“Mae Among the Stars” is a beautiful picture book for sharing and marking special occasions such as graduation, inspired by the life of the first African American woman to travel in space, Mae Jemison. It has quickly become a “must read” in many elementary classrooms - including our own! So, here are some ways we are using it!
In this blog post you’ll learn:
(click on any subheading to jump to that section)
Where to buy
Mae Among the Stars
You can find Mae Among the Stars at your favorite book store. If you need it in a hurry, Amazon is always an option. You can find it by clicking on the image below!
InterACTIVE apps to use with Mae Among the Stars, and Mae Jemison
Here are some of our favorite apps to use when reading about Mae Jemison and Mae Among the Stars!
Novel Effect:
Bring Read Alouds
to Life!
Novel Effect is an app that you use while reading your books. Read aloud with your favorite print books and the app follows along playing music, sound effects, and character voices at just the right moment. You can find lots of different titles, including Mae Among the Stars! There's a free version and a paid version of the app, which you can check out below!
You can download Novel Effect for iOS here and for Android here.
You can find the book, Mae Among the Stars on Novel Effect by clicking here!
Learn More About
Mae Jemison with the Epic Reading App!
You can find lots of additional resources to tie into Mae Among the Stars by logging onto Epic! Epic is a the Netflix of kids books. The best part of all - it’s FREE for educators! Teachers can easily create a class and differentiate their instruction by assigning different books to different students, all with just a few clicks! Epic is available on all platforms and devices!
Check out the Epic website by clicking here!
Explore the solar system with a Merge Cube
Merge Cubes are a simple and easy way to bring augmented reality into your classroom. If you’re looking to tie the solar system into Mae Among the Stars, you can do so with Merge’s Galactic Explorer. Just scan a merge cube with the Galactic Explorer app to launch the experience. Students can explore the solar system as a whole, or dive into one of the planets!
Merge Cubes can be purchased or educators can print out a paper version to share with their students. Check out the paper template below!
Purchase a Merge Cube by clicking here
Download a paper template of a Merge Cube by clicking here
Learn more about Merge Cube apps by clicking here
Become an Astronaut in Flipgrid
Depending on the standard and your learning goal, you may want your students to retell the story or point out important details. There is no better way to do this than with Flipgrid! To make it even more engaging, have your students use our Astronaut frame to become an astronaut!
You can download the Astronaut frame by clicking the image below or here
(please note: this frame will not work on mobile devices)
Explore the Solar System, Compare Planets and more!
Take a tour of space to learn more about the planets with Tinybop’s iOS app, Space ($2.99). In Space, students travel into space and visit tiny Mercury, fierce Venus, friendly Earth, dusty Mars, stormy Jupiter, elegant Saturn, hazy Uranus, and mysterious Neptune. Students can study each planet’s characteristics, throw meteorites at each planet to test their atmospheres and gravity, see how big and massive each planet and the sun are by comparing them side-by-side and much more.
Check out an example below and click here to download (iOS only - $2.99).
InterACTIVE Activities and Ideas to Use with Mae Among the Stars and the Planets
Here are some interACTIVE activities that go along with Mae Among the Stars:
Fiction or Non-fiction?
After reading Mae Among the Stars, use Flipgrid to have your students answer the question of, “Do you think this story is fiction or non-fiction?Inquiry / Critical Thinking Ideas
Have your students answer the following question on Flipgrid: “Why do you think Mae’s dream seemed impossible? What would you have done if you were in her shoes?”Paired Texts (Day #1)
Select this National Geographic magazine from Epic, and read it with the entire class (whole group). After reading, have your students answer the following question on Flipgrid: After reading together, what questions do you still have about the planets? (they ask one question per video, asking as many as they can). Be sure to have them add a searchable hashtag to their video response (see image below)
Paired Texts (Day #2)
The next day, download and assign this Epic collection to your students. Have them go back the the previous days Flipgrid topic and have them look for answers to their friends questions by using the books from the Epic collection. Once students have found the answers to their friends questions, they can leave them a video comment. Encourage your students to use specifics in their video comments back to their friends. For example: “I read on page 22 that Saturn is the sixth planet from the sun.”Planet Research
Have your students research all of the planets (you can find a collection of all the planets on Epic by clicking here). Then, have your students create a Flipgrid video where they travel to several planets, listing 3-5 facts about each. Bonus: Have them use our astronaut frame above or the Board, Sticker, and Ink feature built into the Flipgrid camera to personalize their video.Learn more about the solar system with this 3D model website from NASA! Zoom in and out, visit planets and even hop on a comet! Check out the site below or click here to visit the website.
Star Constellations in Flipgrid
Have your students create a constellation using the board and sticker features in Flipgrid. Once they have their design created, have them use the ink tool to connect the stars!
-- Stay tuned for more on how you can use Mae Among the Stars into your classroom! 👓👗
For more tips, tricks and lesson ideas for making learning more interACTIVE, check out our books The InterACTIVE Class and Flipgrid in the InterACTIVE Class on Amazon!
