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Teaching science in elementary school is crucial for nurturing young minds. But as educators, finding the time and resources to create engaging lessons can be a challenge. That's where this podcast comes in. Welcome to Naturally Teaching Elementary Science, the show dedicated to supporting elementary teachers in their quest to bring authentic and place based science experiences to their classroom. I'm Victoria Zablocki, a certified elementary teacher turned outdoor educator. With over a decade of experience coaching teachers in effective science teaching methods, I'm passionate about making science accessible, understandable and fun for educators and students alike. Join me as we explore strategies for teaching science in elementary school with practical teaching tips, insightful interviews, picture book reviews, and more. Whether you've taught for a long time or just started your teaching journey, this podcast is your trusty resource for enhancing your science curriculum. So let's grow together.

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Welcome back to the Naturally Teaching Elementary Science podcast. I'm your host, Victoria Zablocki. In episode seven, we talked about teaching some of your science standards using animal groups and those characteristics that make them unique. I wanted to continue the conversation this week, but talking about animals that are considered invertebrates, or animals without backbones. When we talked last week, we focused a lot on vertebrates, which include mammals, birds, fish, reptiles and amphibians. And we dabbled a little into the world of invertebrates by introducing the characteristics of insects. But today, I want to focus more on those invertebrates, insects and others. If you haven't listened to episode seven, "Animal Characteristics Breakdown: Reaching Your Curricular Goals by Teaching with Animals", make sure to go back and check it out. This week, I want to give you ideas for picture books to introduce characteristics of animals, but mostly again focusing on those invertebrates.

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So to start us off, I want to talk about a book called About Insects by Cathryn Sill. And this first book is actually a series of books that can be used to introduce animal characteristics for a variety of animal groups, which is why I wanted to talk about it first. So the book about insects by Cathryn Sill is an introduction to characteristics that make insects unique. It's very simplistic with short, concise sentences, and characteristics that are covered include things like having six legs, three body parts, two antennae, having a waterproof skeleton, how insects hatch from eggs, how they experience metamorphosis, things they might eat, and more characteristics. So it's easy to see how this book connects to animal characteristics, right, it breaks down the characteristics that are special to insects. This series also includes the titles, About Mammals, About Birds, About Fish, About Reptiles, About Amphibians, About Arachnids, About Mollusks, and About Crustaceans. So this series, if you could get your hands on it, would actually help you introduce many different types of animal groups, which is nice and uses beautiful illustrations in short, concise sentences, making them good for early childhood learners.

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The second book I want to talk about is called An Earthworm's Life by John Himmelman. And so, as you'll notice, as we go through this list, I tried to pick different invertebrates for us to focus on. So the first one was about insects. This one is an earthworm. So I tried to find a variety of different animal groups to be able to help you along this journey so that way you could choose whatever it is that works best for your curriculum. So, in An Earthworm's Life is about the lifecycle of an earthworm. And throughout that story, John Himmelman introduces different characteristics that make worms special, but it's through the context of the lifecycle of the worm. So this connects to animal characteristics because it takes little characteristics and introduces them throughout the storyline in the context of the lifecycle, which again, is unique and special to each different group of animals. And this book also belongs to a series; it's the Nature Up Close series. And I summarize that in my blog post, "11 Fantastic Lifecycle Books by John Himmleman". So if you want go check that out. But this series also includes A Ladybug's Life, A Luna Moth's Life, A Monarch Butterfly's Life, A Pill Bug's Life, A Mealworm's Life, A Slug's Life, A House Spider's Life, A Hummingbird's Life, A Wood Frog's Life, A Salamander's Life, A Mouse's Life, and he also has one that's about plants, which is A Dandelion's Life. So this series is fantastic for beautiful illustrations, investigating life cycles and then also the characteristics that are special to each animal are introduced throughout the storyline as well.

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Moving on to book three, Do Frogs Drink Hot Chocolate? How Animals Keep Warm by Etta Kaner. And this book is interesting because it covers how a variety of animals use different techniques to survive winter and some of them are highlighted in humorous ways. So frogsicles, sunbathing butterflies, squirrels and blankets, monkeys taking hot baths, and more are covered in this pretty quick read. So how this connects to animal characteristics is that a variety of adaptations are uncovered in relation to winter survival. So some are related to being warm-blooded or cold-blooded, while others are related to the coverings on animals bodies. So, it's a fun way to look at how animal characteristics can affect an animal's survival. This would be potentially a good one to read in the fall or right at the beginning of winter, and then relate how those animals survive winter back to the characteristics of the animals.

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Book number four is a super awesome book. It's called I'm Trying to Love Spiders by Bethany Barton. And it is a very humorous take on spider characteristics. So the main character is trying to love spiders, but they squished spiders throughout the book because they're freaked out by the fact that they have eight eyes, they make spider webs, they have tiny hairs on their legs to climb walls, they eat bugs, and more. And it's all presented in a funny way. But it's very factual and helpful for understanding of the characteristics of spiders. Plus, the illustrations and words are captivating and will keep your students laughing. So, as an example, imagine a burrito with eight legs that looks like a spider... it's that kind of book. So the connection to animal characteristics for this book is that it breaks down characteristics that make spiders unique. And it includes a lot of interesting spider facts. It has a main storyline but then there's also little facts packed into different parts of the pages. So if your students want to know more, they can read some more details. And bonus, she also has a book about bees and their characteristics called Give Bees a Chance which balances the fear of being stung with all the positive characteristics of bees, including their body parts, their role in pollination, their role in the food, web, and more.

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The fifth book that I want to cover is A Daddy Longlegs Isn't a Spider by Melissa Stewart. This book is really awesome, because it actually breaks down the difference between spiders and Daddy Longlegs, which you wouldn't think would be a big deal, but they're actually very different. And it breaks it down in a very concrete way for students. So the narrative covers the course of a Daddy longleg's life, and they use a female so that they understand that a Daddy longlegs isn't just male, that they do have females. And they introduced traits of Daddy longlegs that separate them from spiders, including the fact that they only have one body part, they only have two eyes, they don't spin webs, they don't have venom, and more. So the connection to animal characteristics for this one is that Daddy longlegs are a part of the arachnid class just like spiders, but are actually scientifically known as harvestmen, and are in fact, different from spiders. It breaks down the differences between spiders and harvestmen in a one to one comparison so it's easy for the students to follow, and to understand that they're actually not the same type of animal.

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The sixth book that I want to talk about is called The Snail's Spell by Joanne Ryder. And so this one is an interactive book, which is kind of fun. It provides actions for children to pretend to be a snail using the unique characteristics that make a snail a snail. So students are instructed to imagine they have no arms or legs and that they glide along the ground. They're told to imagine that they lick lettuce with tongues that have teeth in order to scrape small bits of leaves into their mouths. This interactive book teaches the characteristics of snails in a kinesthetic and memorable way which is really helpful especially for early childhood learners. So the connection to the animal characteristic for this book is that it's really interesting, and it presents the unique characteristics of snails in an interactive and fun way that will keep your students understanding how they're different from other animals. Another benefit of this book is that the same writer and illustrator have two other books together. So one of them is called Where Butterflies Grow and Chipmunk Song. And both of those are interactive as well and present characteristics of those animals along the storyline.

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Book number seven that I wanted to cover is Are You a Centipede? by Judy Allen, and this book walks through the unique traits that make a centipede a centipede and compares those characteristics to humans and our characteristics. So the book introduces the lifecycle of centipedes, including hatching from eggs, how the mother centipede actually cares for their young, what centipedes eat and how they differ from millipedes, plus some other characteristics as well. So this book lays out the characteristics in comparison to human characteristics, so it's easy for students to use their own experiences to compare two centipedes. This book is also part of a series called the Backyard Book Series. And there's other titles including, Are You a Butterfly?, Are You a Ladybug?, Are You a Bee?, Are You a Grasshopper?, Are You a Dragonfly?, Are You a Spider?, Are You a Snail?, Are You a Beetle?, and Are You an Ant? Lots of invertebrates in this series.

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Book number eight is A Beetle is Shy by Dianna Hutts Aston and she anthropomorphizes beetles with characteristics such as being shy, being helpful, being prehistoric, being bold, and more. A variety of beetle characteristics are covered in this lovely storyline, including things like having wings, antennae, a four stage lifecycle, and more. And this one lays out a beetle, which we haven't really talked too much about. But it's an insect so it covers a lot of those characteristics that make it fall into the insect group. She also has a book called A Butterfly is Patient, which breaks down the characteristics of butterflies. Sylvia Long is the illustrator for these books and she uses a nature journaling style type illustration, which is really beautiful and they also have a lot of information on each page. So there's a simplistic storyline that tells about the beetles and their characteristics that are similar to humans. But at the same time, they have all these facts along the pages as well. So if your students want to dive deeper, this is another one of those books that provides that information.

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Book number nine is How to Hide a Butterfly and Other Insects by Ruth Heller. And this book showcases the insect characteristic of camouflage. So it doesn't necessarily break down that they have six legs and three body parts, but this book focuses on camouflage. And so it uses rhyme and rhythm, and a variety of insect types and stages to show off their ability to blend in with their surroundings. So some insects that are featured in this book include a butterfly, a moth, an inchworm, a praying mantis, a grasshopper, a fly, and a spider, which is not an insect, but does eat insects, and all of them hide within the illustrations and the students get to help try to find them. So the animal characteristic connection for this book is that coloration and body shape can contribute to an insect's ability to blend into their surroundings. So this one is more specialized, but it's a really fun book for kids to try to find the camouflage insect.

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Book number 10 is Good Trick, Walking Stick! by Shari Mabry Bester. And this book focuses on the characteristics of walking stick insects, so breaking down a particular insect again. So, some different adaptations for survival brought up in this book include camouflage, the ability to change color, and the ability to stay very still during the day. And then some other characteristics that are mentioned throughout the storyline are that they hatched from an egg, they look the same way throughout life, also known as incomplete metamorphosis, they have six legs and they eat plants. So the animal characteristic connection for this book is that it's actually a really great example of an insect that experiences incomplete metamorphosis throughout its life. So if you didn't listen to episode number seven, we talked a little bit about complete metamorphosis versus incomplete metamorphosis. A lot of the times we teach complete metamorphosis in school, which is the typical four stage life cycle like a butterfly, where they have an egg, a larva, a pupa, and an adult. A walking stick is an example of an insect that uses incomplete metamorphosis, which typically has three stages, the egg, the nymph, and the adult. So this would be a great example to use alongside a book that showcases a complete metamorphosis example. So like a ladybug or butterfly, or bee. This would help paint that whole picture that there are some insects that go through four stages and some that go through three.

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So, in a nutshell, we covered 10 different books that focus on invertebrates, and how you can use those and the characteristics that they showcase to help you reach your curricular goals. So the first book we talked about was About Insects by Cathryn Sill, which is part of a large series that covers a variety of animal groups. Book number two was An Earthworm's Life by John Himmelman, which also is part of a series, the Nature Up Close series that has 12 different titles. Book number three is, Do Frogs Drink Hot Chocolate? How Animals Keep Warm by Etta Kaner. Book four is I'm Trying to Love Spiders by Bethany Barton. That author also has another book called Give Bees a Chance. Book number five is A Daddy Longlegs Isn't a Spider by Melissa Stewart. Book number six was The Snail's Spell by Joanne Ryder and she also has a book called Where Butterflies Grow and Chipmunk Song. Book number seven was Are You a Centipede? by Judy Allen and she has several other books in that series that are about invertebrates and their characteristics. Book number eight is A Beetle is Shy by Dianna Hutts Aston and she also has the book called A Butterfly is Patient. Book number nine is How to Hide a Butterfly and Other Insects by Ruth Heller. And book number 10 was Good Trick, Walking Stick! by Shari Mabry Bester. Thanks for taking time to listen today. I know you're busy and I truly appreciate the time you take to tune in. If you're enjoying the show, consider taking a minute to review it on whichever podcast player you're listening on. Your words can help other educators like you decide if they want to join us or not. If you have any questions, wonderings, or books about invertebrates that you use, get a hold of me on Instagram at naturally.teaching or you can email me at Victoria@naturallyteaching.com Thanks again for joining me today. And until next time, keep exploring, keep learning and keep naturally teaching.

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Thank you so much for tuning into today's episode of The Naturally Teaching Elementary Science podcast. I hope you found it informative, inspiring and full of actionable insights to enhance your science teaching journey. Connect with me on social media for more updates, science tidbits, and additional resources. You can find me on Instagram and Facebook at naturally.teaching. Let's continue the conversation and share our passion for elementary science education together. Don't forget to visit my website at naturallyteaching.com for all the show notes from today's episode. If you enjoyed today's episode, please consider leaving a review on your favorite podcast platform. Your feedback helps me improve and reach more educators just like you. Thank you again for listening and until next time, keep exploring, keep learning and keep naturally teaching.