This effort arose out of a concern that not enough instructional time was being devoted to Science, with much of the classroom day devoted to English/Language Arts and Mathematics. Yet, it is the problem solving and critical thinking process inherent in the Sciences that are also needed to prepare our students for the 21st century. As there are Research and Inquiry components within the Wonders Reading Program, there appears to be a misconception that the Science could be taught through through these activities. However, the emphasis of the Research and Inquiry activities is on English/Language Arts literacy, and does not engage students in the three- dimensional learning of Science, advocated by the NGSS.
To address the above concerns, this alignment was developed to guide teachers as to how the Wonders Reading Program could be meaningfully integrated with Science and STEM. This document was prepared with the support of the Hawaii State Department of Education by Stacy George, Lizabeth Horii, Phyllis Kawamoto and Karen Umeda. Except as otherwise noted, this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License (international): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/. The Wonders Reading Program is a copyrighted work of McGraw-Hill; the referenced content of Wonders is not covered under this license. The linked Science/STEM materials are independent and not covered by this license. Please see individual documents for copyright/license information of these materials.
What follows are some guidance and implementation tips for your consideration:
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Instruction is most powerful when subject matter is integrated. The reading of Science enables students to build their content knowledge while engagement in the Science enables the students to bring meaning to text.
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Reading the selections in Wonders does not equate to doing the Science. Science needs to be a hands-on, minds-on endeavor that integrates the Science and Engineering Practices, the Disciplinary Core Ideas and Crosscutting Concepts (three-dimensional learning) of the NGSS.
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This is by no means a definitive guide to the integration of NGSS and Wonders. Teachers should use this document to plan their Science with the scope and sequence of all the NGSS Performance Expectations in mind. Since the alignment is driven by the Essential Questions of each of the units, not all of the Performance Expectations are addressed. Further, the recommended lessons and units are just one of others that may be in existence.
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Within the Wonders units, it is recommended that the first reading be conducted with an ELA focus and the rereading done through a Science lens.
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This is a living document. It already has been through several iterations, with more iterations to come as we learn and receive feedback from the teachers.
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There are professional development sessions that support the teaching of Wonders integrated with Science and STEM.
In closing, may we extend a special thank you to Garrett Arakawa, Vice Principal at Momilani Elementary School in planting the seed for this project. Our heartfelt gratitude also goes to Petra Schatz and Lauren Kaupp, Educational Specialist for English/Language Arts and Science respectively, and to Momilani Principal Doreen HIga for their enthusiastic support of this project.