NF 10 x 10: Celebrating Seeds!

I created this post for the annual Nonfiction Picture Book 10 for 10 (#nf10for10) event started by Cathy Mere (@CathyMere) and Mandy Robek (@mandyrobeck) in 2013.

In honor of my brand-spanking new book A Seed Is the Start, I’m featuring ten of my favorite seed-related nonfiction titles . . .

As an Oak Tree Grows by G. Brian Karas

Because of an Acorn by Lola M. Schaefer, Adam Schaefer, and Frann Preston-Gannon


Flip, Float, Fly: Seeds on the Move by JoAnn Early Macken 

A Grand Old Tree by Mary Newell DePalma

It Starts with a Seed by Laura Knowles and Jennie Webber

No Monkeys, No Chocolate by Melissa Stewart, Allen Young, and Nicole Wong

Planting the Wild Garden by Kathryn O. Gailbraith and Wendy Anderson Halperin

Plants Can’t Sit Still by Rebecca E. Hirsch and Mia Posada

A Seed Is Sleepy by Dianna Hutts Aston

A Seed Is the Start by Melissa Stewart

And because some students connect more strongly to fiction, I’m also including my absolute favorite here . . .

Miss Maple’s Seeds by Eliza Wheeler

These books are perfect for supporting lessons that address the following NGSS performance expectations:

1-LS1-1. Use materials to design a solution to a human problem by mimicking how plants and/or animals use their external parts to help them survive, grow, and meet their needs.

2-LS2-2. Develop a simple model that mimics the function of an animal in dispersing seeds or pollinating plants.

3-LS1-1. Develop models to describe how organisms have unique and diverse life cycles but all have in common birth, growth, reproduction, and death.

4-LS1-1. Construct an argument showing that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.

I’ll be sharing activities related to all these PEs on Fridays for the next month.