Archive for the 'resource links' Category

Teaching Geography with Children’s Literature: Maps

Published by Kelly on November 2, 2009 in resource links, nonfiction, geography, book review, teaching, reading and social studies. 0 Comments

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Maps, by David L. Stienecker and illustrated by Richard MacCabe, is a book designed to help introduce children to geography with a focus on maps and globes.

This book highlists the many purposes and differences between maps and globes, how to read them, and the many ways in which they can be drawn.  The author and illustrator provide child-friendly text and illustrations to show how maps can be used to visualize and locate specific regions, water features, forests, and landmarks of the world, as well as dicussing that maps can also be created for make believe.  The book offers children a view of North America on both a map and globe, and then slowly zooms out to show the Earth as a whole from the perspective of the sky.  This book also provides children with question prompts they can respond to during or after reading, while providing teachers with hands-on activitiy ideas for further study, a glossary of essential terms, and an index.  Lines of latitude/longitude, projections, compass, hemisphere, equator, and thematic maps are the main topics discussed throughout the book which allows the teacher discretion for how much content to share depending on varying student levels. 

Curriculum Connections

Maps serves as an excellent and useful resource to help teach, reinforce, and emphasize several kindergarten - first grade geography learning objectives in accordance with the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL’s).  Students can enhance their understanding in that a map is a drawing of a place to show where things are located while a globe is a round model of the Earth (SOL K.4a), facilitate identification of land and water features (SOL K.4c), encourage understanding that maps and globes show a view from above the Earth and that features are smaller in size (SOL K.5a/b), develop map skills by identifying map symbols (SOL 1.4a), and facilitate accurate identification of North America and Virginia on maps and globes (SOL 1.4d). 

Additional Resources

  • Discovery Education provides a wide range of geography lesson plans from grades kindergarten - 5th grade - lesson plans are organized by topic, and when clicked on,  provides you with a wealth of resource links, extention activity ideas, suggested readings, and evaluation assessments specific to the lesson

  • Kids Geography offers a wide range of fun, interactive games for students to play either at school or home - games are organized into continents, American capitals, latitude/longitude, and the collective Earth so teachers, students, and parents have the ability to select games that are specific to what the student is learning

  • Enchanted Learning is the place for teachers to go for an endless supply of various geography maps, printables, quizzes, and activities - if teachers want to focus on their state geography, there are links to supply you with tons of state maps for students to label, quizzes, and symbol and emblem worksheets specific to your state 

Book: Maps
Author: David L. Stienecker
Illustrator: Richard MacCabe
Publisher: Benchmark Books (New York)
Publication Date: January 1998
Pages: 32pp
Grade Range: Kindergarten - 1st Grade
ISBN-13: 978-0761405382

Teaching Economics with Children’s Literature: Goods and Services

Published by Kelly on October 26, 2009 in economics, resource links, nonfiction, book review, reading, social studies, teaching and Uncategorized. 0 Comments

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Goods and Services, written by Janeen R. Adil, is a book designed to help introduce children to the basic world of money and economics, how money and economics affects them on a daily basis, and why money and economics are important to their world.

This book is explains and illustrates main monetary and economic principles that make up our world, including: goods and services, consumers and producers, how taxes are related to government services and goods, and how income is made, saved, and used to buy goods and services.  All of these premises are explained through a variety of examples connected to real-world situations most children can easily relate to through their past or current experiences.  Because economics is such an important and real part of everyone’s life, the book contains real-life photos versus illustrations in order to help children connect economic meanings to the world around them.  In trying to connet these concepts to the current world, the author has inserted ”fun facts” into the book which offers both vital and current statistics on the specific principle being discussed.

As a bonus, the book provides a glossary, links to internet sites, an activity idea, and other literature resources as tools to help reiterate understanding of the econimic principles explored within the book, and can be used by teachers, students, and parents.  Also near the end of the book, the author dedicates a page connecting past history with today in order to illustrate how taxes have been around for almost 5,000 years by the Anciet Egyptians.

While this book is filled with all of the essential information students need to learn about economics, it does an excellent job in providing examples and pictures to illustrate the relevancy of economic concepts in an easy to understand, meaningful way.

Curriculum Connections

Goods and Services serves as an excellent and useful resource to help teach, reinforce, and emphasize the first grade learning objectives of economics in accordance with the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL’s).   Explaining the difference between goods and services, and how people are consumers and producers of goods and services, (SOL 1.7) is the focus throughout the entire book, as well as illustrating the importance of having to save money for the future purchase of goods and services (SOL 1.9) through a litany of real-world examples.

Additional Resources

  • ProTeacher is an amazing website solely dedicated to teachers of all elementary grades that provides a wide collection of lesson plans, printable worksheets, project themes, and ideas for setting up a classroom economy on an array of economic premises, including how financial markets and the stock market work.  This site also provides a blog and chat room for teachers to share their experiences on teaching economics within the classroom. 

  • EconEd Link is a comprehensive website that provides teachers with incredibly detailed lesson plans that include all the resources needed to effectively teach students about goods/services and consumers/producers.  The lesson that is linked has been contributed by Nancy Sedivy and is adaptable for students in kindergarten - second grade   The lesson provides links to several interactive games students can utilize, resource links to worksheets and activities, assessment tools to measure student understanding, and several ideas for extension activities.

  • MoneyInstructor.com is a website designed for teachers, students, and parents alike and is devoted to help students ranging from kindergarten - sixth grade learn about all aspects of economics.  This site includes a variety of resources that teachers can use within the classroom, students can access at home, and parents can use as a resource to help their children’s growing knowledge of economics.  There is a wide range of economic principles provided on this site, including the basic premise of money and what it is, how to differenciate between needs and wants, the importance of saving, spending, and sharing, and why taxes are put on goods and certain services.  All of these economic principles provide a variety of worksheets, games, and acitivity ideas to enforce children’s understanding.  Also, because this site is designed for grades kindergarten - sixth grade, teachers, students, and parents have the ability to move at their own pace in relation to their individual learning abilities.

Book: Goods and Services
Author: Janeen R. Adil
Publisher: Capstone Press
Publication Date: January 1, 2006
Pages: 24pp
Grade Range: First Grade
ISBN-13: 978-0736853958

Teaching Earth Science with Children’s Literature: What Makes Day and Night

Published by Kelly on September 21, 2009 in nonfiction, earth science, resource links, book review, teaching, reading and science. 0 Comments

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What Makes Day and Night, written by Franklyn M. Branley and illustrated by Arthur Dorros, is a book answering children’s questions as to what causes ‘day to be day,’ ‘night to be night,’ and how the sun appears and disappears during these times.

This book follows a group of inquisitive children on their journey into finding out exactly what causes these events to happen, starting off with the basics of how our planet, Earth, is constantly spinning and rotating on its axis and the daily evoluations it makes around the sun.  The illustrations provide children with a clear sense of the Earth’s full rotation around the sun and shows the different stages of sunrise, day, sunset, and night, as well as providing insight into the moon’s lunar phases.  In addition to providing solid, factual information on these concepts, the children in the book conduct their own experiements at home with a flashlight in order to have a hands on understanding of how days and nights are created and the effects of light and darkness on Earth.

This book can surely serve as an anticipatory resource prior to a unit on Earth’s movement and motions within the solar system, and can be read aloud to the class or read independently by students because of the simplicity and student-friendliness of the text.  The author and illustrator do an excellent job of allowing students to grasp and process these abstract concepts through facts, home experiments, and detailed illustrations, leaving them with a sense of pride and curiousity to learn more about our plant and solar system.

Curriculum Connections

What Makes Day and Night serves as an excellent and useful resource to help teach, reinforce, and emphasize the third grade learning objectives in accordance with the Virgiia Standards of Learning (SOL’s).  Investigating and understanding the basic patterns and cycles of the Earth in relation to the sun and moon (SOL 3.8) is supported throughout the entire book through its discussion and illustrations of the stages and time of Earth’s rotation, its effects of the sun on the planet, and the phases of the moon (SOL 3.8a).

Additional Resources

  • Eye On The Sky offers an excellent lesson plan, demonstration, and printables for teaching students the Earth’s rotation and how it causes day and night - plus, this lesson can be adapted for grades 1 - 3.

  • Jefferson County Schools‘, located in Tennessee, website dedicates a page full of classroom lesson plans, activities, and numerous resources aimed at teaching students all about the Earth’s rotation and its effects on people, plus interactive websites for students to work with at school or at home!  Additionally, this site provides a range of lesson plans and activities on other units covering Earth Science.

  • SkyTellers provides a multitude of resources for activity ideas, books, and websites links for students and teachers solely devoted to how Earth rotates and it’s implications on day and night, seasons, lunar phases, and the sun.  Also, this website offers insights on other Earth Science concepts, such as the origin of starts, constellations, meteors, and the solar system.  This is definately a website to have on hand for many Earth Science lessons, no matter the grade level!

Book: What Makes Day and Night
Author: Franklyn M. Branley
Illustrator: Arthur Dorros
Publisher: Harper Collins
Publication Date: March 1986
Pages: 32pp
Grade Range: 3rd Grade
ISBN-13: 9780064450508

Teaching Life Science with Children’s Literature: Leaving Home

Published by Kelly on September 12, 2009 in nonfiction, life science, resource links, book review, reading and teaching. 0 Comments

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Leaving Home, written by Sneed B. Collard III and illustrated by Joan Dunning, is an endearing book that takes students on a journey around the world to visit a variety of habitats and learn about some of the animals found in them. 

From the sea to the jungle, from the forest to the desert, students will begin to build insight on why the physical and behavioral adaptations animals have are necessary for survival in their given environment.  A page is dedicated for each animal discussed and provides information on the animals general life cycle from birth through adulthood.  Each page begins with how the animal simply moves about, providing a simplisitic yet effective way to show the many means in which animals travel; for example, on the shark page, it says, “some of us swim,” while on the jaguar page it says, “some of us walk.”    

The author also presents the behavioral and physical adaptations specific to each animal, such as if babies resemble their parents upon birth, how they gather or store found, where they make their shelter, how they rear their young (laying eggs versus giving birth, providing milk or not), and if hibernation, migration, camouflage, instinct, and learned behaviors are aspects to their species.  The illustrations are superb and enticing to view by offering great detail that clearly allow students to see how the animal’s physical adaptations coincide with their surroundings. 

The writing flows easily and offers students a concise yet vast amount of information needed in order to further explore these adaptations in more detail.  This book can surely serve as an effective anticipatory resource prior to a unit on animal life cycles and adaptations or as a tool for review prior to testing.  The author will leave students knowing so much more about these animals and instill a desire to want to learn even more about them.

Curriculum Connections

Leaving Home serves as an appropriate and useful resource to help teach, reinforce, and emphasize specific second and third grade science life processes objectives in accordance with the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL’s).  Investigating and understanding that animals undergo a series of orderly changes in their life cycle (SOL 2.4) is supported throughout the entire book due to the wide spectrum of animals discussed, including invertebrates, vertebrates, reptiles, amphibians, mammals, birds, and insects.  Also, the author discusses the distinct stages during each animal’s life and how they can vary from one animal to another (SOL 2.4a).   The behavioral and physical adaptations necessary for an animal’s survival (SOL 3.4), such as methods of gathering and storing food, finding shelter, rearing young (SOL 3.4a), migration, instinct, and learned behavior (SOL 3.4b) are explained in explicit detail for each animal discussed. 

Additional Resources

  • Mrs. Becky Wick , a current second grade teacher from Missouri, has designed an absolutely amazing website that offers almost everything you and your students will need in order to thoroughly investigate and explore animal life cycles, including activity and project ideas,  interactive online games, and lesson plans!  This site is a must to visit!

  • The Teacher’s Guide website has dedicated an outstanding page full of lesson plans, printables, and project suggestions dedicated to the frog.  If your looking for any resources to supplement your teaching on this amphibian’s life cycle, including metamorphosis as part of their of physical development, and/or behavioral adaptations, you will not need to look any further than here!

  • TeacherVision offers a wide proposal of lesson plans, activities, and projects on animal adaptations, covering the aspects of migratation, hibernation, mimicry, and learned behaviors specific to each animal.  This site also offers all of these resources for different grade levels, so you are certain to find something that fit’s each of your student’s needs!

Book: Leaving Home
Author: Sneed B. Collard III
Illustrator: Joan Dunning
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publication Date: March 2002
Pages: 32pp
Grade Range: 2nd and 3rd Grade
ISBN-13: 9780618114542

Teaching Physical Science with Children’s Literature: I Fall Down

Published by Kelly on September 7, 2009 in nonfiction, physical science, resource links, book review, teaching, reading and science. 0 Comments

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I Fall Down, written by Vicki Cobb and illustrated by Julia Gorton, introduces students to discover how and why objects always fall down when they are thrown up in the air, and why some of these objects fall faster than others.  Students follow a young boy through a series of experiments that lead to the explanation and understanding of how gravity works.  Concepts, such as the weight of objects, are introduced as well.   Teachers can also integrate manipulatives into the reading of the book to show first hand out different objects all at different rates of speed and in different types of motion.  The reading of this book serves as an excellent lesson introduction to force, motion, and energy.

Curriculum Connections

I Fall Down serves as an appropriate and useful resource to help teach, reinforce, and emphasize the following First Grade Force, Motion, and Energy Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL’s):

1.2 The student will investigate and understand that moving objects exhibit different kinds of motion.  Key concepts include:

b. objects may vibrate and produce sound

c. pushes or pulls can change the movement of an object

d. the motion of objects may be observed in toys and in
playground activities

Additional Resources

  • PPST offers a variety of motion resources for both kids and teachers, including a range of powerpoint presentations, games, and activity ideas.
  • This educational website offers worksheets and games specific to first graders learning and understanding of gravity, force, and motion.
  • Rockingham County’s website provides specific lesson plans catering to SOL 1.2, including a 10 day unit lesson plan!

Book: I Fall Down
Author: Vicki Cobb
Illustrator: Julia Gorton
Publisher: Harper Collins
Publication Date: October 2004
Pages: 30pp
Grade Range: 1st - 2nd Grade
ISBN-13: 978-0688178420

Teaching Physical Science with Children’s Literature: What Makes a Magnet?

Published by Ann R on September 6, 2009 in physical science, resource links, book review, science and Uncategorized. 0 Comments

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What makes a Magnet?, written by Franklyn M. Branley and illustrated by True Kelley, is an engaging and colorful book that clearly explains what a magnet is and how it works.  It also offers examples of simple, yet fun, classroom activities to experience using magnets and making magnets.

This is a clever book that is upbeat and quick, yet informative.  It begins with an exercise that shows you what happens when you put a magnet near various items.  It then shows how the student can make a simple magnet.  It also explains that the earth is a magnet, and then shows how to make a compass, and how that works with the earth’s magnet.

Curriculum Connections:  What makes a Magnet? is a good source for teaching the characteristics of a magnet, how and why magnets work, and how a compass relates to magnetism.  The activities in the book could easily and inexpensively be done in the classroom for an effective hands-on experience to reinforce the concepts relating to magnets.  SOL 2.2

Additional Resources:

  • “Discovery Education” offers two hands-on activities: making a compass and making a magnet.  Depending on the maturity level of the students, it may be better to to do them as a group activity.
  • “How Stuff Works” offers a really cool experiment.  Iron-fortified cereal can be crushed up to see if it is attracted to a magnet.  This is simple and inexpensive, but also reinforces that anything with iron is attracted to a magnet.

Book: What makes a Magnet?
Author:  Franklyn M. Branley
Illustrator:  True Kelley
Publisher:  HarperCollins
Publication Date:  1996
Pages:  32
Grade Range:  K-3
ISBN:  0-06-026441-1

Third Grade Math: Collecting Data and Graphing

Published by Jasmine on August 20, 2009 in summermath, resource links and math. 0 Comments

Ever been in a rush but nonetheless wanted/needed to catch up on the news? What did you do? Skim the highlights section above the articles of course! And would you prefer to read through 20 pages of facts or glance at one graph that contains all of the facts?

Being able to gather, organize, read and interpret data in a variety of graphs is an important skill elementary students must acquire. Below are great books, websites and additional resources for developing and enhancing this skill.

Five Great Books on Graphing are:

1) Learning to Graph From a Baby Tiger
Written by:  Ann Whitehead Nagda and Cindy Bickel

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This book follows an orphaned Siberian Tiger cub being raised in the Denver Zoo. There are color photos of the Tiger showing his changing moods and development sure to grab students’ attention. The book illustrates and explains pie, line, picture and bar graphs. It allows students to utilize graphs for “everyday life” situations. Students will also learn when the use of each type of graph is appropriate.

2) Lemonade for Sale                                                                                                                                      
Written by: Stuart J. Murphy; Illustrated by: Tricia Tusa

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Most every student will be able to relate to this book. It is about children keeping track of their lemonade sales using bar graphs. It is a creative story with funny illustrations. It not only involves graphing but also counting money and marketing. This book also allows students to apply their math skills to real life problems.    

3) Graphs                                                                                                                                                                                                    Written Written by: Bonnie Bader; Illustrated by: Mernie Gallagher Cole

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This story is about a boy who tries to get out of going to a family reunion by saying he has math homework. Lucky for him, his mother suggests he take his homework with him! While at the reunion he collects data from various family members. By the end of the day he’s finished his graphing homework. This book clearly demonstrates the information-gathering process as well as graph-making methods.

4) Graphing Activities                                                                                                                                                                              Written by: Joy Evans and Jo Ellen Moore

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This activity book is a great resource for teachers.  It includes easy-to-follow instructions and reproducible patterns, blank graphs and questions. It’s important for students to practice making graphs on top of interpreting and answering questions from pre-made graphs.

5) Great Graphs, Charts and Tables that Build Real-Life Math Skills                                           
Written by: Kiernan

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This activity book gives students the extra practice they need interpreting and reading graphs. It uses real-world data and skill-building questions. It also includes great extension ideas. This book is great for getting students ready for standardized tests.  

Five Handy Websites on Graphing are:

1) Kids’ Zone allows students to create graphs. Students can choose the type of graph and whether it’s horizontal or vertical. They can label the x and y axis, title the graph and adjust values. Students can save and print their graphs.

2) Mental Math Grapher allows students to create graphs. This site is more simplistic. Students can label the x axis and title. They can adjust values and print their finished graph.

3) PBS Kids Go! Cyberchase  has games, lessons, activities and t.v. shows. The Raising the Bar section has an episode that explains why the scale of a graph affects how the graph is interpreted. It also has a graphing game and material that can be printed.

4) Aunty Math has math challenges for grades K-5. There are a variety of subjects including data collection and graphing.

5) Figure This! is a math challenge websites for families. It has a few problems regarding collecting data and graphs. It also has many more challenges in different areas of math.

Additional Helpful Resources:

  • Math Glossary provides students with definitions of important math terms. Some definitions are even interactive for better understanding.
  • Elementary School Math Resources by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics is a comprehensive site for teachers and parents. There are activities, lesson ideas, teaching strategies, articles and much more.
  • Hotchalk Lesson Plans Page provides teachers with free lesson plans, worksheets, discussion boards and a newsletter.
  • O’Block Books is a “one stop shop” for early childhood teaching supplies and materials.

Celebrating Apples and Johnny Appleseed

Published by Tricia on September 22, 2008 in life science, resource links, teaching and social studies. 0 Comments

This Friday, September 26th, is the anniversary of Johnny Appleseed’s birth. Many classrooms are studying apples and fall right now, so I thought it only appropriate to share some selected resources with you.

The American Storyteller Radio Journal, Episode 190 - Nelson Lauver briefly discussed the history of Johnny Apple.

The US Apple Association has a variety of downloadable materials.

Apples and More - Here you’ll find some information on apples, apple history, and apple varieties.

johnny_view.jpgJohnny Appleseed: A Pioneer - This site from the Virginia State Apple Board provides information on John Chapman.

Mrs. Nelson’s Class: Apple Unit - Here you’ll find activities, reproducibles and photographs of finished apple projects.

Passionately Curious: Apple Study - This is a brief description of an apple study that includes samples of student journal entries.

Monthly Theme: Apples - This site from Houghton Mifflin provides a series of activity ideas and downloadable materials.

Wisconsin Apple Growers Association Educational Materials - Here you’ll find apple facts, word games and stories, as well as PDF files for your use.

A is for Apple - This thematic unit has a variety of songs, poems, activity ideas and book suggestions.

Apple Orchard Field Trip Tips - Here are some great ideas if you are planning on visiting an orchard.

Teacher CyberGuide: Apples - This S.C.O.R.E project is focused on second grade activities on apples.

Apple Country Teacher Kit - Scroll down for a series of downloadable lessons and activities on apples.

**Jane Yolen has a new book out entitled Johnny Appleseed: The Legend and the Truth. You can read my review.

Must-Have Subscriptions for Teachers

Published by Tricia on July 11, 2008 in resource links and teaching. 0 Comments

For years teachers have been asking me where I get my ideas from and how I manage to always seem to “know” where so many great resources are. The truth is, I have a series of e-mail subscriptions that I can’t live without. I’m sharing them with you here. I hope you find them as great a store of information as I have.

Miss Maggie
This weekly e-mail update (during the academic year) provides teachers with lessons and activities, free weekly activity packets (downloadable in pdf format), and opportunities to win free books and materials.
http://www.missmaggie.org/eng/regform.html

LearningPage.com
Members (free registration) have access to over 1500 worksheets, activities and lesson plans for preschool through third grade. In addition to basic worksheets on the Alphabet, Numbers, Money, Time, Measurement, the Calendar, and the Senses, there are also themed worksheets as well as monthly pages. A monthly newsletter announces all the recent additions to the site.
http://www.learningpage.com/free_pages/member_preview.html

Surfing the Net with Kids by Barbara Feldman
This weekly newsletter contains three site recommendations on a single topic. Topics include everything from How to Write Poetry, D-Day, Volcanoes, Endangered Species and more.
http://www.surfnetkids.com/emailedition.htm

PBS Teachers Newsletter
This weekly newsletter alerts you to PBS shows with of interest to you and provides links to online resources. Once you sign up you can create a profile at PBS Teachers and identify your local PBS station, your subject area, and/or the grade level you teach. Your newsletter content will then be arranged so that you see the most relevant information right away.
http://www.pbs.org/teachers/newsletter/

EDINFO Mailing List
EDInfo provides 1-2 email messages a week describing new federal teaching and learning resources and ED funding opportunities.
http://www.ed.gov/news/newsletters/edinfo/index.html

Works4Me Newsletter
This weekly newsletter from the NEA contains practical tips from teachers on everything from managing your classroom to teaching content to getting organized and many more areas.
http://www.nea.org/tips/index.html

Math Solutions Online Newsletter
This quarterly newsletter on math education contains lessons to use in your classroom, answers to questions from teachers and information on what’s new at Math Solutions.
http://www.mathsolutions.com/index.cfm?page=form&crid=117

AIMS (Activities Integrating Math and Science) News
In this monthly newsletter subscribers receive two free activities, a puzzle, a special offer, and information on what’s new at AIMS.
http://www.aimsedu.org/aimsnews/index.html

Dover Publications Teacher Sampler
This weekly email is filled with projects and activities, including puzzles and brain-teasers, science projects, stories and poems, nature illustrations, and more. Sample pages are available online.
http://www.doverpublications.com/ts002/

Graphs Galore

Published by Tricia on June 30, 2008 in resource links and math. 3 Comments

I’m in the midst of teaching a class called Improving Elementary Math. I have a great group of teachers with whom I am exploring ways to expand their repertoire of tools for teaching a variety of concepts in math. For part of the day today we focused on graphs and data analysis. I am a HUGE fan of daily graphing in the elementary classroom, so I spent some time looking for ideas to share. I came across some really terrific resources, so I’m sharing them here.

Mrs. Meacham’s Resources

Graph of the Day (with printables)
 http://www.kinderpond.com/graphingideas.html

Daily Sign-In Questions
 http://www.proteacher.net/discussions/showthread.php?t=14153

Mathwire Resources

Graphing in Your Classroom
http://www.teachingheart.net/graphing1.html

Kidscount1234 Resources

Classroom Graphing Ideas
http://www.abc123kindergarten.com/graphmka2001.html

Mrs McGowan’s Graphs
http://www.mrsmcgowan.com/math/graphs.htm

CanTeach Math: List of Daily Math Graph Questions
http://www.canteach.ca/elementary/numbers13.html

In addition to these resources, I recommend these two books about graphing.

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Tiger Math: Learning to Graph from a Baby Tiger by Ann Whitehead Nagda and Cindy Bickel - This book uses a variety of picture, circle (pie), bar, and line graphs to demonstrate how an orphaned Siberian tiger cub grows as he is raised by hand. The story of T.J.’s growth told through text, photos and graphs, with graphs appearing on the left page with explanations.

The Great Graph Contest by Loreen Leedy - What happens when a snail, toad and lizard get together? Why the snail sets up a contest between his friends to see who can make the best graph! Points will be awarded by snail for correct math, creativity, and neatness. Who do you think will win? There is much going on here that kids will love. A great deal of information is shared in word balloons. At the end of the book, the data collection and construction of each graph are carefully explained.