Science Lessons and Investigations from Evan-Moor

Science can be a difficult subject to teach if your school district doesn’t have a curriculum. Coming up with lessons and investigations to keep your students engaged takes a lot of time and research. What if everything you needed to meet all the Next Generation Science Standards was in one place? Now it is! The Evan-Moor Science Lessons and Investigations book is packed with science texts, vocabulary activities, and hands-on investigations that are ready to use in your classroom!

Science Lessons and Investigations

**I received a free copy of Evan-Moor Science Lessons and Investigations for 3rd grade in exchange for this review. All opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links. I only recommend products that I use and love. 

The Science Lessons and Investigations book from Evan-Moor has everything you need to effectively teach the Next Generation Science Standards in your classroom. Each lesson uses the 5E model to get your students thinking about the different science concepts.

Let’s break down a lesson and look at all the parts.

Step 1: Engage

In this part of the lesson, you will introduce the concept to your students. You will ask them a “Spark Question” to get them thinking. Each lesson includes a discussion guide with follow-up questions you can ask to get your students talking about the concept. There is also always a visual picture or diagram to help you introduce the lesson.

For the third grade lesson on magnetic forces, there are pictures of different types of magnets to get your students thinking about the concept. The “Spark Question” is “Why do some magnets work better than others?” The Discussion Guide has more questions you can use to facilitate a class discussion about magnets.

Step 2: Explore

This is the hands-on investigation part of the lesson. Your students will complete an experiment to learn more about the day’s concept. The explore part of the lesson is inquiry-based, and your students will work with a group to test things and make predictions.

For the magnetic forces lesson, the students use two strong magnets to see what objects are attracted to them and which objects aren’t attracted to them. Then, they test different types of magnets to see which ones attract the most paper clips. After they complete the investigation, there are some extension questions for them to answer. They form their own hypotheses before discussing the results as a class.

Step 3: Explain

During the explain portion of the lesson, you will work as a class to discuss the concept and learn why the investigation worked the way it did. Your students will see if their hypotheses were correct and why. Each lesson includes a science passage that explains the concept clearly and in detail. There are also concept vocabulary words that are important for your students to understand.

The Magnetic Forces lesson has a text called “Amazing Magnets”. It explains how magnets work and why some magnets are stronger than others. The concept vocabulary includes the words “attract,” “magnetic field,” “pole,” and “repel”. There is even a space for your students to take notes about the importance of these words.

Step 4: Evaluate

Each lesson has activities to evaluate your students’ understanding of the concept. There is a vocabulary review to make sure your students have a strong understanding of the important terms. Then, there is an assessment to see how well your students understand the concept.

The Magnetic Forces lesson has a vocabulary review that has the students explain the meaning of the word “attract” with a definition, drawing or description, example, and a non-example. Then, they use the other concept vocabulary words to complete sentences. The rest of the assessment checks their understanding of what items are magnetic and how magnets work.

Step 5: Extend

Each lesson has three different extension activities. You can choose one for each lesson or do all three. These activities will help your students apply what they learned.

For the Magnetic Forces lesson, the first extend activity is a reflect question. The students have to think about why a poster with magnets might slide down the board when the teacher tried to hang it up. They have to explain why this might happen and tell how to solve the problem. The second activity has the students invent. They have to design a toy car that can move with magnets. The third extension is a project. The students can choose to create a video dictionary showing different ways people use magnets or to create a magnet man by using magnetic items, like nails, screws, and wires.

Get the Science Lessons and Investigations Book

If you want to try the Science Lessons and Investigations book in your classroom, head over to the Evan-Moor website to take a closer look. It is available for grades 1 to 6, and every grade has 12 science units.

This amazing resource will save you so much time, and it will get your students excited to learn science!

If you want even more hands-on, engaging science lessons, your students will love the STEM Lessons and Challenges book.

What Do You Think?

Do you use the Evan-Moor Science Lessons and Investigations resource in your classroom? What is your favorite part of it?

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