Take Notes No More!

I am so sick of telling my students "Read this chapter and take notes" but that is really what I would like them to do for each chapter. I feel that reading the text and taking notes on it is very beneficial to their understanding of the content. Is there any way I can help them understand the science content in the textbooks without saying "read this chapter and takes notes"? I would appreciate any suggestions!

ELL students in science class

My ELL students are struggling with the textbook in my 9th grade Physical Science class. Because of this they are falling behind. I just don't know what to do about it. Any ideas?

Novel Assessment for Newton's Laws?

I am moving into a unit on Newton's Laws and F=ma. The last time I taught this I gave a pencil and paper test. They were able to repeat what we had covered in class, but when we moved on to applying the concepts to complex problems they were stuck. I guess the test did a poor job of capturing whether students really understood the general concepts. Does anybody have some ideas of how to improve my testing so that I can be sure they really understand the material and aren't just regurgitating information?

How do I motivate my students to read the book?

I assigned some reading to my students from our great new textbook, Conceptual Integrated Science. It is such a great book with lots of pictures and examples from everyday life. It is such easy reading, but my students just won't do it. I'm relying on them to read the material before labs to make our precious class time useful. I just don't know what to do to get them motivated.