An-Animal-a-Month: Marvelous Mollusks
Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay
There is more to shells than meets the eye. Delve into these carefully crafted books to show children the wonderous animals that live inside shells.
Click on the book covers to find more information about each title.
Can a shell be athletic? Yes!
Brief summary: Each spread of this gorgeous book has two layers of text and lively illustrations. The first layer describes a shell with a surprising or impressive adjective. The language is simple for the youngest readers. The second, more complex layer, explains how different species of shells embody the adjective. For instance, the hunting strategy of the marbled cone snail is paired with the adjective hungry. Children will come away with knowledge of mollusk diets, habitats, life cycles, anatomy, and much more. Share with ages 5-8.
What I love about this book: The structure creates a refreshing, memorable way to learn about shells, packing in a large variety of species and a wealth of information without feeling overwhelming. I also love the richly colored, detailed illustrations and beautiful fonts and layouts.
Kind of nonfiction: Expository Literature – the unique organization and evocative language elevates this overview of mollusks. (My categorization using Melissa Stewart’s 5 Kinds of Nonfiction.)
Ties to Next Generation Science Standards:
K-ESS2-2 (Construct an argument supported by evidence for how plants and animals can change the environment to meet their needs.) Students will see how mollusks can turn their watery or airy environment into a hard protective shell by secreting calcium carbonate that hardens when exposed to air or water.
1-LS1-1 (Use materials to design a solution to a human problem by mimicking how plants and animals use external parts to help them survive, grow, and meet their needs.) Students might take inspiration from protective shells, the propulsion generated by clapping scallop shells, or filter-feeding clams (which clean the water as they filter, though this point isn’t stated in the text).
3-LS1-1 (Develop models to describe that organisms have unique and diverse life cycles but all have in common birth, growth, reproduction, and death.) This book shows the life cycle of a queen conch, which could be compared and contrasted with the life cycles of other animals.
4-LS1-1 (Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.) Find numerous examples of such structures throughout the book, including the mantle that produces calcium carbonate for shell-making, the sticky tentacles of tusk shells for delivering food to the mouth, reflective white shells of desert snails, sharp radulas for boring holes in shells to feed on other mollusks, protective spines, and others.
Three more titles featuring mollusks: