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Author: David Rice Illustrator: Michael S. Maydak
Retail Price: Paperback • $8.95 Teachers and parents—this book is an outstanding teaching resource, much more than the title might suggest. Beginning with “A lifetime for a mayfly is about one day,” it presents 24 “lifetimes” such as that of an earthworm (about six years), a giant sequoia (about 2,000 years), a bacteria (“well, that depends”), a dinosaur (“never again”) and the universe (about 15 to 20 billion years). Each example comes with detailed illustrations and something to ponder, such as, for earthworms, “Worms teach us that our work can be very important, even if it can’t be seen.” Each plant or animal is practically a lesson plan in itself, with “tell about it,” “think about it,” and “look it up” challenges. Written by a retired teacher, this is a favorite book for children and teachers alike. The study of time, animal characteristics, and death as a natural process can offer powerful lessons in the classroom, and a Teacher’s Guide based on Lifetimes is available as a companion book. The 48-page Guide by master teachers Bruce and Carol Malnor offers a creative collection of lesson plans that integrates science and character education for the classroom or home school teacher. It also provides copy masters and extension activities. Educators: download free activities based on this book on our activities page. |
- Learning Magazine “Teacher’s Choice” Award
I have used this book in a couple of different ways. When teaching a week long program with a consistent group of kids (or adults!), I have read two or three “lifetimes” a day and asked the group to pick out the adaptations of the organism. I have also used the lifetime of an individual organism to introduce ecological concepts like habitat, carrying capacity, competition, niche, cycles, etc. when I have less time and am doing a single daily or hourly program. “Tell about it,” “think about it,” and “look it up” questions occur with each lifetime description as well. These are great to either discuss out loud or have students/participants privately reflect upon in a journal or free write session. For example, the “tell about it” for an earthworm is “tell about a time when you did a good deed, such as picking up trash or helping a spider or bug, and no one say you do it.” The “look it up” states, “worms can tell if it is light or dark, even though they don’t have eyes. How can they tell?”
The great thing about this book is that it ends describing a human’s lifetime while challenging people to act. It empowers the readers (or listeners?) to appreciate and observe each organism for all of the contributions it makes to the world, life, and universe in general. It encourages people to make a difference. I like to read this story at the end of a week or day to motivate participants/students to apply what they have learned in any way they can.
— Clearing Magazine (Spring 2006)
“…The book, Lifetimes, won the Learning Magazine Teacher’s Choice Award. Once you open the book, it doesn’t take you long to discover how and why this award came into being. This is a great book and combined with the Teacher’s Guide, becomes an excellent teaching resource for all children grades 4-6…”
— Education Clearinghouse
www.educationclearinghouse.org (December 2002)
