1st Grade Science

[Elizabeth86]

I thought I had my plans for next year of doing a free magic school bus curriculum, but I'm thinking maybe of going with a more traditional textbook approach.  I KNOW this is not very popular with this age group and most would recommend using real books and something light like that.  I'm sure that's good advice and all, but I've done that this year and that approach just stresses me out.  I'm a rule follower and a list checker off kind of person.  Going with the flow and that sort of thing just doesn't work for me.  I've already found myself overthinking the magic school bus route by wanting to add this and do that and trying to find out which books the library doesn't have and what I need and on and on.  Having a 5, 3 and 1 year old I am SUPER busy and I just really don't want to plan a thing next year.  I also thought it might be easier for dh to follow on the days he lends a hand with homeschooling.  So, I'd like your opinions on the following.  I'd also like to know if you know the time commitment for each.  Are they 1 or 2 semesters long.  5 days a week?  How long each day?  I just want to generally cover what he would be learning at school.  I know it really doesn't  matter at this age, but I feel like a new mom all over again stressing about every little thing.  I have this crazy paranoia he will show up in like college or somewhere and totally miss the most basic of concepts all because of me.  Silly I know, I get it, but I need something solid here. 

 

BJU science grade 1

 

I also thought the Earlybird Science from Singapore Math looked good and easy, BUT I feel like I'd just have to supplement with some books.  sigh.

 

I also thought the Singapore Science Textbooks looked good too

 

I've NEVER heard anything about this before, but thought it looked good  http://www.purposefuldesign.com/Default.aspx

 

A reason for science.  I don't know about this one, it's looks a little boring to me maybe, but it looks good and complete.

 

I'm open to ANYTHING else you have to offer, but I just don't want to plan anymore.

 

Thanks

[SilverMoon]

Easy Classical has WTM style with a grid planner. :) Pandia Press has another one.

[Guest]

Cut yourself some slack.  I didn't do ANY formal science with any of my kids until they were in 7th grade, and they weren't any worse for it.  You're a busy mama.  Just let nature walks, kitchen science, etc. suffice.  Magic School Bus is quite sufficient at that age.  Really.  I'm not lying to you.

 

Edited to add:  Unless the child is just begging for more science.  That's a different story.  But I wouldn't thrust science on a kid that age if they aren't asking for it.  Focus on the firm foundation in language arts and arithmetic at that age.

 

Edited again to add:  Yeah, I know this isn't what you want to hear, but I'm saying it anyway.

Edited February 6, 2017 by Kinsa

[beka87]

Pandia Press is great for an all planned out, open it up and go, first grade level science.  If you stock your "lab" supplies t the beginning of the year, you're all set.  They use easy to find items and we had a really good experience with all the activities - simple, but informative and no weird supplies needed.  I loved Biology.

 

Also, Berean Builders has a great textbook for this age, as well, also with easy to perform experiments that don't require a lot of weird stuff. Good luck!

[Runningmom80]

Agreeing with Kinsa. 

 

For my first graders I just pick a topic and get a bunch of books from the library.  we do nature walks when it's nice out, but that's it otherwise.

 

When DS 10 was in first, and I thought I needed to be doing something for every subject, we did Evan-Moore daily science and he loved it.  It's just a workbook, it's fairly cheap and you can add in hands on stuff if you want. He did it for second grade as well, until I switched to my library book method. :lol:  

Edited February 7, 2017 by Runningmom80

[wendyroo]

When mine were that age we did Mr. Q Life Science.

 

We kept it very low key.  My 4 and 6 year olds would sit next to me on the couch while I read the chapter on my tablet.  Sometimes we would do one of the week's activities (they are all pretty simple and most of them truly do only require things I had around the house), other times we wouldn't.

 

I was very pleased with Mr. Q (especially seeing as his life science is completely free). This year we are using his Earth Science, which I bought during his 50% off sale, and we are enjoying that as well.

 

Wendy

[HomeAgain]

You could try Noeo.  Living books, schedule, everything in a box including experiments.  You don't have to plan a darn thing.  The schedule allows for either two or four day lessons each week.

[SilverMoon]

I agree that no formal science is needed for the next several grades, but it sounded like a schedule would bring her peace.

 

My 6yo is my sixth to homeschool at this age. He is pretty curious about how the world works and just chasing his interests is probably covering far more than the average 1st grade curriculum. When he asked about magnets we read a couple books, watched a Bill Nye, and did the Magic School Bus magnet kit. (The kits are TOTALLY unnecessary. I consider them worth the cost of driving around to find the supplies and gladly fork over the dough.) When he's had his fill of magnets but nothing else has grabbed his attention, we read from various nonfiction books together. Right now it's the animal kingdom Childcraft volume. When something else grabs him I'll shelve the Childcraft and let him jump in deep. No narration, copywork, or output of any kind beyond discussion.

Edited February 7, 2017 by SilverMoon

[Hunter]

I second Evan-Moore Daily Science. The teacher pages are excellent. It is an excellent spine for a checklist person needing something prepared.

 

I used this workbook with an adult remedial student, sometimes skipping the student pages, but always following the TM.

[coloradomomof5]

Odd ball here. We do a science text book with a workbook. Gasp. I like covering a little of the topic and adding more each year. My like like it as well and ask to do science each day. I have them read aloud to practice saying the science words. Works for us and I know it is getting done.

 

 

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[monalua]

We are in the middle of 1st grade science right now. Started the year with Nancy Larsen Science, which sadly I spent a lot of money on and it just did not work for us. We switched to Evan Moore Daily Science and it has been great. Fun little workbook and it's based on standards. Very simple but gets the job done, great jumping off point for discussions and could be easily supplemented with library books. I have also been buying Magic School kits on Amazon and we do one experiment a week (not related to the EM topics). I think it's been a good introduction to science. Supplemented with lots of trips to the nature and science museum and zoo!

[CTVKath]

We're in the middle of 1st grade science right now too. Originally I wanted to relax and use the Let's Read and Find Out science books and I bought a huge lot off of eBay. Got scared that was not enough and paid way too much for Nancy Larson Science. That lasted 2 weeks. I bought Real Science Odyssey - can't remember which one - and we never did anything with it. So then I went back to the Let's Read and Find Out science books, relaxed and we are having a great year. I found a blogger who made a curriculum out of the books - and I only use it as a checklist and an order to read the books - I don't do anything else with it. http://fromtherootsup.blogspot.com/2008/09/oak-meadow-science-our-nature-studies_26.html  We read about 1 LRAFO book a week and we are reading through the Thornton Burgess adventures of ____ series. That's it.

 

If I wanted a more formal science that I could check off each day, and it is constantly tempting me, I'd use Evan Moor's Daily Science. Looks easy, inexpensive, appropriate and would require little to no planning from me.

 

Good luck!

[TheAttachedMama]

I think a magic school bus curriculum sounds like an AWESOME fist grade year.    

 

Above anything, you just want to keep them curious at this age.   Kids this age have a natural sense of wonder.   Do whatever you can to preserve this.   You want science to feel like a treat and something they look forward to.   That may mean that you don't produce as much writing as SWB suggests in TWTM or as much written content as a textbook asks for.   (That is FINE at this age!   You can practice writing separately.)   You just want to keep them asking questions and exploring their world.  

 

While I really like the magic school bus shows and books, I have heard that their experiments don't work very well.   So if you have problems, you might want to check out Mystery Science.    it is a super fun and easy to teach science curriculum.   (Most of it is available for free too.)   You could even loosely align those experiments with the Magic School Bus shows or books.   

 

I would also recommend you read through the "Let's Read and Find Out" science series.   Have a science read aloud day two times per week.   (Rainbow Resource even has them grouped by topic which is really cool.   Here is the "stage 2" plants and animals for example.)   

 

Edited February 7, 2017 by TheAttachedMama

[mom of 2 boys]

My son is in K and I'm currently starting to plan for 1st grade next year as well. We've been all over the place trying to figure out what works for us for science since we started homeschooling. I finally started just reading a 2 page spread from the DK "How Things Work Encyclopedia" each day, and that's been perfect. I throw in a hands on activity from a science kit when we have extra time here and there (currently working our way through the Thames and Kosmos intro to engineering kit.) So...since this is working out pretty well, I think I'm going to do the DK "Human Body Encyclopedia" along with some human body kits for next year. If we finish that and it's still going well, maybe we'll do another DK First Encyclopedia. 

[Linz1084]

We are sticking with exposure for 1st grade.  We'll be using "Exploring Nature with Children" as a guide for our nature walks and nature journaling.  Anything else will just be interest lead.  Which usually means triggered by Wild Kratts......

[vaquitita]

I second or third let's read and find out books. I'm using the animal ones this year for kindergarten and am planning to use the world around us ones next year for first grade. Combined with some fun science kits.

[Cake and Pi]

We've really enjoyed Mystery Science, which is very low prep but does require the parent to be there for the whole lesson.  You only need to do one "mystery" per week though.  Evan-Moor Daily Science is easy to get done and can be completely independent for kids who are reading.  I also just stumbled across a web/iPad based k-2 science curriculum that looks very hands-off for parents and yet interactive and thorough called science4us.

[ExcitedMama]

I'm not science inclined so for me I knew I wasn't going to throw together something for science. I knew I needed a program to ensure it would get done. I chose Elemental Science so I could have a framework for science. It's not very in depth so I cannot say it's amazing but it does serve my purpose. Every week has a topic, an experiment and a reading list. Our library doesn't always have the recommended books but I can get something else on the topic. I had science experiment books but they sat on the shelf but when it's assigned I manage to pull it out reliably.

[Vintage81]

I found these Magic School Bus lesson plans online (I haven't really examined them, but they might be helpful for you so you don't have to do a lot of the planning)...

 

http://ourcozyden.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Magic-School-Bus-Science.pdf

 

http://cornerstoneconfessions.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Magic-School-Bus-Lesson-Plans.pdf

 

 

 

As another option, Mystery Science is great!