A New Approach to 5 Steps Scientific Method
How many times while teaching content area topics have you asked yourself, “why aren’t my students getting this??” You try games, flashcards, songs, and nothing seems to stick. On top of that, you feel like there’s never any time to teach these topics in the first place!
What if I told you there was a way to weave this essential vocabulary into your literacy time and your content area time? With thematic vocabulary, you can unify your instruction throughout the day and week to reinforce this key vocabulary in a way that will make it stick…FOR GOOD!
All of these resources are unified by a common 5 word vocabulary cluster and matching photos to create a cohesive approach to literacy and content-area vocabulary.
Word Wall Cards
The 5 steps scientific method concept can be difficult for young students. I like to display these word wall cards for the first week when I’m introducing the topic. I ask my students what they think all the cards have in common, and some have actually said, “science!”. I introduce all the words and tell them a little about the scientific method. Next, I explain that we will be focusing on the first word, scientist.
Scientific Vocabulary Boom Cards
These scientific vocabulary Boom cards make teaching vocabulary fun for my students. They love it when I put them on the Smartboard and let them take turns coming up to the board to answer the questions.
- They learn the definitions
- clap syllables, which they love
- look at the phonetic features, such as -st blend for the word scientist
- and find the vocabulary words in sentences.
These Boom cards are great for students to practice in centers or review for homework. They are easy for a substitute teacher to use because the audio speaker tells students what to do step by step.
Scientific Method Boom Reader
A great way to increase my students’ reading comprehension and teach about the scientific method was using these Boom Readers. They have real photos that help children, especially my SPED and ESL students, to make connections.
They can listen to the audio by clicking on the speaker icon. They can also practice reading the cards if they don’t click on the speaker. I love using these Boom cards because I can teach with them on a Smartboard or use them in centers for my students to read on their own. There are questions for finding words and practicing phonics in this deck. The kids LOVE these!
You can try a few cards out for free!
Read more about why I love Boom Cards HERE.
Scientific Method Emergent Reader
This scientific method emergent reader is great for guided reading or you can use it as a literacy center for review. I like to use it for the first few minutes in my guided reading groups to go over the phonetic elements of the words.
We usually read the book together the first day and then just focus on the word of the day to fill out the literacy boxes that are in the book. I have been amazed at how quickly my students begin to notice the feature -st blend in scientist and add new words with the same phonetic feature, such as stand, stay, must, etc.
I have found spending those first few minutes every day on phonetic features as well as learning about science has been very rewarding for me and my students!
Scientific Method Reading Comprehension and Vocabulary Bundle
We have included the
- word wall cards
- Boom Reader
- Boom Vocabulary and
- Emergent Reader as well as
- teacher guides to use with all these resources
in one discounted Scientific Method Bundle.
Scientific Method Books
These scientific books are great to read during science or for your read-aloud time.
I suggest starting with this book about what science is.
This book is great for when you focus on the word scientist.
This book is about the scientific method. You may not want to read the whole book at one time if your primary students are squirmy. They do like discussing the different steps to the scientific method.
This is a fun book about a scientist named Margaret and her friend Jasper that she is trying to help using the scientific method. The kids love the graphics in this book!
If you have more good books on the scientific method, I would love for you to share them in the comments. I’m always looking for good books that help with this content area vocabulary.
Science Experiments
Now my students have a better understanding of this content area vocabulary when we apply it during science experiments. We have included a fun experiment in our Scientific Method Boom Reader that has to do with making a storm.
Steve Spangler is an awesome author and this book of experiments has so many cool things to choose from! The photos and illustrations are great!
This is another good book with easy experiments to do.
We hope that this has helped you with Scientific Method. Please share this post with all your teacher friends and enjoy this new approach to the scientific method.
Happy STEAMing!
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