One goal of STEM education is to show children the possible STEM careers they can pursue. And, although not technically a “science” series, two books in the Little World Biographies series highlight the careers of talented individuals who worked in STEM fields: Joe Acaba and Frank Lloyd Wright.

Joe Acaba was a classroom teacher turned NASA astronaut. Frank Lloyd Wright became one of the most influential architects in the twentieth century. Both biographies are geared toward students in grades K-3. Large images paired with concise and informative text show students how Acaba and Wright pursued their dreams.

Check out Joe Acaba, by Colleen Hord, and Frank Lloyd Wright, by Doraine Bennett. Connect Social Studies with STEM!

Happy learning,

Precious McKenzie

Senior Editor

For ordering information, visit http://rourkepublishing.com/series/318.

For free Teacher Notes, visit the Teacher’s Corner http://rourkeclassroom.com/teachers_corner.

Thank you, Andrea!

Laugh along with the barnyard critters as they worry and fret over getting haircuts. Jennifer Reed’s Little Birdie Leveled Reader (1-2) is a delightful way to learn about farm animals and the people who take care of them.

Carefully leveled, yet plot driven, text makes Time For A Trim a wonderful choice for first and second grade students.

Happy reading,

Precious McKenzie

Senior Editor

For ordering information, visit http://rourkepublishing.com/books/2060?series_id=246.

For free Teacher Notes, visit http://rourkeclassroom.com/teachers_corner.

Pre-K students around the United States are busy learning about animals on the farm this spring. Rourke Educational Media offers a variety of educational materials to help you bring the farm to life for your Pre-K through 3 students.

Our On The Farm series teaches students how common farm animals help humans. Large photos and engaging text explain how the animals live and produce on a farm.  Books in the series include: Chickens On The Farm, Ducks On The Farm, Horses On The Farm, and Rabbits On The Farm.

For free Teacher Notes, visit the Teacher’s Corner at http://rourkeclassroom.com/teachers_corner.

For ordering information, visit http://rourkepublishing.com/books/1730.

Happy learning,

Precious McKenzie

Senior Editor

Teaching About the Environment

Our third grade year is coming to an end rapidly and I have two chapters left to cover in our Social Studies curriculum. One of them covers what our environment is and how we need to care for it, including the topic of pollution. I hunted for a short, nonfiction read aloud to introduce the topic and found, “Cleaning Up The Earth” by Precious McKenzie. This book supported the curriculum perfectly and was engaging for my class. We recently reviewed nonfiction text features, so we took the opportunity to note those things (table of contents, bold words, photographs and labels, glossary, etc.) We then read through the text and spent time discussing each page.

After discussing “Cleaning Up The Earth”, we made an anchor chart stating issues we care about and ways that we could help.

We then designed comic strips showing our new knowledge in a creative way.  I have a set of comic strip templates that I copied so that students could choose whichever one was most appealing to them. Each student created a cartoon connecting to the topic of pollution and included a problem and solution. Our anchor chart acted as our prewrite to help us get started with this assignment.

The students shared their comics with their classmates before turning them in to me.

I found that most of my students came with excellent background knowledge about caring for our environment. They had just recently studied the water cycle and visited the water treatment plant for Science. The topics connected and we had a very good discussion about various types of pollution (land, water, air). In the end, I am confident to say that my students know what pollution is, and many ways in which they can do a better job caring for our environment.

Are you planning a field trip to the aquarium? Read Anastasia Suen’s newest title, At the Aquarium. Your K-2 students will learn about the amazing creatures living in aquariums. And, since At the Aquarium is part of our Sound Adventure phonics series, your students will have extra practice with the short Aa sound. Come along and enjoy the adventure with the children from Camp Adventure!

For ordering information, visit http://rourkepublishing.com/series/317.

For free Teacher Notes, visit http://classroom.rourkepublishing.com/.

Happy reading,

Precious McKenzie

Senior Editor

Are you planning a spring field trip to a nature center? To help prepare your students for their adventure, take a look at Rourke Educational Media’s Eye to Eye With Animals series.  Kids love Jeanne Sturm’s book, Scavengers, because she ups the ick factor with vultures, cockroaches, jackals, oh my! She goes into fascinating detail about the world’s most mysterious scavengers. Close up photos of wild scavengers make the book that much more appealing! Plus, teachers love the detailed food webs and solid science content.

Happy reading,

Precious McKenzie

Senior Editor

For ordering information, visit http://rourkepublishing.com/series/244.

For free Teacher Notes, visit the Teacher’s Corner http://rourkeclassroom.com/teachers_corner.

Rourke Educational Media brings you and your students the best in nonfiction. Our newest series, Little World Biographies, connects students with a diverse range of talented and inspiring people, many of whom faced great challenges. Our team of curriculum specialists and editors took an innovative approach to early elementary Social Studies content. We looked for inspiring people from a wide range of backgrounds and professional fields, people who your students may have heard about and, hopefully, some new faces too.

The Little World Biography series includes:

Michael J. Fox (actor)

Laura Ingalls Wilder (writer)

Frank Lloyd Wright (architect)

Condoleezza Rice (political leader)

Joe Acaba (astronaut)

Muhammad Ali (athlete)

Historic photographs, maps, and lively, concise text make the Little World Biography a perfect fit for your K-3 students.

Happy learning,

Precious McKenzie

Senior Editor

For ordering information, visit http://rourkepublishing.com/series/318.

For free Teacher Notes, visit http://rourkeclassroom.com/teachers_corner.

To continue our spring celebration of the Earth, take a look at Rourke Educational Media’s popular series, Endangered Habitats. The books in the series include: Savannahs, Oceans, Coral Reefs, Rainforests, and Glaciers.  Each book zeroes in on the characteristics that make each habitat unique. Crisp photographs of wild animals and majestic landscapes support the text. Maps and fact-filled captions make the series appropriate for third through sixth graders. As always, our books are correlated with National Science Standards and the Common Core.

For ordering information, visit http://rourkepublishing.com/subjects/science_earth_nature.

For free Teacher Notes, visit the Teacher’s Corner http://rourkeclassroom.com/teachers_corner.

Happy learning,

Precious McKenzie

Senior Editor

Let’s marry National Science Standards with the Common Core! We can do it with poetry!

Choose one of REM’s outstanding Eye to Eye With Animals or Eye to Eye With Endangered Species books. Read the book with your students. Discuss habitat,  the life cycle, and food webs. Use informational text features such as maps, captions, and the glossary in your lesson. This helps build science content mastery, vocabulary development, and reading comprehension skills.

Then, invite your students to construct a haiku about the animal. Encourage them to use details from the book as they write their haiku.

A haiku should follow this pattern for lines 1, 2, and 3:

5 syllables

7 syllables

5 syllables

So, for Manatees, here is my haiku:

Lovely manatees,

Gliding through warm waterways,

Crunch and munch sea grass.

Ta-da! Science content knowledge paired with poetry! Look, we worked in math too.

Students love art so encourage them to illustrate their poetry. Share and celebrate.

Happy learning and happy Earth Day!

Precious McKenzie

Senior Editor

For ordering information, visit http://rourkepublishing.com/series/200.

For free Teacher Notes, visit http://classroom.rourkepublishing.com/.