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.

Cover: Pigs

First Step Nonfiction — Farm Animals

This series explains the unique features and roles of various farm animals using simple text and color photographs. A diagram and fun facts complete this introduction to familiar, kid-friendly animals. View →

 
Cover: Happy

First Step Nonfiction — Feelings

Students will relate to the feelings addressed in these picture-filled books. Simple language familiarizes students with the written forms of words they already know, while teaching about the cause-and-effect relationships that evoke certain emotions. View →

 
Cover: Meats and Proteins

First Step Nonfiction — Food Groups

Build nutritional awareness in beginning readers through this appetizing series. The main text explains why each food group is beneficial and how much to eat. Kids will especially enjoy the trivia in the back of the book. View →

 
Cover: Gravity

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 →

 
Cover: Globes

First Step Nonfiction — Geography

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

 
Cover: What Is Government?

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 →

 
Cover: Let's Make a Circle Graph

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 →

 
Cover: Ocean

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 →

 
Cover: T Sounds

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 →

 
Cover: Liquids

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 →

 
Cover: Kinds of Grains

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 →

 
Cover: Windy

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 →

 
Cover: Plateaus

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 →

 
Cover: Let's Find Ads on Signs

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 →

 
Cover: Exploring Stems

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 →

 
Cover: How Does Weather Change?

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 →

 
Cover: Sensing Light and Sound

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 →

 
Cover: I Know It Is Nonliving

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 →

 
Cover: Above and Below

First Step Nonfiction — Location

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

 
Cover: Look at an Ash Tree

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 →

 
Cover: Map My Neighborhood

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 →

 
Cover: Wood

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 →

 
Cover: Saving Money

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 →

 
Cover: I Eat Apples in Fall

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 →