'Science Verse' and 'Math Curse' Funny Educational Books by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith

On a never-ending quest for science and math lesson plans that appeal to kids and make content user-friendly, the books of Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith meet task. 'Science Verse', 'Math Curse' and 'Squids will be Squids' combine learning and fun. Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith teamed up in 1989 to create 'The True Story of the Three Little Pigs' in which Alexander T. Wolf tells his side of the Three Little Pigs story. This book helped spawn a genre of children's literature called 'Fractured Fairy Tales'. Actually, 'Fractured Fairy Tales' was a segway of the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show from the early 1960s. Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith used these tales to write their own fairy tale parody. Then, in the same vein, Scieszka and Smith gave us the Caldecott Honor Book 'The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales'. These stories poke fun and fairy tales and reinvent them for modern audiences.

'Math Curse' and 'Science Verse' juxtapose satire and well-known poems and songs (plus Lane Smith's illustrations) to teach kids about different mathematical and scientific principles. 'Science Verse' teaches these science concepts:

Evolution (set to 'The Battle Hymn of the Republic')

Water Cycle (set to 'It's Raining, It's Pouring')

Human Body (set to 'I Think that I Shall Never See a Poem as Lovely As a Tree'- Joyce Kilmer)

Astronomy (set to 'Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star')

Dinosaurs (set to 'The Raven')

Food Chain ('I've Been Workin' on the Railroad')

Artificial Food Additives ('The Jabberwocky')

Scientific Method ('Casey at the Bat')

Atomic Theory (The Legend of Hiawatha)

States of Matter ('Miss Susie Had a Baby')

Big Bang Theory ('Twas the Night Before Christmas')

Other poems include astronomy, metamorphasis and microscopic life.

In 'Math Curse' Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith help students explore algebra, probability, statics, fractions, money and story problems in everyday life. Students solve math problems and simulations.

Here are some free lesson plans based on Science Verse and Math Curse:

http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/solving-math-curse-reading-1123.html

http://www.globalclassroom.org/2000/mathcurse.html

http://ethemes.missouri.edu/themes/1669

http://www.state.lib.la.us/empowerlibrary/SCIENCE%20VERSE.pdf

http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/earth-verse-using-science-1141.html?tab=4

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