You Need an Open-and-Go Spiral Science Curriculum

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Nothing is worse than sitting down for a science lesson and realizing you totally forgot to print the needed pages. Have you done that?

I received Real Science-4-Kids, a spiral science curriculum, for free and was compensated for my time. All opinions are my honest opinions and I was not required to post a positive review. For more information, please read my disclosure.

There are no experiment sheets or notebooking pages. For that matter, I’m not even certain which topic we’re covering this week. I’m running frantically all over the house trying to prepare our elementary science lesson on the fly.

There has to be a better way to do science!

Have you tried an open-and-go spiral science curriculum yet?

Enter Real Science-4-Kids.

Real Science-4-Kids: Exploring the Building Blocks of Science is an open-and-go spiral science curriculum. It comes with the student textbook, teacher’s manual, and laboratory notebook already printed and bound for you to use.

There’s no more scrambling to print the lesson plan for the day or to locate a lost experiment sheet that’s somewhere in the piles of paper on your desk.

In addition, RS4K (Real Science-4-Kids) is also a spiral science curriculum.

spiral science curriculum

What does that mean?

This means it covers all 5 branches of science each year.

While sticking to one branch of science for a year allows you to really dive into the branch and focus, it has several problems.

Kids forget a lot over a summer break. Just think how much they forget about, say biology, between the 1st grade and 5th grade since they’re not reviewing the topics every year.

4 years is a long time in the life of an elementary child.

Science is also interrelated.

Chemistry, biology, physics, geology, and astronomy are interwoven. If you doubt me, just think of photosynthesis. It’s a chemical reaction that sustains life on this planet.

Each branch of science is easier to understand when you’ve studied the others.

An open-and-go spiral curriculum like Real Science-4-Kids gives you an easy-to-use program that promotes long-term retention.

Exploring the Building Blocks of Science

Exploring the Building Blocks of Science has three main parts to the curriculum: the student textbook, the teacher’s manual, and the laboratory notebook.

There are 22 chapters in the book. I adore this because it makes it so easy to complete the book in a year despite the chaos that comes with normal life. Illness or grandparents coming to visit doesn’t throw us off schedule.

In addition, there’s enough buffer to spend extra time exploring topics the kids adore without needing to skip important topics later in the year.

Student Textbook

read the science textbook

The student textbook is written to the student. There are bright, descriptive pictures that do an excellent job of explaining visually. Have you ever heard the phrase a picture is worth a thousand words? The student textbook lives up to this phrase.

While the pictures use images, such as blocks or atoms linking arms, the text introduces scientific terminology such as microtubules, ribosomes, and reactions. Each scientific word is highlighted in red and defined.

The end of each chapter includes a short summary that gives the key takeaways for each chapter. You’re not left wondering what your kids should retain from the chapter. It’s spelled out for you.

Teacher’s Manual

science teachers manual

Each of the 22 chapters has an experiment to go along with it. The teacher’s manual walks you through teaching to experiment and introducing kids to the scientific method.

First, it begins with a materials list. Most of these items are things you’ll find around the house such as Legos, cardboard, and measuring cups. Occasionally you’ll need to pick up marshmallows or yogurt.

I love science experiments that use easy-to-find supplies!

You’re given guidance through each experiment. The objectives of the lesson are explained. You’re given questions to ask the kids to encourage critical thinking and develop inquiring minds.

Laboratory Notebook

science experiment
Discovering what happens when you mix colors.

Each chapter of Exploring the Building Blocks of Science has an experiment to go along with it.

The laboratory notebook walks kids through the experiments. There’s space for children to write, and plenty of room to draw.

The laboratory notebook even covers the different sections of completing an experiment such as think about it, observe, what did you discover, and why did it happen. There’s a Just for Fun section that encourages you to explore the topic further.

Exploring the Building Blocks of Science has a delightful combination of explicit instruction and hands-on learning.

Real Science-4-Kids: A Spiral Science Curriculum

Currently Exploring the Building Blocks of Science has grades 1-7 available. There are even quizzes and tests available along with lesson plans.

>>>Grab your copy of Exploring the Building Blocks of Science for an easy, open-and-go spiral science curriculum!

spiral science curriculum

6 Comments

  1. What’s the foundation of this curriculum? Evolution, the Bible,
    Old earth creation, new earth creation, or some other religion?

    1. I would say the foundation of this curriculum is secular, as religion is simply not mentioned. In addition geology in the curriculum is kept to physical geology rather than historical geography.

  2. Can you still benefit/learn from this curriculum without doing all the experiments?

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