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On the first day, students made predictions as to which pumpkins would have the most seeds (mini, small, medium, or large). I used cheap dot stickers (like the ones used at garage sales) to have students mark their predictions on a graph (Hello, math skills!). We then hung this graph up and discussed our results. After graphing, we read the first few pages of the picture book, How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin? We then spent the rest of the day in groups scooping out seeds from our pumpkins. It was messy, but lots of fun!

After the seeds dried overnight, we read a few more pages of the story and students spent the next day deciding the most effective way to count their seeds. After counting by 2s, 5s, or 10s, students wrote their total number outside their pumpkins. We finished reading How Many Seeds and discussed the different variables that determine what makes a pumpkin have more seeds than others (I'll leave those as a surprise for when you read the story!).

Finally, I followed up the lesson by having students write down other questions they had on sentence strips. We then discussed how scientists categorize their questiosn into two categories: researchable and testable. Students shared their questions and categorized each one into their categories.

You should know what I love about Picture-Perfect is that Karen and Emily have made teaching science with picture books and the 5Es so easy! This was demonstrated when we completed the "What's Poppin'?" lesson from their first book, Picture-Perfect Science Lessons (*This lesson is designed for grades 5-6, however, with some modifications, this lesson can fit into any grade level).When using this lesson in your classroom, begin by engaging students with the picture book Popcorn! by Elaine Landau (You can also use Tomie dePaola's The Popcorn Book with this lesson). Next, explore and explain by completing the "What's Poppin'?" lab. This step is followed by elaborating with the brand test, and finally, evaluating with a popcorn poster. I can't begin to tell you how much fun this lab is! It fits in really well with introducing lab safety and instructing how to design an experiment.

On another note: Karen and Emily really emphasized science misconceptions during their workshop. As teachers, we need to discover students' misconceptions to make teaching more effective. Students' misconceptions come from many places including: parents, teachers, picture books, and even from their own discovery.

I know what you're thinking: "What? Picture books? I thought they were accurate since they're published works?!" Well, that's not always the case. There are many misconceptions in picture books that we as teachers don't even catch (I can't believe how many misconceptions they pointed out in books that I have read to my students - I felt so bad!). Research shows that students can carry these misconceptions with them until they are adults, even after someone has shown them they are not correct!

Karen and Emily made a great point that you can't edit every picture book you read to your students, otherwise, the fun in reading can be lost. You can, however, have students look for misconceptions in books after learning has taken place and while wrapping up your unit.

Science plays a very important role in our lives and it is being forced out of our instructional time little-by-little each year. Using picture books to help teach science allows us to cover reading strategies and create meaningful learning simultaneously - what teacher doesn't want that?!

If you get a chance to read a Picture-Perfect Science Lesson book or take a workshop: DO IT! I have learned so much that I would be typing for a week if I posted it all!

What do you think? Have I convinced you to try out picture books during science instruction?

Thanks for stopping by!