Fictional Stories in Science
Using Fictional Stories as a Pathway to Science Content
Featured Book: “If you plant a seed”
Illustrator: Kadir Nelson
Book Summary: “If you plant a carrot seed…a carrot will grow. But what happens if you plant a seed of kindness…or selfishness?”
If you know this author and illustrator, then it will be of no surprise that the pictures, the paintings, are breathtaking. He selected to have a few wordless pages, which speak volumes under his artistic talent. As the title suggests, it is about planting a seed and what a seed needs to grow, and simultaneously, it is about the seeds we plant in our hearts and minds and what they produce. This story does a brilliant job of combining science with character teaching – both which could be picked up and fostered in the classroom in very powerful ways.
Science Topics
- Seeds
- Plants
- What a plant needs to survive
- Collaboration
- Food source competition
Literacy Connections
- Story elements
- Character building
- Comparing & contrasting to other stories (fables)
- Cause and effect
- Dialogue building for the wordless pages
Sociocultural Connections
- Collaboration between a rabbit and a mouse (unlikely pair)
- Community building
- Character building
- Choices
- Perspective
- Empathy
Fictional Stories in Science 