There are no deserts in New York State.  Students are very interested and curious about deserts. There are many trade books to use when you teach students about deserts that will make the desert interesting and allow students to make connections.  Social studies and language arts are ideal subject to integrate. Listed below are some excellent books with suggested activities.

The Desert is Theirs by Byrd Baylor is a poetically written story about people who choose to live in the desert. A variety of desert plants and animals are featured. It's an excellent book to write a compare/contrast essay of the Papago Indians, featured in this book, to people living in NYS.

One Day in the Desert by Jean Craighead George. This is a chapter book about a wounded mountain lion who moves to the desert.  This book is a good introduction to desert ecology.  Students could keep a diary of the mountain lion from its point of view, which integrates language arts with social studies. They could also keep a list of desert terms and define them as they encounter the words as they read.

Desert Voices by Byrd Baylor is written from the perspective of ten desert creatures. Byrd Baylor has written several books about the desert region.  This book would be good to use a Venn diagram to compare/contrast another Baylor book.

Deserts by Gail Gibbons is a very general description about the characteristics and formation of deserts. This book is an excellent way to introduce landforms of deserts and how deserts are formed. Also, this book is a good way to teach students how to take notes, while at the same time learning the content.

The Magic School Bus Gets All Dried Up: A Book About Deserts by Joanna Cole features Ms. Frizzle and her class when they go on a field trip to the desert. If students are doing any short research projects involving deserts, this book has many models to read.

I'm in Charge of Celebrations by Byrd Baylor is a beautifully written celebration of a young woman's love of the desert. This would be an excellent book to motivate students to write poetry about the desert.

Alejandro's Gift by Richard E. Albert is a touching story about a lonely man who lives in the desert.  Desert animals begin to keep him company when they come to drink from the watering hole he made for them. Students could write friendly letters from the animals to Alejandro thanking him for making their lives easier.  An excellent way to integrate social studies and language arts.

I Wonder Why the Sahara is Cold at Night and Other Questions About Desert by Jackie Gaff is a book that will answer many questions about deserts. An excellent resource for teaching students how to write questions about what they want to know about the desert.

Deserts (True Books-Ecosystems) by Darlene R. Stille is a book that goes into details about desert landforms and other interesting facts about deserts. Students could make desert landform models from clay and write short reports about them using this book.