by editor | Mar 16, 2010 | K-12 Classroom Resources
Scientists and Kids Explore Global Warming
by Lynne Cherry and Gary Braasch
Dawn Publications
ISBN 9781584691037
Reviewed by Heather Mattioli
Books about climate change typically start from the premise that students will only passively participate. Lynne Cherry’s book departs from this tradition by way of including middle –school children as part of climate change science. Throughout an extraordinary photographic and illustrative collection, she also shows students as active researchers and scientists in the study of climate change. The result is a beautiful book that engages children visually, intellectually, and inspirationally, with insight into the science of climate change. (more…)
by editor | Feb 19, 2010 | K-12 Classroom Resources, Outdoor education and Outdoor School
©2008 Jon Young and Wilderness Awareness School.
This a book that needs to be in the possession of everyone who claims to be, or aspires to be, an outdoor educator. This book goes to the heart of developing a sense of kinship with nature and teaching about connecting to the land and to nature.
The Coyote’s Guide to Connecting with Nature is clearly the book of a lifetime for authors Jon Young, Ellen Haas and Evan McGown. It calls on ancient wisdom and generations of teaching to lay out a path for anyone with a desire to share nature with others. It offers dozens of activities, stories, songs, and games, guided by the excitement of discovery, real connections with animals and plans, and a sense of belonging through knowing our place on the planet.
Coyote’s Guide can be purchased through the Wilderness Awareness School website at www.wilderness awareness.org .
by editor | Feb 18, 2010 | K-12 Classroom Resources
Reviewed by Victor Elderton
ISBN: 0-88899-458-3
Published by: Groundwood Books / Douglas & McIntyre
Written by: Annette LeBox
Illustrated by: Karen Reczuch
It’s not often in the Pacific Northwest that a children’s book is published that does a great job of illustrating the various aspects of a salmon’s habitat and ecology, while being told in a poetic style that children and adults would find interesting. Salmon Creek by Annette LeBox and illustrated by Karen Reczuch is just such a book.
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by editor | Feb 4, 2010 | K-12 Classroom Resources
By Maggie Wolfe
This is my one of my favorite children’s environmental books. Chris Van Allsburg’s illustrations are fabulous, as always, and greatly add to the drama of the story. I read this book to students (5th-6th grade) at the end of almost every week at outdoor school. This is a great book to read aloud, especially because of the way the illustrations are separate from the text. What I love about this book is that it is in the end very hopeful. Walter’s first dreams of the future show a world of great environmental problems, based on his actions of not caring in the present; but when he changes his ways, the future changes also. I like to emphasize this when reading it to students: The future is not written yet, but we are creating it every day with the choices we make. This is definitely a children’s environmental literature classic, along with Dr. Seuss’ “The Lorax” and Lynne Cherry’s “The Great Kapok Tree,” but is even better for older children.
by editor | Jun 8, 2009 | K-12 Classroom Resources
Teaching Children about the Environment with Picture Books
By
Daniel A. Kriesberg
Illustrated by
Dorothy Frederick
Reviewed by
Dr. Suzanne Spradling
A Sense of Place is a valuable classroom resource and curricular supplement. This book is designed to help integrate children’s literature and hand-on activities to increase students’ awareness of their connections to the earth. The activities and literature suggestions fit readily into existing curricula in the core content areas. The author describes how place-based environmental education can be used to meet state and national education standards. The topics addressed in the book develop students’ geographical and scientific observation skills and provide opportunities for them to learn about their area’s ecology and history. The chapters also include a variety of environmental education activities, language arts projects, and activities that integrate math and art.
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