Shelter in Place Stories
COVID-19 has kept most of us cooped in our homes working and studying from home. We are curious to know what your experience with Shelter in Place has been like. Any outside the box home activities you've created, tips for parents with kids doing virtual learning, new hobbies picked up, any thoughts or goal changes due to this experience? Share your story with SWE GGS members and be featured on our website!
Please fill out the form through this link and you will be notified once we post your submission: bit.ly/SWE-GGS-SIP-Stories
Please fill out the form through this link and you will be notified once we post your submission: bit.ly/SWE-GGS-SIP-Stories
Wrote and Published Rhyming STEM Picture Books for Kids
By: Kimia Donnelly
I used to spend most of my weekends visiting family and friends all over the Bay Area. Needless to say, after the shelter at home order in March, I had significantly more time at home. I've never really had a good answer to "what are your hobbies" because although I played sports in school, I've spent the majority of my extracurricular time valuing my close relationships through face-to-face quality time. Through a series of life events and this new time forced at home, I found myself writing and self-publishing rhyming STEM picture books for children, with one about the water molecule becoming a #1 new release in Children's Chemistry Books in its first week!
As a former student chapter SWE Vice President, I have always enjoyed mentoring and guiding others aligned with the SWE Core Value of Mutual Support. I used to be a tutor while getting my Chemical Engineering degree and would feel such joy when students had the light bulb go off in their minds about seemingly difficult STEM concepts because I explained it differently than their textbooks. I used to want to become a teacher but proceeded with Chemical Engineering due to my favorite subjects being chemistry and math. All this to say that I've always loved teaching and mentoring others.
I became a mom and started reading children's books to my daughter all the time. As an engineer, my friends and co-workers gave me science books as gifts. While reading these, I noticed that they were either too abstract (where it was difficult to have a practical understanding of the science concept), or were overly educational and was missing the fun element that children enjoy. What stood out to me most is that there weren't any popular science baby books that rhymed! As a parent I enjoy the flow and fun of reading rhyme. This is what motivated me to put pen to paper, coincidentally on mother's day!
I know what can lead to more diversity in STEM fields is introducing these subjects early on in a fun and approachable way. With so many children schooling from home during the pandemic, I thought I could inspire kids to become interested in STEM by making children's rhyming science stories that make these concepts easy to understand. I could teach through a fun yet educational book available internationally through Amazon in line with the Core Value of Trust with transparent access to information regardless of income, gender, or race. As part of the SWE Strategic Goal of Globalization to be recognized as inclusive worldwide, making my stories into eBooks can be even more affordable and more widely available while kids are already on their computers in general but even more so while distance learning.
So I thought about what kids see all the time and how that could be explained so they could truly grasp the science behind it. Water came to mind since it is used by all ages multiple times a day. Although my toddler can't say the word "water" right now, she definitely recognizes it through bath time and her water cup. So my first story was about the water molecule and where children may see it regularly like the bath, garden hose, ocean, ice, etc.
I received so much positive feedback about my H2O book that I created a rhyming story about Helium and Noble Gases (and how they don't typically bond) by relating it to floating party balloons and neon signs. Since this is about elements that don't typically bond, this story has an inclusive and empowering message for introverts based on the SWE Core Value of an Inclusive Environment. Many kids find bonding with friends challenging and some children interested in science may feel out of place or their intelligence may not be appreciated by their peers until college or even the workplace. The Helium story concludes with "you might form many bonds or like being alone, either way you have friends and are loved to the bone" to reinforce this inclusive message for all early readers.
I've made slow progress when my weekends and toddler allowed but it's been progress nonetheless. It makes me so happy to hear and see photos of kids learning from my books (even parents too!). I hope that this is just the start and I plan to expand beyond chemistry to include more STEM topics. I mentioned that I write about topics that kids see regularly or even tips that adults find helpful, so I already have rhyming stories written about time, phase change of liquid water to solid, righty tighty/lefty loosey, etc. I just need to Illustrate and publish so that I can continue to help children learn around the world and inspire then to pursue STEM in life!
Thanks for reading my shelter at home story! You can learn more about me and/or my books at www.kimdonnellybooks.com.
As a former student chapter SWE Vice President, I have always enjoyed mentoring and guiding others aligned with the SWE Core Value of Mutual Support. I used to be a tutor while getting my Chemical Engineering degree and would feel such joy when students had the light bulb go off in their minds about seemingly difficult STEM concepts because I explained it differently than their textbooks. I used to want to become a teacher but proceeded with Chemical Engineering due to my favorite subjects being chemistry and math. All this to say that I've always loved teaching and mentoring others.
I became a mom and started reading children's books to my daughter all the time. As an engineer, my friends and co-workers gave me science books as gifts. While reading these, I noticed that they were either too abstract (where it was difficult to have a practical understanding of the science concept), or were overly educational and was missing the fun element that children enjoy. What stood out to me most is that there weren't any popular science baby books that rhymed! As a parent I enjoy the flow and fun of reading rhyme. This is what motivated me to put pen to paper, coincidentally on mother's day!
I know what can lead to more diversity in STEM fields is introducing these subjects early on in a fun and approachable way. With so many children schooling from home during the pandemic, I thought I could inspire kids to become interested in STEM by making children's rhyming science stories that make these concepts easy to understand. I could teach through a fun yet educational book available internationally through Amazon in line with the Core Value of Trust with transparent access to information regardless of income, gender, or race. As part of the SWE Strategic Goal of Globalization to be recognized as inclusive worldwide, making my stories into eBooks can be even more affordable and more widely available while kids are already on their computers in general but even more so while distance learning.
So I thought about what kids see all the time and how that could be explained so they could truly grasp the science behind it. Water came to mind since it is used by all ages multiple times a day. Although my toddler can't say the word "water" right now, she definitely recognizes it through bath time and her water cup. So my first story was about the water molecule and where children may see it regularly like the bath, garden hose, ocean, ice, etc.
I received so much positive feedback about my H2O book that I created a rhyming story about Helium and Noble Gases (and how they don't typically bond) by relating it to floating party balloons and neon signs. Since this is about elements that don't typically bond, this story has an inclusive and empowering message for introverts based on the SWE Core Value of an Inclusive Environment. Many kids find bonding with friends challenging and some children interested in science may feel out of place or their intelligence may not be appreciated by their peers until college or even the workplace. The Helium story concludes with "you might form many bonds or like being alone, either way you have friends and are loved to the bone" to reinforce this inclusive message for all early readers.
I've made slow progress when my weekends and toddler allowed but it's been progress nonetheless. It makes me so happy to hear and see photos of kids learning from my books (even parents too!). I hope that this is just the start and I plan to expand beyond chemistry to include more STEM topics. I mentioned that I write about topics that kids see regularly or even tips that adults find helpful, so I already have rhyming stories written about time, phase change of liquid water to solid, righty tighty/lefty loosey, etc. I just need to Illustrate and publish so that I can continue to help children learn around the world and inspire then to pursue STEM in life!
Thanks for reading my shelter at home story! You can learn more about me and/or my books at www.kimdonnellybooks.com.
Woodworking Adventures
This summer, Isha Bhatia was lost with all her extra free time due to the pandemic. She had a friend who started building things at home and it motivated her to start woodworking. It started off with a planter for her garden, and then a bench for her room, but most recently, she just finished building a desk! She had found a mid-century modern one she really liked online, but, due to a surge in people buying desks for their home offices, it was out of stock. So, she watched a lot of Youtube videos and made a plan on paper to build a similar one at home. After many, many trips to Home Depot - she finally was ready to build it! It took about two months of on and off work, which was much longer than she initially expected. She would say that two most challenging parts were figuring out how to make and fit a drawer from scratch and attaching the legs! She had definitely underestimated how long it would take to make sure the whole table was stable. She is so excited to finally start using this desk as she work from home!
Cooking around the World
Prior to COVID-19, Kristina Mai was never a cook. She always ordered takeout or made simple dishes that rarely used spices. COVID-19 changed everything. She decided to try to make different dishes every day and her goal is to continue to make dishes from around the world. She grabs various recipes from different websites and tweaks them if necessary. Some dishes, such as Indian food, are more challenging than others and require ingredients that can’t be found at a local grocery store. She ends up buying a lot of “rarer” spices on Amazon and is still wondering why her Indian food doesn’t taste like the ones at the restaurants... In some cases, she tries to make everything from scratch whether it’s a sauce or bread used to make a sandwich of some sort.
Alaska Roll
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Chicken Schwarma with Tzatiziki
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Saag Paneer
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Veggie Steak with Roasted Potatoes and Carrots
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