Sunshine Makes the Seasons

I was surprised to find out how many college students didn't understand where and why we had seasons. Maybe if they had read this book at a young age it would have been something that stuck with them better than however they had learned. I loved this book and the way it broke down the science behind what the sun does for us in a very easy to understand way. I really think third graders just learning about the solar system and sun would benefit from this book, it even guides you through some experiments that help the students actually see what they are learning in person.

This is an interactive book on the Seasons. The author starts out discussing the importance of the sun and how the earth rotates once in 24 hours and simultaneously takes a year to make a trip around the sun. Once the concepts are laid out, the author tells the reader they can use some objects to see how this works. The reader can use a pencil, pin, orange, and flashlight to see how the earth rotates around the sun. While telling the reader what to do the author is explaining what is happening in different areas (on the orange representing earth). The reader makes one rotation incorrectly holding the pencil straight up and down to show them how the sun affects the North and South pole. The author then explains this is not how earth show more moves and asks the reader to tilt the orange. The author then explains how the seasons are affected due to the tilt.
The author and illustrator used the words in the book and illustrations to teach the reader about seasons. They also explained and illustrated how the reader should use the supplies listed to see why we have seasons.
The illustrator used the same two children to explore seasons in the book I did not see diversity in this book and the illustrations were more cartoon-like than realistic.
The author includes a section at the end of the book that lets the reader learn more about the sun. The back flap includes short biographies on the author and reader but there is no bibliography for the reader to see sources. show less

This book is the perfect text to use when teaching about seasons. This book gives a fun activity that lets children be the sun and the earth, spinning and rotating, to see days, years, and seasons. This gives children a wonderful visual. This book contains great information on how seasons are made. I love the story line of this book, and the fact that children can see themselves in it. Overall, this is a great book that I really enjoyed.

Fun way to teach kids the seasons is to read this book! You really cannot go wrong with this book. It is beautifully illustrated, and the text is precise and easy to understand.

44 months - love this series of intro science books. They always have simple ands on ways to grasp the book's concept. This one is especially good.

This book was about the seasons. The book talks about the seasons changing, the Earth's rotation, and the sun. I liked that this book had an experiment in it, so readers can see how the sun (flashlight) effects the rotation of the Earth (foam ball).

Sunshine Makes the Seasons is all about the sun and its characteristics. This book talks about what all the sun is actually part of in the world. There are effects to follow if the sun were to stop shinning. Although the sun shines all year long, we are colder in the winter and warmer in the summer. To see the effects of the sun on the seasons, we can experiment. An orange, pencil, flashlight and marker would be needed for the experiment. One person holds the flashlight and the other holds the north and south labeled orange on the pencil. As the orange is rotated, the light that appears on the orange is the sun. However, once the earth goes around the sun, the days get shorter. The sun and earth play big factors in our life.
Overall, show more Sunshine makes the Seasons was a really good book. This book was very descriptive like all science books should be. The experiment with the orange on a pencil with the flashlight was just like the experiment demonstrated to us in class. I would read and experiment with this in a second grade classroom. The science content is accurate in this book and works well as an example. I could read this book to my class when talk about the four seasons and the effects on humans. The four seasons would be part of a science lesson. Also, this book could be read when I talk about the moon and sun. show less