We examined the relations between working memory, emergent literacy skills (e.g., phonological awareness, orthographic awareness, rapid automatized naming), word reading, and listening comprehension to online reading processes (eye movements), and their relations to reading comprehension. A total of 292 students were assessed on working memory and…

The complexity of scientific concepts requires contextual knowledge that is often beyond the experience of young children. As someone new to the teaching profession, Georgie Orme sought out ways to make science more relevant and meaningful to children's lives. This article outlines an action research project that explored how she could use stories…

As curriculum scholars in South Africa express concerns about the failures of the outcomes-based curriculum policy that has been introduced post-apartheid it is of increased importance to try and understand the professional development that is required by teachers for its successful implementation. As a contribution to the development of such…

Common Core State Standards emphasize the importance of informational writing in primary grades. In such writing, importance is placed on the writing being scholarly and scientific. However, such writing can be rote and dry, with little voice. The purpose of this article was to propose a working definition of voice in science writing for first…

The "Next Generation Science Standards" ("NGSS") and current research in science education call for students to participate in making sense of scientific experiences by building explanations from evidence collected during these experiences. One way this goal can be achieved is through rigorous classroom discussions. In this…

There are arguably advantages to adopting a cross-curricular approach to planning, teaching and learning. This approach often works well for incorporating scientific skills and the wider perspectives of geography, technology and maths. It can help children to develop and consolidate their understanding through practical application and gives them…

This article presents a lesson that was designed to explore the scientific descriptions of matter through both the intensive and extensive properties that students successfully added to their vocabulary. Students' examples demonstrated that there were places where their reasoning about matter faltered as related to how the material is the same…

Formative assessments serve to engage students in active sense-making, making them critical tools for both teachers and students. Though formative assessments may be an informal mode of assessing, they are one of the most important, especially when teaching science. As a subject, teaching science does not have the same kind of beginning-middle-end…

This paper will explain what a reading teacher learned from working with a group of first-grade struggling readers in a series of shared-book experience classes. The shared-book experience approach used a variety of science-themed books that were aligned with the first-grade curriculum and appropriate for beginning readers. Considering the…

In this article, we "think with" theories of affect and transmedial storytelling to explore the cruel optimism that standardised reading pedagogies (e.g. read alouds; leveled readers/independent reading) can produce for readers. We draw on particular moments in a first grade classroom to argue that such pedagogies transmit…

Over many years, the authors have inquired into the integration of science and literacy in primary grades. Students have used science notebooks as places to write and draw their scientific questions, predictions, observations, research notes, claims, reflections, and wonderings. At the same time, the authors have engaged their students in writers'…

Scientific modeling along with hands-on inquiry can lead to a deeper understanding of scientific concepts among students in upper elementary grades. Even though scientific modeling involves abstract-thinking processes, can students in younger elementary grades successfully participate in scientific modeling? Scientific modeling, like all other…

Using a randomized control trial, this study examined the causal evidence of cross-language transfer of phonological awareness and letter knowledge (names and sounds) using data from multilingual 1st-grade children (N = 322) in Kenya. Children in the treatment condition received an 8-week instruction on phonological awareness and letter knowledge…

The Great American Total Solar Eclipse (TSE2017) will occur on August 21 this year--the first total solar eclipse in the continental United States since 1979. For many reasons, this is a scientific and educational milestone event of the highest magnitude that should not be missed by any teacher and student whether or not their school is in session…

As an introduction to sound and vibration, the authors wanted their first-grade students to plan and conduct their own investigations. In this article, the authors share a series of investigations to help students explore the relationship between sound and vibration. By planning, creating, testing, adapting, and reflecting on the outcomes of the…