Category Archives: Science

A Place for Wonder

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Usually I write about children’s books, but this week I’m sharing a gem for grown-ups  recommended by my friend, Annemarie Johnson. (Annemarie is a gifted teacher and educational consultant, and her website: http://www.teacher2teacherhelp.com is bursting with great information.) I’ve been thinking quite a bit about nonfiction, so with the school year winding down and summer months opening up some time for me to read professional development books, I’m reading A Place of Wonder: Reading and Writing Nonfiction in the Primary Grades by Georgia Heard and Jennifer McDonough.  I love the idea of creating a “wonder center” with treasures like pine cones and rocks kids bring in plus plastic magnifying glasses and informational books and paper to draw and record observations.  Even the suggestion of stocking classroom shelves with more nonfiction picture books and having students decide how the books should be sorted makes sense to me. If you have great  nonfiction books you use with your young students, please feel free to share in the comments what works for you. This summer, I will read and wonder, plan and share.

Chew on these great books

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In a recent Remenar Seminar, a principal pointed out that I share lots of stories, but not a lot of non-fiction. That’s something I’m working on – I love fiction, but I know many learners really respond to informational text. So, I’m trying to pair up books on irresistible topics – like bubble gum!

I’m stuck on the bouncy rhyme of Lisa Wheeler’s Bubble Gum, Bubble Gum: “chewy-gooey bubble gum/ icky-sticky bubble gum/ melting in the road/ along comes a toad” who gets stuck. Then a shrew gets stuck, and more animals get stuck – until a truck comes along! What will they do? Chew! And blow a bubble that lifts them from danger, until…

This makes a terrific storybox. Put this book, with its great illustrations by Laura Huliska-Beith, and puppet characters on wooden sticks in the storybox with a container of homemade pink playdough (make sure it’s non-toxic because one of your sweetpeas will probably try chewing on it) to retell the story.

Then, share Pop! The Invention of Bubble Gum by Megan McCarthy. It is excellent non-fiction for younger students. The topic is sure to grab their attention, the text is short but interesting and full of fun facts, and the illustrations are large enough for a group read. At the end of the book, McCarthy adds lots more information (like who holds the world record for largest bubble) for kids who want to really sink their teeth into the subject.

Want a super-duper Dubble Bubble science extension? Ask your students, “Do you think bubble gum will weigh more or less after you chew it?” Use the scientific method of forming a hypothesis, listing materials and procedure, controlling variables (everyone chews the same kind of gum for the same amount of time), and see what your results are!

Plant some new ideas

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Spring has finally arrived, even in Michigan, and many of us are pulling out plant and garden books. Here’s a good one to add to your bunch: Up, Down and Around by Katherine Ayers and Nadine Bernard Westcott.  In this book, kids learn that some things grow up, like corn and broccoli, some things grow down, like carrots and potatoes, and some things grow around, like pumpkin vines and green beans. You can talk about prepositions and location words, making a fun center with seed packets and magnets. (Being the frugal fanatic, I’ve started collecting free magnets from pizza parlors and real estate offices, cutting them up and hot-gluing them to pictures I want to use on magnetic boards. And did you know that cookie sheets are magnetic and make great little portable retelling boards? Cool, huh?) So, hot-glue magnets to the backs of seed packets and let kids sort them by what grows above or below ground on cookie sheets labeled “above” and “below”. If you have a green thumb, plant fun veggies like green beans and let kids ooh over the curling vines. And, if you are like me, the Dr. Kevorkian of the plant world, do a simpler experiment: Bring in potatoes, point out the “eyes”, and leave them in paper bags for a couple of weeks to see if they’ll sprout! Tie this book in with Tops and Bottoms by Janet Stevens, or pair it with non-fiction books like The Vegetables We Eat by Gail Gibbons. Hooray for spring!

Guess Again!

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I read Guess Again by Mac Barnett and Adam Rex to a kindergarten class and they laughed so hard I worried about the potential wetting of the carpet. Mac Barnett’s verses set kids up to guess the seemingly simple answer:

“Who’s got white teeth and fiery breath
And scares Sir Frank the Brave to death?
This frightened knight must stop his braggin’.
Who’s spooked our knight? That’s right! A….” (turn the page)

“Dentist, Dr. Larry Roberts.”

Adam Rex’s goofy pictures add to the fun. What look like the shadows of sheep on a page turn out to be abominable snow monsters, and the floppy-eared shadow nibbling carrots in the garden? Why, it’s Grandpa Ned! Your rhyming pros will be delighted with the silly, unexpected answers, and they’ll want to “Guess Again” and again.

You can work this book into a science unit on shadows and light. Let little ones experiment with objects and materials:  which ones create shadows and which ones won’t? Using flashlights in a darkened room, let kids trace shadows of objects on white paper, and then use art materials to transform the shadow-shape into something new!