Tag: Science

Diggin’ Dirt: Science Adventures with Kitanai the Origami Dog

Title: Diggin’ Dirt: Science Adventures with Kitanai the Origami Dog

Author: Thomas Kingsley Troupe

Illustrator: Jamey Christoph

Published in 2013

Topic: Science

Grade Level: 1-3

           Diggin’ Dirt: Science Adventures with Kitanai the Origami Dog is part of the mixed media Origami Science Adventure series. This fun and educational story explores soil through narrative and conversations between Kitanai, an origami dog, and Roger, a knowledgeable earthworm. Roger teaches Kitanai about the importance and complexity of soil. They explore different layers of soil and talk about fungi, bacteria, nutrients, humus, and decomposers. The author also provides readers with a glossary of key educational terms and directions on how to create their own origami dog at the back of the book. This engaging story fits well into a science lesson regarding soil formation and/or components (1.7 (A) and 3.7 (A)). Diggin’ Dirt: Science Adventures with Kitanai the Origami Dog is a story of friendship, new knowledge, adventure, soil, and science.

Here is a snippet from Diggin’ Dirt: Science Adventures with Kitanai the Origami Dog:

“Kitanai caught another whiff of that scent. The scent was close by! He walked in a circle through the mud, stopped, and started to dig.

‘Hey that’s good! Digging in the dirt is great for the soil. It helps mix the topsoil with the next layer of dirt.

Moles, prairie dogs, and other animals that live underground do most of the digging.’

‘Oh, really? I just want to find whatever is buried out here!’

‘The dirt down here is different,’ Kitanai said. ‘It’s not as dark and fluffy as the topsoil.’

‘You’ve dug down to the subsoil layer. There’s less humus and more rock than in the topsoil. In a few thousand years, the rocks will break down and become part of the topsoil.’” (14-16).

Mini-Unit – The Sun

Recently I came across this fantastic photo essay from TIME entitled, “Amazing Photos of the Sun.” This unique photo essay has some truly magnificent photos of the sun from different perspectives and highlighting different characteristics. All the photos are from NASA and are real images.

This photo essay would be a great addition to any science lesson about the Sun. However, I was thinking of using this photo essay when addressing the specific 5th grade Science TEK §112.16. (8)(D) – identify and compare the physical characteristics of the Sun, Earth, and Moon. As a Mini-unit, I might address the characteristics of the Sun, Earth, and Moon separately and at the end compare them.

As part of a lesson on the Sun, this photo essay could be used to expand students understanding. I might first have my students make a t-chart, with one side labeled “Known” and the other side labeled “New”. I would then ask students to list all the characteristic they know of the Sun under the correct title. The photo essay could then be shown. I think the first time I would not read the captions, but rather have students look through it and absorb the info the photos are sharing and make predictions about what they will learn. Then I would have the students add to their chart under the “New” section any info they would add from the photos or would change from their “Known” column. Finally, we would review the essay once again, reading the captions and getting more specific information to add to our charts. With this instructional strategy, students would be accessing prior knowledge and building connections to the new knowledge they are gaining.

This photo essay could also be used as a writing prompt during a unit on the Sun. You could show each image for 2 minutes and students could write down everything that comes to mind when they see the image. These snippets of writing could then be used to inspire larger pieces of writing such as an article on the Sun, a fictional story about a journey to the Sun, or a letter to someone far in the future about our current Sun.