Writing in Science

Writing does not only happen in English Language Arts. This year we have spent a lot of time writing in all subjects including: Math, Social Studies, Health & Science. This week in Science we focused on the difference between series and parallel circuits. Today wrote a Compare & Contrast essay on the similarities and differences between the two types of circuits.

We first put together a graphic organizer that helped to organize the information the students learned from the Science investigations we completed this week. Instead of using the traditional Venn diagram, we used a "Box and T Chart." The kids really liked this organizer because they said, "Miss Groccia there is so much more room to fit my writing."

 

After completing the organizer, we used Compare & Contrast sentence frames to help shape our two paragraph essay. I expect the students to be using transitions and varying sentence structure by the end of the year so at the beginning of the year I like to do a lot of modeling for this type of writing. 

 

When we had filled in the sentence frames, I had the students talk through their essays with a partner. This way all the students had a chance to talk about their thoughts before getting it out on paper. I encouraged the kids to use the sentences frames as a guide, but to also use their own words. Finally, the kids were ready to write in their Science Notebook. I removed the colored cards with the answers, and just left the sentence frames for the students to use