Teaching Science Through Trade Books

“‘What was your favorite book as a child?’ In more than 10 years of facilitating workshops, we have never heard anyone reply, ‘My fourth-grade science textbook.’ Clearly, textbooks have an important place in the science classroom, but using trade books to supplement a textbook can greatly enrich students’ experience.” —from Teaching Science Through Trade Books


If you like the popular “Teaching Science Through Trade Books” columns in NSTA’s journal Science and Children, or if you’ve become enamored of the award-winning Picture-Perfect Science Lessons series, you’ll love this new collection. It’s based on the same time-saving concept: By using children’s books to pique students’ interest, you can combine science teaching with reading instruction in an engaging and effective way.


In this volume, column authors Christine Royce, Emily Morgan, and Karen Ansberry selected 50 of their favorites, updated the lessons, and added student activity pages, making it easier than ever to teach fundamental science concepts through high-quality fiction and nonfiction children’s books. Just as with the original columns, each lesson highlights two trade books and offers two targeted activities, one for K–3 and one for grades 4–6. All activities are Standards-based and inquiry-oriented.

From Measuring Penny and How Tall, How Short, How Far Away? to I Took a Walkand Secret Place, the featured books will help your students put science in a whole new context. Teaching Science Through Trade Books offers an ideal way to combine well-structured, ready-to-teach lessons—with strong curricular connections—and books your students just may remember, always.