Lauren Betar

EDU 320
Dr. Reister
Text Set

The Magic School Bus Lost in the Solar System

1. Cole, J., & Degen, B. (2017). The magic school bus lost in the solar system. New York,

NY: Scholastic.

2. Age: 6 - 8
Grade: 1st - 3rd
Genre: Fictional Fantasy
Content Area: Language Arts

3. This book will be the first book in a science and language arts unit about the solar system.
To introduce this book and the entire unit, my students will engage in a teacher-led
guided imagery. Guided imagery helps students connect what they see in their minds with
what they will be reading. The guided imagery for this book will be as follows: Close
your eyes. Imagine you are in a spaceship about to take off, away from earth. You feel
the roar of the engine. BLAST OFF! You are journeying through space. You finally made
it! You are traveling through the solar system. Your spaceship has taken you to Neptune.
It is very cold in the space ship. You need to get closer to the sun. Your spaceship zips
closer to the sun. You make it to Uranus. It is spinning on its side! You make it to Saturn.
Look at the rings around the planet! You then arrive at a huge, striped looking planet.
That’s Jupiter. You keep going and get to Mars. Look at all of the red dust! You see the
next planet. Wave hello to mom and dad, you are now passing Earth! You make it to
Venus. It is getting warmer. You must be close to the sun. You zoom past a very tiny
planet. It’s the smallest you’ve seen! That was Mercury. Now, it is getting really warm.
You see a huge, bright shining ball. That’s the sun! You don’t want to get too close, you
might burn up! That trip was fun! Your spaceship makes a U-turn. You say goodbye to
Mercury and Venus as you pass. You tighten your seatbelt and make your way back to
Earth. You have finally made it home!

4. The Magic School Bus Lost in the Solar System is one of many in the classic series
written by Joanna Cole. Join Ms. Frizzle and her students on an epic adventure through
space. While they whizz around the solar system in the trusty Bus, Ms. Frizzle teaches
her students about the eight planets in our solar system. But, oh no! Ms. Frizzle gets lost
in space. Can her students rescue her, or will they have to return to Earth without her?
5. After I read the book to the students, I will explain to them the story pyramid strategy.
We will conduct a group story pyramid on the board according to the last book that we
read as a whole class. The purpose of this teacher modeling is so the students get practice
with the story pyramid strategy. Then, the students will be broken up into groups of 4-5.
These groups will be based on ability, having at least one strong reader and one weaker
reader in each group. The students will create their own story pyramids in their groups
and share them with the class.
How to Create a Story Pyramid:

Capitalize the first word in each line.

Line 1 — one word, stating the name of main character.
Line 2 — two words, describing the main character.
Line 3 — three words, describing the setting.
Line 4 — four words, stating the problem.
Line 5 — five words, describing one event.
Line 6 — six words, describing a second event.
Line 7 — seven words, describing third event.
Line 8 — eight words, stating the solution to the problem.
 There's No Place Like Space: All About Our Solar System

1. Rabe, T. (1999). There's no place like space: All about our solar system. New York, NY:

Random House Books for Young Readers.

2. Age: 4 - 7
Grade: PreK - 2nd
Genre: Rhyming Picture Book
Content Area: Science

3. As a precursor for this book, I will show my students a song on YouTube. The song goes
through the 8 planets of the solar system and talks about the sun and the moon as well!
The song will help the students compare their prior knowledge of the planets with the
new information they are learning through the song.

Kids Learning Tube. (2015, March 09). Solar system/solar system song/planets song for

kids/8 planets. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/mQrlgH97v94=

4. The Cat in the Hat is back at it again. This time he brought Thing 1 and Thing 2 to Earth
to teach us about the solar system. This rhyming picture book, There's No Place Like
Space: All About Our Solar System comes to us in the ever enjoyable style of Dr. Seuss!
From these exciting visitors, you will learn why we sneeze on Mars, you will learn to
how to play connect-the-stars, and you will learn how to use a telescope! Will the Cat in
the Hat make it back to space in time for his dinner with Thing 1 and Thing 2?

5. To follow the reading of this story, I will have the students engage in a connect-the-stars
activity. I will have pre created sheets to give the children. I will create these sheets by
taking black construction paper and using gold star stickers to represent where each line
should end and begin. Each star will have a number next to it as well as a “begin” and
“end” label for those stars respectively. Once the students have received their sheets, I
will give them white chalk and tell them to begin the activity. The students will start at
“begin” then follow the numbers and stop at “end”. Once the students are finished, they
will have their own star constellations!
 One Giant Leap: The Story of Neil Armstrong

1. Brown, D. (2001). One giant leap: The story of Neil Armstrong. Boston, MA: Houghton

Mifflin Harcourt.

2. Age: 4 - 8
Grade: PreK - 3rd
Genre: Biography
Content: Language Arts

3. To introduce this book, I will have my class engage in a book walk conducted by the
teacher. First, I will show the students the cover of the book and read the title out loud.
Then, I will ask the students, in a whole group setting, what they think the story is about.
After getting answers from 3-4 students, I will start to flip through the book. I will ask
questions such as, “What is happening on this page?”, “Why does this character look
excited?” “Who is the main character?”, “Where is the story taking place?”, “How will
the story end?” When the students answer the questions, I will be sure to be vague with
my responses (i.e., “That’s possible.”, “Why do you think that?”). The point of the book
walk is to activate prior knowledge and to have the students be actively participating in
the class discussion.

4. Have you ever wondered about the first man on the moon? Do you ever wonder about
how crazy, loud and outgoing he was? Would you be surprised to find out that he was
actually a quiet boy who loved to read growing up? In One Giant Leap: The Story of Neil
Armstrong, you can delve into what it was like growing up as Neil Armstrong. You will
learn that the first man on the moon loved all things space and earned his pilot license on
his 16th birthday! This book will make you want to follow in Neil Armstrong’s giant
footsteps.

5. I will use a fill in the blank sheet about Neil Armstrong to supplement the reading of this
book. The sheet will have simple fill in the blanks that may not be directly answered in
the book, but the children will be able to use their prior knowledge of Neil Armstrong
and the solar system, as well as the process of elimination to complete the worksheet. I
will also have my students draw themselves as astronauts. These pictures will be hung on
a solar system bulletin board at the conclusion of the unit.
 Pluto’s Secret: An Icy World's Tale of Discovery

1. DeVorkin, D., & Weitekamp, M. (2015). Pluto’s

secret: An icy world's tale of discovery.

New York, NY: Abrams Books.

2. Age: 6 - 9
Grade: 1st - 4th
Genre: Non-Fiction Picture Book
Content Area: Science

3. As an introduction to this book, I will use a story impression. Story impressions arouse
student curiosity and allow students to anticipate the content of the story. I will walk
around the classroom and call on different students to pull out important words from the
text. As a class, we will make a story chain with the words (i.e., the list of the words that
the students pull from the text). Next, the students will individually create a story
prediction. The story prediction is a story written by the students using the words in the
story chain. There will be fictional and nonfictional aspects of the student’s story
predictions because, at this point, they have not read the story. I will randomly call on 2-3
students to share their story predictions. Then, the students will individually read the
 book, Pluto’s Secret: An Icy World's Tale of Discovery. The students will then rewrite
their story predictions to fix any errors. Then the students will talk to their elbow partners
(the students who are randomly seated next to them) about what they predicted correctly
and incorrectly about the book.

4. For many, many years, it was believed that there were nine planets in our solar system.
So why do we only learn about eight? The secret lies behind the icy world of Pluto. This
fantastic book recalls the identification, classification, and recent reclassification of Pluto.
This book teaches us that we learn new things about the solar system each day and that
there is still much to learn!

5. As a follow-up activity, I will turn my classroom into an ice skating rink! We will just
have learned that Pluto is a very icy planet. I will ask the children if they think that we
could ice skate on Pluto. Then, I will ask them if they think we could ice skate in our
classroom. The students can probably guess that the answer to whether or not we can ice
skate in the classroom is yes because of the laminated white butcher paper taped to the
ground. After hearing their responses, I will hand out the “skates” (i.e., cardstock paper).
The students will take off their shoes and take turns skating around the classroom! We
could talk about friction and how we are able to ice skate in our classroom.

Can You Hear a Shout in Space?

1. Berger, M. (2001). Can you hear a shout in space?. New York, NY: Scholastic.

2. Age: 8 - 11
Grade: 3rd - 6th
Genre: Question and Answer
Content Area: Science

3. Before reading Can You Hear a Shout in Space?, I will introduce the book by giving my
students an anticipation guide. The guide will include statements that the student must
indicate if he/she agrees or disagrees with the given statements. The statements will be
“You can hear a shout in space.”, “A rocket uses fuel.”, “There is weather on planets.”
“A human was the first living thing in space.”, “You grow shorter in space.” The students
will agree or disagree with these statements under the “Before Reading” column.

4. In this question and answer styled book, we learn all of the ins-and-outs of being an
astronaut! From how their space stations are built, to how they keep their satellites in
orbit, to how they get into space, to what they do for fun in space, and so much more! If
you have questions about anything space related, this is the book for you!
5. A follow-up activity to this book could be the “After Reading” column of the anticipation
guide in the presentation portion of the book. Another follow-up activity could be the 3-
2-1 strategy. This strategy requires the students to present three facts that he/she learned
from reading the book, two facts that he/she found to be interesting, and one question that
the student still has after reading the book.
 Description of Container with Pictures

My container would be a wooden, sturdy box painted with galaxy paint. I would have
foam covering the box in order to attach wires to the outside. I would have foam ball recreations
of each planet. I will make Saturn’s rings out of cardstock. I would have the foam planets
attached to a wire and the wire would attach to the foam layering outside of the box. The order of
the planets will start from the left and go around the box to the right. The lid of the box will also
have the galaxy paint and will be decorated with writing that says “All About Space” in a fun
font!