I was fortunate to teach this book to a small group of fifth graders yesterday while we were out in the prairie learning about the insects, decomposition, grasses, plants, trees, and flowers of the grasslands. This book had a lot of pertinent information and to-the-point facts about the grasslands that I think would be useful to children of all ages. I realized that I could read this book to any child but only the fourth, fifth, and sixth graders will mostly likely grasp the more difficult terms. The pictures were absolutely wonderful in displaying the main idea on the page. This would be especially helpful for young kids but I think older children will find it valuable nonetheless. When I showed students these pictures they were captivated with the images. For example, I showed them a photo of the root system beneath the soil and how long the roots extend underground and through the picture they appeared to fully grasp the extent of a root and its purposes and importance is serves to keep the prairie alive through goods times and bad. Additionally, I observed the students’ attention spans between and at each area we went to which helped me to develop an opinion on how effective the words and illustrations were. The drawings looks like oil paints and matched exceptionally well to what the message on the page was trying to describe. Overall, I think this book has a lot of essential facts about the grasslands as well as some great photos that can help in inquiry based learning about the environment.
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