A great way to bring science into the classroom is through fiction and non-fiction books. Books are important because they allow children to learn concepts through a story, and they bring a literacy enriched environment into your classroom.
The first great way to find inexpensive books about science is at a rummage sale. Many times you can find books for all subjects area for under a quarter. Another great way is to watch for science books to go down really cheap in book orders. A lot of books in book order like scholastic will drop down to a dollar.
Another great way to get inexpensive books are online. One website called paper back swap allows you to post books you do not use anymore, and once that book has been requested you get to pick a free book from over 5,000,000 available books that others have posted. The only cost for you is the shipping to send your book. This website is also great if you just want to build your classroom library or are looking for certain books that might be out of your budget. The website is: http://www.paperbackswap.com/index.php
Another website I found allows for you to download science books through an MP3. The website offers over fifty books with a wide range of topics. Most of the books have content for high school students, but the ones that aim for younger kids could be set up in a listening center. The website is: http://www.free-books.org/science.php
I agree that books are an excellent way to introduce science to students, expecially younger ones. It allows the students to become engaged in the material before being taught anything which helps with the learning process. I really like the idea of downloading stories to an MP3 player and using them in the listening center.
ReplyDeleteI love books! For our past science unit we introduced each day with a book: both non fiction and fiction. There are so many awesome books out there for every lesson imaginable! I'm always interested to hear how people build their classroom library, so thank you for the great information!
ReplyDeleteLiteracy is a great way to support content areas. Students are much more reading something that isn't a text book, this is a great way for them to get the same information without the struggles of text book readings. The websites are also very helpful.
ReplyDeleteI agree that books can be an excellent way to introduce students to a topic of study. Everyone loves stories. I also liked that idea of downloading books for students to use in a listening center. This makes the content accessible to all students, and would be especially helpful for students with disabilities and ELL's.
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