What it looks like to use living books for science (Elementary Years) - Inspiring your students to love science through living books, Part 2 {Episode 39}

Now that we understand what living books are and how to choose one to use for science, it's time to look at how to use living books to teach science. In the second part of the "Inspiring your students to love science through living books" session, we are going to chat about what it looks like to use living books for science during the elementary years.

Hi, I’m Paige Hudson and you are listening to the Tips for Homeschool Science Show where we are breaking down the lofty concepts of science into building blocks you can use in your homeschool!

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Highlights

Basically, when you use living books for science with elementary students, you will:

• Read and enjoy 
• Do oral and written narrations
• Complete hands-on projects

Goals for elementary science education are relatively simple.

• First, you want to create an interest in the student for learning science.
• Second, you want to fill the student’s mind with fascinating, but basic scientific information.

When you are teaching science to elementary students, you want to include the following:

• Scientific demonstrations – Demonstrations are more teacher-led scientific tests.
• Science-oriented Books – Living books with a science bent definitely fit the bill here!
• Notebooking – Basically you want a way to record what the students are learning.
• You can also add multi-week projects and memory work to round things out if you desire.

A Sample Week for Elementary Students

• Day 1 - Living Books and Notebooking
• Day 2 - Living Books and Notebooking
• Day 3 - Scientific Demonstration and Notebooking
• Day 4 and 5 - Add in some Optional Extras 

Takeaway Tidbits

Elementary students are like an empty bucket begging to be filled. (Pin this Tidbit)

When you read living books with the elementary crowd your main focus is to introduce them to the material in an interesting way. (Pin this Tidbit)

Additional Resources 

See the full conference session - Inspiring your students to love science through living books.

Check out the following articles for more tips on living books and elementary students:

• How to use living books with elementary students
• Writing in Homeschool Science: The Elementary Years
• How to use living books with multiple ages
• 5 Sanity-saving tips for maximizing learning during read-aloud time

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