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Your Elementary Classroom

Science and Children

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In the current issue:

The water cycle, the systems of the human body, and motion and forces are just a few topics in elementary science that cannot be taught without considering the characteristics and properties of matter. This issue will help students understand matter as they engage in such activities as separating a mixture and confronting misconceptions about the water cycle.

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Full Table of Contents

Science and Children is now available to NSTA members in a digital version. Same great content, but now NSTA members can read it on the computer as well as the Kindle Fire, Android tablet/phone, and Apple devices. For more information, please go to our digital journals page. Questions? e-mail us at digitaljournals@nsta.org.

Student Competitions

Looking for ways to engage your students in the fun of science? NSTA-sponsored competitions encourage teamwork while tapping into their natural curiosity.

Learn more

NSTA Position Statements

NSTA has developed several position statements of particular interest to elementary-level teachers:

All position statements

Grants and Fellowships

  • 6/30/2017 - 6/30/2018
    Pets in the Classroom Teacher Grant Program  More »
  • 7/1/2017 - 8/31/2017
    Duke Energy Foundation Grants  More »
  • 7/15/2017 - 9/30/2017
    Kids in Need Teacher Grants  More »
  • 8/1/2017 - 9/1/2017
    Charlotte Martin Foundation Grant  More »

To see more science education events and programs, visit the NSTA calendar.

Freebies for Science Teachers

The staff of NSTA Reports has collected hundreds of free resources for you. Take a moment to browse the listings—we think you'll find something to reward the effort.

Resources and Opportunities for Your Elementary Classroom

Guidelines for Classroom Safety

This four-page document should be given to students at the beginning of the school year to help them understand their role in ensuring a safe and productive science experience.

Download Safety in the Science Classroom

A Year of Inquiry

All issues of Science and Children include inquiry, but we took it a step further with this volume—an entire year devoted to inquiry! Follow along as we explore what scientists do and then progress through process skills, notebooking, posing questions, collecting data, choosing investigations, and sharing and assessing the results of inquiry.

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Reward Yourself!

You could win a trip to the NSTA National Conference on Science Education. Apply for NSTA Teacher Awards to showcase your hard work! At the elementary level, Delta Education, DuPont/Pioneer, PASCO, SeaWorld, Shell, and Vernier sponsor awards. In addition, the Sylvia Shugrue Award, Mohling Aerospace Educator Award, and the Maitland P. Simmons scholarships for new teachers have niches for the elementary science educator.

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Early Years Blog

The Early Years Blog offers resources and conversation on PreK to 2 science. Topic areas include Activity Ideas, Classroom Management, Integrating Science, and more!

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Award-winning Lesson Plans

The Sylvia Shugrue Award for Elementary School Teachers honors one elementary school teacher who creates and makes use of interdisciplinary, inquiry-based lesson plans. To qualify, teachers submit a lesson plan with fully referenced sources of information and any relevant National Science Education Standards and benchmarks found in The Atlas of Science Literacy. Since the award's debut in 2007, NSTA has recognized six teachers (we made two awards the first year … the submissions were that good). Please follow the link below to read the award winners' lesson plan ideas.

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Need Help Selecting Resources?

NSTA Recommends®

Our panel of top-flight teachers and other outstanding science educators has designated the best available supplements for your science teaching.

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Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K–12

Since 1973, NSTA and the Children's Book Council have compiled a yearly list of outstanding children's science trade books. The results from 1996 on are available online.

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Blick's Pick: Jupiter up close

The Juno spacecraft is in orbit around Jupiter taking some really amazing images. This video stitches many together to make a flyby video that is breathtakingly beautiful. In addition to seeing the many cyclones around the poles, you can see the shadows of several of Jupiter's moons as lines of black dots across the cloud tops. Look for many revelations in the coming years as a result of this mission. YouTube link | Archive