JoinWhat Could Be More Perfect? Even More Picture-Perfect Science Lessons!
By Carole Hayward
Posted on 2013-06-24
For the lesson on Amazing Caterpillars in Emily Morgan and Karen Ansberry’s new Even More Picture-Perfect Science Lessons, K–5, Using Children’s Books to Guide Inquiry, over the course of several class periods, you get to read Houdini The Amazing Caterpillar, then to show illustrations from From Caterpillar to Butterfly, and engage in a hands-on activity with students to help them learn key facts about the butterfly life cycle. Imagine your elementary students being completely captivated by these picture books and learning some valuable science lessons as you read together.
For more than a decade, NSTA’s popular Picture-Perfect Science series has helped elementary science teachers deliver engaging, hands-on, inquiry-based science lessons. In this latest volume, the lessons are connected to the Framework for K–12 Science Education and the English Language Arts and Literacy Common Core State Standards. The lessons are written according to the BSCS 5E Instructional Model, so students can construct their own understanding of science concepts as they engage, explore, explain, elaborate, and evaluate. Guided questions are embedded throughout each lesson. Each lesson also includes an “Inquiry Place” box that suggests ideas for developing open inquiries.
Using Even More Picture-Perfect Science Lessons
The authors explain that “we wrote Even More Picture-Perfect Science Lessons to supplement, not replace, an existing science program. Although each lesson stands alone as a carefully planning learning cycle based on clearly defined science objectives, the lessons are intended to be integrated into a more complete unit of instruction in which concepts can be more fully developed.”
The format of picture books stimulate students on both the emotional and intellectual levels. The following list presents the various lessons included in this volume, the appropriate grade levels, and the picture books for each lesson.
| GRADE | PICTURE BOOKS |
| K-2 | Wemberly’s Ice Cream Star; Why Did My Ice Pop Melt? |
| 3-5 | Toy Boat; Captain Kidd’s Crew Experiments with Sinking and Floating |
| 3-5 | The Wind Blew; I Face the Wind |
| 3-5 | The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind; Wind Energy: Blown Away! |
| K-2 | What’s That Sound?; Sounds All Around |
| K-2 | Do You Know Which Ones Will Grow?; What’s Alive? |
| K-2 | Flip, Float, Fly: Seeds on the Move; Who Will Plant a Tree? |
| K-2 | Unbeatable Beaks; Beaks! |
| 3-5 | Just Ducks!; Ducks Don’t Get Wet |
| K-2 | Houdini the Amazing Caterpillar; From Caterpillar to Butterfly; The Very Hungry Caterpillar |
| 3-5 | Fossil; Fossils Tell of Long Ago |
| K-2 | The Three R’s: Reuse, Reduce, Recycle; Michael Recycle |
| 3-5 | Come On, Rain!; What Will the Weather Be? |
| 3-5 | Twilight Comes Twice; Next Time You See a Sunset |
| 3-5 | Now & Ben: The Modern Inventions of Benjamin Franklin; Build It: Invent New Structures and Contraptions |
Reading aloud is appropriate in all grade levels and for all subjects. The Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy states that “children in the early grades—particularly kindergarten through grade 3—benefit from participating in rich, structured conversations with an adult in response to written texts that are read aloud.”
Sounds like the very best reasons to read some great picture books to your students!
The entire Picture-Perfect series is also available as a set.