Heartwood Hotel Reading Guide + Science Unit

Read a sweet animal chapter book together, then go outside and study the real trees inside the story. This Novel Science unit pairs my Heartwood Hotel: A True Home reading guide with my Among the Trees nature study. It gives you four weeks of reading, grammar, writing, and hands-on tree science that fit real family days.

***This unit is included in the Kingdom Trails Learning membership, along with a new Novel Science unit every month. This is a far better deal if you plan to purchase more than 2 of these reading guides per year.

I’m a certified elementary teacher with K–12 science and 5–12 biology and chemistry certifications, and I homeschool my own kids. I built Novel Science around our favorite part of the school day: reading a great book together, then heading outside to explore the science in it.

This is geared toward grades 2–4, but can be used for any elementary student. The tree study includes modifications for younger and older students, so the whole family can learn together.

WHAT’S INCLUDED:

Heartwood Hotel Reading Guide

• Parent guide with a 4-week schedule, tips for adjusting to your child, a skills chart, and lesson notes with sample answers
• 16 chapter-by-chapter student pages. Each one includes:
• narration
• vocabulary
• discussion questions
• a personal connection
• a short Science Connection
• a grammar mini-lesson
• Mid-unit Writing Workshop and a final theme paragraph
• Final Reflection: What Makes a True Home?
• Five optional final projects, including Adopt a Tree and a map of the hotel and forest

Among the Trees Nature Study

• 4 weeks of day-by-day lesson plans, a narration guide, and fiction and nonfiction book lists
• Tree catalogue and tree growth journal pages
• Tree leaf and seed identification cards
• Vocabulary posters, watercolor tree pages, and four poems to memorize
• Tree diagram, types of trees, and life cycle sorting cards
• Anatomy of a trunk, a capillary action lab, and bark rubbings
• Age of a tree: ring counting and practice pages
• Seeds of a tree, leaf anatomy, and a photosynthesis lab
• Tree communication, symbiosis, and an engineering challenge
• Saving the Saplings short story with comprehension questions
• Nature Guide final project with a rubric
• Answer keys

SKILLS AND STANDARDS COVERED

Reading (Common Core RL.2–3)

• Retelling and narration (RL.2.1, RL.3.1, SL.2.4, SL.3.4)
• Point of view (RL.2.6, RL.3.6)
• Inferences using text evidence (RL.3.1)
• Cause and effect and character actions (RL.2.3, RL.3.3)
• Making predictions
• Theme and central message (RL.2.2, RL.3.2)
• Vocabulary in context (L.2.4, L.3.4)

Grammar and Writing

• Verb tense (L.2.1d, L.3.1e)
• Strong verbs and word choice (L.3.3a)
• Contractions (L.2.2c)
• Planning, writing, and checking a paragraph (W.2.5, W.3.4, W.3.5)
• Supporting an idea with examples from the text (W.3.1, W.3.8)

Science (NGSS Life Science)

• Plant structures and their jobs (4-LS1-1)
• Plant life cycles (3-LS1-1)
• Plant diversity: deciduous vs. coniferous trees (2-LS4-1)
• How water moves through a plant (4-LS1-1)
• Photosynthesis (5-LS1-1)
• Trees as habitats, symbiosis, and decomposition (3-LS4-3, 5-LS2-1)
• Reading tree rings (dendrochronology)
• Engineering design (K-2-ETS1-1, 3-5-ETS1-1)
• Observation and nature journaling

You’ll need your own copy of Heartwood Hotel: A True Home by Kallie George. This is a digital download (PDF).

Find more Novel Science pairings at payhip.com/KingdomTrails.

Questions? Email me at kingdomtrailshs@gmail.com.