Teaching Geography with Children’s Literature: Travels with Charlie: Travelin’ the Northeast

Posted on March 22, 2010 by openwidearchive

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Introduction and Summary
Travels with Charlie: Travelin’ the Northeast written by Miles Backer and illustrated by Chuck Nitzberg, is all about the Northeast United States. It includes the 12 states from Maine to Ohio to Maryland. The book features a different state on each page with seek-and-find questions in a poetic form. Along the tab of each page is information about the state including the capital, flag, and lots of interesting facts. A dog named Charlie goes to each state and hides somewhere in the state. Can you find Charlie?

“Find Manhattan Island, home to Wall Street.
Find the Statue of Liberty. Find hot dogs to eat.

Where’s Charlie?”

Curriculum Connections
This is a great book to introduce upper elementary students to the Northeast states as a region. It can be used in conjunction with the other books in the Travels with Charlie series, Way Out West and Way Down South. With the multitude of maps used, it could also be a great way to explore the use of maps and key landmarks on a map in the younger grades (History SOL K.4a,b., 1.4a) The incorporation of the geographical landmarks and bodies of water such as the Great Lakes and the Statue of Liberty would be beneficial for older elementary as well (USI.1f, USI.2b, c)

Additional Resources

  •  Northeast Geography Lesson: A great lesson plan geared for grades 3-5 that focuses on map skills and resources of the Northeast USA
  • Northeast and more: This website is a great tool to allow students to research the regions of the United States with lots of information and pictures about each region
  • Northeast Info: this site has great information about the products and resources of the Northeast region as well as the geographic landforms, populations, climates, and tourist locations

Book: Travels with Charlie: Travelin’ the Northeast
Author: Miles Backer
Illustrator: Chuck Nitzberg
Publisher:  Blue Apple Books
Publication Date: 2006
Pages:  36 pages
Grade Range: 2nd-5th grade
ISBN: 1593541627

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Teaching Geography With Children’s Literature: The Santa Fe Trail

Posted on March 22, 2010 by openwidearchive

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Introduction and Summary

The Santa Fe Trail by Judy Alter is a book about settlers traveling West in order to find a better life in the United States.  However, much of what is talked about in the book is the different terrain that the settlers come across while on their journey out West.  The book includes many photos and illustrations of the types of terrain settlers dealt with on their long journey, including overgrown grassy fields, the Rocky mountains, and even deserts.  The book also illustrates maps of the trail as well as states it ran through. The Santa Fe Trail goes into depth as well about westward expansion, important figures who were involved, and even gives a list of important vocabulary words in the back of the book as well as a timeline of events.

 

Curriculum Connections

This book would be great to use in a unit about traveling out West, particularly on trails such as the Santa Fe.  This book would be best for grades 3-5 because it involves quite a bit of text as well as vocabulary words that might be somewhat advanced for younger grades.  In Virginia, this book would be a great resource to use with Virginia SOL standards USII.2 and USII.3.

Additional Resources

 1. Here is a fun way for students to learn more about the Santa Fe Trail through a webquest.

2. This site is not a webquest but allows students to visit various interesting sites about the Santa Fe Trail in order to fill in the blanks for questions they are supposed to answer (listed on site).  Teachers can go over these questions in class once students have completed the assignment.

3. This is an activity book with lots of fun games about the Santa Fe Trail for students to play.

General Information

Book: The Santa Fe Trail

Author: Judy Alter

Illustrator: n/a

Publisher: Children’s Press

Publication Date: 1998

Pages: 30

Grade Range: 3-5

ISBN: 0-516-26396-X

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Teaching Physical Science with Children’s Literature: Amazing Magnets

Posted on March 22, 2010 by openwidearchive

 

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Introduction and Summary

“Have you ever held a magnet near a piece of metal? If you have, you may have felt a strange pulling force. A magnet is attracted to certain metals. It pulls toward them. Once it touches the metal, the magnet holds on. When you try to pull the magnet away, you feel an invisible force holding the magnet and the metal together. That invisible force is called magnetism.”

Did you know that a shepherd named Magnes discovered the first magnetic rock? Or, that a magnet will stick to a can of tuna but not a can of soda? Did you know that scientists believe that the molecules making up iron, steel, nickel, and cobalt are really tiny magnets? Or, that magnets can lose their power if they get too hot?

Find out all this and more in Amazing Magnets by David Adler. Written in question and answer format, this book addresses some of the most puzzling questions students have about magnets in a fun and interesting way. With sections relating to discovery, metals, poles, practical uses, and electromagnetism, this book provides an in depth look at magnets and the principles of magnetism.

Amazing Magnets also includes many fun experiments students can do in class using simple classroom materials. Experiments include testing magnetism in water, through cloth, and through paper. Other experiments involve using iron fillings to illustrate a magnetic field, testing poles in the classroom, and making their own compass.

Curriculum Connections

 Filled with important facts and magnet vocabulary, this book  is perfect for 2nd grade students studying magnets and magnetism. At an independent level, this book would be better suited for 2nd grade and above but some sections are appropriate for K or 1st grade. Younger students will be able to determine that magnets push and pull objects that are metal and that magnets can move things without touching them (VA SOL K.3 and 1.3). 2nd grade students and above will be able to investigate differences between natural and artificial magnets, magnetism of metals and nonmetals, attraction and repulsion, the purpose of the polar ends, and where magnets come from and how to make them (VA SOL 2.2). Students will also get a glimpse at practical uses for magnets in their own homes and in important tools such as a compass.

Additional Resources

  • These worksheets from the Educator’s Reference Desk follow along with 3 of the experiments from Amazing Magnets and allows students to document the steps to making their own magnets, classifying objects as magnetic or not, and how many objects one magnet can hold.
  • Magnets Millionaire Game from Quia directly relates to subjects from the book and the 2nd grade 2.2 Magnet VA SOL.
  • BBC Schools Lesson Plan- this lesson plan provides a link to videos on magnets and springs as well as a fun activity on the push and pull of magnetic poles.

General Information

Book:The Question and Answer Book: Amazing Magnets
Author:David Adler
Illustrator:Dan Lawler
Publisher: Troll Associates
Publisher Date: 1983
Pages: 32
Grade Range: 1st-4th
ISBN: 0893758957

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Teaching Geography with Children’s Literature: A River Ran Wild

Posted on March 22, 2010 by openwidearchive

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Introduction and Summary

A River Ran Wild, written and illustrated by Lynne Cherry, tells the story of the Nashua river in New England.  Children opening the book will see a map of New England in the 1500’s on one side and another map of New England in the 1900’s focusing on the states of New Hampshire and Massachusetts which is where the Nashua flowed.  The “Nash-a-way” got it’s name from the native American tribe Nashau who settled on it seven thousand years ago.  Cherry points out that the Nash-a-way river and it’s surroundings gave the Nashua people everything they needed in life.  “The Nashua people saw a rhythm in their lives and in the seasons.  The river, land, and forest provided all that they needed.”  In the early sixteen hundreds, the white settlers of New England began to settle by the river which they named the Nashua.  They built sawmills that used the river’s current for power and dams to make millponds to store water.  The white settlers cut down the forest and used the lumber to build houses and furniture.  During the industrial revolution, the river was used for paper mills and other factories where all of the waste was dumped into the river.  In a short amount of time, the river was clogged with pulp, dyes, chemicals, and plastics.  The river smelled and all of it’s wildlife, and the wildlife that used it as a resource, “grew sick from this pollution.”  In the end, a descendant of the Nashua people known as Oweana and Marion Stoddart formed a committee to stop polluting the Nashua river.  In the 1960’s, they finally succeeded.  Now the Nashua has been cleared of it’s pollution and the wildlife has returned to it.  “We, too, have settled by this river.  Pebbles shine up through clear water.”

The illustrations in this book are beautiful and most of the pages with print have miniature illustrations of objects and historical events that were a part of people’s lives through time, such as clay pots, bows and arrows, and wooden bowls during the native American settlements through airplanes, automobiles and the Vietnam war in the late twentieth century.

Curriculum Connections

The book opens with a map showing where the Nashua river is located.   This book would be great for Kindergarten through second grade.  The student would see the shape of the northeast part of the United States to include New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island (VA SOL 1.4 c) and will be able to locate land and water features. (VA SOL K.4 c)  Students will also learn about how two different cultures of people affect their immediate surroundings.  The Nashua community took only what they needed from the river and the surrounding environment for food, clothing, shelter, transportation, and recreation.  The white settlers polluted the river thus limiting it as a natural resource.  Through the effort of the community, people were able to bring life back to the river so it could be e resource again. (VA SOL 1.6 and 2.4 d)

Additional Resources

Geology.com is a website that contains maps and geography classroom activities as well as lesson plans for elementary school students.

United States Geography, including Capitals, States, and Landscapes can be found at the Sheppard Software website.  This site has fun and free games children can play.

K Bears has a great site for world geography.  An animated bear will take children on a tour of the world.

General Information

Book: A River Ran Wild
Author: Lynne Cherry
Illustrator: Lynne Cherry
Publisher: Harcourt Brace & Company
Publication Date: 1992
Pages: 30
Grade Range: K-2nd
ISBN: 0-15-200542-0

 

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Teaching Geography with Children’s Literature: Puzzle Maps U.S.A.

Posted on March 22, 2010 by openwidearchive

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Introduction and Summary

Puzzle Maps U.S.A. written and illustrated by Nancy L. Clouse is a playful book about geography.  It concentrates on the different states within the United States.  This book is a very basic introduction to maps while Clouse uses puzzle activities to utilize the different shapes of the states to appeal to young children.

“This turtle is going for a swim.  Which states are going to get wet?  The turtle’s eye is the smallest state in the United States.  Look closely at the turtle and you will find eight states in all.”

It begins with a big map of the United States where each name of the states have been omitted.  Clouse transforms the United States map into a large puzzle that visually can be taken apart and put back together.  The subtle use of basic colors and the efficient designs that are collages made up of the states make this book more visually appealing than many map books.

Curriculum Connections

Puzzle Maps U.S.A. is a super resource to introduce simple maps and help students develop an awareness that a map is a drawing of a place that shows where things are located (SOL K.4a).  It also promotes students with identifying the shapes of the United States and Virginia on maps (SOL 1.4c).  A students’ scientific reasoning and logic is utilized while reading this book.  Observations of the different states are made from multiple positions that allow the students to achieve a variety of perspectives (Science SOL 1.1b).  Lastly, math skills, specifically geometry, are used when reading Puzzle Maps U.S.A. because the author manipulates the States into images of familiar objects throughout the book.

Additional Resources

  • Puzzled States is an online activity that gives students a chance to sharpen their geography skills by clicking and dragging each state to its proper place onto a map of the U.S.A.  The students will collect facts about each state while performing the activity.
  • A worksheet that has the outline of the state of Virginia.  Students can color the state to get familiar with the shape of Virginia.
  • A booklet that students construct made of printables.  These printables promote map skills by allowing students to color, cut, and paste different maps of the United States and Virginia.

General Information

Book: Puzzle Maps U.S.A.
Author: Nancy L. Clouse
Illustrator: Nancy L. Clouse
Publisher: Henry Holt & Company, Inc.
Publisher Date: 1994
Pages: 32
Grade Range: 1-4
ISBN: 0805035974

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Teaching Physical Science with Children’s Literature: A Drop of Water

Posted on March 21, 2010 by openwidearchive

Most young children are familiar with Scholastic's I Spy series of books- they are full of incredible and exacting visual challenges that help cultivate the reader's powers of observation.  Photographer Walter Wick is best known for his I Spy work, but in his book A Drop of Water he utilizes his keen eye and artistic sensitivities to explore the physical properties of water.  After years of  collecting old science books written for children over a century ago, Wick became fascinated with how they used illustrations to depict simple yet clever science experiments.  He then began recreating the experiments and photographing them. "The results seemed magical," he writes, "but not because of any photographic trick; it was only the forces of nature at work." 

Many of the experiments he demonstrates in his book are the same as, or similar to, the ones used over a century ago.  Wick's photographs are elegant and simple and inspire the same sense of artistic awe as his I Spy work.  While it is overwhelmingly spare in comparison, it invites the same sense of the marvelous by examining water in all of its forms.  Using stop motion photography and magnification, he shows us lovely water splashes, amazing soap bubbles, ice, evaporation, condensation, snowflakes, frost, dew, water acting as a prism refracting light, how clouds form, and at the end, he reminds the reader how truly precious the water cycle is.  The book concludes with a list of suggestions on how to make your own observations and experiments based on his work for the book. 

Curriculum Connections

This is not a read-aloud book per se.  For younger students learning about the states of matter (K.5a, K.5c), an educator could use a picture walk through the book to show them the different properties and states of water.  The strong visual component to this book would be exciting for students in the younger grades; it would be a good book to make available to students in the classroom library, to flip through and examine.  Second graders would also find this book intriguing as they explore solids, liquids and gases (2.3), as would third graders learning more about the water cycle, evaporation, condensation, and precipitation (3.9a, 3.9b, 3.9c).  Older elementary students with stronger reading skills would be able to read more of the supporting text, which has scientific explanations of the experiments; for example, fifth graders could learn more about light’s interactions with water (5.3b).  Sixth graders reinforcing their knowledge of water’s properties in all three states (6.5b) might also enjoy having a fresh look at a familiar topic. 

Additional Resources

General Information

 

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Teaching Geography using Children’s Literature: The Whole World in Your Hands

Posted on March 21, 2010 by openwidearchive

 

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Introduction and Summary:

In The Whole World in Your Hands, by Melvin and Gilda Berger, chidlren will be introduced to maps and their uses.  They will look at their town, state, country, and world.  This text defines the continents, the equator, the oceans, and the poles.  This text also explains north, south, east, and west.   This resource is interactive and gives children a map of a subdivision with street names and asks them to trace certain routes that the children in the story can take.  The authors discuss that on a state map there can be symbols that informs what type of crops are grown there and what kind of animals live there.  In addition, this text provides a map of the United States and asks children to locate certain states.  The text describes why most people do not live the equator nor near the poles, but in between.  At the end of this book is an index for quick reference.

Curriculum Connections:

 This text would be useful for kindergaten level geography.  This resource describes locations using words like right and left to describe east and west (K.3).  This text further provides examples of maps as flat representations and of the round globe, teaching that the world is round like the globe,  It further uses child friendly stories to help students track how they would get to certain real life places on a map (school).  Finally it reviews the oceans and other features of maps. (K.4 a, b, c)

Additional Resources:

 This link provides an interactive and hands on activity for students to assist in their city map reading skills.

This link provides students the opportunity to become more familiar with their own geography in an activity called Where I Live.  In this activity kids write information about themselves, and parents could assist them if they have difficulty with writing.

This link provides many hands on activities which will get children moving in order to learn more about reading maps.

General Information:

Book: The Whole World in Your Hands
Author: Melvin and Gilda Berger
Illustrator:  Robert Quackenbush
Publisher: Ideals Publishing Corporation: Discovery Readers
Publication Date: 1993
Pages: 1-48
Grade Range: Kindergarten
ISBN: 0-8249-8646-6

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Teaching Physical Science with Children’s Literature: What is the World Made Of?

Posted on March 21, 2010 by openwidearchive

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Introduction and Summary:

  • In the book, What is the World Made of by Kathleen Zoehfeld it describes the three states of matter solid, liquid and gas. The book then goes on to state each one of the matters attributes. This book introduces young readers to important science concepts. For example the book teaches children the difference between solids, liquids and gas. The book uses simplestic concepts like why a child cannot walk through a wall to help the child better understand science. This book is great for K-3 because of the colorful illustrations and easy concepts for children to grasp.

 Curriculum Connections:

  • This book introduces young children to the basics of science and help satisfy their curiosity about how science works. K.1a) By looking at all three matters you can identify there physical state by direct observation. K.2b) Sensory descriptors. In the book they use perfume to describe how you can smell it in different parts of a room when the top is taken off the bottle. 1.1a) The senses are used to to observe different physical properties. For example when you put water in a ice tray one can observe the water changing to a solid when put in the freezer.

Additional Resources:

  • Solids, Liquids and Gases– This lesson allows students to distinguish between liquids, solids and gases. The students will observe experiments. The students will also be able to identify some of the physical properties of each of them
  • What is Matter ?- This three minute video allows students to learn more about liquids, solids and gases. Singing Karaoke about the three matters will help the students understand a new way of learning.
  • Matter– This site defines the three stages of matter. There are activities and videos to further explain the three different stages of matter.

Additional Resources:

Book: What is the World Made of?

Author: Kathleen Zoehfeld

Illustrated: Paul Meisel

Publication Date: 1998

Pages: 4-32

Grade Range: k-3

ISBN: 0-06-445163-1

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Teaching Physical Science with Children’s Literature: Sound and Light

Posted on March 21, 2010 by openwidearchive

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Introduction and Summary
Sound and Light by David Glover gives a great overview of what sound and light are and how we use them. This book provides a section for topics like: lightning and thunder, sound waves, feeling sound, making sound, making music, moving sound, bouncing sound, how do you hear?, light waves, light and shade, look in the mirror, amazing mirrors, bending light, how lenses work, how do you see?, and light of many colors.   For example, on the section about bouncing sound they talk about echoes by saying, “Echoes are louder when they hit a hard barrier, like the walls of a tunnel.  Soft materials, like carpets and drapes, absorb or soak up sound.  That’s why you will hear and echo in an empty room but will not in one that is full of furniture.”  For each topic discussed, there are experiments or projects that you can do at home.  There is an experiment that discusses color blindness in some people by using the colored dot “eye-spy” pictures.   This would really interest the children. Overall this is a great book that covers many specific topics and provides easy to read and understand explanations and experiments.

Curriculum Connections

Students can learn about sound waves, how they travel, vibrations, how music is made and heard, wavelengths, and overall how sound is transmitted through different materials like rope, straws, rubber bands, and even air (VA SOL 5.2 a,b,c).This book offers easy explanations of how sound waves work, are transmitted, and how we as humans hear them.  The other half of the book discusses light, light waves, light in mirrors, bending light, reflections, and seeing colors through a prism (VA SOL 5.3 a,c).  Again, there are some great experiments to go along with these topics like bending light and making you own rainbow with a mirror and dishwater.

Additional Resources
1. Sonic Speed Activity– This activity uses rulers and a paper towel tube to show how lightning and thunder actually occur at the same time even though it does not appear that way to us.  This is a cool experiment and gets students learning about what really happens during a thunderstorm.
2. History of Sound– This website would be great to provide background knowledge for teachers on the history of sound.  It starts in 1877 when Thomas Edison made the first machine that could record sound and goes until 1990. So, this website does not provide the most recent information (1990-current).
3. Light Vocabulary– This page offers a light vocabulary crossword puzzle.
4. Reflecting light– This is a worksheet that deals with reflecting light. It provides and activity for the students to complete and then asks follow up questions.

General Information
Book- Sound and Light
Author- David Glover
Illustrator-Ben White (designer)
Publisher-Scholastic, INC.
 Publication Date-1993
Pages-32
 Grade Range- 4th-5th Grade
ISBN-0590487078

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Teaching Geography with Children’s Literature: How I Learned Geography

Posted on March 20, 2010 by openwidearchive

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Introduction and Summary:

  • In the book, How I Learned Geography by Uri Shulevitz it tells the story of a family who fled their troubled homeland to live in another country. One day since the food is scarce the father brings home a map instead of food for his son. The boy ends up studying the maps every detail. As a result every place the boy studies on the map he is transported too. The boy goes to these exotic places without even leaving the room. The boy eventually becomes more content with the map than food because he can travel to places he never would have dreamed of going.

 Curriculum Connections:

  • This book could be used to teach k-3 graders to develop map skills.  (K.4) The students are able to understand how to locate land and water on maps. (1.4) The boy in the book was transported to far away places. The boy learned how to recognize certain symbols like land and water on the map when he traveled from place to place.

Additional Resources:

  • Map Skills– This activity teaches the students how to read and use a map. This lesson is a great activity for field trips

  • Map Coloring Worksheet– Color the maps. The two states that do not share the borders may be the same color. Also the states that meet at the same point may be the same color.

  • BB- Social Studies– In this lesson create a map and on the map create different names for the landforms on the map. Position the symbols on the map to show their locations

Book: How I learned Geography
Author: Uri Shulevitz
Publication Date: 2008
Pages: 1-30
Grade Range: k-3
ISBN: 2007011889

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