Frank Epperson was a question asker and an experimenter as a child, especially with flavoured soda waters. He tested a lot of his concoctions on his little brother Cray. One year there was a cold snap in California where the weather dropped below zero and he experimented with a glass of flavoured water and voila a frozen drink on a stick. Eventually he worked out how to produce them in volume and called them the Ep-sickle, and eventually the Pop-sicle.

Anne Renaud, ©2019, Kids Can Press, ISBN 978-1-5253-0028-8

Books About Inventions
Here are ten picture books written about inventions. Students could work in groups of three to read the book and research the inventors. The group then prepares a 3-part presentation, each student taking one part. They may choose any of the following responses:

1. A poster “celebrating” the invention and the inventor
2. A comparison of similarities and differences of the “Real Life” of the Inventor to the book’s version
3. A set of imaginary entries in the diary of the inventor
4. A humorous poem about the invention and the inventor

Books about Inventions:

• Mr. Crum’s Potato Predicament
• Popcorn at the Palace
• Snowflake Bentley
• Alexander Graham Bell Answers the Call
• Now and Ben
• It’s a Snap! (George Eastman)
• In the Bag, Margaret Knight Was It
• Now and Ben (inventions of Benjamin Franklin)
• Going Up! Elisha Otis’s Trip to the Top
• All Aboard, Elijah McCoy

The Science of Liquids
There are three experiments in the book that are feasible for students.

1. Why oil and liquids don’t mix
   Oil is lighter and will float on water. If a drop of food colouring (which is water-based) is dropped into the oil, it will progress slowly down to reach and colour the water level.
2. How to make your own lemon-flavoured soda water using baking soda.
   The baking soda reacts to the acid of lemon to produce carbon dioxide.
3. How salt lowers the freezing point of water.

Countdown Poetry
Demonstrate with the popsicle version of the poem, and then ask them to use the pattern for something in Social Studies or Science. Examples are below:

5 words for what it looks like
4 words for what it feels like
3 words for what it tastes like
2 words for what you say
1 word for how it smells

Yellow, red, green, orange, blue
Cold, icy, melting, sticky
Chilled sweet fruit
Yum, yum
Strawberry
Popsicle

Nina, Pinta, Santa Maria, compass
Danger, foolishness, bravery, adventure
Hardtack, dried cod, chickpeas
Chewy, salty, dry
Sweaty
Columbus

For more creative writing ideas, click The Boy Who Invented the Popsicle to download.