madteaparty Posted March 13, 2023 Share Posted March 13, 2023 My 6th grader is doing a DNA camp this summer—we normally have a non fiction in our read aloud circulation so I would like to add a DNA one. Something readable that’s not a massive lift (bc we read at night at end of day—she goes to school). I do have the kiddie version of The Origin of Species, this DNA book would follow that one. any ideas? Many thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malam Posted March 13, 2023 Share Posted March 13, 2023 https://www.nypl.org/blog/2021/04/21/books-about-genetics-national-dna-day The the emphasis on DNA specifically and forensics, or genes/inheritance in general? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madteaparty Posted March 13, 2023 Author Share Posted March 13, 2023 Hi, that’s an amazing resource, thanks for posting. Will look to see if any aren’t above our respective heads. The first camp is a pure intro “fun with dna” type and the second is about enzymes. So the latter, DNA/genetics would be what we are looking for! Thanks again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malam Posted March 13, 2023 Share Posted March 13, 2023 Hacking the Code of Life by Nessa Carey (it seems to be the least technical of her books) https://www.synthego.com/blog/best-books-genomics#best-books-on-history-of-genetics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serendipitous journey Posted March 14, 2023 Share Posted March 14, 2023 Jay Hosler's The Stuff of Life? It's a graphic novel, which can make for tricky reading, so as Support Material I'm pasting in Hatchette Book Group's advice for read-aloud graphic novels. Just to have on the thread; I know you have a lot of reading-aloud experience under your belt 😉 As a reader, graphic novels and comics give you a great opportunity to stretch your range. If kids are getting antsy when you read aloud to them, especially with chapter books, graphic novels help kids stay more engaged, as they’ll need to see each pane to grasp the story fully. Because the illustrations are so important, it may be helpful in a large-group setting to have a screen and an electronic edition where you can zoom and scroll. Read the book ahead of time to get an idea of the characters and how much of the action happens without dialogue. For graphic novels that are heavy on dialogue, it’s time to pull out your voices or try splitting dialogue duties by dividing up characters. If there are long stretches of action without dialogue, you can still add sound effects and read signs or words in the background. But to keep the action scenes moving, you can use a finger to guide children from pane to pane, go more quickly when action is fast but slow down when there’s a lot of detail to take in. Don’t be afraid to narrate even if there are no words. Even better, ask children to describe a panel or page. Stop and ask questions like, “What’s happening here?” or “What do you think she’s doing?” Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Not_a_Number Posted March 17, 2023 Share Posted March 17, 2023 On 3/14/2023 at 3:53 PM, serendipitous journey said: Jay Hosler's The Stuff of Life? It's a graphic novel, which can make for tricky reading, so as Support Material I'm pasting in Hatchette Book Group's advice for read-aloud graphic novels. Just to have on the thread; I know you have a lot of reading-aloud experience under your belt 😉 As a reader, graphic novels and comics give you a great opportunity to stretch your range. If kids are getting antsy when you read aloud to them, especially with chapter books, graphic novels help kids stay more engaged, as they’ll need to see each pane to grasp the story fully. Because the illustrations are so important, it may be helpful in a large-group setting to have a screen and an electronic edition where you can zoom and scroll. Read the book ahead of time to get an idea of the characters and how much of the action happens without dialogue. For graphic novels that are heavy on dialogue, it’s time to pull out your voices or try splitting dialogue duties by dividing up characters. If there are long stretches of action without dialogue, you can still add sound effects and read signs or words in the background. But to keep the action scenes moving, you can use a finger to guide children from pane to pane, go more quickly when action is fast but slow down when there’s a lot of detail to take in. Don’t be afraid to narrate even if there are no words. Even better, ask children to describe a panel or page. Stop and ask questions like, “What’s happening here?” or “What do you think she’s doing?” This is what we use. The kids really like it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted March 17, 2023 Share Posted March 17, 2023 Not DNA specifically, but the young people's edition of the Third Chimpanzee is good. https://www.amazon.com/Third-Chimpanzee-Young-People-Evolution/dp/1609806115 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UHP Posted March 19, 2023 Share Posted March 19, 2023 The first chapter (or more) of "the 8th day of creation", by Judson, might be good to read aloud for a 6th grader. It might be a little grown-up (I don't mean R-rated), it's adapted from some old New Yorker articles. But it gives a lot of interesting context to the "molecular revolution" and it's not too technical. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serendipitous journey Posted March 20, 2023 Share Posted March 20, 2023 (edited) Those both look terrific, and we're studying biology now. So glad the OP asked this! Edited March 20, 2023 by serendipitous journey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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