Table of Contents

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Really Cool Reptiles

How to Use the Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Student Reproducibles
Setting Up the Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Survival Tricks (Problem and Solution) . . . . . . . . 16
Connection to the Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 What Is a Reptile? (Classifying) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Six Reasons to Teach Nonfiction . . . . . . . . . . 5
How Reading Nonfiction Differs Awesome Amphibians
From Reading Fiction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Student Reproducibles
What Makes a Good Nonfiction Reader? . . . . 7 A Frog’s Life Cycle (Sequencing) . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Science Vocabulary Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Amphibian Facts and Opinions
Book Levels and Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 (Fact and Opinion) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Teaching With the Science

Vocabulary Readers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Sample Lesson: Incredible Insects . . . . . . . . 10
Comprehension Graphic Organizer . . . . . . . 11
Fantastic Fish
Student Reproducibles
Parts of a Fish (Reading a Diagram) . . . . . . . . . . 12
Our Finny Friends (Reading Comprehension) . . . 13
Marvelous Mammals
Student Reproducibles
Marvelous Mammal Riddles (Factual Recall) . . . 14
Mammal Munchers (Categorizing) . . . . . . . . . . 15
Beautiful Birds
Student Reproducibles
Birdy Vocabulary (Vocabulary Development) . . . . 20
All About Birds (Writing) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Incredible Insects
Student Reproducibles
Amazing Insects (Completing a Chart) . . . . . . . . 22
Adaptable Critters (Vocabulary Development) . . . 23
Answer Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Scholastic Inc. grants teachers permission to photocopy the designated reproducible pages for classroom use.
No other part of the publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in
any way or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission
of the publisher. For information, write to Scholastic Inc., 524 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.

ISBN-13: 978-0-545-14920-4 / ISBN-10: 0-545-14920-7

Teaching guide written by Alyse Sweeney / Teaching guide designed by Holly Grundon
Copyright © 2010 by Scholastic Inc.
All rights reserved. Printed in China.
How to Use the Program

S cience Vocabulary Readers can be used in a variety of ways to meet the needs of
your students.

Using the Books to Teach Nonfiction Text

The books provide excellent vehicles for teaching the genre of nonfiction. According to
research, children should be exposed to a variety of nonfiction for improved reading and
writing in the older grades (Papps, 1991; Sanacor, 1991, as cited in Kirsto and Bamford,
2004). See page 5 for the benefits of teaching nonfiction.

Using the Books for Reading in the Science Curriculum

Pull out these books to support and enhance your science lessons on animal groups. Each
book is loaded with amazing photos, compelling content, diagrams, call-outs, charts, Fast
Facts, vocabulary words, chapters, a glossary, and comprehension questions.

Using the Books to Teach Vocabulary

With highlighted vocabulary words throughout the book and a glossary in the back, the
books lend themselves to a variety of vocabulary lessons and activities (see page 7 for ideas).

Using the Books for Independent Reading

These books make great additions to your independent reading library because they are
leveled readers (levels J and K). Place one copy of each book in your independent reading
library and let children select books during independent reading time or for reading
homework.

Using the Books for Guided Reading

With six copies of each leveled book, it is easy to group students and provide guided
reading instruction.

3
Six Reasons to Teach Nonfiction
The benefits of teaching with nonfiction text are plentiful. Here are six.

1 Nonfiction Builds Vocabulary

Nonfiction exposes children to different vocabulary than that found in storybooks.
Words from the Science Vocabulary Readers, such as adaptable, carnivore, offspring,
warm-blooded, and scales, expand students’ ability to communicate in specialized
areas—building concepts as well as confidence.

2 Nonfiction Increases Content Knowledge

Students discover a large body of useful information when they read informational
texts. Many children like to become “experts” in a topic and enjoy learning and sharing
unusual facts.

3 Nonfiction Is a Must for Academic Achievement

As children move to higher grades, they encounter more expository materials.
Repeated exposure to such texts provides a foundation that helps students master
subjects more easily.

4 Nonfiction Is Essential for Successful Test Taking

Most standardized tests require students to read both fiction and nonfiction
passages. Children who have early instruction with nonfiction texts have deeper
comprehension of the genre and greater ease with tests.

5 Nonfiction Prepares Students for Real-Life Reading

Adults are bombarded at work and at home with information from
advertising, newspapers, magazines, recipes, manuals, the Internet, and more.
Early and regular exposure to informational text will help prepare children for
our information-filled world.

6 Nonfiction Appeals to Many Children

Some of the students in your class will simply prefer nonfiction to fiction.
For them, and for reluctant readers who just might be turned on by engaging,
leveled content, nonfiction texts offer another means to hook students and
create lifelong readers.

5
 How Reading Nonfiction Differs
From Reading Fiction

N onfiction readers have different goals than readers of fiction. We read fiction to learn
what happens to characters in a story. We read nonfiction to gather information and
learn about new things.
When reading fiction, we follow the flow of text from left to right and top to bottom.
When reading nonfiction, we often must navigate special features, such as photos, captions,
charts, and diagrams, that interrupt the flow of the text. These features are sometimes
confusing to young readers. Therefore, it is important to explain how these features support
the text and provide clarification and additional information.

Nonfiction Features in Science Vocabulary Readers

Explain to students that the nonfiction features they see in their Science
Vocabulary Readers can help them understand what they read.

22 Chapter titles tell what the chapter is about.

 olorful photographs and illustrations give information
22 C Tip!
and summarize the text.
 aptions and labels add more information or clarify
22 C Share with students
the photos and illustrations. that they need to read
nonfiction differently than
 oldface words signal important vocabulary that the
22 B they read fiction because
reader needs to remember. nonfiction requires a different
purpose for reading and contains
 glossary gives the meaning and pronunciation of
22 A
different text features. Make a
the important words in the text. class chart entitled “What Makes
 iagrams and charts present information in a way
22 D a Good Nonfiction Reader?”
that is easy to understand. (page 7) that students can refer
to during nonfiction lessons.
 ast Facts are interesting and fun facts about the topic
22 F
located throughout the books.

6
 Comprehension Graphic Organizer
Fill out the chart before and after you read your book.

Name Date

Topic

What I’m curious about . . .

Answers to my questions . . .

What I still want to know . . .

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 Use With Fantastic Fish (Reading a Diagram)

Name Date

Parts of a Fish
Look at the diagram. Follow the directions and answer the questions.
gill cover

fin mouth

eye

tail
scales

1 Put a 3 on the tail.

2 Put an 7 on the gill cover.

3 Circle some scales.

4 The gill cover is near the .

tail eyes
5 A fish uses its fins to .
eat swim
6 A fish’s body is covered with .
scales fins

12
Really Cool
Reptiles
Justin McCory Martin
 Contents
Chapter 1
Meet the Reptiles
Page 4

Chapter 2
Reptile Skills
Page 8

Chapter 3
Amazing Reptiles
Page 12

Glossary and Comprehension Questions

Page 16
 Chapter 1

Meet the Reptiles

Amazon tree boa

See this sleek and slithering snake? Do you

know what kind of animal it is? The answer
is a reptile!

4
 Close
Up!

Snakes are
not slimy.
They are
covered in
dry scales
that look like
See the long this close up.

backbone in this
snake skeleton?

How can you tell if something is a reptile?

All reptiles have skin that is dry and scaly.
All reptiles are also vertebrates. That means
they have backbones.

5
 Glossary
blend (blend): to mix in with the background
cold-blooded (kohld-bluhd-id): having a
body temperature that changes according to the
surrounding temperature
conserve (kuhn-surv): to save
minuscule (min-uh-skule): very tiny
scales (skales): the small pieces of hard skin that
cover the body of a reptile or fish
species (spee-sheez): a group of animals or plants
that share the same characteristics
vertebrates (vur-tuh-brates): animals that have
backbones

Comprehension Questions

1. Can you share two things that make a reptile

a reptile?

2. Can you name five animals that are reptiles?

3. Which reptile in this book is your favorite? Tell why.

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