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ISBN-13: 978-0-545-14920-4 / ISBN-10: 0-545-14920-7Teaching guide written by Alyse Sweeney / Teaching guide designed by Holly Grundon

Copyright © 2010 by Scholastic Inc.All rights reserved. Printed in China.

Table of ContentsIntroduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

How to Use the Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Setting Up the Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Connection to the Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Six Reasons to Teach Nonfiction . . . . . . . . . . 5

How Reading Nonfiction Differs From Reading Fiction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

What Makes a Good Nonfiction Reader? . . . 7

Science Vocabulary Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Book Levels and Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Teaching With the Science Vocabulary Readers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Sample Lesson: Incredible Insects . . . . . . . 10

Comprehension Graphic Organizer . . . . . . 11

Fantastic FishStudent Reproducibles

Parts of a Fish (Reading a Diagram) . . . . . . . . . 12

Our Finny Friends (Reading Comprehension) . . 13

Marvelous MammalsStudent Reproducibles

Marvelous Mammal Riddles (Factual Recall) . . 14

Mammal Munchers (Categorizing) . . . . . . . . . 15

Really Cool ReptilesStudent Reproducibles

Survival Tricks (Problem and Solution) . . . . . . . 16

What Is a Reptile? (Classifying) . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Awesome AmphibiansStudent Reproducibles

A Frog’s Life Cycle (Sequencing) . . . . . . . . . . 18

Amphibian Facts and Opinions (Fact and Opinion) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Beautiful BirdsStudent Reproducibles

Birdy Vocabulary (Vocabulary Development) . . . 20

All About Birds (Writing) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Incredible InsectsStudent Reproducibles

Amazing Insects (Completing a Chart) . . . . . . . 22

Adaptable Critters (Vocabulary Development) . . 23

Answer Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

33

How to Use the Program

Science Vocabulary Readers can be used in a variety of ways to meet the needs of your students.

Using the Books to Teach Nonfiction TextThe books provide excellent vehicles for teaching the genre of nonfiction. According to research, children should be exposed to a variety of nonfiction for improved reading and writing in the older grades (Papps, 1991; Sanacor, 1991, as cited in Kirsto and Bamford, 2004). See page 5 for the benefits of teaching nonfiction.

Using the Books for Reading in the Science CurriculumPull out these books to support and enhance your science lessons on animal groups. Each book is loaded with amazing photos, compelling content, diagrams, call-outs, charts, Fast Facts, vocabulary words, chapters, a glossary, and comprehension questions.

Using the Books to Teach VocabularyWith highlighted vocabulary words throughout the book and a glossary in the back, the books lend themselves to a variety of vocabulary lessons and activities (see page 7 for ideas).

Using the Books for Independent ReadingThese books make great additions to your independent reading library because they are leveled readers (levels J and K). Place one copy of each book in your independent reading library and let children select books during independent reading time or for reading homework.

Using the Books for Guided ReadingWith six copies of each leveled book, it is easy to group students and provide guided reading instruction.

5

Six Reasons to Teach NonfictionThe benefits of teaching with nonfiction text are plentiful. Here are six.

1 Nonfiction Builds Vocabulary Nonfiction exposes children to different vocabulary than that found in storybooks.

Words from the Science Vocabulary Readers, such as adaptable, carnivore, offspring, warm-blooded, and scales, expand students’ ability to communicate in specialized areas—building concepts as well as confidence.

2 Nonfiction Increases Content KnowledgeStudents discover a large body of useful information when they read informational

texts. Many children like to become “experts” in a topic and enjoy learning and sharing unusual facts.

3 Nonfiction Is a Must for Academic AchievementAs children move to higher grades, they encounter more expository materials.

Repeated exposure to such texts provides a foundation that helps students master subjects more easily.

4 Nonfiction Is Essential for Successful Test TakingMost standardized tests require students to read both fiction and nonfiction

passages. Children who have early instruction with nonfiction texts have deeper comprehension of the genre and greater ease with tests.

5 Nonfiction Prepares Students for Real-Life ReadingAdults are bombarded at work and at home with information from

advertising, newspapers, magazines, recipes, manuals, the Internet, and more. Early and regular exposure to informational text will help prepare children for our information-filled world.

6 Nonfiction Appeals to Many ChildrenSome of the students in your class will simply prefer nonfiction to fiction.

For them, and for reluctant readers who just might be turned on by engaging, leveled content, nonfiction texts offer another means to hook students and create lifelong readers.

6

Nonfiction Features in Science Vocabulary ReadersExplain to students that the nonfiction features they see in their Science Vocabulary Readers can help them understand what they read.

Chapter titles 2 tell what the chapter is about.

Colorful photographs and illustrations 2 give information and summarize the text.

Captions and labels 2 add more information or clarify the photos and illustrations.

Boldface words 2 signal important vocabulary that the reader needs to remember.

A glossary 2 gives the meaning and pronunciation of the important words in the text.

Diagrams and charts 2 present information in a way that is easy to understand.

Fast Facts 2 are interesting and fun facts about the topic located throughout the books.

Share with students that they need to read nonfiction differently than they read fiction because nonfiction requires a different purpose for reading and contains different text features. Make a class chart entitled “What Makes a Good Nonfiction Reader?” (page 7) that students can refer to during nonfiction lessons.

Tip!

How Reading Nonfiction Differs From Reading Fiction

Nonfiction readers have different goals than readers of fiction. We read fiction to learn what happens to characters in a story. We read nonfiction to gather information and

learn about new things. When reading fiction, we follow the flow of text from left to right and top to bottom.

When reading nonfiction, we often must navigate special features, such as photos, captions, charts, and diagrams, that interrupt the flow of the text. These features are sometimes confusing to young readers. Therefore, it is important to explain how these features support the text and provide clarification and additional information.

11

Comprehension Graphic OrganizerFill out the chart before and after you read your book.

Name Date

Topic

What I’m curious about . . .

Answers to my questions . . .

What I still want to know . . .

12

Parts of a FishLook at the diagram. Follow the directions and answer the questions.

Name Date Use With Fantastic Fish (Reading a Diagram)

fin

tail

eye

gill cover

mouth

scales

1 Put a 3 on the tail.

2 Put an 7 on the gill cover.

3 Circle some scales.

4 The gill cover is near the tail eyes

.

5 A fish uses its fins to eat swim

.

6 A fish’s body is covered with scales fins

.

Really Cool Reptiles

Justin McCory Martin

Contents

Chapter 1Meet the Reptiles

Page 4

Chapter 2Reptile Skills

Page 8

Chapter 3Amazing Reptiles

Page 12

Glossary and Comprehension QuestionsPage 16

4

Chapter 1

Meet the Reptiles

See this sleek and slithering snake? Do you know what kind of animal it is? The answer is a reptile!

Amazon tree boa

5

How can you tell if something is a reptile? All reptiles have skin that is dry and scaly. All reptiles are also vertebrates. That means they have backbones.

See the long

backbone in this

snake skeleton?

Snakes are not slimy. They are covered in dry scales that look like this close up.

CloseUp!

16

Comprehension Questions

Can you share two things that make a reptile 1. a reptile?

Can you name five animals that are reptiles?2.

Which reptile in this book is your favorite? Tell why.3.

blend (blend): to mix in with the background

cold-blooded (kohld-bluhd-id): having a body temperature that changes according to the surrounding temperature

conserve (kuhn-surv): to save

minuscule (min-uh-skule): very tiny

scales (skales): the small pieces of hard skin that cover the body of a reptile or fish

species (spee-sheez): a group of animals or plants that share the same characteristics

vertebrates (vur-tuh-brates): animals that have backbones

Glossary