art, and math includes a glossary, list of resources, and index.

Cities meets common core state standards in language arts for reading informational text and literary nonfiction and is aligned with Next Generation Science Standards. Guided Reading Levels and Lexile measurements indicate grade level and text complexity.

About this title

About the Author

Kathleen Reilly has written several books for Nomad Press, including Planet Earth: 25 Environmental Projects You Can Build Yourself; The Human Body: 25 Fantastic Projects Illuminate How the Body Works; Explore Weather and Climate! with 25 Projects; and Natural Disasters: Investigate Earth’s Most Destructive Forces with 25 Projects. She is an award-winning author of several other science books for kids and is a contributor to dozens of publications, including Better Homes & Gardens, Family Circle, Family Fun, National Geographic Kids, and Parents. Kate lives in Raleigh, NC.

Tom Casteel is an illustrator and cartoonist with a master's degree from the Center for Cartoon Studies. Tom has illustrated several books for Nomad Press, including Natural Disasters: Investigate Earth’s Most Destructive Forces with 25 Projects. He is working on his first graphic novel. Tom lives in South Bend, IN.

From the Back Cover

To a child, a city is a chaotic, vibrant community whose workings can seem quite mysterious. How did people create subways? How does the water get to the very top of a skyscraper? Is there any organization to a bustling metropolis? Cities: Discover How They Work will give kids a view into the inner functioning of these urban areas. They’ll learn about all the parts that come together to make cities work and how they’ve grown and changed since the very first riverside settlements.

Fascinating sidebars, unique illustrations, Words to Know, and fun Did You Know facts combine with age-appropriate hands-on activities to make learning about complex urban environments fun and reinforce learning. Projects include creating subway cut-aways to understand how transportation systems work, building an aqueduct to learn how cities get water, and experimenting with skyscraper design and water filtration. This STEAM title, which integrates science, technology, engineering, art, and math includes a glossary, list of resources, and index.

From the Inside Flap

To a child, a city is a chaotic, vibrant community whose workings can seem quite mysterious. How did people create subways? How does the water get to the very top of a skyscraper? Is there any organization to a bustling metropolis? Cities: Discover How They Work will give kids a view into the inner functioning of these urban areas. They'll learn about all the parts that come together to make cities work and how they've grown and changed since the very first riverside settlements.

Fascinating sidebars, unique illustrations, Words to Know, and fun Did You Know facts combine with age-appropriate hands-on activities to make learning about complex urban environments fun and reinforce learning. Projects include creating subway cut-aways to understand how transportation systems work, building an aqueduct to learn how cities get water, and experimenting with skyscraper design and water filtration. This STEAM title, which integrates science, technology, engineering, art, and math includes a glossary, list of resources, and index.

Reviews

Propounding the emerging interdisciplinary paradigm of STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and design, and mathematics), this hands-on informational book discusses how cities’ complex structures and systems function together in an interdependent way. It begins with a description of how cities have changed since those first ancient riverside settlements, while a time line spans from prehistoric nomads to modern day. Meanwhile, 25 projects and activities demonstrate major themes such as the rise of cities from ancient civilizations, the basics of city planning, principles of constructing a load-bearing skyscraper, and problems associated with overpopulation. Basics of civil engineering are introduced and potential future problems of city life are explored. Through appealing illustrations, reader-friendly text, and fun hands-on experiments suitable for home and classroom, Reilly helps foster an appreciation for the way that cities function almost as organisms with vibrant systems and interdependent structures. Grades 4-6. --Erin Anderson

Edition details

• Publisher: Nomad Press
• Publication date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1619302179
• ISBN 13: 9781619302174
• Binding: Paperback
• Illustrator: Casteel Tom
• Number of pages: 128