| How Many Eyes? by David Drew • InfoActive series |
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Labeled diagrams and bar graphs explain how snails, bees, scorpions, and crabs have some similarities and many differences.
Grades K-2 8 pp + cover 175 x 240 mm • 7 x 9.5 inches Buy the e-book (PDF) Coming soon |
| Visual texts in this book
Labeled diagrams (picture glossaries) • Bar graphs (pictographs) |
Share the book with the whole class up to page 5, comparing the diagram and the graph on each double page.
Point out that in this book the left page always has a labeled diagram and the right page has a bar graph. The graph shows us the same information as the diagram, but the graph makes it easier to count how many items the animal has.
The labeled diagram works as a picture glossary, because the details in the diagram define the meaning of the labels.
The bar chart is also a pictograph, because the cells contain picture-like icons that stand for eyes, legs, and so on.
On page 4 point to the eyes in the diagram, and match them with the eyes in the graph. Notice that the bee has three small eyes (ocelli) as well as two large ones (compound eyes).
Count each other item in the diagram before showing the same information in the graph.
Explain how bar graphs work by showing that each item lines up with a number at the foot of the graph.
Now turn to page 6, but cover page 7 with a sheet of cardboard. Explain that "Instead of reading the graph, we're going to make one ourselves."
On a large sheet of paper (or a flip chart) draw up a graph for the scorpion on page 6. Make rows for its eyes, palps, legs and stings. Children write in these words from the diagram.
Children draw symbols for eyes, legs, and so on, in the spaces on the graph. Encourage as many children to participate as possible.
Now remove the cardboard sheet, and compare your chart with the bar graph in the book.
Turn to page 8, which shows a crab. Cover page 9. This time the children work in small groups to produce a graph based on this diagram of a crab.
Children in pairs re-read the book for themselves.
Companion book: Insects
The book Insects has diagrams of an ant, a beetle, a dragonfly and a fly as well as a different sort of bee. Show the children a page from Insects, such as the dragonfly on page 7, and ask them to make a bar chart showing how many legs, wings, and eyes a dragonfly has. This kind of activity combines reading, visual literacy, math and science.
Notice that the dragonfly's parts are highlighted using a color key. Point out to the class that in a diagram like this colors have meaning: red can mean head and in this diagram green means legs. After the children have looked closely at how the dragonfly diagram works, they can return to How Many Eyes? to make their own color-coded diagram of one of the animals in that book, such as the bee on page 4. One student produced the diagram at right. >
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Sample pages from the book
