Science Instruction for ELLs

These books written by veteran educators describe a variety of activities and strategies that can be used to engage ELLs in science lessons, as well as to develop their academic language skills around science topics.

Becoming Scientists: Inquiry-Based Teaching in Diverse Classrooms, Grades 3-5

Good science starts with a question. Using inquiry science, children discover answers to their questions in the same way that scientists do — with experiments, predictions, observations, and conjectures. The book takes a look into real classrooms where teachers practice inquiry science and engage students in the practices outlined in the Next Generation Science Standards. The authors show teachers how to build on students' varied experiences and background knowledge, respond to different language needs of ELLs, and manage a diverse classroom during inquiry science exploration.

Ladybugs, Tornadoes, and Swirling Galaxies

Brad Buhrow and Anne Garcia are primary teachers who have blended comprehension instruction and ELL best practices to explore inquiry as a literacy pathway for English language learners. The book is full of photographs of student artwork, and the authors provide explicit detail on the process they use as they move step-by-step with students from personal narrative through the independent inquiry process. Appendices in Spanish and English included.

Moving the Classroom Outdoors: Schoolyard-Enh​anced Learning in Action

Product Description: Outdoor learning expert Herb Broda presents concrete examples of how urban, suburban, and rural schools have enhanced the school site as a teaching tool. Herb focuses on the practical and the specific, including ideas for seating, signage, planting considerations, teaching/meeting areas, outdoor classroom management, pathways, equipment storage, raised gardens, and more. The book also provides an outdoor activity sampler, information on incorporating technology into the outdoor learning experience, and a chapter on the unique concerns of urban schools.

Science for English Language Learners: K-12 Classroom Strategies

"In addition to providing a rich foundation of instructional practices (Parallels in Language and Science Teaching), the editors offer effective teaching strategies and models for lesson development including standards and assessment frames. An excellent tool for classroom teachers, teacher educators, and resource teachers working with individual students or small groups." — Curriculum Connections, School Library Journal, Fall 2006

Supporting Grade 5-8 Students in Constructing Explanations in Science: The Claim, Evidence, and Reasoning Framework for Talk and Writing

By providing a variety of strategies, scenarios, examples of student writing, classroom video clips from across all science content areas, rubrics, and guidelines for designing assessment items, this guide provides teachers with the tools to successfully incorporate scientific explanation in their own classrooms. The authors feature students from a variety of school settings and also include strategies to support instruction with ELLs and students with special needs.

Teaching Science to English Language Learners: Building on Students' Strengths

Can a student's cultural background support learning in science? Or is concentrating on the specialized vocabulary of science the best way to help English language learners learn science? This book addresses these and other pressing questions you face when working with students with diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds, combining research findings with classroom vignettes and the perspectives of teachers.

The Preschool Scientist: Using Learning Centers to Discover and Explore Science

With more than 100 activities, this manual gives children the opportunity to engage, experiment, create, and discover the exciting world of science. Using a unique inquiry-based approach, the activities explore science through learning centers and include targeted vocabulary, recommended children's books, and tips for dual language learners, as well as strategies for adjusting the level of difficulty of the tasks.

To Look Closely: Science and Literacy in the Natural World

Product Description: Whether it's a trickling stream, a grassy slope, or an abandoned rail line, the natural world offers teachers a wonderful resource around which to center creative, inquiry-based learning throughout the year. Nobody knows this better than veteran teacher Laurie Rubin. In this guide, Laurie demonstrates how nature study can help a classroom of diverse students become careful, intentional observers of all they see, growing into stronger readers, writers, mathematicians, and scientists in the process.