Nonfiction

I love the nonfiction chapter in the text because it appeals to the science teacher in me. So often, I bring children's literature into my science class when I can make it work with our unit of study. I love to use Diary of a Worm when I teach soils, and Jan Brett's The Umbrella is a great book to use when we study different biomes. These books are not necessarily your traditional nonfiction, but have enough factual information in them to make for great class discussion and spin-off projects. I often have students create their own nonfiction picture book pages or entire picture books at the end of a unit and we then go share them with the younger students in the school, pre-K or kindergarten. This time with younger students gives my kids the opportunity to become the experts and teachers and to remember the thrill of reading at a young age.