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What are some tips on how to incorporate science in the classroom as much as possible with a limited amount of time available each week?

Hi Sara, I am currently a student teacher in a kindergarten classroom, and I definitely have noticed the struggle that the teachers I have observed have making time for incorporating a science lesson. My mentor teacher this semester typical will incorporate a fun brainpop video over the lesson, and then together as a class she will have the students complete a little booklet with pictures and limited fill in the blank spaces. Once completed the students glue it into their science journal. Typically a lesson like this takes 15-20 mins, and it's memorable for the students as well.

Sara, I am currently a preservice teacher and I am getting an endorsement in STEM. I think if you are struggling to make time to teach science then a great way to get incorporate more science curriculum is too integrate it into other disciplines. There are many lessons online that incorporate literacy connections into design challenges. If you can create or find some engaging design challenges based off the literature your students are already reading, it will successfully bring more science content into your classroom.

Hello, I think it is important to incorporate science into other parts of school because we often time do "run out of time". I think that in this case by integrating science into other parts of school you still get the science education even if you are unable to actually have science time. I think your idea of finding literature on science things is a great way to integrate and you could also integrate science into social studies for certain subjects. For Texas we had the great hurricane in 1900 and this way science because of the weather aspect but also history because it is a big shaping point in Texas history.

Hello,

I completely agree with what Heather Rochester said about incorporating science into other content areas. Although I am currently a student teacher and my mentor teacher teaches ELA, she specifically chooses literature that incorporates other ignored content areas so that students still get that bit of science and social studies. I am in a fourth grade class, which in Texas means that the students have 3 standardized tests to take this year. It is quite difficult to incorporate science through out the day because of such an emphasis on subjects like reading, writing and math. My teacher uses dogonews.com to allow her students to read (ELA) about science related topics to do their daily reading assignments. It's such an amazing website that keeps students informed about different topics. I hope this helps!

I completely agree with others that commented that you should try to incorporate your science content into other areas. We have integrated a lot of science into our reading and writing through our non fiction unit we focused on animals and finding and creating their habitats, diagrams, fun facts, etc.

Thank you for this post! I am currently a preservice teacher and have noticed that it is difficult for teachers to include science in their classroom. I love all these ideas to include science in the clalssroom as I believe it is very important. Looking back on my academic career some of the most memorable moments in the classroom were all hands on science lessons so I will love to try some of these tips you all have provided here!