One Tired Teacher
One Tired Teacher
OTT 260: How to Weave Science Into Your ELA Block (Without Losing Your Mind)
Ever feel like science gets pushed to the back burner because reading and math dominate your teaching schedule? You're not alone. The struggle to fit everything in is real, especially when administrators sometimes suggest cutting science altogether.
Let me introduce you to a different approach: seamlessly weaving science into your ELA block. This isn't about adding more to your plate—it's about making what's already there work smarter. Your informational text standards (text features, cause and effect, visual literacy, main idea identification) pair perfectly with science content. Instead of teaching these skills through random topics, why not use the science curriculum you're supposed to cover anyway?
This integration works brilliantly because science naturally engages students, particularly those who might be reluctant readers. When kids are exploring force and motion, states of matter, or habitats, they have authentic reasons to read informational text. Science experiments create purpose for reading, which significantly boosts comprehension. The hands-on nature of science investigations gives students something concrete to write about, making writing tasks more meaningful and accessible.
Getting started is simpler than you might think. Choose one science standard, find a short nonfiction text that introduces the concept, pair it with a simple investigation, and use it during your reading block. Have students write about their observations and learnings. That's it! You've just taught reading standards, writing skills, and science content in one efficient, engaging lesson.
Ready to try this approach? I've created a free resource integrating informational text with the practice of science. Download it at trinadeboreeteachingandlearning.com/sciencefreebie and take your first step toward making science part of your daily teaching rhythm rather than an afterthought. Because we're all part of the "We Do Not Care Club: Teacher Edition" when it comes to skipping what students truly need to learn!
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Welcome to One Tired Teacher, episode 260. How to weave science into your ELA block without losing your mind Welcome back. So today we're talking about integrating science so that we can still teach science without going crazy, and I'm excited to talk about that because this is something that I think is so important and sometimes we don't feel like we have enough time for science, or actually schools take it off our schedule, like we no longer are teaching science, which I think is insane. So we're going to talk about how to actually do that without losing our mind. But before we get started with that, I want to share that I recently started a we Do Not Care Club teacher chapter edition, and it is based on a hilarious TikToker named and just being Melanie. Just being Melanie is a.
Speaker 1:She's created the we Do Not Care Club for women in menopause and perimenopause. She's created the we Do Not Care Club for women in menopause and perimenopause, and since I fall in that category, I was like, oh my gosh, I think you're hilarious and it's all these things that we do not care about that we're like tired of people talking about. So I was like you know, there's so many things that we could talk about as teachers that we are like we can join a teacher chapter, I can create a teacher chapter. So I've been doing that and it's been so fun and I did a tick tock in August and it was. It did really well and it was just. It's just all the things that we do not care about, and so one of the things that we do not care about which is which has to do with that, and this is one that that will be coming up soon and actually it might even be posted by the time you listen to this episode, but it's like I do not care. If you want me to skip science and social studies, our country needs smart scientists and our country needs to understand government. I will be teaching science and social studies. So it's just something little, some little fun thing about.
Speaker 1:You know something we don't care about, and what do we? You know, what can we do? Anyway, I would love to hear your what you don't care about. You don't care about following every single script you don't care about. You know, you don't care about having a child completely destroy your classroom and throw furniture everywhere. You just want to be able to do your job. Like, what do you not care about? I'd love to hear from you. You can find me on TikTok, at Trina, underscore Debra, or on Instagram Same thing. Okay, so let's talk about today. We're talking about actually. Let's go ahead and get started.
Speaker 2:Welcome to one tired teacher, and even though she may need a nap, this teacher is ready to wake up and speak her truth about the trials and treasures of teaching here. She is wide awake. Wait, she's not asleep right now, is she? She is awake right. Okay, From Trina Devery Teaching and Learning your host, Trina Devery.
Speaker 1:Hey, so that was a long introduction. I'm sorry. I just wanted to tell you about that because I've been having fun and I thought that I would love to hear what your we do not care about, sorry. All right, so today we're talking about something that I know many teachers wrestle with, and that is how in the world do you fit science into your pack schedule, especially when reading takes up so much of your instructional time? Well, what if you didn't have to fit it in? What if you could weave it in right through your literacy block? I talked a little bit about this last week when we were talking about maybe not, maybe it wasn't last week, because I think we talked about screen free time. It was the week before when we were talking about routine reading, routines and like and like, making sure that we we were kind of going along even when the curriculum starts. And I definitely have many episodes on this exact topic and you can. I'll link to some of them below, because I think they can be really helpful, especially when you're trying to figure out how am I going to do this.
Speaker 1:Anyway, we're going to talk about science and ELA integration without losing your mind or your standards, because that's really the thing Like standards are there. We have informational text standards. We have, you know, text features that we have to go over with kids. We have cause and effect that we have to go over. We have to talk about visuals and how they support text. We have to talk about the main idea. We have to ask and answer questions about nonfiction. So there are standards. So instead of pulling something random like penguins or, you know, bears or something, something that feels random, let's actually focus on our science content or even our social studies content. But today we're talking about science and let's teach that. So let's talk about the reality check. Most elementary teachers, especially first graders and second graders, or first grade and second grade teachers, barely have time for lunch, let alone a full science block. Science often gets pushed to the side because reading and math get prioritized, but science is a natural match for informational reading, for vocabulary building, for questioning and for writing yes, even for writing. So this is this can be really tricky.
Speaker 1:I know we I never was. I never worked in the classroom where we didn't have a block and, honestly, in my district you were required to have both a grade for both science and social studies every quarter. Now during progress reports. We were also supposed to have a grade, but I was like, oh well, because I'm only covering half and that's how I would do it. As part of the quarter I would teach my science content, and the other part of the quarter I would teach my social studies content. I couldn't get both of those in there, it was impossible, so I would just put that on their product support not covered, not covered will be covered. You know, the second part or whatever. And and I never got in trouble for that, even though people said I was going to, I never did. Parents never got upset, I never heard one thing about it, and so I just did it that way, because you know what you got to be real sometimes. That's, that's the best I could do.
Speaker 1:So why does it work to combine them? Well, informational texts are tied to science. Topics actually deepen both content, knowledge and reading skills. Kids stay more engaged when reading feels like exploring, and writing about science reinforces comprehension and purpose. And you know, here's another interesting fact A lot of kids that don't love reading or are kind of a reluctant reader, they love science.
Speaker 1:They might be a science, math kind of thinker, and so if we can connect them or hook them with science topics like force in motion or matters. You know how states of matter change, change and you know the properties of matter and all that good stuff. And and one of my favorites is simple machines. We used to have simple machines in our curriculum when I taught second grade and then they took it off, I think it was, and became a third grade standard and I was so upset I'm like, oh, my kids love simple machines. But you know, anyway, I had to focus on what was my curriculum, because If not, they were not going to get a well-balanced science base. And I did. Even though I wanted to do what I wanted to do, I didn't. I didn't do that. I stuck with the concepts that we had to teach. But we did have really cool things. Force in motion was really cool. Habitats my kids loved learning about habitats, weather, severe weather, all that good stuff that can really hook kids. Also, writing about these things can be really powerful.
Speaker 1:And then, as a bonus, science experiments they build background knowledge, they help kids better understand reading, they actually give a purpose for reading when, when kids are exploring and they're, you know, even if it's like a STEM challenge and they're having to use science content as well as maybe even math content. They are more likely to want to read the information instead of just front-loading them, letting them explore a bit and or do an experiment or do a challenge and then reading the contest. Whoa, sorry about that. That was an accident. That's happened before. I'm sorry. That always scares me to death. I always forget to mute that little exit part and if I go longer than I, you know, sorry. Okay, anyway, I hope that makes sense because I think putting in a little experiment, a challenge, a STEM challenge, a science experiment, is so powerful because that gives them a purpose for reading and that actually helps improve reading comprehension.
Speaker 1:All right, try this easy start. So choose one standard from your science, like the practice of science. You know that's a really good place to start they. You know we want them to understand that the practice of science or the practice of engineering. Find a short nonfiction text or article that introduces the concept. Pair it with a simple hands-on investigation or a vocabulary activity, like a headbands kind of activity. That can be really fun too with vocabulary words from science. Use it as your reading mini lesson or a small group text. Let students write about what they learned in journals or response sheets.
Speaker 1:Okay, so to help you get started, I've created a free resource that integrates informational text with the practice of science. It's simple, it's purposeful and it's classroom tested. And I'm going to tell you the link, but also going to drop it in the show notes, just in case you don't you're you know you're busy and you're doing something and you are going to be able to hopefully remember this link. It's a little, you know. You want to just remember my website, trinadeveryteachingandlearningcom, and then we've got to get this particular one. It's TrinaDeveryTeachingAndLearningcom. Forward slash science freebie. Science freebie is written as one word so you don't have to, you know, put little dashes in between the words. One word so you can find it easily Trina Debery, teachingandlearningcom. Forward slash science freebie. It's a great first step toward making science part of your daily rhythm, not an afterthought.
Speaker 1:Now, when I was teaching second grade, I wrote all of these science little science units and they have four to five nonfiction passages about the topic and then there's a bonus experiment to do at the end of the week. So it was like perfect for teaching, like force, emotion, in just a week, a matter of a week, and it gave me enough time so that I could still teach social studies and it, and I also used parts of the of the science activities in my reading block because it was nonfiction and it focused on informational text standards. I wrote there's nine different subjects. I have a whole bundle in my shop on TPT, so if you need the whole thing, there's nine different topics. But this practice of science is a freebie that I'm giving to you. It is one of the resources that are in the bundle, but I'm giving you this unit for free. You can test it out and see what you think.
Speaker 1:All right, it's definitely a great first step in making science part of your daily rhythm and not an afterthought. I think I said that already, but I just feel like it's important to say it again. You don't need more time. Well, we all need more time, but you just need a little strategy and a lot of grace. Cross-curricular teaching isn't about doing it all. It's about making it all work together. Until next time, sweet dreams and sleep tight.