Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Science testing?

I would think if your son overall belongs in the grade level he is in then I would plan a lot of activities outside of school to allow him to explore his interest in science. We finally reached a point in all subjects but writing and that is why my DD9 only attends for ELA.

I haven't seen any in classroom differentiation in science in our district. The push just doesn't seem to be there in elementary school with so many kids struggling just to read and write. I was talking one day with a first and second grade teacher and they were discussing how much more they would love to do with science but just aren't able to with so many kids struggling in other subjects and the new pushes to make sure kids will test well. There has also been a new push with writing in our district that has pushed science back even more.

My son is the same way. He LOVES anything related to the human body. To help satisfy his cravings for anatomy information, I have arranged interviews, which we called "play dates," with all the doctors and scientists I know...this has included reaching out to friends-of-friends. Suprisingly, these busy professionals have been more than eager to help my little guy. I think they find it amusing to discuss complex health issues with a 7 year old.

I have also hired a middle school science teacher to work with my son once a week. She selects study units based on his interests and then I work with him during the week on experiments and supplemental information.

When my son was first learning his body systems, we found brainpop.com to be a great resource. You can get a trial for free if you want to check it out. It has short educational videos on a ton of health related issues.

Once he mastered the functions of organs, etc., he quickly moved on to health problems, possible surgical solutions, etc. Since your son may follow the same path, I want to tell you about a book my son loves, it is called Atlas of Pathophysiology. When you've exhausted all the kid-related health books, this is a great transition to more sophisticated health material.

Good luck with your little science guy! I think you are very wise to help him follow his passion.

Some cool interactive websites for science

Cells Alive

Interactive Body

Playing with Time

Understanding Genetics

Science with Kids blogs

The Exploration Station (science experiments this one happens to be my blog - also has links to other science websites)

Growing with Science

Home Chemistry

Think! (engineering challenges)


Toys from Trash

That's just a few.

pretty much any used middle school science book will give u a good jumping off place to read to your child. Some are pretty cheap over the internet. It is so sad when school gets in the way of learning.

Hi LadybugMom, I'm another with a 5yo science buff. You've had some good suggestions already, but my addition would be to suggest one of the many books of science experiments for kids - I can't find a link for the specific one we have, maybe it's out of print aleady, but there are various ones in the same style. You want clear pictures, instructions and other text, and correct science of course (I've seen the occasional howler in kids' science books, but my impression is that they're fairly rare). Actually doing the experiments is great for developing scientific thinking ("what might happen? why? let's see..."); I think it gives something that just reading about science doesn't.

Thanks so much for all the suggestions - it's helpful to know that I'm not the only one in this situation and that my best bet might be to supplement at home. I am going to his school to "help" (observe) tomorrow morning for the first time. I got a few great kids anatomy books at the library today to get us started. After we've read them, I'll post any good titles.

Oh, and I should have mentioned... Magic School Bus was what got him so hooked on science in the first place. He has always had the interest but since he found Magic School Bus, he has really taken off.

The gifted coordinator called and I was happy to hear that she has met with the teachers several times this year to help them with differentiation in the classroom. It sounds like she is watching ds5 and making sure he is doing OK so I feel OK about that for now. She suggested I look at the mindware catalog for science resources (his birthday is coming up) and is printing off some resources for me related to some issues we've been having.

Fat Brain Toys has some cool anatomy models/3D puzzles and a skeleton to put together. I love geek toys!