My Baby Monsters: educational resouces for children's and adults from storytelling podcasts (season 2: making a collaborative children's book) E is for Elephants, thomas Edison, and the bEatles

Children's Story Sharing
Resources from Podcasts
(for parents, teachers, and their kids)

Below are links to resources for parents and teachers
to supplement the materials covered in the playful
My Baby Monsters Children's Story Sharing PODCAST.

Who's Bigger... Elephants, Edison, or the bEatles?
It's a question of perspective. It all depends upon who you are.

By SIZE

Elephants: The African elephant is the largest land mammal on Earth. Males grow to 21 feet (6.5 meters) and weigh up 13,200 pounds (6000 kilograms), around 6-10 cars depending on their size. Females are approximately two feet shorter and weigh half as much. By comparison, elephant babies/calves are tiny ... they weighs only 250 pounds (113.4 kilograms)when born.
Thomas Edison: Thomas Alva Edison is considered to be one of the most prolific inventors in American history. Born February 11, 1847 and living until October 18, 1931, he holds holding 1,093 U.S. patents. In addition to being an inventor, he was businessman who's devices still influence life around the world. Not all of his inventions were original. Some were improvements of other peoples inventions, and other inventions attributed to him were actually created by employees working under his direction.
The Beatles: The Beatles are the best-selling musical act of all time. From Liverpool, England, this rock-and-roll band from the 1960s and 1970s have sold over one billion discs and tapes worldwide. In addition they had 40 number one hits in the United Kingdom, and are considered by many to be the Greatest Rock and Roll Artists of All Time. They are John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.

By UNIQUENESS

Elephants and their Trunks: The African elephant's trunk is a seven feet (two meters) long eLONGated upper lip and nose. It's used to eat 495 pounds (225 kilograms) of food and water 50 gallons (190 liters) of water a day. In addition to using it's trunk to bring grass and leaves to it's mouth, and drawing water through it's nostrils and squirting it into it's mouth, the African elephant also uses it's trunk for for trumpet calls, pulling down trees, rescuing elephants stuck in the mud, drawing up dust for dust bathing, and hugs. Elephant calves/babies also suck their trunk for comfort.
Edison and his Inventions: Many of Thomas Edison's inventions are still being used today. These inventions include light bulbs, phonographs, and moving making technology. Improvements have been made since Edison invented these items, but his basic ideas are still in use everyday.
The Beatles and Great Music: They have had too many amazing songs, but here are the ones used in this episode: A Hard Day's Night, Let It Be, Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da, The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill, She Loves You, With a Little Help from my Friends, Help!, Hello Goodbye, Yellow Submarine, Twist and Shout, Blackbird, All You Need is Love, Happy Birthday, and Can't Buy Me Love.

By TROUBLE

Elephants in trouble? Yes, African elephants are THREATENED. There are only 400,000 to 600,000 left... down from 10 million just 100 years ago, the effect of ivory hunting (tusks) and human expansion (cattle-grazing lands). Although herds of elephants are thriving in parks, their overbrowsing has threatened other African species causing serious ecological damage.)
Thomas Edison in trouble? Yes, as a child, he had a theory that birds flew because they ate worms. To test this theory, he got his friend to eat mashed up earthworms. Yummy? Also, he was temporarily kicked out of school for asking too many questions. Any more questions?
The Beatles in Trouble? Yes, because people loved them too much.

Learn more about ELEPHANTS:

ElephantVoices focuses on elephant communication and welfare based on knowledge gained from decades of research by the Amboseli Elephant Research Project in one of Kenya's best-known National Parks - Amboseli.
Fun Facts about Elephants from National Geographic Kids.
Serious Facts about Elephants from Kids' Plant and Defenders of Wildlife.
Additional facts about Elephants from the World Almanac for Kids.
Lesson Plan - fun activity for your grades K-2: Workers at an elephant orphanage in Kenya, Africa, are helping to return orphaned elephants to the wild. [Education World]

Learn more about Thomas EDISON:

Read about the Inventions of Thomas Edison [about.com]
Read about Who Invented the Lightbulb [delmarfans.com]
Listen to old time radio play about Young Tom Edison (right-click to download, 11 mb) with Mickey Rooney as heard on Lux Radio Theater on December 25th, 1940 [available at archive.org]. This radio show reflects the morals and culture of America over 60 years ago. For this reason, parental discression is advised.
Inventing Entertainment: Listen to and watch the Early Motion Pictures and Sound Recordings of the Edison Companies, includes The Life of Thomas A. Edison [from the U.S. Library of Congress: American Memory]
Lesson Plan - bring history and science to life for grades 3 - 5: Help students gain a greater understanding of how Edison's work was the foundation for technology they enjoy today. [from EDSITEment by the U.S. National Endowment for the Humanities]

Learn more about THE BEATLES:

The Beatles by PennyLane is a fun flash site made by Beatles fans for Beatles. Hear their music and see it in action.
Learn more about every song made by The Beatles and the history of The Beatles [Wikipedia]
Get The Beatles FREE Coloring Pages [Bealtlefans.com]

Guest Artists and Songs in this Episode:

She Could Be In The Beatles is a rocking-ly good, new, historical song by The Mod-est Lads, a lost British rock band who, though destined for superstardom, disbanded after only a few weeks. [visit their web site to discover more rare recordings by The Mod-est Lads]
The Elephant Song is a playful song about animals by Eric Herman and the Invisible Band that will make your children go wild. [visit their web site to enjoy more great music by Eric Herman and the Invisible Band]
The Wild Alphabet Story, "Don't shake up the baby now. El-e-phant! Crawl away, Crawl away, Crawl away, baby now. Get the trunk out! Ahh... ahh... ahh... waaaaah" is a parody of the classic rock and roll song, Twist and Shout. First made famous by the Isley Brothers, then The Beatles, then Ferris Bueller, and now My Baby Monsters.