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The district that I am currently working in only gives me 15 minutes a day and three days a week to teach science to my kindergarteners. I'm having a really hard time making the lessons meaningful to my students in such a short time period. is there any strategies or lessons that i could use in my classroom that would make those 15 minutes as engaging as possible?

I'd say do your best to do things in those 15 minute increments that are related to science that is integrated in other areas of your curriculum. For example, if you read a picture book about space (even if it is fiction) do a movement activity in your 15 minutes that has to do with space (a human solar system model, perhaps). Do you have the option of combining your small increments of time to do a longer investigation? Also, I would recommend setting up experiments with your students that they can observe going on in the classroom even when it is not "science time", that way you can spend your short increments discussing observations and taking measurements. Some ideas might be, butterfly life cycles from chrysalis to butterfly and then release the insects, grow crystals, grow different kinds of plants, set up investigation centers where students can free play with concepts like sound, structure building, etc. These are just quick ideas, but I am sure others have more. I think integration and setting up longer term "observable" things in the classroom is the way to go in this situation.

I agree 100% with Sarah. I think your best bet of getting the most out of your science time is definitely integrating science into other subjects. I think writing about their observations is a great way to get students to think about science while still working on writing and practicing on using their sight words as well as reading books on the topic during whole group, partner, or independent reading.

I'm sorry to hear they only give you that amount of time. Your best bet is to make the most out of it like you've been doing!

Completely agree with the above, cross the curriculum using PBL!

I understand your frustration I am finding that we have very little time to do science with our fifth graders and I am struggling to find ways to make connections with them in such a short time frame. I agree with Sarah about reading them books and I would also do some quick demonstrations that gets them excited and helps them to make a connection from the book you read and the demonstration since you do not have time to do activities with them. I think I will try the observation idea and set some different experiments up in the room that we can watch and make observations about over a span of a few weeks so that maybe they can make connections that way. If anyone has some ideas to help with the fifth grade level on such a short time span also that would be appreciated.

Maybe you could perform science demonstration. I've seen many ten-minute demonstrations in my senior education courses at my university. You can demonstrate the ocean in a bottle Step 1: Fill your bottle 3/4 of the way with water and add food coloring. Step 2: Add Vegetable Oil. Step 3: Have the student observe what happens when you shake the bottle. All you will need is water, blue dye, vegetable oil, and an empty water bottle. You can use this to teach the different zones in the ocean or to tach about waves in the ocean. Hope that helps!

In the kindergarten classes I've been in, the teachers always try to make their science lessons into a catchy song or a fun dance. I don't know if this may help but it's an idea.

In the kindergarten classes I've been in, the teachers always try to make their science lessons into a catchy song or a fun dance. I don't know if this may help but it's an idea.

Since they are in kindergarten students should have the opportunity to touch things, smell, observe wake their senses with providing objects they can manipulate. Conversations are going to be rich when students have the opportunity to answer open ended questions. Also incorporate science into reading. Students homework can be to observe their environment maybe a garden and can come back to share their ideas.

I would try to integrate science into the other content areas. Science can be a great subject to teach nonfiction texts and text features. You can also integrate science into math or art. I did a unit where i had students graph different leave shapes and colors for math and do a leaf rubbing as an art project. Science notebooks can also be a great way to integrate Science into CCSS.

I would suggest to integrate your science lesson with another topic. You kill two birds with one stone this way, you get more time for science while also teaching another topic.

I have to integrate science into all my other subject areas because there is never enough time!

Teaching science in kindergarten is difficult when you don't have the allotted time. When I was student teaching in a TK class, we did not have any time for science. However, my master teacher would often integrate science into everyday activities whenever he could. For example, one time when we were lining up he noticed that the leaves on the trees had fallen off and changed colors. He took time out of our usual routine to have the students line up and go around the tree, and then talked about the specific parts of the tree (trunk, leaves, branches) as well as questioned students as to why they believed the leaves had fallen off (autumn, seasons, etc.).

I had the same issue, and it was such a difficult task. The only way I managed was by not having the students do any kind of work at their seat. I did the whole thing at the whole group carpet and made everything whole group. While there were some really interesting things I would have liked to do, it just was not going to happen. To help make sure I taught them successfully, I usually either showed a little BrainPop, read a book, or we danced to a song and sang it about the topic. I did a mini lesson on insects, which included learning about their parts. So one day they watched a BrainPop and learned about it, and then we labeled a bug on the SmartBoard. We finished off by dancing to "Head, Thorax, Abdomen." The following times we just revisited what we had learned to see if they grasped it. On the last day, we did a little game that I had found online.

I feel your pain, Jennifer and all teachers who have 15 minutes to teach science. Such a shame when research shows that young children are capable, and knowledge of science is crucial for participation in society and to maximize the nation’s human capital. “We are fortunate to work in a time when the preschool mind is celebrated for what it can do rather than what it cannot do. Preschoolers were once thought to be conceptually limited, but research has since demonstrated that they are able to think and talk about many science-related topics.” Gelman, Brennenman, Macdonald, and Roman, 2010. Preschool Pathways to Science. Brookes Publishing. “The Importance of Teaching Science Well: Knowledge of science can enable us to think critically and frame productive questions. With out scientific knowledge, we are wholly dependent on others as “experts.” With scientific knowledge, we are empowered to become participants rather than merely observers.” Michaels S., Shouse A. W. and Schweingruber H. A. 2008. Ready, Set, SCIENCE!: Putting Research to Work in K-8 Science Classrooms. Washington, DC: National Academy Press. http://www.nap.edu/catalog/11882/ready-set-science-putting-research-to-work-in-k-8 “How can society use knowledge about early childhood development to maximize the nation's human capital and ensure the ongoing vitality of its democratic institutions…?" "Recommendation 1— Resources on a par with those focused on literacy and numerical skills should be devoted to translating the knowledge base on young children's emotional, regulatory, and social development into effective strategies for fostering: (1) the development of curiosity, self-direction, and persistence in learning situations; (2) the ability to cooperate, demonstrate caring, and resolve conflict with peers; and (3) the capacity to experience the enhanced motivation associated with feeling competent and loved. …” Pages 5-6, Shonkoff J. P., and D.A. Phillips, eds. Executive Summary From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Childhood Development. 2000. Washington, DC: National Academy Press. http://www.nap.edu/catalog/9824/from-neurons-to-neighborhoods-the-science-of-early-childhood-development What to do? Keep asking for ideas from the larger early childhood community and trying some strategies, including those offered here. I agree that incorporating literacy and mathematics as part of a science exploration is a natural fit—children love to show and tell what they see and think! Demonstrations may be fun and “cover” a topic, but don’t often uncover the ideas children already hold about it. Children will learn more if they stay on one topic or do many short activities related to a single concept over weeks and months than if new concepts or topics are raised every day or week.

Hi Jennifer! I think that the best way to teach your students science with only fifteen minutes is using problem based learning approaches. You could do that through quick STEM challenges. From my experience, STEM challenges are a quick and fun way to briefly introduce science topics while engaging students at the same time! Also, you could always incorporate science into other subjects, as well. For example, if you are teaching literacy, have the students read a science article, etc. I hope this helps!

A good way to teach science even though there isn't much designated time is to integrate science standards with ELA and math lessons!

Hi, I am a student teacher!

HEllo I am in student teaching.

My daughter is in 1st grade and they only do science 20 minutes a day 2 to 3 days a week. This is very sad to me as i wonder what she can learn in this time frame. I have spoken to her teacher and she has stated she loves science and tries to incorporate it in as many lessons and subjects as possible. She also told me the time she does get to teach science she makes a point to make it meaningful and really get things done.

In my student teaching I need to do science lessons as well. They are short lessons for kindergarteners and I also am looking for ideas on what to teach or how to teach it. I do not know what STEM lessons are but I definitely want to look into something like that. Thanks for the question, the responses are very helpful.

Hi Jennifer! My name is Dr. George Mehler and I am a science methods professor at Temple University. I have been developing a Youtube channel for science demonstrations that can be incorporated into the classroom. The channel is entirely free and has hundreds of videos! Here's the link, I hope this helps! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsbfPM5Wd1REwCIBYJFIyOw Best, Dr. George Mehler Ed.D., Temple University

Sorry to hear that. Integration is a great idea.

I agree that science should be integrated into other content areas. It's a shame that science isn't even being taught every day in elementary schools. The question is how to do it?  Does anyone has any unique or interesting ideas to incorporate science into the other subjects?

I am currently a student getting my Bachelor’s Degree on Elementary Education. While doing my field experience hours, I have noticed my cooperating teacher has no time to teach science or social studies. Which I agree with all of you is a shame, when science teaches you to make observations and communicate with your peers, and social studies teaches you how to become better citizens through the history of our country. These two subject areas are being left behind and reading and math are taking over, when the technology that we use to create these tests include science knowledge.

These are some great suggestions! it really helped me with my pre service teaching!

These are great resources and ideas! 

The school district that I "work" has a 45 minute slot for science. I feel that it is an okay amount of time for simplistic content, such as water, rock, and soil properties, but for content such as earth and space maybe a 90 minute slot would be more efficient for learning time.   

theses are great resources and fun activities. 

great post

The school district I have been placed at to student teach also allots about 20 minutes for science teaching three days per week. The other two days are for teaching social studies. I have read some posts other users have posted here and they have been very helpful. I would love to integrate science content in reading and writing. I would definitely integrate science topics when introducing non-fiction books in a reading lesson.

Great post!

I would definitely agree that integration is most likely the key to providing students with meaningful science experiences.  My district only allows for 20 minutes a day of science as well, which is extremely short for 5E lessons.  Most of the time the teachers have to divide one lesson up into several days.

I think that the 15 minutes should be used on a hands on activity and then look for ways to incorporate the "fluff" throughout the day.

Only fifteen minutes to teach science!? This is why these kids get to higher grade levels and have so much trouble retaining all the information they bombard them with. I would integrate science as much as possible into other subjects if possible. That way, your fifteen minutes turns into a little bit more time. 

Time is a big thing i stuggle with. THis is a great post

It unfortunate that only 15 minutes is designated for Science in your district. It is really hard to make a lesson so short and still provide the children with a meaningful learning experience.

My suggestion would be to try to incorporate science with other subjects. One lesson I observed, the teacher incorporated math and science. She had a lesson on mixing primary colors to make secondary colors. I think it is also good to try and incorporate non-fiction texts as well as fiction.

I have observed how some teachers double dip science and reading. This can be done when going over informational texts. They talk about the features, but also read the book. An example was, the environment of wild life which also leads to weather and climate, geographic features, etc.

I agree that you should try to to incooperate science in your lessons. The best way to do so would be to use an article that students are learning about and use it for literacy. At some point you can teach science. For example, have students do a little experiment when 

I am student teaching kindergarten next semester and am very curious as to what kind of science instruction we will do doing. Can anyone give me the broad overview of what kindergarten science content focuses on? Thanks.

The school I am student teaching in has a limited time also in science instruction so they relay on integration. Science and Social Studies lessons are usually combined to give more time for lesson every day instead of just couple times a week. I have focused on researching more STEM lessons because there is more information in the lessons but still can be condensed in time or have good breaking points to scatter across the time we have for science. I was actually able to include science in a math lesson I did over measurement. It took effort but seems that is one of the only ways to get science instruction time in the classroom.

At that age, I would say anything that the students get their hands into. Inquiry based science that the students are able literally put their hands in to the science while they are learning about. With only fifteen minutes you really have to focus on what the kids can take away from the science, instead of focusing on the methods of vocabulary. How this helps some. Krystal

You could incorporate your lesson into other subject areas. For example, you could have the students during reading time, read about science. Or during math, create a lesson using science based lesson material but also incorporate the math objective in the lesson (measurement, etc). You could also use project based learning, and have a main science objective for the week and each day for the 15 minutes the students perform small experiments or investigations and at the end of the week, the objective could be met.  I hope this helps!

It's really hard to teach all 5E's in 45 minutes. As a student teacher I am only allow to teach the lesson in 45 minutes and I just feel that most of my students' still feel confused about the lesson at the end of the day. My students have science once a week for 30 minutes and they have it as enrichment. 

It is a great idea to try and incorporate science topics into other subject areas. By doing this it gives you more time for science instruction. Some other ideas would be to cover the main topics and do them in a manner which is brief and engaging. I have found that when teaching science students love to go outside and explore things on their own. Lastly, it could be helpful to find fun and informational science clips on discovery learning. 

I think that the best thing you can do and to integrate science with different subjects. You can make the lessons fun and engaging. Good Luck!

Hi! Definitely try to incorporate science in other lessons such as reading. The students could read books about gravity, for example, and that could also be a science lesson along with a reading lesson. This will widen your time for a science lesson. Maybe read a science related book and then in science class do an activity about the book that could also be a reading comprehension activity. I believe that this will help you a lot with your 15 minute window. Try talking to your principal about this. Good luck!

Hi! Being that you are only able to teach science for 15 minutes each of the three days, I would definitely try and focus on one specific topic for each lesson. For example, if you are doing a lesson on energy, I would focus on one type of energy each session that the students should know about for their particular grade level and have them master each concept before moving on to the next one. In addition, I would try to implement crosscutting concepts in which you can integrate these science lessons into other lessons, such as reading comprehension. By doing this, students would not feel as rushed to learn new concepts. If you present kindergarteners with too much information all at once, they would not be able to comprehend what it is you are trying to teach them. I hope these strategies help you in making this time to teach science as engaging as possible. Emily Rothenberg

Hi! Being that you are only able to teach science for 15 minutes each of the three days, I would definitely try and focus on one specific topic for each lesson. For example, if you are doing a lesson on energy, I would focus on one type of energy each session that the students should know about for their particular grade level and have them master each concept before moving on to the next one. In addition, I would try to implement crosscutting concepts in which you can integrate these science lessons into other lessons, such as reading comprehension. By doing this, students would not feel as rushed to learn new concepts. If you present kindergarteners with too much information all at once, they would not be able to comprehend what it is you are trying to teach them. I hope these strategies help you in making this time to teach science as engaging as possible. Emily Rothenberg

It is almost never enough time to teach, yet alone teach science. It takes more then 15 mins a day for 3 days to actual teach a full science lesson and the students are able to get engage and explore etc. Sadly, teachers have to make the small amount of time work, where the students can get the best out of the minimal amount of time they are given. I wholeheartedly agree with other post that there needs to be more time given to teach a full effective science lesson to kindergarten and beyond.

15 minutes three times a week?! In my opinion that is so inaffective. I believe teaching 30 minutes twice a week is more affective than 15 minutes three times a week because you have more time to explain to do an activity and so on. I have to agree that this is when you have to get creative and start incorporating science in any other lesson or subject! good luck!

I definitely agree that 15 minutes is not enough to teach a complete and thorough science lesson. Unless it's like a quick explanation over something that has already been discussed or something to set off the topic then 15 minutes should be enough. But when you mix science with reading or math you kill two birds with one stone and most of time it ends up being more interesting and it grabs the attention of a variety of students at the same time.

Hello, My name is Dr. George Mehler I am a professor of science methods at Temple University. I have been developing a YouTube channel that is home to hundreds of science video demonstrations that are free, fun, and easy to use. These cover a variety of topics that young learners should know before they enter high school. These videos range from 2-8 minutes and can easily be incorporated or recreated in the classroom. A quick and easy way to get big ideas across successfully. STEM does not have to take long, but it is so important to include it. Please subscribe to our channel as we regularly release new videos! Best of Luck, The FunScienceDemos team Dr. George Mehler Ed.D., Temple University Jared Hottenstein Central Bucks School District

After reading through some of the replies to this concern, I saw that most people gave the same answers. 15 minutes a day for science may not seem t be enough at the kindergarten level. However, the beauty of teaching is that it allows you to mix different subjects together! You can incorporate science in almost about anything from math to social studies to language to arts. Also, the internet is full of resources that could be helpful in working around this time frame for a solely scientific lesson. There are many resources that could be used to help you deal with this strict formality.

How about intergrating reading and science together. Choose a reading story with a science background "butterflies" for example. I would then have read the story discuss the cycle of the butterfly and have a hands on activity for the kids. Example: Use jelly beans for the eggs, gummy worms for the larva, peanut for the pupa and then use pretzels for the wings of the butterfly, gummy worms for the throax, Twizzlers for the anttennae.

Integrating the reading, or listening and oral language, with actual science observations is a great way to help children make sense of the science concepts and also meet literacy standards. It can be fun for children to do a craft about their actual observations of a live caterpillar as it changes into a pupa/chrysalis and then emerges as an adult. Reading a book about the process will help them reflect on what they observed.

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Try to integrate your science into your other lessons. Integration is super helpful when trying to teach kindergartners!

15 minutes is all we are allowed in our district as well, but like everyone has stated... Finding ways to incorporate science throughout the day is key. During lunch I ask my students about their milk carton, and how much they think it holds. They are only kinders, so it is beyond their understanding to know that there are fl. oz. on the milk carton, but that can always come later. Also, using books during read aloud, and weather when graphing are a few ways to help incorporate science! It is a subject that can be used across the curriculum in many creative ways. I enjoyed reading this feed and gathering new ideas.. Another one is at recess, or if you have windows in the classroom, doing short observations about the changing leaves, and the seasons. There are many ways to be creative. I love teaching science to the younger ones, especially since there are so many opportunities for a hands on learning experience, but what I hate is the 15 minutes a day that can easily get eaten up by other areas!

If I were you, I will teach a topic for a week, and you can design a short activity that you can work or interact with students everyday in that 15 mins. 5E lesson plan will a easy way for you break down your weekly topic to daily activities.

In order to remedy this issue of having very little time to teach such important concepts, I think it is crucial for the teacher to make learning meaningful and be able to manage time efficiently. I would also try to link those lessons to whatever lessons precede and follow it by making smooth transitions that incorporate the material learned.

If you are teaching kinder it may be as simple as performing a quick experiment and recording the children's observations on chart paper.

hello everyone, I am currently a student teacher and I have realized that in the primary grades it is very rare that science lessons are taught because teachers spend most of their time on reading and math skills. Would anyone have any ideas on different ways that science can possibly be incorporated through another subject ?

I agree with Marlene. Integration. Science is everywhere. I think many trade books can be used to teach science concepts. It is those teachable moments that just happen....every 15 minutes.....that make learning fun!

I agree with Marlene. Integration. Science is everywhere. I think many trade books can be used to teach science concepts. It is those teachable moments that just happen....every 15 minutes.....that make learning fun!

I would implement my science lessons into other content areas. Science lessons can be used to teach language arts, phonics, math, social studies, vocabulary, and even handwriting. You could build an entire day off of a science topic. The lesson would be fun for you and fun and engaging for your students. The content will be learned better by being presented in different content areas.

I completely understand your frustration! I am placed in a school where they don't even have a planned science time. My CT teaches science "if she has time". However, I agree that 15 minutes is a very short time frame to implement an entire lesson, especially one that is inquiry based or includes experiments! Maybe, you could plan a 45 minutes lesson on one topic and then teach that one lesson over your three day, 15 minute periods. I also agree with everyone above that implementing science in other areas would be helpful. Maybe if you had introduced the content through a trade book in reading, your 15 minute science time could be more productive because you and your students can hit the ground running. I am also wondering if maybe you can rearrange your three, 15 minute sessions into a one day 45 minute session?

I think that you can still teach Kindergartners meaningful science lessons in that time period. You can show them introductory lessons to what they will be learning through grade school. The problem with Kindergarten is that they have so much to learn in regards to every subject. I also think you can do some cross curricular teachings to in corporate the science into Math and Literacy. That will probably be the best way to add more Science into the class.

You can try to incorporate reading into other subjects like reading. You can also try to create hands-on activities that can be broken down into three days. So one day you can do a small part, then the next time you can start the lesson where yall stopped it.

I agree that you can implement Science into other content areas and other content areas into Science. This will help to make those fifteen minutes you are provided with really count. While learning about mixtures, you could read a story to them such as "Mouse Paint." This would incorporate reading into your science lesson. Your students could also write predictions about what you are teaching and this would bring Language Arts into your Science lesson. This way you are teaching across an interdisiplinary platform, but still obliging to your school's fifteen minute limit for science.

This is definetly a short period of time! I always taught 45 minutes went by really fast, but 15?! I've had experience with third graders so I can't image teaching science to kindergarteners in such a short time frame. I applaud your dedication to teaching science with the kindergarteners.

Through hands-on science activities like planting seeds and recording the growth of plants, kindergarten learn how to observe and record scientific data. It is better if you make the activities more exciting so as to make them engaged. Teach the science in a story time so that they remember and find it interesting. http://ukessaywriters.blogspot.com/

That's a very short time frame to teach science even 30 minutes is too short I feel for kids to really explore. I feel as though there should be far more learning experiences.

Science is a creative and fun subject! I think that it would be beneficial to integrate science into other areas, such as Math, Reading, Technology, and Engineering. Science is everywhere, it is a creative process that students can take part of without even realizing it. I would use books, and discuss the students' past experiences involving science(common everyday experiences: weather, baking, observing). The students will be surprised, and begin to look for science in their everyday lives. I would also have a science discovery and inquiry area set up in your classroom so that anytime a student needs to take a break or finishes their work early, allow them to explore at the science table. I think you should just do your best to incorporate science and concepts as much as you can and expose your Kindergartners with as much science as possible throughout the day. Hang in there!

Science is a creative and fun subject! I think that it would be beneficial to integrate science into other areas, such as Math, Reading, Technology, and Engineering. Science is everywhere, it is a creative process that students can take part of without even realizing it. I would use books, and discuss the students' past experiences involving science(common everyday experiences: weather, baking, observing). The students will be surprised, and begin to look for science in their everyday lives. I would also have a science discovery and inquiry area set up in your classroom so that anytime a student needs to take a break or finishes their work early, allow them to explore at the science table. I think you should just do your best to incorporate science and concepts as much as you can and expose your Kindergartners with as much science as possible throughout the day. Hang in there!

I am a pre-service teacher and am about to begin a Practicum in a Kindergarten classroom. I look forward to seeing what resources (time and otherwise) are allotted for Science instruction. Judging from the responses so far, I can see that your struggle is not unique!

Maybe you can talk about plant parts and their functions since its only 15 minutes and 3 times a week, you can go over it in a week I believe. The second week they can do a small activity and they can name atleast two parts each.

You can always try to integrate the science lesson into another subject! Kindergarteners learn best when they are given hands on activities rather then showing them a video or something similar to that. Maybe do a read aloud and one hand one activity!

Hello! You can always integrate your science lesson into another subject! Kindergartners learn best when they are doing a hands on activity. Maybe try doing a small read aloud followed by an activity.

Kanwal, yes! Science can be incorporated into other content.

15 minutes a day of science is not enough. I would recommend integrating science into your lessons. Another suggestion might be to do a lesson that would take up the three days.

Hi there, Its ridiculous to know that in today classrooms, some school districts only allow the teachers to have 15 minutes in a day to teach a science lesson. Even though this is a sad phenomenon that these type of situation can occur daily in any types of classroom and in any types of subjects, the teachers are the one who has to struggle with the facts and work with what they have and can do. A great idea to incorporate a science lesson plan into a short 15 minute time frame is to teach the lesson that is broken down across the whole week or when times allowed. Since there are only a 15 minute time frame to teach a lesson plan, another great way for one to teach science is to incorporate it with teaching another subject whenever possible. For example, when teaching about an informational text, instead of using a reading text, one can rely on a science text. And when teaching unit graphing, instead of using a math text or information, one can get the data from a force or motion activity. Regardless to what the teachers have to do, we would always have to be creative and just go with it.

I agree with others who suggested integrating science into other subjects. This could be successful if you tried integrating science with a reading or math lesson. Spreading a lesson throughout the week might also be a good idea and would make it easier for kindergartners as they are not feeling overloaded on information.

I am definitely agreeing with everyone when they say to try to integrate science into other subjects. A common subject that teachers like to combine is science and math, so maybe try to come up with a lesson that will be able to teach both that way you have more time to teach the children science as well as being able to teach the students a good math lesson. You could also try to make it so that you could take the time to give the students one day teaching them and the next time a day of hands on experimenting. That way they could get a good lesson on the first day and reinforcement of what they learned on the second day. I hope this helps!

Wow, that is short. Though, make that 15 minutes longer by integrating Math and Reading. For example, If you have a read aloud book, you could do a shared Reading and discussion as the intro, then whatever Science activity that may go along with that Read Aloud book. Then I'm sure you could do math things like counting and sorting with the Science objects, etc... That would be like a 45 minute Science Lesson that integrated Reading and Math.

[color=#333333][size=3][font=Arial]I love to see so many replies for a topic that is so important and needs addressing...there should be science every day for every student. I agree that integrating literacy, math, science, social studies and the arts will not only help give you more time teaching science concepts to your students, but it is part of best teaching practices for the students to really learn and retain the skills being taught across all disciplines. [/font][/size][/color] [color=#333333][size=3][font=Arial]Thank you for sharing. I hear from a lot of educators who would like to be teaching more science that they do not always have the support of their administrators. I believe this needs to be addressed if we are to make real effective change for all students. I believe it is a critical time in education and I feel so lucky to be part of promoting the next generation science standards. It is an exciting opportunity for teachers to transform education for all children in order to prepare them for the 21st century. Thank you for all that you do as educators![/font][/size][/color] [color=#333333][size=3][font=Arial]"We'd all be better off if schools taught reading as a tool to support learning those big ideas found in science and social studies instruction, transforming reading instruction from its current role as the curricular 'bully' in our schools into a role it is better suited to play - being a curricular 'buddy'," P. David Pearson, former dean of the Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Berkeley.[/font][/size][/color] [color=#333333][size=3][font=Arial] [/font][/size][/color] [b][color=#333333][size=3][font=Arial]Even More Picture-Perfect Science Lessons: Using Children’s Books to Guide Inquiry, K–5 Collection [/font][/size][/color][/b] [color=#333333][size=3][font=Arial]You may also have an interest in this collection of free resources related to the NSTA Press Book: Even More Picture-Perfect Science Lessons: Using Children’s Books to Guide Inquiry, K–5 found in the NSTA Learning Center. Even More Picture-Perfect Science Lessons delivers the whole package: teacher-friendly lessons, strong standards-based science content, and a kid-magnet formula that will get your students engrossed in science while they improve their reading skills. [/font][/size][/color] [color=#333333][size=3][font=Arial][u][url=http://learningcenter.nsta.org/mylibrary/collection.aspx?id=FSl8qR12lPQ_E]http://learningcenter.nsta.org/mylibrary/collection.aspx?id=FSl8qR12lPQ_E[/url][/u] [/font][/size][/color] [color=#333333][size=3][font=Arial] [/font][/size][/color] [b][color=#333333][size=3][font=Arial]Teaching Science Through Trade Books Collection [/font][/size][/color][/b] [color=#333333][size=3][font=Arial]This collection supports the popular “Teaching Science Through Trade Books” columns in NSTA’s journal Science and Children that are based on the concept of using children’s books to pique students’ interest. Use this collection of columns to combine science teaching with reading instruction in an engaging and effective way. [/font][/size][/color] [color=#333333][size=3][font=Arial][u][url=http://learningcenter.nsta.org/mylibrary/collection.aspx?id=ipZwLdRoTVU_E]http://learningcenter.nsta.org/mylibrary/collection.aspx?id=ipZwLdRoTVU_E[/url][/u] [/font][/size][/color] [color=#454545][size=2][font=Helvetica Neue]Interview with Emily Morgan, Karen Ansberry, and Christine Royce, Teaching Science Through Trade Books, [url=http://youtu.be/IZrHbPn9-JA][color=#e4af0a]http://youtu.be/IZrHbPn9-JA[/color][/url][/font][/size][/color] [color=#333333][size=3][font=Arial] [/font][/size][/color] [color=#333333][size=3][font=Arial]"Picture books, both fiction and nonfiction, are more likely to hold our attention and engage us then reading dry, formulaic text...Engagement leads to remembering what is read, acquiring knowledge, and enhancing understanding." Harvey and Goudvis, Strategies That Work.[/font][/size][/color] [color=#333333][size=3][font=Arial] [/font][/size][/color] [b][color=#333333][size=3][font=Arial]Next Time You See Collection[/font][/size][/color][/b] [color=#333333][size=3][font=Arial]Sample chapters and free resources to go along with the Next Time You See series by Emily Morgan.[/font][/size][/color] [u][url=http://learningcenter.nsta.org/mylibrary/collection.aspx?id=spfCbDOPdwk_E][color=#333333][size=3][font=Arial]http://learningcenter.nsta.org/mylibrary/collection.aspx?id=spfCbDOPdwk_E[/font][/size][/color][/url][/u] [color=#333333][size=3][font=Arial]Interview with Emily Morgan and Karen Ansberry, Picture Perfect Science [url=http://youtu.be/_9Vm90Rarl8]http://youtu.be/_9Vm90Rarl8[/url][/font][/size][/color] [color=#333333][size=3][font=Arial]Interview with Emily Morgan, Next Time You See [url=http://youtu.be/Y2mIAnz9R94]http://youtu.be/Y2mIAnz9R94[/url][/font][/size][/color] [u][b][url=http://learningcenter.nsta.org/mylibrary/collection.aspx?id=mOElq0krB

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Fifteen minutes is such a short time frame, another challenge teachers must face and find a solution too. I love the idea of incorporating science into the other subjects, at least mentioning how the certain task can be related or linked to science.

Wow only 15 minutes :(. I hope it is possible for you to incorporate Science into other subject areas such as Math and ELA. With your short amount of time, I would try focusing on observation skills and mini-STEM lab whole class activities. City of Science and Scholastics have useful observation skills resources. Good luck!

https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/blog-posts/alycia-zimmerman/mystery-bags-develop-observation-and-inference-skills/
City of Science
http://cdn.worldsciencefestival.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/CoS-Activity-Guide_updated-120616.pdf

looking forward to the answers

I am a student right now learning how to do this in my own classroom someday. The best advice I have been given is to incorporate science into other subject areas so the students are getting more than the 15 minutes allowed for science. The during the 15 minutes since you would have already built on a science idea, you can spend that time doing an experiment or something engaging with the students because they already got the background knowledge during their other subjects throughout the day.

I would recommend trying to incorporate science into other parts of your day! For the 15 minutes a day that you do have, make sure you are explaining the main idea of the lesson and giving them all of the knowledge they need in that short time and then later in the day you can draw back upon it. You can conduct an experiment or just have the students engaged in the lesson later on because they would have already had the base knowledge of the lesson. This is probably one of the best ways to make sure you are getting the right amount of science in for your students.

These are great questions -- and I know there is a NSTA Twitter chat tonight with the chance to ask ECE science/STEM questions. From Carolyn Hayes' Twitter feed:

Join [s]#[/s]NSTAchat TH - Jan 11 - 9Pm ET and discuss [s]#[/s]earlyscilearning[s]#[/s]ECE with [s]@[/s]PeggyAshbrook and others. Join in the conversation! [s]#[/s]NSTA[s]#[/s]NSTA18[s]#[/s]kindergarten

Peggy is awesome to get ideas and resources from!

I am a college student working towards my BA in early childhood education and a year ago, I was in a school which only had 45 minutes once a week for science. The best way to handle this limitation is to integrate your other subjects in the day with science like others have stated. There are some really great and easy ways to integrate science into any of your other subjects. This will help you get far more than 45 minutes per week to engage in science education. One of the coolest experiences with integrating science that I have seen was integrating social studies and science. It was the week before MLK Jr. Day and the students observed a brown egg and a white egg. They wrote about their observations, drew diagrams, and made predictions about what will be inside when they are cracked open. This was an amazing connection to MLK Jr. and all they had learned on the subject! This allows for science to be taught at the same time as social studies.

I agree that you should incorporate science into other areas as well. You could teach students something science related in that 15 minutes and then during writer's workshop, they could write about what they learned, or you could have math problems that incorporate something discussed in science that day. Science is very important and something that students need to learn because many jobs nowadays have some sort of science in it!

I completely agree with the idea that Kindergarteners should have more time participating in science lessons. I guess the question is how would they be incorporated into every day lessons and what would be some age appropriate lessons to teach children of this age group? 

Hello!

I am an early childhood major and right now in my science methods class we talk a lot about how little time schools allow teachers to incorporate science into their lessons. Like in your case a lot of schools don't even allow you to have some time every day to teach science. As we are also learning how important science is to so many things it is crazy to me how little time and attention is given to it. As a lot of people suggested, you can incorporate science into every other subject. This way you're still teaching the children what you need to be, but they also get that science too! The world runs around science so this isn't a subject teacher can just ignore because we think it's impossible to teach it in the little time allotted for it. Math is one of the subjects that it would be really easy to incorporate science into because a lot of times they go hand in hand. No matter what 'time frame' you're given for science always make sure you're doing what's best for the students and what will help them in the long run. Don't sell them short of an education! 

Hi Jennifer,

I am a student at the Univeristy of Northern Iowa. When I read about the short time frame you have for teaching science. My first thought was to integrate science into other subjects to give you more time. This will ensure you have more time, as well as deepen their understandings through real world like experiences of science.