Literature Circles: Organisms

 

Remember, the assignment for Monday is to find and check out a children’s book that connects to some aspect of Living Things (i.e. organisms, biology, etc.). Consider plants as well as animals, fiction as well as non-fiction. You will need a sheet with the following information:

  1. Title, author, illustrator.
  2. Curricular Connections (grade and competency goal are fine).
  3. Accuracy statement. Be sure to consult some other resources to check the accuracy of the science information in the text and images. For longer books, you don’t have to check everything, but check out enough to get a sense as to the scientific “seriousness” of the information. Include any interesting information you found out as you did your checking.
  4. Inquiry Activity that could connect. Describe some EXPLORATION your children could do that would relate to this book. For instance, the book My Beak, Your Beak, by Melanie Walsh could be connected to an activity in which children explore similarities and differences between themselves and another organism, perhaps using a Venn Diagram. You don’t have to write a lot, but be SPECIFIC about at least one thing you could do.
  5. An explanation of how you could help kids understand how a characteristic of one of the organisms in the book might have gotten one of its traits. For example, if the organism was a turtle, you could explore how random variations in turtle ancestors (that didn't have shells) could have led one to have a harder back-skin. This variation was in its genes (was from a mutation) and could be passed down to the next generation. Variations that make an organism more successful (better at surviving or reproducing) stay around. Ones that make an organism less successful don't stay around since that organism dies off or has fewer successful offspring. This helps you meet NC DPI Standards for Teachers Standard 14: Elementary teachers develop strategies to address topics that are controversial to diverse groups as you are showing how you can talk about evolution in a rational, non-controvertial way.
Book choices from Block 432, Spring 2006