Teaching Life Science with Children’s Literature: Winter’s Tail: How One Little Dolphin Learned to Swim Again

Posted on March 28, 2010 by openwidearchive

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Winter's Tail: How One Dolphin Learned to Swim Again, told by Juliana Hatkoff, Isabella Hatkoff, and Craig Hatkoff, is a heartwarming book that chronicles the amazing true story of Winter, a three-month old Atlantic bottle-nosed dolphin who lost her tail after becoming entangled in a crab trap.  The book contains the actual photographs as Winter was rescued from Mosquito Lagoon (near Cape Canaveral) by Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute.  She was then transported to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, a rescue, rehab, and release stranding center for marine animals.

Winter's journey at Clearwater Marine Aquarium was not an easy one at first.  But Winter persevered and eventually was able to swim on her own.  The problem was her tail was so injured that it fell off.  Without her tail, she swished her tail stump from side to side like a fish, instead of the up-and-down tail action of a dolphin.  "Winter had taught herself an entirely new way to swim!"  But her trainers were concerned this would damage her backbone.  As Winter adapted to her new home & not having a tail, it became even more apparent that she needed to learn how to swim like a dolphin to avoid further injury and develop muscles properly.

Luckily Kevin Carroll, a premier creator of prostheses, heard about Winter's dilemma and believe he could help.  Working with a team of experts, and despite many obstacles, they were eventually able to create a new, innovative prosthetic tail for Winter.  This new tail helps to keep her backbone healthy and her body flexible.  It also resulted in these innovations crossing over to bring more advanced technology to prosthetics for humans.

The book goes on to say that Winter and her visitors seem to have a special connection…

From children who have prostheses, to veterans who lost a limb fighting in a war, to one little girl who didn't want to wear a hearing aid until she met Winter, people saw how Winter learned to adapt and are inspired by her story.

Beyond all expectations, Winter has thrived and has become an inspiration to the disabled and able-bodied alike.  Winter's inspiring story uses narrative writing and fantastic photographs to deliver an important message of hope, adaptation, friendship, and universal acceptance.

Curriculum Connections

Winter's Tail: How One Little Dolphin Learned to Swim Again can be used to introduce and/or enhance many of the life science Standards of Learning. Winter's ability to adapt to her new environment at the aquarium and to her prothetic tail can show the key concept of behavioral and structural adaptions when investigating how animals in an ecosystem interact with one another and the nonliving environment.   (VA SOL 4.5a)  Looking at how the crab trap placed in the water by humans caused the dolphin to become entangled and injured can be an example of possible negative influences of human activities on ecosystems. (VA SOL 4.5f)  Concepts of Winter's instinct and learned behavior can be explored.  (VA SOL 3.4b) The student can investigate the physical characteristics (body coverings, body shape, appendages, and methods of movement) of the Atlantic Bottlenose dolphin and explore the importance of the dolphin's tail as an appendage that allows a dolphin to survive in the wild. (VA SOL 1.5b).

Additional Resources

General Information

Book: Winter's Tail: How One Little Dolphin Learned to Swim Again
Author: Jauliana Hatkoff, Isabella Hatkoff & Craig Hatkoff
Illustrator: n/a
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Publication Date: 2009
Pages: 40
Grade Range: PreK – 6
ISBN-10: 0545123356
ISBN-13: 978-0545123358

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Teaching Life Science With Children’s Literature: The Tiny Seed

Posted on March 28, 2010 by openwidearchive

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Introduction and Summary

Eric Carle’s , The Tiny Seed,  is a fabulous book about the life cycle of a tiny little seed as it finds it’s way through the world high in the air, far away, across the ocean, past hungry birds, endures the winter and spring and ends up growing into a beautiful giant flower that the whole community admires.  Eric Carle’s way with words and amazing collage illustrations turn the life cycle of a seed into a very exciting story and at the end of the giant flower’s life we see the process start all over again.        

Curriculum Connections

This book is a great resource to use when instructing elementary school students on life science.  The book could be used to build background knowledge or as a refresher on what students may have already learned.  It’s a useful resource when instructing on the basic needs and life processes of plants.  This book provides many ideas to get creative with your class when teaching the plant life cycle. (K.7a, 1.4a, 2.4b)

Additional Resources

Eric Carle collage instruction sheet.  This site provides instructions on how to create a collage in the style of Eric Carle.  The students could work in groups as they each create a different scene from the book that depicts the life cycle of a plant.  The project could be used as a class display and serve as a reference for later instruction.

How a seed grows into a plant.  This is a great interactive site that kids could use independently at a technology center in the classroom while learning about the life cycle of a plant

Here’s a good site for teacher ideas of how to incorporate The Tiny Seed into a lesson.  It comes from a Project Learning Tree Workshop in Florida.

 This is a great site provided by Agriculture in the Classroom.  It provides a worksheet directly related to Eric Carle’s book The Tiny Seed, a hands on activity and a list of words to songs about plants and how things grow.

General Information

Book:  The Tiny Seed

Author:  Eric Carle

Illustrator:  Eric Carle

Publisher:  Aladdin Paperbacks

Publication Date:  1987

Pages:  36

Grade Range:  K-4

ISBN: 0689842449

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Teaching Civics using Children’s Literature: Created Equal: Women Campaign for the Right to Vote

Posted on March 28, 2010 by openwidearchive

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Introduction and Summary:

Created Equal: Women Campaign for the Right to Vote, written by Ann Rossi, is a highly informative text outlining the women’s rights movement and their journey towards gaining the right to vote.  This resource highlights influential women in history such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, and Susan B. Anthony, to name a few.   Rossi describes how events such as the Temperance Movement and the Civil War gave women the opportunity to demonstrate how they could contribute.  They helped with the effort during the War and gained leadership skills.  With these skills, women founded organizations, such as the American Equal Righs Association to fight for women’s right to vote.  This text describes how the 14th and 15th amendments were passed, with women still not given voting rights.  It discusses how some influential women’s rights leaders disagreed if women should continue to wait or to press to gain their rights with the 15th amendment.  This book contains quotes from women’s leaders, as well as from the man who provided the final vote giving women the right to vote, Harry Burn.  This resource provides a wealth of information for students and is well written and easy to read.  At the end of the book there is a glossary of important terms and an index.

Curriculum Connections:

This would be a great resource for a second grade classroom to understand and learn about influential members of the women’s rights movement, such as Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton (VA SOL 2.11).  It may be beneficial to read this book to a second grade classroom depending on the children’s reading ability.  It may be read in separate sections due to the amount of information presented.  This text would also be useful as a tool to demonstrate the importance of voting and how citizens can work to achieve change.

Additional Resources:

This link provides a women’s suffrage word search which will help children become familiar with some of the vocabulary from this time in history.

This link provides several activities that classes could do together; to include matching quotes, multiple choice, and unscrambling words.

This link shows the petition that Susan B. Anthony wrote to the US Congress.  This would be interesting for children to see what she actually wrote.

General Information:

Book:   Created Equal: Women Campaign for the Right to Vote (1840-1920)
Author:  Ann Rossi
Illustrator: National Geographic
Publisher: Crossroads America
Publication Date: 2005
Pages: 1-40
Grade Range: 3-5
ISBN: 0-7922-8275-2

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Teaching Civics with Children’s Literature: Me Too!

Posted on March 27, 2010 by openwidearchive

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Introduction and Summary
Me Too!, written and illustrated by Mercer Mayer is an adorable book about Little Critter trying do the right thing while learning how to share with his little sister.  He tries to go about each day enjoying the things he loves to do (by himself), but his little sister wants to follow along and do everything with him.  Little Critter is faced with situations where he has to decide if he wants to do what is right by others or if he wants to do what makes him happy.  Little Critter explains, “I went hiking with my friends and my little sister said, “Me too!”  I had to carry her because she got tired.”  Each time he practices self-control and always helps, shares, or is kind to his little sister.  In the end he sees that his kind actions are reciprocated.

Curriculum Connections
Me Too! is a great resource to use to exemplify to young students the characteristics of a good citizen.  It demonstrates traits such as taking turns, sharing, helping others, and practicing self-control (Social Science SOL K.8).  This book also touches on Family Life programs by teaching and modeling courteous behaviors and good manners (Family Life SOL K.2).  It also helps students become aware of the effects that their behaviors have on others as well as how others’ behaviors effect them (Family Life SOL K.3).  Lastly students will develop an awareness of many positive ways that families show respect and appreciation for one another (Family Life SOL K.6).

Additional Resources  

  • Good Citizen Award is a handout that allows students to nominate who they think is a good citizen and the reasons why.
  • Good Citizens In Action is a lesson plan for Kindergarten that teaches about the attributes and actions of a good citizen.
  • Be A Good Citizen With Miss Rumphius is a webquest that explores ways to be a good citizen.

General Information
Book: Me Too!
Author: Mercer Mayer
Illustrator: Mercer Mayer
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: 2001
Pages: 24
Grade Range: K-2
ISBN: 0307119416

 

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Teaching Life Science with Children’s Literature: Bugs Are Insects

Posted on March 27, 2010 by openwidearchive

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Introduction and Summary
Bugs Are Insects written by Anne Rockwell explains what an insect really is and how to look for them in your own backyard and identify them.  Simply put, “Anything that has six legs and three body parts is an insect.”  The book talks about external and internal skeletons, how some insects have two sets of wings, and they come in all shapes, colors, and sizes. The book also shares with us that “We sometimes call bugs insects. Many people think the two words mean the same thing, but they don’t.”  Insects have different types of jobs like grasshoppers use their legs to make music, bees use their skill to build honeycombs of wax, ants build tunnels, and crickets have long legs to jump.  At the end of the book an index is provided of all the technical names for all of the bugs and insects pictured in the book as well as activities to do to go along with the book. I think the most interesting part of the book is where they explain that a ladybug is not actually a bug, like their name says.  Ladybugs are actually beetles. It also describes and shows that ladybugs have two sets of wings, and that it makes a straight line down the top of the abdomen on a ladybug when the wings are closed. This book provides very basic knowledge about insects and makes it fun!

Curriculum Connections
This book would be great at showing students the physical characteristics of bugs and insects including their body shape, what they use to move around (wings, legs etc.), and how many body parts they have (VA SOL 1.5 b).  This book could also be used to show how bugs and insects evolve and change over time, the work they do and how it effects us as humans and our world, and that some insects and bugs resemble their parents (VA SOL 2.4a, 2.5a).

Additional Resources
1. Bug Food-This website provides a look at how we as humans eat bugs and insects. It tells how everyday normal food that we eat can contain bugs and insects, as well as giving ideas of how to make your own bug food fin the classroom.
2.Bug and Insect Bingo– This website offers a bug Bingo game to play in class.  You can chose the type of insects you want to include, or mix it with bugs and insects and then talk about which 3 are not insects.
3. Name That Bug– Name That Bug game gets you guessing what type of bug it could be by descriptions of the bug or insect. They give you four clues to guess what the bug is, and then after guessing it gives you some historical or fun information and facts about the bug or insect.

General Information
Book:Bugs Are Insects
Author:Anne Rockwell
Illustrator:Steve Jenkins
Publisher:Harper Collins
Publication Date:2001
Pages:33
Grade Range:1st through 3erd
ISBN: 0064452034

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Teaching Civics With Children’s Literature: Eleanor-Quiet No More-The Life of Eleanor Roosevelt

Posted on March 26, 2010 by openwidearchive

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Illustrator Gary Kelley said it well when he said that this book about Eleanor Roosevelt, “In this age of celebrities and politicians in the headlines for all the wrong reasons, [is] not only refreshing but essential”.  This book about Eleanor Roosevelt’s life is not only a biography but a book of life lessons and things Eleanor Roosevelt strongly believed in.  Throughout the story of her life told in this book there are many inspiring quotes from her about life, being a good person, and believing in oneself.  Some examples of quotes throughout the book include “You must do the things we cannot do” (19), “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights” (34), “I have never felt that anything really mattered but knowing that you stood for the things in which you believed and had done the very best you could” (37), and “We must cherish and honor the word ‘free'” (back cover).  I felt that this book not only talked about Eleanor Roosevelt’s life but had another purpose in helping students to understand how important it is to appreciate freedom and the idea of being a citizen in this country.I also liked that the book had a timeline of important dates in Eleanor’s life for student’s to look at.

Curriculum Connections
This book can be used in the classroom during talk of the first world war as well as to show Eleanor Roosevelt’s role in history as a strong woman.  Specifically, this book could be used with SOL USII.5 while students are studying WWI and discussing Franklin Roosevelt.

Additional Resources

  • This website had a lot of good ideas for ways to incorporate Eleanor Roosevelt activities into the classroom, such as drawing pictures of her or findings pictures of her helping people and hanging them up in the classroom to remind students that being a good citizen is important.
  • I felt the activity on this page entitled “Special Activities for Children” could be a great way for older students in elementary school classrooms to write about Eleanor Roosevelt with some friendly competition involved as well. This would encourage them to write well as well as learn more about this important figure.
  • Lastly, students can find out more interesting facts about Eleanor Roosevelt on this facts page.

Book:  Eleanor Roosevelt: Quiet No More.  The Life of Eleanor Roosevelt
Author:  Doreen Rappaport
Illustrator:  Gary Kelley
Publisher:  Disney Hyperion Books
Publication Date:  2009
Pages:  37
Grade Range:  Grades 3-5
ISBN:  978-0-7868-5141-6

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Teaching Life Science with Children’s Literature: Animals Animals

Posted on March 26, 2010 by openwidearchive

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“Every insect(ant, fly, bee)

Is divided into three:

One head, one chest, one stomach part.

Some have brains,

All have a heart.” – Dorothy Aldis

 

Filled with full page illustrations by the famous writer/ illustrator Eric Carle and animal poems from famous names such as Shakespeare, Lewis Carroll, Rudyard Kipling, Emily Dickenson, and others, Animals Animals is the ultimate resource for elementary school teachers.  Some poems, geared towards younger audiences, are silly anecdotes on familiar animals such as Benjamin Franklin’s short poem The Butterfly:”What is a Butterfly? At best, he’s but a caterpillar fully dressed.”

Others delve into some of the more exotic animals and behaviors such as Arnold Sundgaard’s poem The Duck Billed Platypus:

 

“The duck billed platypus isn’t easy to imagine,
of all the earthly creatures he is most unique,
lays eggs like a bird but suckles like an animal,
and swims like a fish at the bottom of the creek.”

 

Each of these wonderful poems and illustration addresses different animals around the world both great and small, normal and unique, tame and wild, and silly and terrifying. Teacher’s will love using this book as an introduction to animals of all kinds or to use the animal index in the back to add to animal study one by one. Each subject is listed in alphabetical order in the back as well as by first line of each poem so you can always find just what you are looking for!

 

Curriculum Connections

As well as being a perfect introduction to poems and rhyme, Animals Animals is the ultimate teachers guide to animals, environment, life processes, and behaviors. Kindergarten and first grade students will learn about animals and their basic needs as well as certain physical characteristics which make each animal unique. Some of the characteristics discussed in various poems include body coverings, body shape, appendages, and method of movement (VA SOL K.6, 1.5). Older students through fourth grade will learn the difference between wild and tame, make a distinction between land and water dwelling animals, discuss the various methods animals have for finding and storing food and shelter, and learn how different animals raise their young (VA SOL 3.4).

Additional Resources

  • Kinderart provides a fun and hands-on art activity in which students will research an animal and create an Eric Carle like tissue paper collage.
  • Enchanted Learning provides printable worksheets in which students can draw and compare two animals from Eric Carle’s story. Questions include comparing size, speed, color, and weight.
  • Proteacher provides a lesson plan in which students can use what they know about an animal to write an informational poems like authors from the book.

 General Information

  • Book:  Animals Animals

  • Arranged by/ Illustrated by:  Eric Carle

  • Publisher: Puffin Books

  • Publication Date:1989

  • Pages: 90

  • Grade range:  K to 3rd grade

  • ISBN:9780698118553

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Teaching Life Science with Children’s Literature: Fluffy and Baron

Posted on March 26, 2010 by openwidearchive

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“Four weeks later, there were ducklings!  Fluffy wanted Baron to be the first one to meet them.”

 Fluffy and Baron, written and illustrated by Laura Rankin, is a delightful story about the friendship shared between a farm dog named Baron and a duckling named Fluffy.  Fluffy and Baron enjoy games together in the pond and in the field.  They share meals together and sleep together.  As the year progresses and the seasons change, Fluffy grows up and joins the wild ducks in the pond.  Baron is lonely.  When the wild ducks fly away, Fluffy stays but she cannot play with Baron yet.  She must tend to her new nest of nine eggs.

 This is a charming book that shows the life cycle of ducks in relation to the seasons.  The back of the book gives detailed information about the life of Mallards and Pekins.  The author’s note introduces the reader to concepts such as domesticated, wild, migratory habits, and incubation periods.

Curriculum Connections

This book can be used in the classroom to introduce students to living and nonliving things (K.6) and to study the basic needs of animals (K.7, 1.5, 2.4, 3.4).  The relationship between Fluffy and Baron and the relationship between Fluffy and the wild ducks can begin a discussion about interdependence.  Teachers can use this book to introduce a science unit on ducks and expand teaching to include songs, poetry, art, and continued life science studies.

Additional Resources

The Child Fun website has songs and poems about ducks.

For in-depth research on the life cycle of ducks and migration habits, go to Ducks Unlimited.

Enchanted Learning has plenty of ideas for creating your own cross-curricular duck theme for early elementary students.

 General Information

Book:  Fluffy and Baron
Author:  Laura Rankin
Illustrator:  Laura Rankin
Publisher:  Dial Books for Young Readers
Publication Date:  2006
Pages:  29
Grade Range:  K-3rd
ISBN:  978-0-545-23833-5

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Teaching Life Science with Children’s Literature: It’s a Butterfly’s Life

Posted on March 25, 2010 by openwidearchive

Most children are thoroughly familiar with the classic Eric Carle book The Hungry Little Caterpillar, and while that book does a great job of introducing them to the various stages of a butterfly’s life, there are so many more interesting facts that are part of a butterfly’s life cycle story.  The book It’s a Butterfly’s Life, written and illustrated by Irene Kelly, is chock full of amazing details and lovely illustrations.  There are about 17,500 different types of butterflies and 160,000 types of moths in the world, and Kelly uses her illustrations to help children understand the differences between the two insects.  Something that most people do not know is that a butterfly’s taste buds are located in their feet:  “You might not be able to taste a cupcake by standing on it, but a butterfly can!”  Other fun features of the book include a close up look at the scales on the wings, the buttterfly’s proboscis rendered in close-up detail, an explanation of the migratory feats of the mighty monarchs, and the ways butterflies use camoflague to scare off predators.

The most remarkable part of a butterfly’s story is of course its transformative metamorphosis.  Kelly helps put it in perspective for children by relaying this incredible fact:  “A caterpillar is a leaf-eating machine.  Just two weeks after hatching, Monarch caterpillars are 2,700 times their originial weight!  If a newborn baby gained weight that fast, it would weigh eight tons in fourteen days.  That’s as big as two full-grown rhinos!”  In every class that I have used this book to talk about butterflies, this fact never fails to elicit huge gasps of awe.  While Kelly ends her story by talking about the threats butterflies face due to habitat destruction, she gently reminds readers what they can do to help beautify their world by planting flowers in a yard to attract butterflies.

Curriculum Connections

Because the book is so very detailed in certain sections, parts of this book work well as a read-aloud, while other parts can be simply shown to the class as part of a picture walk.  Children will certainly enjoy having time to peruse this book on their own, so it would be a good addition to an elementary classroom library.  It would be best utilized in a discussion of changes and life cycles in a kindergarten class (K.6) or second grade (2.4a).  Third graders learning more about life cycles would enjoy it as well (3.8), especially as they explore how animals migrate and use camoflage to survive (3.4b).

Additional Resources

 General Information

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Teaching Civics with Children’s Literature: The Journey of The One and Only Declaration of Independence

Posted on March 25, 2010 by openwidearchive

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Introduction and Summary
The Journey of the One and Only Declaration of Independence was written by Judith St. George and was illustrated by Will Hillenbrand.  The book is a historical account of the Declaration of Independence, a powerful document used to commence this nation’s government and more importantly free the colonists from the grasp of England.  The book goes into detail about some of the signers of the document and even the person who had to draft all of the copies of the document.  From this point, the book reveals the true story of the many places this important document was housed over the past 200 plus years.  It goes as far as to describe some of the ways the document was preserved and repaired so that it could be viewed by all, even today.

“On July 4, 1777, the Declaration of Independence was one year old.  So was the United States.  Like any one year old, the nation was toddling on unsteady feet.  The war still hadn’t been won.  But it hadn’t been lost, either.  Philadelphia threw a wingding of a birthday party.  The Declaration didn’t march in the parade…or join the militia in firing a salute…or marvel at the sky-high fireworks.  But the forty-four line, one page parchment was the star of the celebration.  Huzza! Huzza! Huzza!  Now the Declaration could be placed under glass in the Pennsylvania State House for all the world to admire, Right?”

Curriculum Connections
This book discusses one of the most important tools in our nation’s government, the law.  It stresses the importance of this document to secure America’s way of life and the ways it has been defended, protected and preserved for all time.  While the Declaration of Independence is a lesson in civics about the rights and privileges of free people, the book also provides a strong lesson of American history.  One that this books spends a lot of time discussing places and dates with regard to the Declaration of Independence.  It might not fit some of the standards for lesson planning but is a fun and insightful book for students in the third through fifth grades. (VA SOL 3.11 or CE.2)

Additional Resources

Book: The Journey of the One and Only Declaration of Independence
Author: Judith St. George
Illustrator: Will Hillenbrand
Publisher: Philomel Books
Publication Date: 2005
Pages: 45 pages
Grade Range: 3-5
ISBN: 0-399-23738-0

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