As the new school year creeps closer and closer, we are facing some uncertainty around what teaching and learning will look like. It’s more important than ever that we make sure students have access to science lessons and materials whether they’re learning at home, in school, or in a hybrid model. These digital resources for upper elementary science offer the flexibility needed to deliver those lessons.
Digital Science Resources: Reading Comprehension Units
With science reading passages, your students will explore fun comprehension-based activities and assessments for 5th grade topics. These are a great way to teach, review, and assess how well students are learning each standard. Since every district will be experiencing different learning environments in the fall, each set includes a digital and a print version.
Share these science reading passages with your students on Google Classroom, Seesaw, ClassDojo, or whatever learning platform you choose. In addition, you may also print the passages for at-home learning or to use in your classroom.
Here’s what you’ll receive with each science reading passage mini unit.
–Reading Passage(s) and Comprehension:
First, students may complete these reading passages independently, in a small group, or as a class. Even if your students are participating in distance learning, Google Classroom makes it easy to assign lessons to small groups. You may also choose to have students work together by giving students editing rights to your upload instead of making a copy for each student. Don’t worry! Each science reading passage and activity also comes with instructions on how to upload to Google Classroom.
Since every student learns differently, the units include illustrations, models, and diagrams to show students what they are reading about. After the content, a comprehension activity with pictures and fun ways to answer the question is provided. Finally, to tie in writing skills, students then answer a question based on what they read. Here is a great way to tie in those writing skills by requiring complete sentences!
Quick Tech Tip! If you choose to have students complete this activity in a small group via distance learning, you’ll still be able to see if every student participated. Go to file/version history, and as long as your students are logged in Google Classroom, you’ll see who made changes and when!
–Sorting:
Next, each passage also comes with a hands-on sort to review the topic. This is a great formative assessment to see how well students understood the targeted science concept. Each sorting activity includes around 12 images or text descriptions that students must sort into relevant categories. Give this activity prior to the assessment.
If you are assigning the digital version of the sorting activity you can post the answers on Google Classroom or share a video discussing the results after the due date. This ensures that you are giving feedback and making sure your students understand, even if they’re learning from home!
–Assessment:
The final piece to the reading passage mini-units is an assessment. Each topic will include a 4 question assessment that is available in print and digital formats. The questions are written to closely align with the types of questions found on the 5th grade Science STAAR. Use them for a quick and easy way to see which students have a solid understanding of the concept and which may need additional supports.
The digital versions are on Google Forms, which makes it so easy to grade and share out to Google Classroom! Google Forms also allows for visual questions. The relative density assessment, for example, helps readers answer questions with visual clues to understand experiments in relative density.
Available Topics:
There are currently 14 different upper elementary science topics available. We are working hard to add more before the new school year begins. When finished, we will offer a mini-unit over every 5th-grade science TEK.
Digital Science Resources: Open Response Review Questions
When learning in a classroom environment, students often complete warm-ups, exit tickets, and quick one question assessments. This is often done through class discussions or with task cards, but these digital science review questions in Google Slides have made it easier to transform the way our formative assessment is done.
Each topic includes 24 questions, each on a separate slide with illustrations or graphics to support the question. These are open-ended questions, which means students are incorporating their critical thinking skills and having to explain their answers.
Your students can type the answers directly on the slides that you can upload into Google Classroom! Students practice their writing skills by writing in complete sentences in order to explain their responses. Answer keys with suggested responces are included to make grading easy!
Available Topics:
We currently have a set of digital review questions for each of the Readiness Standards for 5th grade science.
- Electricity and Circuits
- Light Energy – Reflection and Refraction
- Physical Properties of Matter
- Mixtures and Solutions
- Inherited Traits and Learned Behaviors
- Form and Function of Adaptations
- Energy Flow in Food Webs
- Earth’s Rotation and Revolution
- Sedimentary Rock and Fossil Fuel Formation
- Weathering, Erosion, Deposition, and Landforms
- How to Use Forms of Energy
Whether you are distance learning or back in the classroom, these digital resources for upper elementary science are perfect to make sure your learners are staying connected! I love how easily the units integrate with Google Classroom. Try these digital resources in your science classroom this year!
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