In our classroom, I have a resource that I’m guessing is from ~2003 (there’s no page listing author or copyright date) and appears to no longer be available (at least I can’t find it on this website), but it’s helpful enough that I will summarize key parts of it here, and add some book recommendations from it to my other posts.

The book (3 ring binder) is Science, Children, and Books: A teacher explains.The sub-title is: A Guide to Implementing a K-3 Science Library.

Why Use Science Literature?

Books can:

• provide needed information – wide background knowledge helps students make connections
• info in books can support or challenge student’s findings
• show how scientists work and think
• suggest investigations and science activities the child can do outside of class
• illustrations are helpful to children who don’t read or speak English
• stir emotions and feelings; encourage curiosity and a sense of wonder

The author says “I believe that k-3 children need to have hands-on activities [before the book]…. Once children explore materiales, carry out their own investigations, make their own discoveries – see themselves as scientists – they are ready to find out what other scientists have wondered about, studied and discovered.” In my classes, we start with play-based learning – hands-on activities, then read a non-fiction book which provides information, and helps them make connections, then we have more time with the hands-on activities to apply that learning, then end with fictional stories full of emotions, silly moments and flights of fancy to help build that curiosity and wonder.

How Does Writing Fit Into Science?

Warm-Up

The author suggests this warm-up activity: Ask children to write answers to a prompt question: “what do you know about _____? List as many things as you know.” Then after a few minutes, say “Someone read me one thing off your list. Then we’ll all cross that one off and to on to another thing someone else knows.” This is more effective with K-3 students than a KWL chart.

During Experiments

The author recommends having students take their notebooks with them during activities, so they can choose to take notes in any way on any topic they want. In my class, I sometimes put worksheets out on the table that children can use during activities to track results (“for each item, mark whether it sinks or floats”), to compare achievements (“how many blocks tall was your tallest tower?”), and to describe their observations (“draw a picture of the rock you studied – what did you notice about it?”)

Summary / Review

When I teach 5 – 8 year olds, we do journals at the end of each class. I hand out a worksheet with a question or prompt and children can write or draw a response. The author suggests these review questions: In today’s class, what did you learn about _____?” “How would you explain ______ to someone who was just starting to learn about it?” “Can you draw a picture to show how ______ works?” “I had a problem: _____ This is how I solved the problem: ____.” “Now I want to find out more about _______.”

Recommended Books

These books are generally aimed at K-1 read aloud level, or grade 2 – 3 read alone level. Because I have primarily taught age 3 – 5, I have not used most in my classes, but for the ones I am familiar with, I second the author’s recommendation.

The author recommends “read-aloud/think-aloud.” Read the book all the way through once. Read it again at another time, stopping and commenting on things you notice, stopping and asking questions, or asking them to summarize what they learned from the book.

Life Sciences

• Butterfly Count – Collard. Abut a prairie restoration project. Shows how changes in the environment affect organisms and how people can help.
• Chirping Crickets – Berger. Learn about crickets, including how to catch and observe one.
• Honey in a Hive – Rockwell. Information about bees.
• Life Cycles – Ross. Describes the life cycles of a sunflower, a mushroom and a grasshopper.
• Three books by Pfeffer: From Seed to Pumpkin – growth and fevelopment of plants. Firefly at Stonybrook Farm – information from the viewpoint of the firefly about its needs. Wiggling Worms at Work – how works move, what they eat, where they live.
• Jack’s Garden by Cole and Pick, Pull, Snap!: Where Once a Flower Bloomed by Schaefer and George. I describe these in my Seeds and Plants lesson plan.

Earth Sciences

• Re-Cycles by Ross. The natural cycles of soil and water, as well as the human-assisted cycle of composting.
•  Feel the Wind by Dorros. This is one of the books we use when we study Wind. Describes how even though we can’t see wind, we can feel wind, and see its effects.
• Flash, Crash, Rumble and Roll (about thunderstorms) and Snow Is Falling, both by Branley – who writes lots of great science books for this grade 2 – 3 audience.
• Snowflake Bentley by Briggs. Biography of a scientist who persisted in his studies.
• How Mountains are Made, Zoehfeld. Uses a story about 4 children hiking up a mountain to make geology engaging.
• Canyon by Cameron. Poem about canyon formation.
• Dave’s Down-to-Earth Rock Shop by Murphy. Mentioned in my geology lesson plan.

Physical Sciences

• Energy Makes Things Happen by Bradley – basics of energy, fuel, stored energy.
• Experiments with Soap by Tocci – “supports and extends concepts in Solids and Liquids.”
• I Fall Down by Cobb. We use this in our class on Gravity.
• Let’s Try It Out with Towers and Bridges : Hands-On Early-Learning Activities by Simon. Includes illustrations of children trying things out.
• Pop! A Book about Bubbles by Bradley. Explains how bubbles form, and includes instructions for making bubble solution.
• Sounds All Around by Wendy Pfeffer. We use this when we study the Science of Sound, and I made a read-aloud video of it.
• What Is the World Made Of? by Zoehfeld. There are almost no books about Chemistry for preschool age, but I made a shortened version of the text in this book to use in my preschool STEM class. It’s really good info about Solids, Liquids and Gas, and great for 5 – 7 year olds learning about States of Matter.

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