Elaborate on the concept of Earth systems and cycles using this science inquiry card and lesson. Using vibrant, engaging images for science exploration allows all students to make connections and relate science concepts to new situations.

The Discovering Science through Inquiry series provides teachers and students of grades 3-8 with direction for hands-on science exploration around particular science topics and focuses. The series follows the 5E model (engage, explore, explain, elaborate, evaluate). The Earth Systems and Cycles kit provides a complete inquiry model to explore Earth's various systems and cycles through supported investigation. Guide students as they make cookies to examine how the rock cycle uses heat to form rocks. Earth Systems and Cycles kit includes: 16 Inquiry Cards in print and digital formats; Teacher's Guide; Inquiry Handbook (Each kit includes a single copy; additional copies can be ordered); Digital resources include PDFs of activities and additional teacher resources, including images and assessment tools; leveled background pages for students; and video clips to support both students and teachers.

What makes the sun rise and set? Our planet is spinning in a universe of sun, moon, and stars. See how a day unfolds in one family's backyard in this story of Earth and sun.

Fifty years have passed since the first Earth Day, on 22 April 1970. This accessible, incisive and timely collection of essays brings together a diverse set of expert voices to examine how the Earth’s environment has changed over this past half century, and what lies in store for our planet over the coming fifty years. Earth 2020: An Insider’s Guide to a Rapidly Changing Planet responds to a public increasingly concerned about the deterioration of Earth’s natural systems, offering readers a wealth of perspectives on our shared ecological past, and on the future trajectory of planet Earth. Written by world-leading thinkers on the front-lines of global change research and policy, this multi-disciplinary collection maintains a dual focus: some essays investigate specific facets of the physical Earth system, while others explore the social, legal and political dimensions shaping the human environmental footprint. In doing so, the essays collectively highlight the urgent need for collaboration across diverse domains of expertise in addressing one of the most significant challenges facing us today. Earth 2020 is essential reading for everyone seeking a deeper understanding of the past, present and future of our planet, and the role of humanity in shaping this trajectory.

A page-turning novel that is also an exploration of the great philosophical concepts of Western thought, Jostein Gaarder's Sophie's World has fired the imagination of readers all over the world, with more than twenty million copies in print. One day fourteen-year-old Sophie Amundsen comes home from school to find in her mailbox two notes, with one question on each: "Who are you?" and "Where does the world come from?" From that irresistible beginning, Sophie becomes obsessed with questions that take her far beyond what she knows of her Norwegian village. Through those letters, she enrolls in a kind of correspondence course, covering Socrates to Sartre, with a mysterious philosopher, while receiving letters addressed to another girl. Who is Hilde? And why does her mail keep turning up? To unravel this riddle, Sophie must use the philosophy she is learning—but the truth turns out to be far more complicated than she could have imagined.