Heya! This is my first year teaching 3rd grade -- I have some questions about Science! My school adopted a new Science program "Science: A Closer Look" by Macmillan/McGraw-Hill. In previous years they used an older Science text book that I do not believe prepared these students for the content that the new program has. My students are struggling like CRAZY with vocabulary and the sheer amount of information that is in the curriculum and book. We try to do a lab every week or every other week, but I want them to understand the content they'll need to handle the 4th grade books. My questions for you: Do you send home Science homework in 3rd? If so, how often and how much? I feel I need to type up study guides for my kids -- exoskeleton and metamorphosis, etc are quite daunting to many of them -- especially my struggling readers. Thanks in advance.
I periodically send home science homework--today actually was their first assignment. It was the review questions that went with the lesson we did in class today. I also give my kids a study guide--either one that we fill out as we go through the chapter, or one that we do to review. Sometimes their HW is to do the study guide and we review it the next day, or sometimes I have them work on it in class. I also use a lot of WBT ideas with science vocabulary words--we'll make up actions to go with them, turn and teach them to our neighbors, etc. It also makes it easy to practice them throughout the day.
As homework, we have a 16 block worksheet for the week, and the kids do four question blocks per night. On Friday, they complete a quiz from the material. The questions are review based on our state standards. I have study guides for all of my tests. We complete them in class 2-3 days before tests. Anyone that does not pass must get a parent to sign it each night until the test to indicate that they studied. For vocabulary, I have the students cut out flashcards that I made. They are also supposed to study these each night. We play 5 minutes of Around the World to review them just about every day, and we have a card quiz each unit. I also put the words on a Word Wall. We play a flashlight game in teams where the first person to shine their light on the correct word wins the round.
