United+States+Geography

**Hannah Morgan** **Margo Dahlstrom** **ECS 418** **Children’s Fiction Books ** __The Magic School Bus Gets All Dried Up: A Book About Deserts. __ Cole, J., & Weyn, S. (1996). //The Magic School Bus Gets All Dried Up: A Book About Deserts.// Scholastic Paperbacks. This book is a part of the Magic School Bus series and has the students take an adventure to the desert. The students learn about different landmarks within the desert, how plants and animals survive in the desert, and how the desert works. The story does go into how the mountains look and how to tell what direction the Magic School Bus is going by using the mountains. This would be an excellent book to use to talk about the Southwest Region of America and mountain ranges throughout Arizona and America. This book has several different curriculum areas that are being addressed throughout. It would be used to introduce the Southwest Region in a different way for students, first of all. The book goes into detail with how a desert looks and how plants and animals live within it. As a teacher, it would be important to note that not all of the Southwest Region looks like this but there is a rich variety of geography within this one region. This book can be used for science curriculum and discovering how the desert works. It can be used to explore how only certain animals can live in the Southwest

__The Scrambled States of America By Laurie Keller __ Keller, L. (1998). //The scrambled states of America//. New York: Henry Holt.  //The Scrambled States of America// is an exciting book that teaches students the state’s names and locations on the United States map. The book starts with Uncle Sam explaining the story as Kansas begins to complain about being in the middle of the country with nothing to do. The book goes on to show each and every state mixing and mingling with each other throughout the whole country. Eventually, the story leads the students to know which direction a few of the states are. The states begin to get homesick and either fly west or drive east, for example. In the end, the states return to their ‘home’ place within the map lines.  This book is excellent for teachers to use to teach about where each state is on the map. The geography of where in the United States each state is can be difficult to teach and learn. This book breaks down a lot of the states and where they are supposed to go. In fact, when there are certain states as the main focus on certain pages, it even has the lines and labels that a normal map for that state would have. This can be used to help teach state names and state capitals. I could see this being used for language arts as well due to the rich dialogue within the story.

__Tulip Sees America by Cynthia Rylant __ Rylant, C., & Desimini, L. (1998). //Tulip sees America//. New York: Blue Sky Press.  This book is a realistic-fiction book about a man and his dog, Tulip. They travel from Ohio to the western states of America. The book goes into detail for how the man’s dog, Tuilip, experiences each stop. It has this green car that you see in each illustration of the state’s landmarks. The author does an excellent job of gradually moving through each state with pictures and words.  Each state that Tulip and the man explore has different geography and each states’ geography is detailed carefully. Students can see the gradual change through each state visually and verbally. Eventually, they reach the coast of Oregon and decide to stay. This book only goes through six of the fifty states. It still, however, shows the difference between each state and would be excellent to teach the different geographies of states throughout the United States. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> The primary reason I chose this book was to explain the different regions of the United States and how each state has a different geography. It can be used for art studies because the illustrator uses her own artwork and computer technology combined in this book. It would be excellent for teaching about traveling to the west as well. This story would be used in comparison to the Westward Expansion.

__<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Paddle-To-The-Sea by Holling Clancy Holling __ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Holling, H. C. (1941). //Paddle-to-the-Sea//. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> //Paddle-To-The-Sea// is a story about a young Indian boy who builds himself a canoe and carves a figure inside. It is a small toy that he makes and he places on top of a snow hill which eventually melts into a small brook and then slides into Lake Superior. Eventually, //Paddle-To-The-Sea// goes through all of the other Great Lakes and goes on an adventure to get there. Gradually, the figurine makes it to the Atlantic Ocean. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> This book would be used to teach about the water formations in America and how each of them are connected in some way. I would use this to begin talking about the major lakes in America, starting with the Great Lakes. Then I would discuss how each lake and river system is connected in some way. This book is fairly aged, however, I think that it can be used a lot of different ways in the classroom and it is something different and not so modern for the children. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">It can be used to talk about the water systems and where water goes when it melts or when it rains. This book would be a great resource to begin talking about the terms for different water formations. It can also be used to talk about how different states have different attributes that describe them, such as lumber yards or different woodlands.

__<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Who Pooped in The Colorado Plateau? By Cary Robson __ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Robson, G. D., & Rath, R. (2008). //Who pooped on the Colorado Plateau?// Helena, MT: <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Farcountry Press. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">This book is part of a series by Gary Robson. Michael and Emily’s family take a trip to the Colorado Plateau and visit Colorado, Arizona, Utah and New Mexico. They learn to track different animals that live in this region by looking for their skat, or poop, and tracks throughout the Colorado Plateau region. It features eleven different animals that live in that region and their tracks and skat. In the end of the book, it also includes a reference chart for skat and track identification for different animals in that region. It’s an excellent tool for teaching about the regions of the United States but also for teaching about the verbiage to use for outdoors and animals. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> The area of curriculum that would be addressed is discovering and exploring the different regions of the United States. This discusses specifically the Colorado Plateau. It can also be used to teach about plateaus and any other landforms that are in the story. It would be a fantastic tool for teaching about the outdoors and different animals. It can also be used to teach about states and their geography along with states’ names.

__<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Who Pooped in The Park? Yellowstone National Park By Gary Robson __ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Robson, G. D., & Clark, E. B. (2004). //Who pooped in the park?// Helena, MT: Farcountry Press. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> This is another book as part of the series by Gary Robson. Michael and Emily’s family take a trip to Yellowstone National Park. They learn to track different animals that live in this area by looking for their skat and tracks throughout the Colorado Plateau region. It features eleven different animals that live in the Yellowstone Park and their tracks and skat. In the end of the book, it also includes a reference chart for skat and track identification for different animals in that region. The book gives a background on each animal as well. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> This would be a vital tool if you were going on a trip to a national park as a class. This author has books for several different national parks in the United States. This specific book would be used to teach about the national parks in the United States and where they are. I would use it to introduce the most famous ones and place them on the class map. It would also open the discussion for how many national parks are in Arizona. It can be used on a study of the national parks and their history. This book could be used for the study of different animals and regions in the United States as well.

**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Children’s Non-Fiction Books ** __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">All Along the River by Allan Fowler __ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Fowler, A. (1994). //All along the river//. Chicago: Childrens Press. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> //All Along the River// is a book that is part of the Rookie Read About Science series. This is a book that uses mostly pictures and minimal words. It goes into detail about where rivers begin, where they flow and how their resources are used naturally in the United States. This would be a great tool for talking about the river systems in the United States. It can also be used to talk about the rivers in Arizona and the canal system in Arizona then comparing the two. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> I would use this to begin the conversation about the river systems in the United States and begin to use it to discuss where the rivers would be placed on the classroom United States map. It can be used to talk about how we use rivers as a natural resource in today’s day and age. It can also be used to talk about water systems in general and how water flows from one source to another.

__<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Let’s Explore the Southwest by Kathleen Connors __ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Connors, K. (2013). //Let's explore the Southwest//. New York: Gareth Stevens Publishing. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> //Let’s Explore the Southwest// is a book about exactly what the title depicts; exploring the southwest region. This is a great tool to use to begin teaching about the Southwest region and then regions of the United States. It uses pictures of this region and has destination recommendations throughout the story. It uses pictures to capture the student’s attention and desire to visit these places. It shows the diverse geography that the Southwest has and gives references to where each place is in the region. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> This book would be used to discuss and teach about the Southwest region of the United States. This can also be used to specifically teach about the geography of Arizona and the major landmarks within the region and the state. It can be used to discuss points on the map worth having on the map as focal points. It can also be used to teach about the different geography terms and vocabulary to use when discussing the areas.

__<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Plateaus by Sheila Anderson __ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Anderson, S. (2007). //Plateaus (First Step Nonfiction: Landforms)//. Lerner Publishing Group. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> //Plateaus// by Sheila Anderson is a book describing plateaus. It explains what a landform is and then explains what the plateaus look like. It uses mainly photos to describe what the landform looks like but it also uses diagrams and very simple text. It is used to teach about what plateaus look like, how they are made, where they are in the world and what makes them different. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> I would use this book to discuss the plateaus in the United States and the regions on the map that have plateaus. This book could be used to teach about Arizona’s geography as well, because our state has a few plateaus within our state lines. It can be used to teach about how our geography is similar to other states or places around the world. It could be used for literacy to teach about how non-fiction books can be exciting and a great learning experience. Even with little text, students could write about it and use it for different literacy assignments.

__<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Scholastic: Atlas of The United States __ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Rubel, D. (2008). //Atlas of the United States//. NY: Scholastic. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> This atlas is so student friendly and is used to escribe the geography of the United States and each individual state. It has information about each state on each page. It even goes into how the states got their shapes either by the land or by the map makers. The book is broken up into regions, rather than by alphabetical order. Each state has a two paragraph description about the history of the state and the lay of the land for that state. This book has a plethora of information that could be overwhelming to young students but if broken up accordingly, it can be really helpful for teaching about the geography of the United States. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> This book would be used to teach about each region within the United States and the states that are in that region. It can also be used to teach about how states are alike and different geography wise. The book includes a map for the river systems, the national parks, the lakes, and the mountain ranges. It can be used to teach about history of a certain state. It could be used to teach about where the state capital is in each state or even which states have national parks and forests.