No Bows!

No Bows!

 By Shirley Smith Duke.    Illustrated by Jenny Mattheson.      ISBN# 1561453560

No Bows! is about a determined child who has her own likes and dislikes, but at the end of the day, she and her parents agree on two things. (Peachtree Publishers)

After you read No Bows!, go back and follow the actions of the lizard. Look for places the illustrator incorporated more lizard antics and themes. To include a science based activity, identify the categories in each pair of choices. Have the students add their own like and dislikes to their chart. Identify other things in the classroom that can be grouped and practice grouping by writing them in a variety of categories. This activity helps children understand grouping and classifying.

The national science standard is from Table 6.8: understanding systems, order, and organisms.

Go to www.shirleysmithduke.com or www.peachtree-online to see the teacher guide for No Bows! that I wrote. You’ll find other nonfiction teacher guides written by me, too!

Hello, Everybody! It’s SimplyScience.

Welcome to you all. I’m Shirley Duke, and this new blog is for anyone who loves books and loves using books to teach. Once a week, I’ll review new books and old book friends and suggest simple science lessons that can be incorporated into your lesson plans. Join me each week for some fresh ideas for teaching science.

I taught science for twenty-five years in San Antonio, Dallas, and Garland, and then stopped so I had more time to write for children. My first trade book, No Bows! (Peachtree), came out in 2006. Since then I’ve written eight other work-for-hire books, teacher guides, and teen magazine pieces. I’m writing another draft of a YA book right now.

However, I love science and it can be simple–and fun. Using elementary level books, I’ll give you some practical ideas you can use in your clasroom or with your children to learn science in an easy to understand way.