eSource: Free Teaching Guides
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First Step Nonfiction — Forces and Motion
Readers will easily grasp central concepts of physics in this fun series. From roller coasters to pool floats, and swings to hula hoops, the examples in the text and photographs illustrated each force or motion in the series. Rich back matter offers additional facts about the physical… View →

First Step Nonfiction — Geography
This series teaches beginning readers about geography, introducing maps, globes, and simple geography terms. Color photos support each concept. View →

First Step Nonfiction — Government
This social studies series explores the concepts of government in relation to students’ family, school, community, and country. Broad concepts are introduced using simple explanations and familiar examples. View →

First Step Nonfiction — Graph It!
Informative photographs and simple texts familiarize readers with a variety of graphs. Students will see how graphs organize data and make it easier to understand. This series meets standards for both math and language arts. View →

First Step Nonfiction — Habitats
Readers will travel to a variety of environments in this engaging series. The simple text and striking photography explore the types of plants and animals that live in each habitat. The books also shows the contrasts within a type of habitat—illustrating, for example, that some… View →

First Step Nonfiction — Hard Consonants
Engaging photos fully support readers as they learn simple words that use sounds of seven hard consonants. The words come together on the page to build a complete sentence. Students will feel the joy of building their reading skills as they successfully identify each word and read the… View →

First Step Nonfiction — Kinds of Matter
Students will enjoy learning about solids, liquids, and gases while improving their reading skills. Full-color photographs and easy sentences introduce students to the three types of matter. View →

First Step Nonfiction — Kinds of Plants
Vibrant photographs and simple vocabulary introduce students to fruits, vegetables, grains, and flowers. Students learn about different types of plants while improving their reading skills. View →

First Step Nonfiction — Kinds of Weather
Students will learn general terms to describe various weather conditions in this easy-to-read series. Key terms are repeated while sensory cues describe what a child might see or feel in various weather conditions. View →

First Step Nonfiction — Landforms
Simple sentences and vivid color photos explain the features of various landforms. These books define each landform and explain what it looks like, how it is formed, and how it is useful to people, plants, and animals. View →

First Step Nonfiction — Learn about Advertising
Build critical thinking skills in young readers by helping them understand the concept of advertising. Simple texts focus on the places where kids encounter advertising and explain how ad messages influence viewers. This series supports media literacy standards and shows students how to… View →

First Step Nonfiction — Let's Look at Plants
Vibrant color photographs and simple sentences introduce students to the parts of plants. Students will love learning about plants while improving their reading skills. This series meets both science and reading standards. View →

First Step Nonfiction — Let's Watch the Weather
This simple series introduces emergent readers to the ins and outs of weather, from what sunlight does to what a weather forecast is. Vibrant photos directly match the text on each page, and curricular features such as chapter headings and photo captions help kids learn about weather in… View →

First Step Nonfiction — Light and Sound
This simple, engaging series for beginning readers illuminates the basic properties of light and sound, from colors, shadows, and vibrations to ways we use light and sound to communicate. Bright photos, accessible text, and curricular features such as chapter headings and photo captions… View →

First Step Nonfiction — Living or Nonliving
This series explains the criteria for determining whether items are living or nonliving. Each book gives many examples, using text that directly corresponds with the photographs on each page. View →

First Step Nonfiction — Location
Students will learn key vocabulary words to describe the locations of objects. Repetition and color photographs reinforce vocabulary terms. View →

First Step Nonfiction — Look at Trees
Vibrant color photographs and simple vocabulary introduce students to a variety of trees. The books can be used together to compare the various types of roots, trunks, seeds, leaves, and bark. This series meets both science and reading standards. View →

First Step Nonfiction — Map It Out
In this series, students learn how to read a variety of maps, from a map of North America down to a map of furniture in a room. Simple text introduces map features, including a compass and legend key. View →

First Step Nonfiction — Materials
Build awareness of the many types of manufacturing materials. Photographs and text offer kid-friendly examples of products and what they are made from, such as cotton cloth made from cotton plants, and wool that comes from sheep. A spread in each book briefly explains a manufacturing… View →

First Step Nonfiction — Money
Covering the basic principles of money, commerce, and economics, these titles teach readers that everything has a comparative value. Simple examples—such as earning an allowance or selling lemonade—show ways that money is used in society. View →

First Step Nonfiction — Observing Fall
Take readers on a virtual autumn nature walk with these appealing informational texts! Readers will examine a wide range of curricular topics from size, shape, and color to various animal traits and categories of autumn crops while observing nature in the fall. View →

First Step Nonfiction — Parts of Plants
Introduce students to the parts of plants, from roots and stems to flowers and leaves. Support science concepts while building reading skills. View →

First Step Nonfiction — Plant Life Cycles
Readers will have a close-up view of plant life through the detailed photographs in this series. The images show a variety of plants, uncovering the secrets of how roots sprout from seeds, tubers, and bulbs and following the young plants through to maturity. Illustrated diagrams sum up… View →

First Step Nonfiction — Pollination
Emergent readers discover the process of pollination through simple nonfiction text. The books showcase connections between plants and animals as they depend on each other for survival. Main ideas are clearly explained, and science-specific vocabulary is supported by diagrams and photos. View →