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References: Books
There are many books for young children that integrate literacy
strongly into this science unit. Here are some that we found most useful
and interesting. Not included are books about gardens and habitat because
there are so many and titles are readily available.
| The Sun |
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Asch, Frank. Bear Shadow. A delightful story of Little Bear who wants to run away from his shadow. |
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Bulla, Clyde Robert. What makes a shadow? A simple explanation of how a shadow is formed. |
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Fowler, Allan. Energy from the Sun. A
small non-fiction book which defines energy in simple terms and which asks the
question, "where do you get your energy?"
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Gibbons, Gail. Sun Up, Sun Down.
A good basic presentation of the sun's characteristics and how it regulates life
on earth.
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Palazzo, Janet. Our Friend the Sun. For the
younger learners, this book presents the sun as our friend because of all the
good things it does for us.
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Tomecek, Steve. Sun. A very colorful
and well presented book that describes the physics of the sun.
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| Sun Folklore |
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Aardema, Verna.
Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears. An African story of
what happens one day when the owl does not wake the sun.
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Arnold, Sandra. Child of the Sun
A Cuban legend tells the story of a greedy sun that refuses to share the sky
with moon.
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Baylor, Byrd. The Way to Start a Day.
This unusual and very poetic book describes how people all over the world
describe the sunrise (Caldecott Honor Book).
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Dayrell, Ellphinstone. Why the Sun and
the Moon Live in the Sky An African story of how the sun
and moon came to live in the sky.
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Keams, Geri. Grandmother
Spider Brings the Sun. A Cherokee Story. After Possum and Buzzard fail
in their attempts to steal a piece of the sun, Grandmother Spider succeeds
in bringing light to her side of the world.
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McDermott, Gerald. Arrow to the Sun.
A Pueblo Indian tale that explains how the spirit of the lord of the sun was
brought to the world of men. (Caldecott Medal)
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Stewart, Dianne. Gift of the Sun. This tale from
South Africa tells the story of Thulani who enjoys spending his days following
the sun and enjoying its warmth. As he tries to simplify his life, he
loses all except a handful of sunflower seeds.
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Williams, Maria. How Raven Stole the Sun.
A Tlingit story that tells how the trickster Raven transforms himself and sets
out to steal the sun for the people and what happens to his snow-white feathers.
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| Day and Night |
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Berger, Barbara. When the Sun Rose
A lovely story about sunlight through the eyes of an imaginative young girl.
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Conrad, Pam The Rooster's Gift
One day rooster oversleeps and the sun rises without him. With the help of
Smallest Hen, the proud rooster learns just what it is that makes him
special.
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Fowler, Allan. The Sun is Always Shining
Somewhere This non-fiction book explains how
important the sun is and illustrates a demonstration for understanding
what makes day and night.
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Ginsburg, Mirra. The Sun's Asleep
Behind the Hill. When the sun goes down for the night, all the creatures in
the natural world know it is time to rest.
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Harrison, David. Wake Up Sun.
Especially good for the younger children, this story tells what happens when the
farm dog wakes up in the middle of the night thinking that it is time to get up.
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Marzollo, Jean. Sun Song
Follows the path of the sun through a full summer day and shows how the plants
and animals respond to the sun's light.
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Meeker, Clare Hodgson. Who Wakes
Rooster? The animals on a farm stay asleep until the sun rouses the
rooster whose crowing wakes up everyone else.
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Pfister, Marcus. Sun and Moon
Day after day, the Sun and the Moon follow their lonely separate paths across
the sky, wishing that they could meet and be friends.
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Robinson, Colin. Sun Rise A small village wakes up to start the day.
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Schuett, Stacy. Somewhere in the World Right
Now - Describes what is happening at different places in the world at
a particular time, some where it is morning while somewhere else it is night.
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Whitman, Candace. Now It Is Morning.
Illustrates morning in varied places, the farm, the home, the city, and how it
might be different.
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| Plants and Seeds |
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Carle, Eric. The Tiny Seed. A wonderfully illustrated story that relates
the life cycle of the seed.
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Gerver, Jane E. Grow A Pumpkin Pie Describes the process of making a
pumpkin pie from planting the seed through caring for the plant to cooking the pie.
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Hall, Zoe. The Surprise Garden.
A brightly illustrated book which compares seeds and explains how each seed is
unique, producing its own plant. Also compares the seed with the plant and
indicates what part of the plant we eat.
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Lobel, Arnold. "The Garden", in Frog
and Toad Together. Toad plants a garden and must learn how to take
care of his seeds.
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Marzollo, Jean. I'm
a Seed This "easy reader" tells the story of two seed
friends who grow up to be different plants while also illustrating the life
cycle of the seed.
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Wyatt, Valerie. Wacky Plant
Cycles. Describes plant cycles from the most common to the
most unusual, citing "wacky" facts which answer such questions as,
"Which plant grows to your height in one day?"
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| Energy in the Garden: Energy Transfer |
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Cole, Joanna. The Magic School Bus Gets
Planted. A very good MSB book which emphasizes the basic needs of the
plant and explains how the leaf makes the food for the plant.
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Fowler, Allan. Energy
from the Sun Describes energy and how energy from the sun
provides us with heat, light, plants, and food.
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Facklam, Margery. Bugs for Lunch. Rhyming text introduce bug eating animals.
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Hickman, Pamela. Hungry Animals: My First Look at
a Food Chain Lyrical text and flaps which open make it fun for the
youngest child to explore and understand the concept of a food chain.
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Jenkins, Steve. What do You do When Something
Wants to Eat You? A brightly illustrated book which presents a
different perspective of the food chain and also introduces the
concept of animal defenses.
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Lauber, Patricia. Who Eats What?
Food Chains and Food Webs Explains the concept of a food chain.
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Marzollo, Jean. I am a Leaf.
A simple but well presented description of the life cycle and functions of a
leaf. Explains how the plant makes its food.
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Ross, Michael E. What Makes Everything Go? Describes energy - what it is - and the
concept of energy transfer.
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Silver, Donald. Life on a Limb
From the producers of "one small square" books, this pop up book
gives the child a total picture of the natural world and interrelationships
within that world.
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References: Music
And, don't forget Raffi! This popular
performer for young children has many songs which relate directly to the theme of
Energy in the Garden, including: Rise and Shine, One Light One Sun,
This Little Light, and Everything Grows.
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