Each Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading unit has a unique set of student books, one to be read during each week of the unit, and one to serve as a reference throughout the unit. There are 27 books at each grade band.

Each book also has a strategy guide associated with it, which you can download from the link in the right hand column of this page. The strategy guide outlines a way to use the book to teach a specific reading strategy, which can then be applied by students in their reading with other books.

Detailed descriptions of the books for grades two/three are below and a link here to grades three/four books. We will be adding the grade four/five books soon.  Scroll below for descriptions of the student books for the second/third grade units, or select a title from the list:

Soil Habitats:
Into the Soil introduces the topic of soil through a series of fun riddles. The book invites students to wonder about the ubiquitous substance that covers the Earth and to consider soil's functions. The book shows how soil helps all living things survive and introduces the ideas that: soil is all around us, many organisms live in the soil, and plants, animals, and people need the nutrients in soil in order to survive. Into the Soil provides an invitation to the Soil Habitats unit and depicts the important role of soil in our lives.
In Walk in the Woods students "accompany" a soil scientist named Asmeret as she walks through the woods. Students see the world through a soil scientist's eyes as Asmeret searches for evidence of decomposition. As Asmeret guides students through the forest, several important ideas emerge: soil is made of living and non-living things; small organisms help decompose dead plants and animals; and through decomposition, soil is made. It shows how scientists look for evidence to help answer questions about the world. Walk in the Woods provides a real-world context for the study of decomposition and soil habitats.
What Are Roots? describes how roots help plants survive, using a series of descriptive metaphors. The book describes important structures and functions of a variety of root types. Important ideas include: roots are adaptations that plants have to help them survive, roots take in water and nutrients, roots hold plants in place, and that there are two main types of roots--taproots and fibrous roots. What Are Roots? enables students to learn more about roots than is directly observable. Students use this book to help identify structures on the roots they observe firsthand.
Talking with a Habitat Scientist uses the story of one scientist to introduce students to the concept of a habitat and to the work of a habitat scientist. John Harte is a scientist who investigates what happens when the elements of a habitat change. The book describes how a habitat is a place where a plant or an animal gets everything it needs to survive, that a habitat isn't just a place but includes a collection of things that all together meet the basic needs of an organism. The book communicates John's love of nature and passion for science and provides examples of how sometimes habitats change and the organisms can no longer survive there, that these changes are sometimes caused by humans, and that scientists help us understand and protect habitats.  Talking with a Habitat Scientist extends students' growing understanding of habitats and shows how scientists work to understand and ultimately protect habitats.
Earthworms Underground describes earthworm structures and behaviors with a focus on adaptations that enable earthworms to survive underground. These adaptations include being able to breathe through their skin, and use hair-like structures to move through the soil, and survive even if part of their tails breaks off. The book shows how earthworms eat soil and small living and dead things in the soil, and how this makes the soil better for all plants and animals. It tells how they reproduce and that the greatest dangers to earthworms are moles, birds, and sunlight that can dry out earthworm's skin. Earthworms Underground provides a view of the earthworm in its natural habitat and depicts earthworm structures and behaviors that are not directly observable.
The Handbook of Forest Floor Animals is a reference book that describes some of the small organisms that live in, on, or near the forest floor, in the way that a field guide might. The book describes six types of organisms that live in or on soil: beetles, centipedes and millipedes, crickets, earthworms, pill bugs and sow bugs, and snails and slugs. For each type of organism, information is provided about the organism's body structures, behavior, habitat, and life cycle. Students use information they find in this handbook to help them identify and label body structures of the organisms they observe firsthand and to answer questions they have about forest floor organisms.
My Nature Notebook shows how a small spot on the forest floor, where things grow, die, and decompose, changes over several months, and what a child's notebook recording those changes looks like. This book demonstrates the importance of careful and repeated observations, and of measurements, drawings, and detailed notes, in making good inferences about the nature and cause of changes. My Nature Notebook models careful observation and note taking, and also provides students with experience reading tables, and making inferences.
Without Soil reviews the key themes of the Soil Habitats unit by asking students to imagine a world without soil. Through this device, the following ideas are reviewed: living things depend on one another, soil helps all living things survive by providing the nutrients necessary for the plants that animals (including humans) depend upon for food and other needs, that the roots of plants help soil stay in place, and that soil is a habitat for a great number and complexity of interdependent organisms. The book goes on to explain how soil loss is an important environmental problem. In addition to providing a review of many of the important ideas in the unit, Without Soil communicates the interdependence of plants, animals, humans and soil.
Snail Investigations is a fictional account of a class who sets out to figure out what makes a good snail habitat, so they can keep snails in their classroom. This book describes the investigations these students conduct and what they learn about how snails, like other organisms, need food, water, shelter, and air to survive. The book highlights the cycle of scientific inquiry and depicts the triumphs and missteps of a group of classroom scientists. It shows how it is possible to investigate to find answers to questions. Snail Investigations models the process of conducting a scientific investigation and provides an opportunity for students to practice interpreting data.
Shoreline Science:
Beach Postcards provides an account of a girl named Jo who visits beaches around the world with her family and sends postcards back to her friend Linn. Linn writes a report about what she learned about beaches and shorelines from Jo's postcards. This book serves as an invitation to the unit and introduces students to some basic concepts about beaches and shorelines.   It is also designed to help students who may have limited knowledge of shorelines to imagine the experience of being at various beaches.
What Belongs on a Beach? introduces the concept that some things belong on a beach and other things do not.   It describes the different ways that trash can end up on a beach and its consequences to marine organisms.   The book demonstrates how the kind of marine litter found on a beach is evidence about where it comes from.   This book provides a real world context for the sorting and classifying that students do in class and provides an opportunity for students to practice making inferences about the source of marine litter.
Gary's Sand Journal begins with Gary Griggs, a shoreline scientist, sharing how he uses the properties of sand as evidence to determine the sand's origin and composition. The second half of the book consists of pages of a notebook like the one Gary uses to record his observations of sand, including notes about inferences he has made about the sand samples.   The book ends with a picture of mystery sand and a challenge for the reader to use the evidence in the picture to make inferences about the mystery sand's origin and composition.   This book models how specific observable properties can be used to make inferences about the origin and composition of sand and provides students with opportunities to make inferences based on these observable characteristics.
What's Stronger? The Forces that Cause Erosion illustrates the power of wind, water, waves, and glaciers to wear away things as hard as rocks and as big as mountains, through a process called erosion.   Students see how erosion washes soil down hillsides and rivers carry sand to the beach.   This book enables students to see the effects of natural phenomena that are not directly observable in the classroom.
My Sea Otter Report is a humorous, fictional account of a boy writing a science report, guided by his sister's advice. This book models the process of writing a report, complete with commentary on the common missteps.   It provides students with a framework for writing their organism reports.
Handbook of Sandy Beach Organisms is a reference book about sandy beach organisms.   A different animal is described in detail on each page.   The book is organized by type of organism, so there is a page of information about organisms that share something in common. For example, the page titled Birds is followed by pages of information about sanderlings, herring gulls, and peregrine falcons. This book provides students with a second source of information for their organism reports.
What Lives on a Sandy Beach? provides a virtual walk along a sandy beach--with a peek at the multitude of organisms that live there--most hidden from view.   This book is designed to stimulate curiosity and provide a rare look at these sandy beach organisms in their habitat.   Students are challenged to answer questions posed in the text about the organisms--all of which can be answered through inference based on evidence in the illustrations. Students use information they find in this book to write reports about sandy beach organisms.
The Black Tide provides a newspaper-style account of an actual oil spill that occurred off the coast of Spain in 2002.   A series of articles provides a blow-by-blow description of the initial stormy seas, the oil tanker that broke apart, how the oil moved towards shore, efforts to contain and clean up the spill, and finally the immediate and year-after effects of the spill on shoreline organisms in the region.   This book provides a real world context for the simulations students conduct in class and an opportunity for students to make predictions about the effects of a real oil spill.
Shoreline Scientist is about the life and work of one scientist, Gary Griggs. Students first encountered Gary when they read Gary's Sand Journal earlier in the unit. Shoreline Scientist describes how Gary became interested in science, his education, and the questions and problems that Gary works on today.   This book provides students with a view of the role scientists play in solving problems in the world.
Designing Mixtures:
What If Rain Boots Were Made of Paper ? asks students to imagine a series of unusual objects, such as rain boots made of paper and frying pans made of rubber, in order to get them thinking about the relationship between objects, the materials used to make those objects, and the properties of those materials. This book provides an invitation to the Designing Mixtures unit and a real-world context for the importance of understanding about the properties of materials.
Solving Dissolving introduces and explains the concept of dissolving. Taking off from the familiar experience of dissolving sugar in water, the book provides evidence that the sugar is still there and describes what the remaining sugar might look like if we could see the tiny sugar particles.   Students learn about the role of temperature in solubility; that some substances are more soluble in water than others while other substances are not soluble in water at all; the difference between melting and dissolving; and how dissolving is useful to cooks, scientists, and inventors.   This book enables students to learn about more dissolving than is directly observable.
The Handbook of Interesting Ingredients is a reference book that provides information about most of the ingredients students use in the Designing Mixtures unit. For each ingredient there is a two-page spread with illustrations and information, some of which is directly observable and some of which is not, in sections titled: how it looks, substance or mixture?, where it comes from, important properties, what it's used for, and cause and effect. Ingredients in the handbook include baking soda, cinnamon, citric acid, corn syrup, cornstarch, egg white, flour, gelatin, oil, salt, sugar, vinegar, and water. Students use information they find in this book to support their firsthand investigations.
Jess Makes Hair Gel provides an account of a boy who sets out to make his own hair gel. In the book, Jess identifies the properties of a good hair gel and then tests different ingredients to see which have these properties. While conducting tests on each ingredient, Jess realizes that he needs to expand the list of properties of good hair gel to include several more. With this realization he is able to solve problems he encounters and end up with a great hair gel. This book models the steps of the design process that students use in the unit.
Jelly Bean Scientist shows how food scientists use science to design new kinds of food. In the book, readers meet Ambrose Lee, a food scientist who invents new jelly bean flavors. Students see examples of scientists who use their senses, try to design mixtures that have certain properties, and work in teams. They learn about the effect of ingredients in creating the texture of jelly beans and get a glimpse of the hard work and the serendipity of invention.   This book provides a real-world context for the work students are doing as they design mixtures in the classroom.
Gravity and Magnetism
Forces introduces students to several foundational concepts about forces, including: 1) a force is a push or a pull; 2) forces act between two objects; 3) forces can change the way things move; 4) you can feel evidence of forces; and 5) there are some forces that act at a distance—between objects that aren’t touching. The book helps students view the world through a scientific lens and see how forces are at work around them every day, all the time. In addition, Forces provides students with a book from which they can gather clear examples of both pictorial and textual evidence.
What My Sister Taught Me About Magnets is a realistic, fictional account of a girl who loves to investigate magnets. She investigates the similarities and differences among magnets of different shapes, sizes, and strengths. Through a series of “speeches,” the girl explains to her older sister what she has learned by investigating, and the ways in which she compared different magnets. What My Sister Taught Me About Magnets models ways of investigating magnets, recording data, making explanations, and the use of comparative language.
In Gravity Is Everywhere, students learn that gravity is a pulling force. The force of gravity exerted by Earth holds us and objects around us on the surface of Earth. The book explains the relationship between weight and gravity, and students learn that objects would have different weights on different places in space, such as on the Sun, Moon, and various planets in our Solar System. Gravity Is Everywhere provides evidence about the force of gravity through multiple examples. The book provides students with additional evidence about gravity that is not directly observable in everyday experience.
A train floats in the air. A tree shrinks instead of growing. A spoon seems to move by itself. What’s going on? Students grapple with these “mysteries” as they read Mystery Forces. Students are provided with a mysterious scenario and are asked to figure out which force (gravity, electrostatic force, or magnetic force) is involved. They use descriptions of different pulls or pushes to determine which force is at work. Students think carefully about the effects that each force has in order to make an explanation and solve the mystery. The book also helps students connect what they’ve been learning about forces to the world outside the classroom.