Literacy

Professional Development

December 26, 2016

Teaching Science in January

January was always a fun time in our little classroom! The little learners come back and are so refreshed, they have somehow magically grown so much over the two week break, we are reading well, writing well, nailing math concepts, and it’s the perfect time to begin to dig deeper into science concepts.

Teaching science is made a breeze with these engaging teaching ideas for arctic animals, penguins, day and night, and the sun, moon, and stars!

My little scientists were also super engaged anytime we talked about animals.  There are many arctic animal activities, penguin activities, day and night activities, and objects in the sky activities in Science for January.

Explore arctic animals with this non-fiction unit that integrates science, reading, and writing!

Explore arctic animals with this non-fiction unit that integrates science, reading, and writing!

Get your students writing through this non-fiction unit that explores penguins and integrates science into reading and writing!

Explore penguins as students sort penguins facts in this non-fiction unit that integrates science, reading, and writing!

Explore day and night with these engaging and exciting activities for your first grade students! Use the unit teaching plan to guide you throughout the week!

Blast off into space and explore the moon as students learn through this science unit and write about objects in the sky!Blast off into space and explore the moon as students learn through this science unit and write about objects in the sky!
Are you ready to explore the sun? Use this science unit and have your students write about all that they learn!

Anchor charts are a must! I love using them to integrate some shared writing or interactive writing, but here I simply typed up responses and printed them. Then they can be sorted into the right categories. Nothing fancy about them because sometimes we just didn’t have time! This penguins anchor chart is the perfect way to integrate interactive writing or shared writing with your students!

Science experiments are a great way to provide hands on experiences for students! Students can experience how animal blubber works as they learn about arctic animals, how craters on the moon are formed as they learn about day and night, and how sunscreen protects our skin as they learn about objects in the sky!Do you know how arctic animals stay warm? Try this arctic animals experiment with your students as they follow the pictorial directions and write in their science journals.

Take your students to the moon with this moon craters experiment! Follow the pictorial directions and have students write in their science journals, too!

Ever wondered how sunscreen works or why it's important? Try this sunscreen experiment to lear the importance of it protecting your skin!

For doing these in the classroom, I like to have visual directions for the students to follow! We also like to write in our science journals using the simple outline I have provided. All 3 of these experiments are a part of what is included for teaching science in January.

Shared reading is a favorite way to integrate science! I could go on and on about shared reading, but I’ll spare you. 🙂 You can see my routine here.

Shared reading is the perfect time to integrate science into your reading instruction!

For January there are 4 shared reading songs/poems-arctic animals, penguins, day and night, and objects in the sky. R-controlled vowels are carried over from December’s shared reading, too to provide more practice after a short and crazy month of teaching!

Close reading is still fairly new to me within the last two years, but it has great value for our little readers.    I think it’s important to remember that close reading does not replace guided reading, which is done at their instructional reading level. You can grab the Winter Close Reading Passages or Fall Close Reading Passges. They are FREE when you purchase the year-long First Grade Science Bundle.
Hook your students with these science close reading passages for 1st grade that are sure to make them think, dig deeper, and explore the text closely!
The whole month is jam-packed with activities for science, reading, and writing to help you easily integrate science! It also is broken down into 4 weeks and each week has a unit teaching plan to help make your lesson planning simple! Go HERE to check out Science for January!

Teaching science is made a breeze with these engaging teaching ideas for arctic animals, penguins, day and night, and the sun, moon, and stars!

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Happy Teaching,

Amanda

Mega Read Aloud List

Use this FREE mega list of science-related read alouds for kindergarten through second grade to help you teach science all year long! This list covers 39 science topics with 4+ book suggestions for each topic. Grab it today to be set for the entire year of science read alouds!

Hi, I'm Amanda

I’m a K-1 teacher who is passionate about making lessons your students love and that are easy to implement for teachers.  Helping teachers like you navigate their way through their literacy block brings me great joy. I am a lifelong learner who loves staying on top of current literacy learning and practices. Here, you’ll find the tools you need to move your K-2 students forward!

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