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Amazing Invertebrates

by Kathy Blakemore

Pages 2 and 3 of 393

Incredible Invertebrates!
By Mrs. B's & her GEMS students of 2016
Elsinore Middle School
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Incredible Invertebrates
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A collaborative effort by the seventh grade GEMS students of Elsinore Middle School.
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Published March 2019
Elsinore Middle School
Lake Elsinore, CA

Cover Art by Jennie Pham

Book Design by Kathy Blakemore
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Incredible Invertebrates
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A collaborative effort by the seventh grade GEMS students of Elsinore Middle School.
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Foreword
Students who enter Kathy Blakemore’s middle school classroom on the first day of school are immediately immersed in science. Science here is something students do, not something they learn about from dry sources that drain the wonder from the science all around them. On any day, visitors would see students saving local wildlife, observing the water from the nearby lake, or organizing an experiment to determine just how light affects phytoplankton.
When students leave her class, they have learned several of the important dispositions that scientists all over the world recognize as hallmarks of their profession. They learn the value of wonder, the importance of organized inquiry, and the significance of disseminating the hard work of science they have done. That is why this eBook is such an accomplishment.
In the electronic pages of Incredible Invertebrates, the seventh-grade authors have synthesized a mountain of sources into a fun-to-read volume about an amazing world that most people just don’t see even though it is all around them. Filled with photographs and diagrams, the book immerses the reader in the depths of the sea where sponges and sea anemones live to the space above your garden where butterflies and beetles fly. Throughout the book, the authors guide readers through the difficult vocabulary of the invertebrate world with bolded words and a glossary of terms for easy reference in each section.
Foreword
Students who enter Kathy Blakemore’s middle school classroom on the first day of school are immediately immersed in science. Science here is something students do, not something they learn about from dry sources that drain the wonder from the science all around them. On any day, visitors would see students saving local wildlife, observing the water from the nearby lake, or organizing an experiment to determine just how light affects phytoplankton.
When students leave her class, they have learned several of the important dispositions that scientists all over the world recognize as hallmarks of their profession. They learn the value of wonder, the importance of organized inquiry, and the significance of disseminating the hard work of science they have done. That is why this eBook is such an accomplishment.
In the electronic pages of Incredible Invertebrates, the seventh-grade authors have synthesized a mountain of sources into a fun-to-read volume about an amazing world that most people just don’t see even though it is all around them. Filled with photographs and diagrams, the book immerses the reader in the depths of the sea where sponges and sea anemones live to the space above your garden where butterflies and beetles fly. Throughout the book, the authors guide readers through the difficult vocabulary of the invertebrate world with bolded words and a glossary of terms for easy reference in each section.

As you tour the world of invertebrates with the authors, you encounter interesting and fun facts that make your visit engaging. I did not know that humans, when asked to randomly name an animal, will pick a vertebrate most often, even though 95 percent of the animals on Earth are invertebrates.
While you read, notice that the authors use the taxonomy that scientists use to classify living things demonstrating that they know and understand it while also guiding the reader to better understand it, too. Each section is based on evidence that the student authors have synthesized, another quality of good science work. Finally, this book is freely available. I wondered if the authors were planning to sell the book, but Mrs. Blakemore told me that they wanted to share their work at no cost. Scientists around the world disseminate their work to inform their colleagues. So, too, have these young science authors made their work available to inform their readers and inspire other teachers and students to build on their work.
Finally, it is worth noting that scientists rarely work all alone in a lab by themselves these days. They tend to work collaboratively as members of a team. Like scientists whose work is their passion, Incredible Invertebrates is the work of students who have learned to care about the environment in the same way scientists do—as a member of a collaborative team.
At the end of the book, be sure to read through the assignment that Mrs. Blakemore gave to her students and check out the resources the authors used to create this book. You may be inspired to write your own eBook!
Dr. Thomas DeVere Wolsey
Temecula, CA
Online professor, The Graduate School of Education, Portland State University
Founder, Institute to Advance International Education

Co-Author of
Literacy in the Disciplines:
A Teacher's Guide
for Grades 5-12