{"id":1601,"date":"2009-09-06T19:17:03","date_gmt":"2009-09-07T00:17:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/openwidelookinside\/archives\/1601"},"modified":"2009-09-06T19:17:03","modified_gmt":"2009-09-07T00:17:03","slug":"teaching-physical-science-with-childrens-literature-whats-smaller-than-a-pygmy-shrew","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/openwidelookinside\/2009\/09\/06\/teaching-physical-science-with-childrens-literature-whats-smaller-than-a-pygmy-shrew\/","title":{"rendered":"Teaching Physical Science with Children’s Literature: What’s Smaller Than a Pygmy Shrew?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"pygmy-shrew.gif\"<\/p>\n

What’s Smaller Than a Pygmy Shrew?<\/a>\u00a0written and illustrated by\u00a0Robert E. Wells<\/a>\u00a0begins by exploring the characteristics and\u00a0relative sizes of familiar animals and objects like the pygmy shrew, elephant, ladybug, and toadstools. Wells writes, “If [the pygmy shrew] happened to meet an elephant, [he would] probably think [he’s] the smallest thing in the universe!…But pygmy shrew you’re not so small. Not compared to a ladybug.” Following this, Wells describes smaller and smaller organisms like protozoa, paramecia, and bacteria and continues to compare their sizes with the use of his illustrations. He further goes on to examine the molecules that make up the organisms, the atoms that make up the molecule, the protons, neutrons, and electrons that make up the atom along with the quarks that make up the protons and neutrons. Wells ties the book together by explaining how everything in nature, the world, the universe, and even the pygmy shrew that opens the story is made up of atoms.<\/p>\n

This book does a phenomenal job of exposing students to new organisms and terms in a fun and visually stimulating way and reinforces these terms in a glossary found at the end\u00a0of the book.<\/p>\n

Curriculum Connections<\/strong><\/p>\n

This book\u00a0could be used in fifth\u00a0or\u00a0sixth grade classrooms\u00a0to help students review that objects can be described in terms of relative size (VA SOL K.4d) and in terms of their physical properties which may be too small to be seen without magnification (VA SOL 3.3b). It further describes how all matter is\u00a0made of materials such as molecules, atoms, protons, electons, neutrons, and quarks\u00a0as well as their relative size which directly relates to Virginia SOLs 6.4a.<\/p>\n

Additional Resources<\/strong><\/p>\n