Open Wide, Look Inside

Jump Into Science SAND, written by Ellen Prager is a great book for students when learning about sand.  The book starts off by explaining the different uses of sand: beaches, desert dunes, home for certain aquatic life and the recreational uses people use sand for: walk, lie down and to build sand castles. The autor does a fantastic job of describing what sand is make of , where it comes from and how sand moves from location to location.

“Sand can be many colors-white, red, green, tan, or black. Some sand even looks like the black and white of a Dalmation’s spotted coat. The color of sand comes from the color of it’s grains.”

The book explains in detail how the various colors of sand are seen around the world.  An example is a white beach which is made up of the beautiful coral reef’s and shells found in the water close by.  It can take a very long time for sand to create the beautiful beaches we are use to today.  There are sections of the book that show what the different colors of sand look like up close.

Ellen Prager does a great job explaining how sand travels for the early elementary student while still capitaviting the older student.  Sand can travel by water, wind and ice.  She explains how each of the natural ways of movement shape the grains of sand differently.  At the end of the book you will find a fun activity titled, Shake It Up.  This would be a fun way for students to learn hands on how sand can be made.

Curriculum Connections

This would be a great resource for teachers teaching about minerals and rocks in the classroom (SOL 4.9C).  The book explains in detail how rocks and minerals are broken up into smaller pieces, which make a grain of sand.  This book can be used throughout the state of Virginia for teaching students about the sand they can find sand along the east coast of Virginia at the beach as well as small recretation areas along the west coast of Virginia.

Resources

Early elementary students can complete the word search, At The Beach to find words associated with the beach.  This would also go along well when teaching about the seasons.

Activites for students ranging from preschool to grade 3.  This web-site has ideas for teachers to use such as sand pictures & sand beads. The web-site also can provide teachers with information about the animals that live (habitat) in the sand.

Another fun activity for students would be making sand filled bottles and creating sand art. Students can create different layers of colored sand while learning about the different colors and how they are created.

Book: Jump Into Science SAND
Author: Ellen Prager
Illustrator: Nancy Woodman
Publisher: National Geographic Society
Publication Date: 2006
Pages: 31
Grade Range: Preschool-5th grade
ISBN: 0-7922-5583-6

Oh Say Can You Say What’s the Weather Today? by Tish Rabe and Illustrated by Aristides Ruiz is a book from The Cat in the Hat’s Learning Library. This series is written in the style of Dr. Seuss and provides an educational resource with fun rhymes. I enjoyed this book because it reminds me of the Dr. Seuss classics I read as child but also provides the student with difficult vocabulary but is presented in an exciting way. The book walks through the different types of weather and provides reasons that we need to know what the weather is going to be. The story goes on to explain how we can look at nature for clues on how the weather may be. ” A pine cone can forecast the weather. Here’s why. It’s closed when it’s wet. Opened up when it’s dry. Here is a fact that we cannot explain. Frogs croak a lot more when its going to rain.”  I enjoy all of the illustrations and the Seuss made up places like Groogle and Gret  At the end of the book, there is a glossary with definitions that are kid friendly and there is also a list of books that could be used to further knowledge on weather.

Curriculum Connections
The book explains the different types of weather that occurs and also explains why it is important to record and measure weather. There is also some explanation on how to read a weather map. (SOL 2.6 a, b, c and 4.6 a).  The author also explains what tools are used in determining weather. (SOL 4.6b)

Additional Resources:
The “Weather Dude” is a page by Nick Walker who is a meteorologist with The Weather Channel. His site features explanations on the different types of weather and also has a song to go with each type of weather. Each song provides lyrics and the audio. The songs are catchy and fun to sing too. This could be a fun way to learn about weather.
jetStream- An Online School for Weather is a site provided by the National Weather Service. The site feature background on most weather phenomenons that would be valuable for the teacher and also provides ideas for lesson plans and activities.  The site does not only talk about weather, it talks about the ocean and its features.
Mrs.Herbic’s Kindergarten is a great tool for kindergarten teachers with ideas for teaching basic weather and great activities for the students to do. She has lots to offer on her website and it is divided into themes by month. I picked the Spring/Weather page and it is filled with detail photos and ideas for reading. She suggests a big book about weather and provides an idea for a foldable on spring. I like that everything has a picture and you see the students actually doing the activities.
The Weather is a great resource for teaching ELL students about weather and the terms associate with weather. This site has printable flashcards and links to several sites that will assist in the teaching of students that are unfamiliar with the English language. I like how the site is divided into sections and provides easy ways to find what a teacher may be looking for.

General Information
Book: Oh Say Can You Say What’s the Weather Today?
Author: Tish Rabe
Illustrator: Aristides Ruiz
Publisher: Random House
Publication Date: 2004
Pages: 45
ISBN:0375822763

Summary:

Living Sunlight How Plants Bring The Earth To Life, a book written by Holly Bang and Penny Chisholm. This book introduces kids to photosynthesis in a simplestic way. In the book it discusses how plants and animals take in the sunlight to grow and make food for the child who then eats the plants and drinks the sunlight and grows. Throughout the book the pulse of the child is seen as the pulse of the world and the warmth of the child is seen as the warmth of the sun. The colorful illustrations in the book are great for first and second graders. In conlusion this book can be used to teach students about the science cirrculum.

Curriculum Connection:

1.4(a) plants need air, water, light and a place to grow. The book describes how the sunlight melts glaciers, warms the land and create your winds . (c) The book then goes on to describe that the secret starts in green plants because they suck up H2o from the earth plants and can be classified on a variety of characteristics. (2.5a) With adquete food, shelter, space or cover the plants trap the energy as little packets.

Additional Resources:

Water experiments: Surface tension is one of water’s most important properties. It is the reason that water collects in drops, but it is also why water can travel up a plant stem, or get to your cells through the smallest blood vessels. Water experimetns allows you to experiment with surface tension using just a few household items.

People and Space: Students will understand preservation of food and space-saving storage, also what dehydration means and how dehydrated foods can be consumed by mixing the food with saliva from the eater's mouth or by adding water

The Living Earth: Discuss glaciers, how they change the land and how the planets structure changes

General Information:

Book: Living Sunlight

Author: Holly Bang & Penny Chisholm

Publication Date: 2006

Pages: 1-30

Grade Range: 1-3

ISBN: 3 3082 01074 2996

Introduction/Summary
Exploring the seasons is a very simple way to teach earth science to elementary school students.  Our Seasons, written by Grace Lin and Ranida T. McKneally, shows four young children experiencing the joys of each season while answering basic scientific questions about how the seasons affect weather, plants, and people.   The book answers the question “why do we have seasons?” in a very accessible and kid-friendly way, and offers a helpful illustration showing the rotation of the earth around the sun.  From this starting point, each of the following pages features lovely illustrations of the children enjoying the seasons and their natural phenomena, accompanied by seasonal haikus.  For example, in the cold autumn air, “Ki-Ki sees her breath./She pretends she’s a dragon/Blowing out hot steam.”  The text then answers the question, “Why do I see my breath?”  Other pages offer more fun illustrations, haiku, and seasonal questions and answers; for example: Why is there frost on the windows?  What makes a thunderstorm?  Why is the air sticky?  Parents will be very familiar with these often-asked questions, and they are charmingly answered here.  The book concludes with the question, “Does everyone have four seasons?,” and the authors explain that some regions of the world have only two, and even at the North or South Pole, you have a light season and a dark season, though both seasons are cold.  A glossary in the back provides helpful vocabulary for young readers.

Curriculum Connections
This picture book could be used to add more information to any earth science lesson focused upon the seasons and weather observations.  Kindergarten students learning about weather (K.8) or the different states of water (K.5) would certainly enjoy the pictures and an educator could simply conduct a picture walk through the book to talk about changes throughout the year.  Elementary students learning more about seasonal changes and their effects on weather phenomena (2.6, 3.8, 4.6) would enjoy this engaging book, and can see how seasonal change affects plants, people, and their surroundings (1.7, 2.7).  Fourth graders who are studying the motion of the Earth around the sun and the causes of the Earth’s seasons (4.7)  could utilize this as well.  Independent readers would enjoy this easy read, and it would be a good addition to the classroom library.  Educators could use the pictures and seasonal haiku as an inspired springboard for a science/language-arts activity.

Additional Resources

• National Geographic’s Xpeditions: A Reason for the Season activities: Younger students can work as season sleuths over the course of the year as they draw pictures of a place in their yard or neighborhood on each of the solstices and equinoxes, recording observations about natural phenomena and noting activities that people enjoy during that time period.  Older students can investigate seasonal celebrations around the world and create their own celebrations using foods and flowers particular to each season.

• Brain Pop:  Seasons:  This site provides fun information and animated videos about the seaons, the solstices and equinoxes, why birds seasonally migrate, and even offers a spotlight on winter and snow that offers hibernation information.

• Not Just Cute’s blog post:  Vivaldi’s Four Seasons:  Don’t Just Listen, Get Up and Move!  (12/30/2009) – This blog site offers up many great ideas for preschoolers, but this lesson could certainly be adapted for any elementary grade level as it incorporates music and movement to talk about the seasons.  Many children have heard Vivaldi’s music before and this offers a great incentive to make a cross-curricular connection and can be extended into a visual art activity.

• NASA Kids offers up two science activities to help explain the reason for the seasons and the role of water in each of the seasons. Their four seasons of water paper plate collage could easily be turned into a foldable activity.

• The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s National Weather Service has links to help explain seasonal weather patterns such as hurricanes and tornadoes.

• Traditional Japanese haiku poems must contain a kigo, a season word, to indicate in which season the haiku is set.  For a lesson plan on how to introduce haiku into a seasons lesson plan, the International Reading Association and the National Council of Teachers of English’s readthinkwrite website offers great tips on how to get your students writing.

General Information

• Book:  Our Seasons

• Author:  Grace Lin and Ranida T. McKneally

• Illustrator:  Grace Lin

• Publisher:  Charlesbridge Publishing, Inc.

• Publication Date:  2006

• Pages: 32

• Grade Range:  kindergarten through fourth

• ISBN: 1570913617