How to Incorporate ELA Skills in the K-1st Science Classroom

If you teach K-2nd, you know that you have a certain amount of minutes dedicated to each subject. Yet the increasing rigor in the standards require kinder teachers to have their class reading by the end of the year. So, we find ways to incorporate ELA skills into content areas while still teaching content area standards. How can we do this successfully?

1. Find grade level text that talks about what you're teaching. Some good resources are reading a to z. While most of their readers don't directly meet the standards, I have had luck finding books there that can be used for certain lessons. This, this, and this science predictable readers meet the Texas kinder TEKS. They include a predictable reader and a video that reads the book aloud to be used for a shared reading. These will soon be a part of a bundle.

Whichever resource you choose, you can have it available after your unit is complete. It can be put in your science center, or in children's book boxes, depending on what their independent reading level is.

2. Follow a 5E lesson plan. (Engage, explore, explain, elaborate, evaluate). If you follow this format for math and science, you will more than likely have to find text to go with the "explain" portion of your lesson. Sometimes you'll be able to fit it in to the "elaborate" portion as well! In the "explain" or"elaborate" portion of your lesson you can also incorporate a written response, which brings me to my next point...

3. Incorporate a written response or reflection at some point in your lesson. If you're doing a science experiment that day, you could have them write their prediction right before you've told them the experiment and they're excited about it. If you've just explored hands on materials for a lesson you're teaching, take the time to have them reflect. First they tell their impressions to a buddy (as a pre-writing activity). Then have them go to their seat and quietly reflect in their science notebook about their findings.

This blog post was written by Teacherof20, TpT seller, blogger, and SAHM to two great kids!

Hey everyone!  It's Alison from Ms. Lilypad's Primary Pond.  If you are as busy as I am with getting ready for the holidays, you probably don't have a ton of time to read this post.  :)  So I'll keep it quick!

About a month ago, I created a visual reading strategies menu to use with my intervention groups.  I teach in Spanish, so the photo below shows that version, but I also made one in English:

When I made this menu, I didn't realize just how much I would love using it!  I already had a set of reading strategies posters that I keep on my whiteboard, but it's so much more powerful when the kids have multiple strategies right in front of them (like on this menu).

After I made the menu, I began by teaching the kids what each part of the menu meant.  They were already familiar with how to use most of the strategies, so it was just a matter of making sure they understood the different boxes on the menu.  I didn't teach the entire menu in one day - I taught it over the course of a few days.

Now I use the menu all the time when my kids are reading.  Since I teach intervention groups, many of my kids have a very difficult time with reading and are a year or more behind grade level.  Processing the text is enough of a challenge, so if I talk a lot or use lots of verbal prompting, this can be distracting for them (they lose track of the text).  Now what I can do is simply point to a strategy on the menu, and a student can try out the strategy without me having to say a word!  Plus, since I have small groups of kids, the menu helps me multitask.  When I'm listening to one child read but notice that another student is stuck, I can simply point to a strategy on the other child's menu, and that child can continue working without me having to stop what I am doing.

You can download the English or Spanish menu below (for free) by clicking on one of the images!  If you think that this will overwhelm your students, you can always use another sheet of paper to cover up part of the menu.  I can see these menus being used with Kindergarteners (late in the year), 1st grade, and 2nd grade.  I hope you enjoy using them as much as I do!

Happy holidays!!