Must-have Science Picture Books: The Thinking Done For You

Starting the planning and brainstorming phase of a new unit is hard, but it also is the most FUN part. For each unit that I plan, for any subject, I divide the task into 3 parts.

Part 1: The curriculum

Look through the curriculum and focus on one subject – ideally your favorite. This will make the starting process so much easier and so much more fun. Just like with everything – once you start, it gets easier.

Choose a subject, then go for a deep dive into the curriculum content. Narrow down 2-3 areas of focus/pieces of content from the curriculum. These will form the basis for the units you will start to flesh out.
Keep the tab open, and open Pinterest (aka your teacher bestie). Using the search bar, type in variations of one of the topics you chose.
Pin ideas and anything that stands out to you on the topic.
Repeat for each of the 2-3 topics you chose (create a separate board for each topic)

Part 2: Use books as starting points

Now that you have a sense of your topics, start finding some picture books that fit with your curricular content. Great starting points are:

Amazon
Public Library
Your school district resources

Click here: the books I’ve chosen to work with this year and links!

The goal here is to find 1-2 books that explore the topic head on. For example, in Grade 4 we are exploring Energy, I may choose any of the following from Amazon.

*Before buying check your local library, or Youtube to see if they have a copy you can preview before purchasing so you know if it’s useful.

Part 3: Create Themes

Now is the fun bit, BRAINSTORM!

Using what you saw on Pinterest and what YOU are interested in, start by coming up with themes that relate (the weirder the better) to the curricular content you are focusing on.
Equipped with your themes, now go on a hunt for picture books that are based on 1-2 of these “themes”.

For example, sticking with ENERGY – topics that come to my mind are:

Superhero
Pokémon
Machines
Super strength (humans & animals)
Energy Drinks
The sun
Weird or what (about different types of energy)

And VOILA!

From this point on, it’s just about using the ideas and resources that you collected to flesh out the individual lessons, projects, and sequence of ideas.