Vanessa Levy

Nonfiction Annotations
Social Studies Text
Title:
North American Indian

Author and Illustrator:

David Hamilton Murdoch, author; Lynton Gardiner, photographer

Publisher, Year Published and pages:

Dorling Kindersley Limited, 2005, 72 pages

Summary:
This book describes the cultures and customs of several Native North American peoples
and tribes. The book follows tribes from all across the country tribes from the new
England area, middle America, and western America. The Iroquois, Pueblo peoples,
Dakota, and Apache are some of the many tribes discussed. The most powerful aspect
of the book is the photographs and illustrations of Native American artifacts like clothing,
tools, homes, and weapons. Under each photograph is a caption describing the artifact,
which helps the readers better understand the purpose and why the artifact was used.
This book combines stories, factual information, and visual photographs to relay
information about Native North American tribes.

Related CCSS, Iowa Core or Professional Content Standards:

Iowa Core Standards:
Understand the role of culture and cultural diffusion on the development and
maintenance of societies (SS.3-5.H.3).
Understand the role of innovation on the development and interaction of societies
(SS.3-5.H.7).
Understand the effect of economic needs and wants on individual and group
decisions (SS.3-5.H.5).
Understand cause and effect relationships and other historical thinking skills in order
to interpret events and issues (SS.3-5.H.8).
Understand how physical processes and human actions modify the environment and
how the environment affects humans (SS.3-5.G.4).
Understand how geographic and human characteristics create culture and define
regions (SS.3-5.G.2).
Understand historical patterns, periods of time, and the relationships among these
events (SS.3-5.H.1).

Age/ Grade Level and How It Would Be Used:

8-12 years, 4th 6th grades. This book could be used in a variety of ways: history
lessons about the colonization and the effects on Native peoples; geography lessons
that compare and contrast the characteristics of various regional tribes, as well as
cultural lessons about the tools and artifacts used in Native societies and tribes.
*The one pitfall of this book is that it is titled, North American Indian, yet it only
discusses tribes found in the continental United States. This may be misleading and
cause misconceptions in some students, because there are Native American tribes
across other parts of North American like Mexico and central America, as well as

Canada and Alaska.

Science Text
Title:
Tracking Trash: Flotsam, Jetsam, and the Science of Ocean Motion

Author and Illustrator:

Loree Griffin Burns, author and photographer

Publisher, Year Published and pages:

Houghton Mifflin Company, 2010, 64 pages

Summary:
This book helps students learn about marine biology and human effects on the
environment. The book tracks the movement of debris and trash spilled by container
ships and humans into the Pacific Ocean. Burns tells the story of Dr. Curtis
Ebbesmeyer, an oceanographer from Seattle who dedicates his life to tracking the
movement of trash and debris across the worlds waters. Ebbesmeyers life studies
were prompted by a story from his mother, who told him that she heard about how
sneakers were washing up on the shores of Seattle beaches. This prompted
Ebbesmeyer to study not only sneakers, but other types of debris found throughout the
ocean including trash that belongs in landfills, rubber bath toys, and other strange
objects. The book is divided into five chapters. The first chapter is about the sneaker
spill; the second is about ocean motion and currents; the third is entitled Another Day,
Another Spill and describes the various debris found in the ocean, the fourth is about
conservation and what humans can do to help, and the fifth is entitled Monster Debris
and is about rather strange things that are found in our oceans. The book contains
photographs and captivating messages about human and environment interaction and
the severe effects of ocean debris on marine life. It is also describes a measurement
and data collection system used to track debris throughout the worlds oceans.

Related CCSS, Iowa Core or Professional Content Standards:

Next Generation Science Standards:
Generate and compare multiple solutions that use patterns to transfer information (4PS4-1).
Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science
ideas to protect the Earths resources and environment (5-ESS3-1).
Make a claim about the merit of a design solution that reduces the impacts of
weather-related hazards (3-ESS3-1.)
Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for the effects of resource availability
on organisms and populations of organisms in an ecosystem (MS-LS2-1).
Develop a model to describe the cycling of matter and flow of energy among living
and nonliving parts of an ecosystem (MS-LS2-3).
Age/ Grade Level and How It Would Be Used:
This book can be used with students 10-12 years, or late elementary or middle school
students. It could be used in a variety of ways: to study marine biology, to analyze the
effects of humans and spills on ocean and marine life. Students can also analyze and
critique the tracking method Dr. Ebbesmeyer used in his studies and discuss its

intricacies. The book could also be used to teach students about the severe effects of
dumping trash and unwanted debris into the oceans.

Math Text
Title:
Each Orange Had 8 Slices: A Counting Book
Author and Illustrator:
Paul Giganti, Jr., author; Donald Crews, illustrator
Publisher, Year Published and pages
Greenwill Books, 1999, 32 pages
Summary:
This book is filled with colorful illustrations that help early childhood and
kindergarten students practice counting skills. Throughout the book, readers are
asked to count several objects they see in the accompanying illustrations like
items in nature, animals, and familiar objects like bikes and fruit. For each
problem and situation, the author poses several prompts that accompany the
illustration and then follows with several questions that require students to count
the number of a specific item in the illustration. Giganti and Crews are an
excellent pair in this text; Crews colorful illustrations make Gigantis word
problems imaginable and visually appealing for young readers.
Related CCSS, Iowa Core or Professional Content Standards:

Count forward beginning from a given number within the known sequence
(instead of having to begin at 1) (K.CC.A.2).
Understand the relationship between numbers and quantities; connect
counting to cardinality (K.CC.B.4).
Count to answer how many? questions about as many as 20 things
arranged in a line, a rectangular array, or a circle, or a many as 10 things in a
scattered configuration; given a number from 1-20, count out that many
objects (K.CC.B.5).
Classify objects into given categories; count the numbers of objects in each
category and sort the categories by count (K.MD.B.3).

Age/ Grade Level and How It Would Be Used:

This book is designed for readers in preschool or early childhood and
kindergarten, ages 3-5. This book can be used during math or reading
instruction to facilitate students to practice their counting skills. The bright and
visually appealing illustrations in the text, as well as the engaging prompts and
questions, help students and readers become highly involved and engaged while
reading. This book can be used in a variety of settings including at home with
parents and family and/or at school with teachers and peers.