During the month of March, Dr. Lettie Albright answered your questions about reading across content areas!

Read her response to question 2 below.

Question 2:
I teach science and math to fourth and fifth graders in Junction City KS and I am looking for some strategies to incorporate more reading activities into my lessons. Any ideas?

Response from Dr. Albright:
Dear Science and Math Teacher,

There are a lot of ways to incorporate reading into your science and math lessons. Be sure to read the answer above to learn ways to help your students with their textbooks and other materials. One of the most engaging ways to incorporate reading is to supplement your curriculum with children's literature. There is a wonderful array of trade books about science and math available, and more are being published everyday.

One accessible source for finding these books is the website of The National Science Teachers Association (http://www.nsta.org/ostbc), which annually selects Outstanding Science Trade Books for Children. Here is a list to get you started:

Math:

• Ancient Computing: From Counting to Calendars, by Michael Woods and Mary B. Woods
  
• Anno's Mysterious Multiplying Jar, by Masaichiro and Mitsumasa Anno
• G is for Googol: A Math Alphabet Book, by David Schwartz
• Grapes of Math: Mind-Stretching Math Riddles, by Greg Tang
• The Greedy Triangle, by Marilyn Burns
• Math Curse, by John Sciezska
• Mr. Archimedes Bath, by Pamela Allen
• Sir Cumference and the Knights of the Round Table, by Cindy Neuschwander

Science:

• The Life Cycle of a Whale, by Bobbie Kalman and Karuna Thal
• Mistakes That Worked, by Charlotte Foltz Jones
• The New Way Things Work, by David Macauley
• One Giant Leap: The Story of Neil Armstrong, by Don Brown
• The Sky's the Limit: Stories of Discovery by Women and Girls, by Catherine Timmesh
  
• Snowflake Bentley, by Jacqueline Briggs Martin
• Starry Messenger, by Peter Sis
  
• Any book by Seymour Simon
  

Remember that many of the authors listed above have written multiple books. Once you find an author you or your students like, you can look for other books by that person.
So, what do you do with these books? Try these ideas:

• Read them aloud to your class! Reading aloud to students is a great way to pique their interest in a topic, introduce new concepts, and expose them to information they might not read on their own.
  
• Think-aloud as you're reading to your students. Verbalizing your thoughts as you read is an effective way to model your comprehension processes for students. This can give them a chance to hear how a scientist or mathematician might think.
  
• Show students how to use trade books as sources for research or inquiry projects. Model and teach them how to use different graphic organizers to collect and organize the information they find. They can then produce a final project to share their new knowledge. Instead of the usual boring book report, have students create their own nonfiction book, write a play or poem about their topic, or design a poster containing the most important concepts. Be creative!
• Let small groups of students read and discuss different books on topics you're studying. These are often called literature circles or book clubs, and they're not just for language arts class!
• Ensure that you have books about math and science in your classroom library, so that students will have access to them for DEAR or SSR (time for students to read independently in books of their choosing) or for taking them home to read.