TEACHING PROCESS SKILLS WITH CHILDREN'S BOOKS 1

Teaching Process Skills with Children's Books

Observing

Lewin, ​Ted. Look!. 2013. ​Holiday House

Look! Is an excellent book for young children because it focuses on observations. The

book illustrates different animals doing different things, such as an elephant eating, a giraffe

drinking water, and a gorilla hiding. Further, throughout the book, the author stops writing out

the observations and instead writes look! An excellent opportunity for teachers to ask students

what their observations are for that particular page. Children will use all their senses to make

observations. Reading the book as a class is a great way to spark creativity and encourage

students to make observations in their everyday surroundings.

Measuring

Barner, Bob. 2019. ​Ants rule: the long and short of it​. Holiday House - 2019

Ants rule: the long and short of it​ is a book that demonstrates measurement using ants to

measure different insects. Throughout the book, the author touches on length, height, and also

uses graphs. The process skill addressed in the book is measurement throughout the book

children will learn how to differentiate length using objects other than a typical ruler. An

excellent technique for children to learn because they can use it throughout their playtime to

distinguish length using their creativity.

Inferring

Shannon, David. 1998. No, David!. Blue Sky.

TEACHING PROCESS SKILLS WITH CHILDREN'S BOOKS 2

The book No, David is a story about a little boy that tends to get in trouble very often.

David gets into trouble and does not know how to keep calm. Throughout the book, David

messes with the fish, eats with his mouth open, and picks his nose. From the story, we can infer

that Davids actions are a cause of something else, but we can not assume the reason why David

is mad. We can take the clues from the story to infer what might have happened.

Communicating

Marsico, Katie. 2013. Speak up!. Cherry Lake Pub.

Speak up is a book that demonstrates the different ways students can communicate with

their peers. For example, in the book the author describes the three different communication

styles aggression, assertive, and passive. It is explaining how they can react to them in any given

situation. The book also goes on and addresses the importance of communication when it comes

to teamwork. Speak up is an overall excellent example of the process skill communication as it

explains in great detail how children can communicate with their peers.

Classifying

Hicks, Kylie. 2010. ​Let’s Classify Animals!.

"Let's Classify Animal" is an excellent book for the classifying process skill. The book

gives an excellent overview of how we classify animals. For example, the book ranks animal in

different groups including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and insects. The

characteristics that are highlighted in the text are cold-blooded if they have lungs or gills, or by

the food, they eat. Fully illustrating the process skill when students learn about the Classification

that involves putting objects in groups

according to some common characteristic or relationship.

TEACHING PROCESS SKILLS WITH CHILDREN'S BOOKS 3

Predicting

Maurer, Teresa, Alberini, Amicus. 2017. ​Do you really want to drive in a blizzard?: a book
about
predicting weather

"Do you really want to drive in a blizzard?: a book about predicting the weather" Is a

good book when it comes to prediction. Centered around a story of a family that is stuck in a

snowstorm and they have to predict what the weather will be like as they go on. Depending on

their predictions is that they will try to make it through the snow storm. This book is excellent

for the process skill of prediction because it keeps children intrigued wanting to know what will

happen next.