Have a Great Summer!

Going International

Quite a few of my books have been translated into other languages, including Spanish, Chinese, Turkish, and Korean. It’s always fun to see what the foreign publishers do with the covers to appeal to their audience.

Sometimes they keep the art, and just replace the English title.

 

 

Sometimes they replace the art with images from the interior or brand new images.

And here's one of my favorites. A Chinese publisher bound When Rain Falls, Under the Snow, and Beneath the Sun together, and made a collage of images for the cover. Fascinating!

Book of the Week: Why Are Animals Green?

Educators often ask me which of my books would work best in their classroom. So this year, I’ve decided to feature a book each week and highlight related teaching materials and strategies.

The clear, simple text and stunning photos in Why Are Animals Green?  are perfect for teaching students about animal adaptations. You can start your lesson with a fun Readers Theater script that I’ve written to accompany the book. I’ve also created a Teachers Guide that makes connections to a wide variety of NGSS and Common Core standards.

For an innovative Reading Buddy experience, try a same-grade-level pairing in which an emergent reader shares Green Animals (two simple words per page) and a more advanced reader shares Why Are Animals Green? I guarantee great results.

My Favorite Kind of Mail

Thank YOU, to the third graders at Blanchard School in Boxborough, MA.

Georgia Conference on Teaching and Learning: ALL Writers Depend on Mentor Texts Handout

I use mentor texts to help me determine the best voice, style, and structure for a work in progress. The resources on this page can get you started:

http://www.melissa-stewart.com/sciclubhouse/teachhome/mentor_texts.html

Nonfiction voice options span a continuum, from lively to lyrical. A writer’s topic and the approach he/she chooses will dictate the best voice choice for a particular piece.

https://www.pinterest.com/mstewartscience/nonfiction-voice/

http://www.melissa-stewart.com/pdf/NF%20Voice.pdf#zoom=70

Voice Choice Activity
http://www.melissa-stewart.com/sciclubhouse/teachhome/writing_info.html

 

Two Writing Teachers Blog Post https://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/author/dmurphy2013/

Nonfiction Categories

https://www.pinterest.com/mstewartscience/nonfiction-typescategories/

http://www.melissa-stewart.com/pdf/NFCategories.pdf#zoom=70

 

Writing Styles

https://www.pinterest.com/mstewartscience/nonfiction-writing-styles/

http://www.melissa-stewart.com/pdf/NF%20Writing%20Styles.pdf#zoom=70

Common Text Structures

https://www.pinterest.com/mstewartscience/nonfiction-text-structures/

http://www.melissa-stewart.com/pdf/NF%20Text%20Structures.pdf#zoom=70

Books with Layered Text

http://cynthialeitichsmith.blogspot.com/2013/09/guest-post-melissa-stewart-on-layer.html

Actual Size by Steve Jenkins

Beaks by Sneed B. Collard

The Bumblebee Queen by April Pulley Sayre

A Butterfly is Patient by Diana Hutts Aston

Dolphin Baby by Nicola Davies

An Egg is Quiet by Diana Hutts Aston

Here Come the Humpbacks! by April Pulley Sayre

Just Ducks! by Nicola Davies

Leaving Home by Sneed B. Collard

Meet the Howlers by April Pulley Sayre

Move! by Steve Jenkins & Robin Page

Never Smile at a Monkey by Steve Jenkins

No Monkeys, No Chocolate by Melissa Stewart

One Tiny Turtle by Nicola Davies

A Place for Bats by Melissa Stewart

A Place for Birds by Melissa Stewart

A Place for Butterflies by Melissa Stewart

A Place for Fish by Melissa Stewart

A Place for Frogs by Melissa Stewart

A Place for Turtles by Melissa Stewart

A Rock Is Lively by Diana Hutts Aston

A Seed is Sleepy by Diana Hutts Aston

What Do You Do with a Tail Like This? by Steve Jenkins & Robin Page

When the Wolves Returned by Dorothy Hinshaw Patent

Wings by Sneed B. Collard

No Monkeys, No Chocolate Revision Timeline

http://www.melissa-stewart.com/timeline/10yr_timeline.html

https://www.pinterest.com/mstewartscience/nonfiction-revision/

 

How to Find Great Nonfiction Mentor Texts

http://www.nonfictiondetectives.com/

http://www.kidlitfrenzy.com/ (on Wednesdays)

AAAS/Subaru Prizes for Excellence in Science Books

ALA Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award

CRA Eureka! Nonfiction Children’s Book Award

Cook Prize for STEM Picture Book

Cooperative Children’s Book Center Choices List

Cybils Nonfiction Awards

NCSS Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People

NCTE Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children

NSTA-CBC Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K-12

YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults

And that's it! Phew.

Georgia Conference on Teaching and Learning: Having Fun with GSE Handout

Today I’m presenting two talks at the Georgia Conference on Teaching and Learning in Perry, GA. I’m sharing my handouts here (rather than on paper), so that interested people can simply click on the links. (Plus it saves trees.)

This post is the online handout for my first talk, Having Fun with GSE: Using Award-winning STEM-themed Books to Support the Reading Information Text Standards. It includes teaching ideas and book lists that address each of the Georgia Standards of Excellence Reading Information Text Standards.

Thanks to blogger’s scheduling option, the online handout for my second presentation, All Writers Depend on Mentor Texts, will magically post at 1:00 p.m., when that presentation begins.

Here are some general resources to get you started:

http://www.melissa-stewart.com/sciclubhouse/teachhome/NF_readingresources.html

http://www.melissa-stewart.com/sciclubhouse/teachhome/NF_writingresources.html

https://www.pinterest.com/mstewartscience/

GSE RIT #1 and 2: Identifying main ideas/Recognizing supporting details
Reading Buddy programs have many proven benefits. When buddies use nonfiction trade books with layered text, the benefits increase. Younger students read the simpler main text (which includes the main idea) and the older student reads the secondary text (which includes supporting details). Then they discuss the art together. When they are done, they can work together to complete supporting activities.

For more information: http://www.melissa-stewart.com/pdf/scirdbuddies.pdf

https://www.pinterest.com/mstewartscience/main-ideasupporting-details/

Recommended Titles
Actual Size by Steve Jenkins

Beaks by Sneed B. Collard

The Bumblebee Queen by April Pulley Sayre

A Butterfly is Patient by Diana Hutts Aston

Feathers: Not Just for Flying by Melissa Stewart

Meet the Howlers by April Pulley Sayre

Move! by Steve Jenkins & Robin Page

No Monkeys, No Chocolate by Melissa Stewart

A Place for Birds by Melissa Stewart

What Do You Do with a Tail Like This? by Steve Jenkins & Robin Page

When the Wolves Returned by Dorothy Hinshaw Patent

GSE RIT #3: Identifying connections/relationships between ideas, events, or individuals in a book

It can be tricky to find books that are perfectly suited for teaching this skill. Here are some titles that I recommend:

For K-2 Students
Bone by Bone: Comparing Animal Skeletons by Sarah Levine

Born to Be Giants: How Baby Dinosaurs Grew to Rule the World by Lita Judge

Me . . . Jane by Patrick McDonnell

Frog in a Bog by John Himmelman

 

For Grade 3-5 Students
Energy Island by Allan Drummond

Neo Leo: The Ageless Ideas of Leonard da Vinci by Gene Baretta

Planting the Trees of Kenya: The Story of Wangari Maathai by Claire A. Nivola

Trout Are Made of Trees by April Pulley Sayre

 

 

GSE RIT #4: Building Vocabulary
For younger children, fun songs are a great way to reinforce domain-specific vocabulary introduced in children’s books. Here are some sample songs I’ve written to build vocabulary included in lifecycle units on butterflies and frogs:

http://www.melissa-stewart.com/pdf/ButterflyLifecycleSong.pdf

http://www.melissa-stewart.com/pdf/FrogLifecycleSong.pdf#zoom=70

For upper elementary students, Readers Theater is a wonderful way to reinforce vocabulary (not to mention build fluency and comprehension). Many science-themed children’s books can easily be adapted into Readers Theater scripts that kids will love practicing and performing.

Recommended Titles
Animals Asleep by Sneed Collard

Beneath the Sun by Melissa Stewart

Dig Wait Listen: A Desert Toad Tale by April Pulley Sayre

Down, Down, Down: A Journey to the Bottom of the Sea by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page

Feathers: Not Just for Flying by Melissa Stewart

Frog in a Bog by John Himmelman

Home at Last: A Song of Migration by April Pulley Sayre

How Many Ways Can You Catch a Fly? by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page

Move! by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page

No Monkeys, No Chocolate by Melissa Stewart and Allen Young

Rain, Rain, Rain Forest by Brenda Z. Guiberson

Under the Snow by Melissa Stewart

What Do You Do with a Tail Like This? by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page

When Rain Falls by Melissa Stewart

Where Are the Night Animals? by Mary Ann Fraser

Additional Resources

Readers Theater scripts on my website:

http://www.melissa-stewart.com/sciclubhouse/teachhome/readers.html

https://www.pinterest.com/mstewartscience/science-readers-theater/

Stewart, Melissa. “Science Books + Readers Theater,” Science Books & Films. American Association for the Advancement of Science, Washington, D.C., May/June 2008. Internet page at: http://www.melissa-stewart.com/pdf/ReadersTheater.pdf#zoom=70

 

GSE RIT #5: Identifying text features/Analyzing text structures
This is an important skill twenty-first century learners. Many of my books include a wide variety of text features. You can use them as mentor texts as students develop their own text features.

I’ve also sorted developed teaching ideas for text features and structures and created a list of dozens of award-winning nonfiction books organized by text structure. You can access them here:

http://www.melissa-stewart.com/sciclubhouse/teachhome/nonfiction.html

http://www.melissa-stewart.com/pdf/NF%20Text%20Structures.pdf#zoom=70

https://www.pinterest.com/mstewartscience/nonfiction-text-features/

https://www.pinterest.com/mstewartscience/nonfiction-text-structures/

March Madness Nonfiction

http://celebratescience.blogspot.com/2016/03/march-madness.html

GSE RIT #6: Visual literacy and point of view

Most of the other RIT standards focus on one skill that is introduced in K and builds from one grade level to the next. This standard looks at visual literacy in the early grades and author intent in grades 2-5.

Grades K-1

Visual literacy is a critical skill for twenty-first century learners. While any book illustrated with art or photos can be used to discuss the role of the words and pictures, here are a few that I particularly recommend:

Actual Size by Steve Jenkins

The Day-Glo Brothers by Chris Barton  

An Egg is Quiet by Dianna Hutts Aston  

Mosquito Bite by Alexandra Siy and Dennis Kunkle

Redwoods by Jason Chin

Visual Teaching Strategies

http://celebratescience.blogspot.com/2016/03/behind-books-getting-ready-to-research.html

https://www.pinterest.com/mstewartscience/visual-literacy/

 

Grades 2-5

To meet this standard, students should have experience considering the intent of texts and author point of view. Today’s students are also being asked to imagine themselves “in the shoes” of the authors. They must consider that an author’s world view affects how he/she approaches topics. For discussions of author intent, I recommend two activities.

1.    Compare The Snail’s Spell by Joanne Ryder (illus Lynne Cherry) and Wolfsnail: A Backyard Predator by Sarah C. Campbell and Richard P. Campbell, focusing on why two authors might have created such different books about the same small animal.

2.  Imagine author Brenda Z. Guiberson’s thought process as she developed the voice for Frog Song. How do students think the publisher’s choice of Gennady Spirin as the illustrator reinforced the author’s intent for the book?

For discussions of point of view, ask students to consider how the authors’ world view inspired them to write the following titles:

City Chickens by Christine Heppermann

Earth: Feeling the Heat by Brenda Z. Guiberson

A Place for Bats by Melissa Stewart

Step Out Gently by Helen Frost and Rick Lieder

Point of View/Persuasive Writing

http://celebratescience.blogspot.com/2016/01/persuasive-writing-text-set.html

https://www.pinterest.com/mstewartscience/persuasiveopinion-writing/

GSE RIT #7: More visual literacy and accessing information quickly

Because visual literacy is so important, this standard addresses it at increasing degrees of complexity from grades K-4. See my notes above for book recommendations.

Visual Teaching Strategies

http://celebratescience.blogspot.com/2016/03/behind-books-getting-ready-to-research.html

https://www.pinterest.com/mstewartscience/visual-literacy/

At grade 5, this standard suddenly switches its focus to building skills for accessing information. The good news is that publishers have already begun beefing up the index and resource sections of all books, especially those for ages 10 and up.

 

GSE RIT #8: Examining how an author supports points

List books (in which the main idea is stated on the first page and subsequent spreads are essentially a list of examples that reinforce the main idea) are a simple and powerful way to show students how author can support their points.

https://www.pinterest.com/mstewartscience/how-authors-support-points/

I recommend the following titles:

Bird Talk by Lita Judge

Born to Be Giants by Lita Judge

A Butterfly is Patient by Dianna Hutts Aston  

An Egg is Quiet by Dianna Hutts Aston  

Feathers: Not Just for Flying by Melissa Stewart  

How Many Ways Can You Catch a Fly? by Steve Jenkins

Move! by Steve Jenkins& amp; Robin Page

Never Smile at a Monkey by Steve Jenkins & Robin Page

A Rainbow of Animals by Melissa Stewart

A Seed Is Sleepy by Dianna Hutts Aston

Wings by Sneed Collard

GSE RIT #9: Comparing multiple texts and various media
There are lots of ways to help students develop this skill, and trade children’s books can play a central role. Students will enjoy comparing fiction and nonfiction books that look at the same topic. Here are some book pairs I recommend:

Bring on the Birds by Susan Stockdale + Birds by Kevin Henkes

Under the Snow by Melissa Stewart + Under and Over the Snow by Kate Messner

A Mama for Owen by Marion Dane Bauer + Owen & Mzee: The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship by Isabella Hatkoff, Craig Htakoff, and Dr. Paula Kahumbu

And if you are looking for a resource that combines studying fiction/nonfiction pairs with teaching science, you might want to use Perfect Pairs: Using Fiction & Nonfiction Picture Books to Teach Life Science, K-2, a book I co-authored with former teacher Nancy Chesley. It’s available here:

http://www.stenhouse.com/html/perfect-pairs.htm

 

Students will also be interested in comparing two, three, or even four or even three nonfiction books covering the same topic but written in different ways by different authors. Here are some great examples:

The Wolves Are Back by Jean Craighead George  

When the Wolves Returned by Dorothy Hinshaw Patent

Poop Happened: A History of the World from the Bottom Up by Sarah Albee

The Truth About Poop by Susan E. Goodman  

The Tale of Pale Male by Jeanette Winter

City Hawk: The Story of Pale Male by Meghan McCarthy

Pale Male: Citizen Hawk of New York City by Janet Schulamn  

Wangari’s Trees of Peace by Jeanette Winter

Planting the Trees of Kenya by Claire Nivola

Seeds of Change: Wangari's Gift to the World by Jen Cullerton Johnson

Mama Miti by Donna Jo Napoli

A great general resource for planning lessons that take advantage of multiple books and/or various media is Teaching with Text Sets by Mary Ann Cappiello and Erika Thulin Dawes. Follow their blog here: http://classroombookshelf.blogspot.com/

Some of the books I've listed above will eventually go out of print. Plus new books are being published all the time. How can you find great nonfiction books in the future?

Keep an eye on these lists:  

AAAS/Subaru Prizes for Excellence in Science Books

ALA Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award

CA Reading Association Eureka! Nonfiction Children’s Book Award

Cook Prize for STEM Picture Book

Cooperative Children’s Book Center Choices List

Cybils Nonfiction for Middle Grade & Young Adult

Cybils Nonfiction Picture Books

NCTE Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children

NSTA-CBC Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K-12

YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults

And that's it! Phew.

Book of the Week: A Place for Turtles

Educators often ask me which of my books would work best in their classroom. So this year, I’ve decided to feature a book each week and highlight related teaching materials and strategies.

You could share one or two spreads of A Place for Turtles to support NGSS PE K-ESS3-3 or read the whole book as part of a lesson that addresses NGSS PE 5-ESS3-1.

I have also created a Teacher’s Guide that makes connections to a wide variety of NGSS and Common Core standards. You can find additional activities here.

This book is great for Reading Buddies programs. For more information, read this article and look at the materials on my CCSS ELA RIT #1 & 2: Reading Buddies pinterest board.

A Place for Turtles is chockfull of text features, so you can use it as a mentor texts when discussing the wide range of text features. You can also use the book in lessons that examine nonfiction text structures. The main text has both a cause & effect text structure and a problem-solution text structure, while many of the sibdebars compare past human activities that hurt turtles to current more turtle-friendly activities.

Showing Students that Their Opinions Matter

I spent last week visiting three schools in Upstate New York, and I was blown away with all the terrific nonfiction reading and writing projects they’ve been doing this year. Their classroom teachers and teacher-librarians Camelia Moses and Ann Morosini are full of great ideas.

To get ready for my visit, first graders at Carthage Elementary made drawings to help me come up with ideas for future books. Looks like I’m all set for a few years. J

 

Here’s a close-up view of one:

 

Fourth graders at Black River Elementary made this fabulous cocoa tree with all the animals that depend on it and interact with it. Wow!

 

What was my favorite project of all? Third graders at Carthage Elementary and third and fourth graders at West Carthage Elementary read my books and wrote book reviews. Here are a few examples from West Carthage students:

 

It was great to see these posted around the library, but what’s even better is that, after a little proofreading by teacher-librarian Camelia Moses, the students typed the reviews into the school district’s library catalog, which is hosted by Follett.

The catalog is designed to serve the district’s three elementary schools, a middle school, and a high school, but it can be accessed by anyone anywhere in the whole world—including the children's parents and grandparents and family friends.

 

And if you're interested in taking a closer look so you can try something similar with your students, you can access it too. Here’s the link: http://destiny.carthagecsd.org/

Just click on one of the school links, such as Carthage Elementary School Library Media Center. If you type “Melissa Stewart” in the FIND box, you will get a list of my books owned by that school. When you click on a book’s title, you can see the student reviews.

What a great way to make kids feel like their ideas and opinions matter!

Behind the Books: Q & A: The Forgotten Text Structure

Back in 2012, when educators were first starting to teach nonfiction text structures, I often saw students making their own organizers, like this one, to help them remember and identify the various text structures.

But now I’m seeing a lot of fancy pre-made charts like this:

 

And you know what I notice about these fancy pre-made charts? They’re missing something that I think is really important. The Q &A text structure. I really want to know. What happened to Q &A?

Here are a bunch of great children’s books that make excellent use the Q &A text structure:

 

 

 

 

 

 

And what’s more, this is a text structure that even young children can understand and use successfully. In other words, it’s a great window into text structures, allowing kids to get their feet wet before plunging into learn and use text structures that are more difficult to grasp and differentiate.

So here’s my plea to educators. Let’s bring back Q & A. Let’s recognize that it can be a powerful way to organize information, and if done well, it can make reading more fun by adding an interactive, game-like quality to a text.