CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS: Adding Value to My Books

When my books go into school libraries, I want to know--

• Who will read them?

• How will they fit into the curriculum?

• What connections do they make to other kinds of learning?

Here are are few of my recent books and ways they can be used to enhance learning:

A Day and Night in the Rain Forest (PictureWindow Books, 2015)
Common Core Connections:Integration of Knowledge and Ideas: Describe how the passage of time is shown throughout this book.
Key Ideas and Details: Explain the similarities and differences between diurnal and nocturnal animals in the rain forest.
Key Ideas and Details: Name three things that all animals in the rain forest need to survive.
Key Ideas and Details: Name three diurnal predators in the rain forest and their prey. Then name three nocturnal predators and their prey.

[Similar connections can be made with the other three titles in the Day and Night series--in the Desert, in the Forest, and on the Prairie.]

Living Fossils: Clues to the Past (Charlesbridge, 2016)
Curriculum Links:
Language Arts: comprehension strategy--compare and contrast, main idea/details strategy, cause and effect relationships
Science: Life science--animal adaptation and classification

Hatching Chicks in Room 6 (Charlesbridge, 2017)
Teaching Ideas:Sequencing: Understanding Chick Development and Text Structure
Life Cycles: Make a time line.
Eggs: Where do eggs come from?
Baby Animals: What do baby animals need?
Photo essays: How do pictures tell the story?

A Warmer World (Charlesbridge, 2012)
Common Core Curriculum Links:
Language Arts: genre--non-fiction informational text; new scientific vocabulary, comprehension strategy, cause and effect relationships
Science: Life science--animals and their environment, survival, adaptation, extinction. Environmental issues--global warming/climate change over time, pollution