Disney created an amazing Educator’s Guide for INSTRUCTIONS NOT INCLUDED.
Find everything from discussion questions to dancing with code to videos and more!
Click here to download your free INSTRUCTIONS NOT INCLUDED Educators’ Guide.
The Algorithm Game
Computer programs are written with a series of steps. An algorithm is that series or the order in which the computer performs the steps.
A story is also a sort of algorithm. In INSTRUCTIONS NOT INCLUDED the three young women, Betty, Jean and Kay wanted to be mathematicians and, later, more specifically, computer programmers. To accomplish that goal they studied, applied for a job as a “human computer” and worked very hard. They were specially selected to work on the ENIAC project. By using logic and mathematics they were able to enter complicated problems into the computer and commanded it to solve them.
The Algorithm Game is a fun way to use a story to learn about algorithms. Download a free PDF for The Algorithm Game here.
Coding With Cookies Activity Download
What’s as good as a girl scout cookie? A secret message– in cookie binary code. Girls have been computer programmers from the very start. Betty, Jean and Kay INVENTED computer programming. Read more about their work in INSTRUCTIONS NOT INCLUDED: How A Team Of Women Coded The Future.
You can be a coder, too. Get started with this unplugged basic coding activity, writing code like Betty, Jean and Kay, but we do have instructions!
Connect with Caring kids Around the world
We may eat different foods, celebrate different holidays and speak different languages but inside kids around the world are all the same. Empatico is a global movement to spread kindness and empathy through the world by connecting kids and classrooms and sharing our similarities and differences.
Nearly 25,000 educators in 141 countries have already registered. And it’s FREE!
Would your class like to learn more and perhaps make new friends in a different part of the world through Empatico? You can find out more on Empatico’s website. All you have to do is sign your class up on their website, watch a short video, choose a partner class and set up your exchange. It’s easy!
A Great Kindness Curriculum
Caring is all around us.
One of the “good guys” I’ve found who do an amazing job promoting caring and kindness is the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation, a non-profit with a mission to connect people with kindness and actively teach kindness by developing and distributing lesson plans, tools and resources. Plus it’s all mapped to curriculum standards, teacher approved, vetted by experts etc etc etc. This is the real deal. And while it may sound a bit dry believe me, the work they do overflows with joy and caring.
Recently the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation revamped their Kindness in the Classroom® curriculum. What was good is now incredible.
If you’re an educator or any grownup who wants to nurture caring kids check out their modules for K-5 and grades 6-8, along with the other materials on their website. (You must register on their site to download, but it’s free and easy. I searched and there is no secret political or religious affiliation, or anything like that, and they will respect your privacy. Also I don’t have any personal connection with them. I just think they do good work.)
They REALLY DO CARE!
2019 ALA Annual Conference
June 20-25, 2019 Washington, DC Convention Center
Encourage Honesty
Caring people are honest.
Make believe is an essential stage of child development but lies and dishonesty are more complicated.
Honesty can be tough. It can take courage. But you can empower children to be honest.
Harvard’s MAKING CARING COMMON PROJECT has excellent resources for understanding children’s lies and how to encourage honesty.
Find more good ideas for raising honest kids and being a more truthful adult at the MAKING CARING COMMON PROJECT.
INSTRUCTIONS NOT INCLUDED!
We can’t wait to share our new, smart, powerful TRUE story about a team of women who coded the future– INSTRUCTIONS NOT INCLUDED. It will be in bookstores and libraries everywhere in October. For now here’s the cover! Isn’t it gorgeous!
Read Dangerously!
Another new book!
We can finally spill the beans! Disney will publish our second STEM picture book biography, PERKIN’S PURPLE. It’s the almost magical but totally true story of the boy who invented the chemistry that colored the world PURPLE! It will be in bookstores and libraries in 2020.
We fell in love with William Perkin, a teenaged boy who loved chemistry at a time when it was considered almost a form of witchcraft. Add in Queen Victoria, Empress Eugenie, velvet and silk… and the color purple! If that’s not enough– as an adult William found a primitive chemistry lab in his grandfather’s cottage cellar. William’s grandfather had been a real life alchemist!
William Perkin was responsible for the “invention of the method of invention,” changing the way all modern scientists think about problems then proceed to solve them. Today, one of the most prestigious prizes is chemistry is the Perkin Prize.
Perkin’s Purple will be illustrated by Francesca Sanna and published by Disney in 2020.