Today I'll go in early to renovate the room in order to make space for the science study ahead. What will I do?
I'll make the reading corner smaller by shifting the book shelves and books into a smaller space. Then I'll shift the table and materials to another corner to be the science space. Our science curriculum has been evolving a lot in the past few years so I have lots and lots of supplies that connect to multiple projects and learning experiences old and new. I still need most of the materials and where to store them so those materials are easily accessible is a challenge with a average or smaller classroom and large classes of 25 students each.
I'll likely toss some materials and place still more that we won't use as often on tops of cabinets. One of the challenges of teaching science in elementary school is space. We simply don't have good amounts of space for all the equipment set-up needed, and we have even less time for the clean-up transitions required to move from science study with lots of materials to study in other areas in the same space. That's one reason why so many teachers are gravitating towards the Mystery Science program--it's well crafted with the reality of the elementary school teachers' schedules, spaces, and needs.
Our kits will eventually be helpful once we have the time to set them up and figure out how to incorporate the countless materials into the spaces we have.
