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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We are not in DCPS but at an immersion charter and science and social studies is built into the curriculum every year.

They spend months doing expeditions and learning and presenting about their topic.  Some topics that come to mind include earth and its composition, plants and greenhouse effect, rainforest deforestation, and more.

Social studies topics too.  [/quote]

DCPS also builds science and social studies into the curriculum in a similar way. Starting in PK, they do units on topics like the water cycle or trees (science) or on jobs or activism (social studies). As they start reading, their reading selections are often focused on these units (reading a short passage about how clouds work, or one about who Rosa Parks was). Math can also incorporate these subjects, especially as they start learning geometry and fractions.

However at schools with a lot schools below grade level, they have to focus more on fundamental concepts and don't have as much time to incorporate other concepts -- they spend more time on phonics and basic math because they are trying to get kids on track by 2nd or 3rd when being behind in reading or math can start to snowball.

My kid has also complained that sometimes a ience concepts are repeated. For instance they did the life cycle of plants at the end of kindergarten but then reviewed it early in first. I get why that's boring but also think this is done to ensure all students are retaining this information, which serves as the basis for later science instruction.

Starting in 3rd, many schools have a dedicated science and social studies teacher who works with the kids daily, just as there are dedicated ELA and math instructors (at our school and many DCPS schools, 3rd-5th grade rotate through these classrooms and has one of those teachers as a homeroom teacher, so it's a bit more like MS in that respect, while ensuring students are spending time on all four core subjects -- though again, students who are behind in reading and math fundamentals may get pullouts for acceleration because if you aren't reading fluently, the science and social studies instruction is not going to be effective).[/quote]

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