Do your students a favor, and find ways to make science more of a priority in 2020. There are a variety of ways to work smarter, not harder when fitting science into your school week. Here are some ideas to get you started:
1. Science Friday: When I taught 5th grade, I had great success with committing to teach science on Fridays; once before lunch and again after lunch. That gave my students about an hour an a half of science for the week. Fridays worked well for me with my specials schedule and it had the added side affect of getting kids to school on Fridays. For some reason, that day is notorious for student absences, which doesn't fit so well with weekly spelling tests and other assessments. With Science Friday, the kids looked forward to it and made sure they didn't miss school that day.
2. Team Teach: If you have a big enough school with more than one teacher at your grade level, try team teaching science. Get super prepared and immersed in one science unit and become the expert at your grade level. Trade students or rotate classrooms to teach each other's students the one unit you've become a pro at.
3. Science Centers: Science centers are a super efficient way to get all concepts in and let students do hands on experiments without needing enough materials for the entire class. Set up 5 centers around the room for a week and have students rotate to one each day. Students should be able to do a quick science activity and have an opportunity to write about their experiences in a journal in a 30 minute time frame.
4. Integrate Science: Students are naturally engaged with science topics due to their curiosity about their world. Try flipping things around and using science as the central theme or topic to integrate with language arts and mathematics. There are plenty of opportunities for reading and writing in science, and mathematics is a natural fit, especially with data and data analysis.
Give some of these ideas a try! Your students will thank you for fitting one of their favorite subjects in!
