Stripes of All Types
by Susan Stockdale
Peachtree Publishers, 2013
ISBN #978-1-56145-695-6
Grades PreK-3
Nonfiction Picture Book
Visit STEM Friday
Exciting news! Anastasia Suen and I co-wrote a new book. It’s based on my blog and is packed full of lesson plans, STEM, mentor texts, and the Common Core from ABC-Clio.
Stripes of All Types follows animal life with stripes as part of their coloration in their native habitats. The book reveals simple information in a rollicking rhyme and bright art. It takes the reader from the ocean to land to a familiar striped animal at home.
Activity
Define the word “camouflage” in nature as protective coloring that helps animals hide in plain sight. Then show these images and together locate the animal. You may have to point out where it is in some pictures. Discuss why animals need to use camouflage and the ways it helps them.
Pair the book with the nonfiction book Toco Toucan Bright Enough to Disappear by Anastasia Suen. Compare the ways the toucan uses colors to the stripes in the Stripes of All Types book.
Next Generation Science Standards K-2
ESS3.A: Natural Resources
Living things need water, air, and resources from the land, and they live in places that have the things they need. Humans use natural resources for everything they do. (K-ESS3-1)
ESS2.E: Biogeology
Plants and animals can change their environment. (K-ESS2-2)
LS1.A: Structure and Function
All organisms have external parts. Different animals use their body parts in different ways to see, hear, grasp objects, protect themselves, move from place to place, and seek, find, and take in food, water and air. Plants also have different parts (roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits) that help them survive and grow. (1-LS1-1)
LS1.B: Growth and Development of Organisms
Adult plants and animals can have young. In many kinds of animals, parents and the offspring themselves engage in behaviors that help the offspring to survive. (1-LS1-2)
LS1.D: Information Processing
Animals have body parts that capture and convey different kinds of information needed for growth and survival. Animals respond to these inputs with behaviors that help them survive. Plants also respond to some external inputs. (1-LS1-1)
LS3.A: Inheritance of Traits
Young animals are very much, but not exactly like, their parents. Plants also are very much, but not exactly, like their parents. (1-LS3-1)
LS3.B: Variation of Traits
Individuals of the same kind of plant or animal are recognizable as similar but can also vary in many ways. (1-LS3-1)
LS4.D: Biodiversity and Humans
There are many different kinds of living things in any area, and they exist in different places on land and in water. (2-LS4-1)
Common Core State Standards
For a Common Core experience, discuss the main idea of the book. Use each spread and talk about how that animal’s stripes are located and positioned. Ask the listeners why animals have stripes. Then show the spread with the striped images. Identify each picture in turn to review the animals’ names and where they live.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.2 Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.1 Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.
- •CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.K.1 With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.
- •CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.K.2 With prompting and support, identify the main topic and retell key details of a text.
- •CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.K.3 With prompting and support, describe the connection between two individuals, events, ideas, or pieces of information in a text.
- •CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.K.5 Identify the front cover, back cover, and title page of a book.
- •CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.K.6 Name the author and illustrator of a text and define the role of each in presenting the ideas or information in a text.
Look up the CCSS to see the remaining Literacy.RI.1-2 standards.
It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)
Copyright © 2013 Shirley Duke All Rights Reserved.
November 22, 2013 at 6:31 am
Shirley,
Great to see you. Congratulations on your new book! Adding the Next Generation and Common Core Standards really takes it to another level for teachers.
I’m participating in the blog tour for Bill Thompson’s new wordless picture book Fossil (with a giveaway) at Growing with Science http://blog.growingwithscience.com/2013/11/amazing-fossil-book-giveaway/
November 22, 2013 at 7:28 am
Thank you! Next Gen Science Standards are good and CCSS is really easy once you get past all the abbreviations. I probably should add TEKS, the Texas Standards, but CCSS hits more and they aren’t really that different in the basic skills.
November 22, 2013 at 6:45 am
Congratulations, Shirley! I hope State Ed departments remember that the original intent of Common Core wasn’t to make more tests but to offer schools the opportunities to incorporate nonfiction and other standards in a way that fit best with the educational needs of their students.
Today I tell how to make ink from cranberries over at Archimedes Notebook. It’s an activity that can tie into: Social Studies (Civil War soldiers made berry ink), Art and Science. You could probably use it to do your math…
http://archimedesnotebook.blogspot.com/2013/11/cranberries-other-ink.html
November 22, 2013 at 7:30 am
Thanks, Sue. I agree with you on the testing. It always seems to rear its ugly head after new standards come in. Focus on the learning. I taught 25 years and the tests all came and went. Nonfiction is a great way to teach all kinds of reading skills.
November 22, 2013 at 9:05 am
Ahh, the ever present Standards. Congrats on the book! Thanks for sharing Shirley, and giving me some good ideas.
I’ve got a review of picture book about Gregor Mendel at Tamarack Writes. http://tamarackwrites.blogspot.com/2013/11/gregor-mendel-friar-who-grew-peas.html
November 22, 2013 at 9:13 am
Gregor Mendel–I hadn’t seen that book. I love that there’s pb about him! Yes, the standards are there–aren’t they always–but it’s about lessons for the library using library resources on topics that are fun!
November 22, 2013 at 7:10 pm
Congratulations on the new book! I’m jealous of this post. You did a terrific job. That takes a lot of time. No post for me today because of teaching time demands, but I saw this post and wanted to comment. Good luck with the book!
November 23, 2013 at 6:01 am
Thank you! It’s been a busy year but has yielded some happy results. I hope your teaching year is a great one. It’s so good to see enthusiasm for teaching.