{"id":1710,"date":"2009-09-12T12:19:22","date_gmt":"2009-09-12T17:19:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/openwidelookinside\/archives\/1710"},"modified":"2009-09-12T12:19:22","modified_gmt":"2009-09-12T17:19:22","slug":"teaching-life-science-with-childrens-literature-leaving-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/openwidelookinside\/2009\/09\/12\/teaching-life-science-with-childrens-literature-leaving-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Teaching Life Science with Children’s Literature: Leaving Home"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"leaving-home-book-cover.jpg\"<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Leaving Home<\/a>, written by Sneed B. Collard III <\/a>and illustrated by Joan Dunning<\/a>, is an endearing book that takes students on a journey around the world to visit a variety of habitats and learn about some of\u00a0the animals found in them.<\/p>\n

From the sea to the jungle, from the forest to the desert, students will begin to\u00a0build insight\u00a0on why\u00a0the physical and\u00a0behavioral adaptations\u00a0animals have are necessary for survival\u00a0in their given environment.\u00a0 A page is dedicated for each animal discussed and provides information on the animals\u00a0general\u00a0life cycle from birth through adulthood.\u00a0 Each page begins with how the animal simply moves about, providing a simplisitic yet effective way to show the many means in which animals travel; for example, on the shark page, it\u00a0says, “some of us swim,”<\/em> while on the jaguar page it says, “some of us walk.”<\/em><\/p>\n

The author\u00a0also presents\u00a0the behavioral and physical adaptations specific to each animal,\u00a0such as if babies resemble their parents upon birth, how they gather or store found, where they make their shelter, how they rear their young (laying eggs versus giving birth, providing milk or not),\u00a0and if hibernation, migration, camouflage, instinct, and learned behaviors are aspects to their species.\u00a0 The illustrations are superb and enticing to view by offering great detail that\u00a0clearly allow\u00a0students to see how the animal’s physical adaptations coincide with their surroundings.<\/p>\n

The writing flows easily and offers students a concise yet vast amount of information needed in order to further explore these adaptations in more detail.\u00a0 This book\u00a0can\u00a0surely serve as an effective\u00a0anticipatory resource prior to a unit on\u00a0animal life cycles and adaptations or as a\u00a0tool for review prior to testing.\u00a0 The author\u00a0will leave students knowing so much more about these animals and instill a desire to want to learn even\u00a0more about them.<\/p>\n

Curriculum Connections
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\n<\/strong>Leaving Home\u00a0<\/a>serves\u00a0as an appropriate and useful resource to help teach, reinforce, and emphasize\u00a0specific\u00a0second and third grade science life processes objectives in accordance with the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL’s).\u00a0 Investigating and understanding that animals undergo a series of orderly changes in their life cycle (SOL 2.4) is supported throughout the entire book\u00a0due to\u00a0the wide spectrum of animals discussed, including\u00a0invertebrates, vertebrates, reptiles, amphibians, mammals, birds, and insects.\u00a0 Also, the author discusses the distinct stages during each animal’s life and how they can vary from one animal to another (SOL 2.4a).\u00a0\u00a0 The behavioral and physical adaptations necessary for an animal’s survival (SOL 3.4), such as methods of gathering and storing food, finding shelter, rearing young (SOL 3.4a), migration, instinct, and learned behavior (SOL 3.4b) are explained in explicit detail for each animal discussed.<\/p>\n

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