"When Am I Supposed to Teach Science?" Finding Time in a Packed Elementary Day

The 2018 National Survey of Science and Mathematics Education found that K-3 teachers spend about 18 minutes a day on science. Reading gets 89 minutes. Math gets 57. And only 17 percent of K-3 teachers said they teach science on all or most school days (NAESP).

Upper elementary isn't much better. One of the researchers behind that survey worked it out to roughly 27 minutes a day in grades 3-5.

Why it matters more than it looks

Students who get more science time tend to do better on fourth-grade NAEP science tests (NAESP). And plenty of kids who love science in second grade have decided they "aren't science people" by middle school. Part of that is whether they ever got to do science when they were little.

Five ways to actually make room

1. Put it on the schedule like it's non-negotiable. If science is "whenever we have time," it will never happen. Pick two or three fixed slots a week and protect them the way you protect your reading block.

2. Go short and consistent instead of long and rare. Twenty minutes three times a week beats one big 90-minute lesson that keeps getting cancelled. Kids remember more when they come back to an idea again and again.

3. Let science borrow from your literacy block. Read-alouds, shared reading and writing can all be about science content. That's not cheating. It's using the time twice.

4. Use a single question for a whole week. Something like "Why do puddles disappear?" can carry a read-aloud on Monday, a quick observation on Tuesday, a journal entry on Wednesday and a small experiment on Friday. One question, lots of small moments.

5. Stop building everything from scratch. Planning a science unit on your own takes hours you don't have. A ready-to-teach curriculum with short, structured lessons means you can open it and go.

Start small this week

You don't need to overhaul your whole schedule. Just pick one slot this week, put "SCIENCE" in it in pen, and keep it. Your students are already curious about how the world works. They just need a little time to find out.

Simplify Science® provides hands-on learning with just 30 minutes a day, 3 days a week. Learn more here.