Open Wide, Look Inside

What Makes Day and Night is a Stage 2 Let’s-Read-And-Find-Out Science book written by Franklyn M. Branley and illustrated by Arthur Dorros.

“The earth is always turning.  It never stops.  Round and round it goes.  And it goes very fast.  About 1000 miles an hour.  As the earth turns we are always moving from day to night.  And from night to day.”

“If you were on the moon, you would also have a day and night.  But the moon spins very slowly, so days and nights are long.  Places on the moon have two weeks of daylight and then two weeks of darkness.”

What Makes Day and Night is a great book that emphasizes the fact that day and night are caused by the rotation of the earth.  The reader is shown some nice diagrams that illustrate this fact and there is a suggestion for students to do an experiment modeling night and day with a lamp.  Along with simple text, the illustrations in What Makes Day and Night are nicely done and provide useful explanations for the topic.  The last page of the book provides additional information and activity ideas for students to do that further discuss the topic of day and night and the earth’s rotation.

Curriculum Connections:
What Makes Day and Night obviously lends itself to discussion of day and night.  It does a great job discussing the rotation of the earth and includes many illustrations of the earth as it looks from space.  In Virginia, this topic is covered in the first grade and can be found in the Science Standards of Learning 1.6.

Additional Resources:
Day and Night Lesson Plan: This lesson plan includes a two day unit discussing the rotation of the earth and day and night with students.  This lesson plan utilizes What Makes Day and Night to introduce the topic and has students perform an activity from the book in which they model day and night using a lamp.  A worksheet is also available for this lesson.

Why do we have night?: This is a hands on lesson, using food to model the earth.  Students will work in small groups to learn about the earth’s rotation and night and day.

NASA Lesson Plan:  This lesson plan is nice because it is broken into two sections – a lesson for kindergarten and an extended lesson for first and second graders.

Rotating Earth: This animated earth goes from day to night and back again.  Students have the ability to pause the animation to look at different parts of the earth.

Book Information:
Book: What Makes Day and Night
Author: Franklyn M. Branley
Illustrator: Arthur Dorros
Publisher: Collins
Publication Date: 1986
Pages: 32
Grade Range: K-3
ISBN-10:  0064450503
ISBN-13: 978-0064450508

On the Same Day in March: A Tour of the World’s Weather, written by Marilyn Singer and illustrated by Frane Lessac is a colorful and interesting way to introduce an earth science lesson about weather.  The book moves from city to city and country to country as it talks about what the climate in each place is like in the middle of the month of March; and although the text is simple, its applications are nearly endless.

The book begins in the Arctic, where “Polar bears ride on floes of ice, stalking seals, wishing fish, as the six-month sun begins to rise slowly in the Arctic skies.”  From there, readers travel to Canada, where the March sunlight is quickly melting the snow, and then to Paris, New York City, Texas, Egypt, Louisiana, China (where “In the park the old men and small children guess: What will the wind carry today?  Clouds of blue-winged swallows, dust that hurts their eyes, rain from up the mountain, kites shaped like butterflies?”), India, Thailand, Senegal, Barbados, Kenya, Brazil, Australia, Argentina, and Antarctica!  The text is beautiful and very descriptive, which make this book great for a read-aloud, but the illustrations are also very detailed, and might inspire in-class dialogue or individual exploration of the pictures by students during silent reading.  On the Same Day in March is also chock full of cultural references and even interesting slang from the countries featured, which gives it plenty of applications across the curriculum…

Curriculum Connections

On the Same Day in March can be used for Earth Science SOLs K.8a, 1.7c, and 3.8a, but is also applicable to History and Social Studies SOLs K.4 and 1.6.  Both the text and pictures allow the book to be used in a wide variety of lessons, and encourage global awareness by pointing out how everyone around the world has different experiences on the same day.   The book is dense because it does have so many applications, but is presented in an easy-to-understand format that will work in most elementary grades.  In addition, the illustrations might be a great way to inspire art projects relating to the weather in different parts of the world; and if the pictures were enlarged, a lesson could even be based around the details on each of the pages.

Additional Resources

• Readwritethink.org presents a very complete, six-part lesson plan using this text, among many others, that can be used to cover topics relating to the weather across the world.
• If you’re looking for a great interactive and kid-friendly in-class resource to examine the weather patterns across the world, check out Weather Watch: An Interactive Weather Project.  By registering your school, you are immediately connected to a network of schools across the world and can monitor their weather patterns, as well as your own!
• Illustrator Frane Lessac’s webpage is a great resource for teachers to find out more info about this very talented  artist, as well as illustrations to print out for the classroom and lesson plans to accompany each of Lessac’s books.

General Information

Book: On the Same Day in March: A Tour of the World’s Weather
Author: Marilyn Singer
Illustrator: Frane Lessac
Publisher: Harper Collins
Publication Date: 2000
Pages: 40
Grade Range: K-4
ISBN: 0064435288

Weather Forecasting by Gail Gibbons is a story that outlines the different weather patterns for each season as well as highlights the different jobs and tools involved in weather forecasting.  At the beginning of each season, Gibbons displays a variety of vocabulary words that relate to the type of weather that is typical for the season.  The illustrations also portray various tools that are used inside the National Weather Service and there are detailed labels as to the functions of each of these tools.  Gibbons also draws the reader’s attention to different types of clouds, specific storms such as hurricanes and tornados, and professionals who rely on the weather forecast everyday.

Excerpts:

• “The humidity is figured by reading the dew point and temperature to find the amount of moisture in the air.” (pg. 4)

• “There are thousands of weather stations and each one reports to the nearest central office.  When the immediate weather forecaster has all the hourly statistics, he sends them by computer to his central office.” (pg. 6)

• “Outside the weather station the hourly readins are taken.  Visibility is clear and the clouds are white and puffy in the sky.  They are cumulus, or fair- weather, clouds.” (pg. 12)

Curriculum Connections:

Weather Forecasting is a story in which children can relate their own knowledge of weather conditions to what is written in the book.  Some of the information children may know, while other information such as the work produced at the National Weather Service and the broadcasting aspect of the weather, they may not know about.  This allows the students to begin thinking about the behind- the- scenes work of the weatherman they see on television.  The story covers the Virignia Science SOL 2.6 in which students investigate and understand basic types, changes, and patterns of weather as well as the uses and importance of measuring and recording weather data.  Weather Forecasting also touches on the Virginia Science SOL 4.6 in which students investigate how weather conditions and phenomena occur and can be predicted using meteorological tools.

Additional Resources:

• This CanTeach lesson plan sets aside time during the day for students to observe and draw different types of clouds they see outside and label the types of clouds they see.

• This lesson plan allows students to focus on how humans depend on their natural environment and how weather affects their every day life.  Students also use the concept of listing pro’s and con’s about living in a place different from their own with changing weather patterns.

• Discovery Education helps familiarize students with story weather, lightning, and the electrical charges inside a cloud.  Students will use simple objects to form these charges and observe what happens to objects surrounding the charge.

General Information:
Book: Weather Forecasting
Author: Gail Gibbons
Illustrator: Gail Gibbons
Publisher: Simon and Schuster Children’s Publishing
Publication Date: March 1993
Pages: 32
Grade Range: 2nd- 4th
ISBN: 9780689716836

On The Same Day In March written by Marilyn Singer and illustrated by Frane Lessac offers a tour of the world’s weather.  This bright and colorful books explains  the changes of weather by taking the reader on a tour throughout the world.  On the Same Day in March teaches students about the weather cycle by explaining why the weather is different in every part of the world on the same day.  The illustrations in On the Same Day in March clearly depict how “in March, winter turns to spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and summer turns to fall in the Southern Hemisphere. The students will enjoy following the weather on “the same day in March” from the Arctic to Thailand to Antarctica!

Here are a few excerpts from the book.

• “In the Arctic polar bears ride on floes of ice, stalking seals, wishing fish, as the six-month sun begins to rise slowly in the arctic skies.” (pg. 1)
• “What will the wind carry today? Clouds of blue-winged swallows, dust that hurts their eyes, rain from up the mountain, kites shaped like butterflies?” (pg. 13)
• “Sunlight sparkles on the market.  Sunlight dazzles on the sand.” (pgs. 19 and 20)

Curriculum Connections:
On the Same Day in March is an easy-read with wonderful illustrations for students in kindergarten, first grade, and second grade to learn about the exciting world of weather. For kindergarten students, this book will help them investigate and understand simple patterns in his or her daily life by examining weather observations.  (VA SOL K.8)  For first graders, students will investigate and understand the relationship of seasonal change and weather to the activities and life processes of plants and animals.  Key concepts include how temperature, light, and precipitation bring about changes in people’s dress, recreation, and work. (VA SOL 1.7)  For second graders, On the Same Day in March will help students investigate and understand basic types, changes, and patterns of weather. (VA SOL 2.6)  

Additional Resources

• This WizKids website has great information for teachers, parents and students on different types of weather occurrences.
• This Teaching Website provides lesson plans and activities for teachers to do with their class during a weather unit.
• This fun weather website introduces several fun hands-on activities for kids.  (Click on the hurricane link, it’s my favorite!)

Book: One the Same Day in March
Author: Marilyn Singer
Illustrator: Frane Lessac
Publisher: HarperFestival
Publication Date: December 2001
Pages: 40 Pages
Grade Range: Kindergarten, First Grade, and Second Grade
ISBN: 978-0064435284

Down Comes the Rain, written by Franklyn Branley and illustrated by James Hale, is an interactive story that explores the water cycle and how it influences the weather.

The book begins by defining where rain comes from. It then goes step-by-step through the water cycle. The book revolves around four children experimenting with water vapor using common household items such boiling water or clothes drying on a line. They also use the outdoors to explain how humans and animals affect the water cycle. Even further, the book hits on how water vapor can effect the weather outside: “Sometimes the drops in clouds freeze. These raindrops become ice drops. This can happen even on a hot summer day, this is called hailstones”.

Curriculum Connections

Down Comes the Rain could be used as an introduction tool for learning about the water cycle. This book can be used for SOL:

3.9 a,b,c– investigate and understand the the water cycle and its relationship to the Earth. Key concepts include: evaporation, condensation, precipitation, and energy from the sun.

Additional Resources

• North Harris County Regional Water Authority: Gives a quick overview of what the water cycle is and also provides instructions on how to build your own water cycle in the classroom.
• Thirstin’s Wacky Water Adventure:  This PDF provides you with a printable activity book to give students. Students are introduced to Thirstin, a water cup, and he carries students through word searches and puzzles while teaching them fun facts about water.
• Pro Teacher. Org: This site has a water cycle song that teachers can teach their students. It’s sung to the tune of “She’ll be coming around the Mountain”.

Book: Down Comes the Rain 
Author: Franklyn Branley
Illustrator: James Hale
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Publication Date: September 1997
Pages: 32 pages
Grade Range: 1-3
ISBN: 9780064451666

Where does the Leaf Man go when he blows? Do you know?

So begins the beautifully written and illustrated book by Lois Ehlert, Leaf Man.  Leaf Man is not a complex tale, but it’s vivid images of colorful fall leaves make it impossible not to enjoy.  The details leap towards the reader with each turn of the page – take special notice of the ever-changing rolling landscape.  Leaf Man visits different farm animals and the gardens of fall, which are ripe with pumpkins, winter squash, and cabbage to name a few.

Curriculum Connections

Leaf Man is a perfect way to introduce leaf classifying into a kindergarten classroom (SOL K.8b).  Inside the cover, Ehlert has provided names for the dozens of different types of leaves he used throughout the book.  The teacher could begin the lesson will a read aloud of Leaf Man, and follow up by providing each student a copy of a page from the book.  The student could then work in groups to count or sort the different types of leaves present on their pages.  Advanced students could label their leaves, and those students who still have some trouble reading can work with the teacher on classifying verbally, which will help ensure these students don’t fall behind on leaf identification and classifying.

Additional Resources

• This lesson plan found on Scholastic’s website, provides the idea for a leaf finding expedition for the students.
• Make your own Leaf Man! Explore the plethora of Fall related links on this page as well.
• Check out Harcourt’s website for Ehlert’s Leaf Man.  It includes a large array of resources including:
  • An interview with Lois Ehlert
  • A teacher guide with tips on preparing to read, what to do while reading Leaf Man, and how to follow up.
  • Printable activity sheets and printable stickers sheets!

Book: Leaf Man
Author: Lois Ehlert
Illustrator: Lois Ehlert
Publisher: Harcourt
Publication Date: September 2005
Pages: 40
Grade Range:  K-2
ISBN: 978-0152053048