Students must compare and contrast different versions of the same story. These titles are adaptations of traditional folklore, childhood songs, nursery rhymes, or stories and can easily be compared to the original, traditional version and/or other adaptations.

Students need to learn what groups of things are called, collective nouns. These titles incorporate this information into the story text and/or the For Creative Minds section.

Students are required to determine if words rhyme and to describe how rhythm contributes to the story.

Basic introductory math skills covered include counting; simple addition and subtraction; telling time of day, weeks, months; and number patterns including even and odd.

Basic late-elementary math skills include simple multiplication and division, simple fractions; coordinate grids (maps in FCM), reading and understanding charts and graphs (FCM), and higher-level place value, measurement/temperature comparisons (FCM).

State and NGSS science standards require students to understand that plants and animals have repeatable life cycles, that young resemble their parents, and that living things change over time. Includes complete and incomplete metamorphosis information in FCM sections.

Plants and animals have physical structures and instinctual behaviors that allow them to survive in their habitat. External structures include body parts for moving (feet shape, wings), getting food (claws, beak shape), or getting oxygen (nose, blowhole, gills). Behaviors can include camouflage (holding still), migration or hibernation, methods of seeking prey (cats stalking), etc. Some adaptations are a combination of behavior and physical structures. While many Sylvan Dell books include this information in For Creative Minds’ activities, these particular titles introduce the information in the story itself. This set falls under life science and crosses over to Social Studies and Geography.

State and NGSS science standards require students to understand that plants and animals rely on living (food web, shelter needs using plant material, animal-related seed dispersal) and non-living (climate, wind, rocks, soil, water) things to meet their basic needs for survival and that those needs must be meet within their habitat. Most state standards spit this between living and earth science concepts but the two are being combined under the upcoming NGSS. This subject overlaps with Social Studies Geography standards.

State and NGSS science standards require students to understand that habitats change due to earth processes (fast or slow), and can also be changed by living things—including humans. This set incorporates Environmental Education, Earth Systems, and Life Science. 

While many Sylvan Dell books include this information in For Creative Minds’ activities, these particular titles cover the in-depth information in the story itself. To date, the classification titles cover the main animal vertebrate classes: fish, reptiles, mammals, birds, and amphibians. Many state standards place this in grades 1 and 2 but the subject is moving to grade 3 with the upcoming NGSS.

Whether standards refer to Astronomy, the Solar System, or the Earth’s Place in the Universe, this set includes titles about moon phases, meteors, and planets. Many states introduce this subject in 1st or 2nd grade and then pick it up again in 4th or 5th grade. NGSS moves these subjects to 1st and 5th grade. 

This NGSS grouping incorporates state standards dealing with earth materials and properties (rocks, soil, water, etc.), natural resources (renewable and non-renewable), and natural disasters (earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes) and the impact on life. At the state level, these standards are often split between earth science, social studies, environmental education, and life science.

Some state standards require students to know the different between weather and climate or between climate and seasons and some states require distinction between all three related but different concepts. NGSS moves this subject into Earth Systems and Human Activity (see above) because of the non-living interrelationship between living things (including humans) and their habitat.