Scampers is no ordinary mouse. She's curious. She asks questions. And she experiments. In short, she thinks like a scientist! Her friend Nibbles, reluctantly joins her as they set out to discover the truth about the owl in the garden. Children will enjoy the jaunty dialogue and whimsical illustrations, and along the way they'll learn how think like a scientist, too!
"Because of me the land is green. I’m why the sky is blue. All of life depends on me. I'm even part of you." Lyrical verses present water in its many colors, shapes, and forms as it follows its natural cycle through the seasons. From rain to rivers, from fog to thunderheads, from snowflakes to ocean waves - water is always changing. Along the way, water speaks for itself, connecting deeply with readers. The evocative illustrations highlight water’s many moods. "I can show you rainbows/ in mist or morning dew/ I can be a muddy flood/or a pool of aqua blue." Teachers and parents will appreciate the Explore More section in the back of the book that includes "The Science Behind the Poetry," STEM activities, water conservation tips, and more.
“If you were an animal—wild or tame, would you know your daddy’s name?” Every page answers this question with a different animal. Meet a joey riding piggy-back whose daddy is a sugar glider, a calf whose daddy is a towering giraffe, and a tiny fry floating next to its seahorse daddy. Children will be delightfully surprised by the animal in the middle of the book, and dads will especially appreciate the scene on the last page. Rhyming verses describe animal characteristics, and watercolor illustrations capture the feeling of all the different habitats, making every page a teachable moment. Additional animal information and matching game in the back of the book extends the learning.
Wild ones are moving into the city! Follow the dog Scooter as he wanders an urban landscape, seeing many wild animals and not seeing even more. Supplementary material contains true stories and helps children become aware of the presence of wild animals and understand why they have taken to living in cities.
Take a ride with Pitter on a water cycle! You'll go through a watershed, down, around and up again. How about going with Patter? You'll even go underground. Oh, the places you'll go and the creatures you'll see. A water drop is a wonderfully adventurous thing to be!
So you'd like to go back in time to see real dinosaurs and other ancient reptiles? Yes, that would be very cool. And if you start by giving a T-Rex a bone, things will be, well - interesting. Dangerously interesting! So go ahead - offer him that bone and see what happens. Along the way you're bound to encounter many other animals from the past, creatures wild and amazing. Dangerously amazing!
Rivers make beautiful music - from the trickle of snowmelt to the burble of a full-flowing stream. Here the famed children's musical ensemble, the Banana Slug String Band, celebrates rivers as a fascinating, ever-changing source of life and joy.
A young mouse quickly comes of age as he sets out to explore his meadow. There he meets many remarkable creatures. Spider has tangled intentions. Firefly really knows how to put on a show. Mother rabbit is kind. Turtle is wise. Others would have him for lunch! Fortunately, help arrives just in time.
Old MacDonald had a...woods? Yes! Come along with Jo MacDonald and learn about the wild creatures in the woods at her grandfather's farm. Noisy ones, quiet ones, and a few surprises. This delightful variation on "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" playfully introduces youngsters to the woodland habitat while engaging little ones with rhythm and wordplay.
Rivers are teeming with life! Children will learn the geography of North American rivers and to appreciate the animals that live there while they count the baby otters or dragonflies. Their learning will be reinforced as they "squeal" like muskrats and "hop" like frogs. All of this fun learning activity is set to the rhythm of the classical tune of "Over in the Meadow."
Storyteller Brian 'Fox' Ellis draws from his memories of fishing with his father to tell this true tale of a fish, a frog, a dragonfly, a mosquito, and himself. The experience helped mold Fox's life-long connection with nature, and is a wonderful example of entertainment that also educates.
The 54,000-acre Childrens Eternal Rainforest in Costa Rica began with a few kids and a bake sale. Word spread, and children from over 44 countries raised the funds to make it happen. Here is its story with a fresh twist, as young Peter discovers that his mother was one of those original kids. What a terrific way to learn both about cooperation and a magnificent habitat!
Good food doesn't begin on a store shelf with a box. It comes from a garden bursting with life, color, sounds, smells, sunshine, moisture, birds, and bees! Healthy food becomes much more interesting when children know where they come from. So what's in the garden? Kids will find a variety fruits and vegetables, and a tasty, kid-friendly recipe for each one to start a lifetime of good eating. A "food for thought" section presents interesting facts about each fruit and vegetable, and a "how does your garden grow?" section explains facts about gardening and the parts of plants.
Remember the wonder and innocence of catching fireflies as they dance through the summer nights? Here is an opportunity to share the magical experience with your children. Amy is afraid of dark shadows in her bedroom, but notices a slight glow in the back yard. With exuberance she catches fireflies in a jar, only to find their lights go dim until they are free again--and finds that her fear of the dark is gone too. The photo-illustrations are lifelike yet dreamy. A wonderful read-aloud.
Teachers and parents, this book is an outstanding teaching resource, much more than the title might suggest. Beginning with a lifetime for a mayfly is about one day, it presents 24 lifetimes such as that of an earthworm (about six years), a giant sequoia (about 2,000 years), a bacteria (well, that depends), a dinosaur (never again) and the universe (about 15 to 20 billion years). Each example comes with detailed illustrations and something to ponder, such as, for earthworms: Worms teach us that our work can be very important, even if it cannot be seen. Each plant or animal is practically a lesson plan in itself, with tell about it, think about it, and look it up challenges. Written by a retired teacher, this is a favorite book for children and teachers alike.
Written and illustrated by a 14 year-old in 1992, this best-selling book has introduced a whole generation to the wonders of a very important habitat. Following XYZ the Ant, young readers walk through the alphabet and engage in fun alliterations about the amazing anteater, majestic macaw, and quiet quetzal along with the other inhabitants they encounter in the rainforest. The colorful illustrations were done in magic marker. It reaches a large age range because the large text is for young readers, while smaller text is for you or more advanced children. Kristin Joy Pratt (A Swim through the Sea) once again successfully inspires a generation of children about one of the most precious and fragile realms on Earth.
This true tale actually happened in Alaska to the famous naturalist, John Muir, and it became what he called the most memorable of all his wild days. One day, Muir set out to explore a huge glacier during a blizzard. Stickeen--an aloof little dog belonging to a fellow traveler--insisted on going along. They become stranded on the glacier. The only way out was over a precarious ice bridge, dangerous for a man and almost impossible for a dog. When amazingly they both escape, Stickeen's aloofness is replaced by rapturous adoration for Muir. The author skillfully weaves Muir's own words, the illustrations are extraordinary, and the result is a classic.
Just imagine all of nature - mountains, prairies, oceans, and all - lying on your bed as a patchwork quilt! Take flora and fauna in their unique habitats, fold them up and you have a book, this book. Earth's major habitats are spread before you, ready to be examined. Here in this beautiful package are revealed the key concepts of natural science. This patchwork quilt of nature covers the whole Earth, your home - yours to learn about, to enjoy, to care for, and to love.
Named a prestigious CBC/NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Book, this is a poetic yet accurate description of the life cycle of salmon. For kids, it is fun and eye-opening. For teachers, it is a valuable supplement to a unit on water, fish and ocean animals, and life cycles. Fast-paced prose and brilliant illustrations follow the salmon from their form as eggs in a stream to the wide ocean, eventually making a hazardous journey home to their stream of origin. As in her earlier best-selling book, The Tree in the Ancient Forest, author Carol Reed-Jones uses cumulative verse--a literary technique that is not only enjoyable but suggests how interconnected salmon are with their habitat. At the back is a section on salmon facts and what makes a good habitat for them, teaching the basics of ecology and why clean streams and waters are so important.
Old MacDonald had a...garden? Yes! Sing along with young Jo MacDonald as she grows healthy food for people and wild creatures. E-I-E-I-O! Find out how butterflies, bumblebees, and birds help a garden to thrive - and how you can help them too. And keep an eye on one mysterious plant. What will it become? Youngsters learn about garden ecosystems and stewardship through this playful adaptation of "Old MacDonald Had a Farm."
Here is a favorite of elementary science teachers for the food chain. Each of the creatures passes the energy in its own unique way. In this upbeat rhyming story, the food chain connects herbivores, carnivores, insects and plants together in a fascinating circle of players. All beings on Earth--from the anchovy to the zooplankton--depend upon the green plant, which is the hero of the story. The special talent of the author shines again (see also A Drop Around the World) for being able to present the science curriculum so concisely, creatively, and cleverly. A 48-page Teacher Guide based on the book is also available.
This collection of true stories of animal behavior is not only captivating and thought-provoking, but also a terrific way for teachers and parents to have children to consider feelings--whether animal or human. A young antelope was being dragged into a river by a crocodile. A nearby hippopotamus saw what was happening and charged the croc, which released the antelope. The hippo gently pulled the antelope up the riverbank, comforting and protecting it until it died. Was this compassion? A zoo monkey routinely used a banana to bribe a moose to carry him across a moat designed to keep him confined to a small island. Was this cleverness?
This book is a year-after-year favorite with teachers. It engagingly leads readers around the world following a drop of water--whether as steam or snow, inside a plant or animal, or underground--teaching the wonders and importance of the water cycle. (There is lots of geography, too.) Four pages of science about the qualities of water are included.
