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Integrating Literature Ideas & Best Practices - Science

 

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The Mangrove Tree: Planting Trees to Feed Families Susan L. Roth & Cindy Trumbore  DAY 1: Divide class in to groups. Each group needs to have 2 clear plastic cups, marker, 2 carrots, water, 1 tsp salt, ruler, scale, pencil, and observation chart. Each group should label their cups "fresh water" and "salt water." Fill each cup with one cup of water. Add 1 tsp of salt to "salt water" cup and stir until dissolved. Have students measure the width, length, and weight of each carrot. Observe texture, firmness, and color. Record data on chart. Each group will hypothesize what will happen to the carrots.  DAY 2 Remove both carrots from water and repeat the measuring and observation steps. Additionally, observe and record the texture, color, and any other changes. Why did the salt water carrot change? How does this help you understand the problem story? 2nd - 3rd  Ann Wohlfarth 
Coyote Places the Stars  Harriet Peck Taylor  This book would be a perfect read to add to a unit about space, specifically focusing on stars and constellations.   After hearing this story read aloud the students would be asked to recall the different shapes/creatures in the sky that Coyote made when he placed the stars with his bow and arrows.  They would then be asked to reflect upon possibly shapes/creatures that they had seen in the starry sky.  The class would then be divided into small groups of three to four students and they would be assigned a specific constellation to research (trying to focus on constellations that possibly resembled the ones mentioned in the text).  After the students had a couple of days to compile their research they would have the opportunity to present their assigned constellation to the entire class.   3rd-4th Sara Beth Mattingly Wright 
Stone Soup  Marcia Brown  We would begin this lesson by reading the story and creating a list of all the items used to make the stone soup.  Next, we would look at the list and decipher which items/ingredients are alive (vegetables) and not alive (stones).  From this point, we would discuss some of the vegetables that we could grow in a small vegetable garden in our room to make our own stone soup.  I would then give students a Styrofoam cup, potting soil, seeds (tomatoes, green beans, or peppers), and water to plant their vegetables.  Following the planting of our vegetables, we would place them in the window sills and create a journal to tell what we did for our vegetables each day and how they changed each day. K-2  Ashley Morgan 
The Lion and The Mouse   Jerry Pinkney 

 This story is perfect to incorporate in a science unit about food webs.  Typically a lion would eat the mouse because it is prey, but in this story the lion did not.  After reading the story students would be ask to recreate a similar story with two animals on the food web they are studying.  This would help students remember the food web and how animals find prey to survive. 

K-4  Casey Unger 
The Lorax  Dr. Seuss 

The Lorax is a book by Dr. Seuss where he uses an all-too-familiar rhyme scheme to convey a message. What resonates out of this story is how industry and economics conflict with the need to protect and safeguard our environment. The main learning objectives for this lesson are: To analyze The Lorax as an introduction to environmental science, evaluate the impact of humans and corporations on the environment, and synthesize ideas for industry and humans to work together for the good of the environment.

Procedure)

  1.  Begin by reading The Lorax aloud
  2.  Either watch the old cartoon or the new movie, which ever time allows while students write down all environmental issues they see during the video
  3.  Students are put in groups and compile a common list of environmental issues.
  4.  The teacher then leads a classroom discussion of the issues and includes anything that is left out. Including but not limited to (Urbanization, Habitat destruction, Environmental refugees, Clear cutting,   Deforestation, Industrial smog, Water pollution)
  5.  Teacher introduces students to proper terminology of problems they listed
  6.  Students remained grouped and are given environmental issue terms to define and explain.
  7.  Students are assigned an area or problem to develop a solution that is acceptable to both industry and environment in the video. Presentation of solution can be in the form of a PowerPoint, newsletter, public awareness announcement, newscast, or brochure.

 

http://alex.state.al.us/lesson_view.php?id=23952 

 
7-12  James Bryant 
Science Verse  Jon Scieszka  This book, featuring several poems related to a variety of science concepts, would be a great platform for end of the year review of science concepts. The teacher should introcude the book, telling students to play close attention to the atributes of the poems, (rhyming words, stanzas, etc.) After reading the book aloud, review some of the familiar vocabulary the students heard that they have learned about this year. Give students the task of creating a specialty poem covering an assigned science topic. Students will create a poster featuring either a diamante, cinquain, or acrostic poem. Each poem must use important science vocabulary from their specific concept, and follow the features and guidelines of the style of poem they chose.   5-6 Patrice Burlew
Turtle in July  Marilyn Singer 

Standard S-P-LS-3 calls for the learner to identify various structures and functions of plants and animals used in growth, survival and reproduction and classify these accordingly.  One use of the poems in this book is as introductions to these lessons about the various animals, as many of the poems include information about the animals' life cycles and their interactions with their environments.  An example of this is the use of the title poem to introduce a unit on reptiles and amphibians, such as the one (complete with activity directions and standards connections) found at http://www.fws.gov/refuges/education/natureOfLearning/pdfs/ESWeek3.pdf .

 
3rd  Yolonda Hicks 
The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County  Mark Twain 

In this acclaimed short story by Mark Twain, students will see the life of a jumping frog.  Students will create their own jumping frogs by using cotton balls and paper clips.  Students will see how certain forces cause the frog to jump further.  Students will record their data and display the data using histograms and box-and-whisker plots.  After the collection of the data, and displaying the data, students will analyze and make predictions on how far a new jumping frog will jump.  This activity can also be used in the math classroom.

 

http://illuminations.nctm.org/LessonDetail.aspx?ID=L189

6th - 8th  Kimberly Cron 
         
         
         
         
         
 
 

 

 

 

         
         
         
         
         
       

 

         
         
         
         
         
     
 

 

       

 

         
         
         
         
         
         

 

 

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