CATALINA FOOTHILLS SCHOOL DISTRICT

Language and Literacy
Numeracy
Social Studies
Physical Development
The Arts
Social Emotional
Systems Thinking

Click here for the complete set of Arizona's Early Learning Standards.

Children have a natural sense of wonder and curiosity. Science, for young children, is an active and open-ended search for new knowledge. Children ask questions and seek answers in order to understand the world around them. Children learn by being actively engaged with hands-on experiences, real objects and natural, relevant occurrences.

As children seek answers, they will plan, observe, predict, and form conclusions. Children’s observations, predictions, explanations, and conclusions, correct or incorrect, should be respected and valued by caregivers. Children’s experiences with scientific inquiry form the basis for further investigation and thought. Learning through inquiry requires both the child’s curiosity and adult guidance. (Arizona Department of Education, Early Learning Standards, 4th ed., May 2018)

Science is a way of life at Valley View. All adults encourage children's curiosity by patiently answering questions to encourage more questions and by allowing any topic to be the focus of learning. No question is left without acknowledgement and students are encouraged to take notice in the world around them. Teachers do not provide answers. Instead they ask questions about how answers can be found. Teachers teach students to make observations, take a guess at a hypothesis, and then lead them through experimentation. Academic language involving the steps of scientific inquiry is used throughout the day in all situations where a hypothesis can be created or a curious mind can wonder.