Treise McCarthy

Dr. Reister
Content Area Reading Edu 320
March 7, 2018

*Because my text set is made from a mixed special education classroom (k-5), reading
levels among the students will vary based on age, diagnosis, etc*

1) Podendorf, Illa. (1960). The True Book of Animal Homes. Chicago: Children’s Press.

a) This book is an informational text, and would most likely be appropriate for first or
second grade students. This book would be a great tool to introduce a science lesson
on animal habitats as it is all facts about habitats.

b) To introduce this book, I would start by letting the students tell me what they know
about habitats to get them excited, and then I would read the book. Since the
chapters into different groupings of habitats, I would start each chapter by having
the students make predictions on what information will be found in that chapter
based of the chapter title.

c) This book starts off with describing animals that build their homes on top of the
group in the first chapter. This chapter discusses cottontail rabbits, white-footed
mice, foxes, meadowlarks, bumble bees, and oven birds. The second chapter
discusses animals that build their homes up off of the ground. These animals
included squirrels, raccoons, spiders, honey bees, wasps, and different types of
birds. The next chapter talks about animals that build their homes in the ground
including, ground squirrels, moles, skunks, and other rodents. The next chapter
describes animals that live in the water such as beavers, otters, and fish. This
chapter is followed by one about animals that do not build homes, and a chapter
about homes that humans build for their pets. The final two chapters are about farm
habitats and zoo habitats. Each chapter gives at least three animals that lives in each
type of habitat and basic facts about those habitats.

d) One follow up activity could be to build a habitat in the form of a diorama. Each
student could pick a habitat and make a diorama using materials provided by the
teacher. The habitats would have to include items such as shelter, main predators
 and prey in the habitat, and plants that might be found there (rainforest: trees vs.
desert: cactus).

2). Crosby, Alexander L. (1960). Junior Science Book of Beavers. Illinois: Garrard

Publishing Company.

a) This book is a junior science book, and would be appropriate for grades 3-6. This
book was fully tested by the Spache Readability Formula to ensure that it can be
read by primary grade children while still delivering being a sort of textbook. This
book, as mentioned before is a science book, so it would be used in a science lesson.

b) I would use this book by as a resource for research. Although it focuses only on one
animal, it is composed of all facts that would be useful to a student learning about
habitats.

c) This book is all about facts about beavers. The chapters cover beaver’s habitats,
what they eat, what predators they face, and other facts. It is heavily filled with
information, but it also is easy to read and understand.

d) One follow up activity that I would have the students do with this book is have the
students learn about beavers dams and how they are built. Then I will split the
students up into groups and have them construct mini dams by using sticks and clay
and then they would test their dams by pouring water on one side of it and
examining if it holds or not.

3). Hiaasen, Carl. (2002). Hoot. New York: Random House Inc.

a) This book is environmental fiction, and would be appropriate for 5-6th graders to
read on their own; however I will be using this book to read to the class.

b) I would read a chapter or two from this book everyday, as a way to reinforce the
topic of study, animal habitats.

c) This book takes place is Florida. It is about a boy named Roy Eberhardt who is at
a new school and is being bullied by another student. Roy meets a girl named
Beatrice Leep and a boy Mullet Fingers named who are step siblings. The three
embark on an adventure to stop a Pancake house from being build over the natural
 habitat of burrowing owls. After many trials, the site is turned into a conservatory
for the owls rather than a pancake house.

d) Students will create three little owls out of materials provided by the teacher, and
write one thing they learned from the book about owls on each owl. Then all of the
owls/facts will be hung up around the room.

4). McCarthy, Treise. (2018). The Big Book of Animal homes.

a) This book is appropriate for 2nd grade students to read, however it will include
some vocabulary that will be more appropriate for 3rd or 4th grade. This higher
level vocabulary will be incorporated so that the teacher can help to increase
knowledge.

b) This book is interactive and will be available in the class library for students to read
during free time. In addition, because this book is simple and interactive, I will use
this book to work with lower functioning students when teaching them about animal
habitats.

c) This book is going to be about different animal habitats. It is going to have pieces
(pictures of animals) that can be attached on the page that describes that animals’
habitat. The book will list where each animal lives, the animal’s predators, the
animal’s prey, and the animal’s form of shelter.

d) As a follow up activity to using this book in the classroom, students will create their
own short book focusing on one animal and each page will have pictures depicting
aspects of that animal’s habitat.

5). Hoberman, Mary Ann. (1978). A House is a House for Me. New York: Puffin Books.

a) This book is appropriate for grades 1st and 2nd. It is a rhyming book. I would use
this book to help students learn rhyming words.

b) I will integrate this book into a poetry a language arts lesson with the focus on
rhyming. I will use this book to introduce the lesson. In this lesson I will read the
students this book and then have them practice writing rhyming poems about
animals. This activity will be helpful in helping students to understand rhyming
words, but still tying in the overarching theme of animals.
 c) This book goes through what different homes look like compared to a human beings
home.

d) After reading this book I will give students a graphic organizer to help them
compare and contrast the different types of homes that they heard about in the book.

6). McAllister, Ian. (2018). The Seal Garden. Orca Book Publishers.

a) This book is a picture book and would be appropriate for ages 5-8. I would use this
book for students who cannot read yet because it is made up of photographs.

b) I would use this book to reference the pictures in it. It is made with real wildlife
photography, so it would be especially helpful in getting the students interested in
the lesson. This book could be helpful in a science lesson, because the students can
see actual pictures of the habitats they have been reading about and or seeing
drawings in their other books.

c) This book is about different types of seals and where they live.

d) A follow up activity to this project would be to take a field trip with the students to
a kid friendly wildlife sanctuary (Brier Bush is one in my area) and have the
students take pictures of different habitats. After they are done we will put all of
the pictures into an ebook and write facts that the students produce about each
habitat pictures.

7). National Geographic Children’s Books. (2010). Nat geo wild animal atlas: Earth's
astonishing animals and where they live. Des Moines, IA: National Geographic.

a) This book is a nonfiction atlas, and would be great for any students from grade k-5.
The range is larger for this book because it incorporates harder text with informative
photographs.

b) I would use this book as a research resource for the students to pull facts from. This
book could be helpful in a science lesson, but I think it would be most effective as a
resource that I provide for them when they need to do research.

c) This book is about teaching geography through the animals that live in different
geographic regions. This book has fun facts and photographs in it.

d) I would have students use this book for research and create a KWL chart that has at
least 10 “what I learned” points.