What is the World Made of?

By Kathleen Zoehfeld
In this story, we see many examples of matter in the
world around us. It covers the three states of matter,
solids, liquids, and gases as well as the changes of
states as well. The story does a good job of bringing
the states of matter to life and explaining how
important they are, and all of the ways we see them
around us on a daily basis.

Matter: See it, Touch it, Taste it, Smell it by Darlene Stille
This story gives a great introduction to all things matter. The
story begins by exploring the world around us and realizing that
everything is made of matter. The story goes on to inspect these
things to determine which kind of matter it is. Not only does the
story explore matter, but also how matter changes states and the
properties of matter as well. The interesting thing about this
story is how it ties in the senses to really bring the story to life.

Curious Pearl, the States of Matter by Eric Mark Braun

In this science-filled story, Pearl tries to teach her younger brother
how to make ice pops at home. However, her brother can not
grasp the idea of juice turning into an ice pop. Pearls’ love for
science forces her to jumps into action and teach her brother about
the states of matter and just what makes juice turn into ice pops.
The cool thing about this book is the augmented reality feature.
Students are able to enhance their learning through the guiding
videos that can be accessed through an app throughout the story.
 What’s the Matter in Mr. Whiskers’ Room? By Micheal
Ross
In this story, we meet Mr. Whiskers and his class. In order to
explore the states of matter, Mr. Whiskers has his students
participate in a bunch of student-led inquiries and experiments.
Mr. Whiskers encourages his students to use observation,
predictions, and their senses to make sense of the science
stations. The nice part about this story is not only all the
information about the states of matter, but the strategies it
gives students that will aid them in the inquiry and learning
process.

Bartholomew and the Oobleck by Dr. Suess

While this story is not directly a science story it does usually
come with a fun activity for after reading exploration. This
story is about a young boy, Bartholomew, who works for a
greedy king. The king has his magicians create another type of
precipitation; however, things do not go as planned when the
precipitation is Oobleck. The Oobleck wreaks terror on the
kingdom by sticking to absolutely everything. The kind finally
realizes his greedy tendencies do more harm than good. While
this story is a great one, actually making Oobleck is even better
and it is so easy too! All you do is mix 2 cups of cornstarch and
1 cup of water along with some green food coloring. This is
great for exploring the states of matter because Oobleck is a
liquid when you let it run through your fingers, but a solid
when you squeeze it!

*All images courtesy of amazon*