Science tends to be viewed as a completely separate subject area from reading and math. This is the case even in elementary school, where academic content may be more intertwined than in later years. But scientific thinking and processes are valuable across all areas of learning and for career success. Waiting until the middle grades to give science an equal place among the academic subjects not only handicaps students' performance in reading -- background knowledge is necessary for comprehension -- it means they have less time to develop important thinking skills that will benefit them in "all" subjects.