Sea Turtles

There is not much of a process shown in this book. I would have to say that this book could have done a better job fostering the development of processes, because it just states interesting facts about sea turtles. The book could have added some sort of process at the end with the facts on how to help sea turtles.

Author: Laura Marsh
Year Published: 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4263-0853-6

Summary

The book “Sea Turtles” by Laura Marsh is a great read for students between 1st and 4th grade. This would be a great book for students that are reading on their own. It is engaging with facts, jokes, and definitions on the side of each page. This would be a great book for a teacher to have in her library for the students to pick up and read on their own. I would possibly use this book in a life science lesson on retiles and ocean animals. This is also a great to get the students talking about ways they can make our planet a better place. After discussing how sea turtles are endangered and the reasons why, the students can come together to try and make their own plans on ways to save them. This book would be extremely useful if you are near a beach, but if none of your students have seen a beach before it would be a great way to introduce them to one. Overall, I thought this book would be great to have in your classroom for 1st grade and above.

Evaluation

Appropriateness: High
Authority: High
Accuracy: High
Liteary Artistry: High
Appearance: High

Questions

Does the book foster development of processes?

Does the book provide an opportunity for children to ask and answer their own questions?

There are some questions in the very beginning that get the student thinking about sea turtles, but the rest of the book is strictly facts. They could have had some more questions off to the side that got the students wondering about some things. They also could have added some more wonderings at the end of the book to keep the students thinking about what they just read.

Does the book encourage children to think for themselves?

I would say that this book does encourage the students to think for themselves. At the end it provides them with ways they can help save the sea turtles and the students could continue to come up with their own ways to help save them with all of the facts they learned. This book could spark an interest in sea turtles for one or more of the students and they could go in and do some more research on their own.

Is the science topic addressed in ways that are appropriate to the lesson?

In my classroom I think I would have this book in my library to when a student was reading individually they could use this book to possibly spark an interest in sea turtles. If I were to use it in my lesson I would probably use it to show my students that turtles are both a reptile and live in the ocean when discussing reptiles and other type of animals. If the students were interested in sea turtles it would be a great book to bring out for them so they could learn some new facts.

Is the content based on sound scientific principles? Is it accurate?

The information in this book is based on sound scientific principles. I would say that all of the facts are accurate in this book. The author Laura Marsh does a lot of work with National Geographic for kids and knows what she is doing.

Does the book distinguish between fact and fiction?

The book states mostly facts, but does have some jokes and quirky bits off to the side. The jokes are labeled as jokes so that the kids know they are not facts. Everything else is a fact in the book and does not need to be labeled like that.

Are the illustrations clear and accurate?

All of the illustrations are photographs and provide clear and accurate depictions of sea turtles. There is one section where it provides different types of sea turtles and their pictures. The pictures are great ways to understand the differences in each turtle.

Is the book written at the level of your students?

This book is a level 2 reader for National Geographic. This means that the book is mostly suited for students that can read independently. Therefore, I would not use this book with the younger grades, but it would be perfect for students above 1st grade. This book may be too juvenile for students 5th grade and above.

Is there a multicultural component? Is it free from stereotyping?

The only reference this book made to a country was to the United States so it did not relate to students that may not be from the United States or just moved to the United States. Most of the photographs are of sea turtles, but there are 3 picture that show people and most of them are white. There was not any place of stereotyping in the text, because all of the text was talking about sea turtles.

Is the book free from gender bias?

Since most of the picture are of sea turtles and not people I did not see any gender bias. Of the few pictures that have people in them there are both girl and boy scientists looking at and saving the turtles. I would say that this would be a great book to show your students that both genders can be scientists.

Does the book show the close association between science and other disciplines?

This book does show a close association between science and other disciplines. There is a page where is shows sizes of the sea turtles and a man is measuring one of the smallest sea turtles and on the other page is one of the largest sea turtles. This could be integrated into a meath lesson on measuring.

Does the book present a positive attitude toward science and technology?

This book is extremely engaging for the students and provides jokes and facts off to the side that the students will love. It has a very positive attitude toward science and even provides ways you can help out our sea turtles. There was not much use of technology in this book.

Science Topics

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