Properties of Atoms and Molecules Teacher Supplement 4th Ed.

The 4th edition of this program is now available, and our stock is now all 4th edition. There have been some changes in the 4th edition which have been updated in this description

There is a tendency to water down scientific concepts for the elementary student until there isn't much of interest left! Fortunately, it doesn't have to be that way. This series, geared towards elementary-aged children, focuses on science from a biblical viewpoint, is flexible enough to be used with children of slightly different age levels and learning styles, is open-ended, and best of all, has lots of fun hands-on activities that are sure to impress the kids.

The series is organized into life, earth and space, chemistry and physics series, each with three texts and teacher guides. Each series is designed to be usable with a range of grades, with a challenge section for 7th and 8th graders. (Suggestions for use for 1st and 2nd graders has been removed from the 4th edition, as Answers in Genesis plans to release a "Beginner" series for grades 1-2 later in 2017). It is recommended that you do all 3 books from one area of science for a one-year curriculum. There are 35 lessons in each book, so if you do science 3 times per week, you should be able to finish one series in a year. You will need both the student and the teacher guides to use the course as the teaching information, answer keys and supply lists are found in the Teacher Guide. Multiple children could share one student book if needed, as student worksheets and lab sheets are reproducible.

In each Teacher Guide you'll find a helpful orientation to gear you up for teaching science. The authors are very sensitive to the needs of children of different learning styles such as auditory, visual, kinesthetic, relational, and analytical. They have made a significant effort to include a range of activities and ways of presenting material that will appeal to students with varying learning styles. In fact, they even mark activities with small icons to indicate which learning style the activity is best suited to. The authors also take pains to help you teach from a solid creationist viewpoint, and equip you to answer questions posed by evolutionists, which you will inevitably come across in supplemental science texts and books. The publisher, Answers in Genesis, has incorporated their Seven C's concept of Biblical history (creation, corruption, catastrophe, confusion, Christ, cross, and consummation) into the curriculum. Symbols are placed at key spots in the student text and teaching helps for these are found in the teacher guide.

The "meat" of the course is found in the full-color student texts. These begin with a textual portion, which you may opt to have children read on their own, or read aloud as a group. A simple follow-up activity is then included for students to play with the concept, and "see it in action." Some of these include creating your own "cell" out of a small zip-top bag, yellow gelatin, and small edible objects poked into the gelatin to represent different organelles (from God's Design for Life). Or the activity on tectonic plates, where students moisten a few sheets of newspaper, and pushing from each side, create mountains (from God's Design for Heaven and Earth). Or the one where kids compare the viscosity of five different liquids by testing them and touching them (from God's Design for Chemistry). All of the activities demonstrate the concept well, and make a solid connection to the topic. Activities range from simple, hands-on activities or demonstrations to slightly more detailed activities which include charts and "lab worksheets" to be completed during the activity. I'm very impressed with the small amount of preparation time needed, the lack of "fancy" materials needed, and the overall "fun factor" that's sure to draw the kids in. After the project has died out, the lesson is wrapped up with several "What did we learn?" review questions, suggestions for exploring the topic further, and a fun fact about the topic. Each book also includes a sprinkling of page-length "Special Features" which showcase an important person, discovery, or just an interesting facet of science. Vocabulary lists and a glossary are included for easy reference, and there are additional pictures, illustrations, and diagrams in the new editions. Hard copies of student pages can also be purchased separately as the student supplement for each set of three books (hard copy Student Supplements are available for 3rd edition only while supplies last; these additional student pages are only available as downloadable files on the Answers in Genesis website for the 4th edition).

Although the content of the course has changed little between the 3rd editions and 4th editions (both from Answers in Genesis), the 4th edition features more illustrations and other visuals, some updated content, a new layout and design, and removal of the 1st and 2nd grade activities (which will be released as a new series). Also, the tests, worksheets, and other reproducibles will only available as downloadable files, instead of a print supplement. Please note that our stock has now all transitioned to 4th edition. We have moved any remaining inventory of the 3rd edition to new item numbers with "3rd edition" clearly noted in the