FOSS science kits are a core elementary science material for many districts in Washington state. Several resources have recently been developed that help teachers to use the kits to more effectively teach our Washington Science EALRs. These resources have tended to stay regional but I know that all of the creators of these tools and resources very much want them to be shared and used.
Olympic ESD 114
ESD 114 has developed new curriculum guides for each FOSS kit they support. The guides provide a week by week scope and sequence that identifies WA Science Standards and Math CCSS; Focus Questions/PE tasks; and Critical Assessments/Hinge Questions.
You will also find curriculum resources such as learning progressions, rubrics, supplemental assessments, rubrics and other support links.
Click HERE to see the kits that ESD 114 supports.
You will also find a video describing the Science Kit Resources.
NWESD
Northwest ESD has posted resources from their Assessing with Learning Progressions in Science (ALPS). This project generated:
- Instructional tools for a variety of FOSS and STC kits: these documents provide a learning progression for each kit, plus a variety of student tasks, and resources for checking student understanding across the progression. Click HERE to see an example for the FOSS kit Variables
- Classroom videos of using learning progressions for formative assessment in science
ESD 112
The Science & Math Education Resource Center (SMERC) at ESD 112 has developed a variety of key elementary science resources including:
- Big Ideas for each of the kits they support- this is an exceptional resource!
- Alignment to WA Science Standards
- FOSS Science Stories and CCSS ELA Integration– these documents describe the Science Stories for each kit and identify CCSS ELA connections.. another very helpful set of documents.
- Visual Scaffolds for teaching the Crosscutting EALRs: Application Guide, Inquiry Guide, Systems Guide. Another excellent set of supports.
Thanks for sharing, Kirk!