Using Mini-Books

During this lesson, I utilized reproducible mini-books about the solar system to get students reading and talking about the content.  The mini-books came from the book "Nonfiction Read & Write Booklets: Science", by Alyse Sweeney (2010), and they are wonderful because they use various text features, discuss science content, and ask students questions based on what they read.  During this lesson, the students worked in pairs, reading the books and answering the questions.  There were many discussions that came about from this book, especially regarding one question that asked "Which planets do you think are the hottest?  Why?"  Some of my discussions are transcribed below.

A discussion with Leslie revealed that sometimes students don't think things through, but just take what the textbook says as "Gospel Truth":

• Me: Which planets do you think are the hottest?
•  Leslie: Um… (looks at the diagram in the mini-book) Mercury…and Venus.
•  Me: Why do you think they’re the hottest?
•  Leslie: I think because…it said…in our science book.
•  Me: Is there anything from that diagram that makes you think that they would be the hottest?
• Leslie: Because they’re closest to the sun. 



Calvin shows some strong critical thinking in answering this question.
 

A discussion with Kara and Caleb exposed some misconceptions about why some planets are warmer than others:

• Me: Which planets do you think are the hottest?
•  Kara: Jupiter.
•  Me: Jupiter? Why do you think Jupiter is the hottest?
•  Kara: Because it’s big and it has gas.
•  Me: What about you, Caleb?
•  Caleb: I don’t know. (shrugs)
•  Me: Look at that diagram. How can the diagram help you see which planets are the warmest? (both students look at their mini-books) Like, do you think Venus…is warmer or colder than Jupiter?
•  Caleb: I don’t know. (looks at page)
•  Me: Well, what do you think?
•  Caleb: Warmer?
•  Me: Why do you think it might be warmer on Venus than on Jupiter?
•  Caleb: (scratches his chin and looks at his book)
•  Me: What part of the solar system gives us heat?
•  Kara: The sun.
•  Me: So what planets do you think are the hottest?
•  Kara: The sun?
•  Me: The sun’s not a planet, remember? What planet do you think would be the hottest?
•  Kara: Venus.
•  Me: Venus? Why?
•  Kara: Because it’s closer to the sun than all of the other planets.
•  Me: Is there another planet closer to the sun than Venus?
•  Caleb: Mars?
•  Me: Mars is farther away (pointing to diagram).
•  Caleb: Mmm…Mercury?
•  Me: Mercury. So, Mercury and Venus are probably the hottest because…they are…
•  Kara: Closer to the sun.
• Me: Right. Now being a big planet doesn’t have anything to do with how work or how cold it is…it’s just the size of it, okay?

That conversation took a lot out of me!  I thought we would never get to the point of understanding that the closer a planet is to the sun, the warmer it is.  Looking back, I do wish I would have done a couple of things differently.  I should have asked if there was anything on the page they were looking at that could help them figure out which planets were the hottest instead of directing them to the diagram first.  This would have probably been more effective.  I also wish I would have asked Kara if the sun was a planet instead of telling her.  It's those little things, asking questions to make them think instead of telling them, that can help them become better thinkers.



After reading and completing their mini-books, my students used their Science textbooks to correctly color the planets.


Finally, I had a great conversation with Melanie and Evan, who showed great critical thinking skills to think through their original misconceptions:

•  Melanie: We don’t really know why Neptune and Uranus would be, um, so hot, but I remember reading it in one of the books we read. But at first we said they’re so far out and if they’re so far out, then they would be colder.
•  Me: Mm-hm… So if they’re really far awayfrom the sun, they would be colder, right?
•  Melanie:(nods)
•  Me: So if that’s true, the probably wouldn’t be the hottest planets, would they?
•  Melanie: (shakes head) No.
•  Me: So which ones would be the hottest?
•  Evan: I think the ones that would be it were Venus and Mar- (sounding it out) Mercury.
•  Me: And why do you think that they’re the hottest, Evan?
•  Evan: Because they’re so close to the sun.
•  Me: I think that's good logic.  That's good thinking!  Good job!

Evan's mini-book and the infamous question about the hottest planets...

Using the mini-books was a really helpful activity, and it exposed some misconceptions my students had about the solar system.  I plan to try to use others with this unit to help strengthen my students' reading skills and content knowledge.