Teaching Process Skills with Children’s Literature: Rare Treasure

Posted on August 31, 2009 by openwidearchive

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Rare Treasure Mary Anning and Her Remarkable Discoveries written and illustrated by Don Brown is a brief biography of her life and a small window into the field of paleontology.

The story begins by letting the reader know that Mary was born in 1799 to a very poor family living in an English port town.  Her father taught her and her brother how to look for fossils at the nearby beach.  A fascination that started as a hobby became her life’s work at the age of 20.  Although she was able to sell the treasures she found, she remained quite poor.  “In 1823, Mary discovered her first complete fossil of a plesiosaur…a nine-foot-long creature.”  She went on to make many more important discoveries before she died in 1847, at the age of 48.

Curriculum Connections:  Rare Treasure Mary Anning and Her Remarkable Discoveries could be used as an introduction into the science of paleontology.  Students could learn about the simple tools used in her research (SOL 1.1b) and how and why their findings are arranged and classified (SOL 1.1c), utilizing measurement to the nearest centimeter (SOL 3.1e).  Building on that, students could learn how two or more attributes are used to classify their findings (SOL 2.1c), then, how the data from those findings are gathered, charted and graphed (SOL 3.1g). 

Additional Resources:

  • “Smithsonian Education” offers a lesson plan, activity, and worksheet to help students understand how an archaeologist does his/her job, as well as how to make and record observations in this field of study.  This directly relates common practices between archaeologists and paleontologists.  
  • “Discovery Education” offers a lesson plan, activities, and worksheets to help students understand the concept of scientific theory through the examination of information and artifacts related to dinosaurs, and how evidence helps to support a scientific theory.  
  • This interactive website allows students to independently utilize the computer to reinforce their understanding of paleontology through a simulated dig site, general information, and videos of students working an actual dig site.  

Book: Rare Treasure: Mary Anning and Her Remarkable Discoveries
Author/Illustrator:  Don Brown
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publication Date:  2003
Pages:  32 pages
Grade Range:  K – 3
ISBN: 9780618310814

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Teaching Process Skills with Children’s Literature: How Tall How Short How Faraway

Posted on August 31, 2009 by openwidearchive

How Tall How Short How Faraway

How Tall, How Short, How Faraway by David A. Adler is a children’s story designed to inform it’s readers about the different types of measurement and how they originated. How Tall, How Short, How Faraway displays units of measure by comparing the lengths to body parts such as fingers, arms, and feet. The illustrations in the book display different body parts that relate to the different measurements of both the customary and the metric systems.  Adler engages the students in hands- on activities throughout the book, asking the reader to “stand straight, with your back against the wall” and measure his or herself using units of measure of ancient Egypt.  Adler provides examples of everyday activities where measurement is used and accompanies these descriptions with bright, vibrant illustrations.

Curriculum Connections
This children’s story would be great as an anticipatory guide for a math or science lesson in measurement in order to provide the students with background knowledge of how systems of measurement were created as well as refreshing the knowledge they may already have of some of the units of measurement such as inches, centimeters, and feet.  How Tall How Short How Faraway emphasizes Virginia SOL 1.1 for the first grade in which students use tools to enhance observations, length is measured using standard and non- standard units, and simple experiments are used to answer questions.

Additional Resources

  • This lesson  forces the students to move around the classroom and measure a handful of items and then return to their seats and create a bar graph of all the items they measured.
  • These activities allow students to compare their personal foot length to that of the students around them which helps them to understand how the ancient civilizations used measurement. The students then go back back and measure exactly how long their foot is in inches and compares this measurement to that of a parnters.
  • This Teaching Today lesson plan provides students with a scavenger hunt around the classroom to find items that differ in length.  Afterwards, the students compare their items with those of their classmates.

Book: How Tall, How Short, How Faraway
Author: David A. Adler
Illustrator: Nancy Tobin
Publisher: Holiday House
Publication Date: June 2000
Pages: 28
Grade Range: 1-4
ISBN: 978-0-8234-1632-5

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Teaching Process Skills with Children’s Literature: Starry Messenger

Posted on August 31, 2009 by openwidearchive

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Starry Messenger, written by Peter Sís is an extremely child friendly biography of the famous philosopher and astronomist Galileo Galilee.  This book could be used with a wide variety of children of different ages and reading levels.

The main story line is easily followed by younger children, and is accompanied with extra information and quotes written in cursive for older students.  The illustrations, also done by Peter Sís, are interesting, yet very complex and filled with extra information for older students to pick out using the knowledge they acquire from the extra facts.

Starry Messenger begins by describing the world that Galileo lived in, giving more information about beliefs and traditions of the time:

“For hundreds of years, most people thought the earth was the center of the universe, and the sun and the moon and all the other planets revolved around it.  they did not doubt or wonder if this was true.  They just followed tradition… In those days, Italy was a country where many great artists, writers, musicians and scholars lived…In the city of Pisa a little boy was born with stars in eyes.  His parents named him Galileo.”

Some of the extra information provides more fact filled tidbits for older children to consider when reading the story:

“Italy was a quilt of city-states, each with its own laws and government.  A common religion, the Catholic faith, was one thing they all shared, and the Church was a powerful influence…Until the age of eleven, Galileo was taught at home by his father.  Then he was sent to the Benedictine Monastery of Santa Maria di Vallonbiosa where he studied Latin, Greek, religion and music.”

Starry Messenger also helps explain to children an important aspect that is often glossed over:  the importance of the traditions of the ancient world, and that those traditions were so important to the leaders of the country, i.e. the Church, that Galileo was disowned for his beliefs because they were different.

“Galileo was afraid.  He knew that people had suffered terrible torture and punishment for not following tradition.  It could happen to him… Galileo was condemned to spend the rest of his life locked in his house under guard.  But he still had stars on his mind and no one could keep him from thinking about the wonders of the skies and the mysteries of the universe.”

Curriculum Connections 

VA SOL Science 1.1b and 1.1f: The student will conduct investigations in which b.) simple tools are used to enhance observations and f.) predictions are based on patterns of observation rather than random guesses

VA SOL Science 2.1a, 2.1g and 2.1h: The student will conduct investigations in which a.) observation is differentiated from personal interpretation, and conclusions are drawn based on observations and g.) unexpected or unusual quantitative data are recognized and h.) simple physical models are constructed.

Additional Resources

  • Peter Sís’ own website provides multiple lesson extension ideas and lesson ideas for many standards of learning in subject areas such as geography and history.
  • TeacherVision provides a lesson plan for older students, grades 6-8, including measuring with scales and using pendulums like Galileo used in his studies.
  • 400 Years of the Telescope expands upon the biography of Galileo, as well as gives extra information about the telescope.

Book: Starry Messenger
Author/Illustrator: Peter Sís
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication Date: September  2000
Pages: 40 pages
Age Range: 4-8
ISBN-13: 978-0374470272

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Teaching Process Skills with Children’s Literature: Graphs

Posted on August 30, 2009 by openwidearchive

Graphs written by Bonnie Bader and illustrated by Mernie Gallagher Cole is a story about a boy who does not want to go to his family reunion.  Gary, the boy gives many reasons as to why he can’t go to the reunion, including his math homework. His mom tells him to bring his math homework to the party. Gary brings his homework to the party and creates a line, bar and, pie graph of different things at the party. The other children get excited with his work and help Gary complete his graphs.

“I told them about my math homework. I thought they would be bored by it and leave me alone. I was wrong. “We love math!” said Bobby.”

Curriculum Connection

This book is intended to help students learn how to graph different kinds of information. This book can be a good introduction to the different types of graphs. It can also help the students with different things that they can graph. This book can be used for VA SOLs

2.1 f- pictures and bar graphs are constructed using numbered axes

3.1 g- where students will gather, chart, and graph data .

Additional Resources

  • Make A Bar Graph is a great exercise for students to begin learning to make bar graphs themselves. This worksheet has two different sets of information for the students to practice bar graphing.
  • This website gives students more information on the different types of graphs. This website also provides activities for the students to complete their own graphs.
  • This game gives students the opportunity to make their own pie chart. The students can explore and move the different parts of the graph to see how this changes the pie chart. It is very interactive so it helps the students stay engaged.

General Information

Book: Graphs
Author: Bonnie Bader
Illustrator: Mernie Gallagher Cole
Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap
Publication Date: 2003
Pages: 48 pages
Grade Range: 1-3
ISBN: 0-448-42896-2

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Teaching Process Skills with Children’s Literature: Big Tracks, Little Tracks Following Animal Prints

Posted on August 30, 2009 by openwidearchive

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Introduction:
Being able to classify and identify objects in the world has become an important apsect of the elementary curriculm. Children are required to be able to differentiate between different animals, especially relating to certain characteristics such as color and look. Big Track, Little Tracks is  a good book that describes how certain animals in the real world appear and characteristics that help differentiate them. This book provides an opportunity for the child to be a nature observer and what they will become in contact with during the observation. The author, Millicent. E Selsman and illustrator Marlene Hill Donnelly take children on the route of an observer and help them learn what scientists look for when making observations and classifications.

Summary:
This book takes children through a forest and other natural settings discovering different animals and the footprints that they leave. Throughout the book the children are introduced to a range of animals in sizes and paw prints becoming more inclined to establish the difference between the animals. In the beginning of the book the author provides an explanation of how detectives are able to determine who or what was at a specific site. ” One way is to look for the marks someone or something has made- fingerprints, footprints, the tracks made by bike tires.”  They have pictures of animals on one side of the page and on other page they have objects that are related to the certain animal. The book helps distinguish the difference between a cat footprint and dog footprint by providing exact detail of the difference between the two footprints.

Curriculum Connections:
This book could be used in the introduction of Science lesson plan. Before the lesson is given, the teacher could read the book to the class then explain what they are going to do during their lesson. They will be like the the nature observers and practice the skills that they saw in the book. By looking at the book and how nature can be used children will learn that k.1a) basic properties of objects can be identified by direct observation of the objects.  They could be given sheets of the same prints that were used in the books matching the animals to their footprints. This sheet will help them establish the skill of k1.c) identifying objects through pictures or verbal. Finally, after reading the book, the teacher could explain to the students that 2.1c) classifying object can be done by using two or more attributes.

Additional Resources:

Try this website which provides a thematic unit on process skills Animal Tracks Science Center Activities

For a lesson plan relating to Categorizing Animals

For a Big Tracks Little Tracks K-W-L sheet try Big Tracks, Little Tracks KWL Chart.

General Information
Book: Big Track, Little Tracks
Author: Millicent E. Selsman
Illustrator: Marlene Hill Donnelly
Publisher: HarperColllins Publishers
Publication Date: 1999
Pages: 32 pages
Grade Range: k-1
ISBN: 9780064451949

 

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Teaching Process Skills with Children’s Literature: Big and Small, Room for All

Posted on August 30, 2009 by openwidearchive

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Big and Small, Room for All, written by Jo Ellen Bogart, is a wonderfully illustrated new book that introduces young children to the concept of size and how they fit in the world. Using simple language and eye-catching watercolor paintings, this book successfully explains to children their place on earth. Each page illustrates in picture and words, the size difference of two objects.   The text “Big Mountain, Small tree” is surrounded by a beautiful scene of mountains with trees much smaller in size. The next page states “Big tree, Small man” with a man looking up at the enormous trees.  This constant connection to the next page grabs the attention of readers, eager to see what the next comparison will be.

The illustrations in this book are actual watercolor paintings by artist Gillian Newland and they really make this book. My 5 year old was intrigued by the huge detailed picture of a flea on the page “Big flea, big flea, What is smaller than a flea?”  The painting of the solar system left her with the desire to learn the names of the planets depicted in the book.

Whereas this book’s language and reading level are that of a Kindergartener, I believe that older children will enjoy the book, too. One of the last pages of the book reads, “What is smaller than a flea? A world of things too small to see.” The picture of microorganisms will make older children excited to learn about all the things that we can’t see. This is a really fun and unique book that could open the door to numerous discussions. 

I really like how children of various ages will be drawn to different aspects of Big and Small, Room for All. I think it is a great book to introduce the concept of size and sorting to Kindergarteners (VA SOL K.1d).  The short phrases make this book a good one for beginning readers. Teachers could also use this book to differentiate between big and small for Kindergarten (VA SOL K.1e).  Thanks to the beautiful watercolor paintings, this book also describes objects as big or small in both words and pictures (VA SOL K.1c). 

Additional Resources:

  • Scholastic offers many activities for teachers to use in their classroom.  One worksheet on their website has students measure the penguins on the page and put them in order from shortest to tallest. This reiterates the concept of sequencing by size for kindergarteners.
  • For a change of pace, edupace.com describes a game that challenges students to name objects that are either bigger or smaller than the aforementioned item. This activity will really force the students to think of objects relative to others, just as Big and Small, Room for All does.  
  • In another activity, a teacher could discuss some of the items that were mentioned in the book: sun, mountain, tree, man, kitten, mouse.  The students could then cut out pictures of these items from handouts, color them, and then paste them on construction paper according to their size.
  • This website has a great activity for students to show their knowledge of big, bigger, biggest.

Book: Big and Small, Room for All
Author: Jo Ellen Bogart
Illustrator: Gillian Newland
Publisher: Tundra Books; Har/Pstr edition
Publication Date: 2009
Pages: 32
Grade Range: Pre-K to 2nd grade
ISBN: 087768911

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Teaching Process Skills with Children’s Literature: Millions to Measure

Posted on August 30, 2009 by openwidearchive

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Millions to Measure is part of a great series of books by David Schwartz that deals with measurements in length, weight, and volume. It explores how the metric system came about and explains how to measure using the metric system. This book is a great visual reference for children to see equal measurements and to see why a standard measurement had to be created. It shows how nonstandard units are more difficult to measure with. Schwartz’s other book, How Much is a Million explores the concepts of how much a million, billion, and trillion are and If You Made a Million explores the concepts of money.

Curriculum Connections
This book can be used in many different grades as an introduction to basic measuring and as an advanced lesson in measuring in the metric system and the standard English system. Some SOLS it can be used for are:

  • VA SOL 1.1:  measuring length, volume, and mass using standard and nonstandard units.
  • VA SOL 2.1: length, volume, mass, and temperature measurements are made in metric units and standard English units.
  • VA SOL 3.1: volume measurements(ml and l), length measurements (cm)

Additional Resources

  • Scholastic has a great resource for a lesson plan and worksheet for students to explore nonstandard units of measurement to measure different items in the classroom.  It also checks their understanding of what unit to measure length, volume, and  weight with.
  • ABC Teach has a fun book for students to create and take home where they measure different parts of their body. I believe it would work best with a partner so they can help each other get an accurate measurement. If will help them practice writing the correct unit of measurement as well.
  • ABC Teach also has a worksheet students can use to measure different objects with a nonstandard and standard unit of measurement.
  • Gamequarium has a lot of great interactive games for kids to practice measurement. There are games using inches, centimeters, and ounces.

Book: Millions to Measure
Author: David Schwartz
Publisher: Harper Collins Publishers
Publication Date: March 2003
Pages: 40 pages
Grades: K-5
ISBN: 978-0688129163

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Teaching Process Skills with Children’s Literature: I See Myself

Posted on August 30, 2009 by openwidearchive

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I See Myself, written by Vicki Cobb and illustrated by Julia Gorton, follows a young girl exploring why she can see herself in some objects, like in a mirror or car window, but not in others.  Throughout the book, children start to learn the early beginnings of the scientific process for carrying out scientific investigations,  including the importance of formulating questions, making observations, performing experimentations, and predicting the outcomes of those experiments.  Children are encouraged to utilize both visual and tactile senses to help determine where they will be able to see their reflections, which can help develop classification and sorting skills based on physical properties.  In particular, children are exposed to a variety of light sources and how light is essential for objects to produce reflections.  As a bonus, this book allows teachers to integrate the use of several manipulatives, such as a hand held mirror, small ball, and flashlight, either during or after reading the book, to help children see firsthand how reflective items may be determined through observation, classification of physical properties, and how light can hinder or enhance reflections.

I See Myself  is as an excellent precursor to learning about the more complex science children will learn in the upper grade levels behind how reflective images are produced through light, all while getting children excited and confident about science!

Curriculum Connections
I See Myself serves as an appropriate and useful resource to help teach, reinforce, and emphasize the following Kindergarten Scientific Investigation, Reasoning, and Logic Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL’s):

K.1 The student will conduct investigations in which:

a. basic properties of objects are identified by direct observations

c. objects are described both pictorially and verbally

e. a set of objects is seperated into two groups based on a single physical attribute

g. a question is developed from one or more observations

K.2 Students will investigate and understand that humans have sense that allow one to seek, find, take in, and react or respond to information in order to learn about one’s surroundings.  Key concepts include:

a. five senses and corresponding sensing organs (taste – tounge, touch – skin, smell – nose, hearing – ears, and sight – eyes)

Additional Resources

  • kindergarten-lessons.com provides an assortment of lessons, activities, and experiments designed for kindergarten that include aspects of the scientific process regarding light sources; this website also provides activities that incorporate the relationship betweeen light and color.
  • How Stuff Works provides a variety of experiment ideas for young children on reflections and the relationships relfective materials and lights that can be altered for specific grade levels.
  • TLS Book’s website has a collection of kindergarten worksheets that focus on reviewing and enhancing concepts such as light, how the five sense can help classify objects based on a variety of shared properties, and thinking skills.

Book: I See Myself
Author: Vicki Cobb
Illustrator: Julia Gorton
Publisher: Harper Collins
Publication Date: August 2002
Pages: 40 pages
Grade Range: Kindergarten
ISBN: 978-0688178369

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Teaching Process Skills with Children’s Literature: The Tree of Life

Posted on August 30, 2009 by openwidearchive

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The Tree of Life by Peter Sís offers an interesting portrayal of Charles Darwin’s life as a scientist. This book begins with a very good introduction.  It begins,

“Charles Darwin opens his eyes for the first time!  He has no idea that he will (a) start a revolution when he grows up, (b) sail around the world on a five-year voyage, (c) spend many years studying nature, and (d) write a book that will change the world.  Luckily, he is unaware that (e) not everyone will see things his way, and that (f) he himself will have doubts about revealing his grand conclusions.  Here is his story.”

This book is written in an unconventional way in which the text is not in paragraph form.  The different facts, statistics, and information on in the book are dispersed in different areas of each page.  It offers a look inside (an distinguishes between) Darwin’s ‘public life’, ‘private life’, and ‘secret life.’  It also gives a pretty detailed summary of his five year journey around the world in which he studied and recorded data about different animals (with a strong focus on South America).  There are several illustrations in the book- a few of the pages are fully covered with different species that Darwin studied on his voyage.  There are also several diagrams and maps that help further explain Darwin’s findings.  His personal life is also one of the larger aspects of the book and is illustrated throughout it.

Curriculum Connections
SOL 5.1 (e) data are collected, recorded, and reported using appropriate graphical representation6.1 (a)- observations are made involving fine discrimination between similar objects and organisms 6.1 (b)- a classification system is developed based on multiple attributes.

Additional Resources 

  • Students can participate in a lab in which they will look at a variety of birds from all around the world.  They will be able to draw comparisons and differences from the birds after this lab.
  • Students can recreate Darwin’s experience by writing their own Darwin Diary.   The students will record observations of plants, animals, and organisms in their ecosystem.
  • The students can participate in an activity in which they learn about the adaptations of camels. Continuing with Darwin’s idea of evolution, it is important to note adaptations in certain animals around the world!

Book: The Tree of Life
Author/Illustrator: Peter Sís
Publisher: Walker Books Ltd
Publication Date: October 2003
Pages: 40 pages
Grade Range: 5-6
ISBN: 0744598702

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Teaching Process Skills With Children’s Literature: Manfish: A Story of Jacques Cousteau

Posted on August 30, 2009 by openwidearchive

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Manfish: A Story of Jacques Cousteau by Jennifer Berne and illustrated by Eric Puybaret takes children on a journey through the life of a curious boy who later became an inventor, film maker, explorer and marine conservationist.

“From the very beginning little Jacques loved water-the way it felt on his hands, his face, his body. And water made him wonder. He wondered why ships floated. Why he floated. And why rocks sank.”

It was this curiosity that led him to push the limits, and explore a part of our world yet to be known. “…people all over the world discovered the wonders of the sea for the very first time, with Jacques, Philippe, Didi and their adventurous crew.”

Jacques eagerness to breathe under water brought us the invention of “aqualungs”, “rubber suits to keep themselves warm and flippers to help them kick better.” (Scuba diving)   He even “created a waterproof case for his camera”.

Curriculum Connections
Manfish is suitable for 2nd and 3rd graders and compliments Virginia SOL 2.1 and 3.1. While the reading level is quite easy for a third grader the story is applicable as it reinforces observation, prediction and questioning skills and inspires children to look beyond the surface and consider things that have not yet been discovered. Students are motivated to explore and question how and why things happen. They are encouraged to follow Cousteau’s example, observe what is around them, and develop their curiosity to explore the unknown.

Additional Resources

  • Cousteau Kids offers additional reading material about Cousteau’s accomplishments, and provides a wealth of knowledge concerning environmental projects, expeditions, conservation news, environmental issues, society activities, books and movies. Children can subscribe to the bi-monthly magazine. There are also packages for teachers which include classroom subscription and student activities.
  • This website offers observation activities and other scientific investigations for various grade levels.
  • An experiment allowing students to observe differences between salt water and fresh water.

Book: Manfish: A Story of Jacques Cousteau
Author: Jennifer Berne
Illustrator: Eric Puybaret
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Publication Date: April 2008
Pages: 40
Grade Range: 1-3
ISBN: 978-0811860635

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