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Review: Building Blocks of Science 1

 For 1st grade we decided to continue with Building Blocks of Science. It come with so many things for 1st grade. The student textbook, workbook that corresponds with the textbook, test, lab kit, lab notebook and a teacher manual for the experiments. When we did the kindergarten level last year 1 felt some things were to much for such a young child like going over molecules and how many electrons an atom can share. However, the 1st grade level I think it does not have things that are to hard for students to understand. The textbook has 22 chapters that go over the 5 building blocks of science; chemistry, biology, physics, geology and astronomy. The book starts with each subcategory’s history. It is not a lot buy enough for a 1st grader to understand. 


The workbook has sections divided up just like the textbook. Some may choose to have the student fill in the blanks and answer the questions while they read the textbook. Others may use it as homework. What I have chosen to do is read the passages together and explain anything our daughter does not understand along the way. Then, we either save the workbook for the next day or towards the middle or end of our school day we go over the workbook. I let our daughter fill out as much as she can on her own. If she still has questions then I ask prompt questions in hopes she will remember the answers. After that, if she does not remember the answer then I have her look in the textbook for the answers. 


The lab notebook is done very well. Each experiment tells you what items you need and what to do. Then there are questions about the experiments and some have you draw what happens during the experiments. At the end of each experiment there is a little section to make up your own experiment. You will also get access for extra experiments to do. Our daughter absolutely loves doing science experiments. She has been particularly fond of the ones that bubble up or explode. Most of the items you need for the experiments you more than likely already have in your pantry or fridge. Even though Building Blocks of Science has a lot of experiments to begin with I do always buy some extra kits for us to do. 



We have not used any other science curriculum besides Building Blocks of Science but with such a great find we have not felt the need to change what works for us. We have already bought our 2nd grade curriculum from Timberdoodle and we will be sticking with Building Block of Science. I would recommend this curriculum because it is bright, colorful, engaging with the pictures being like a cartoon, easy for a 1st grader to understand (our daughter is 5) and it comes with so much. If you have not checked out Building Blocks of Science I would highly suggest it. If you would rather see other options then have a look at what Timberdoodle has to offer. 

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