Science Organization

As I have shared in a few other posts, in my classroom we work on a different theme for science every month at our "science" station (see this post for picture of the science station).  In today's post, I mostly wanted to share if with you how I created this station and how I organize my materials.  Creating this station was not easy or quick.  It probably took me one full year to get everything done.  But, now I am so glad I did, because I am able to use the same materials every year (although I still add a few new things each year too).

The first thing I did was brainstorm as many science themes as I could and assigned them to different months that seemed appropriate.  For example, I started with body parts because this is pretty easy (and an important concept) and my students would need to know body parts before working on the 5-senses (which we work on in April).  

I came up with 9 vocabulary words for each theme and created a matching sheet and writing worksheets for the vocabulary.  Then, I started searching the internet for worksheets related to each topic.  I used a lot of enchanted learning and boardmaker share worksheets.  For everything I didn't find online, I created my own.  For the first year, I focused most of my worksheets on learning the vocabulary associated with each topic.  Once my kids got this down, I created worksheets that covered actual science concepts and learning facts about the topics.  So, for each topic, I am now able to create an advanced packet and beginner packet.

To organize all of my worksheets, I have put them into two binders.  They are categorized by month.  I have the vocabulary matching sheet in a toploading sheet, then the worksheets related to the theme (including science tests--a newer addition to the science station).

Next, I started writing grants through donors choose, because I knew my kids would be bored crazy if we only did worksheets every week in science.  So, using my science topics, I wrote grants for puzzles, games, hands-on activities, books, etc. Check out this post to see some tips on Donorschoose.  I organize all of these in plastic tubs I got at Target in a closet.  Each tub is labeled with the topic and month, and filled with hands-on activities for the theme.  

Each month, it is now super easy to set up our science unit...just make some photo copies of packets and pull out a tub of activities!  

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