Here’s my take on teaching formal science lessons in the elementary grades: When push comes to shove, it’s the science lesson (or the social studies lesson) that gets moved to the next day and then the next day, and before you know it your science lessons for next week are the same ones you planned for last week. Does this ever happen to you?
Because of my time-management issues, 🙂 my best science lessons were spontaneous. My students and I were always on the lookout for items we deemed out of the ordinary. I thought I was quite the scientist when I bravely captured and secured a shiny black widow spider inside a mayonnaise jar. Honestly, I was glad when that investigation ended. Then there was the year of the pinecones. It all started with a pinecone the size of a 32-ounce jug of soda. Honest! I’m not pulling your leg. I’ve yet to see another pinecone that large. That year my room was overrun with pinecones of different sizes, shapes, and colors.
So how do you squeeze in science? Tell us what works for you, and we’ll put your name in a drawing for a free science book from The Mailbox Books. In fact, we’ll draw three winners! To be entered in the drawing, respond to this post before July 10.
You know, I still can’t resist noting something out of the ordinary. Check out what I found this weekend. Tree fungus! How cool is that?
Your science gal,
Diane
Congrats to our contest winners: Deanna, Tina, and Debbie!
And I thought I was the only one this happened to!
Yes, some of the best science lessons are spontaneous. Our playground is lined with beautiful, blooming hibiscus plants. The students (pre-k) love to pick the red flowers off and give them to each other. This upset the p.e. coach, so we had to take care of the problem. We explained to the students that butterflies & hummingbirds needed the flowers to eat — so therefore they should let the flowers stay on the plants. This led to a great science lesson, the students didn’t pick the flowers anymore, and the p.e. coach calmed down. 😉
I agree that science often gets pushed to the side – it’s really hard to squeeze everything in!
I used to think that I didn’t teach science very much at all in my kindergarten classroom. Then, I started looking at all the things we studied throughout the year – weather/seasons, life cycles of plants and animals, magnets, sounds, etc. I really was teaching science after all – it just wasn’t including many experiments or explorations.
Last year I tried incorporating more science activities that would “shock and awe” my students and create a love for science. I tried to do at least a couple really exciting things each month. This year I would like to do one each week – maybe on Friday afternoons. If the students know that’s part of our Friday afternoon routine they won’t let me push it to the side!
The most wonderful science projects my three year olds have done includes creating a diarama full of moss and a paper towel tube tree (teacher put together) student painted plus little rice glued on paper leaves for eggs and pipe cleaner twisted around for caterpillars and butterflies made by folding the paper and cutting out the shape (teacher done) and then the children put the paint inside and push it out –(you know the Rorschoch method:) This project takes at least a week or two and the children love taking their shoeboxes home with the life cycle of the butterfy. I hope I win a science book as I really could use it for new/old experiments!
Have done the water osmosis putting blue food coloring in the water and letting daffodils drink it up! They became green, of course, and very pretty!
We all teach Science every minute of every day. The meaning of the word comes from scientia, meaning knowledge. Everything we teach can be connected to science in some way: trajectory of a ball, color and form, musical notes and their generation, the world around us, the connections between historical events and weather/climate….
You are so right! I always plan for science lessons but then the end up just happening…plants, water, weather etc. It just comes up when it comes up!
I agree when I taught kindergarten science and social studies was often covered through my theme. When I moved to 4th grade, things were much harder. I actually did something similar using project based learning. My project was usually based on science and social studies. Then I integrated math and reading into the same topic. For example, one project we did was about animals in the rainforest. Students worked in pairs to research one animal that they chose. In the end the students would great displays (including animal models, backgrounds showing the layer of the rainforest the animal lived in, signs expressing traits about the animal, a map showing where the animal lived and a food web) to showcase to the entire school as our own rainforest exhibit. We often used the science material for reading but also included a magic tree house novel as well. In addition, students made graphs about rainfall in different parts of the world. In groups they were also given a situation stating that the Indianapolis zoo wanted to create a rainforest exhibit and needed their help. They were told the weight a plane would hold and a list of the animals being researched. First they had to research the animals approximate weight and then determine how many of which animals would be brought back to Indiana. Overall, the students really loved the project!
I completely understand about science and social studies being squeezed out of the school day. I try to include it in school day by having my weekly themes be the things we are studying in science and social studies. For example, one of my themes during the school year is plants. One of the pocket chart centers is to cut out the different parts of a plant, glue them together and label them. I also have the students make a book about what plants need to grow. One day during the week, the students plant a seed. Then at writer’s workshop time (once or twice a week) they keep a journal to record what happens to their seeds. It takes some extra planning but you can squeeze it all in.
I love science and the students love it, too. I try to make an effort to incorporate science lessons with units we are doing in reading. That seems to work the best. The students love our rock study and the insect study we do each year. They hear from older students what we do so it puts the pressure on us to really incorporate science. The more hands-on activities the better.
Integrated thematic instruction is a good way to make more time for all subjects. You teach reading, real world math, and science during experiments and investigations of scientific themes. And, the students learn the skills and information better, because it’s meaningful to them, and they are physically involved with it.
I use my reading centers as a time to do science. I use the leveled readers that come with the science kit for guided reading during centers. Then, I pick an activity that goes along with the chapter for them to complete on their own during another center time.
We are tested on science in fifth grade, so I squeeze in science wherever I can!
I find science to be both messy and pretty so I combine science and art and, I think, my students enjoy it!
Reading units are the perfect way to incorporate nonfiction text. These nonfiction text provide wonderful science lessons while also teaching about text features, context, etc. I also incorporate science through read alouds and vocabulary instruction. My first grade students learned many things about spiders, frogs, plants, ladybugs, butterflies, organisms, weather, life cycle and other science “topics” through reading this year.
I teach Science mostly through integration and seasonal themes.
My daughter is 11 and loves to do experiments. When she does these experiments during child care time they other children love it and benefit from it. Her latest experiment was placing a flower in a little water and microwaving it. It turned from a purple color to an aqua color. She froze the water, left it over night, and observed each different process. I even found it rather interesting.
Thank you teachers for the great job you do teaching science at the lower levels . I am in a state that has a science assessment at 5th grade. You make my job easier when you give a student that love for science as you discover together.=)
I have found two ways that I use to make sure I get science in each week. The first is to tell the students what I have planned for the next day or week in science. They never forget and will remind me continually until we do it. The second way is to post a schedule for the day with times for each subject that day. When I do this I am more likely to try to stay on schedule and the students will assist with this also.
I love doing science with my preschoolers. I always find time for it because I tell the kids ahead of time that tomorrow we are going to discover ________.
It works for me and I love that my preschoolers ask to repeat science experiments and question why things happen by the end of the year.
I love science and my students pick up on that. I teach science with reading as much as possible. Having a promethean board and a Hue webcam, I am able to take a non-fiction science book (elephants) and have a shared read. We might later use yarn to see the measurement of an elephant tusk and then see how many students it would take to equal that size. We also will see the size of a baby elephant’s footprint and an adult’s and compare/contrast to our own. We will compare/contrast Asian and African elephants and during centers they might make an elephant puppet being sure they know which elephant they are representing. My students love these lessons and the enthusiasm is tremendous. Boys who are normally behavioral issues really respond to science in reading lessons.
In Kindergarten we have decided to do science usually on our short day and either do whole group lessons where we start with the main topic and split up the classes or rotate the classes among the other teachers or we have a special visitor or “guest” (teacher dressed related to the subject). The students have started referring to us as “professor…” depending on what we are studying. We try to refer back to science in other subjects as well. I was impressed by how well this works for our students because one of my students was helping a volunteer at the end of the year and he told her about the water cycle that we discussed at the beginning of the year. Wow!
I teamed up with the teacher next door and we make time at least twice a week to be sure we get science in the classroom. We have done many science explorations together that we would not have done on our own. It works really well.
At Angels Unlimited preschool I have set aside a day for science and hands on math. Our Fantastic Friday classes are always busy, messy and lots of fun as we learn about magnets or chemistry or patterning or whatever else I can come up with to extend the learning from our Monday and Wednesday classes.
The best ways I’ve found to ‘squeeze in science’ is to be purposeful about doing it every 9 weeks. Since in 4th grade we have four major topics to cover–rocks and minerals, electricity and magnetism, food and nutrition, and animal adaptations, each 9 weeks I split my ‘Teacher Directed Reading/Science/Social Studies’ block (usually 45 minutes–sometimes less unfortunately)with 3 weeks delving into either reading/science/social studies. This really helps to ensure we get in ALL of our curriculum, and it helps to move around the subjects a bit for the students. I think also it’s great because whatever we are learning in reading (such as comparing and contrasting/fact and opinion/making inferences) we delve into that for 3 weeks, and then the following 3 weeks I might do animal adaptations where I integrate comparing and contrasting of animal adaptations, determining facts vs. opinions based on those animal adaptations, and making inferences about why certain animals adapt the ways in which they do. Then the next 3 weeks of our 9 week system I’ll cover North Carolina (that’s what we study in 4th grade here of course for social studies) and incorporate the animals of NC (we even do research on them–indicating their adaptations–and incorporate technology with either a blog or power point) while studying other parts of NC as well–making sure to compare and contrast, determine facts vs. opinions, and making inferences based on NC content.
It really helps my English Language Learners build onto their background knowledge when the curriculum is so integrated. Sometimes we even stretch those topics into math–creating word problems based on electricity/magnetism or figuring out the fractional parts of the food pyramid for what we should consume for our food/nutrition unit. I also have to give a ‘shout out’ to the FOSS company as they make it very easy to integrate the science with reading (they even have Science Stories to go with each topic that are actually pretty engaging). Another ‘shout out’ to Discovery Streaming! Our district bought this so that we can download (or stream online) videos/video segments of content we are studying–sometimes the clips are a minute or so long–others are longer–but you can select how much to show and they even have standards listed right there with helpful teaching guides sometimes! I use this sometimes as a preview of what we are studying, a way to build background knowledge–especially for those with learning difficulties or the ELLs that may be newcomers who speak little to no English–the visuals really help them, and sometimes I use them as a review before the quiz for that unit.
I will admit that sometimes my 3 weeks for science and my 3 weeks for social studies get shortened due to time constraints of getting it all in–but there is always at least 2 weeks of instruction in each. We cannot deprive our 21st century learners by not including the science content and if they are to be globally aware–they have to know both the science and social studies content–right?
I love teaching science and I have tried several different ideas. First, the team that I work with tried to switch off classes and teach a lesson- that lasted a month. Second idea was to teach science after naptime. This worked out the best. One year my assistant taught the science lesson- she was great. Now I teach the lessons at 2:30 after the kids have had a good nap. To get them in the swing of the lesson they get to wear their lab coats- mens dress shirts with their name ironed on- and saftey googles, no matter the lesson we wear our protective gear. All the supplies that I would need are in a box with a lid to keep it a surprise.
Monday: I introduce the lesson with a Q & A session, I ask a question they give me the answer and we chart it.
Tuesday: we conduct the experiment
Wensday through Friday we collect data
Friday: we look at the results and chart them.
Our best science lesson was one rainy day that we went on a dinosaur dig. I gave the kids paintbrushes had teachers hide plastic dinosaur bones and we went hunting for bones. We did this in February, they were still talking about it in May. I think as long as the student is involved and engaged in the learning then it was a success.
My team teacher and I teach social studies and science to each other’s classes.we put the time into our weekly schedules, then I teach a unit to my class for 2 /3 weeks while she is doing the same thing in her class. Then we switch. This was our first year trying this with our third graders and we both felt like we had mixed success, ut we had enough success thatwe are going to tweak it and try again in the fall.
Thursday is an early release day in our district, so I made that my science day. Science incorporates reading and math, and since we use science notebooks, they’re writing as well. The kids always look forward to “Science Day.”
We, too, enjoy spontaneous science. It is always a challenge with mixed ages in my home daycare! One day the 3 older boys and I were observing and following an ant and we discussed what it was doing, where it may be going and why. We watched for at least 20 mins or so and maybe 10 feet of progress for the ant and were distracted by a few other ants and the 2 yr old girl walked over and stomped on the ant we had been watching which turned our science lesson into a whole other discussion. 🙂
I teach 4th grade and the way I try and squeeze Science in at least 3 days a week. I incorporate Science in with my Reading and Math lessons some days which works great and it covers more than one subject. Other days when I have a fun experiment or lesson planned I make sure the afternoon or the amount of time needed is cleared away for the lesson. I love to team up with the teacher next door and we do fun experiments with our classes together or have a special guest come. We are luck to have a program in our community that brings science into the classroom. They have activities and experiments that the children love that we could no afford to do on our own. Science is great and everyone needs to do it more often.
My preschool class loves to do science! They are so curious about everything at this age and it is a great time to get them involved in why things are the way they are. They love it when I mix food coloring and shaving cream in a bag and then they get to mix the colors!
Hello, I am new to this site as I came across it in postings from a yahoo daycare group I am a member of. So far I love what I see. My mind is swimming with ideas. I am a mother of a 5 year old that is entering K5 this fall as well as a family daycare provider—-so the possibilities are endless. I am incorporating at least 1 hour a day of actual classroom time with each day a different “subject” to keep things fresh. Little minds are such blank slates! I love filling their heads with as much knowledge I can cram in! Thank you for providing us parents/teachers with the knowledge and ideas we need. So far we have worked diligently with botany….and surprisingly a preschooler in my daycare and my daughter have been enthralled! We have several gardens and have worked with a variety of plants…even dissecting seeds, as well as maintaining a watering and growth chart. It’s been a blast! I am looking forward to the next experiment/project. 🙂
I teach first grade and try to infuse science whenever and wherever possible. My students love to learn about science and are very curious. I make sure I have plenty of nonfiction science books in their reading bins and I do a lot of nonfiction science read alouds. I do many experiments and hands on science activities with them. They love to plant seeds and watch them grow. They also love to learn about and see animals. I also run a classroom recycling project that all of the students help me with. We have a great time!
I try to squeeze science into my classroom as often as possible. We are an every-other-day Kindergarten so we don’t have the students full time. That makes teaching all of our required math and reading difficult.
I have found that the best way for me to make science fit is by incorporating it into other subjects. When we learn about our first vowel (Aa) we learn about the short /a/ sound and we study ants. We count ants in math. We read books about ants as a large group and we also do an ant art project where we study the body parts. I try to find something to study for each letter.
If time is limited, I will put projects out for them to explore during their free-choice time at the end of the day. It never fails, they would rather be “little scientists” than play. Even those that aren’t into it in the beginning are drawn to the science center by the end of the day.
The most important thing that I have learned is that if I am excited about science, my students will be too!
In preschool we add science in to our lesson plans at least three days a week. There is so much for our children to learn and explore in the world. We need new and exciting ideas. A new book would be awesome to get more ideas. Thank you.
At preschool camp 2 weeks ago we put a hard boiled egg and a raw egg (in the shell) in white vinegar for 4 day. The kids were so excited to come in every morning and check out the changes in the eggs! We had so many fun things going that week– crystals, volcanoes, geysers, jello etc.
I hate to admit this, but I’d be lost without PBS’s Sid the Science Kid series! I use their Super Fab Lab Investigations to guide my science lessons and then augment each lesson with science readers as my language arts component. Depending on the lesson, we can even throw in a quick and easy math component (measuring, graphing, etc.)
Having a science shelving unit and table set up has helped bring science to the classroom everyday rather than waiting for those planned opportunities. We change around what may be on the shelves an add books, science tools to be used throughout the room for exploration. When we had rocks and gems out the children started looking for them when they were home or out on the playground. They can always add to the collections.Then we added pots of water and paint brushes so the children could see the difference when the rocks were wet. We added scales and magnifying glasses. Clip boards with paper so they could draw or make their own charts. Sorting boxes. One student went to Fl. for vacation so everything got switched out to shells. We found they were more drawn to the area when they were contributing to the items to be explored. Then we just supplemented with science activities to go with the child directed themes.
Science is a big part of my classroom because it is a big part of our reading classes. The students love to read the science books and articles and then conduct experiments based on what they have read.
I squeezed science and social studies in with reading and recess. When we read a story about pioneers and the gold rush, we discussed that time in our history and talked about the differences in communities then versus now. When we read a story about penguins, we did our animal unit. When we read the expository passage about volcanoes, we also discussed rocks and minerals. I was amazed at the number of kids running to me at recess to identify the type of rock they’d just found. Approximately 5 of my students started a recess recycling/clean up club after we’d discussed the importance of keeping our environment clean. That stemmed from reading a kid friendly newspaper published quarterly by our county recycling center. It was a 5-10 minute activity squeezed into that free 10 minutes one day when my math leson finished earlier than I’d expected. That club lasted all year! They gained members from the other 3rd grade classes, and I was so proud of them. There is nothing like seeing your students put something they learned with you into action to help make this a better world! ; )
The Magic School Bus books and videos are a great way to get started on a topic. We access them through a program called Unitedstreaming on Discovery Learning. They are great – and the kids love them!
Each year we get caterpillars and watch as they change into butterflies. My Pre-Kers draw the changes they see each day in a journal. We have many crafts an d activities during this time relating to the Life Cycle but my favorite is making the life cycle with pasta. Use tiny rice like pasta for the eggt stage, rotelle for the caterpillar stage, small shells for the cocoon stage, and bowties for the butterfly stage. I try to incorporate Science into each subject I teach.
I place different items on a table,some that a magnet will pick up and some that it want. My children is amazed. They go around all day seeing what the magnet wil stick to. One day my children put the magnet close to the computer. Needless to say it left a discoloration on the screen. Luckly after a few days it went away. I told the children they couldn’t go near the computer any more.
I squeeze in science by doing salmon and trout in the classroom and garden in a wheelbarrow. The kids learn about life cycles and river conservation and plants. We take our garden to the county fair where they all get a ribbon. One year we won 2nd place and $100.
I squeeze in Science by flip flopping Science and Social Studies. I only have the last hour of the day for both so instead of cheating both on time I will spend a week or two on a Social Studies subject or a Science subject. This way, whatever we are working on, we can really get our hands into it and accomplish something in the hour we have. I also take that topic and work it into our Language Arts and Math by using vocabulary words, have writing and reading assignments, or apply Math concepts to our Science topic. I love thematic units because I think the students get more out of the subject when it is reinforced in other subjects.
I fit science in every other week, and I try to read books to my kindergarteners that have some topic that we can at least talk about connected to science, like Tiny Seed, or Hungry Caterpillar even books about magnets, they kids really seem to like that. Then when we have our science week we plant seeds, build terrariums, draw caterpillars and butterflies or work with magnets.
I would love to win a new book to help build up my science lessons.
I agree, science always seems to get PUSHED to the next day! There is just SO many expectations for one day. My best lessons also seem to be spur-of-the-moment, and I think being able to do this is a sign of a great teacher. My favorite lesson this year came when our janitor found a salamander snuggling up to the warm bricks of our school on a chilly, rainy day. We brought him in, gave him a home for a week, and researched researched researched salamanders! After a week, we learned the best lesson of all–that wild animals are best left in the wild…. and with more than a few sad kiddos–we released him back where we found him. Not only was it spur-of-the-moment, I bet it’s one science lesson my little third graders will NEVER forget :)! Keep being spontaneous!
I too have that issue of pushing back the science lessons! I’m glad I’m not alone in that! I try to incorporate science when I read a story, if there is something in the storyline that I can ask questions and discuss then I will do so at the end of the story. That is definitely squeezing in a little science as often as possible!
I teach preschool, and I have a discovery (science) center every day as part of center time. This way either myself or my assistant can work with a small group, if need be. Sometimes the center requires teacher supervision, and sometime it is easily student directed.
Occasionall I do a whole group lesson during circle time as well, and tie in to the center that day.
I love teaching science! I use Science as the springboard for all my other subjects. It’s easy to integrate math and reading, but what really helps is to have the kids WRITE about what they are learning. I have gotten GREAT pieces in all the genre, and the kids love it! I haven’t figured out how to integrate Social Studies yet, but my co-teacher handles that subject really well, so I don’t have to worry!
My students love the hands on science that we do. Their favorite is growing meal worms. They treat them like they are part of their family. It is a hoot to watch them create a habitat for them. They really treat those worms well.
I teach elementary Life Skills, and we have a set time in our schedule three times per week specifically for science. I also keep a free center open every day that they can visit that has a basket full of different flip books made out of flash cards from the dollar spot (animals, insects, solar system, dinosaurs, etc.) and a small discovery station with manipulatives where they can look at and touch the the things we are learning about.
I like reading books about science or showing science related movies, especially “The Magic School Bus” series.
Science has always been one of my favorite subjects. I remember one year our May calendar was planned, printed, and posted like every good preschool teacher. It was the first week of May and we were supposed to be staring out with “May Flowers” from the April showers bring May flowers theme. It was also Monday and sometimes Mondays don’t go as we plan. We came back to an invasion of ants. The children went wild. Our whole theme changed and the children were so into it. Our inspection for headstart was scheduled from the “big shots” from Iowa. They pulled up, and were spending the day with us. One of the inspectors asked why our calendar said May flowers and we were studying bugs. I told her the story and explained that I took the opportunity to teach during a window of opportunity. Thats when science is at its best, unplanned, spontaneous, and natural. I would encourage all teachers to respond everyday to childrens questions and you will find science there.
I am a science person. We do some sort of experiment or science lesson twice a week. I also have a science center in my classroom. There are bugs and observation bottles that the kids fill with whatever they find outside. We planted a tree for Arbor Day, planted seeds and compared the differences in zoo and jungle animals. This week will be ocean animals and the beach. Shells, sand and all kinds of sea creatures will fill the classroom. The kids love it.
Integrating science with other subjects, is the best way that students can learn science. Because most of the time that science is shorten due to other classroom activities, i fell the best way is to integrate it with other subjects.
We found a way to make prep and teaching of science easier. We have two kdg. and two 1st grade teachers at our school. Because we felt we were not doing science justice, we decided to each choose a science topic and develop and gather materials for it. Then, we each had four well developed science themes at our fingertips to use whenever we wanted. You could also sign up if need be. This year we will do four more and then we will be able to repeat as the children from kdg of the first year will be in 2nd grade.
At our school, we alternate science with social studies every four weeks. That way, there’s still a report card grade at the end of the quarter for both subjects. Scheduling science is good, but I agree with you, sometimes the best science lessons are spontaneous!