Spring is here! Then again, at least in Florida. Birds and the sun are out, and the temperature is already in the high 80s and low 90s. Even though it's time for spring to come, we don't want any more plants and seeds and flowers taking over our school curriculum. Pull some seeds and plants books now! Every time we start a new unit for reading, science, or social studies, I love pulling as many books about the subject as I can find. I've found that the more books they have, the more they read. I've also seen a big rise in their vocabulary since they started this practice, so I'm going to keep going with it!

Please note that this post does have affiliate links. This means that if you click through and buy something that I've recommended, I get paid a small amount. These small fees help me bring you great and free content and give away a few things. Every seed or plant unit should read 10 of these books today. This book is a great mix of fiction, nonfiction, and a little fantasy thrown in for good measure, too. Then all of them are sure to teach, inspire, or even touch your students in some way in some way!

Seeds and Plants Books

From Seed to Plant by Gail Gibbons

There are a lot of books written by Gail Gibbons that explain complicated scientific processes in a way that is easy for kids to understand. There is no difference between this CCSS mentor text and other texts like it With this book, students will learn more about how a seed grows into a plant. It has a lot of pictures and simple words.

To Use in the Classroom:

This informational text can be used in your classroom as part of a whole group close reading project. It's a great book for teaching scientific process, text features, main idea and details, and more. It's also a great way to show how to read. It's easy to download our 5 day close reading lesson plan and activities here!

The Ugly Vegetablesby Grace Lin

I first learned about this book through my old reading group. I fell in love right away! Minority main character, her dislike of her mother's garden and the surprise ending make this a great book study for kids to read.

To Use in the Classroom:

I love using this book to keep track of what characters do in the story. Little girl: I don't like my mother's garden at first, but by the end I start to like it. Have students write down what happened and why it happened, then show them. Responding to a text with evidence, anyone?

The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle

This well-known story about the life of a flower starts with the adventures of a seed. Perfect for students who want to learn more about why seeds move. The illustrations are sure to make your students fall in love with them!

To Use in the Classroom:

Use this book as part of an author study or as an introduction to your seeds and plants unit. This book is great because it's so easy to talk about sequencing, illustrations, and why things happen.

There, I used this story as a way to start our own seed project. You can find out more about that here.

The Magic School Bus: Plants Seeds

The Magic School Bus book is an important part of any unit on a certain subject. All teachers want to be like the Frizz, and her crazy learning adventures are the best way to change up a classroom.

To Use in the Classroom:

I love using Magic School Bus books to teach about text features and learn new words about the subject. As you read, talk about the little side notes and written reports that are in the text. I also like to show a short clip from the TV show to show how something works or to get people interested. All the Magic School Bus YouTube videos are here.

Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt by Kate Messner

This is a great book to read with "Over and Under the Snow" in the spring. This lyrical book looks at the hidden worlds of a garden through beautiful art.

To Use in the Classroom:

You can use this book to get a better sense of what goes on in a garden. You can see that it's not just dirt and flowers there.

National Geographic’s From Seed to Plant

So, I'm going to say something. I love these National Geographic KIDS books so much! It is a good fit for them to read to our small group. In the Target Dollar Section for a while, you could get these for a few dollars, but they are no longer there. I haven't seen any new ones in a while, but I'm always on the lookout! Seed to Plant is a must-have because it has great nonfiction content at a level that our young readers can understand (pun intended)

To Use in the Classroom:

This book is very interesting for the reader. It has jokes, reader questions, and great text features, so you can use it as a small group read for your center time at school. To help your younger students read, use a guided reading book. For your older students, have them work with the glossary at the back, respond to text, and so much more!

Stems and Roots by David M. Schwartz

The "Look Once, Look Again" series is a great choice for science series for young people. I love how this series lets students get right into the content by having them look at the whole thing once, then look more closely at the parts that they are interested in. You can learn more about plants and how they help them live in this book!

To Use It in the Classroom:

You can use this book to talk about how the parts of plants help the plant stay alive, so start there!

Time for Kids: Plants!

Here comes Time for Kids! They love the Science Scoops from Time For Kids, and this one is no different! During this tour, your students will learn about seeds, venus fly traps and how plants get water.

To Use It in the Classroom:

There's another small group favorite here! Talk about the main idea of a text that has more than one paragraph with it! It's easy to use this Interactive Anchor Chart to help your high-fliers figure out the main idea and details.

Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert

Anyone who has written or illustrated a book by this person is a must in the classroom, and this book is no different. In this story, Ms. Ehlert talks about how seeds, bulbs, and seedlings become beautiful plants. Lois Ehlert used staggered pages to show all the colors in the rainbow with plants and flowers in this book. This is one of my favorite things about the book.

To Use It in the Classroom:

I always used this book as a guide for students when they were writing about what they would plant in their own garden. You could also use this book to talk about how an author works. Using the structure of the book, Ms. Ehlert is very good at putting a rainbow in front of the reader. This leads to great talks about why and how an author can make their point in text.

Oh Say Can You Seed? All About About Flowering Plants

Finally, we have this wacky and fun plant book that adds a little fantasy to a world of facts. Students will follow along with The Cat in the Hat, Thing 1, and Thing 2 as they learn about the parts of plants, seeds, and flowers in this lesson. This text also talks about simple photosynthesis, pollination, and seed dispersal.

To Use It in the Classroom:

We use this book as part of our "Free Reading" time. A familiar character and great illustrations make this book a hit with the kids. There was just too much to read aloud in one sitting.

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