Writing in grades 2-5

In grades 2-5, student writing is an essential and consistent part of every lesson, and all writing exemplifies some aspect of writing that is authentic to science. Students engage in whole-class shared writing activities as well as individual written work. Each unit’s Investigation Notebook provides the primary space for students to write and every lesson is accompanied by several notebook pages designed to support students during the lesson. Students use these notebook pages for a variety of writing activities, including making predictions, summarizing findings, reflecting on key science ideas and practices, and recording lingering questions.

In addition to the lesson-level writing activities, each unit supports students in constructing and writing increasingly complex scientific explanations or arguments across the unit. Students learn how to develop grade-appropriate one-to-two paragraph written pieces that adhere to specific guidelines for scientific explanation or argumentation (e.g. A scientific explanation answers a question about how or why something happens. A scientific argument answers a claim about the natural world). Students learn to address claims with evidence and reasoning to make convincing arguments. Not only do the units support students with the content of their written explanations and arguments, but many also incorporate an emphasis on how to make an explanation or argument clear for an external audience. For example, in the Vision and Light unit, students learn about and incorporate connecting words such as first, next, and last to strengthen their writing. The units thus provide students with a strong base for understanding the purpose of scientific explanation and argumentation, and offer substantial opportunities to practice writing within these genres.