Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Favorite Science Books

Can I narrow it down??? I LOOVVE teaching science because of it's hands-on nature and just because it is just so darn interesting!
One of my favorite picture books for teaching science is That Magnetic Dog by Bruce Whatley. You can see my post about how I used it in my class by clicking on the book.
 
But where do I turn when I'm needing some help choosing the perfect picture book for the content I need to teach? I bought More Picture-Perfect Science Lessons after I did my lessons for That Magnetic Dog, and they are very similar. There are some things I would add now that I've got this book!
It features 20 different fiction and non-fiction picture books that lead into science inquiry for Grades 1-4. So each of the 20 lessons uses two books - one fiction and one non-fiction (usually during the explain and/or elaborate phase). Each of the lessons (I take them over 2-3 days) follows the 5Es instructional model - engage, explore, explain, elaborate and evaluate. Even better is that the lessons incorporate comprehension skills and strategies like making text to self connections, inferring, determining importance and visualising as well as the features of non-fiction texts. It includes science journals for some topics, and other worksheets like Anticipation Guides, rubrics, data charts etc. I love it!
Link up with TBA and share your favorite science books!