[00:00:00]

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 on 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.

[00:01:00]

Hey everyone, welcome back to the Naturally Teaching Elementary Science Podcast. I'm your host, Victoria Zablocki. Last week in episode 11, we talked about organizing your science standards with phenology, or the patterns of what's happening in nature throughout the year. I wanted to continue the conversation this week by giving you eight different seasons books that introduce all four seasons and their characteristics to your students.

As the year goes on, I'll also make episodes with lists of picture books that are specific to each season. But for this episode, I'm focusing on picture books that could be used to give an introduction to the changing of the four seasons throughout the year. If you haven't listened to episode 11, “Teaching with Phenology: How to Plan Your Science Standards Around the Seasons”, make sure to check it out.

It's full of great information about the benefits of teaching with the seasons, a three step process to create your own scope and sequence, and a quick breakdown of the workshop model for lesson planning. So again, this week I'm excited to share eight different seasons books to help you get a jumpstart on your back to school planning. So let's get right into it.

[00:02:07]

Book number one is The Reason for the Seasons by Ellie Peterson. So the first book that I wanted to introduce is an absolute gem for explaining why the seasons exist. It addresses naive conceptions such as summer being a time when the earth is closer to the sun and also summer happening when the sun is shining versus winter happening when it's dark outside.

These naive conceptions are very common for children because they're drawing from their own experiences. But Peterson addresses these conceptions and then also goes on to explain in a child friendly way that the earth is tilted and that's why we experience the seasons. This book in particular is a great read for children of all ages and can be used all the way from K through 5.

[00:02:48]

Book number two is The Reasons for Seasons by Gail Gibbons. And this book has a very similar name to the first book, but it shouldn't be confused with it because this book is actually more for, like, upper elementary, because it goes more in depth about how the tilt of the Earth makes the seasons. It has a lot more information, it takes a lot longer to read.

Something that's missing from the first book that Gibbons does is that she gives the names for the first day of each season. And she also shares traditions and celebrations from around the world. So there's a cultural aspect to this book that was missing from the first book. This book also shares seasonal signs that are unique to each season, which the first book didn't do either.

The first book is more appropriate for teaching the reason for the seasons, whereas this book is more of an introduction to every aspect of the seasons, including the reason for the season. As a side note, though, this book has an updated version that was released in 2019, so make sure you get the updated version, as the 1995 version has misinformation.

[00:03:53]

Book number three is another Gale Gibbons book. It's called The Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree. And this book shares characteristics of the different seasons by taking a look at an apple tree over the course of a year.

So, beginning in the spring, Arnold sees buds on his apple tree that open into blossoms, which he watches bees visit. Then in the summer, he enjoys the shade from all the green leaves, and he sees small green apples forming. In the fall, the green apples turn red, and the leaves turn colors, and they fall down. And then in the winter, his tree is bare, but it's covered in snow.

So, this is a great introduction to the four seasons with a focus on the tree. But, in the illustrations and in some of the words, there's also other seasonal signs. So it gives a focus to your students, but it also provides the opportunity for more extraction of seasonal signs.

[00:04:42]

Book number four is Tap the Magic Tree by Christie Matheson. And this book is similar to The Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree because it is based on an apple tree as well. However, this is an interactive story. So, starting in spring, each page progresses the reader through the seasons in the context of an apple tree similar to The Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree, but it has actions like rubbing the tree to make it warm, blowing a gentle breeze to spread the petals, shaking the tree to release the apples, and more.

So it makes this book a lot of fun for your students. It's more simplistic and doesn't cover as much variety of seasonal signs as The Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree, but it's a great introduction for early childhood learners.

[00:05:25]

Book number five is A Bunny for All Seasons by Janet Schulman. And this story starts in the spring and follows a bunny as she experiences life near a garden. So in the spring, she eats plants from the garden, including carrots, strawberries, and lettuce. In the summer, she ate beans and tomatoes. And then when fall arrived, she ate cabbages and parsnips, and her fur grew thicker, and she met a male bunny. Then the two bunnies spent the winter in their den and found bark from trees to eat. And then when spring returned, they found sprouts, and they shared them with their baby bunnies.

So this book, instead of following an apple tree, this book follows animals and the way that they may experience the four seasons. It's also a very simplistic book, so this would make for a good early childhood introduction to the seasons as well. And your early childhood readers will be super excited about the baby bunnies, too.

[00:6:14]

Book number six is A Stroll Through the Seasons by Kay Barnum. And I'm a little torn on this book. It's been reviewed a lot on Amazon as being a really good book for teaching the seasons, and I agree that it's pretty good, but I'll tell you why I'm a little iffy on it towards the end of my summary.

So the story begins with an explanation that the Earth is tilted, and it explains the season of spring with examples of signs such as warmer weather, fruit trees blooming, frog eggs in ponds, and more. They explain that summer is when we have the most sunlight, plants flourish, insects pollinate the flowers. In autumn, the days grow shorter, leaves fall to the ground, evergreens keep their leaves, and birds fly south. And in winter, the days are shortest and coldest, there's snow, some plants take a break and others don't, and some animals sleep through the winter.

The reason I caution you with this book is that the author mentions that the birds migrate to warmer places, and although that is true, they aren't going there because it is warm. They're going there because their food is more available. So, if you take a look at ducks, here in Michigan, ducks eat from underwater. Well, in the winter, our water freezes, and they can't access their food. So, in order for them to survive, they have to go south, where there's open water. Well, it also happens to be warmer, which is why it didn't freeze. But they're not going there because it's warm. They're going there because food is available.

So as an example of a bird that might migrate and might not, robins here in Michigan, if we had a really good fruit year, like if we had a lot of wild grapes, then the birds would actually stay here and eat the grapes because that would expend less energy than migrating. However, if there's nothing for them to eat, they have to leave in order to survive. So they're not going where it's warm. They can survive cold as long as they have enough food and enough energy made from the food. So I caution you with this book because the author says they go to warmer places. Yes, they do. That's correct. However, they're going because of food.

Also, when explaining winter as the coldest season, it says, “It's when we're furthest from the sun.” With that statement, it gives the impression that we're farther away, but it's actually because when you're experiencing winter, you're tilted away from the sun. However, it gives the impression that we've physically moved away from the sun, and that's why we're experiencing winter. And that's a misconception we want to help our students understand. So you can use that book, just make sure you're careful with those two pieces, and you help your students understand the whole picture, and help get in front of those possible misconceptions.

[00:09:07]

Book number seven is The Squirrels’ Busy Year by Martin Jenkins. And this book starts in winter, which is a little different from the other books we were experiencing spring at the beginning of most of these books. But this book actually starts in winter, where the squirrels are spending time in a nest, avoiding the snow, but gathering food from their cache that they put together in the fall. Then it turns to spring where it warms up, it's very noisy, and the squirrels find buds and bulbs to eat. As it turns to summer, the squirrels rest in the shade and stay out of the sun, but there's plenty for them to eat. And then when fall comes around, the squirrels work on burying acorns in the ground.

I caution you with this one, again, because they talk about migrating birds, and they say that they leave to go somewhere warm. Just make sure your students understand that they're going somewhere where there's food available. It happens to be warm. It's not because of the warmth, it's because where the warmth is, they can find food.

Think about a hummingbird. A hummingbird eats nectar from flowers. In the wintertime, we don't have flowers. So they go south to Mexico, where they can find a variety of flowers in order to be able to survive the winter.

[00:010:15]

Book number eight is Green on Green by Dianne White. And this book shares the differences in seasons by relating it to colors that are seen in each season. So there's a variety of seasonal signs that are covered in the story, both in the text and in the illustrations, but they're specific to different colors that are reminiscent of the seasons.

So, as an example, in spring, they talk about yellow bees. In summer, they talk about blue water. In fall, they talk about brown trees. And in winter, they talk about white snow.

This book is full of rhyme and rhythm, and the main character is of minority, and that provides you an opportunity to share a story to reach some of your students that are underrepresented in picture books.

[00:011:01]

In a nutshell, we've talked about eight different seasons books that you can use to introduce the four seasons to your students. Book number one was The Reason for the Seasons by Ellie Peterson. Book number two was The Reasons for Seasons by Gail Gibbons; make sure you get the 2019 version. Book number three was The Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree by Gail Gibbons. Book number four was Tap the Magic Tree by Christie Matheson. Book number five was A Bunny for All Seasons by Janet Shulman.

Book number six is A Stroll Through the Seasons by Kay Barnum. Book number seven was The Squirrels’ Busy Year by Martin Jenkins. And book number eight was Green on Green by Dianne White.

Make sure to check back before the autumnal equinox in September, the winter solstice in December, the vernal equinox in March, and the summer solstice in June because I plan to air episodes with lists of picture books that can help you introduce each of those seasons and their special seasonal signs before the turn of the season.

And if you want some help with what sort of seasonal signs you can expect during each season, check out my blog post on naturallyteaching.com called “A Helpful Introduction for Teachers Teaching the Four Seasons in School”. And in that article, I break down the different seasons, how they happen, what the weather may look like, and what the plants and animals are doing during each season.

That should help you start to plan for this fall. Also, if you're looking for a way to help your students visually see the difference between the seasons, check out my Teachers Pay Teachers store. I have a sorting activity bundle called “Four Seasons Sorting Activity Bundle for Fall, Winter, Spring, and Summer.”

It allows your students to compare the seasonal signs between the season that they're leaving and the season that is about to begin. So, for example, since we're in summer now and we'll be going into fall soon, there's a Venn diagram or there's a T-chart that you can use for your students to separate trees with leaves and trees without leaves.

And they get to cut out the different seasonal signs and then they get to glue them into either the T-chart or the Venn diagram in order to be able to visualize the differences between the seasons. I'll add both the blog post and the activity bundle linked in the show notes. So make sure to go onto naturallyteaching.com/episode12 in order to be able to check those out.

Thanks for taking the time to listen today. I know you're busy and I truly appreciate the time you take to tune in. If you have any questions, wonderings or different seasons, books that you use, get ahold 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.

[00:13:50]

Thank you so much for tuning in to 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.