Kentucky NTI Days: Grades 3–5 Science Your Students Can Do at Home
Kentucky NTI Days: Grades 3–5 Science Your Students Can Do at Home
Kentucky NTI days count as attendance, so the science you send home should look like a real school day, not a coloring sheet. The Elementary Science Curriculum gives you eleven Grades 3–5 units, among them weather, the water cycle, light and shadow and three on birds, and several of them translate well to a day at the kitchen table or by the window.
View the science curriculumThe Elementary Science Curriculum ($109.99) is a download of eleven Grades 3–5 science units: water and the water cycle, forest ecosystems, simple circuits, weather, meadows and pollination, forces and motion, the skeleton, light and shadow, and three units on birds. Bought separately the parts cost $228.62. For NTI days, the weather, water, light and shadow, and bird units lend themselves best to work at home.
The resources
Elementary Science Curriculum, Grades 3–5
11 resources in one download: $109.99 instead of $228.62 bought separately.
Start with the first resource; the others are optional add-ons. Open any cover for the full contents and price.
Elementary Science Curriculum | Life, Earth & Physical Science | 11 Units | Grades 3–5
Elementary Art & Music Units Bundle | Rhythm, Singing, Instruments, Color Mixing & Printing | 5 Units | Grades 3–5
Complete Learning Books Bundle | 10 Units: Grammar, Math, Science, History, ESL, Art & Music | Grades 3–6
Environmental Science Units Bundle | Climate Change, Climate Data, Ecosystems, Resources & Climate Ethics | 5 Units | Grades 8–12
The real problem
An NTI day counts, so the science has to count too
Kentucky's Nontraditional Instruction program, under KRS 158.070 and 701 KAR 5:150, lets a district with an approved plan use up to ten NTI days, and those days count as attendance days. That changes the planning. A snow day you make up in June can be light; an NTI day sits on the calendar as a day of school, and families expect work that looks like one. Science is where elementary NTI plans often thin out. Reading and math already have practice pages, but science in Grades 3–5 depends on doing something: watching, testing, recording. At home you cannot count on materials, and a nine-year-old cannot set up a circuit lesson alone. The answer is to pick topics where the house itself becomes the lab: weather outside the window, a shadow on the floor at different times of day, birds at a feeder, frost on the glass or ice melting in a cup. You also need work you can collect when school reopens, so the next lesson builds on it instead of starting over.
Why it fits
Units that hold up on a day at home
Not all eleven units suit NTI equally well. These are the parts and features worth planning around.
- Observing & Understanding Weather lets students record conditions from a window, a natural match for snow-driven NTI days.
- Light, Shadow & Penumbra connects to shadows a child can watch at home with a lamp or sunlight.
- Three bird units cover traits, nests, migration and winter, which pairs well with watching a backyard feeder.
- Water & the Water Cycle links to ice, puddles and condensation on a cold window.
- Simple circuits and forces and motion are better kept for school, where you control materials and safety.
- With life, earth and physical science in one set, you can vary topics across several NTI days.
Getting started
Building an NTI science folder
A suggested sequence for getting science ready before the season starts. Check each step against your district's approved NTI plan.
- Read your district's NTI plan firstFind out how work is assigned, collected and recorded for participation. Some schools send paper only, others mix paper and online. Your science pages should fit whatever format the rest of the NTI day already uses.
- Choose three or four home-friendly unitsWeather, light and shadow, the water cycle and the bird units make a sensible starting set. Save circuits and forces for school, and keep the remaining units for regular class time.
- Introduce each topic in class firstTeach the opening lesson and vocabulary before winter. An NTI day can then extend something students already know, which is far easier for a family than starting a new topic cold.
- Pull one task per NTI daySelect a reading or observation task plus a short page to record results. Mention household items only as optional, since no materials come with the units and every home is different.
- Debrief when students returnSpend ten minutes comparing what students recorded. Weather notes from different streets or shadow sketches made at different hours start a good discussion and show the NTI day mattered.
What to buy
Which science or elementary bundle to buy
For a Grades 3–5 teacher who wants science covered on NTI days and in regular class, the Elementary Science Curriculum at $109.99 is the one to get; the eleven parts add up to $228.62 bought separately. If your NTI gap is the arts rather than science, the Elementary Art & Music Units Bundle ($74.99) covers rhythm, singing, instruments, color mixing and printing. Teachers of a mixed Grades 3–6 group may prefer the Complete Learning Books Bundle ($99.90), ten units across grammar, math, science, history, ESL, art and music. The Environmental Science Units Bundle ($69.99) is for Grades 8–12, so it only helps if you also teach older students.
Honest limits
Limits to know before an NTI season
The curriculum was not written for Kentucky. It contains no Kentucky standards codes and nothing that refers to NTI rules, so check it against the science standards your district uses and against your approved NTI plan, including how participation is documented. No materials, kits or equipment come with it, and any home activity has to work with what families already have. You choose and print the pages. The license is for your own teaching; for a whole grade level or school, send Teach Lessons a short message first. Within 7 days you can exchange it for store credit of equal value if it does not fit.
Good to know
Frequently asked questions
Does this curriculum meet Kentucky science standards or NTI requirements?
No such claim is made. It is not aligned to, endorsed by or approved under Kentucky's science standards or the NTI program. It is a general Grades 3–5 science resource. Before you build NTI days around it, compare the units with the standards your district follows and with your district's approved NTI plan.
Can students work through these units alone at home?
Some parts more than others. Reading and recording tasks from the weather, water cycle, light and shadow and bird units suit home use. Units on circuits or forces work better at school where you set up materials. Third graders will often need a parent to read the directions, so keep each NTI task short.
Does it come with science supplies?
No. It is a digital download of teaching materials, and no kits, batteries, wires or lab equipment are included. For NTI days that means choosing tasks that need nothing beyond paper and a pencil, plus perhaps a window, a lamp or a glass of water.
Will it cover all ten NTI days?
That depends on how much science your district expects on an NTI day and how many NTI days you actually use. Eleven units give you plenty to choose from, but the curriculum is not organized by NTI days. You decide what goes into each one.
Can I use it in class when school is open?
Yes, and that is the main use. The NTI tasks are only a slice. The rest, including forest ecosystems, meadows and pollination, the skeleton, circuits and forces, works as regular science teaching across the year in Grades 3–5. Most of it will be used in class, with a few units held back for home.
How fast can I get it if a storm is coming?
Immediately. The download link comes by email right after purchase and is also saved under Orders in your customer account. Still, NTI pages are best printed well ahead of the forecast, since the copier and the building are not always open the evening before a closure.
Have science ready for the next NTI call
Open the Elementary Science Curriculum, pick your home-friendly units, and print the first NTI science task this month.
View the science curriculum