The text includes 35 articles associated with the common topics taught in a middle grades earth science classroom. The goal of this text is to bridge the void between scientific literacy and general literacy. With an eye always on inquiry science, we firmly believe inclusion of text is critical. First, text helps students make connections that would otherwise be impossible with conventional inquiry. Second, we want our students to learn to become great readers. Great readers have the keys to unlock any type of text, not just science. Third, we want to integrate science and reading in a way that helps both disciplines. Most students love science, so why not offer interesting science topics to students who might otherwise find reading to be boring. Everything included in this book is checked using multiple metrics to assure that what we write are aligned to the newest demands for grade level complex text. During this process we are always mindful to focus on known misconceptions that are commonly associated with these topics. A third requirement is text length. There has been emphasis about reading stamina for many years. We make sure our text length accommodates this goal by using a common metric. Additional resources to accompany this book, such as answer keys, vocabulary supports, etc., can be found at our website: https: //www.candlelightscience.com/
