Spaced out: Combining Science and Language Arts

As much as I love to teach other subjects, science is one of my favorite things to teach. No other subject seems to ignite children's sense of inquiry quite like science. This term, the focus has been on Stars and planets. Originally I had a great unit designed around space stations for the kids to rotate through. Unfortunately, once I began my practicum, I realized that the kids just weren't ready to work quite as independently as I had hoped. It's OK though, I have been working through the unit station by station with the entire class. We've been having a blast and I have been getting opportunities to try new things and take risks in my teaching.

In an attempt to do a truly cross-curricular unit,I have also been focusing on familiarizing the kids with  non-fiction literature and writing. I think learning to read non-fiction text properly is essential.I wonder if the reason some people don't truly appreciate this kind of literature is because they don't really know how to read it.  I've been working on reading non-fiction information through note taking excercises. Initially I introduced the elements of non-fiction by creating an information page about the sun which contained examples of all the basic elements I wanted to introduce to the kids. I also had the kids practice note taking skills using visual organizers.

We have also explored asteroids and comets using the non-fiction approach. This time I approached the
material as a comparison activity for the children to read. The kids read information pages about asteroids and comets both structured using the same format then compared them using a chart similar to a venn diagram. It was great!

If you are interested in finding the learning materials I have described above you can find them posted here at sharemy lesson.com