{"id":1712,"date":"2009-09-13T12:49:31","date_gmt":"2009-09-13T17:49:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/openwidelookinside\/archives\/1712"},"modified":"2009-09-13T12:49:31","modified_gmt":"2009-09-13T17:49:31","slug":"teaching-life-science-with-childrens-literature-a-tree-is-a-plant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/openwidelookinside\/2009\/09\/13\/teaching-life-science-with-childrens-literature-a-tree-is-a-plant\/","title":{"rendered":"Teaching Life Science with Children’s Literature: A Tree Is a Plant"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

What is a tree and how does it grow?\u00a0\u00a0 Clyde Robert Bulla’s<\/a> simple and concise text and Stacey Schuett’s <\/a>lush illustrations follow an apple\u00a0tree’s continuous life cycle through spring, summer, winter, and fall in the book, A Tree Is a Plant<\/a>.\u00a0 Trees can live for a very long time, and they are alive all year long, even when they look dead in winter.\u00a0 In this newly illustrated book, A Tree Is a Plant, \u00a0you will learn how a tree grows and how it gets food and water.\u00a0 You can also find out what happens to water after it travels through a tree’s roots, branches, leaves, and how to figure a tree’s age.<\/p>\n

From the Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out Science series<\/a>, this reillustrated book on the science of trees is well designed for early-primary-grade children. The text, from the 1960 edition of the book, follows an apple plant from seed to sprout to tree, including the development of blossoms, leaves, and fruit. The functions of roots, trunk, branches, and leaves are also discussed, as well as the seasonal changes in the tree.\u00a0 Schuett’s<\/a> colorful paintings clearly illustrate topics explained in the text, while their pleasing colors, rounded forms, and small, playful animals will help keep young children involved in the topic. Bulla<\/a> discusses the parts of the tree and their functions without complex explanations of the mechanisms involved in fruit formation and photosynthesis.\u00a0 Bulla (1960) writes, “The blossoms last only a few days.\u00a0 The apples are where the blossoms were before”(pg. 13).\u00a0 Concepts such as water intake are emphasized with arrows indicating its route within the plant.\u00a0 The last\u00a0page includes a simple activity– a way of estimating the age of a tree–and a few suggested books on trees and plants. A good starting place for understanding trees.<\/p>\n

Curriculum Connections<\/strong>In the area of\u00a0life science, the \u00a0Virginia Science SOL’s <\/a>for grades K-2\u00a0 stresses the importance of\u00a0 understanding the basic\u00a0 needs and life processes of plants and animals, life cycles, and seasonal changes.\u00a0 A Tree Is a Plant <\/a>is appropriate for multiple grade levels and could be used\u00a0to directly address SOL’s K.8b, K.8c, 1.4a,\u00a01.4b, and 2.4b.If you would like to\u00a0find out more about trees, here\u00a0are a few suggestions for grades K-2:<\/p>\n