The Grass Patch Project: (Read-It! Readers: Science)

Jason's class agrees that his Grass Patch Project is the best idea for the school's Earth Day contest. They get to work sowing the grass seeds in a patch of dirt near the school. But some classmates start to doubt Jason's big idea when the grass doesn't appear. Will blades of grass ever shoot through the soil?

Review :
The teacher has challenged her students to come up with a project for Earth Day. Jason, who recently started attending Sunrise Elementary, is a little unhappy because there is no grass around the school. He proposes that the kids plant grass to make the school yard more attractive. The students have other suggestions, but his garners the most votes. It is hard work, and it takes a few weeks for the grass to grow. Readers follow the students' activities while inset fact boxes provide more information about plants and their importance as well as specifics about grasses. Does the class win the prize? Will Jason make new friends? Read the story and then stretch yourself a bit more by trying out the activities at the end of the text. There is also a glossary and time line showing the life cycle of grass. The cartoon style illustrations are well matched with the text. The books in the "learn more" section are quite up-to-date, and FactHound is available to help kids find sites on the Internet. This is a Green Level book in the "Science Read It Readers" series, which presents more complex ideas, extended vocabulary, and language structure.-- "Children's Literature Comprehensive Database" These four books are part of the Read-it! Reader Science series of books and are designed to encourage the cultivation of problem-solving skills in midlevel elementary-school-age readers. All four books are written around some aspect of plant cultivation, which is integral to solving a problem in each book. For instance in The Grass Patch Project, a new student in class proposes to beautify the school grounds by planting a patch of grass for an Earth Day project, and in Friends and Flowers, a young girl who has just moved to town is told that she will have a new friend by the time a tulip, which she planted, has flowered. The text surrounding these issues then focuses on aspects of cultivation of the featured plant. The scientific content of the books is good for this level of reader. Although most of each book is written as dialogue, there are sidebars describing in more detail, for example, just what compost is. Each book contains a short glossary at the end, as well as an activity related to the book. Taken together, the four books show a nice cross section of urban and rural society, with different ages, sexes, and ethnicities represented. I recommend this series highly, particularily in an elementary setting in which environmental or gardening activities are part of the curriculum.-- "Science Books & Films"