Evan-Moor's New Daily Science Taps into Students' Natural Curiosity in Order to Teach Standards-Based Science Concepts and Vocabulary

Monterey, Calif. (October 1, 2009) – Why do flowers have different colors? How do dolphins sleep without drowning? Where do echoes come from? And exactly how far up does the sky reach? These are just some the questions curious kids ask themselves nearly every day. So how does a busy teacher use this natural curiosity to get students “into” science? With help from Daily Science—Evan-Moor Educational Publishers’ all-new supplemental science series for grades 1–6+.

“Daily Science takes standards-based science concepts and presents them to students in a way that’s fun and easy to understand,” says Joy Evans, Evan-Moor’s co-founder and publisher. “That’s precisely why the lessons are so effective. The weekly questions motivate students to explore larger scientific concepts about how the world works.”

Each book in the six-book series features thirty weeks of carefully crafted 10- to 15-minute daily lessons that introduce students to life, earth, and physical science concepts and vocabulary. The series captures students’ attention by organizing each weekly unit around a real-life question that taps into their curiosity about the world around them.

Questions such as “How does a compass work?” “Why does a can of soda sometimes explode when you open it?” and “How can a spotted cat have striped kittens?” lead into standards-based topics of magnets, air pressure, and how traits are passed along.

And because understanding science content is so closely tied to understanding science vocabulary, direct instruction of content vocabulary plays a large role in the series. Each lesson in Daily Science contains the topic-specific vocabulary students need in order to not only read and understand the science concepts introduced, but to write about them as well.

“Students’ science knowledge will grow as they grasp the meaning of science vocabulary,” explains Evans. “For example, when students understand words such as ray, refract, reflect, and prism, they’ll have the language they need to understand a unit on light.”

To further support the vocabulary and concepts introduced, one week of each five-week unit is a review. Activities for vocabulary review, visual literacy, hands-on exploration, and a comprehension test in multiple-choice format help teachers reinforce the topics introduced and provide an assessment of students’ understanding.

Teachers are also supported by a succinct instructional plan that includes helpful background information, ideas for activating students’ prior knowledge, and discussion prompts.

“With Daily Science, teachers get a complete supplemental resource they can pick up and use in their classrooms right away,” says Evans. “As with all of our Daily Practice Books, we’ve put everything teachers need into one easy-to-use resource, so they can focus their time and energy on the students.”

Daily Science grades 1–4 are available now, with grades 5 and 6⁺ following in May 2010. Each grade-level edition is available in a 192-page Reproducible Teacher’s Edition for $29.99, a Reproducible Teacher’s Edition Enhanced E-book for $34.99, a consumable Student Practice Book 5-Pack for $24.99, or a Class Pack (containing one teacher’s edition and 20 student books) for $124.99. For more information call 800-777-4362 or visit www.evan-moor.com/dailyscience.