Are you looking for literature to support classroom instruction about the Life Cycle? Check out Our Editors’ Choices for titles recommended by the Education World team. Then it's your turn to share books that you enjoy or use in your classroom in the Our Readers’ Voices section below. With your help, we will build the best list on the Web of Best Books for teaching about the Life Cycle.
Into the Sea
by Brenda Z. Guiberson
Experience the life of a female sea turtle as she breaks from her shell, splashes into the sea, and navigates for survival, eventually returning to the place of her birth to lay eggs. This tale of her life cycle is written in prose that gives immediacy to the events as the turtle encounters other sea animals during her long journey. . The author's concluding statements emphasize the diminishing number of sea turtles and the ways in which people are trying to protect them. (School Library Journal)
The Life Cycle of an Earthworm
by Bobbie Kalman
Created by Bobbie Kalman, this beautiful book (one of a series) takes young readers through the fascinating process of life that all living things share -- birth, growth, and adulthood. Carefully designed and written, each book clearly shows that a life cycle does not simply describe the life of one living thing but the continuation of its entire species.
Now It's Your Turn!
We've shared a few Editors' Choices for teaching about this theme. Now it's your turn to contribute to the Readers' Voices section below. Do you have a book related to this theme that you and your students enjoy? Just click here to share it!
Don't miss our Editors’ Choices for Teachers and for Parents. We're waiting for you to add your Readers' Voices there too.
Water Bugs & Dragonflies: Explaining Death to Young Children
by Doris Stickney Waterbugs and Dragonflies is a graceful fable written by Doris Stickney, who sought a meaningful way to explain to neighborhood children the death of a five-year-old friend. After a water bug suddenly leaves her pond and is transformed into a dragonfly, her friends' questions about such departures are like those children ask when someone dies. The small book is beautifully illustrtated by artist Gloria Ortiz Hernandez.
From Tadpole to Frog
by Wendy Pfeffer
Wendy Pfeffer describes the amazing metamorphosis from tiny, jellylike egg, to little fishy tadpole, to great big bullfrog. Holly Keller has created the archetypal frog pond and we see it through the seasons as the tadpoles grow legs and lungs and eventually hop onto land: bullfrogs at last. This book was a Pick of the Lists (1994) by the American Booksellers Association, and one of the Science Books and Films' Best Children's Science Books (1994). Part of the Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science series.
From Caterpillar to Butterfly
by Deborah Heiligman
A caterpillar comes to school in a jar. The class watches the caterpillar each day as it grows and changes. Soon, it disappears into a hard shell called a chrysalis. Then the chrysalis breaks, and a beautiful butterfly flies out of the jar. This is a perfect beginner's guide to the mystery of metamorphosis. Selected an Outstanding Science Trade Book for Children (1997). Part of the Let's Read-and-Find-Out Science series.
Add your voice to our list of books for teaching about the Life Cycle!
The Education World Editors’ Choices above represent just a handful of the fine books that might be used to support classroom instruction about the Life Cycle. Now we’re waiting for you to add to our list! Simply send us your review of a favorite book in 100 words or fewer and we will add it to the Readers’ Choices below.
Water Bugs & Dragonflies: Explaining Death to Young Children
