Archive for the 'science' Category

Teaching Life Processes with Children’s Literature: Growing Like Me

Published by Jennifer K. on September 14, 2009 in life science, book review and science. 0 Comments

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Introduction and Summary:
Growing Like Me, written by Anne Rockwell and illustrated by Holly Keller, is a great resource to use when exploring life processes at the most basic level.  The book begins by explaining, “Here in the meadow, by the woods and the pond, everything is growing, just like me,” (pages 3-5).  Growing Like Me, goes on to show students how living things change as they grow.  Examples include; white blossoms transforming into berries, a blue egg hatching and becoming a robin, and a pollywoogs wiggling in the water turning into big, green frogs.  The book concludes, by the author explaining that humans too change as they grow.  “Little baby brother, what in the world will you grow up to be?  You’ll see!  One day you’ll be a big boy-just like me,” (pages 19-21).

Curriculum Connections:
Growing Like Me is appropriate for use in the kindergarten curriculum.  It can be used in several ways.  First, it can be used as students begin their investigation of basic needs and life processes of plants and animals.  Growing Like Me is a great source to use when teaching students about how living things change they grow (VA SOL K.6 a).  The book provides several examples of plants and animals changing as they mature including showing how eggs hatch and acorns transform into oak trees.  Additionally, this book can be employed when students learn about offspring.  This book does a great job through its text and pictures illustrating that the offspring of plants and animals are similar, but not identical to their parents and to one another (VA SOL K.6 c).  One example in the book shows how baby ducklings, look similar, but not identical to grown ducks.

Additional Resources:
-This animal parent matching game is a great and interactive way for teachers to illustrate how animals change as they grow.
-The Growing Storyby Ruth Krauss is another great book teachers may want to share with their classes.
-This worksheet can be used to reinforce that living things change as they grow.

General Information:
Book: Growing Like Me
Author: Anne Rockwell
Illustrator: Holly Keller
Publisher: Harcourt, Inc.
Publication Date: 2001
Pages: 21
Grade Range:K-1
ISBN: 0-15-202202-3

Teaching Life Science with Children’s Literature: What Do You Do With a Tail Like This?

Published by Jasmine on September 14, 2009 in life science, book review and science. 0 Comments

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What Do You Do With a Tail Like This? is written by Robin Page and illustrated by Steve Jenkins. The book shows students that different types of animals use their eyes, nose, ears, tails, mouths and feet in very different ways. This book can be very interactive. The first page for each body part has an almost 3-D picture of the body part of five different animals. Students can try to guess what animal the part belongs to. When you turn the page it shows the full animal and tells you how the animal uses that body part.

Each use is very unique and interesting. For example: a cricket hears with his ears that are on his knees, a bat “sees” with his ears, a jackrabbit uses his ears to keep cool, a humpback whale can hear sounds hundreds of miles away with his ears and a hippopotamus closes his ears when he’s under water. The back of the book gives more details about each of the 30 animals.

 

Curriculum Connections: This book would be useful when teaching physical characteristics of animals. SOL 1.5(b). It shows that animals have physical adaptations that allow them to respond to certain life needs. SOL 3.4. The book can also be used as an introduction to habitats. SOL  2.5.

Additional Resources:

  • Here’s the author’s website. It lists all of his books and has a resources page with links to other websites.

  • SmithLifeScience.com is a great resource for teachers. It has multiple pages on different subjects within life science. The link takes you directly to a page devoted to answering the question: What is Life? It has 7 days worth of lesson plans, worksheets and activities for this subject.

  • Seeing, Hearing and Smelling the World is a page on the Howard Hughes Medical Institute website. This is a good site for teachers to learn more about the senses to prepare for lesson plans and questions from students. This site was in the back of the book Making Sense of Senses. This book is full of experiments for elementary students.

  • Education World has a ton of lesson plans on life science. Amusing Animal Adaptations works for grades 3-5.

General Information:
Book: What Do You Do With a Tail Like This?
Author: Robin Page
Illustrator: Steve Jenkins
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company
Publication Date: 2003
Grade Range: k-3
ISBN: 9780618997138

Teaching Life Science with Children’s Literature: From Seed to Pumpkin

Published by Ashley R. on September 13, 2009 in life science, book lists and science. 0 Comments

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From Seed to Pumpkin is a great story that will answer kids questions about where pumpkins come from and it integrates science with a seasonal theme. The story begins with the farmer planting seeds in the spring and takes you through an entire year of the life of a pumpkin. Throughout the story there are explanations describing how the seeds are growing and what the needs of the plant are. It explains how flowers bloom on the vines and after they wither away they turn into tiny fruits that begin to grow. The book also explains some uses of pumpkins as jack-o’-lanterns and for pumpkin pie for fall holidays. At the end of the story it is spring again and the farmer is out planting more pumpkin seeds. This book will give children a great understanding of the needs of plants and how they grow throughout the seasons of the year.

Curriculum Connections:

This book is a great tool to use for a unit on plants and living things, pumpkins or Halloween.  It discusses the needs of plants(air, water, light, place to grow) and the parts of the plant(seed, stem, roots, leaves, stem, flower buds). For Virginia, this covers Life Processes SOLs K.6 and 1.4.

Additional Resources:

  • First School has a good worksheet students can practice the letter P and sequences with a pumpkin unit.
  • Busy Teacher Cafe has a great pumpkin unit and different ways you can use pumpkins in math, science, and writing. It has ideas for bulletin boards, crafts, and even some pumpkin poems.
  • The Pumpkin Circle has a great informational page that discusses lots of questions about pumpkins from how to grow then to when should they be picked.
  • Education World has a good lesson for predictions with pumpkins where kids get to count the seeds of different size pumpkins and then graph the results.

Title: From Seed to Pumpkin
Author:  Wendy Pfeffer
Publisher: Harper Collins Publishers
Publication Date: 2004
Pages: 33
Grade Range: K-1st
ISBN:9780064451901

Teaching Life Science with Children’s Literature: A Tree Is a Plant

Published by Mahindra on September 13, 2009 in life science and science. 0 Comments

 A Tree Is a Plant (Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science)

What is a tree and how does it grow?   Clyde Robert Bulla’s simple and concise text and Stacey Schuett’s lush illustrations follow an apple tree’s continuous life cycle through spring, summer, winter, and fall in the book, A Tree Is a Plant.  Trees can live for a very long time, and they are alive all year long, even when they look dead in winter.  In this newly illustrated book, A Tree Is a Plant,  you will learn how a tree grows and how it gets food and water.  You can also find out what happens to water after it travels through a tree’s roots, branches, leaves, and how to figure a tree’s age.

From the Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out Science series, this reillustrated book on the science of trees is well designed for early-primary-grade children. The text, from the 1960 edition of the book, follows an apple plant from seed to sprout to tree, including the development of blossoms, leaves, and fruit. The functions of roots, trunk, branches, and leaves are also discussed, as well as the seasonal changes in the tree.  Schuett’s colorful paintings clearly illustrate topics explained in the text, while their pleasing colors, rounded forms, and small, playful animals will help keep young children involved in the topic. Bulla discusses the parts of the tree and their functions without complex explanations of the mechanisms involved in fruit formation and photosynthesis.  Bulla (1960) writes, “The blossoms last only a few days.  The apples are where the blossoms were before”(pg. 13).  Concepts such as water intake are emphasized with arrows indicating its route within the plant.  The last page includes a simple activity– a way of estimating the age of a tree–and a few suggested books on trees and plants. A good starting place for understanding trees.

Curriculum ConnectionsIn the area of life science, the  Virginia Science SOL’s for grades K-2  stresses the importance of  understanding the basic  needs and life processes of plants and animals, life cycles, and seasonal changes.  A Tree Is a Plant is appropriate for multiple grade levels and could be used to directly address SOL’s K.8b, K.8c, 1.4a, 1.4b, and 2.4b.If you would like to find out more about trees, here are a few suggestions for grades K-2:

  • Read the story aloud with the students and talk about what is going on in each picture.
  • Ask questions about  the story, such as:  ” What helps the seed to grow?”   Or “Is the tree still alive in the wintertime?
  • Give the Leaf experiment as a homework assignment to older students: (See the back of the book for details on the experiment).  The experiment allows children to record observations of water after it reaches the leaves of tree over a period of one week.
  • Find the age of a tree with your class or give it as a homework assignment:  To find the age of tree, wrap a tape measure around the trunk about three feet above the ground.  The distance that you are measuring around the middle of a tree is called the girth.  Every inch in the girth equals about one year in a tree’s growth.  How old is your tree?  Is it younger or older than you are?  By how many years?

Additional ResourcesTry these websites where you’ll find lesson plans, worksheets, activities and coloring pages to aid your life science education quest.

  • Spring Has Sprung - An activity that teaches students about water flow in plants
  • Learn About Trees - A guide for teachers that includes: worksheets, activities, field trip ideas - for K-6.
  • Coillte - several worksheets for labeling parts of a tree  - for 1st & 2nd grade
  • Let’s Grow Plants - a lesson plan on how seeds grow into plants

Book:  A Tree Is a PlantAuthor:  Clyde Robert BullaIllustrator:  Stacey SchuettPublisher:  HarperCollinsPublication Date:  2001Pages:  40 pagesGrade Range:  K-2ISBN-13:  978-0064451963

Teaching Life Science with Children’s Literature: Living Sunlight How Plants Bring the Earth to Life

Published by Kim on September 10, 2009 in life science, nonfiction and science. 0 Comments

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Living Sunlight How Plants Bring the Earth to Life written by Molly Bang & Penny Chisholm, illustrated by Molly Bang

This book’s brightly colored pictures not only describe photosynthesis to children, but it also tells why it is important to us and our planet.

The Sun tells the story of photosynthesis by starting off describing itself and what it does for Earth. “My light becomes the energy for all life on Earth.” It goes on to describe photosynthesis in green plants. “Plants suck up water-H2O-from the Earth. In daylight, green plants catch my energy with their chlorophyll.” It also goes on to tell us different reasons why it is important that we know about it, “All the oxygen you living creatures breathe comes from green plants.” There is a notes page in the back of the book that helps to describe photosynthesis in more detail and gives additional information that can be looked at for furthering the education on photosynthesis.

Curriculum Connections
Living Sunlight How Plants Bring the Earth to Life is a great resource for teaching photosynthesis. It helps students understand the process that is involved and how photosynthesis is involved in the life cycle. It is connected to VA SOL 4.4 (c). The student will investigate and understand basic plant anatomy and life processes including photosynthesis (sunlight, chlorophyll, water, carbon dioxide, oxygen, and sugar).

Additional Resources

  • For a lesson plan on photosynthesis check out A Beginning Look at Photosynthesis: Plants Need Light.
  • A simple explanation is made in the podcast Photosynthesis. There are a few different podcasts on the same page, but just scroll down to the heading of photosynthesis and you will be able to listen to the podcast as you watch some visuals.
  • This is a photosynthesis worksheet where they can label some parts of photosynthesis.
  • Even though the Photosynthesis Rap may be a little advanced, it is catchy and it may spark some curiosity in your students. Even if you don’t want to play the entire song, the first verse and chorus would still be helpful.
  • The photosynthesis activity on Newton’s Apple will take a few days to see the results, but it will be worth it.

Book: Living Sunlight How Planets Bring the Earth to Life
Author: Molly Bang & Penny Chisholm
Illustrator: Molly Bang
Publisher: The Blue Sky Press
Publication Date: 2009
Pages: 40 pages
Grade Range: 1-6
ISBN: 9780545044226

Teaching Life Science with Children’s Literature: How Many Ways Can You Catch A Fly?

Published by Emma on September 9, 2009 in life science, nonfiction, environment, book review and science. 0 Comments

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How Many Ways Can You Catch A Fly?, written by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page, and illustrated by Jenkins, is an eye-opening book that explores the adaptations of animals all around the word, and how they learn to survive with their interesting characteristics.

Each page is filled with beautiful pictures of animals portrayed as collages using different paper textures. The book is separated into 6 sections: How many ways can you… snare a fish? hatch an egg? use a leaf? catch a fly? dig a hole? and eat a clam? In each of these sections, Jenkins has depicted animals (many of which children may have never even heard of!)  using their adaptations to survive in their environment. For example, in the “How many ways can you hatch an egg?” section, Jenkins and Page describe how “The ichneumon wasp lays its eggs inside a caterpillar. When the eggs hatch, the wasp larvae eat the caterpillar from the inside out.” At the end of the book, children can explore the additional information on each animal presented in the book. Your students are sure to find the large, detailed animal pictures and their crazy characteristics intriguing!

Curriculum Connections
How Many Ways Can You Catch A Fly? would be great to use in grades 1-3 when learning about adaptations and animals’ characteristics that help them to survive. Specific Virginia SOLs that correlate to this topic would be 1.5, animals’ life needs and characteristics, 2.5a, that organisms are dependent on their living and nonliving surroundings, and 3.4, that animals have physical and behavioral adaptations that allow them to live in their environments.

Additional Resources

  • Allow your students to play this fun and interactive game where they learn about some physical characteristics of beavers that allow them to survive in the wild.
  • Students can learn about adaptations of the camel through this song found on YouTube.
  • This National Geographic lesson plan will teach more about adaptations, then allow for students to create their own imaginary animal with specific adaptations.

Book: How Many Ways Can You Catch A Fly?
Author: Steve Jenkins and Robin Page
Illustrator: Steve Jenkins
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children
Publication Date: 2008
Pages: 32
Grade Range: 1-3
ISBN-13: 978-0618966369

Teaching Physical Science with Children’s Literature: Forces Make Things Move

Published by Sarah on September 7, 2009 in physical science, book review, science and Uncategorized. 0 Comments

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Forces Make Things Move, written by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley and illustrated by Paul Meisel, is from the “Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out” series (stage 2) which explores more challenging concepts for kids in the primary grades. The idea of invisible forces (such as friction and gravity) might be somewhat abstract to children, but since they experience them everyday, this book relates the concepts to them in an easier way to understand.  The story begins by explaining how pushing and pulling is a force, and how an object’s weight affects force.

“It’s why a breeze can’t blow your family’s car off the driveway. Other things, like leaves and papers and hats, don’t weigh very much. Even tiny forces can make them fly around. A little wind makes enough forces to make them move. But if your big brother is lying on the living room couch, you’re going to have to push pretty hard to force him off” (p. 8-9).

The second part of learning about forces and movement, is discovering what makes things stop.  Why won’t your toy car just keep going forever if it doesn’t hit anything to make it stop? This is the concept of FRICTION.  The book continues to explain about how different surfaces, including air and space, have more or less friction.

The final section of the book describes gravity. Kids don’t often wonder why they walk on the ground instead of the ceiling, but Forces Make Things Move explains how big of a force the earth exerts on objects. “Gravity is such a part of our everyday lives that you probably don’t even think about it. If you spill a glass of milk, you expect it to spill down, onto the floor, rather than up, onto the ceiling” (p. 27).

Like any good science book, the end of the story includes a science experiment for kids.  It is a very simple experiment about friction where the student uses a toy car and a ramp with different materials (sandpaper, towel, waxed paper, ect.) placed at the end. The student then decides which material has more friction and why.

Curriculum Connections
This book could be used as early as first grade to discuss force as pushes and pulls, using objects like toy cars (VA SOL 1.2).  By grade four, the children could read and understand this book on their own, and it will support the learning of how forces cause changes in motion, as well as the investigation of friction as an opposing force (VA SOL 4.2).

Additional Resources

  • This list is a good compilation of the Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out Science series (stage 2) books, and is also located on a “book club” blog which could be used as a great resource for any teacher who is looking for books to use in the classroom.
  • Here is a website that is filled with a plethora of energy and motion experiments for kids of all ages!
  • Science Online has been organized as a list of grade-specific links on force and motion computer activities and lesson plans.

Book: Forces Make Things Move
Author: Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
Illustrator: Paul Meisel
Publisher: Collins
Publication Date: August, 2005
Pages: 35
Grade Range: 1-4
ISBN: 006445214X

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: Busy Wheels

Published by Michelle on September 7, 2009 in book review and science. 0 Comments

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Introduction/Summary
Busy Wheels by Peter Lippman  and illustrated by Aurelius Battaglia explores a variety of different machines found in the environment. This books gives many good examples of how wheels can be used. All of these items with wheels do very important jobs. “Some children ride in school buses. Some Ride on bicycles. Others travel by car.” This book provides many everyday examples that students may see in everyday life.

Curriculum Connections
This book would be a great way to show students examples of machines with wheels. It could be used for students to read at a center or could be used as a teaching tool for the whole class. This applies to SOL 3.2 (c and d) providing examples of everyday machines in school, home and in the community.

Additional Resources

  • This website provides definitions of both simple and compound machines. This site could be a very good beginning point for the students.
  • This video gives the students an opportunity to watch how a compound machine, the pulley works. This would expand on the students knowledge.
  • Here is a simple activity for students to complete about machines. This site provides lesson plans for the teacher on different types of machines.

General Information
Book: Busy Wheels
Author: Peter Lippman
Illustrator:Aurelius Battaglia
Publisher: Random House
Publication Date: 1973
Pages:38
Grade Range: 2-4
ISBN:0-394-82706-6

Teaching Physical Science with Children’s Literature: Who Sank the Boat?

Published by Cory on September 7, 2009 in physical science, book review, poetry, science and Uncategorized. 0 Comments

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Who Sank the Boat? by Pamela Allen is a short, repetitive, and slightly rhyming story that helps children learn about sinking and floating, as well as making assumptions and hypotheses.  Who Sank the Boat? begins with several barnyard animals who decide that they would like to go for a short row in a boat, and follows them as they try to fit all the animals in the boat without it tipping over.

“Was it the cow who almost fell in, when she tilted the boat and made such a din?  No, it wasn’t the cow who almost fell in.  Do you know who sank the boat?

The story continues as the smaller animals begin to enter the boat, and the it gets lower in the water.

“Was it the pig as fat as butter, who stepped in at the side and caused a great flutter?  No, it wasn’t the pig as fat as butter.  Do you know who sank the boat?

The end has a surprise twist, that very few readers are likely to predict.

“Was it the little mouse, the last to get in, who was the lightest of all?  Could it be him? You DO know who sank the boat.”

This book teaches that something’s ability to float or sink can depend on the removal or addition of even a very small item, such as a mouse, as well as where items are placed inside a boat to keep the weight evenly distributed to help balance the boat.

Curriculum Connections:

This book can help children become familiar with water and its properties, and is able to support some materials, ie: allowing them to float, and its inability to support others, ie: sinking.  Through follow up lessons and assignments this book also assists students in understanding that water and its properties can be observed, tested, and recorded, as is reflected in VA Science SOL K.5c.

Additional Resources:

The Science NetLinks site has a good lesson plan involving an online sinking and floating activity as well as using aluminum foil to make miniature boats to practice making them float and sink.

The Athens State University website reccommends using this book to connect to measuring scales and units such as a pound, and figuring out which things are likely to weigh more and less than a pound.

The SEDL website has a good lesson plan for helping students make predictions about which objects will float or sink, as well as help them record data in graphic organizers.

General Resources:
Book: Who Sank the Boat?
Author/Illustrator: Pamela Allen
Publisher: Putnam Juvenile
Publication Date: April 16, 1996
Pages: 32 pages
Grade Range: Kindergarten-1st
ISBN: 978-0698113732