Explore Soil!
Teacher Resources

Explore Soil! With 25 Great Projects

Illustrated by Bryan Stone

We all know you can't eat a mud pie, but did you know that without the soil that makes up a mud pie, we wouldn't have very much real food? We wouldn't have several important medicines, either! Soil is a very important resource. We walk on it, play in it, build with it, grow our food in it, and get antibiotics from it. But what exactly is soil? What makes it so important? Can we survive without soil?

In Explore Soil! With 25 Great Projects, young readers learn what this substance is made of and how vital it is to our own lives. They look at how soil filters both the water we drink and the air we breathe, then follow the food supply chain from field to plate, exploring the relationships between environment, culture, food production, and health.

Activities such as exploring soil runoff, composting, and analyzing soil composition offer kids the chance to get their hands dirty and come face to face with the soil. Explore Soil! offers practical solutions to protect this important resource, and with it our source of food, access to antibiotics, and clean water and air.

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Reviews

Puget Sound Council for the Review of Children's Media
Recommended -- Superior in style, liveliness, integrity and format.
"Projects outlined for young (and young at heart) explorers with supplies listed and step-by-step directions with interesting ways to record the results. "Did you know" circles with interesting trivia. "Just for fun" questions and answers to share laughs. "Words to know" boxes explain the words in green found on that page. Essential question to contemplate such as "Is all soil the same?" . . . Great addition for the science topics with Norse Myths!, Fossils!, and Forces and Motion! as the newest titles in the Explore Your World ! series."

School Library Connection
"Through engaging text, sidebars, graphics, and projects, this book just might change the way readers think about soil . . . The kid-friendly arrangement with a fair dose of humor and comic book illustrations means younger readers will be able to enjoy this book independently. Teachers of budding scientists will also enjoy this book for the depth of information covered.  Recommended."

Booklist
"
This entry in the Explore Your World series offers an animated, extensive introduction to soil, from detailing types to explaining how soil functions and impacts the environment to addressing conservation issues. The scientific concepts are generally well explained in accessible, often peppy text, while key terms are defined both with context clues and in sidebars. "Essential Questions" throughout the book invite further thinking and encourage readers to revisit previous information . . . this is a broad-ranging, inviting approach to the topic, which both students and educators may find useful."

John Witz, Senior Corporate Geologist, Environmental Products & Services of Vermont
"This is a ‘must-read' for pre-teens interested in understanding the planet we call home. Explore Soil! Is an easy-to-understand look at a complicated science. The projects kept my daughters intrigued and enthusiastic and the Keyword Prompts are an exciting touch."

Claire O'Connor, Policy Analyst with the Soil Health Team at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
"This fun, informative book is a great introduction to one of our most precious, yet undervalued, resources—our soil! Kids and adults alike will benefit from its lessons about the world beneath our feet."

 

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Detailed Book Description

We all know you can't eat a mud pie, but did you know that without the soil that makes up a mud pie, we wouldn't have very much real food? We wouldn't have several important medicines, either! Soil is a very important resource. We walk on it, play in it, build with it, grow our food in it, and get antibiotics from it. But what exactly is soil? What makes it so important? Can we survive without soil?

In Explore Soil! With 25 Great Projects, young readers learn what this substance is made of and how vital it is to our own lives. They look at how soil filters both the water we drink and the air we breathe, then follow the food supply chain from field to plate, exploring the relationships between environment, culture, food production, and health.

Activities such as exploring soil runoff, composting, and analyzing soil composition offer kids the chance to get their hands dirty and come face to face with the soil. Explore Soil! offers practical solutions to protect this important resource, and with it our source of food, access to antibiotics, and clean water and air.

Available In:
Hardcover, $19.95
9781619302969
Paperback, $14.95
9781619302952
Includes: Table of Contents | Timeline | Charts | Glossary | Resources | Index | Metric Conversions Chart
Specs: 8 x 10 size | 4-color interior | 96 pages
Content Focus: Earth Science

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction
What Is Soil?

Chapter 1
Home Sweet Soil

Chapter 2
How Soil Works

Chapter 3
Soil and People

Chapter 4
Soil and Disease

Chapter 5
Soil and Farm Animals

Chapter 6
Soil and Plants

Chapter 7
Dangers to Soil

Chapter 8
What Can We Do?

Glossary
Metric Conversions
Resources
Index