The Common Core Shift: Short, Focused Research Projects in Elementary Grades
Taking one book a little further
How else might Ella Lyon's book All the Water in the World be used to work on core standards? Besides the science content, this complex text offers possibilities for:
RL.7 How specific aspects of a text's illustrations contribute to what is conveyed by the words. (On many pages the illustrations suggest flowing. Interesting things are also done with the fonts and placement of words on the page.)
RIT.8 Describe the logical connection between particular sentences and paragraphs in a text (e.g. comparison, cause/effect, first/second/third in a sequence). The second half of the book offers a stark contrast to the first as it paints a picture of areas of the world where “Dry grasses rustle. Dirt's just dust. Everything waits for an open gate in a wall of clouds, for rain sweet and loud to fill the well and start the stream.”
RL.2 ...demonstrate understanding of the central message or theme. The first words in the text (“All the water in the world...is all the water in the world”) and the final words in the text (“All so precious—do not waste it. And delicious—we can taste it. Keep it clear, keep it clean. Keep earth green.”) serve to frame the central message or theme.
L.5 Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings. There is much to appreciate about language in this text. Alliteration is a device that is used and can be discussed (“meandered over mountains, wavered over waterfalls, opened into oceans, this wet wonder, a wealth of water”). Nuances in word meanings can also be drawn out from the text. (What is the difference between cascaded, meandered, and wavered? What does that tell us about how water travels during different parts of its journey?)