Every Child Ready - Criterion 2.5

Every Child Ready materials partially meet expectations for promoting the core ideas of life science, physical science, earth and space science, and engineering and technology (2.5a). 

Materials include daily learning labs in each unit, structured around the lesson components of introduce, engage, explore, and apply. These activities offer inquiry-based experiences in life science, physical science, and engineering concepts, supporting hands-on exploration and thematic integration. Many units are inspired by scientific concepts:

• Unit 3-Construction: Blueprint to Building

• Unit 7-From Squeaks to Roars: Animal Kingdom

• Unit 8-All About Fossils and Dinosaurs

• Unit 9-Our Earth

• Unit 10-Blast Off Into Space

The core ideas of life, earth, space, and physical science are supported in the unit’s essential questions, core vocabulary, and lessons. For example, during Unit 7: Animal Kingdom, one of the essential questions is “What is a life cycle?” Teachers use lessons (e.g., What is a Life Cycle? and Ten Little Caterpillars (Read 1) and resources (e.g., Life Cycle) to build on children’s understanding of scientific ideas throughout the unit. 

Science content is also taught through read-alouds, where children engage with a variety of narrative and informational texts to build vocabulary and knowledge around science concepts. Some science-based read-alouds are:

• Roll, Slope, and Slide (Read 1): supports children’s understanding of motion

• What is a Scientist? (Read 1): supports children’s understanding of scientific processes and experimentation

• The Tiny Seed (Read 1): builds children’s knowledge of the life cycle of plants

• Calvin the Cloud (Read 1): encourages children to explore different types of clouds

Science content is reinforced during centers. Center activities provide children with hands-on opportunities to integrate their knowledge of science concepts. At Exploration Station, children engage in hands-on, sensory experiences to observe, experiment, and draw conclusions, such as observing aquatic animals in Aquatic Habitats and examining seeds in Observing Fruit and Vegetable Seeds. In Dramatic Play, children apply science knowledge through role-based experiences, such as taking on roles in a veterinarian's office to explore animal needs or pretending to be astronauts in On the Surface of the Moon. In the Construction Zone, children use science concepts to build models, including creating shadow-puppet platforms to explore light and shadows and constructing rainbows with multicolored blocks.

Life science concepts are introduced through structured activities (learning labs, journaling, and read-alouds) that explore plant and animal life cycles. There are standards that address physical properties, light, water, and motion. Some activities include Push and Pull, Ramp Heights, Heavy or Light Pull,  Shadows, exploring books about light, and How Do Arctic Animals Stay Warm?

Some engineering concepts are integrated through hands-on activities in learning labs, read-alouds, and center activities, allowing children to engage in building and design tasks. Teachers receive explicit guidance for facilitating engineering-inspired projects such as playgrounds, bridges, boats, and marble runs. In Unit 10 Week 4, the “Make a Plan – Balloon-Powered Car” lab introduces students to engineering processes through a three-column chart—“Materials,” “Design,” and “Test.” In Unit 10, children imagine themselves as engineers designing space shuttles and launch pads, stepping into roles that blend creativity with conceptual understanding. 

The materials also include Guidance for Developmentally Appropriate Technology Use in Pre-K. This guide emphasizes 4 practices: limit screen time, ensure activities are age-appropriate, encourage active learning, and promote social interaction.  However, while this guidance is present, the materials do not provide evidence of specific activities that support the development of science ideas and skills related to engineering and technology. 

Thematic units such as Unit 9 (Our Earth) and Unit 10 (Blast Off) address topics such as weather, landforms, seasons, plant life cycles, gravity, shadows, and moon phases. The materials include multiple opportunities for students to explore key concepts through center facilitation and thematic activities such as the life cycle of a plant, layers of the Earth, building a playground, and creating sculptures and statues. The units provide hands-on and exploratory experiences designed to spark curiosity and learning. While these opportunities support inquiry, explicit inquiry-based science instruction is not always consistently embedded across all units.

Vocabulary development is supported through read-alouds and discussions, and children are given opportunities to discuss science concepts during question-of-the-day prompts, such as “How do you feel when it rains?” or “Would you rather be able to breathe on land or underwater?” These prompts encourage language development and conceptual thinking, but opportunities for scientific discourse and engineering-related questioning are limited. 

Overall, Every Child Ready materials include structured learning labs and thematic units that support exploration of life, physical, earth, and space science concepts through hands-on, play-based experiences. Science learning is reinforced through read-alouds, centers, and activities that build vocabulary and connect concepts across contexts, including opportunities for observation, experimentation, and model building. The materials would be strengthened by more robust activities and by further developing core ideas and skills in engineering and technology. The materials could be further strengthened with more opportunities to develop inquiry skills. 

Every Child Ready materials partially meet expectations for supporting science and engineering through integrated and interdisciplinary learning experiences (2.5b). 

The Components Guide (pp. 70-71) provides guidance on standards connections. Teacher guidance for integrating science with other subjects is primarily found in learning labs and center facilitation, where question stems and prompts support connections to literacy and other domains. Daily components such as read-aloud, learning lab, and center facilitation provide some connections between science and other disciplines. For example, thematic units such as “Color and Art” combine art and science concepts. Small-group lessons offer some opportunities to integrate literacy, math, and STEM themes.

The materials also offer some opportunities for open-ended exploration and play. Centers encourage student choice and experimentation, providing hands-on experiences that support cross-disciplinary learning. For instance, in Unit 6 (Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds), children plan and paint a bowl of fruit, create a food pyramid out of blocks, and build mud cakes using measurement tools. 

Examples of science integration include Unit 1’s Learning Lab activity, Colorful Carnations, which discusses the basic parts of the scientific process and involves a flower-and-food-coloring experiment in which children hypothesize, observe, draw, and inquire about life science concepts. The materials include some developmentally appropriate, engaging science experiences across multiple domains, but these experiences vary in depth and frequency. While some activities support children’s understanding of cross-cutting concepts, they do not consistently identify or reinforce these ideas throughout the materials.

Overall, Every Child Ready materials include science experiences across thematic units, centers, and learning labs, providing opportunities for hands-on, play-based exploration. Lessons incorporate a range of activities with some integration of literacy, art, and mathematics, including the use of literature through read-alouds, questioning strategies, and related activities. Guidance for integrating science with literacy and for supporting cross-cutting science concepts is included in more general ways, with varying consistency in how these connections are developed across the curriculum. The materials would be strengthened by more explicit connections between science and other areas of learning, more explicit teacher guidance to support integration, and expanded opportunities to explore cross-cutting science concepts.