Question for Evan Moor Daily Science Users...

[Joyful_Journey]

I'm thinking of using this next year for my 3rd and 6th graders. I have to confess that I'm not a science-type person, so I'm looking for ways to get a little more science flowing around here without much of it coming from me! I'll continue to use whatever science curriculum I purchase for next year, but I thought this may be fun for them to do in addition to it.

 

Just two questions:

 

1) Do your kids seem to "get" the science concept of the day? Or does it really need to be taught more extensively in order for them to understand it? I don't want this to turn into busy work without any real benefit/knowledge gained.

 

2) Have any of you used this through Teacher Filebox? I've been following the recent threads Filebox threads, and I am VERY tempted to subscribe when it goes on sale at the end of the week on HSBC since we already use Evan Moor Daily Word Problems and Daily Language Review. If Daily Science for grades 3 and 6 are there as well, then this would seal the deal. I tried doing a search, but I'm not having much luck.

 

Thanks for your feedback!

[zoo_keeper]

Both grades of Daily Science are available in TFB. BTW, for me, it's easiest to search by going to EM's website, finding the book there with their search feature, taking note of the EMC number, and then moving over to the TFB website and searching by the EMC # (the # only, don't type in the "EMC" part).

[TarynB]

My DS used EM Daily Science grade 6 for a while as a supplement. We were both excited to try it but ultimately it was a disappointment, due to the way/order in which the info was presented. For example, one particular lesson on genetics included worksheet questions about Punnett Squares, but Punnett Squares had not been covered in the student material. So I explained it to DS on the fly and we moved on. Punnett Squares were covered a few pages later in the student material, so the lessons seemed out of order. I was impressed to see such a topic listed, but after reading through it, so much was left out that it was frustrating and the book became more trouble than it was worth. DS is in logic stage and wants to be more independent. Maybe better editing would have helped. We've never used any lower levels, though, so those may be fine. Just something to watch out for.

 

ETA: To answer your first question, I think EM Daily Science could make a good science spine, but you'd have to be willing to spend the time to add in extra reading or additional resources to go beyond the topics as EM presents them. DS didn't "get" much of the info because the details were so skimpy. Since we already have a main science curriculum that I'm very pleased with, I wasn't willing to invest the effort into building EM up enough to be solid for grade 6 level and to make it open and go for a DS who loves science & wants to be more independent. In other words, I felt like I was having to supplement our supplement (LOL), so we dropped it. The younger levels seem to have good reviews, and it's cheap, so it couldn't hurt to try one one of those and see if you like it.

[morgan]

My DD is doing the first grade daily science and ScienceWorks from teacher filebox and so far she favors the ScienceWorks. The daily science seems pretty light to me, but most first grade science is. My DD wants to investigate some of the topics deeper, but it's probably enough for some kids. I am not sure what the older grades are like.

 

I do think Teacher Filebox is worth the price if you are planning on using more than a couple Evan Moor books, but I have to admit it's taken me a little while to get the hang of using it.

[Hunter]

I only actually used grade 1. I liked what I saw of the Google samples for the higher grades but did not use them.

 

I did not find the TM light at all for first grade, but...my ideas of what is age appropriate is Waldorf and PS based. I didn't use the workbook pages, but thought they looked good. If I had used them instead of preparing Waldorf style copywork, I would have made sure to teach from the TM pages, rather than just have the student complete the pages independently with no teacher interaction.

 

I always read far ahead in the curriculum. I never taught a page without knowing what the later pages said. I really liked the TM pages and studied them diligently. The TM pages and the Big Ideas" are the curriculum. The student pages are just frosting in my opinion.

 

The upper grades look like they can be completed without completing the lower grades, but the lower grades contain some basic information that I really didn't want to skip, as it was not repeated in the upper grades. I am totally OCD though about building a strong foundation, to the point that another tutor is pretty disgusted with me at times.

[alicai]

I just had a baby and suspected I wouldn't be able to keep up with our regular science curriculum so I picked up Daily Science grade 2 for my 1st grade daughter who reads well. I agree with Hunter - there's a lot of good meat here if you add to it and take your time with it. Unfortunately, I haven't had the time for that so we have seen less value. It has still had worth, however, as something she can work on independently and does learn from.

[threeofakind]

I have used these the past couple months for my 4th grader as I was working and needed him to do something in science. We are getting back into doing our own science (now that my work is less again) but I am going to keep him working through this. I think there is some good info. in them and since they are meant to be done in a short amount of time- they do, maybe 10 minutes. I do try to discuss with him what he is learning and sometimes I have to explain some concepts to him (I think they assume kids have covered certain ideas/ concepts from previous years as most companies do). I think it's been great to use and he can do it on his own for the most part- but I agree with others to make it your main science I would add books and more experiments to it. But he has enjoyed it!

[Joyful_Journey]

Hmmmm....so it sounds as if Daily Science may work fairly well for the younger grades, but things are a bit iffy with the older grades. I was rather hoping that this would provide some sort of spiral, review type work in science that would cover/revisit concepts taught in previous grades. It has been a couple of years since my kids had biology, and my 10 year old ds couldn't explain photosynthesis to my husband the other day. Ugh! I got the "you are covering enough science with them, aren't you?" comments from dh. It's can be challenging for them to remember all of the major concepts when you do WTM style science where you stay on biology, chemistry, earth/astronomy, or physics for an entire year (without a review of work from previous years). My kids have a tendency to forget much of what was covered in science a couple of years ago until we get back to it again in the 4 year cycle. I would LOVE to find some sort of simple review type workbook that would just revisit major concepts in science without either the kids or I investing a huge amount of time (since we have no intention of dropping our main science program). Sigh. Oh well, I think I'll at least give this a shot with my rising 3rd grader next year. If I do Filebox, maybe I can still print off Daily Science lessons for the 6th grader that I think would work well...