Reflection on the Trade Book Project

Dr. Smirnova assigned us a project where we have to pick a book that is similar to our fieldwork unit plan and create a book talk trailer. I picked the book, "The Magic School Bus: Inside the Earth" by Joanna Cole because my unit plan was centered around earth science on the specific topic of the three types of rocks. 

In the story, Mrs. Frizzle decides to take the students on her magic school bus to learn about rocks and the process of how they are formed. Mrs. Frizzle first started on talking about what is a rock and then brought the students on a journey to dig through the earth's crust. Mrs. Frizzle taught the students about soil. She then transitioned into explaining what Sedimentary rocks were and how they were formed as the students were digging and discovering these rocks. The bus went deep into the earth and the students discovered Metamorphic rocks as the teacher discussed interesting facts. The bus went even deeper and the students discovered Igneous rocks. These types of rocks were found in the earth's crust and in the mantle. As Mrs. Frizzle was describing each type of rock, the students would point out the names of the rocks that they discovered for each type. Mrs. Frizzle made the bus go into the layers of the earth starting from the crust, to the mantle, to the outer core, and eventually to the inner core. The magic bus was able to come back onto the earth's surface through a volcano. At the ending of the book, the students were able to tell what each type of rock was and presented their own examples of the types of rocks. 

This is a great story for teachers to use to introduce the lesson on the three types of rocks. This story really breaks down how each type is formed, the characteristics, and some examples of each one. It would be helpful if teachers would read this story to the class and have them take notes on the important information that they found on each type of rock. If the teachers made a lesson on identifying which rock belongs to which type of rock, the students could use these notes as a guide. 

Through this trade book project, I have also learned how this book would be an effective book to use in the classroom. There are many activities that can be done with this book. A way that teachers can get their students engaged with the book is by first showing them a book trailer. I created a book trailer to use to get the students wanting to know what happens in the story. I used the Animoto tool to create my trailer. It was very simple to use and I had a lot of fun with it. Teachers should definitely be making book trailers, especially if they need more help with engaging their students. Here is the link to my Animoto book trailer on this book.