Skeleton (InfoActive) by David Drew

Skeleton (Grades K–2)

InfoActive series

by David Drew illustrated by Peter Gouldthorpe

Flip the pages to match each animal to its skeleton.

A simple introduction to animal skeletons, including a bat, a fish, a duck, a monkey, a goat, a snake and a human. This is a book that can be read by beginning readers, with strong visual cues.

Grade level K–2

Visual literacy

Cutaway diagrams: to reveal a skeleton that can be matched to an animal.

Subject areas

English/Language Arts

Emergent reading: cue a word (such as "snake") to match a picture (of a snake).

Apostrophe of possession: as in "A snake's skeleton."

Capital letters.

Science/Technology

All vertebrates (animals with backbones) have a skeleton.

Our skeleton supports our body.

Mathematics

Estimating and counting finger bones, ribs, vertebrae (bones of the spine), and teeth in a number of animal skeletons

Locating and matching similar bones in different animals

Learning strategies

The flip book format encourages children to match animals to their skeletons using a match-the-shape strategy.

Visual cues help children identify the "new" word on each page or half-page.

Simple research strategy: turning pages to search for an answer.

A sample from the book

A flip book has its pages cut in half, so that the top and bottom halves can be turned until they match.

To "flip" these images, move your cursor over the monkey to see a snake, or move it over the snake's skeleton to see the monkey's skeleton.

Cutaway diagram

In a cutaway diagram the outside surface of the subject is partly or wholly removed to reveal "hidden" details. In this book each skeleton drawing works as a cutaway diagram.

Move your cursor over the bat to see its skeleton.

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Ideas to get you started

The print in this book is big, allowing you to share this book with a group.

Starting with the first left-hand page, point out that parts of the fish can be matched with its skeleton. Match several parts of the skeleton, such as eye, tail, and fins.

Ask, "What can you see in the fish's skeleton that you can't see in the 'ordinary' picture of a fish?" (The backbone or spine; the ribs; the teeth, etc.)

Explain that the skeleton picture shows us what the inside of a fish looks like, "as if the outside had been cut away." You may need to reassure some young children that "It's just a picture. We really didn't cut the fish!" Introduce the term "cutaway diagram" for this kind of picture.

Now point to the right-hand page, and ask if the top picture (of a monkey) matches the cutaway diagram (or a goat's skeleton). They'll reply, "No!" Then explain that, to make the pictures match, we can turn the pages. Start turning the bottom half-pages until you arrive at the matching diagram of a monkey's skeleton.

Discuss the matching images as before. This time we see the "hidden" tail bones, finger bones, and so on. On a large sheet of paper, start building up a vocabulary list of skeleton parts. It helps children if you draw the shape of the bone next to each:

Or you can draw the position of the bone, on a "stick-figure" drawing:

In each case, the visual sketch helps children identify the meaning of each word.

Hint: Be sure to visit all the pages, by always starting with the top picture, and flipping the bottom pictures to match it. Otherwise, it's possible to "miss" one or two of the animals.

Why are we doing this?

The flip-book format shows children that reading can be fun, like a puzzle or a game.

But it also teaches children that nonfiction reading is different from fiction reading. Matching up the pages is a research strategy. Point out to the children that when reading nonfiction, "We search through the book for the information we need."

In this way, right from emergent level, children can be practicing genuine research behavior which is essential to how we read nonfiction.

Finally, by recording key words on the large sheet of paper, you are demonstrating to children that when we read nonfiction we usually write down what we have found out: "We write as we read." This is also a key nonfiction reading behavior that differs from how we read fiction.

Contents of Skeleton

A fish / A fish's skeleton

A monkey / A monkey's skeleton

A duck / A duck's skeleton

A goat / A goat's skeleton

A bat / A bat's skeleton

A snake / A snake's skeleton

Me / My skeleton

Companion books that use "flip" pages

Here are two other InfoActive books that use flip pages. These books help you teach children a key fact about nonfiction reading:

"We search through the book for the information we need."

Fins and Feathers: Match the parts of each animal (head, body, and tail) to find out which ones have flippers or fins, feathers or scales. A simple introduction to animal parts (legs, wings, flippers, tails) and animal coverings (feathers, scales, skin, fur, or a shell).

Cut and Join : Do you cut wood with scissors? Do you join cloth with nails? Flip the pages in this book to match up an item with what you need to cut it, or to join it. Materials include paper, wood, clay, cardboard, metal, and cloth. Cutting and joining items are scissors, wire, knife, saw, nuts and bolts, needle and thread, hammer and nails, and adhesive tape.

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All the books mentioned on this page are part of the series InfoActive.

To ask a consultant to show you any of these books

in USA click here (Pearson Learning)

in Canada click here (Scholastic Canada)

in Australia click here (Pearson Education Australia)