rationale
The literature collected for this 10 piece text set is meant for use in a third grade classroom. The topic of the set is the Rainforest. This subject aligns with NGSS 3.1.1 which prompts students to develop an understanding of living things and their habitats. Many of the texts provided offer a deeper look into the different organisms that make up the tropical rainforests. According to Chip Wood (woodchip!), author of Yardsticks, third grade students are able to begin simple projects, write lengthier pieces with descriptive words, and enjoy topics in nature. All of these elements are shown in the different books discussed in this set and the different lesson ideas based off of the books.
the books
The Great Kapok Tree: A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest
Lynne Cherry | Voyager Books; Harcourt, Inc. | ISBN 978-0-15-202614-1 | 30 pages | Illistrated Juvenile Fiction ecology; conservation
SUMMARY
This fictional children's book is set in the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil. A man comes into the forest with the mission to chop down a large Kapok tree, but he falls asleep. While he is sleeping, forest animals and a young boy, who is a part of a nearby indigenous tribe, come and whisper what would happen to them, their home, and their resources if the tree is chopped down. The man ultimately decides not to chop the tree down and views the forest with "new eyes." This book shows the importance of tree conservation by showing all of the life the rain forest brings.
TEACHING POINTS
When being used in a third grade classroom, The Great Kapok Tree can be used for increasing student fluency. The level of the book is not difficult, and because the vocab is not too difficult, the students will be able to concentrate on comprehension instead of focusing only on decoding the words. The book can be used to guide students to understand how to describe characters in a story, including their motivations, traits, etc, and explain how their actions contributed to the sequence of events (KCCRS RL.3.3). The book should be used to address the language arts idea of reading with additional listening and visual components. By reading the text, students will be able to see consider how the traits and motivations of the characters relate to the sequential order of the plot (blooms EVALUATE). By looking at the different animals that approach the sleeping man, the students will look at how their words and motivations change the point of view of the man with the ax. Students can specifically look at when the man changed his mind and use textual evidence to determine why he changed his mind at that point in the story.
RESOURCES
The authors website can be accessed by clicking her name (above). Her website talks about her as an author, her other works, and the specific details/thought behind The Great Kapok Tree. You can access video read alouds of the story here. Video read alouds are helpful if you cannot get a physical copy of the book. They allow teachers to pause the video and discuss the ideas as a class.
Lynne Cherry | Voyager Books; Harcourt, Inc. | ISBN 978-0-15-202614-1 | 30 pages | Illistrated Juvenile Fiction ecology; conservation
SUMMARY
This fictional children's book is set in the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil. A man comes into the forest with the mission to chop down a large Kapok tree, but he falls asleep. While he is sleeping, forest animals and a young boy, who is a part of a nearby indigenous tribe, come and whisper what would happen to them, their home, and their resources if the tree is chopped down. The man ultimately decides not to chop the tree down and views the forest with "new eyes." This book shows the importance of tree conservation by showing all of the life the rain forest brings.
TEACHING POINTS
When being used in a third grade classroom, The Great Kapok Tree can be used for increasing student fluency. The level of the book is not difficult, and because the vocab is not too difficult, the students will be able to concentrate on comprehension instead of focusing only on decoding the words. The book can be used to guide students to understand how to describe characters in a story, including their motivations, traits, etc, and explain how their actions contributed to the sequence of events (KCCRS RL.3.3). The book should be used to address the language arts idea of reading with additional listening and visual components. By reading the text, students will be able to see consider how the traits and motivations of the characters relate to the sequential order of the plot (blooms EVALUATE). By looking at the different animals that approach the sleeping man, the students will look at how their words and motivations change the point of view of the man with the ax. Students can specifically look at when the man changed his mind and use textual evidence to determine why he changed his mind at that point in the story.
RESOURCES
The authors website can be accessed by clicking her name (above). Her website talks about her as an author, her other works, and the specific details/thought behind The Great Kapok Tree. You can access video read alouds of the story here. Video read alouds are helpful if you cannot get a physical copy of the book. They allow teachers to pause the video and discuss the ideas as a class.
Rainforest Bird Rescue: Changing the Future for Endangered Wildlife
Linda Kenyon | Firefly Books Ltd. | ISBN 1-55407-153-4 | 64 pages | Juvenile Non fiction literature
SUMMARY
This nonfiction book addresses the deforestation of the rain forest by looking at how it affects birds. The book speaks on topics relating to the regional living areas of the birds (and the rain forests); this includes the human culture surrounding the forest areas and how they are affecting the decrease in birds. There are a couple of "chapters" that show case studies of conservationists and biologists living in the rain forest areas. The most prominent idea of the book is how human activity relates to the deforestation and is harming the air-borne wildlife that make the rain forest their home.
TEACHING POINTS
For a third grade classroom, this book is a more advanced reading level. Students that are not comfortable at reading this advanced level of text can still gain information about rain forest birds and conservation by looking at the images and reading captions. Because of the higher level text, this book guides students to master vocabulary. The teacher could have students take a few page chapter out of the book and circle the new words. Many of the new words will be things relating to human interaction with the rain forest; for example, ecotourism, preservation, environment, etc. Teachers can use student-created "new word lists" and use them for peer teaching, categorical vocabulary notebooks, word trees (trees! like the rain forest!), etc. This book draws on the cause and affect of human actions with the decrease in bird population; therefore, KCCRS RI.3.3 aligns well with the text. This standard asks students to describe the relationships between historical events or scientific ideas by looking at language that pertains to time, sequence, and cause/effect. By reading this text, students will be able to connect the actions of man with the decrease in bird population (blooms ANALYZE). Because this book is segmented into short chapters, student can take passages and draw out the cause/effect relationship between humans and the rain forest birds. The segmentation also allows for differentiation, because some chapters are more challenging than others. Rainforest Bird Rescue allows teachers to address the language arts idea of visual representation and critical thinking. Not only does the book contain photographic images of the communities near the rain forest, the birds, and scientific conservation work, it also has timelines and maps of rain forest and conservation efforts. These tools can be used to visually represent the ideas in the book and help students think critically about the cause and effect depicted in the text and images. The students will be able to critically think through the conservation issues and use textual evidence to think of solutions to the problems addressed in the book.
RESOURCES
This book allows for easy cross-curricular lessons in science and conservation. The Rainforest Conservation Fund is a good resource for gaining recent information about the rainforest and how people are helping sustain it. This website specifically talks about rainforest birds. This site is for kids, so the reading level is appropriate for K-3. Finally, this site is from a forest conservation organization, specifically on the page of one of the scientists mentioned in Rainforest Bird Rescue, Neva Murtha. The page discusses some of her work and then the website can also be used as a resources to pair with conservational critical thinking lessons.
Linda Kenyon | Firefly Books Ltd. | ISBN 1-55407-153-4 | 64 pages | Juvenile Non fiction literature
SUMMARY
This nonfiction book addresses the deforestation of the rain forest by looking at how it affects birds. The book speaks on topics relating to the regional living areas of the birds (and the rain forests); this includes the human culture surrounding the forest areas and how they are affecting the decrease in birds. There are a couple of "chapters" that show case studies of conservationists and biologists living in the rain forest areas. The most prominent idea of the book is how human activity relates to the deforestation and is harming the air-borne wildlife that make the rain forest their home.
TEACHING POINTS
For a third grade classroom, this book is a more advanced reading level. Students that are not comfortable at reading this advanced level of text can still gain information about rain forest birds and conservation by looking at the images and reading captions. Because of the higher level text, this book guides students to master vocabulary. The teacher could have students take a few page chapter out of the book and circle the new words. Many of the new words will be things relating to human interaction with the rain forest; for example, ecotourism, preservation, environment, etc. Teachers can use student-created "new word lists" and use them for peer teaching, categorical vocabulary notebooks, word trees (trees! like the rain forest!), etc. This book draws on the cause and affect of human actions with the decrease in bird population; therefore, KCCRS RI.3.3 aligns well with the text. This standard asks students to describe the relationships between historical events or scientific ideas by looking at language that pertains to time, sequence, and cause/effect. By reading this text, students will be able to connect the actions of man with the decrease in bird population (blooms ANALYZE). Because this book is segmented into short chapters, student can take passages and draw out the cause/effect relationship between humans and the rain forest birds. The segmentation also allows for differentiation, because some chapters are more challenging than others. Rainforest Bird Rescue allows teachers to address the language arts idea of visual representation and critical thinking. Not only does the book contain photographic images of the communities near the rain forest, the birds, and scientific conservation work, it also has timelines and maps of rain forest and conservation efforts. These tools can be used to visually represent the ideas in the book and help students think critically about the cause and effect depicted in the text and images. The students will be able to critically think through the conservation issues and use textual evidence to think of solutions to the problems addressed in the book.
RESOURCES
This book allows for easy cross-curricular lessons in science and conservation. The Rainforest Conservation Fund is a good resource for gaining recent information about the rainforest and how people are helping sustain it. This website specifically talks about rainforest birds. This site is for kids, so the reading level is appropriate for K-3. Finally, this site is from a forest conservation organization, specifically on the page of one of the scientists mentioned in Rainforest Bird Rescue, Neva Murtha. The page discusses some of her work and then the website can also be used as a resources to pair with conservational critical thinking lessons.
Eyewitness Books: Jungle
author Theresa Greenway | photographer Geoff Dann | Dorling Kindersly Ltd. | ISBN 978-0-7566-4544-1 | nonfiction visual literature
SUMMARY
This book is set up in a similar way to all other Eye Witness books. Each page has a different category relating to the rainforest and the wildlife that live in the forest. There is a brief paragraph summarizing the topic and then various images with captions filling the pages. This book talks about what rainforests are by showing the different layers of the rainforest and the variety of species in the layer, the different rainforest regions, the human culture surrounding rainforests, and plant life (relating to produce and medicinal uses).
TEACHING POINTS
Eyewitness: Jungle is a great way for students to discover new ideas and vocabulary relating to the rainforest. This book does a marvelous job of pairing images with their definition. Because of this, the book shows students the different aspects of the rainforest instead of telling them. The visual pairing with words and concepts acts as a mnemonic device the students can use. Students can find things in the book that they are familiar with, and build onto that knowledge by seeing new words or ideas in the same category. This book aligns with the KCCRS standard that asks students to determine the meaning of academic and domain-specific words a text that is relevant to a subject area (RI.3.4). The "relevant subject area" mentions in this standard aligns with NCSS 3.1.1 that prompts students to understand biological organisms and their environment. Students will be able to observe the components and wildlife that make up the rainforest biome (blooms UNDERSTAND). This will be achieved through viewing the visuals that represent the different aspects of the rainforest. Eyewitness: Jungle gives students the opportunity to learn jungle vocabulary at their own pace. They can choose different categories that are most interesting to them. This would be a good way to introduce a research project. Students could be exposed to all the components of the rainforest and then use other resources to learn more about one topic showed in the book.
RESOURCES
Because the book is so vocabulary rich, I am attaching some different vocabulary strategies/handouts. Many of these are student guided, which works really well with Eyewitness books. Students can discover words they don't know and then log them for later learning.
author Theresa Greenway | photographer Geoff Dann | Dorling Kindersly Ltd. | ISBN 978-0-7566-4544-1 | nonfiction visual literature
SUMMARY
This book is set up in a similar way to all other Eye Witness books. Each page has a different category relating to the rainforest and the wildlife that live in the forest. There is a brief paragraph summarizing the topic and then various images with captions filling the pages. This book talks about what rainforests are by showing the different layers of the rainforest and the variety of species in the layer, the different rainforest regions, the human culture surrounding rainforests, and plant life (relating to produce and medicinal uses).
TEACHING POINTS
Eyewitness: Jungle is a great way for students to discover new ideas and vocabulary relating to the rainforest. This book does a marvelous job of pairing images with their definition. Because of this, the book shows students the different aspects of the rainforest instead of telling them. The visual pairing with words and concepts acts as a mnemonic device the students can use. Students can find things in the book that they are familiar with, and build onto that knowledge by seeing new words or ideas in the same category. This book aligns with the KCCRS standard that asks students to determine the meaning of academic and domain-specific words a text that is relevant to a subject area (RI.3.4). The "relevant subject area" mentions in this standard aligns with NCSS 3.1.1 that prompts students to understand biological organisms and their environment. Students will be able to observe the components and wildlife that make up the rainforest biome (blooms UNDERSTAND). This will be achieved through viewing the visuals that represent the different aspects of the rainforest. Eyewitness: Jungle gives students the opportunity to learn jungle vocabulary at their own pace. They can choose different categories that are most interesting to them. This would be a good way to introduce a research project. Students could be exposed to all the components of the rainforest and then use other resources to learn more about one topic showed in the book.
RESOURCES
Because the book is so vocabulary rich, I am attaching some different vocabulary strategies/handouts. Many of these are student guided, which works really well with Eyewitness books. Students can discover words they don't know and then log them for later learning.
The Yellow Cab
Marcus Pfister | NorthSouth Books Inc. | ISBN 978-0-7358-4111-6 | Juvenile Fiction
SUMMARY
The main character of this book is a taxi cab named Jack. Jack works in a big city, until one day when he magically travels to Brazil! He meets all sorts of rainforest animals, his favorite being some silly monkeys. He enjoys himself in the rainforest until he runs into a paved path and meets some construction trucks. He was very sad to hear that they were cutting down the trees for agriculture. He leads them back to the city so they can work in construction without knocking down any trees.
TEACHING POINTS
This book would help students to grow in their fluency as 3rd grade readers. I would present this book as a read aloud or for lower reading level students to read. The vocabulary and plot is simple, so students that are still struggling with decoding can work on their fluency while still getting exposed to themes about conservation and the rainforest. The illustrations in The Yellow Cab add a lot to the ideas and mood of the book. For this reason, KCCRS RL.3.7 can be aligned with the book; the standards prompts students to be able to explain how specific aspects of the a text's illustrations contribute to what is conveyed by the words in a story (mood, character, setting, etc). Students will be able to point out how the illustrations in The Yellow Cab emphasize the mood and character traits displayed in the text (blooms ANALYZE). This book would allow teachers to address the language arts areas of speaking and critical thinking. Students that are reading this book individually should be reading this aloud to practice fluency. The critical thinking component comes into play when the students analyze the images and relate them back to the text. The students could also pair this book with a factual book about the rainforest and find elements in The Yellow Cab (illustrations and text) and use the non-fiction text as evidence for why they think The Yellow Cab depicted accurate rainforest elements.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Here is a link that has facts about the rainforests of Brazil. This could be a good resource for the students to use when comparing the setting in The Yellow Cab with the real rainforests. This is another website that has facts about deforestation, another prominent theme in the book.
Marcus Pfister | NorthSouth Books Inc. | ISBN 978-0-7358-4111-6 | Juvenile Fiction
SUMMARY
The main character of this book is a taxi cab named Jack. Jack works in a big city, until one day when he magically travels to Brazil! He meets all sorts of rainforest animals, his favorite being some silly monkeys. He enjoys himself in the rainforest until he runs into a paved path and meets some construction trucks. He was very sad to hear that they were cutting down the trees for agriculture. He leads them back to the city so they can work in construction without knocking down any trees.
TEACHING POINTS
This book would help students to grow in their fluency as 3rd grade readers. I would present this book as a read aloud or for lower reading level students to read. The vocabulary and plot is simple, so students that are still struggling with decoding can work on their fluency while still getting exposed to themes about conservation and the rainforest. The illustrations in The Yellow Cab add a lot to the ideas and mood of the book. For this reason, KCCRS RL.3.7 can be aligned with the book; the standards prompts students to be able to explain how specific aspects of the a text's illustrations contribute to what is conveyed by the words in a story (mood, character, setting, etc). Students will be able to point out how the illustrations in The Yellow Cab emphasize the mood and character traits displayed in the text (blooms ANALYZE). This book would allow teachers to address the language arts areas of speaking and critical thinking. Students that are reading this book individually should be reading this aloud to practice fluency. The critical thinking component comes into play when the students analyze the images and relate them back to the text. The students could also pair this book with a factual book about the rainforest and find elements in The Yellow Cab (illustrations and text) and use the non-fiction text as evidence for why they think The Yellow Cab depicted accurate rainforest elements.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Here is a link that has facts about the rainforests of Brazil. This could be a good resource for the students to use when comparing the setting in The Yellow Cab with the real rainforests. This is another website that has facts about deforestation, another prominent theme in the book.
Animal Poems of the Iguazu
poems Francisco X. Alarcon | illustrations Maya Christina Gonzalez | Children's Book Press | ISBN 978-0-89239-225-4 | pages 31 | juvenile poetry spanish/english
SUMMARY
The book consists of poems that take place in the Iguazu Falls in Brazil. The poems are presented in both English and Spanish. Each poem is about an aspect of nature; whether it be an animal, plant, or a description of the water falls, the poems create beautiful imagery for the reader. This book could be used for helping students imagine themselves in a rainforest environment.
TEACHING POINTS
The text is grade level appropriate for third grade and it would be a wonderful resource for native Spanish speaking students. This book allows for an increase in phonemic awareness and vocabulary in students. Much of poetry is built off of the sounds the words make and how it adds to the imagery of the poem. The students will have the opportunity to analyze these sounds, both in English and in Spanish. The students could compare how they sound and discuss how that relates to the subject of the poem. Comparison of two languages is also a good way to increase student's vocabulary in both languages. It helps students better understand language as a whole. Because the book is very language based, KCCRS RL.3.4 aligns well with the book; it asks that students determine the meaning of words and phrases in a text and distinguish literal from non-literal language. This book contains a lot of imagery with a variety of literal and nonliteral phrases. The book could easily be used in another grade level for a poetry standard, but I could not find one for third graders. Students will be able to indicate what non-literal language is by looking at the imagery used in Animal Poems of the Iquazu (blooms UNDERSTAND). This objective would be used for an introduction to nonliterary language and the rainforest. Later, the teacher could have students create their own poems describing a certain element of the rainforest that they researched (science and literature cross curricular). For this, the objective would be: Students will be able to assemble a poem based on personal research of an aspect of the Amazon Rainforest (blooms CREATE). This book would help students grow towards mastery in writing, listening, and critical thinking. The elements of phonics, literal language, and writing poetry all give students opportunity to grow in these language arts skills.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
This is a link to some images of and facts about the Iguazu Falls, an Argentinian National Park.
Here is a link to a biography about the author. Learning about the author will help the students understand the cultural aspects of the book and possibly be exposed to some more of Alarcon's work.
I could not find a video read aloud of this book, but it may be a good idea for a non-spanish speaking teacher to find a native speaker to read the poems in Spanish so the kids can hear them accurately.
poems Francisco X. Alarcon | illustrations Maya Christina Gonzalez | Children's Book Press | ISBN 978-0-89239-225-4 | pages 31 | juvenile poetry spanish/english
SUMMARY
The book consists of poems that take place in the Iguazu Falls in Brazil. The poems are presented in both English and Spanish. Each poem is about an aspect of nature; whether it be an animal, plant, or a description of the water falls, the poems create beautiful imagery for the reader. This book could be used for helping students imagine themselves in a rainforest environment.
TEACHING POINTS
The text is grade level appropriate for third grade and it would be a wonderful resource for native Spanish speaking students. This book allows for an increase in phonemic awareness and vocabulary in students. Much of poetry is built off of the sounds the words make and how it adds to the imagery of the poem. The students will have the opportunity to analyze these sounds, both in English and in Spanish. The students could compare how they sound and discuss how that relates to the subject of the poem. Comparison of two languages is also a good way to increase student's vocabulary in both languages. It helps students better understand language as a whole. Because the book is very language based, KCCRS RL.3.4 aligns well with the book; it asks that students determine the meaning of words and phrases in a text and distinguish literal from non-literal language. This book contains a lot of imagery with a variety of literal and nonliteral phrases. The book could easily be used in another grade level for a poetry standard, but I could not find one for third graders. Students will be able to indicate what non-literal language is by looking at the imagery used in Animal Poems of the Iquazu (blooms UNDERSTAND). This objective would be used for an introduction to nonliterary language and the rainforest. Later, the teacher could have students create their own poems describing a certain element of the rainforest that they researched (science and literature cross curricular). For this, the objective would be: Students will be able to assemble a poem based on personal research of an aspect of the Amazon Rainforest (blooms CREATE). This book would help students grow towards mastery in writing, listening, and critical thinking. The elements of phonics, literal language, and writing poetry all give students opportunity to grow in these language arts skills.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
This is a link to some images of and facts about the Iguazu Falls, an Argentinian National Park.
Here is a link to a biography about the author. Learning about the author will help the students understand the cultural aspects of the book and possibly be exposed to some more of Alarcon's work.
I could not find a video read aloud of this book, but it may be a good idea for a non-spanish speaking teacher to find a native speaker to read the poems in Spanish so the kids can hear them accurately.
Nature of the Rainforest: Costa Rica and Beyond
Adrian Forsyth | photographs Michael & Patricia Fogden | Comstock Publishing Assoc & Cornell University Press | ISBN 978-0-8014-7475-0 | 183 pages | nonfiction: rainforest ecology-Costa Rica VISUAL
SUMMARY
This book is a large collection of information and photographs of the rainforests in Costa Rica. This book would be used as a reference in a classroom and largely as a visual book. Students will learn a lot from experiencing the pictures, and high level readers will gain scientific ideas and factual information from the text.
TEACHING POINTS
This will help students with the Reading First components of vocabulary and phonics. Students that spend time with this book will be exposed to new words related to the rainforest and other unfamiliar words. Students will get experience practicing decoding phonological strategies by reading the main text and/or the captions in the book. KSDE acts that students are able to determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases in a text relevant to a grade 3 topic or subject area (KCCRS RI.3.4). The life science topic of wildlife and habitats aligns with the information and images in this book. Teachers can easily pull "domain-specific words" from this text and present it to the class separately/with images. Students will be able to deduce the meaning behind words relating to the rainforest biome and the wildlife in it (blooms ANALYZE). Because of the visual aspects of this book, the language arts themes are viewing and visual representation. Students will be able to learn more vocabulary and see the image that correlates with the new terms and ideas.
RESOURCES
Because this text is above grade level, I am providing this link for elementary lesson plans where this book can serve as a strong resource. Here is a scholarly article that reviews the book. This would be a teacher resource to better understand how to implement this book into the classroom.
Adrian Forsyth | photographs Michael & Patricia Fogden | Comstock Publishing Assoc & Cornell University Press | ISBN 978-0-8014-7475-0 | 183 pages | nonfiction: rainforest ecology-Costa Rica VISUAL
SUMMARY
This book is a large collection of information and photographs of the rainforests in Costa Rica. This book would be used as a reference in a classroom and largely as a visual book. Students will learn a lot from experiencing the pictures, and high level readers will gain scientific ideas and factual information from the text.
TEACHING POINTS
This will help students with the Reading First components of vocabulary and phonics. Students that spend time with this book will be exposed to new words related to the rainforest and other unfamiliar words. Students will get experience practicing decoding phonological strategies by reading the main text and/or the captions in the book. KSDE acts that students are able to determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases in a text relevant to a grade 3 topic or subject area (KCCRS RI.3.4). The life science topic of wildlife and habitats aligns with the information and images in this book. Teachers can easily pull "domain-specific words" from this text and present it to the class separately/with images. Students will be able to deduce the meaning behind words relating to the rainforest biome and the wildlife in it (blooms ANALYZE). Because of the visual aspects of this book, the language arts themes are viewing and visual representation. Students will be able to learn more vocabulary and see the image that correlates with the new terms and ideas.
RESOURCES
Because this text is above grade level, I am providing this link for elementary lesson plans where this book can serve as a strong resource. Here is a scholarly article that reviews the book. This would be a teacher resource to better understand how to implement this book into the classroom.
Red-Eyed Tree Frog
Joy Cowley | photographs Nic Bishop | Scholastic Press | ISBN 978-0590-87175-4 | 32 pages | Juvenile Literature
SUMMARY
This book is filled with images of the interactions between different animals in the rainforest. The story and the images show a small glimpse of the food chain in the jungle. It follows the day of a red-eyed tree frog and the reader sees what tries to eat the frog and what the frog eats. The back pages are filled with factual information about the red-eyed tree frog and other rainforest facts.
TEACHING POINTS
The text in this book is under grade level for a third grade classroom. The words that may be unfamiliar are the names of the animals (katydid, poisonous). The sentence structure and the vocabulary is at grade level in the factual section in the back of the book. I picked this book mainly because of the photographs, and because it will help lower level readers with fluency and comprehension. The sentences are simple, but the topic and pictures would still be interesting for third grade students. The facts in the back would be challenging for a below grade level reader, but the vocab gained would be good practice with fluency. Students struggling with comprehension would thrive reading this book due to its simple plot. Educators could ask deeper level questions to get the student thinking about literature in a more critical way. The area of language arts that could be addressed for all students in grade 3 is writing. Students could write a story in a similar structure to the Red-Eyed Tree Frog, bringing in factual components about rainforest wildlife. Students could also include a factual page at the end, similar to the book, to show their research. Students will be able to compile a fictional story accurately depicting rainforest life, similar to the Red-Eyed Tree Frog (blooms CREATE). This objective aligns with KCCRS W.3.3 that asks students to write narratives to develop events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences. This book displays all of these things, therefore it can act as a good and attainable example for third grade students.
RESOURCES
Many children enjoy learning about the red-eyed tree frog, so here is a resource from National Geographic that gives more facts and information about them. Here is a list of other animals that children can research and do their writing project on if the teacher wants a wide range of animals represented.
Joy Cowley | photographs Nic Bishop | Scholastic Press | ISBN 978-0590-87175-4 | 32 pages | Juvenile Literature
SUMMARY
This book is filled with images of the interactions between different animals in the rainforest. The story and the images show a small glimpse of the food chain in the jungle. It follows the day of a red-eyed tree frog and the reader sees what tries to eat the frog and what the frog eats. The back pages are filled with factual information about the red-eyed tree frog and other rainforest facts.
TEACHING POINTS
The text in this book is under grade level for a third grade classroom. The words that may be unfamiliar are the names of the animals (katydid, poisonous). The sentence structure and the vocabulary is at grade level in the factual section in the back of the book. I picked this book mainly because of the photographs, and because it will help lower level readers with fluency and comprehension. The sentences are simple, but the topic and pictures would still be interesting for third grade students. The facts in the back would be challenging for a below grade level reader, but the vocab gained would be good practice with fluency. Students struggling with comprehension would thrive reading this book due to its simple plot. Educators could ask deeper level questions to get the student thinking about literature in a more critical way. The area of language arts that could be addressed for all students in grade 3 is writing. Students could write a story in a similar structure to the Red-Eyed Tree Frog, bringing in factual components about rainforest wildlife. Students could also include a factual page at the end, similar to the book, to show their research. Students will be able to compile a fictional story accurately depicting rainforest life, similar to the Red-Eyed Tree Frog (blooms CREATE). This objective aligns with KCCRS W.3.3 that asks students to write narratives to develop events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences. This book displays all of these things, therefore it can act as a good and attainable example for third grade students.
RESOURCES
Many children enjoy learning about the red-eyed tree frog, so here is a resource from National Geographic that gives more facts and information about them. Here is a list of other animals that children can research and do their writing project on if the teacher wants a wide range of animals represented.
Story Worlds: Nature
Thomas Hegbrook | Caterpillar Books | ISBN 1-944530-01-0 | illistration/art
SUMMARY
The entire book is images, or a "wordless picture book". The theme stated in the beginning and repeated at the end is "every picture tells a story." All of the images depict scenes in nature. There are a good amount of images set in the rainforest. There are pages at the end that explain some of the artist's reasoning behind the pictures, but they encourage parents and educators to "observe, inquire, and wonder" while looking at the book.
TEACHING POINTS
The first thing that comes to mind with this book is letting students look at one of the images of the rainforest and write it's story. This would help students develop writing fluency. This, again, aligns with NCCRS W.3.3 that prompts students to write a narrative with characters, event sequence, etc. Students will be able to produce a story based on an image found in Story World's: Nature (blooms CREATE). Students would be guided towards mastery in three areas of language arts: writing, visual representation, and critical thinking. By writing about what they see, students are able to be creative and also think critically about the image they are looking at. If the students are doing a research based project on the rainforest, then they can include elements from that as well (W.3.7). This lesson would integrate literacy, art, and science.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
This is a website with some writing activity ideas for third graders. These could be aligned with Nature and the elements of the rainforest.
Here is website about integrating art with science lessons, specifically with the rainforest.
Thomas Hegbrook | Caterpillar Books | ISBN 1-944530-01-0 | illistration/art
SUMMARY
The entire book is images, or a "wordless picture book". The theme stated in the beginning and repeated at the end is "every picture tells a story." All of the images depict scenes in nature. There are a good amount of images set in the rainforest. There are pages at the end that explain some of the artist's reasoning behind the pictures, but they encourage parents and educators to "observe, inquire, and wonder" while looking at the book.
TEACHING POINTS
The first thing that comes to mind with this book is letting students look at one of the images of the rainforest and write it's story. This would help students develop writing fluency. This, again, aligns with NCCRS W.3.3 that prompts students to write a narrative with characters, event sequence, etc. Students will be able to produce a story based on an image found in Story World's: Nature (blooms CREATE). Students would be guided towards mastery in three areas of language arts: writing, visual representation, and critical thinking. By writing about what they see, students are able to be creative and also think critically about the image they are looking at. If the students are doing a research based project on the rainforest, then they can include elements from that as well (W.3.7). This lesson would integrate literacy, art, and science.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
This is a website with some writing activity ideas for third graders. These could be aligned with Nature and the elements of the rainforest.
Here is website about integrating art with science lessons, specifically with the rainforest.
Smithsonian: Wildlife of the World
editorial consultant Dr. Don E. Wilson | Penguin Random House | ISBN 978-1-4654-3804-1 | 480 pages
SUMMARY
This book is a visual encyclopedia of the world's wildlife. It talks about hundreds of animals sorted by region. For this text set, the region we would use the book for is the South American continent because the book spends most of the time talking about the Costa Rican and Amazon Rainforests. It shoes detailed images of the animals and provides a summary of facts about each one.
TEACHING POINTS
This book is a wonderful resource for students! Especially when conducting a research project (KCCRS W.3.7). This book helps students with vocabulary growth (Reading First). The book is set up in a way that easily lets students build on prior knowledge. They can read and see ideas/animals that are familiar to them, and then broaden their knowledge of the subject by reading about it and discovering through the photographs. Students will be able to collect information from the informational text, Wildlife of the World when working towards a research project (blooms CREATE). Because the book is packed with images and facts, the language arts areas that it magnifies are visually representative, reading, and writing. Through reading and looking at the images provided in the book, students will associate new vocabulary with the image and the information gained. Students will be able to use this book as a tool to enhance their writing, vocabulary, fluency, and their understanding of wildlife in the rainforest.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
The Smithsonian Institute has a great website that can provide the teacher with information and content knowledge as well as a student resource.
editorial consultant Dr. Don E. Wilson | Penguin Random House | ISBN 978-1-4654-3804-1 | 480 pages
SUMMARY
This book is a visual encyclopedia of the world's wildlife. It talks about hundreds of animals sorted by region. For this text set, the region we would use the book for is the South American continent because the book spends most of the time talking about the Costa Rican and Amazon Rainforests. It shoes detailed images of the animals and provides a summary of facts about each one.
TEACHING POINTS
This book is a wonderful resource for students! Especially when conducting a research project (KCCRS W.3.7). This book helps students with vocabulary growth (Reading First). The book is set up in a way that easily lets students build on prior knowledge. They can read and see ideas/animals that are familiar to them, and then broaden their knowledge of the subject by reading about it and discovering through the photographs. Students will be able to collect information from the informational text, Wildlife of the World when working towards a research project (blooms CREATE). Because the book is packed with images and facts, the language arts areas that it magnifies are visually representative, reading, and writing. Through reading and looking at the images provided in the book, students will associate new vocabulary with the image and the information gained. Students will be able to use this book as a tool to enhance their writing, vocabulary, fluency, and their understanding of wildlife in the rainforest.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
The Smithsonian Institute has a great website that can provide the teacher with information and content knowledge as well as a student resource.
Draw Rainforest Animals
Doug DuBosque | Peel Productions Inc. |ISBN 0-939217-23-6 | 63 pages | how to draw/alternative
SUMMARY
This is a how to book for drawing animals in the rainforest. Each animal has a few facts about it, and then a step by step explanation showing readers how to draw the animal.
TEACHING POINTS
This could be used as an art integration. This could be a resource available to students to pair with a research or writing project. It could be used as a good activity that allows students of all strengths and intelligences complete a project happily. Visual art is a great way to physically and tactically interact with information.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
This is a lesson plan that tries to integrate many subject areas into a rainforest lesson. This book could be used as an art integration for this lesson.
Doug DuBosque | Peel Productions Inc. |ISBN 0-939217-23-6 | 63 pages | how to draw/alternative
SUMMARY
This is a how to book for drawing animals in the rainforest. Each animal has a few facts about it, and then a step by step explanation showing readers how to draw the animal.
TEACHING POINTS
This could be used as an art integration. This could be a resource available to students to pair with a research or writing project. It could be used as a good activity that allows students of all strengths and intelligences complete a project happily. Visual art is a great way to physically and tactically interact with information.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
This is a lesson plan that tries to integrate many subject areas into a rainforest lesson. This book could be used as an art integration for this lesson.