Imagine how difficult it would be to describe a rose if we had never smelled the fragrance or been pricked by a thorn. Experiences are currency in the mind's memory bank that can be spent over and over throughout a child's life. Real experiences lead to integrative connections. Children who blow through a soda-straw kazoo and feel the vibrations on their lips and fingers can easily relate those vibrations to pitch in music, even composing their own tunes with straws of varying lengths. Identifying the star outlines in the Big Dipper, Draco the Dragon, and Cepheus the King can lead to great art and creative writing projects in which children create their own imaginary constellations and make up myths to go with them.
Effective integration begins with real activities.
Hands-on science is rich with opportunities for kids to describe what they are doing or observing. They use new words to build concepts, write creatively, and express feelings. For instance, this poem was written by a third grader after her encounter with a land hermit crab. Interactive connections can save time. One hands-on science activity enables us to teach two, three, or four subject in a single activity.