Chelsea Boufford

LIBR 465

Concept Book List

Main Concept: Life Science in the Sixth Grade Classroom
Each book has a specific benchmark to go with it, however the main Guide Level Content Expectation Requirement is “L.OL: Develop an understanding that plants and animals (including humans) have basic requirements for maintaining life which include the need for air, water, and a source of energy. Understand that all life forms can be classified as producers, consumers, or decomposers as they are all part of a global food chain where food/energy is supplied by plants, which need light to produce food/energy. Develop an understanding that plants and animals can be classified by observable traits and physical characteristics. Understand that all living organisms are composed of cells and they exhibit cell growth and division. Understand that all plants and animals have a definite life cycle, body parts, and systems to perform specific life functions.”

Book 1: Yatandou

Genre: Multicultural

Summery: Yatandou takes place in Mali Africa. It is a book written in first person about Yatandou’s life in a small village in Africa. It relates to life science because there -discusses baobab trees, millet kernels, onions, red tomatoes, green peppers, niebe and many other plants that are common to the area. Yatandou also describes how her goat was small when it was born, and how it was considered not worthy of feeding. However Yatandou begged her father to graze him anyway. It shows how resilient animals and people can be despite conditions. It also shows the need for food, water, and shelter in context of life in Africa. Also we can see how both humans and goats are consumers, since they must take a food source for energy.

Citation: Whelan, Gloria, and Peter Sylvada. (2007) Yatandou. Chelsea, MI: Sleeping Bear

Guide Level Content Expectation: L.OL.06.51 Classify producers, consumers, and decomposers based on their source of food (the source of energy and building materials).

Book 2: Food Webs Interconnecting Food Chains
Genre: Nonfiction

Summery: Food Webs Interconnecting Food Chains is a book describing how organisms interact with one another. Different trophic levels are described. The book shows how producers make their own energy, how consumers and predators must eat other living things for an energy source and how decomposers play a role in the food web.

Citation: Gray, Susan Heinrichs. (2008) Food Webs: Interconnecting Food Chains. Minneapolis, MN: Compass Point

Guide Level Content Expectation: L.OL.M.5 Producers, Consumers, and Decomposers – Producers are mainly green plants that obtain energy from the sun by the process of photosynthesis. All animals, including humans, are consumers that meet their energy needs by eating other organisms or their products. Consumers break down the structures of the organisms they eat to make the materials they need to grow and function. Decomposers, including bacteria and fungi, use dead organisms or their products to meet their energy needs.

Book 3: African Critters
Genre: Nonfiction
Summery: This was in interesting spin on an informational book. It was a first hand account of the author going through Africa and encountering animals as he went. It had a scattered plot. The journey started out on a jeep traveling across the desert. Creatures were revisited throughout the story. For example an encounter with a lion was followed up with when they came across the lioness with her cubs again. It showed how organisms interact with each other and how both living and nonliving factors effect organisms.

Citation: Haas, Robert B. (2008) African Critters Washington D.C. National Geographic

Guide Level Content Expectation: L.EC.M.1 Interactions of Organisms- Organisms of one species form a population. Populations of different organisms interact and form communities. Living communities and nonliving factors that interact with them form ecosystems.

Book 4: Butterfly Tree

Genre: Picture Book
Summery: Butterfly Tree is a book about Jilly, her dog Fudge and her mom exploring nature. As they explore the waterfront and woods they come across many birds and creatures. The pinochle is when they come to a place where there is “an explosion of golden-orange bits” that turns out to be Monarch butterflies. The mother then recounts her own story about seeing Monarch butterflies migrating. It shows how wildlife needs shelter from not only other animals but also from weather.

Citation: Markle, Sandra, and Leslie Wu. (2011) Butterfly Tree. Atlanta: Peachtree

Book 5: Big & Little

Genre: Picture Book
Summery: Despite the fact that, Big & Little is meant for an Elementary classroom rather then a sixth grade classroom, it still has value. The book goes through animals that are both quite large and quite small that live in the same ecosystem. This book could be used as an introduction to get kids pulled into the idea of learning about ecosystems. It shows how wide of a range animals can take within an ecosystem. Kids can also compare and contrast the idea of the bigger animals more likely being predators. On the last page there is a to scale representations of 1 in to 2.5 ft for each animal. So uuuhyuuuuhy with each other.

Citation: Jenkins, Steve. (1996) Big & Little. Boston: Houghton Mifflin

Guide Level Content Expectation: L.EC.M.2 Relationships of Organisms- Two types of organisms may interact with one another in several ways: they may be in a producer/consumer, predator/ prey, or parasite/host relationship. Some organisms may scavenge or decompose another. Relationships may be competitive or mutually beneficial. Some species have become so adapted to each other that neither could survive without the other.

Book 6: Wildlife Poems

Genre: Poetry
Summery: Wildlife Poems has a creative spin. Not only do the poems give facts in poems about wild animals but it allows for the students to guess what animal is being described. Located in the back of the book is a key to the answers to all of the puzzle poems. The poems describe all kinds of characterizations that make the animals recognizable. Everything from what they eat to where they live may be included in the poems.

Citation: Williams, Kate. (2009) Wildlife Poems. N.p.: K. Williams

Grade Level Content Expectation: L.EC.M.1 Interactions of Organisms- Organisms of one species form a population. Populations of different organisms interact and form communities. Living communities and nonliving factors that interact with them form ecosystems.

Book 7: Science Fair Winners: Experiments to do on Your Family

Genre: Reference Science Fair Projects
Summery: Science Fair Winners: Experiments to do on Your Family is a creative book based on science projects that kids can test on their own family. Naturally since this involves a family it therefore involves living organisms. The projects extend everything from how puppies interact with one another to eating habits. According to Julie C. Lurneng of the University of Michigan “In animals, you’re going to be a little more frenzied when you eat in a group.” The book then sets up a step-by-step procedure for kids to follow out to see if in fact when kids are in bigger groups they eat more.

Citation: Science Fair Winners: Young, Karen Romano (2010) Experiments to do on Your Family Washington D. C: National Geographic

Guide Level Content Expectation: L.OL.06.51 Classify producers, consumers, and decomposers based on their source of food (the source of energy and building materials).

Book 8: Nat Geo Wild Animals Atlas: Earth’s Astonishing Animals and Where They Live

Genre: Atlas Reference Book

Summery: Nat Geo Wild Animals Atlas: Earth’s Astonishing Animals and Where They Live is a book to get kids introduced to where animals live and how environments affect the animals that live there. It goes through each type of ecosystem and highlights the animals that live there. Maps are diagrams that kids are familiar with, so it is a great way to introduce new material on a familiar graphic organizer. The pictures of the animals are there to hook the children into reading the material. The text lists the ecosystem the animal lives in, the animal itself, what they eat, and other identifying factors or interesting facts. In the National Geographic kids book it states, “White-tailed deer live mainly in forests and meadows of North America. The male deer, called a buck, can be identified by its antlers. White-tailed deer graze mainly at dawn or dusk and eat leaves, grasses and twigs.” (Lamichhane, 2010, p. 10)

Citation: Lamichhane, Priyanaka, (2010) Wild Animal Atlas: Earth's Astonishing Animals and Where They Live. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic

Guide Level Content Expectation: L.EC: Develop an understanding of the interdependence of the variety of populations, communities and ecosystems, including those in the Great Lakes region. Develop an understanding of different types of interdependence and that biotic (living) and abiotic (non-living) factors affect the balance of an ecosystem. Understand that all organisms cause changes, some detrimental and others beneficial, in the environment where they live.

Book 9: Island of the Blue Dolphins

Genre: Novel
Summery: Island of the Blue Dolphins follows is a children’s novel that follows the life of a young girl, Karana, marooned on an island. After her tribe set sail for the mainland and wild dogs killed her brother, she is left to fend for herself. We see the relationships organisms can have with one another, and how for their own survival they can overcome natural tendencies. She befriends the leader of the wild dogs and names him Rontu. We see her fight for survival food and shelter on the island.

Citation: O'Dell, Scott. (1960) Island of the Blue Dolphins. Boston: Houghton Mifflin

Guide Level Content Expectation: L.OL.06.51 Classify producers, consumers, and decomposers based on their source of food (the source of energy and building materials).

Book 10: Lost Childhood: My Life in a Japanese Prison Camp During World War II

Genre: Memoir

Summery: Lost Childhood: My Life in a Japanese Prison Camp During World War II is a memoir by Annelex Hofsra Layson with assistance from Herman J. Viola. It is a powerful story about how the Japanese prison camp had a major affect on not only her emotions but also her physical body. In the account, she reveals how lice infested the camp. Lice are a parasite to humans. We can see how lice negatively affect the host. Furthermore we can see how the virus and bacteria affected the families in the camp. The protagonist develops a severe case of malaria. In this memoir we are able to see organisms having a negative impact on humans.

Citation: Layson, Annelex Hofstra., and Herman J. Viola. (2008) Lost Childhood: My Life in a Japanese Prison Camp during World War II : A Memoir. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic

All book citations were listed in the document itself with each book.

The citation for the Guide Level Content Expectations is listed below:

"MDE - Grade Level Content Expectations." (n.d) MDE - Grade Level Content Expectations. N.p., <http://www.michigan.gov/mde/0,1607,7-140-28753_33232---,00.html>.