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Professor Watermelon's Bookworm Bookmarks can now be purchased through Etsy! Click here to see which bookworms are for sale. Happy Writing and Reading!

 

 

 

Each one of Professor Watermelon's Bookworm Bookmarks comes with an embossed certificate of authenticity.

Weekly MUSE: Milkweed

 

 

Every year around this time, I get the itch to go MILKWEED hunting. Why?

Well, it all began about twenty years ago. Mrs. Hughes, my sixth grade science teacher, took us to the nature center behind our elementary school. She told us that a magical plant lived there called MILKWEED.

“What is magical about milkweed,” I had asked. “Does it grow really tall or something?”

“It grows up to six feet tall,” said Mrs. Hughes. “But that’s not what makes it so magical.”

“Does it cure the chicken pox?” asked my friend, Eric.

“I don’t think so,” said Mrs. Hughes. “Although many years ago, pioneers thought it could cure warts.”

“Awesome,” said Brandon, sticking out his thumb. “I have a wart!”

Mrs. Hughes giggled.

Just then, a beautiful black and orange butterfly fluttered over our heads and flew toward the nature center.

“Follow that butterfly,” said Mrs. Hughes.

And we did. The butterfly led us right to a milkweed patch, and Mrs. Hughes shared all she knew about her magical plant.

Twenty years later, I am still fascinated by Mrs. Hughes’ magical plant, and I’m going to share its magic with you. Creative Writers, we’ve found our MUSE!

MILKWEED!

The milkweed plant found at the Holiday Park Nature Center in Indianapolis, IN.

Milkweed grows 2-6 feet tall in fields and roadsides east of the Rocky Mountains.

If you break off a leaf, you will quickly notice a milky substance that drips from the tear. This is what makes the milkweed so magical.

A milky substance seeps from the torn leaf of a milkweed plant.

For most animals, this milky substance is poisonous – but not for the beautiful Monarch butterfly.

The Monarch butterfly lays her eggs on the underside of the milkweed’s leaves. When the eggs hatch, tiny caterpillars begin munching away at the poisonous plant. The poisons are saved within the caterpillars’ bodies, making them poisonous too! BRILLIANT!

When the caterpillars transform into butterflies, they remain poisonous, and birds know it. The orange and black colorings send a clear warning signal. “If you EAT me, you will PUKE!”

Milkweed bugs are also black, orange, and POISINOUS! Maybe everything that eats milkweed will turn black, orange and poisonous. Please don’t try this at home.

A cluster of milkweed bugs bore into a seedpod.

While I was observing the milkweed garden, I saw so many fascinating events happening on one simple plant.

On the underside of a leaf, I found a ladybug larva eating aphids. Aphids are tiny insects that suck the juices from many different kinds of plants. Take a look at the photo to see this ladybug larva.

A ladybug larva searches for aphids. The small yellowish specks are aphids.

 

On the top of a leaf, I found an ant trying to chase away an adult ladybug. Why? Well, the ladybug eats aphids. And the ants guard the aphids because they make a tasty substance called honeydew. Ants “milk” the aphids to get this special treat.

An ant tries to run away an adult ladybug.

 

I also saw a spider, a daddy-long-leg and some other neat critters.

Here are a few more fun facts about milkweed:

Milkweed produces pink to lavender flowers in the summer. These flowers eventually become warty seedpods filled with downy fluff. The seeds are attached to this fluff and are carried off into the wind like parachutes.

This milkweed "fluff" is about to sail off into the wind.

A very long time ago this downy fluff was used by Native Americans to insulate their moccasins. And during World War II, school children collected 283,000 bags of milkweed fluff to be used in military lifejackets.

If you still need to be convinced that milkweed is magical, take a look at this short video.
 

None of that would have been possible without the MAGIC MILKWEED! 

With this new knowledge, what kind of story could you write? Maybe these WHAT IF questions will help you get started.

WHAT IF your story’s setting was one stalk of MILKWEED and the characters were ants, aphids, ladybugs, and Monarchs?

WHAT IF a rare MILKWEED plant was found that seeped blue milk instead of white? Does it have magical qualities?  

WHAT IF your main character was a Monarch caterpillar that hatched on the wrong plant? Will he/she go searching for MILKWEED? How will he/she find it?

The possibilities are endless, and please leave your own WHAT IF questions in the comment section below. I’d love to see what you come up with.

So, grab a cup of hot cocoa, a pencil and a piece of paper, and let’s begin. With your imagination, we can go anywhere. I look forward to seeing where you take us.

With Imagination,

Professor Watermelon

The word of the week is “larva”. Here is the definition: the immature, wingless, feeding stage of an insect that undergoes complete metamorphosis.



Creative Writing with Professor Watermelon at the Sycamore School

 

CREATIVE WRITING with PROFESSOR WATERMELON
at the SYCAMORE SCHOOL in INDIANAPOLIS

 

This Creative Writer has found his MUSE!

 

Creative Writing Challenge: Take a creature with a bad reputation (like spiders) and flip-flop it.

What if a tarantula was a brain surgeon?

What if a tarantula thought he was a teddy bear and just wanted to be cuddled?

What if a tarantula decorated cakes?

 

Learning how to write with all FIVE senses is very important.
We practiced writing the sense of TASTE by describing the taste of PICKLES!

 

 

 

 

Creative Writers touch a live LOBSTER!
 

 



Sunflowers

Photo by: Stig Nygaard

My grandfather’s sister taught me how to draw flowers. She also taught me how to appreciate flowers, even the flowers that most people call weeds – like dandelions and clover. I can still see her cupping a dandelion in her hand and saying, “Now, isn’t that just beautiful.”

Her name was Lilly, but all of us kids called her “Nanny.”

Nanny loved ALL flowers, but she did have a favorite, which would become my favorite flower, too.

The SUNFLOWER!

Nanny with a very young Professor Watermelon

Nanny believed that everyone with a yard should plant at least one sunflower a year. For most of my adult life, I have lived in an apartment, but I still buy sunflower seeds every year and give them to my students.

Creative Writers, we’ve found our MUSE! Let’s take a closer look at this garden majesty and see what we can learn.

Sunflowers grow very tall. Normally they reach 5 to 12 feet, but some grow even taller than that. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the tallest recorded sunflower grew 27 feet. This giant was grown in Germany in 2012.

Sunflowers are an American plant. Native Americans harvested sunflowers thousands of years ago. Today, sunflowers are still harvested here in America. Take a look at this video and see how sunflowers are farmed in North Dakota.

While sunflowers may be native to the Americas, they are now grown all over the world. In fact, Russia grows more sunflowers than any other country. Maybe that is why the sunflower is Russia’s national flower.

As you noticed in the video, farmers grow sunflowers for their seeds. One sunflower head can produce over 2,000 seeds. These seeds are used mostly for making sunflower oil, but the rest are eaten by people and… BIRDS!

Take a look at this video of some birds nibbling away at some wild sunflower heads.

Sunflower seeds are also ground into delicious sun-butter. For those of you who are allergic to peanut butter, sun-butter is a tasty alterative.

Growing sunflowers are very easy. Just follow the directions on the back of the seed packet, and you will do just fine. If you would like to see a video on planting sunflowers, I have provided one for you below…

Sunflowers grow very quickly. And when they form a flower bud, watch how it follows the sun in the sky. This is called heliotropism. Once the bud blooms, the sunflower stops following the sun, leaving its blossom facing the East.

"Sunflower" by Professor Watermelon

Like I mentioned before, Nanny taught me how to draw all kinds of different flowers. This is something I still do to this day. Here is picture of a sunflower I drew this morning.

With that new knowledge, what kind of story could you write? Maybe these “what if” questions will help you get started.

WHAT IF Jack planted a magic sunflower seed instead of a magic bean?

WHAT IF found crop circles were found in Russia’s sunflower fields?

WHAT IF little elves built a city in your main character’s sunflower garden?

The possibilities are endless! And please leave your own “WHAT IF” questions in the comment section below. I’d love to see what you come up with.

Grab a cup of hot cocoa, a piece of paper and a pencil, and let’s begin. With your imagination, we can go anywhere! I look forward to seeing where you take us!

With Imagination,

Professor Watermelon

P.S. The word of the week is "Heliotropism". Here is the definition: The growth of plants or plant parts (especially flowers) in response to the stimulus of sunlight, so that they turn to face the sun.

Another GARTER SNAKE Spotted near the Gutter

Hello Creative Writers,

I was mowing my friend's lawn again, and guess what I found? ANOTHER GARTER SNAKE! This snake was a little bit bigger than the garter snake I brought to class. Take a look at the video.

With Imagination

Professor Watermelon

Watermelons

One of my Creative Writers gave me a watermelon. He also gave me a watermelon serving tray. THANK YOU, ALEX!

Alex inspired me to share one of my favorite MUSES! You’ll never guess what it is…

Cue the Choir in the loft, please…

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!”

 

WATERMELONS!

Watermelons are FESTIVE! They are MAGICAL! They are COLORFUL! They are TASTY! And they happen to be my NAMESAKE!

My fascination with watermelons started a very long time ago in Indianapolis, Indiana. My grandfather let me help plan the family garden. Grandpa showed me where he was going to plant the tomatoes, string beans, peppers, beets, and other vegetables. When we got to the back of the garden, he told me that I could plant whatever I wanted. It didn’t take me long to decide on THREE things…

Photo by: Andy Melton

Popcorn!

Pumpkins!

And WATERMELONS!

We planted a row of popcorn. We planted 8 hills of pumpkins and 8 hills of watermelons. (A “hill” is a gardening term. It is when you mound the dirt into a small hill and plant three seeds in a small triangle at the top. This method is often used for vining plants, like watermelons and cucumbers.)

All summer I watered, weeded and WATCHED my garden grow. And when I saw the tiny swelling of a baby watermelon behind a bloom, I was CAPTIVATED. When the blooms fell off, and the watermelons grew bigger and bigger, I was ENTRANCED!

Photo by: Harsha K.R.

At the end of the summer, Grandpa and I harvested our first watermelon. We took it inside the house and grandma taught me how to cut it open. As soon as I saw the BRIGHT red center, speckled with black seeds, I was EXTATIC!

When Grandma handed me a wedge of that beautiful fruit, I sank my teeth into it and was transported to WATERMELON HEAVEN!

I HAD FOUND MY FIRST MUSE!

At that point I wanted to know everything there was to know about WATERMELONS. And now, I will share what I know with YOU!

Watermelons have a RICH history. The first recorded watermelon harvest was 5000 years ago in Egypt. Yes, EGYPT! Archeologists found paintings of watermelons on the walls of ancient Egyptian buildings. It is believed that watermelons were placed in the tombs of the Pharaohs when they died.

By the 10^th century, watermelons were being grown in China, which is still the largest grower of watermelons in the world.

By the 13^th century, watermelons were being grown in Europe.

And by the 1600’s, watermelons were being grown in America. It is believed that African slaves brought watermelon seeds with them from Africa.

Today, the United States is ranked 4^th in the worldwide production of watermelons.

And watermelons area a huge SLICE of American culture! In fact, many regions have watermelon festivals. Take a look at this watermelon festival in Lulling, Texas.

Did you see the Watermelon Water Tower? How about the Watermelon Queen? Who would like to participate in the Watermelon Eating Contest or Seed Spitting Contest? Me! Me! Me!

Take a look at this video to learn how to spit watermelon seeds!

Not only are watermelons festive and fun, they are also very nutritious! They are chocked full of vitamins and minerals, and they keep your body hydrated on hot summer days. Why? Because they are 92% water!  Maybe that is why they are called… WATERMELONS!

Like I mentioned before, I am CRAZY about watermelons, but this cat might have even ME beat.

HILARIOUS!

I can’t end this MUSE without sharing the world’s largest watermelon. Lloyd Bright of Arkadelphia, Arkansas holds this record for growing a 268.8 pound watermelon in 2005.

Here’s another quick fact: Early explorers used watermelons as canteens.

Yellow Watermelon
Photo by: Le Mai

Okay, one more: The rind of the watermelon is often pickled. Maybe this is because watermelons are the cucumber’s cousin.

Here’s one for the road: There are hundreds of watermelon varieties, but there are five common types: Seeded, Seedless, Mini, Yellow, and Orange.

With this new knowledge, what kind of story could you write? Maybe these WHAT IF questions will help you get started.

WHAT IF there was a PLANET WATERMELON?

WHAT IF the seeds of the watermelon were creatures and they turned their watermelon into a SPACESHIP?

WHAT IF your main character lived on a watermelon farm? What if he/she grew a watermelon that would not stop growing?

The possibilities are endless, and please leave your own what if questions in the comment section below. I’d love to see what you come up with.

So, grab a cup of hot cocoa, a pencil and a piece of paper, and let’s begin. With your imagination, we can go anywhere. I look forward to seeing where you take us.

With Imagination,

Professor Watermelon

The word of the day is “canteen”. Here is the definition: a small container used especially by soldiers and hikers for carrying water or other liquids.

Garter Snake RELEASED back to the WILD

Creative Writers,

Good evening!

As I had promised, I have released our Garter Snake friend. After a week of being our Creative Writing MUSE, he was certainly ready to go back home. Before I knew it, he had already climbed out of the cage and had slithered towards freedom.

Let's all take a moment to wish him LUCK!

So long, friend.

With Imagination,

Professor Watermelon