Wow, it sure feels like summer over here by me today- it’s making it feel that more real that we only have 9 school days left! 🙂 Today I’m linking up with Collaboration Cuties for their Sunday Mentor Text linky with today’s topic of Science. I’m happy to be sharing some of my favorite science readers that I use in my classroom which you can get on a large variety of topics: Scholastic Science Vocabulary Readers.
I bought these various packs from Scholastic book orders a few years ago and they continue to be a great resource for my classroom. Although I bought these a few years ago, I still see them show up in the book orders so you should definitely still be able to get them- I might just grab a few more myself on other topics next year! These books are available in so many different topics and are very engaging non-fiction texts that I read to my students. I love these books because not only are they very interesting for my little friends, but they also include lots of examples of those non-fiction text features that we are always learning about and practicing understanding. The pictures also keep my friends very engaged which is a big plus! I find that my students have a whole lot of things they want to share with me about these stories as I am reading because of the ‘real life’ photographs.
As I said, these books are available in a variety of science topics, so they go great with a specific unit of study that you may be doing or they can be used simply as read alouds to introduce and review text features, to practice new vocabulary or to focus on reading for information by identifying important facts, details, etc. If my students were able to read this, I would have each one select a different story and have them identify important facts about the topic chosen; however, my little friends are certainly not reading at this level, so instead, I chose one of the stories to read to them and then had them focus on reading for information by completing this graphic organizer with the main topic of the story in the middle and 4 facts about the topic. The pictures below are of my little kindergarten friends, so they just drew pictures and then added labels to their pictures when they were done. I was very impressed with how much they retained from the story seeing that it was nonfiction- I always feel like nonfiction text include so many more important details than fiction stories which makes it more difficult to remember- but they did a great job!
Common Core Alignment:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.K.2 With prompting and support, identify the main topic and retell key details of a text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.1.2 Identify the main topic and retell key details of a text.
When using these books with my 1st grade friends, I spent more time pointing out and discussing the various text features, but I also plan and hope to do much much more with nonfiction text features etc next year, especially since Common Core definitely emphasizes non fiction text and all their features! These books also offer lots of opportunities to stop and discuss vocabulary while you are reading- I usually have my students stop and fill out a vocabulary graphic organizer when we come across a new word that I think is a good one to analyze a little further. 🙂
I hope you can find a use for these great science readers!
Have a great day!
Aylin
0 Responses
Common Core definitely emphasizes non-fiction and these books are great for that! I love what your littles did with the information they learned! So precious! I think I have some of these books that I need to work into my guided reading groups more next year!!
Thanks for linking up!!!
Amanda
Have a great week!
Collaboration Cuties
I love these books too! Great pics and text elements to discuss while learning about science. Looks like your students really benefit.
Thanks for sharing.
School Is a Happy Place
I am always looking for good informational text! Thanks for sharing these. They look really good!
Gina
Beach Sand and Lesson Plans
I love these books too and I am LOVING your blog. I will be visiting a lot! You guys have some amazing ideas I will be using!
Kheila
Two Friends In First
I am so excited that you stopped by my blog! Thank you so much! I am so happy to find you posting about the Scholastic Science Vocabulary Readers! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE them! We are using them this week to discover more on Insects and Ladybugs and Bees!!!
Thanks so much for sharing and I am thrilled to be a new follower!
Julie
Ms. Marciniak's First Grade Critter Cafe