Megan+Tomakin+Bibliography

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 * Life in the Desert**

I would use the ten books I selected from Balsz School library to teach a unit on habitats in the desert to a 2nd grade class. All of the books I selected, fiction and non-fiction, take place in deserts and focus on animals or plants that live in desert habitats. I would read one book from this selection with the class every day for a week and a half. After each reading we would have a class discussion about each plant and animal in the book and their habitat, focusing on what specifically allows them to live in the desert. After finishing each book, I would place it in the rain gutter we have displaying books in the classroom. At the end of the week and a half long unit I would introduce our summative assessment: a shoebox habitat. Each student would be asked to select a desert animal and make a replica of the animal’s habitat in a shoebox along with a 3 to 5-sentence explanation.

Beifuss, John. (1995) **Armadillo Ray.** Cataloging-in-Publication Data. 25. Balsz Elementary School Library. Beifuss’ story __Armadillo Ray__ portrays a beautifully oil-pastel illustrated story of a young armadillo trying to find out what the moon is. Beifuss uses elegant vocabulary to tell the story about how armadillo sets out on a journey to discover what the moon is. Armadillo Ray asks serpents, a prairie dog and a grouse before finding out what the moon is from an owl. The story ends with two non-fiction pages about what the moon is and the history of ‘moon lore’. Beifuss uses child-friendly vocabulary and comparisons that students would understand on his moon fact page. __Armadillo Ray__ aligns with social studies and science curriculum. This story lists desert animals, desert plants and goes over the moon cycle. This story could be used as an introduction to a science project that deals with the moon and it’s cycle.
 * Children’s Fiction:**

Carlson, Laurie. (1998) **Boss of the Plains: The Hat That Won The West.** Dorling Kindersley Publishing INC. 25. Balsz Elementary School Library. __Boss of the Plains__ is a fictional, beautifully illustrated story that focuses on people that settled out West. Carlson does an excellent job of explaining what life was like for the settlers. She goes into detail about disease, describing the weather and even writes about how blankets and hats were made back when Americans were settling out West. Carlson wrote this fiction book based on John Stetson, the man who invented the cowboy hat, so although this book is fiction it ties the learning back to a historical figure. __Boss of the Plains__ aligns with the social studies curriculum through historical figures, disease, homes and settlers. This book could be used as a fun read aloud when a class begins discussing the settlers out West. It could also be used as an introduction to a fun arts and craft activity.

Storad, Conrad. (1999) **Don’t Call Me Pig! A Javelina Story**. Resort Gifts Unlimited Inc. 28. Balsz Elementary School Library. __Don’t Call Me Pig!__ is a funny, informative story about javelinas, their habitats, their diets and their physical appearance. Storad makes his literature funny to keep the young readers engaged and excited about his story. Beth Conrad and Don Rantz illustrated this quirky story with watercolor, pen and ink. Storad goes over certain facts, like the geography of where jaevlinas live, in the story and uses the last 2 pages to give his readers more facts about javelinas. __Don’t Call Me Pig!__ aligns with both social studies and science curriculum. For social studies Conrad writes about habitats. For science Conrad writes about desert plants and animals as well as geography. This story could be used for my unit plan about desert animal habitats, as a fun read aloud or for a comparison writing piece about the difference between javelinas and pigs.

Storad, Conrad. (1999) **Lizards for Lunch: A Roadrunner’s Tale**. Resort Gifts Unlimited, INC. 29. Balsz Elementary School Library. __Lizards for Lunch__ is another one of Conrad’s funny, well-illustrated stories about the life, habitat and physical features of a specific desert animal. In this story Conrad writes about the animals roadrunners live around, how fast they run and the dangers or reasons they run quickly. Conrad also lists more than 10 types of insects and lizards that roadrunners eat. Like in his other stories, Conrad uses the last 2 pages of his book to give his young readers facts about roadrunners and their habitats. __Lizards for Lunch: A Roadrunner’s Tale__ aligns with the social studies and science curriculum. For social studies __Lizards for Lunch__ goes over habitats and for science the story covers plants and animals in the desert as well as life cycles for insects, lizards and roadrunners. This story could be used for a science project dealing with life cycles of the animals in a chosen desert.

Swisher, Ron. (1999) **The Mail Must Go Through**. Bookman Old Style. 30. Balsz Elementary School Library. __The Mail Must Go Through__ is a cute, very informative story that introduces young readers to the postal system. Swisher makes this story relatable by starting with two children who look like they are in 1st or 2nd grade. The main character, a letter, takes the readers on a journey through the postal system from being put in the mailbox to reaching the address on his tummy in the Supai Desert. In this story the letter gets forgotten, left behind and dropped into a river but Swisher resolves all of these conflicts with assistance from community helpers. Swisher uses the last two pages of his story to give facts about the mail system in Havasu Canyon and to go over important glossary terms. __The Mail Must Go Through__ aligns with the social studies and (briefly) writing curriculum. This story tells about having friends in different places and ways to communicate other than instant, electronic messaging. __The Mail Must Go Through__ also talks a lot about all of the community helpers that process mail and make sure it gets where it’s supposed to go. This story could be used as an introduction to a community helpers social studies project or as a read aloud introduction to letter writing.

Ward, Jennifer. (2003) **The Seed and the Giant Saguaro**. Cataloging-in-Publication Data. 32. Balsz Elementary School Library. __The Seed and The Giant Saguaro__ is a fun read aloud that even lower level reading students could easily pick up and read again on their own. It’s about a packrat who is enjoying eating his Saguaro seeds but is interrupted by a series of predators. While running from these predators the packrat unknowingly spreads the Saguaro seed. Ward uses repetitive writing, which makes for fun group reading since the lines are easy to remember. Ward uses the last 3 pages in her story to share facts about Saguaros, roadrunners, coyotes, rattlesnakes and packrats. __The Seed and The Giant Saguaro__ aligns with social studies and science curriculum. It covers life cycles for plants and animals and discusses food chains between desert animals. This story could be used for a plant life cycle project or an animal food chain project in a first or second grade science class.

Auch, Alison. (2011) **Life in the Desert.** Capston Press. 24. Tempe Public Library. __Life in the Desert__ uses pictures to show young readers animals that live in the hot desert as well as their habitats, food and activities. Auch writes about many desert animal’s survival tactics, not only from predators but also from the heat. Auch goes into detail about the dangerous scorpions, birds and snakes that inhabit the desert. Auch grabs young readers attention with her pictures of cute animals and her fun, bubbly text. This informative, non-fiction text is short enough that students in first and second grade could read it on their own. __Life in the Desert__ aligns with social studies and science curriculum. It discusses habitats, animal and plant life cycles and dangers that pertain to desert inhabitants. This text could be used to do a writing project on the dangers of living in the desert. This text could also be used in my fun, interactive shoebox habitat project.
 * Children’s Non-Fiction:**

Berger, Melvin. (1996) **Life in the Desert.** Newbridge Educational Publishing. 16. Balsz Elementary School Library. __Life in the Desert__ describes in detail the animals and plants that live in the desert as well as their habitats. Berger writes about 7 plants and several animals giving specifics on how they live in such a hot, dry place like the Sonoran desert. Berger also gives information on how the animals in the desert camouflage themselves, odd places animals may live and how, what and when these desert animals eat. Berger concludes his book by making his readers environmentally aware that their actions affect all the animals and plants that live in the desert. __Life in the Desert__ aligns with social studies, science and reading curriculum. This book is perfect for teaching students, specifically 2nd grade, about the plants and animals that are indigenous to the desert. It not only informs them about their habitat and food, but it also gives them specifics on how the animals and plants survive in such a hot, dry place.

Cobb, Vicki. (1989) **Imagine Living Here This Place is Dry**. Walker Publishing Company, INC. 32. Balsz Elementary School Library. __This Place is Dry__ is an extremely informative, wordy picture book that engages students by starting with “A day without water in this blazing sun could cause death.” Before introducing any of the plants or animals in the desert, Cobb writes about the dryness and the survival techniques both plants and animals use. Cobb then goes into discussing three plants that survive with little to no water, the dangerous plants and animals in the desert, odd desert animals, people that live in the desert and then finishes her book by talking about irrigation and canals, specifically the Roosevelt Dam. __This Place is Dry__ focuses a lot on the social studies curriculum; it talks about people, history, irrigation and habitats. This informative book also covers the reading curriculum and the science curriculum for second grade. I would use this book for my habitat project but this book could also be used to write a cautionary tale about visiting the desert with all it’s dangerous animals, plants and extreme heat.

Peterson, David. (2001) **Grand Canyon National Park**. Children’s Press. 43. Balsz Elementary School Library. __Grand Canyon National Park__ begins by introducing several natural wonders all over our world but focuses on the Grand Canyon halfway down page 6. From there to the end of the book Peterson covers the length, color and history from 1908 of the Grand Canyon. Peterson writes about visiting the Grand Canyon and what you could find if you went exploring in the Grand Canyon and focuses in detail on the geological structure of the canyon and the Colorado River. Peterson describes the plants and animals that live in and around the Grand Canyon; he goes into detail about the animal habitats and what makes the plants thrive. Finally, Peterson writes about the past and present of the Grand canyon; he goes into detail about the prehistoric American Indians that lived in nomadic houses at least 10,000 years ago as well as the Havasupai people that call the Grand Canyon their home today. __Grand Canyon National Park__ aligns with social studies, reading and science curriculum. This book could be used to teach 2nd grade students about the geological structure of the Grand Canyon and the Colorado River or to teach students about the people that live in/around the canyon then and now. I would use this book to introduce habitats of the plants and animals in the Grand Canyon.