TOS Review: Science Weekly

By 2025 80% of jobs will require 2 years of math and science after High School. To give your students a good background in science Science Weekly wants you to "put a little science in your week" with a subscription to their publication. From the website, "Science Weekly develops and reinforces students' reading, writing, mathematics and critical thinking skills, all through interactive science content." Science Weekly is a 4 page publication in a newsletter type format that is available in 6 different reading levels for grades K-6. It contains a multidisciplinary presentation with reading, writing, math, and a science lab in every issue. It helps develop critical thinking skills and provides hands on experiences in topic areas kids are interested in. Some examples of previous publications are: The Flu, Composting, Caves ,Poisonous Animals, The Moon, Scuba Diving, and pulleys.There are several issues online in their new interactive format that you can find by clicking here. They also have coloring books that you can download and print out. Find those by clicking here.

The cost of Science Weekly is $19.95 for an individual subscription per student per year for 15 issues. A classroom rate is $4.95 per student per year for 15 issues with a minimum of 20 subscriptions. Teacher Notes and an answer key also come with every issue. You can order by clicking here or by calling 1-800-4-WEEKLY or faxing 1-301-680-9240.

We recieved from Science Weekly The Flu in 6 different reading levels from K-6th grade and the Teacher's Notes. Each colorful issue contains age appropriate reading, vocabulary, lab (adult supervision required), math and writing. The older grades get more complex reading and activities and also fun scientific facts in "Did you know?" boxes.

Front page of Level D

Front page of level Pre-A

Inside pages of Level Pre-A

One of the things I like the most about Science Weekly is that it is available in so many different levels making it easy for families with a range of ages to study one topic. The only preparation needed is to look at the lab and make sure you have the necessary supplies. It doesn't take a lot of time to teach although it is possible that a lab may take some time to develop. The interactive online issues are also colorful and a lot of fun to do. My boys really enjoyed doing the Space issue and learned a lot from it.

It does seem to me that Science Weekly is geared for more of a school type setting. The math questions in our issue dealt with counting the number of students in your class and the rest of the questions were based on that number. Even in our house we really don't have enough students to make a "class" so we really didn't focus a whole lot on the math problems. It would work great in a homeschool group or co-op type setting. The younger levels have very little reading and so there is not a whole lot of background information on the topic. You may want to find additional books or information to read aloud.

To see what other crew members have to say click here

I received 6 levels and Teacher Notes of Science Weekly The Flu for the purpose of writing a fair and honest review. I received no other compensation.