Reading skills and life science come together in this engaging new book for middle school teachers. Once Upon a Life Science Book makes it easy for teachers to improve their students’ reading abilities and teach science content simultaneously through clearly outlined, inquiry-based lessons.

Author Jodi Wheeler-Toppen offers science activities for students and explains how these activities relate to the National Science Education Standards. Topics as varied as the cell cycle, skeletal and muscular systems, genetics, and food chains are covered in a concise manner that will appeal to teachers and students alike. She doesn’t stop there, however. She follows these activities with reading strategies such as comprehension coding, chunking, and previewing diagrams and illustrations that students can apply to science lessons and other subjects. The reading passages on science content are more student friendly and easier to follow than typical textbooks, which might not provide the background knowledge or connections that students need to learn science content.

With this interdisciplinary volume, teachers can help students learn the science in a straightforward manner and develop strategies to improve their reading—a win-win that will delight time-strapped educators.