­
  • Home
  • Books
    • Sharks Unhooked: The Adventures of Cristina Zenato, Underwater Ranger
    • Giant Rays of Hope: Protecting Manta Rays to Safeguard the Sea
    • A River’s Gifts: The Mighty Elwha River Reborn
    • Planet Ocean
    • Eavesdropping on Elephants
    • Neema’s Reason To Smile
    • Zoo Scientists to the Rescue
    • Sea Otter Heroes: The Predators That Saved an Ecosystem
    • Plastic, Ahoy! Investigating the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
    • Ebola: Fears and Facts
    • Jingle the Brass
    • Nugget on the Flight Deck
    • Surviving Animal Attacks
    • Elite Operations series
    • Energy Lab series
    • QuickReads Fluency Library
    • Books for English language-learners
    • Writers write all kinds of things
  • Author Visit Programs
    • FAQs
    • Calendar
  • Blog
  • Educator Resources
    • STEM + Literacy Activities
    • Teacher Guides
    • Earth Day Every Day newsletter archive
    • LitLinks
    • KidLit creators who make kids want to read
  • Writer Resources
    • Writing Classes
    • Manuscript or Proposal Critiques
    • How I got my start
  • Who is Patricia Newman?
  • Contact
    • Stay In Touch
    • Earth Day Every Day newsletter archive
Patricia NewmanPatricia Newman
Sibert Honor Children's Book Author & Environmentalist
  • Home
  • Books
    • Sharks Unhooked: The Adventures of Cristina Zenato, Underwater Ranger
    • Giant Rays of Hope: Protecting Manta Rays to Safeguard the Sea
    • A River’s Gifts: The Mighty Elwha River Reborn
    • Planet Ocean
    • Eavesdropping on Elephants
    • Neema’s Reason To Smile
    • Zoo Scientists to the Rescue
    • Sea Otter Heroes: The Predators That Saved an Ecosystem
    • Plastic, Ahoy! Investigating the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
    • Ebola: Fears and Facts
    • Jingle the Brass
    • Nugget on the Flight Deck
    • Surviving Animal Attacks
    • Elite Operations series
    • Energy Lab series
    • QuickReads Fluency Library
    • Books for English language-learners
    • Writers write all kinds of things
  • Author Visit Programs
    • FAQs
    • Calendar
  • Blog
  • Educator Resources
    • STEM + Literacy Activities
    • Teacher Guides
    • Earth Day Every Day newsletter archive
    • LitLinks
    • KidLit creators who make kids want to read
  • Writer Resources
    • Writing Classes
    • Manuscript or Proposal Critiques
    • How I got my start
  • Who is Patricia Newman?
  • Contact
    • Stay In Touch
    • Earth Day Every Day newsletter archive
    Fibonacci-sequence

    LitLinks: How to explore Fibonacci numbers with flowers

    May 29, 2024 LitLinks, LitLinks-Grade 3-5, LitLinks-Grade 6-8, LitLinks-Grade K-2 No Comments
    LitLinks Logo-2022

    GUEST BLOGGER ERIN DEALEY


    The inspiration for JUST FLOWERS came from my newly discovered joy of reading the Latin names of flowers aloud.

    Our budding botanist Izzy loves them too—unlike the grumpy neighbor.

    Izzy-in-Just-Flowers
    JUST FLOWERS by Erin Dealey, Illus. Kate Cosgrove (Sleeping Bear Press, 2024)
    Just-Flowers-cover

    These botanical discoveries as well as the backmatter in our book can inspire numerous #STEM extensions for your class. But here’s another #STEM connection between flowers and math that you can turn into poetry.

    Interior-image-Just-Flowers-1
    JUST FLOWERS by Erin Dealey, Illus. Kate Cosgrove (Sleeping Bear Press, 2024)
    Interior-image-Just-Flower2-2
    JUST FLOWERS by Erin Dealey, Illus. Kate Cosgrove (Sleeping Bear Press, 2024)

    What do flowers have to do with math?

    If you study a wide range of flowers, you’ll find that many have an odd number of petals, and certain numbers such as 5 and 13 tend to come up more often than others.  Hmmm…. These numbers are part of the Fibonacci sequence.

    The Fibonacci number sequence is found everywhere in nature—even flowers.

    It’s formed by adding two successive numbers to get to the next.

    For example, 

    0 and 1 = 1.

    Then add 1 and 1 = 2

    Fibonacci-numbers

    Add 1 and 2 = 3.

    Then add 2 and 3 = 5

    Add 3 and 5 =8 

    and so on.

    Activity 1: Calculate what numbers come next in the pattern above

    (Answer: If you came up with the numbers 13, 21, 34, and 55, bravo!)

    Activity 2: Fibonacci hunt

    Are there flowers growing near you? Gently count their petals. Graph the number of petals you find.  

    Activity 3: Write a Fibonacci poem

    This poetic form was created by my kidlit friend Gregory K. Pincus, but there are many variations. Like haiku, a Fibonacci poem is based on syllables, the number of beats in a word.

    Try writing a poem that follows the Fibonacci sequence for syllable count per line.

    For a 5-line poem that meansMy example
    1 syllable for first line   A
    2 syllables for the second line  Poem
    3 syllables for third   For Ms. Zapp
    5 syllables for fourth      You’re the BEST teacher
    8 syllables for fifth   Thank you for making learning fun!
    Your turn

    You can choose to write a longer poem if you want. Use the Fibonacci sequence as your guide.

    Variation: In the spirit of Izzy’s random acts of kindness, write your poem to someone in the community or at your school who deserves a lovely Thank You.

    Activity 4: Share

    Read your poems aloud to the class OR deliver the poem to the person your poem is about.

    Poems, like flowers, are a great way to thank people.

    Featured image credit: “Fibonacci sequence layout at it’s best! / Séquence Fibonacci a son meilleur” by Acadie67 is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.


    Erin-Dealey-headshot

    Erin Dealey is a blogger, playwright, screenwriter, and author of 20 children’s books (so far). Dealey’s original career goal was Olympic Gold Medal tetherball player. When that didn’t pan out, she became a teacher, theater director, actor, mom, and author. She lives in northern California with her husband and welcomes any opportunity to visit schools around the world. You can find her online at erindealey.com and on TwitterX @ErinDealey & Instagram @ErinDealey. 


    Click for more LITLINKS STEM + Literacy activities

    Tags: STEM+LiteracySTEM+Literacy Natural Science
    No Comments
    Share
    0

    You also might be interested in

    Paying-attention-to-nature

    LitLinks: How to help kids pay attention to nature

    Sep 25, 2024

    GUEST BLOGGER CYNTHIA ARGENTINE In a fascinating study, scientists discovered[...]

    World War II. Rubber tank
    UNITED KINGDOM - CIRCA 1939: World War II. Rubber tank (decoy) in England. (Photo by Roger Viollet via Getty Images)

    LitLinks: Ghost Army engineering design challenge

    Jan 27, 2021

    GUEST BLOGGER KELLY MILNER HALLS The Ghost Army challenge Writing[...]

    Shell sorting multiple small

    LitLinks: Match, sort, classify – Proven activities that captivate students

    Sep 1, 2021

    GUEST BLOGGER HEATHER L. MONTGOMERY Sorting—shapes, colors, sizes—it’s a classic[...]

    Leave a Reply

    Your email is safe with me.
    Cancel Reply

    Click the logo to have LitLinks delivered to your inbox

    LitLinks Logo-2022

    Author Visits

    Video Player
    https://youtu.be/zj6n-RFOcPA?si=8WCTnyXbTiwYumYo
    00:00
    00:00
    00:47
    Use Up/Down Arrow keys to increase or decrease volume.
    Video Player
    https://youtu.be/ziN0UrqaDYI
    00:00
    00:00
    01:39
    Use Up/Down Arrow keys to increase or decrease volume.

    Earth Day Every Day Newsletter Archive

    Earth-Day-Every-Day-newsletter-banner

    Post Categories:

    Blog Archive

    Top Posts

    LitLinks: How to share our ocean connections with kids and teens

    LitLinks: Let’s learn to decode photos in STEM nonfiction

    LitLinks: How Elephants Can Make Your Sound Unit ROAR!

    LitLinks: Easy ways to build students’ science communication skills

    Proof that science connects kids to the larger world

    Recent Comments

    • Danna Smith on LitLinks: Did you know goats can teach children about homonyms? I love this series of books!
    • Raven Howell on LitLinks: Did you know goats can teach children about homonyms? Absolutely love this piece you wrote! Thanks for sharing your…
    • Annie Lynn on LitLinks: 3 easy ways to use animals to introduce onomatopoeia Wonderful idea to link sounds and musical instruments to nature…
    Empowering young readers to act

    Latest Blog Posts

    • LitLinks: How to use conservation to invigorate student writing
      LitLinks: How to use conservation to invigorate student writing
    • LitLinks: How playing with existing ideas might lead to new ones
      LitLinks: How playing with existing ideas might lead to new ones
    • LitLinks: How to create a sniffing map to explore our sense of smell
      LitLinks: How to create a sniffing map to explore our sense of smell

    Connect with me on social media

    Action Shots

    Check out the STEM Tuesday Blog

    © 2025 — Patricia Newman

    • Home
    • Books
      • Sharks Unhooked: The Adventures of Cristina Zenato, Underwater Ranger
      • Giant Rays of Hope: Protecting Manta Rays to Safeguard the Sea
      • A River’s Gifts: The Mighty Elwha River Reborn
      • Planet Ocean
      • Eavesdropping on Elephants
      • Neema’s Reason To Smile
      • Zoo Scientists to the Rescue
      • Sea Otter Heroes: The Predators That Saved an Ecosystem
      • Plastic, Ahoy! Investigating the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
      • Ebola: Fears and Facts
      • Jingle the Brass
      • Nugget on the Flight Deck
      • Surviving Animal Attacks
      • Elite Operations series
      • Energy Lab series
      • QuickReads Fluency Library
      • Books for English language-learners
      • Writers write all kinds of things
    • Author Visit Programs
      • FAQs
      • Calendar
    • Blog
    • Educator Resources
      • STEM + Literacy Activities
      • Teacher Guides
      • Earth Day Every Day newsletter archive
      • LitLinks
      • KidLit creators who make kids want to read
    • Writer Resources
      • Writing Classes
      • Manuscript or Proposal Critiques
      • How I got my start
    • Who is Patricia Newman?
    • Contact
      • Stay In Touch
      • Earth Day Every Day newsletter archive
    Prev Next

    Notifications