eSource: Free Teaching Guides
Select a product from the list below to view available teaching guides. Use the tags on left to filter the list.
First Step Nonfiction — American Holidays
These content-rich resources give readers an understanding of why and how we celebrate our national holidays. A simple timeline in the back of each book clarifies how the holiday started and evolved, while a fast-facts section provides interesting details from history and today. View →
First Step Nonfiction — Animal Adaptations
Introduce the concepts of adaptation and habitat to beginning readers. Each title presents the animals found in a specific habitat and invites readers to explore how the animals are adapted to their surroundings. View →
First Step Nonfiction — Animal Families
Facilitate students’ understanding of how young animals resemble their parents. Engaging photos and simple sentence structure will help early emergent readers grasp these concepts quickly. View →
First Step Nonfiction — Animal Homes
Trees aren’t just for birds! Animals live in a variety of homes in every habitat. Direct picture-to-text correspondence makes this series an excellent choice for the budding zoologists in the classroom. View →
First Step Nonfiction — Animal Life Cycles
Captivating photographs of familiar animals help readers learn about a variety of animal life cycles. The selected subjects represent five major classes of animals—insects, birds, amphibians, mammals, and reptiles. View →
First Step Nonfiction — Animal Traits
Beginning readers will enjoy discovering the traits shared by different animals. They will delight in learning that humans share some of those traits too! Full-color photographs support the text. View →
First Step Nonfiction — Backyard Critters
Engage young readers with basic yet astounding scientific facts about the tiny creatures that live in backyards and parks across the country. Caption call-outs highlight key visual details in the books’ eye-catching images, and informative chapter headings assist emergent readers… View →
First Step Nonfiction — Balance and Motion
This series introduces students to different motion concepts—from spinning and rolling and staying still to going from here to there. Colorful photos and simple sentence constructions support beginning readers while teaching key science content. This series meets both science and reading View →
First Step Nonfiction — Basic Human Needs
This delightful series teaches students about everyone’s basic human needs. Colorful photographs support vocabulary as students learn about communities and the needs we all share. Supports social studies curriculum. View →
First Step Nonfiction — Body Coverings
This beginning reader series describes the different body coverings of familiar animals. Vibrant color photos correspond directly with each page’s simple text to reinforce concepts and vocabulary. View →
First Step Nonfiction — Calendars
Build readers’ understanding of how we measure time using calendars. Custom photographs illustrate various types of calendars and time-keeping measures, while kid-friendly examples convey the types of the activities done during the day, the week, and months in the year. An activity View →
First Step Nonfiction — Changing Forms
This series will help students discover how familiar objects change form through heating and cooling. See what happens to popcorn, ice cream, or candles when they are heated or cooled. Each book offers a close yet accessible look at physical or chemical processes—a key component of View →
First Step Nonfiction — Changing Matter
This science series explains how some forms of matter respond to various forces. Simple text and vivid color photographs encourage students to observe, describe, record, and predict the many types of changes in matter. View →
First Step Nonfiction — Citizenship
This series highlights essential character values that help people get along and be good citizens. Simple text and photographs offer concrete examples, while bulleted lists in the back of each book provide ideas for how readers can achieve these traits at home and at school. View →
First Step Nonfiction — Classroom Pets
Introduce students to the dos and dont’s of taking care of common classroom pets. Readers will learn what type of container their pet needs, what their pet eats, and what its daily habits are. Fun facts in the back of each book will also capture interest. View →
First Step Nonfiction — Colors
Using simple vocabulary and photographs, this series introduces beginning readers to colors. The easy-to-read, repetitive format helps students recognize sight words and become familiar with simple sentence construction. View →
First Step Nonfiction — Communities
Introduce young readers to the types of communities around them. Colorful photographs support the simple text and illustrate the similarities and differences of living in urban, suburban, and rural communities. These books support key curriculum standards for the primary grades. View →
First Step Nonfiction — Community Buildings
Give beginning readers a peek inside community buildings and familiarize them with the objects and people commonly found there. Color photos directly correspond to the simple text on each page. View →
First Step Nonfiction — Conservation
Create a classroom of conservationists! Each of these simple books examines way students can help conserve resources in their community. The simple text and corresponding photographs will support students as they learn about these important concepts. View →
First Step Nonfiction — Discovering Nature's Cycles
Designed for students at a first grade reading level, these titles help young readers identify and predict cycles in the natural world through examining animal behavior or natural phenomena. View →
First Step Nonfiction — Early Math
In this series basic concepts from early math curriculum are introduced using fun and familiar objects. These books support a well-balanced math program focusing on developing whole-number concepts and using patterns and sorting to explore numbers, data, and shapes. View →
First Step Nonfiction — Early Math Set II
More basic math concepts are introduced using fun and familiar objects. Readers will learn about patterns and sorting and develop whole number concepts. View →
First Step Nonfiction — Ecology
Explore the concept of interdependence of life with young readers. Each of these engaging, photographic books looks at how people, plants, and animals need a healthy environment—and each other—to survive. View →
First Step Nonfiction — Exploring Government
This set in the trusted First Step Nonfiction brand explains how government works, what its basic functions are, and how it affects our daily lives. From elections to citizenship, these titles will help young readers understand the key concepts of government. Bright,… View →