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Temple Grandin Unit Study
The Girl Who Thought in Pictures
The Story of Dr. Temple Grandin
by Julia Finley Mosca
illustrated by Daniel Rieley
We absolutely loved The Girl Who Thought in Pictures. This engaging book is both beautifully illustrated and written in rhyming verse. This book is full of learning opportunities from teaching rhyme to character building, learning about people with autism to learning about treatment of animals and women in science. Don’t miss the timeline of Temple’s life and letter from Dr. Temple Grandin herself!
I’m excited to share a sneak peek of the book with you as well as lesson plans with printable notebooking and coloring pages with clip art from the illustrator! I hope your kids love this book as much as mine did!
A Sneak Peek of the Book
Activity
Make a Prediction, Read a Chart
Temple thinks in pictures. How do you think?
How do you think? In pictures, ideas, songs, or memories? What do you think most people would choose? Which will be the least popular answer? Make predictions, take the quiz then examine the results by clicking “See Previous Results” to view the pie chart.
Need more data? Share the quiz with your friends and family – copy and paste this link to share: http://ow.ly/IZ4G30exWZ6 Do the results change when more people answer the quiz?
Create a Timeline
Check out the timeline of Temple’s life from birth to the present. Match up events with pages from the story. Then create your own timeline. Use family photos and drawings to capture all of the important events in your child’s life.
Field Trip
Visit a farm!
Temple spent the summers of her childhood on her Aunt Ann’s ranch. Visit a ranch or farm near your home.
Can’t visit a farm? Take a virtual field trip to this Kentucky beef farm.
Media
Learn more about Farms
National Geographic Kids Farm Animals Playlist on YouTube
Learn more about Temple
Temple Grandin: Animals Make us Human on YouTube

Temple Grandin
included on Amazon Prime
From Amazon: “Golden Globe(R)-winning actress Claire Danes shines in this fact-based story of an autistic woman who became an unlikely hero to America’s cattle industry–and to autistic people everywhere.”
This film is not rated. Common Sense Media rates it 14+ because of mature themes related to Temple’s autism and the treatment of animals. However, this movie does not include any foul language, sex, or drinking. I think that younger children that are not too sensitive (8-10) would be fine with this movie. Use your best judgement and preview the movie. It is an excellent film, so you won’t mind watching twice!
Learn more about Zoology
Explore Zoology on Ology, the American Museum of Natural History’s website for children. Here you can find games, stories, and videos about animal science.
Notebooking & Coloring Pages
Use the notebooking pages individually or create a book about Temple’s life. This packet includes four lined pages and three coloring pages.
Download your notebooking pages
More science from the Resource Room:

Ashley helps parents who want to homeschool find the resources they need to successfully teach their children. Ashley is a former teacher, current homeschooler, published author, and designer behind Circle Time with Miss Fox printables as well as the creator of this website, The Homeschool Resource Room.
I’ve never heard of this book, but I need to find it! I have a daughter who has Asberger’s and who is interested in animal biology. 🙂
It just came out! It’s really good, Leah. I hope you guys enjoy it 🙂