Science D

Teach your children to think like a scientist, to use the skills and practices that real scientists use. Each weekly experiment helps bring to life the scientific content read each week. Sonlight’s great books provide the context, while the experiments help students apply scientific practices and principles to the topics they read about each week.

Sonlight Science D will prepare your children to become future scientists by training them to think scientifically. Beyond studying classic scientific topics, Science D creates a learning environment in which students can gain the skills and practices used by scientists and engineers to answer questions, solve problems, and innovate and improve their own designed solutions.

From powerful storms to energy waves, Sonlight Science D nurtures children’s natural curiosity and provides daily opportunities to explore the world around them. They will use real scientific skills and practices as they explore living creatures, power, wavelength, frequency and more. Science D includes a comprehensive introduction to engineering and other STEM topics that will prepare students for a lifetime of scientific curiosity, learning and application.

Each easy-to-complete experiment helps the topics you’ve read about that week bloom into practical, real-world experiences. Each experiment provides students with a topic-related question to explore. As they discover answers to the questions for themselves, they gain experience in solving problems independently. Can You See Sound? Or Where do Volcanos Form? Have fun watching for the many “aha!” moments this course will provide.

Instructor’s Guide

Each Sonlight science program is anchored by a customer-renowned Instructor's Guide. The IG provides the structure for your entire year—the framework for what books to read and when, what experiments to do and what videos to watch. No need to create your own lesson plans.

The IG also includes question prompts, explanations, hands-on activities (beyond the experiments), and additional notes to enhance the reading and reinforce what your students are learning.

Each IG includes a list of what supplies you will need both for the current week and the week to come. (Need to save a milk carton for next week? Now you know!)

Instructor's Guides in levels K-J also include Activity Sheets filled with questions and simple activities, charts, illustrations, and pictures to help your children remember what they’ve learned.

Overview of the Literature

Living life is much the same for all creatures. We eat, move, communicate, raise young, and find tricks to stay safe—though each creature performs each function differently. Mysteries and Marvels of Nature will open your eyes to the diverse tapestry of Earth's creatures all living life in similar ways. Then further explore earth science—geology, climate and weather, biology and ecology—in The Usborne Encyclopedia of Planet Earth.

Discover how energy makes work possible, powers our world, and how it relates to the rest of our world through the engaging presentation offered in DK's Energy. From water to sound, energy moves in waves. What are Waves? teaches everything related to waves from force and motion to amplitude, wavelength and frequency. The Usborne Illustrated Elementary Science Dictionary introduces topics from all fields of science through clear and simple explanations.

Hedy Lamarr was not only a talented actress but also helped develop a radio guidance system during World War II. Explore her life in Hedy Lamarr's Double Life: Hollywood Legend and Brilliant Inventor. Then complete the fascinating projects in Coding with Scratch 3.0: Projects Workbook to explore code and computer language.

Engineers imagine, develop, build and refine all things new. This year's 5-day program introduces students to the field of engineering in DK Findout! Engineering. Then learn the process engineers use to systematically solve problems and innovate new ideas in Engineered! Engineering Design at Work (5-Day program).

Hands-on Science Experiments

Discover & Do: Level D Science Experiments provide weekly experiments that help students explore the reading topics even further. Each experiment relates directly to the weekly reading material for a more linear progression from reading to doing. The guided exploration helps students dig deeper and reinforces the concepts learned in the reading while providing an experience that trains them to think like scientists.

With Discover & Do: Level D Science Experiments, your children will not just memorize the steps of the scientific process. Rather, students will conduct simple, engaging, hands-on experiments at home and use the scientific method to explore their world in an enjoyable and interactive way. Each experiment begins with an overview of the key concepts, so the instructor has a big-picture view of the main goals of the lesson. As you work through the experiment together, you will discuss and discover how these concepts work in the real world.

Experiments are designed to help guide your students through an exploration, rather than simply showing them a demonstration of a scientific principle. Each experiment begins with an observation and a question—something to be curious about. Your students then make a prediction based on their observation, and carry out an investigation to see if their ideas were correct. As they draw conclusions from their experiments, they will be able to adjust their thinking and gain an appreciation for the scientific process (and principles!) they just experienced for themselves.

Science Supplies Kit

Most of the experiments in this program can be done with common household items, but to minimize prep time, we’ve created a Discover & Do: Science Supplies Kit that includes many of the supplies you need to conduct each experiment. No planning necessary and minimal prep time!

Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)

Sonlight Science D is designed to follow the classic Sonlight model of learning (reading, discussing, and doing) while also adhering to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). These research-based, up-to-date science standards are simply good instructional practice. Dozens of scientists, esteemed scientific institutions, and science-based businesses have put their support behind these standards^.1 Now you have even more assurance that Sonlight Science provides an outstanding science education — at home.

Sonlight’s Science D helps prepare students to think for themselves, evaluate different perspectives, and innovate solutions. Your students will use key scientific and engineering principles to explore ideas that connect across all subjects: cause and effect, patterns, structure and function, systems, stability and change, cycles and more. Come play with us! Open your children’s eyes to the truths of world around them and prepare them for a bright and confident scientific future.

¹ https://www.nextgenscience.org/voices-of-support NGSS is a registered trademark of Achieve. Neither Achieve nor the lead states and partners that developed the Next Generation Standards were involved in the production of this product, and do not endorse it.