Two fantastic books have been recently released that teach children about deep sea exploration and teachers should be jumping with joy. These books are fun to read, full of great scientific facts, and the perfect pair to use for a compare and contrast lesson.
OTIS AND WILL DISCOVER THE DEEP by Barb Rosenstock is a wonderful book that tells about the two men crazy enough to think they could explore the deep ocean in a machine of their own design. Amazingly they were successful and in 1930 became the first deep sea explorers in their ship the Bathysphere.
FLYING DEEP by Michelle Cusolito tells about the modern version of the bathysphere – Alvin the deep-sea submersible. This high-tech machine can dive two miles to collect samples from the seafloor and allow scientists to conduct research on the deepest parts of the ocean. The author uses lovely lyrical language to describe the mysteries of the deep plus she gives lots of information about her research for the book.
I love both of these books and I think they are ideal for doing a compare and contrast lesson. Deep Sea exploration from its beginning to present day. The perfect opportunity to mix science and language arts. I have designed a Compare and Contrast lesson plan –
CompareContrastSubmersiblesLessonOnline
And worksheet CompareContrastSubWorksheet
And I’ve given you a bonus extension lesson on writing opinions. WouldYouRatherWorksheet
Hope you like the lesson. I KNOW you’ll love the books!!
Stephanie Bearce 