Middle grade students can learn a great deal about themselves and their world by reading informative texts in science courses. These texts will focus on important topics in earth science, life science, and physical science and shape students’ understandings about scientific inquiry, science-related processes and phenomenon, engineering and design, and technological innovations. But reading is a complex act, and most students need specific reading-related support to understand assigned texts in middle grade science courses. This book focuses on the cyclical nature of reading, the actions proficient readers engage in to understand science textbooks and other informational texts, and the instructional support that teachers can provide to enhance middle grade students’ learning of science content through reading. Three associated questions will be addressed in this book: •What actions do proficient readers engage in to understand assigned course texts? •What do these actions entail, and how do they relate to each other? • What teacher-mediated practices best support middle grade students’ development as proficient readers and enhance their learning of course content through reading?

This book focuses on assigned reading events in middle grade social studies courses and the 14 actions proficient readers take before, during, and after reading to comprehend assigned course texts including textbook chapters, book chapters, passages, and articles.

Get the "big picture" of teaching reading in the middle school, including research, as well as the practical details you need to help every stydent become a better reader. Veteran teacher Laura Robb shares how to: teach reading strategies across the curriculum, present mini-lessons that deepen students' knowledge of how specific reading strategies work; help kids apply the strategies through guided practice; support struggling readers with a plan of action that improves their reading motivation; and much more.

Collaborative Explorations of Character Experience focuses on the experiences of fictional young people in eight middle grade novels. The experiences of these individuals are examined in chapters 1-8, and instructional options are presented in chapter 9 for collaborative explorations of character experience in middle grade language arts classrooms.

Teacher Librarian Beth McGuire provides librarians and teachers with reproducible activities to encourage students to think about, discuss and provide a purpose for reading current star reviewed and award winning literature while practicing their comprehension strategies. Activities reinforce comprehension of the material and include an extension activity for going beyond the text, allowing the students to practice their higher level thinking skills. Librarians and teachers can make copies of the activities to directly incorporate into their lessons in the content areas. Titles included are organized by level and by curricular area. Usable for grades 6-8.

Writing skills are high on the list of real-world requirements for all studentsOCoincluding science students. Every scientific discipline needs professionals who can ably communicate in writing. Scientists must be able to describe their proposed studies for funding considerations, track their observations and results in their own notes, describe their experimental protocols for their peers to replicate, and synthesize their work to the wider world community."

Teaching Science in Elementary and Middle School offers in-depth information about the fundamental features of project-based science and strategies for implementing the approach. In project-based science classrooms students investigate, use technology, develop artifacts, collaborate, and make products to show what they have learned. Paralleling what scientists do, project-based science represents the essence of inquiry and the nature of science. Because project-based science is a method aligned with what is known about how to help all children learn science, it not only helps students learn science more thoroughly and deeply, it also helps them experience the joy of doing science. Project-based science embodies the principles in A Framework for K-12 Science Education and the Next Generation Science Standards. Blending principles of learning and motivation with practical teaching ideas, this text shows how project-based learning is related to ideas in the Framework and provides concrete strategies for meeting its goals. Features include long-term, interdisciplinary, student-centered lessons; scenarios; learning activities, and "Connecting to Framework for K–12 Science Education" textboxes. More concise than previous editions, the Fourth Edition offers a wealth of supplementary material on a new Companion Website, including many videos showing a teacher and class in a project environment.