Oh Say Can You See What's The Weather Today

I ran across Oh Say Can You Say What's the Weather Today?: All About Weatherat a used book sale and immediately began to research the series and track it down for family.

The series uses the Cat in the Hat and his friends to explore various science topics. It does follow the rhyming format of the Dr. Suess picture books, but these are very science based.

In this book the the Cat in the Hat sets out to teach children a wide range of facts about the weather. The book begins with some very basic introductions to weather, but quickly delves into weather maps, natural signs of weather changes, types of clouds, the water cycle (with a very age appropriate diagram and explanation), evaporation, condensation, rain, snow, climates, humidity, thunder, lightening, storms, and safety.

Some topics are clearly more suited to this format than others. Others seem to have appeared to have been more important to the author than others and thus received more attention and focus leaving others to be casually addressed.

I think this is a great series to bridge children's interest in the rhyming of Dr. Suess' picture books to an interest in non-fiction topics. I also think it would work in primary classrooms or at home as support material for students. The information is easily accessible and provides material for readers who might find the familiarity of the Suess format easier to grasp than more traditional non-fiction reading.

There is often a challenge in finding quality non-fiction material that is accurate and also at a level students can read independently or with minimal support. I think this series fills that gap for parents and teachers and encourages students to explore science reading at an early age.