The Magic School Bus In the Rainforest

 

 

Author/Illustrator: Joanna Cole/Bruce Degen

About the Author:
http://www.scholastic.com/magicschoolbus/books/cole.htm
Cole has worked as an elementary school teacher, a librarian, and a children's book editor.  She has written more than 90 nonfiction and fiction books for children. She is also the winner of the 1991 Washington Post /Children's Book Guild Nonfiction award.  Being able to write the Magic School Bus books allows her to involve her two favorite things into one science and her sense of humor!

Genre: Science

Grade Level: 2-5
Theme: Rainforest

Synopsis:
This book is about Ms. Frizzle taking her students on a wild ride to the rainforest to figure out why her cocoa tree is not producing cocoa beans.  The students get in the bus and experience a bunch of rain, bugs, trees, animals, and they work together to solve the problem of the cocoa bean producing problem. They learn about different information about the rainforests and enjoy another exhilarating field trip with the Frizz!


Pre Reading Activity:

Activity:
Have students brainstorm and write down,with a partner, what a rainforest is and what kind of animals can be found in the rainforest.

Post Reading Activity:

Activity:
After reading the story, have the students become reporters and look up information on the computer about rainforests around the world.  Have them report their findings of how much of the rainforest is left and what some people can do to help save the rainforests.  You can also have students create posters to Save the Rainforest!

Reflection:

I think that not only this book, but all of the Magic School Bus books are wonderful books to use because they all have detailed information about the topics at hand.  This book is filled with information on every page about rainforests.  The books also always have the students coming up with the solution to the problem at hand which is important for students to understand. This is because the students are the ones that need to be involved in learning about the subject in a hands-on way.  It is not possible for a bus to transform into different things and have the students explore different places all over the world in a school day's time, but students will enjoy the wild ride that Ms. Frizzle takes each time they read a Magic School Bus book!

Pumpkin Pumpkin

  

Author/Illustrator: Jeanne Titherington

About the Author:
http://www.harpercollins.com/authors/18814/Jeanne_Titherington/index.aspx?authorID=18814
Titherington grew up in Maine.  She still summers there, but she now lives and works in Houston,Texas, with her daughter, Anna, and son, John Gabriel.  She loves what she does because of her interests in art, language, fairytales, and the world of the child.  She said the world of the child because she thinks, in a way, she has never grown up and hopes she never will!

Genre: Science

Grade Level: K-2
Theme: Pumpkins

Synopsis:
This book is about a little boy named Jamie who planted a pumpkin seed.  He watched the pumpkin go from a tiny sprout to a plant, to a flower, to a pumpkin.  When he decided to pick it, he scooped out the pumpkin pulp, carved a face and put it in the window.  However, he made sure to save 6 seeds to plant in the spring!

Pre Reading Activity:

Activity:
Ask the students what a pumpkin is and what they do with pumpkins around Halloween time!

Post Reading Activity:

Activity:
After reading the story, have students help you scoop out pumpkin seeds from a pumpkin you brought in and save the seeds to plant a pumpkin in the spring time so they can witness how a pumkpin grows!  Once they start growing the pumpkin, they can go out and see how big it is and measure it with the help of the teacher and record this information.

Reflection:

I think this is a great book to use because it is simple to follow and students will understand how a pumpkin grows.  They can then take the seeds and plant them in the spring to witness how a pumpkin grows.  This will allow them to be observers and recorders, with the help of their teacher, to see how big the pumpkin gets before they pick it!

Alphabet Fiesta: An English/Spanish Alphabet Story

 

 

Author/Illustrator: Anne Miranda/Young schoolchildren in Spain

About the Author:
http://www.amazon.com/Anne-Miranda/e/B000APVXIS
Miranda has written a number of books inlcuding Glad Monster, and Sad Monster with Caldecott Award winning illustrator Ed Emberley. She currently lives in Spain with her husband, Saturnino, and her two sons, Evan and Tyler, that play basketball.  She likes to paint, garden, blog, go on facebook and watch her sons play basketball.  She is continuing to write and hopes to have a new book out soon.

Genre: English, Foreign Language, Science

Grade Level: K-1
Theme: Animals, Letters of Alphabet

Synopsis:

This book is about different animals that start with different letters of the alphabet preparing for a surprise party for their friend Zelda the Zebra.  This story also is told in Spanish as well as English to show students different ways of saying the animals names.

Pre Reading Activity:

Activity:
Ask the students to say the alphabet together at their seats.  Have students brainstorm different animals that start with different letters of the alphabet.  Make sure you have already read the story to be able to tell the students what some of the animals are because students may not know what a burro, emus, ibis, nightingale, gnu, quetzal, salamander, viper, or yaks, is/are.  They also may need clarification with some of the things they bring to the party as well.

Post Reading Activity:

Activity:
After reading the story, teach students some of the names of the animals in Spanish to let them teach other students or even their parents!  You can also have them make up different things that start with the letters of the alphabet to incorporate into the story. For example Dot the Dog can bring drums to Zelda's party.  They will have fun making up their own ideas that would go along with the book.

Reflection:

I think this is a great book to use because it allows students to see the different kinds of animals that there are in the world as well as practice the alphabet and learn new words in a different language.  Children will have fun guessing what animals might be in the story as well as what they might be bringing to the party!

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

Author/Illustrator: Bill Martin Jr./Eric Carle

About the Author:

http://www.billmartinjr.com/bill_martin
Bill Martin wrote for almost 60 years and published his first book called The Little Squeegy Bug -- The Story of the Firefly in 1945. He is the famous author of the classic Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?, and many others. Martin passed away in 2004 but he will always be considered "America's favorite children's author!"

Genre: Fiction, Science

Grade Level: K-1
Theme: Animals, Colors

Synopsis:

This book is about different animals and what they see as well as learning about different colors.  The book includes a bear, a bird, a duck, a horse, a frog, a car, a dog, a sheep, a goldfish for animals but it also includes a teacher and children so when children read this book, they can see they are included.

Pre Reading Activity:

Activity:
Ask the students if they have ever read or have seen this book before.  If they haven't ask them to tell you what they see around the classroom.  If they have ask them if they notice any patterns in the book!

Post Reading Activity:

Activity:
After reading the story, create a graph with the class about the different characters in the story.  Have the children name off each of the characters in the story and use this to make a bar graph.  Use the colors from the story, (brown, red, yellow, blue, green, purple, white, black, and gold), and have these colors correspond to the construction paper each child will choose based on which was their favorite character.  They will then write their names on the construction paper color they chose and place it on the graph according to the animal it matched.  After the graph is finished, you can ask questions to engage them in thinking mathematically about which animal did students like the most, which had more, the Red Bird or the Blue Horse, which had less, the Brown Bear of the Purple Cat, etc. and have them use the graph to help them answer the questions.

Reflection:

I think this is a great book to use because it repeats and students will easily be able to continue the phrase starting with "Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see?" to "children, children, what do you see?"  This helps them listen to the story and get a better understanding of what they are reading.  I wish they could have had the colors match the actual color of the animal, but it shows the students different colors and animals they see in everyday life.  It is also a good book to use to introduce colors and there are multiple activites you can do after reading this book to make students familiar with colors.

Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf

Author/Illustrator: Lois Ehlert

About the Author:
http://www.mhhe.com/socscience/education/kidlit/aom/janaom.html
Lois Ehlert was born on November 9, 1934, in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. She grew up in a home where everyone always seemed to be making something with their hands. She was always putting things together, cutting, stitching, pasting, or pounding.

Genre: Science
Grade Level: K-2
Theme: Nature

Synopsis:
This story is about leaves and trees. It talks about how trees form from seeds and the tree sprouts are collected by nursery workers. They transport them and they are taken care of year after year and are uprooted again. They are wrapped, labeled and delivered to the garden center where people can come and select trees and plant them in their yards. The end of the book talks about different parts of the trees and why/how they are important and also how to plant a tree.

Pre Reading Activity:

Activity:

Have the class collect leaves and different seeds from leaves around your school. Take them inside and help the students figure out what leaves the trees come from and what the seeds will grow into!

Post Reading Activity:

Activity:

After reading the story, plan a time where you can pick up a tree and see if you can plant it near your school and have the students help you.

Reflection:

I think this is a cute book and good to use with children of any age because it has a lot of science information to discuss with students about trees and leaves. It is a good book to use because it will engage students in wanting to learn about them.