{"id":282696,"date":"2010-02-05T11:52:49","date_gmt":"2010-02-05T16:52:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/openwidelookinside\/archives\/2338"},"modified":"2010-02-05T11:52:49","modified_gmt":"2010-02-05T16:52:49","slug":"teaching-earth-science-with-children%e2%80%99s-literature-on-earth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/282696","title":{"rendered":"Teaching Earth Science with Children\u2019s Literature: On Earth"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\"on-earth.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

G. Brian Karas<\/a>’s, On Earth<\/em><\/a>, is dedicated to explaining the Earth’s daily and yearly cycles, as well as the Earth’s orbit, rotation, and tilt that contribute to these cycles.\u00a0 Karas also sheds light on how and why we have the given seasons and what makes the day time light, and night time dark. Though the concepts are complex in nature, the book aims to describe them in a simple, poetic way in order to help children form a general understanding.\u00a0 This gentle, child-friendly method is exemplified often throughout the book.\u00a0 Take for example, Karas’ explanation of night where he states that “at night we turn away from the sun and see a universe of stars and planets while we dream of what we can do tomorrow.”\u00a0 The information is not presented in a typical fashion, whereby all parts are connected.\u00a0 Instead, to assist in child comprehension, Karas utilizes a step-by-step approach so as to focus on elements loosely and individually.\u00a0 The author’s main goal appears clear: Have young readers think big concepts that are old in time.<\/p>\n

Curriculum Connections<\/p>\n

On Earth<\/em><\/a> is an exceptional tool for use in early elementary classrooms.\u00a0 The text is simple and pleasing, while the illustrations are vibrant, detailed, and helpful.\u00a0 As previously stated, children are forced to begin thinking about complex concepts and procedures.\u00a0 Chances are, these topics will be confusing and overwhelming to begin, but in the way Karas presents the information, the book is a great place to start.\u00a0 The distinctively colorful, sometimes sideways pictures are intriguing and draw readers in, while the diagrams and text work to explain the brilliant images with simple words and phrases.\u00a0 The book does a great job introducing elements that contribute to the understanding of Virginia Standards of Learning ES.4 and ES.13, both regarding Earth and sun relationships causing seasons, day, night, etc…Young children can also relate to the occurrences in the book.\u00a0 For example readers see other children going to school as the seasons change…just as they do, celebrate birthdays as years progress…just as they do, and stand by small trees in their growth stages…just as they do.\u00a0 The more a child can relate, the more easily he\/she can understand the difficult concepts.<\/p>\n

Additional Resources<\/p>\n

This link<\/a> provides teachers with a helpful, fun lesson explaining how Earth’s rotations contribute to day and night.\u00a0 Children will love this experiment and it can work with all age groups!<\/p>\n

This interactive extended dictionary for kids <\/a>helps children to actually see the solar system and click on various elements for an in-depth explanation.\u00a0 It provides facts, pictures, and definitions.\u00a0 In addition to highlighting Earth and the sun, it can also be helpful for lessons on outer space as it extends well beyond the two basic elements.<\/p>\n

This site<\/a> provides a fun activity for children to utilize online to better understand Earth’s rotation, its position, time between rotations, etc…It is interactive and presents the correct answer automatically after children give the questions a try first!<\/p>\n

Book: On Earth<\/em><\/a>
\nAuthor: G. Brian Karas<\/a>
\nIllustrator: G. Brian Karas<\/a>
\nPublisher: Puffin Books, A Division of The Penguin Group
\nPublication Date: 2008
\nPages: 32 pages
\nGrade Range: Recommended K-3
\nISBN: 978-0-399-24025-6 (hc)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

G. Brian Karas’s, On Earth, is dedicated to explaining the Earth’s daily and yearly cycles, as well as the Earth’s orbit, rotation, and tilt that contribute to these cycles.\u00a0 Karas also sheds light on how and why we have the given seasons and what makes the day time light, and night time dark. Though the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4213,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-282696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4213"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282696\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}