When the Wolves Returned: Restoring Nature’s Balance in Yellowstone
Walker & Company, 2008, by Dorothy Hinshaw Patent
Book Sense Pick, ALA Notable Children's Book, Great Lakes Great Books Award Winner, IRA/CBC Teachers' Choice book, Orbis Pictus Award Honor Book, Outstanding Science Trade Book for Children, and South Carolina Book Award Nominee
This book is perfect for teaching nonfiction story structure, and how an author chooses to organize a book. Because of its structure, it can be used for any grade from 1-8. Each 2-page spread has two levels of text—one short (usually just one sentence) piece of text in large type for young readers, then a longer paragraph expanding that information and giving backup information, for older students.
English Language Studies
This book meets the following criteria of the National Education Curriculum Standards for English:
Science
It meets the following criteria of the National Education Curriculum Standards for Science:
Unifying concepts and processes in science and Science as inquiry: Wolves illustrate the concept of a Keystone species; removing them caused a cascade of changes in the ecology. Scientists inquired as to why the changes occurred, postulated that removing wolves was the cause, then returned wolves to solve the problem.
Life Science/Adaptation, Life Science/Evolution: Living things are all part of communities that interact and depend on one another in different ways, a principle that this book illustrates very clearly.
Life Science/Ecosystems and Life Science/Natural History: By examining the Yellowstone ecosystem and the natural history of the various components, we can see that the species have many interrelationships that create a healthy ecosystem.
Science in Personal and Social Perspectives: Not everyone is happy that the wolves are back. Ranchers worry about their livestock, and some people don’t realize that predators are an important part of an ecosystem.
History and Nature of Science: When wolves were killed off, people didn’t realize their ecological importance. They thought it was a good idea. Today scientists know that wolves are an important part of the ecosystem. Science changes over time.
The writer's goals with the book include presenting an excellent example of "everything is connected." It also shows how important a top predator is to the ecosystem, illustrating what happens over time when humans interfere with a natural system. I.e., Iif a key species is removed, there's a domino effect that changes the relationships of animals and plants in the ecosystem. If the species is returned, the system can heal itself over time.
Another goal is to present wolves as wild creatures with an important role in the ecosystem. Wolves are not good or evil, just a species with a place in the scheme of things. In that process, the author is careful to use words that are not laden with subtext, just words describing appearance and behavior.
Common Core State Standards
The CCSS in English focus on argumentative and persuasive writing, and with this book, I build a case for the importance of wolves in the ecosystem in the way I organize the book and present the evidence.
The organization of the book makes recognizing the Main Idea of each 2-page spread very easy. In that way, it also makes clear the Structure of the argument made by the book. The evidence is built in stages, one spread at a time. Integration of Knowledge and Ideas is bolstered by the integration of photos which illustrate the main points of the text—e.g. when the text tells the reader the wolves keep elk on the move by chasing them, the photo shows this happening. The “Wolf Effect” diagram at the back of the book integrates images with information to illustrate the interrelationships of the species clearly in visual format.
Teacher Comments
“I expected a remote connection with an author would be…well, remote—a bobbing head on a big screen, not nearly as engaging as a real person in real time. Boy, was I wrong. You see, the ways these sessions are designed, you get to know the author you’re working with.” –Chris Kostenko, 5th grade teacher who worked with Dorothy Hinshaw Patent
“I can also say that the project, if it was to affect the enthusiasm for learning, and to make the research and exploration of information meaningful, and to make the end products more memorable, was a success.”—Jason Parkhurst, 5th grade teacher.
Walker & Company, 2008, by Dorothy Hinshaw Patent
Book Sense Pick, ALA Notable Children's Book, Great Lakes Great Books Award Winner, IRA/CBC Teachers' Choice book, Orbis Pictus Award Honor Book, Outstanding Science Trade Book for Children, and South Carolina Book Award Nominee
This book is perfect for teaching nonfiction story structure, and how an author chooses to organize a book. Because of its structure, it can be used for any grade from 1-8. Each 2-page spread has two levels of text—one short (usually just one sentence) piece of text in large type for young readers, then a longer paragraph expanding that information and giving backup information, for older students.
English Language Studies
This book meets the following criteria of the National Education Curriculum Standards for English:
- English/Reading for Perspective
- English/Reading for Understanding
- Applying Knowledge
- Evaluating Data
- Developing Research Skills
Science
It meets the following criteria of the National Education Curriculum Standards for Science:
Unifying concepts and processes in science and Science as inquiry: Wolves illustrate the concept of a Keystone species; removing them caused a cascade of changes in the ecology. Scientists inquired as to why the changes occurred, postulated that removing wolves was the cause, then returned wolves to solve the problem.
Life Science/Adaptation, Life Science/Evolution: Living things are all part of communities that interact and depend on one another in different ways, a principle that this book illustrates very clearly.
Life Science/Ecosystems and Life Science/Natural History: By examining the Yellowstone ecosystem and the natural history of the various components, we can see that the species have many interrelationships that create a healthy ecosystem.
Science in Personal and Social Perspectives: Not everyone is happy that the wolves are back. Ranchers worry about their livestock, and some people don’t realize that predators are an important part of an ecosystem.
History and Nature of Science: When wolves were killed off, people didn’t realize their ecological importance. They thought it was a good idea. Today scientists know that wolves are an important part of the ecosystem. Science changes over time.
The writer's goals with the book include presenting an excellent example of "everything is connected." It also shows how important a top predator is to the ecosystem, illustrating what happens over time when humans interfere with a natural system. I.e., Iif a key species is removed, there's a domino effect that changes the relationships of animals and plants in the ecosystem. If the species is returned, the system can heal itself over time.
Another goal is to present wolves as wild creatures with an important role in the ecosystem. Wolves are not good or evil, just a species with a place in the scheme of things. In that process, the author is careful to use words that are not laden with subtext, just words describing appearance and behavior.
Common Core State Standards
The CCSS in English focus on argumentative and persuasive writing, and with this book, I build a case for the importance of wolves in the ecosystem in the way I organize the book and present the evidence.
The organization of the book makes recognizing the Main Idea of each 2-page spread very easy. In that way, it also makes clear the Structure of the argument made by the book. The evidence is built in stages, one spread at a time. Integration of Knowledge and Ideas is bolstered by the integration of photos which illustrate the main points of the text—e.g. when the text tells the reader the wolves keep elk on the move by chasing them, the photo shows this happening. The “Wolf Effect” diagram at the back of the book integrates images with information to illustrate the interrelationships of the species clearly in visual format.
Teacher Comments
“I expected a remote connection with an author would be…well, remote—a bobbing head on a big screen, not nearly as engaging as a real person in real time. Boy, was I wrong. You see, the ways these sessions are designed, you get to know the author you’re working with.” –Chris Kostenko, 5th grade teacher who worked with Dorothy Hinshaw Patent
“I can also say that the project, if it was to affect the enthusiasm for learning, and to make the research and exploration of information meaningful, and to make the end products more memorable, was a success.”—Jason Parkhurst, 5th grade teacher.
