The

kindergarten science curriculum at Westview in Champaign is the same

as the kindergarten science curriculum at all other Unit 4 schools. The curriculum consists of four units covered over the course of one academic year: Where does our food come from?, Sand and water, Balls and ramps, and Where does our food come from? Part II. There is no individual teacher discretion, and all of the unit must be covered. Available for every kindergarten teacher to use are manuals, blackline

masters, a teachers edition textbook, a copy of the students coloring workbook, handouts to add to student notebooks, and tub kits with materials for the unit. The tubs are delivered when the teachers should begin the contained unit and they must be returned at the end of each unit. The tubs are rotated between kindergarten teachers in the district. My cooperating teacher expressed that this is problematic because sometimes she cannot fit in an entire unit in the time that the district expects her to teach it in, yet she has to return the tub for the next teachers use. It would be better if teachers could have a little bit of flex time with the units and with materials usage periods. There are also videos that my cooperating teacher uses only when there is a substitute teacher doing the science lesson. Students have science journals that they continually keep over the course of the unit, as well as workbooks that have independent activities to do for every days lesson. In the past the district funded science field trips for kindergarten, but in the

past few years the district cut the funding. Every other grade in Unit 4 gets money for their classes to go on a science-related field trip.

Because there is not a lot of time given in the schedule for science and social

studies, it is difficult to fit in all of the science curriculum, especially since the set-up of the units requires more days than kindergarten can actually dedicate to learning science. There are multiple lessons to each unit, and each lesson is made up of three 60-minute mini-lessons. Unfortunately 60-minutes is not a realistic amount of time for kindergarteners to be able to focus on a single science lesson, so my cooperating teacher breaks the mini-lessons up into three smaller parts that she covers one day at a time. There is no way to get through an entire unit completely. Many times science is thrown into other lessons, such as math or reading. Interdisciplinary lessons are a good time-saver, especially since the kindergarten day is so crammed. My cooperating teacher encouraged me to find ways to tie my lessons together so that I can get through everything my district will tell me to do with my students. As far as the value of the curriculum, some of the units are good and others

are bad. Where does our food come from? is a good unit by my cooperating teachers standards. There is plenty of teacher training, excellent materials, the content is grade appropriate, and personal modifications can be made by the teacher to make it his or her own. The Sand and Water unit has some good, some bad lessons. They can be tricky, messy, and they require a lot of prep work for the teacher. The kids really like it, though, and it can easily be tied into math lessons involving geometry, which usually is taught about the same time of year. The Balls and Ramps unit is usually the students favorite unit, but it can be the most challenging. The concepts are a little advanced, especially the time of year that the

kindergarten teachers at Westview have their turn using the kit tubs. There is a lot of action, but it can be challenging to get concepts across to students. Teachers from the district are selected to write the curriculum. Over the

summer, they are paid to re-evaluate each grade levels science curriculum. Only one unit is reviewed each summer, and appropriate changes are made. The units are rotated, and all units will be re-done before going back to one that has already been modified. This is good because the units are constantly being improved, but it can be bad if a good unit gets thrown out and an underdeveloped unit replaces it. Each unit is redone about every 4-5 years. Training for re-done curriculum happens immediately. The science training is the best of any content areas training. The training is done well and there are also extra opportunities for teachers to learn science teaching methods. The extra opportunities around the district are optional. Lots of help comes from the University of Illinois, and they actually came up with the concepts for all of the districts most recent science units for each grade level. A representative from each grade level in the district attends these summer writing workshops. The system must work well because the science units are good and lots of teachers really like them. This is the first time that my cooperating teacher has really been excited about the science curriculum in the twelve years shes been teaching. No extra time on school improvement days is set aside to discuss science curriculum. I like using this curriculum, and I would like to have it in my own

kindergarten classroom. The students like it, it is very age-appropriate, and the

lessons are significant for kindergarteners. I think that there are plenty of hands-on activities, as well as opportunities to read and write. Enough of the units involve pictures and verbal assessment, so students of all skill levels can gain a lot from the curriculum. I think the concepts are very suitable, and I like that the summer writing focuses on one unit in depth each summer, rather than the entire years worth of lessons. That would not give the evaluators the chance to really improve each lesson to be its best.