Archive for the 'process skills' Category

Teaching Geography with Children’s Literature: From Here to There

Published by Ann R on October 31, 2009 in process skills, geography, book review, reading and Uncategorized. 0 Comments

3352142_a.jpg

From Here to There , written by Margery Cuyler, is a simple, yet beautifully illustrated, book that shows where a little girl, Maria, lives with her family.  It illuminates the concept that we are all part of a world that is bigger than our own home, town, and state.

Curriculum Connections:  From Here to There is a good book for teaching the concept that we are all part of the solar system we live in, as seen in the beautiful pictures of the progression of where her home fits into this world.  It starts at her home, then moves to her town, her county, her state, then country, hemisphere, planet, solar system, galaxy, and beyond.  Geography SOL 1.4

Additional Resources:
This is another book that can be read and used to reinforce the concepts of how to follow a map.  It the story of a boy and his father going on a 100-mile road trip to visit his grandmother.

This website offers instructions on how to teach children about maps.  It starts with making a map of the classroom, then a map of the school, then the community, and so forth.  You can make this activity reach as far as you want it to, based on the level of your students…just like the book!

This website is an interactive website that could be done independently, or collectively as a class, projected onto the board or screen.  It is a simple map with questions that help teach basic map symbols, how to follow a map, and use of the compass rose.

General Information:
Book: From Here to There
Author: Margery Cuyler
Illustrator: Yu Cha Pak
Publisher: Fitzhenry & Whiteside Ltd.
Pages:  32
Grade Range: K-2
ISBN:  0-8050-3191

Teaching Process Skills with Children’s Literature: It’s Probably Penny

Published by Jasmine on September 14, 2009 in process skills. 0 Comments

probably_penny.jpg

It’s Probably Penny written and illustrated by Loreen Leedy is a great book on predictions and probability.

Lisa is assigned homework on probability. She has to think of an event that will definitely happen, that might happen and that cannot happen over the weekend. She also has to think of two events; one that has a tiny chance of happening and one that is impossible and explain why they can or cannot happen. She has to write about an event that has three or more equally possible outcomes and an event that as several possible outcomes that are not equally likely.

This book is a great introduction to probability. It can be used for Science Standard of Learning 3.1 (a) (c) and (j). It illustrates a student who plans and conducts investigations, makes predictions, observations and conclusions. The book also touches Mathematics Standard of Learning 3.18. The student describes the concept of probability as chance and lists possible results of a given situation.

Additional Resources

The Probability Circus and Balloon Bonanza are colorful interactive websites for students to practice probabilities.

 Ken White’s Coin Flipping Page tracks the probability associated with a student flipping a coin.

Figure This! Math Challenges for Families has a game for students to play and to decide if the game is fair or not.

General Information

Book: It’s Probably Penny

Author: Loreen Leedy

Illustrator: Loreen Leedy

Publisher: Henry Holt and COmpany, LLC

Publication Date: 2007

Pages: 30

Grade Range: 2nd-4th

ISBN: 0-8050-7389-2

Teaching Magnets with Children’s Literature: Science with Magnets

Published by heather on September 7, 2009 in physical science, process skills and book review. 0 Comments

  science-with-magnets.jpg

 Science with Magnets, written by Helen Edom and illustrated by Simone Abel is an interactive book where students learn the functionality of magnets.

This colorful book is packed with exciting activities to assistance children in exploring the wonderful world of magnetism. All the experiments and activities are designed to be safe and easy for children to do in their own home. The book also provides real life examples of how magnetism is used in everyday life. “Magnets help to make many electronic machines work. Here you can find out about some of them: electric generator and tape recorders ” (20). In addition the book even teaches children how to create their own magnets.

Curriculum Connections
Science with Magnets could be used as a reference tool  in the classroom. It would be a great addition to a science work center where students can select which experiement(s) they would like to attempt on their own. This book can be used for SOL’s:

  • 2.2 Students will understand and investigate magnets
     a. magnetism, iron, poles, attract/repel
     b. important applications of magnetism (ex: compasses)

Additional Resources

  • Brain Pops Jr: Magnets: Is an excellent site dedicated to magnets. It is a kid friendly site that gives background information on magnets and houses an interactive video students can reference. The site also provides teachers with two simple activities they can try with their own students.
  • About.com Magnet Worksheets: Provides 9 PDF worksheets on magnets. There are word searches, vocabulary worksheets, crossword puzzles, writing activity sheets, etc.
  • Home School Tools: Magnets: This is a coloring activity that gives students the opportunity to do a scavenager hunt around the classroom. The objective is for the students to find items that are magnetic.

Book: Science with Magnets
Author: Helen Edom
Illustrator: Simone Abel
Publisher: E.D.C. Publishing 
Publication Date: September 1992
Pages: 24 pages
Grade Range: 1-3
ISBN: 978-0746012598

Teaching Process Skills with Children’s Literature: How does it look? (Looking at Nature)

Published by Jennifer K. on September 4, 2009 in process skills, nonfiction and book review. 0 Comments

how-does-it-look.jpg 

How does it look? by Bobbie Kalman is a great resource to use when exploring the sense of sight.  The book offers an overview of several areas associated with sight including: the identification of shapes and colors (pages 4-5), line types (pages 6-7), patterns (pages 8-11), spirals (pages 16-17), patterns of change (pages 18-19), and sets (pages 20-23).  How does it look? also explores symmetry (pages 12-15).  This book is very useful, as it introduces a concept to children and then poses several questions regarding the newly learned information.  The organization and approach of this book is conducive to learning because it reviews information just learned, and fosters conversation and student involvement.

Curriculum Connections
How does it look? is appropriate for use in the kindergarten and first grade curriculums.  It can be used in several ways.  First, pages 4-7 can be used as students begin to identify basic properties of objects by direct observation (SOL k.1 a), as well as  an investigation of the five senses (SOL k.2 a/b).  Additionally, pages 20-23 can be employed at a higher level when students are asked to classify and organize objects according to attributes or properties (SOL 1.1 c), and to make predictions based on patterns of observation, rather than random guess (SOL 1.1 f; page 14 face example; page 17 toilet example; page 19 flower example).

Additional Resources

  • This worksheet can be used to supplement the “Which doesn’t belong?” activity on pages 22-23.
  • This bingo game can be used to reinforce students’ understanding of shapes (pages 5-6).
  • This worksheet can be used to review patterns of change, discussed on pages 18-19.

Book: How does it look? (Looking at nature)
Author: Bobbie Kalman
Publisher: Crabtree Publishing Company
Publication Date: 2008
Pages: 24
Grade Range: K-1
ISBN-10: 0778733351

Teaching Process Skills with Children’s Literature: When Is A Planet Not A Planet? The Story of Pluto

Published by Meghan on September 1, 2009 in space science, process skills and book review. 0 Comments

images.jpg

My very eager mother just served us nine pizzas.

A silly sentence, yet schoolchildren have memorized it for years, because it helps them remember the planets in our solar system.  The first letter of every word stands for a planet, in the order of how close it is to the Sun.  My very eager mother just served us nine pizzas.  Mercury, Venus, Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto.  Mercury is the planet closest to the Sun, and tiny Pluto is the farthest away.  That is, until recently.

When Is a Planet Not a Planet?  The Story of Pluto by Elaine Scott is a book about scientist who have argued for years over the answer to this question.  Central to their debate has been Pluto, the tiny orb circling the Sun at the outermost reaches of our solar system.  Then on August 24th, 2006, a group of astronomers made a big announcement:  Pluto could no longer be considered a planet.

This fascinating book explains in simple terms how advancements in technology have changed our understanding of the universe and exactly how and why the number of planets in our solar system went from nine to eight.

Curriculum Connections
When Is a Planet Not a Planet? is a book suitable for 5th graders learning the history of the planets and what astronomers believed to be true in reguards to the planets.  This book compliments Virginia SOL  5.1-understanding the nature of science.

Additional Resources

  1. This lesson plan ask students to find out the process how paleontologists locate, excavate, and study dinosaurs.
  2. This experiment is an activity teaching students how a windmill works.
  3. This overview gives information about the orbits, sizes, and classification of the planets in the solar system.

Book: When Is a Planet Not a Planet?  The Story of Pluto
Author: Elaine Scott
Publisher: Clarion Books
Publication Date: 2007
Pages: 38
Grade Range: 3-5
ISBN:  978-0-618-89832-9

Teaching Process Skills With Children’s Literature: Swimming with Hammerhead Sharks

Published by Nicole on September 1, 2009 in earth science, life science, process skills and book review. 0 Comments

oce99.jpg

Swimming with Hammerhead Sharks, written by Kenneth Mallory, is part of the Scientists in the Field Series.  As part of the New England Aquarium and NOVA’s IMAX movie project, the author describes his experiences with the documentary and interviews a marine biologist, Pete Klimley, about his investigations around hammerhead behavior and connections to their migration around seamounts.

Divided into nine informative sections, the book is full of large colored photographs, and inserts on the types of hammerhead sharks, on SCUBA gear, maps, El Nino, and the Cocos Islands.  Closely follow along as Peter Klimley and the author describe their adventures diving with sharks.

“When Pete realized these schooling scalloped hammerheads had little interest in him as a potential meal, he began to wonder why they were swimming in a school and why they had gathered at this particular undersea mountain.”

“Pete told me once he squeezed his six-foot-one-inch body into a scuba diving suit painted black and white with a fin on the back to resemble a killer whale.”

Curriculum Connections
This book is a great example of how one scientist through his observations of shark behavior and knowledge of the local area was able to answer his own questions with predictions and research.   Also, it demonstrates how he investigated, recorded data on the sharks and their environment which led to his conclusions about their behavior. Themes in this book correlate with Virginia SOLs 4.1, 4.5, 5.1, and 5.6.

Additional Resources

Book: Swimming with Hammerhead Sharks
Author: Kenneth Mallory
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company
Publication Date: 2001
Pages: 48 pages
Grade Range: 4-8
ISBN: 0-618-05543-6

Teaching Process Skills with Children’s Literature: Five Creatures

Published by Liz V on September 1, 2009 in process skills and book review. 0 Comments

 97803744232851.jpg

Five Creatures: written by Emily Jenkins and illustrated by Tomeck Bogacki.

“Five creatures live in our house.  Three humans, and two cats.  Three short, and two tall…Four who like to eat fish…Three who don’t like taking baths…Four who can open cupboards…”

Five Creatures is a book that encourages students to classify members of their families.  The little girl in Five Creatures tells the reader about her family that consists of three people and two cats.  She classifies the members according to their likes and dislikes, their appearances, skills, and habits.  The book does a nice job of discussing ways in which family members are different and sweetly concludes with, “And five who sit together in the evening by the fire”.

Curriculum Connections:

This book can be used in the classroom to discuss classification.  It seems that this book may be best suited for a first or second grade classroom but discussion could be easily adjusted in order to use it in a kindergarten or even third grade classroom.  This book correlates with the following summarized Science Standards of Learning in Virginia:

  • K.1 - The student will conduct investigations in which objects are described both pictorially and verbally and a set of objects is separated into two groups based on a single physical attribute.
  • 1.1 - The student will conduct investigations in which objects are classified and arranged according to attributes.
  • 2.1 - The student will conduct investigations in which two or more attributes are used to classify items.
  • 3.1 - The student will plan and conduct investigations in which objects with similar characteristics are classified into at least two sets and two subsets.

Additionally, Five Creatures could be useful when studying graphs.  The classifications discussed in the book easily lend themselves to picture graphs, Venn diagrams, and simple bar graphs.  Graphing is also a requirement in the Science Standards of Learning in Virginia K.1-3.1.

Additional Resources:

Kindergarten Classification Lesson Plan: This page includes easy sorting/classifying activity ideas for younger students.

Fingerprint Lesson Plan:  A lesson plan for older students that involves classification of fingerprints.

Scavenger Hunt Lesson Plan: An outside scavenger hung idea that concludes with students classifying their findings.

Magazine Classification Activity:  An activity idea that has students classify magazine cutouts.

Earth Day Game:  A quick online game that encourages students to classify trash to clean up for Earth Day.

General Information:

  •  Book: Five Creatures
  • Author: Emily Jenkins
  • Illustrator: Tomeck Bogacki
  • Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
  • Publication Date: April 2001
  • Pages: 32
  • Grade Range: K-3
  • ISBN-10:  0374323410
  • ISBN-13: 978-0374323417

Teaching Process Skills with Children’s Literature: Millions to Measure

Published by Sydney on August 31, 2009 in process skills and Uncategorized. 0 Comments

9780688129163.jpg

Millions to Measure, written by David M. Schwartz and illustrated by Steven Kellogg, is an interactive picture book that is sure to keep the attention of school-aged children as they go on a journey toward understanding measurment.

Summary: In this book, Marvelosissimo the Mathematical Magician takes four children on a journey to see how people measured many years ago and how measurement has evolved over time. The ways that people measured distance, size, weight, and volume were inefficient because there was not a constant source of measurement that could be applied to all people and things around the world. Eventually, standards of measurement were created so that everything could be measured using the same source of measurement. Marvelosissimo the Mathematical Magician introduces the way that people measure length, distance, weight and volume, as well as the differences between the metric system and standard English system.

“Many people believe that the United States will eventually join the rest of the world and measure only in the metric system. But you don’t have to wait until then, because you already know how!”

The usage and understanding of the metric system is promoted in this book, which is beneficial as the entire world becomes more scientifically and mathematically driven.  

Curriculum Connections: This would be a great book for grade two studying SOL 2.1: Scientific Investigation, Reasoning, and Logic. Within this SOL students should understand the usage and terminology of both the metric and standard systems of measurement. This book could be used as an introduction to a lesson involving the observation and investigation of various items using the two systems of measurement. This will allow practice with the terminology and sources of measurement that will be used throughout the year during scientific activities and experiments.

 Additional Resources:

  • Create a Measuring Lab where you create separate areas for students to measure items for Distance, Weight, and Volume. Students can work in teams of two: one can measure and the other can record the measurement.   

  • This worksheet asks students to record the temperature shown in the drawing of a given thermometer. They then are to draw a red line at a temperature of their choice and draw something that they would do at this temperature.

  • Interactive bulletin board idea: students are to find items that are one inch in length to be displayed on a bulletin board; the board will also display a question of the day and prize can be given to those students who answer correctly. There is also a corresponding worksheet for students to measure seven of their favorite items in their rooms.

  • This worksheet is based on the book Millions to Measure and allows students to use their own innovative source of measurement to measure various items. They are then asked how they would measure other various items using the units of measurement.

General Information:

Book: Millions to Measure

Author: David M. Schwartz

Illustrator: Steven Kellogg

Publisher: HarperCollins

Publication Date: 2003

Pages: 40

Grade Range: K-3 (ages 4-8)

ISBN: 0688129161

Teaching Process Skills with Children’s Literature: Wow!: The Most Interesting Book You’ll Ever Read about the Five Senses

Published by Sarah on August 31, 2009 in process skills, book review and science. 0 Comments

wowmostinterestingbkfivesenses.jpg

Wow!: The Most Interesting Book You’ll Ever Read about the Five Senses, written by Trudee Romanek and illustrated by Rose Cowles, is a non-fiction reader full of fun facts and lessons about the five senses that can be enjoyed by a wide range of elementary students. This is the seventh book in the “Mysterious You” series, which keeps kids entertained by including fun pictures and diagrams with simple kid-friendly experiments, and lots of facts scattered throughout it (perfect for children who don’t want to read a book from front to back in one sitting!) 

Wow! is split into seven sections, and explains how the brain works to help people experience sight, sound, taste, smell, and touch. Each section includes an explanation of how the senses work, why they work that way, fun stories about a scientific experiment or invention based on a sense (e.g. a pair of talking glasses invented by a 15 year-old in 1998 to help the visually impaired), a “You Try It” experiment, and plenty more interesting facts. One fun fact mentions that a gourmet dinner shouldn’t be wasted on a chicken because “you have thousands of taste buds that let you taste food. The average chicken has just 24″ (p. 21).  Finally, an important aspect of learning about the senses is how they all work together. The last section of the book describes that the senses are designed to compliment each other. “You combine the information from your senses every moment that you’re awake. Turn off the volume during a scary movie or close your eyes on a roller-coaster ride, and you might be surprised at the difference” (p. 38).

Curriculum Connections

This book might be hard for younger elementary students to read on their own, but it provides a lot of great information and experiments that teachers can share and use with the lower grades.  Wow! is a perfect book to keep on the bookshelves of upper-elementary classrooms because the material is easy for older children to flip through and stay interested in, and the “You Try It” experiments can fit well into lessons about scientific investigation. Specific SOLs that this book could correlate to include:

K.2 (a) five senses and corresponding sensing organs

1.1 The student will conduct investigations in which (a) differences in physical properties are observed using the senses; and (b) simple tools are used to enhances observations

2.1 The student will conduct investigations in which (a) observations is differentiated from personal interpretation, and conclusions are drawn based on observations

3.1 The student will plan and conduct investigations in which (a) predictions and observations are made

4.1 The student will plan and conduct investigations in which (b) hypotheses are formulated based on cause-and-effect relationships

Additional Resources

BrainPOP is an animated, curriculum-based website that offers student videos and activities for many standard-based lessons.  This interactive lesson includes the senses.

This word search can help with vocabulary words related to the senses.

The Five Senses Lab is a good science exploration for early elementary students to help better familiarize them with their own senses and how they can make the world around them seem more “real”.

General Information

  • Book: Wow!: The Most Interesting Book You’ll Ever Read about the Five Senses
  • Author: Trudee Romanek
  • Illustrator: Rose Cowles
  • Paperback: 40 pages
  • Publisher: Kids Can Press
  • Publication Date: September 1, 2004
  • Grade Range: K - 6
  • ISBN-10: 1553376307

    • Teaching Process Skills with Children’s Literature: Millions to Measure

    Published by Deleyah on August 31, 2009 in process skills and book review. 0 Comments

     millionsmeasure.jpg

    Have you ever wondered how many human feet it takes to measure one foot? Or even pondered how many stones it would take to weigh a hog? From the literal sense of measuring one object one foot at a time to the meaning of the metric system today, Millions to Measure explains the history of the metric and system and how it works.  Written by David M. Schwartz and illustrated by Steven Kellogg, Millions to Measure brings the world of measurement to life with full color, mystery, and wonder. The illustrations help introduce and capture an excellent representation of distance/length, mass/weight, and volume.

    In the book, Marvelosissimo the Mathematical Magician takes children on a magical quest through time to discover the fantastic world of measurement.  Children learn that the metric system is based on “tens, hundreds, and thousands.”  Children are also shown that even a creature as small as an ant or a flea can be measured in millimeters. Millions to Measure proves to be a wonderful way to incorporate the metric system into a hidden world of magic.

    Curriculum Connections
    Millions to Measure includes a cleaver explanation of the metric system in a way that children can relate to and understand.  The book covers volume, distance, and weight.  Throughout the book, children are drawn in by the comic strips, vibrant colors, and action filled pages.  Millions to Measure may be used in a classroom setting to to incorporate the basic measurement system into  a lesson.  For example, children would be able to have a literal sense of terms such as feet and inches.  The book also includes a detailed history behind the meaning of measurement.  Millions to Measure is perfect for a classroom setting because it incorporates more than the average children’s readings.

    The SOL’s that most closely connect to Millions to Measure are:1.1-Length, mass, and volume are measured using standard and nonstandard units  2.1-Length, volume, mass and temperature measurements are made in metric units and standard English units 3.1 -Volume is measured to the milliliter and liter; length is measured to the nearest centimeter; mass is measured to the nearest gramThe reading covers a general basis for a traditional process skills lesson.  It averages in the range of grades by allowing the teacher to either focus on the metric system in terms of simple measurement, for example with stones, to an actual scale of measurement, for example a ruler.

    Additional Resources 

    • Measuring Marvels-This link includes a lesson plan based on the book Millions to Measure and also includes an activity sheet for students to complete (Student Activity Sheet).
    • Creating One-This website contains an activity book for not only a child’s learning , but also for their enjoyment as well.  It allows children to learn about the metric system in an enjoyable fashion.
    • Million metric system-This provides information for other materials relating to measurement that may be used in a classroom setting.  The information is updated weekly and provides an excellent outreach for similar activity books and materials.

    Book: Millions to Measure
    Author: David M. Schwartz
    Illustrator: Steven Kellogg
    Publisher: Harper Collins Publisher
    Publication Date: March 2003
    Pages: 40 pages
    Grade Range: 1-5
    ISBN: 978-0688129163