Integrating literature into content area instruction can help students make reading connections with real-world topics and better understand new ideas. It also makes learning more engaging and provides opportunites to learn new vocabulary.

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1.T.SS.2 Craft Identify and use descriptive and engaging language.

S1E1.b Ask questions to identify forms of precipitation such as rain, snow, sleet, and hailstones as either solid (ice) or liquid (water).

Snowflake Bentley and The Story of Snow connect to the ELA and science standards that I chose because they both teach students to observe and describe snow using clear and engaging language. Snowflake Bentley helps students practice using descriptive words to share what they notice, while The Story of Snow explains how snow forms and how it is different from other kinds of precipitation.

Integrating literature into content area instruction helps students build background knowledge, strengthen vocabulary, and develop critical thinking skills while making learning more engaging and meaningful. It also supports cross-curricular connections and fosters empathy by exposing students to diverse perspectives and experiences.

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ELA Standard: ELAGSE2RI3 – Describe the connection between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text.

Science Standard: S2E3 – Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about how weather, plants, animals, and humans interact with each other.

Rationale: These standards work well together because Snowflake Bentley and The Story of Snow both explore scientific ideas about snow formation and the work of Wilson Bentley, who studied snowflakes. The ELA standard encourages students to understand how Bentley’s observations and discoveries connect to scientific concepts, while the science standard deepens their understanding of weather and the natural processes that create snow. Together, they allow students to make meaningful connections between reading informational text and learning about weather patterns in science.

Integrating literature into content area instruction can be beneficial for students in several ways. It can provide context learning such as making difficult concepts more relatable and understanding. Also, it will overall improve reading comprehension and critical thinking skills.

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ELA Standard: 5.T.RA

IV. BIG IDEA: Research & Analysis Students use, discuss, analyze, and curate texts as they engage in various conversations, activities, and projects about a range of grade-level texts and topics.

Science Standard: S5P1.b

Construct an argument based on observations to support a claim that the physical changes in the state of water are due to temperature changes, which cause small particles that cannot be seen to move differently.

Rationale: Integrating the ELA and Science standards above allow students to connect reading and science through observations. By reading Snowflake Bentley and The Story of Snow, students analyze how temperature affects water while learning how curiosity and observation can lead to discovery. This integration helps students practice gathering and using information from multiple text to understand science content and gain literacy skills in a real world lens.

Slide 19: I chose the standards ELAGSE1RI2: Identify the main topic and retell key details of a text because students can identify the main idea from the story. Then, they can retell the important details from both books. This encourages comprehension, sequencing, and summarizing skills. The standard S1E1: Obtain, evaluate, and communicate weather data to identify weather patterns for science aligns because both books explore snow as a form of precipitation.

ELA Standard: 1.T.CI. BIG IDEA: Context Students explore the relationships and roles of authors, purposes, and audiences of texts.

Science Standard: S1E1.b Ask questions to identify forms of precipitation such as rain, snow, sleet, and hailstones as either solid (ice) or liquid (water).

I selected the ELA standard because it allows for a focus on different text purposes. The book Snowflake Bentley focuses on the life of Bentley and acts as a biography. There is a great deal of talk about snow and its importance or effects, but overall, it is about his study of snow. The second book is about the scientific facts and information about snow. The target purpose is different, but both texts have connecting themes. The science standard I chose focuses on forms of precipitation, including snow. These two books talk about snow from a scientific view and a real-life impact view. Each book sparks questions about snow and its importance.

Slide 19: ELA Standard:
3.T.RAIV – Research & Analysis
Students use, discuss, and analyze texts as they work on different projects and topics.

Science Standard:
S2E3 – Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about how weather, plants, animals, and humans cause changes to the environment.

Rationale:
I chose the Research and Analysis ELA standard because students can read Snowflake Bentley and The Story of Snow to understand and discuss information about how snow crystals form from what they have read. This standard fits perfectly since the students will be comparing what they learn from both books and explaining it in their own words to their classmates. I chose the Science standard about weather because it connects to how snow forms and how weather impacts our environment. These two standards work well together because students can build their reading and comprehension skills while also learning about science in class.

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ELA Standard: 2.T.T.2.b Describe the connection between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text. (I)

Science Standard: S2E3 Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about how weather, plants, animals, and humans cause changes to the environment.

The standards work together to integrate literacy and science concepts using the texts Snowflake Bentley and The Story of Snow. Both texts teach about the scientific process of snow crystals forming. The second text goes into how Wilson Bentley studied and photographed them. Students are encouraged to make connections between the scientific concepts within the text. The science standard helps them understand the process of weather (snow) and through the ELA standard they are able to find ways that weather causes changes to the environment in the text.

Integrating literature into content area instruction might be beneficial for students because it creates a deeper understanding of content material and pushed students into new skills sets. Students have opportunities to learn writing, vocabulary, reading, and speaking skills. Different content areas call for different strategies, expanding a student's capacity for endurance in the classroom.

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ELA Standard 4.T.T.1.a - Analyze the use of narrative techniques to present ideas, design texts, and convey information about characters, setting, and plot. (I)

Science Standard: S4E4.b Interpret data from weather maps, including fronts (warm, cold, and stationary), temperature, pressure, and precipitation to make an informed prediction about tomorrow's weather.

These fourth grade standards can be used to teach Snowflake Bentley and The Story of Snow by having students focus on the main characters and their contributions or discoveries. Students can use the science standard to express their knowledge of precipitation forms (specifically snow) and discuss how the discoveries can be found using science vocabulary and vocabulary from the texts.

Integrating literature into content instruction helps students make real-world connections and understand topics in a more meaningful way. It builds background knowledge and vocabulary while keeping students engaged through stories that bring abstract ideas to life. Using books across subjects also supports reading comprehension and helps students think more deeply about what they learn.

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ELA Standard: ELAGSE2RI3 – Describe the connection between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text.

Science Standard: S2E3 – Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about how weather, plants, animals, and humans are affected by seasonal changes.

Rationale: These standards connect perfectly because both books explore snow and weather patterns through science and storytelling. Students can learn how snowflakes form while practicing how to describe scientific ideas and processes in their own words. This integration encourages students to think like scientists and readers at the same time, building understanding of weather concepts while strengthening their comprehension and communication skills.

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ELAGSE1RI2: Identify the main topic and retell key details of a text.

S1E1: Obtain, evaluate, and communicate weather data to identify weather patterns.

Snowflake Bentley and The Story of Snow connect to this ELA and science standard because they both teach students to close read the texts to find the main idea and key details and help use this information to communicate weather patterns that they noticed. These books align to these standards to have the students look for details and identify weather patterns.

Integrating literature into content area instruction offers many benefits like enhancing engagement through stories and narratives to make the content relatable and interesting to capture students attention. It also build vocabulary and language skills due to the exposure to rich subject related texts which will help students learn academic vocabulary and improve their reading comprehension. Literature can also provide students with real world contexts, examples and different perspectives to strengthen their grasp of complex concepts. It also promotes cultural awareness as if it can reflect diverse cultures and experiences and help students develop empathy and gain a larger worldview.

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ELAKRL1 — With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.

SKP1 — Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the weather and seasonal changes.

These books provide good context for early learners to explore weather concepts. The standards support observing and discussing weather patterns and connecting content from the story to the real world. These two together promote early literacy and science inquiry skills through engaging and integrating content.

Integrating literature into content areas would be beneficial because it connects student learning across the board. Using texts or stories related to science, social studies, or math, students can see how reading and writing is constantly being used. Literature can also provide students with necessary context and help deepen their understanding.

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ELA standard- 2.T.RA.1: Build knowledge about the world by asking or generating questions about topics of interest, researching the answers, using multiple sources, and communicating relevant and accurate information about the topic.

Science standard- S2E3: Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about how weather, plants, animals, and humans cause changes to the environment.

With the ELA standard, students generate and ask questions about snow and the weather. They can research their answers by looking back and using the texts, The science standard allows students to explore weather as well, and includes how it changes the environment. An integrated lesson with the standards would allow students to learn about weather, pull information from both books, and ask questions or communicate their findings.

Describe traits of the main characters and explain how their words and actions support the central message, lesson, or moral of the story. (I)

Science Standard: S1E1.b

Ask questions to identify forms of precipitation such as rain, snow, sleet, and hailstones as either solid (ice) or liquid (water).

The standards selected for ELA and Science can be both integrated because students are exploring narrative texts in the book Snowflake Bentley is a narrative nonfiction story that tells the readers about the journey of Bentley the scientist and his persistence in photo graphing snowflakes. The Story of Snow shares more information of the formation of snowflakes. Both of these stories share the scientific process of the formation of snow crystals. Students will be asked to describe the main traits of the characters and how their words help support the central message of the story. The science standard can be integrated with having students explore the phenomena of the forms and formation of snow and have them identify that it is a the solid form of a liquid using both texts for the students to refer to, to provide evidence.

Integrating literature into content area instruction is beneficial for students because they are receiving support and knowledge from learning from two subjects. Also, some literature have a great resource to students with providing them with different tools that help them understand and comprehend the skill needed as well as giving them the support of diving more into a subject in a more engaging manner. This also can be beneficial because ti will help students learn from a different perspective and dive more into the content for comprehension.

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Standards:

S1E1.b Ask questions to identify forms of precipitation such as rain, snow, sleet, and hailstones as either solid (ice) or liquid (water).

1.P.EICC.3.d Summarize and visualize sections of the text to maintain understanding. (I)

After reading both of the books, I felt that these standards would be great as an integrated unit for the students. The ELA standards is for the students to read or listen to the book and they are to summarize and visualize the sections to see their understandings of the content. The main basis of this standard is to help with the students comprehension and I feel that the students reading about snow and ice crystals could be engaging and also something that they have seen before and can understand how they can summarize the content as well as relate it back to something they may have seen before in person or through the media. The standard for science was chosen because this can be done with other forms of weather and the unit they are working on currently would be with how the snow is formed and how they can relate and summarize the sections of the book and visualize the content to help build their comprehension as well as grow as their unit. Overall, I felt that this would be great to be integrated as a unit because the students can separate the snow aspect and build on the comprehension of that and help them understand how they can summarize and develop the main idea of the passage as well as visualize their understanding to show comprehension and can relate back to themselves in different such ways.

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- Standard 1 = ELAGSE5RI7: Draw on information from multiple print or digital sources, demonstrating the ability to locate an answer to a question quickly or to solve a problem efficiently.

• Students can use the two stories to research how snow forms and how Wilson Bentley’s work contributed to the students' scientific understanding. Students need the skill of how to gather and synthesize information from multiple texts without using AI in the process to get information.

- Standard 2 = S5E1 Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to identify surface features on the Earth caused by constructive and/or destructive processes.

• Students will also be exploring how snow and ice act as weathering and erosion agents. They will explore how freezing and thawing shape the Earth’s surface.

Slide 19: ELA Standard: ELAGSE2RI3 – Describe the connection between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text.

Science Standard: S2E3 – Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about how weather, plants, animals, and humans interact with each other.

These standards work well together because they are easily connected. The ELA standard talks about the connection in scientific ideas in a text with is great for the book chosen. The science standard is about the weather and how humans interact with it which is great for the snowflake story.

I think bringing literature into different subjects really helps students connect to what they are reading. Reading stories that tie into science or social studies can me the lessons more interesting and easier to understand. It also helps students see how everything connects outside the classroom walls and keeps them more engage in what they are learning about.

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For ELA, I would use standard ELAGSE4RI3, which focuses on explaining events, procedures, or ideas in a text.

For Science, I would use S4E3, which is about investigating how weather, clouds, and the water cycle work together. These go really well with "Snowflake Bentley" and "The Story of Snow" because students can read about how snowflakes form and then connect it to real science phenomena like precipitation and weather patterns.

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ELA standard - 2.T.SS II. BIG IDEA: Structure & Style Students build and apply knowledge about language and organizational structures and elements used to convey and arrange ideas and information in texts.

Science standard- S2P1 Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the properties of matter and changes that occur in objects.

I selected ELA standard 2.T.SS II because both Snowflake Bentley and The Story of Snow offer strong examples of how authors use text structure and language to share information. The students can compare how one author tells a true story as a narrative and the other presents scientific facts as an informational. This helps them understand different ways writers organize and convey ideas.

I selected the Science standard S2P1, which focuses on understanding and describing the properties of matter and how it changes. This fits perfectly with exploring how water changes to ice and forms snowflakes. Through reading Snowflake Bentley and The Story of Snow, students can observe and discuss how temperature affects matter and identify the unique physical properties of snowflakes. These activities support scientific inquiry while deepening comprehension of the texts.

Slide 19: The science standard and Kindergarten GA ELA Standards I connected the books, Snowflake and The Story of Snow too, are SKP3, SKE1, and ELAGSEKR17.

SK3P- Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to compare and describe different states of matter.

SKE1- Obtain, evaluate, and communciate weather observations to describe patterns over time.

ELAGSEKR17 - with prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the text in which they appear.

Both of these books provide opportunities for visual-text connections. The illustrations work alongside the narrative to show how Bentleys curiosity and careful observation revealed the beauty and uniqueness of snowflakes. In the Story of Snow, the diagrams and labels of the photographs of snowflakes illustrate the concepts then connect it with writing in the texts. This connection builds comprehension and reinforces how visuals can communicate scientific ideas. Then in connection from the science standards to the books; the books concect directly to learning about weather and seasonal changes. The Story of Snow explains how snow forms in the atmosphere during cold weather conditions, helping children observe that snow occurs during winter when temperatures are low. Wilson Bentley encourages students to notice patterns in weather. Both of the stories also make an abstract concept of changes in matter more concrete and visual for young learners.

Slide 19: ELA standard: 1.T.T.2.d Use knowledge of expository techniques to introduce a topic, supply facts about the topic, and provide a sense of closure. (C)

Science Standard: S1E1.b Ask questions to identify forms of precipitation such as rain, snow, sleet, and hailstones as either solid (ice) or liquid (water).

I chose these standards because they closely align with both books. In these books, students are given the opportunity to explore the process of the creation of snowflakes. When teaching the science standard these books could be used as introduction to the understanding if the precipitation forms are solid or liquid. When it comes to the ELA standard, these books can allow students to discover how to successfully deliver information in a fun and engaging way.

ELA standard- 1.T.RA.1 Research & Inquiry Build knowledge about the world by asking or generating questions about topics of interest, researching the answers, using multiple sources, and communicating relevant and accurate information about the topic.

I selected these standards because they can use the stories to identify those key vocabulary terms in the science standard and determine their definition and purpose. They will then use them to generate questions in an introductory lesson. It would be an excellent way to engage students in the content in a constructive way by having them gather the information and applying it to a research question that could then be explored and explained by the teacher. Many science topics must be researched to gain a full perspective of it, so the ELA standard aligns perfectly because they are building their knowledge about weather and generating questions to research.

Slide 19: I chose 5.T.SS.2.a

"Describe the impact of the use of figurative language such as similes, metaphors, idioms, hyperboles, and personification in response to audience and purpose, in various modes and genres." I chose this standard because Snowflake Bentley uses figurative language. I also chose the standard S5L3

"Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to compare and contrast the parts of plant and animal cells." This standard was chosen because of all the organisms the main character was looking at.