Monday, July 13, 2009

Into the Sea by Brenda Z. Guiberson

An informational book, with beautiful pictures of sea life, describing the life cycle of the sea turtle.
Sensory Details
This book is a well written piece of nonfiction. The author eloquently explains the life cycle of the sea turtle with wonderful descriptions: "Tap,tap. Scritch." Can you hear the sea turtle as she breaks out of her egg? Lesson Idea: This book would work perfectly with a unit on ocean life or living things. Divide the class into five small groups: taste, touch, hear, see, smell. Provide each group with a sensory chart (five columns, one for each sense). As you read aloud, ask student groups, to mark the correct column with the sensory details from the text. For example, the hearing group would write "Tap, tap. Scritch." in the hearing column. After reading aloud, discuss the sensory details from the text. Create a class sensory chart, combining each group's contributions. As an extension, students can use this text as a mentor text when researching and writing about an animal's life cycle or other informative piece about an animal. Encourage the use of sensory details in the writing piece.