Science Literacy Resources
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Tips for Reading Nonfiction
Tips for Reading Nonfiction
Need help reading Science text and articles? Use these core strategies to tackle even the most complex informational texts, focusing on Key Ideas and Details, Craft and Structure and Integration of Knowledge and Ideas. Tips for Reading Nonfiction
Science Notebook Strategies
Science Notebook Strategies
Scientists keep notebooks. The scientist’s notebook is a detailed record of his or her engagement with scientific phenomena. It is a personal representation of experiences, observations, and thinking. A scientist’s notebook is a continuously updated history of the development of scientific knowledge and reasoning. Below are some examples to help get you started.
Guide to Using Interactive Notebooks in the Science Classroom
NSTA Science Notebooks Collection - Articles in NSTA journals on the topic as well as other online resources
Examples of Student writing – K-12 Science - Writing samples that have been annotated to illustrate the criteria required to meet the State Standards for particular types of writing—argument, informative/explanatory text, and narrative—in a given grade. Each of the samples exhibits at least the level of quality required to meet the writing standards for that grade.
Note-taking: A Research Roundup – Podcast and collection of note taking resources for K-12 students
California Academy of Sciences – Science Notebooking Resources
Using Sentence Frames – Student Examples – Constructing Explanations
Collecting and Analyzing Data – Gallery of Student Examples
Talk Strategies with Science Notebooks
Sketchnotes
What are Sketchnotes? Sketchnoting in the Classroom
Sketchnote in Science Sketchnotes in Earth Science
Cornell Notes
The Cornell Note Taking System
Improving Cornell Notes with Sketchnoting
Free Nonfiction Literacy Resources
Free Nonfiction Literacy Resources
FYI – This is a free resource that allows you to search for quality nonfiction science articles by topic or grade level (K-12 grades).
CommonLit – delivers high-quality, free instructional materials to support literacy development for students in grades 5-12. Resources are: Flexible; Research-Based; Aligned to the Common Core State Standards; Created by teachers, for teachers. We believe in the transformative power of a great text, and a great question. That’s why we are committed to keeping CommonLit completely free, forever. (6-12 grades)
DOGO Media – is a next-generation online network empowering kids to engage with digital media in a fun, safe and social environment. “DOGO” means young or small in Swahili. While our young fans may be small, they act BIG as they engage with our websites and express their opinions on the content that interests and inspires them.
Sora Science: Hundreds of free, simultaneous-use audiobooks about science. Titles include Science & Nature, National Geographic Kids, New Scientist, How it Works, Popular Mechanics, and others.
SVVSD Digital Library
SVVSD Digital Library
Sora Science: Hundreds of free, simultaneous-use audiobooks about science. Titles include Science & Nature, National Geographic Kids, New Scientist, How it Works, Popular Mechanics, and others.
To access this application, users must login using ClassLink. Add the application from the App Library. If you are using an iPad, the iOS app is not required but can be used. Audiobooks require the iOS app.
Nature Journals
Nature Journals
Great for connecting with nature, building observational skills, and learning more about the biodiversity in your back yard. You can access this book FREE here
Here’s the preview of content - anyone can do this and it works just as well from your home as it does on a walk in your neighborhood: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/cams/
St Vrain Science Databases & Simulations
St Vrain Science Databases & Simulations
K-12 Science Databases
Is a resource that provides in-depth contextual information on hundreds of today’s most significant science topics. Students see how real-world issues relate to scientific disciplines across the curriculum.
Offers international viewpoints on a broad spectrum of global Science issues, topics, and current events. Each topic includes an overview, references and rich multimedia – including videos, and interactive graphs.
provides information and opinions on today’s hottest science issues. Issues include updated viewpoint articles, academic journals, statistics, images, videos and links to vetted websites.
Offers hundreds of pre-generated timelines which cover various time periods in science history. Students can browse existing timelines in science and technology and visualize the cause-and-effect relationships between events.
Is the optimal beginner’s Spanish language reference tool. The site offers World Book’s excellent editorial content, rich media, and engaging features in Spanish.
K-5 Science Databases
Hundreds of free, simultaneous-use audiobooks about science. Titles include Science & Nature, National Geographic Kids, New Scientist, How it Works, Popular Mechanics, and others.
A content-rich, easy-to-use resource featuring age-appropriate content covering a broad range of educational topics. Featuring content from trusted sources, as well as engaging games and activities.
Is a general reference Web site developed especially for young students. The site features easy-to-read articles, thousands of illustrations, videos, comparison tools, and a wealth of engaging games and activities.
Science Simulations & Activities
(Elementary Only) Engages students with narrated text, animated highlighting, easy-to-read articles, games, and educational videos to teach students about science. This collection also includes 50 online interactive science eBooks in English and Spanish.
(Middle and High School Only) Gizmos are interactive online simulations and case studies for science with built in assessments that power inquiry and understanding through experimentation. (Access Gizmos through CLasslink)
is a classroom presentation tool that allows learners to interact with the instructor and with content through activities such as polling, quizzing, drawing, fill-in-the-blank, and matching as well as embedded video, web content, and documents. (Access Nearpod through Classlink)
Is a FREE global science classroom. Created at Harvard University with support from the Amgen Foundation, this powerful digital tool makes high-quality science education accessible through simulations and short videos. (Access LabXchange here and through Links in the Science Unit Plans)
Claim Evidence Reasoning (CER)
Claim Evidence Reasoning (CER)
Communicate As A Scientist - Student Slide Deck for Intro to CER
CER Rubrics, Sentence Starters & Research Articles - This is a collection of templates to help students to get practice at identifying a claim, selecting evidence, and writing up the reasoning for the link between the two. Most rubrics include sentence frames to guide their writing.
NSTA - The elements of Claim, Evidence, Reasoning - This column provides how-to strategies and practical advice for the science teacher. The CER framework helps students synthesize science investigations, data analysis, and scientific concepts by having them focus on elements: Claim, Evidence, Reasoning.
Edutopia - Designing Science Inquiry: Claim + Evidence + Reasoning = Explanation - The Claim, Evidence, Reasoning framework is a scaffolded way to teach the scientific method.
Modeling Teaching - An Introduction to CER - Tips for Teachers - We all want our students to “think like a scientist,” but often they fall short in connecting the dots between the lab results and the science concepts. Claim-Evidence-Reasoning (CER) is a writing strategy that can develop a student’s analytical thinking and argumentative writing skills to turn that “I don’t know” into “aha, so that’s why we got those results in the lab.”
Argument and Explanation - Tools for using them together while keeping them separate
Bell Ringers
Bell Ringers
Bell Ringers are useful for starting class, generating discussions, and can also be used as exit tickets—a quick way to check for understanding at the end of class. They focus on skills like observing phenomena, asking questions, reading graphs, constructing explanations (CER), and understanding the parts of an experiment.
Bell Ringer Topics - Earth Science, Life Science, Physical Science, General Science / STEM
Graph of the Week
Graph of the Week
The Virtual Science Teachers (VST) Graph of the Week is a recurring feature where Virtual Science Teachers shares and analyzes a scientific graph, often focusing on Earth, life, and physical science topics. Visitors can use the site's interactive tools to create their own graphs and access various graph makers, including line graph and bar graph makers, to visualize scientific data.
What the Feature Offers
Visualizations: The series provides a "Graph of the Week" that offers a visual representation of data, making it easier to understand complex patterns and trends.
Data Analysis: The graphs often compare data, helping to reveal insights into scientific concepts.
Educational Tools: The page also provides access to various graph makers, enabling students and educators to create their own graphs for analysis.
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