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New York City Department of EducationModule A: Accessing Program ResourcesOutline, materials and preparationGrade 2

Session title Module A: Accessing Program Resources

(flexible time 60-100 minutes, which can be customized by site)

Session outcomes

Participants will be able to:

Explain the structure of Amplify Science units and lessons. Navigate the Teacher's Guide and locate supporting resources. Plan for managing resources and materials within a unit.

Materials Protocols and handouts: Module A Participant Notebook:

Module A: Key Understandings Amplify Science elementary curriculum course structure Amplify Science unit structure Navigation within a lesson Lesson-level scavenger hunt Managing materials and planning to teach Unit guide resources Unit guide scavenger hunt

Participants will bring: Computer or tablet

Other materials N/A

© 2018 Amplify Education, Inc. All rights reserved. amplify.com

Date and time

Flexible

Module A Condensed Outline Part Overview

A1. Navigating within a Lesson (flexible time 25-40 min)

1. Review A1 plan, lead participant temperature check2. Introduce Amplify Science (5 min)

a. Lawrence Hall of Science & Amplify Partnershipb. Amplify Science elementary curriculum course structure

i. Identify first unit by grade levelc. Amplify Science unit structure

i. Review the structure of the program, including: Courses (grade levels) Units (# per grade level) Chapters Lessons (# and approximate length) Activities

d. Planning for pacing i. Review pacing options for K–2 and 3–5 grade bands

e. Experience the Teacher's Guide (5-15 min)f. Guided tour of Teacher’s Guide (Amplify Science link:

learning.amplify.com/science-guided tour) or presenter-ledg. Teacher’s Guide Partner discussionh. Log in to Amplify Science

3. Lesson-level scavenger hunt (10–20 min)

A2. Managing resources and materials (flexible time 25-40 min)

1. Review A2 plan2. Introduce components of the Amplify Science curriculum (5 min)

a. Instructional materialsb. Student materials (and Spanish translations)c. Formative and summative assessments

3. Managing materials and planning to teach (20–35 min)

a. Kit Materialsi. Unpacking a kitii. Turn and talk about kit materials

b. Access Unit guide resourcesi. Materials and preparation

© 2018 Amplify Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

ii. Getting ready to teachiii. Reflection

A3. Navigating unit-level resources(flexible time 15-20 min)

1. Review A3 plan2. Unit guide scavenger hunt (10–15 min)

a. Revisit unit guideb. Point out the unit guide resources page in the Participant

Notebookc. Participant work time

3. Closing

Module A: Accessing Program Resources

Facilitator’s ScriptGrade 2

Part Overview

Opening activity (optional — 10 min)

● Welcome and introductions ● Welcome participants● Describe your role/experience as an educator. ● Invite participants to share their role, regions, grade-level and a

response to the following question: Which aspect(s) of Amplify Science are you most excited about?

● Objectives ● Review workshop learning objectives.

● Agenda● Review agenda● Point out the Participant Notebook that participants have in

front of them. Give them a moment to review the Module A: Key understandings.


● Norms ● Review norms and ask participants if there are other norms that

should be added.

● Introduce Module A: Accessing Program Resources

● Review each Module A component. We’ll start with a high-level overview of the scope and

sequence of the Amplify Science elementary curriculum. Then we’ll dive into an exploration of the lesson level of the Teacher’s Guide.

Next, we’ll get acquainted with the components the Amplify Science and the materials included in each unit kit. You’ll have some time to plan how to manage these materials in your classroom.

Finally, we’ll spend some time navigating the resources found in the Amplify Science Unit Guide.

● Review Module A objectives. These objectives encompass the learning outcomes across all three components of Module A.

When we’ve completed this module, we’ll be familiar with the structure of an Amplify Science unit. We’ll also understand how to navigate the Teacher’s Guide and manage the resources included within a unit.

A1: Navigating the Teacher’s Guide ● Introduce A1: Navigating the Teacher’s Guide.

We’ll start by learning how to navigate the digital Teacher’s Guide.

Review and share agenda for A1: Navigating the Teacher’s Guide.

● Lead the Temperature Check Invite your colleagues to rate themselves on a scale of 1 to 5

according to their comfort level accessing Amplify Science materials and navigating a digital curriculum.

On a sticky note or scratch sheet of paper, ask them to provide a bit of rationale to support their rating.

1 (extreme discomfort) 2 (discomfort)


3 (mild) 4 (comfortable) 5 (extremely comfortable)

Ask those participants who rated themselves as a 4 or 5 to distribute themselves equally around the room, to support and thought-partner with their colleagues throughout this, and future, sessions.

● Introduce the Lawrence Hall of Science – Amplify partnership[Note: The purpose of these talking points is to provide a high-level overview of the partnership behind the Amplify Science digital curriculum. You may decide to skip this slide/content if your participating colleagues have already established a foundational understanding of the curriculum through one of your other turnkey modules.]

The first thing I’d like to talk about is the Amplify partnership with the University of California, Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science.

The Lawrence Hall of Science (LHS) has over 50 years of experience developing amazing science programs. You may be familiar with some of their legacy programs: FOSS, Seeds of Science, Roots of Reading, and SEPUP. Those programs were developed in the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s, before the Next Generations Science Standards (NGSS) were created.

The team at LHS wanted to develop a program specifically designed to support student learning around the NGSS. LHS partnered with Amplify to develop Amplify Science… the only LHS program developed from the ground up to address the Next Generation Science Standards!

The way the partnership works is this: LHS is 100% responsible for developing the instructional materials. They have a team of science, math, engineering, and literacy experts who developed the program. Amplify has a team of designers and engineers that developed the technology, which serves up Lawrence Hall of Science’s content.

● Introduce the elementary curriculum course structure This slide shows the 21 units that make up the K-5 curriculum. You can see that there are 3 units per year for Grades K-2 and 4

units per year for Grades 3-5. What is the first unit you will teach this year?

[Note to facilitator: a copy of this table is located in the Module A Participant Notebook.]

● Introduce the Amplify Science unit structure


The curriculum is easy to navigate. Courses are grade levels which contain units, chapters, lessons, activities.

As we just learned, each course in Amplify Science consists of 3-4 units.

Each unit is broken into instructional sequences called chapters. There are 3-6 chapters per unit.

Within each chapter there are lessons. Across chapters, there are a total of 22 lessons per unit.

So, for example, if you were to teach all three units in 1st grade, it would mean 66 lessons in order to teach all NGSS standards at that grade level. If you were to teach all four units in 4th grade, it would mean 88 lessons.

The lessons are further broken down into activities. Lessons in K-1 units are generally 45 minutes in length, lessons

in 2-5 are generally 60 minutes in length. We can always expand or contract the timing to fit our needs. We’ll have a chance to explore more about the digital

curriculum after reviewing the materials Amplify Science provides us.

[Note to facilitator: a copy of this graphic image is located in the Module A Participant Notebook. Encourage your colleagues to refer to this resource as they explore their first unit, chapters, lessons, and activities.] ● Introduce the plan for pacing

There are several pacing options you can use to ensure adequate time to teach Amplify Science at your grade level.

At grades K-2, there are 3 units per year If you opt to teach 2 lessons per week, you would need

approximately 11 weeks to teach a unit, or about 33 weeks to teach all units at your grade level.

If you opt to teach 3 lessons per week, you would need approximately 8 weeks to teach a unit, or about 24 weeks to teach all units at your grade level.

At grades 3-5, there are 4 units per year If you opt to teach 3 lessons per week, you would need

approximately 8 weeks to teach a unit, or about 32 weeks to teach all units at your grade level.

If you opt to teach 4 lessons per week, you would need approximately 6 weeks to teach a unit, or about 24 weeks to teach all units at your grade level.

It’s important that the lessons in each unit are taught in sequence, so abiding by a schedule will be key.

As your time permits, you can extend some lessons to include additional time for writing, multiple reads of books, engaging in


optional reflections pages in the Investigation Notebook, or increased time for investigations.

● Introduce the tour of the Teacher’s Guide Option 1: Amplify Science Guided Tour

The goal is for each participant to take 10-15 minutes to complete the guided tour individually.

Each participant should have a device and internet access (Safari or Chrome) in order to follow the guided tour.

Provide participants with the Amplify Science Guided Tour URL: (learning.amplify.com/science-guidedtour)

Option 2: If you feel that your colleagues would benefit from the

opportunity to pause and ask questions while learning about the teacher’s guide, you might opt to project the teacher’s guide and model navigating through each component of a lesson.

[Note: Although participants will have an opportunity to navigate the unit-level resources in greater depth in Part A3, it’s important that they are introduced to the location of the Unit Guide by the end of this tour in order to support the work they will do in Part A2.]

● Introduce the guided tour partner discussion Once you’ve completed the guided tour, take a few minutes to

discuss these questions with a partner: What is the structure of Amplify Science units and

lessons? What questions do you have about navigating the

curriculum during instruction?

● Use this slide to help teacher’s login to access the digital Teacher’s Guide.

● Lesson-level scavenger hunt Direct participants to the Lesson-level scavenger hunt in the

Module A Participant Notebook. Review the directions for the scavenger hunt and invite your

colleagues to work in pairs or small groups (depending on group size) to explore the Teacher’s Guide and respond to the questions on the page.

Encourage participants to use the Navigation within a lesson (also in the Module A Participant Notebook) as an additional


resource for supporting lesson-level navigation.

A2: Managing resource and materials● Introduce A2: Managing resources and materials.

Now we’ll transition to learning about resources and materials included in the Amplify Science kits.

● Review and share agenda for A2: Managing resources and materials

● Introduce the instructional materials We just had a chance to explore the Teacher’s Guide. As you

observed, this guide contains: Step-by-step instructions for implementing each lesson Embedded supports and strategies for each lesson

In addition to the lesson-level supports we observed, the digital Teacher’s Guide also has a Unit Guide with unit-support information to help you feel prepared and confident to implement the unit. We’ll explore some of these resources a bit later in the module. Examples include:

A science background document An overview of the assessments and rubrics An overview of the standards addressed in each unit An overview of the hands-on materials that are included

in the kit and which lessons they’ll be used in The really amazing thing is that Amplify has established a

partnership with the Lawrence Hall of Science until the year 2032, which means they are committed to continuous improvement of program for many years to come. Unlike many other programs, Amplify will continue to keep the program up-to-date and incorporate improvements that they get from teachers.

As a perfect example, Amplify received feedback after the first year that teachers loved the digital Teacher’s Guide, but some still wanted to have a print version. So now Amplify offers a print version of the Teacher's Guide.

● Introduce the student materials For students, Amplify offers a program that consists of digital,

print, and hands-on student materials.


For grades 2-5, there are digital apps and Simulations included in about 1 of every 3-4 lessons. Students work together in the simulations and apps; therefore one device per student is not needed.

Every unit includes a kit which consists of student books and hands-on materials. At K-2, there are enough materials for 2 uses in a classroom size of 25 students. At 3-5, there are enough materials for 2 uses in a classroom size of 30 students.

For each unit, there are five original student books written specifically for the program by the literacy and content experts at the Lawrence Hall of Science. Each kit includes one copy of each for book for every two students to support the program’s partner reading approach. At K-1, there is also a big book version of each student book.

The kit also includes an Investigation Notebook for students to complete written work. Notebook pages include a combination of open-ended prompts, data sheets, and scaffolded pages to support students in writing and reflecting like scientists.

● Introduce the Spanish translations of student materials All student-facing materials are available in Spanish – this

includes student books, Investigation Notebooks, and classroom wall materials.

● Introduce the Assessment System The Assessment System for each Amplify Science elementary

unit is designed to provide teachers with actionable and diagnostic information about students’ progress toward the three-dimensional learning goals for the unit.

The Assessment System includes formal and informal opportunities for students to demonstrate understanding and for teachers to gather information throughout the unit. Examples of assessment features include:

Formative assessments Summative assessments Rubrics Suggestions for follow-up instructional support

[Note: Module P provides a more in-depth introduction to the Assessment System.]

● Unpacking an Amplify Science kit


Direct participants to the Managing materials and planning to teach page in the Module A Participant Notebook.

Have them go to the NYC Resources site (URL: amplify.com/science/nycresoures) to access and watch the video for their grade level unit.

Encourage participants to respond to the questions in ‘Part 1: Unpacking the Kit’ as they watch the video for their unit.

● Turn and talk about Amplify Science kit materials Ask your colleagues to turn and talk about the following

questions. What materials did you see? What materials are you excited about? Which materials do you have questions about? Where might you store these materials in your

classroom? Invite volunteers to share their ideas with the group.

● Revisit accessing unit-level resources Participants were introduced to the location of the unit guide

during the digital Teacher’s Guide tour. Use this slide as needed to support participants in locating the Unit Guide for their work with the remainder of the Managing materials and planning to teach activity.

● Managing materials and planning to teach Direct participants to the remaining sections of the Managing

materials and planning to teach pages in the Participant Notebook.

Use the following slide to help teachers login to access the Teacher’s Guide.

Provide participants with time to navigate the teacher’s guide and complete the remaining sections of the activity.


A3: Navigating unit-level resources● Introduce A3: Navigating unit-level resources

We’ll conclude the module by familiarizing ourselves with resources available in the Unit Guide.

● Review and share agenda for A3: Navigating unit-level


resources.

● Unit Guide scavenger hunt Direct participants to the Unit guide resources page and the

Unit guide scavenger hunt in the Module A Participant Notebook.

Review the directions on the page and invite your colleagues to work in pairs or small groups (depending on group size) to explore the Unit Guide and respond to the questions in the notebook.

Use the following slide to help teachers login to access the Teacher’s Guide and if needed, revisit the Accessing Unit-Level Resources slide from A2 to support participants in locating the Unit Guide within the digital Teacher’s Guide.


Congratulations!


New York City Department of EducationModule M: Multiple Sources of EvidenceOutline, materials and preparationGrade 2

Session title Multiple sources of evidence (Module M)

(100-175 minutes total)

Session outcomes

Participants will be able to:

● Explain the Amplify Science Approach and how it supports three-dimensional learning.

● Understand how reading and writing is incorporated in service of scientific understanding.

● Recognize and utilize the program’s instructional routines.● Analyze modeled reading, small group, and writing components of

a lesson to support students gathering scientific evidence.

Materials Protocols and handouts: Module M section of AMP Participant Notebook:

Module M: Key understandings Amplify Science Approach Multiple modalities in Amplify Science Unit Map Coherence flowchart structure Analyzing coherence Coherence flowchart Unit essentials and instructional builds NYSSLS reference sheet Analyzing 3-D learning

Participants will bring: Computer or tablet

Other materials For the 15-minute Plant and Animal Relationships activity

sequence:


▪ 1 copy of A Plant Is a System

▪ Lesson 2.3: Growing Roots Game Materials: 1 probability cube 1 crayon 1 Growing Roots Game student sheet

▪ For the 30-minute Plant and Animal Relationships activity sequence, for each pair:

1 copy of A Plant Is a System Lesson 2.3: Growing Roots Game Materials:

1 probability cube 2 crayons or markers 1 Growing Roots Game student sheet

For each group of four:▪ 2 sheets of white paper (8.5” x 11”)

For 60-minute version of Plant and Animal Relationships activity sequence

For each pair:▪ 1 copy of A Plant Is a System

▪ Lesson 2.3: Growing Roots Game Materials: 1 probability cube 2 crayons or markers 1 Growing Roots Game student sheet

For each group of four: 2 sheets of white paper (8.5” x 11”)

Date and time

Flexible


Multiple Sources of Evidence OutlineM1. Figuring out like a scientist (flexible time 45-90 min)

1. Opening question: How do scientists learn about the natural world?2. Amplify Science Approach (10 min)

a. Figure out, not learn aboutb. Problem-based deep divesc. Introduce the Plant and Animal Relationships unit problem

3. Experience how students collect evidence from multiple sources (flexible time 15-60 min)

a. 15-minute version of Plant and Animal Relationships activity sequence (Version 1)

i. Summarize Chapter 1 and introduce Chapter 2ii. Summarize a “READ”: Read an excerpt of A Plant Is a

System (Lesson 2.2) iii. Summarize a “TALK/WRITE”: A Plant Is a System (Lesson

2.2)iv. Demonstrate a “DO”: Growing roots game and summarize

the sunlight and leaves model and the multiple plants body model (Lesson 2.3)

v. Summarize a “VISUALIZE”: Exploring a good place to grow using a modeling tool (Lesson 2.4)

vi. Introduce Chapter 2 key conceptsb. 30-minute version of Plant and Animal Relationships activity

sequence (Version 2)i. Summarize Chapter 1 and introduce Chapter 2ii. Summarize a “READ”: Read an excerpt of A Plant Is a

System (Lesson 2.2) iii. Summarize a “TALK/WRITE”: A Plant Is a System (Lesson

2.2)iv. Engage participants in a “DO”: Growing roots game and

the multiple plants body model; summarize the sunlight and leaves model (Lesson 2.3)

v. Summarize a “VISUALIZE”: Exploring a good place to grow using a modeling tool (Lesson 2.4)

vi. Introduce Chapter 2 key conceptsc. 60-minute version of Plant and Animal Relationships activity

sequence (Version 3)i. Summarize Chapter 1 and introduce Chapter 2ii. Engage participants in a “READ”: Read A Plant Is a System

(Lesson 2.2) iii. Engage participants in a “TALK/WRITE”: A Plant Is a

System (Lesson 2.2)iv. Engage participants in a “DO”: Growing roots game and


the multiple plants body model; summarize the sunlight and leaves model (Lesson 2.3)

v. Engage participants in a “VISUALIZE”: Exploring a good place to grow using a modeling tool (Lesson 2.4)

vi. Introduce Chapter 2 key concepts 4. Reflecting on the Amplify Science approach (20 min)

i. Introduction to multimodal instructionii. Work time: Participants use unit maps to familiarize

themselves with the grade-level unit they’ll teach first and discuss the Amplify Science approach in their units

iii. Introduction to the coherence flowchartiv. Work time: Participants use analyzing coherence and

grade-specific coherence flowcharts to analyze how ideas build in Chapter 1 of their units

v. Reflection: returning to how scientists learn about the natural world.

M2. Multiple modalities and instructional builds (flexible time 25-50 min)

1. Review of Multiple Modalities in Amplify Science (10 min)a. Overview of supports for engaging in different modalities;

emphasize how the NYSLSS (NGSS) and Amplify Science are literacy-rich.

2. Work time (20-35 min)a. Introduce the unit essentials and instructional builds activity. Point

out that the 4th and 5th grade versions include an extra support: Simulations.

b. If needed (depending on participants’ comfort with navigating the Teacher’s Guide), demonstrate how to find more information about one of the Plant and Animal Relationships supports, and how to locate and analyze an example of students engaging with that support.

c. Participants use the Unit essentials and instructional builds pages of the Participant Notebook to become familiar with the particular supports used in their grade-level unit, and to analyze how students use these supports in their

M3. Three-Dimensional Learning(flexible time 30-35 min)

1. Introduce the three-dimensions (5 min)2. Analyzing three-dimensional learning in Amplify Science (20-25 min)

a. Presenter models, then group practices, analyzing three-dimensional learning in Plant and Animal Relationships activity sequence (from M1)

b. Presenter introduces 3-D Statements doc in Unit Guide


c. Work time: Participants read about 3-D learning in Chapter 1 of their unit and analyze 3-D learning using a graphic organizer.

3. Reflection (5 min)

Module M: Multiple Sources of EvidenceFacilitator’s ScriptGrade 2

Part Overview

Opening activity (optional — 10 min)

● Welcome and introductions ● Welcome participants● Describe your role/experience as an educator. ● Invite participants to share their role, regions, grade-level and a



● Agenda● Review agenda● Point out the Participant Notebook that participants have in front

of them. Give them a moment to review the Module M: Key Understandings.


should be added.

● Welcome participants as they enter the room and ask them to discuss the projected question.

● Module M: Multiple Sources of EvidenceIntroduce Module M: Multiple Sources of Evidence

Amplify Science units are not the typical textbook based-science instruction, and they’re also not solely based on hands-on activities. Instead, Amplify Science supports students to learn about the natural world as scientists do.


Students construct understanding of science ideas by engaging with multiple sources and types of evidence.

We’ll get to know our units by looking at the types of evidence students engage with and how they engage with them.

● Review Module M components To see how students figure out like a scientists in Amplify

Science, I’ll lead us in a sequence of activities from the 2rd grade Plant and Animal Relationships. We’ll use this unit as an exemplar throughout this module, but you’ll have time to get to know your own units too.

Then we’ll reflect on the instructional approach. We’ll focus in particular on how students are supported to use multiple modalities — doing, reading, talking, writing, visualizing — to engage with different sources of evidence as they construct understanding.

● Review Module Objectives When we’ve completed this module, we’ll be familiar with how

the Amplify Science Approach supports three-dimensional learning, and with some of the program’s instructional routines, including those for reading and writing.

M1: Figuring Out Like a Scientist

● Introduce M1: Figuring out like a scientist We’ll start by experiencing how students figure out like

scientists.

● Review and share agenda for M1. Figuring out like a scientist.

● The NYSSLS, which align with the national Next Generation Science Standards, or NGSS, represent a major shift in teaching and learning science, which can be summarized as engaging students in figuring out, not learning about.

● To meet these new demands of the NYSSLS, Amplify Science uses a new instructional approach.

● The short version of the Amplify Science Approach is problem-based deep dives. In other words, students inhabit the role of scientists and engineers to explain or predict phenomena. They use what they figure


out to solve real-world problems.

● To expand on what problem-based deep dives look like, here is a high-level view of how each unit in Amplify Science is organized.

First circle: Each unit begins by introducing a phenomenon, and a real-world problem related to it. Explaining the phenomenon will help students solve the problem.

Second circle: As students work to figure out the phenomenon, they collect evidence from multiple sources.

Third circle: The evidence they gather supports students in explaining the phenomenon.

Blue arrows: Explanations increase in complexity throughout the unit. Students might construct a relatively simple explanation early in the unit, but as they continue to dive deeper and gather more evidence related to the phenomenon, their explanations become more and more complex.

Fourth circle: Once students have constructed a deep causal explanation to help solve the unit’s problem, they apply their understanding to a new context to solve a different problem.

● Let’s look at how the problem in the 2rd grade Plant and Animal Relationships unit is introduced

● Students are introduced to the unit by being told they will be learning about habitats and they will focus on one specific habitat, a broadleaf forest.

● They are shown the animals that live in the broadleaf forest habitat and get to share their initial observations and questions about these animals.

● They will also be shown the plants that live in the broadleaf forest.

● There are many broadleaf forests around the world but students are going to study a broadleaf forest located in India.

● In the broadleaf forest in India there is a Bengal Tiger reserve. The reserve is a section of the forest where tigers are protected. Lots of different kinds of plants and animals live in the Bengal Tiger Reserve.

Students are told that the lead scientist at the Bengal Tiger Reserve thinks that something is changing with the trees that live in the Reserve.

The students are going to act as plant scientists to help figure


out what is happening with the trees that live in the Reserve.

● Part-way through the first chapter, students are introduced to two maps of a Sample Study Site in the Bengal Tiger Reserve: one from 1995 and one from 2015. The class discovers that the chalta trees are the only type of tree that has not grown any new trees since 1995.

This narrows the focus of the problem of the unit: Why aren’t new chalta trees growing in the Bengal Tiger Reserve?

How does the phenomenon of the Tiger Reserve in the broadleaf forest motivate students’ learning?

As participants share, guide them to the idea that the phenomenon gives students a reason to learn—to figure out why there aren’t any new chalta trees growing. They need to understand science concepts to explain why the trees aren’t growing and how animals could be related to this problem.

Direct participants to summarize the problem in the Plant and Animal Relationships unit and record under the first circle in Amplify Science Approach graphic organizer in their Participant Notebooks.

If presenting the 15 minute version of the Plant and Animal Relationships activity sequence, use the slides that follow. If presenting the 30 or 60 minute version of the Plant and Animal Relationships activity sequence, skip to the appropriate slides.

15 minute version● Now we are going to dive into some activities in second chapter of the

Plant and Animal Relationships unit to experience how students collect evidence from multiple sources.

● Point out the notes pages at the end of the Module M section of the Participant Notebook where participants can take notes during this activity sequence if they’d like.

Summarize Chapter 1● We’re going to jump to Chapter 2, so to quickly summarize Chapter 1—● In Chapter 1, after the problem with the trees in the tiger reserve is

introduced, students figure out the key concepts displayed (as well as two others, but the concepts displayed are the core content of this first chapter). By the end of the chapter they come to the explanation displayed. Have a participant read the explanation.

15 minute versionIntroduce Chapter 2● Since students only investigated what seeds need to grow into full


grown plants in Chapter 1, they enter Chapter 2 with a new question: Why aren’t the chalta seeds getting what they need to grow?

15 minute versionIn order to be able to answer the chapter 2 question, students first need to figure out the investigation question: How do plants get the water and sunlight that they need to grow?Summarize exemplar of students engaged in a “READ” activity:● Hold up a copy of A Plant Is a System.● To gather more evidence on how plants get the water and sunlight

they need to grow, students read this book with partners to find out how a plant uses its parts to get what it needs to grow.

● Before reading the book, students set a purpose for reading. Students use this sense making strategy of setting a purpose each time they read a book in this unit to help them make sense of the texts and construct new understandings.

● The purpose for reading this book is to find out how a plant uses its parts to get the water and sunlight it needs to grow.

15 minute versionStudents use their notebooks to record what they find out about how a plant uses its parts to get the sunlight and water it needs to grow as they read A Plant Is a System. This helps them focus on the set purpose for reading.Show/read pages 6-7 to give participants a sense of the book.

15 minute versionSummarize exemplar of students engaged in a “TALK”/”WRITE” activity:After revisiting parts of A Plant is a System, students label a plant diagram in their Investigation Notebooks and write about how a plant is a system while discussing with a partner.

15 minute versionDemonstrate exemplar of a “DO” activity:● Students now know that plants have roots and leaves and use those

parts to get what they need to grow, but they also know that new chalta trees in the Bengal Tiger Reserve are not growing. They are therefore introduced to a new investigation question to investigate: Why can’t plants always get the sunlight and water they need to grow?

● Students start by playing a game (which acts as a model) to think about how plants’ roots grow. This game gives them ideas about why plants can’t always get the water they need to grow.

● Point out the goal and directions to participants. Explain that students would do this in partners, but you are going to just


model one turn of one partner to show the rules and corresponding behaviors of the game.

● Invite a participant to be a volunteer partner for you as you model the game. Say each rule and model the corresponding behavior with the volunteer partner.

● To summarize, in this activity, students should notice that plant roots need space in order to get the water that the plant needs to grow, and that this space can be limited by the presence of other plants’ roots. They should notice that when two plants are placed close together, it is more likely that one of the two plants won’t get enough space, but that if plants are farther away from each other, it is more likely that both plants will have enough space for their roots to get water.

15 minute version● To continue investigating Why can’t plants always get the sunlight and

water they need to grow? students then are introduced to two new models of sunlight on plants’ leaves, the Sunlight and Leaves Model and the Multiple Plants Body Model.

● The teacher turns off the classroom lights and holds a flashlight a foot above a paper model that looks like the image on the slide. Students make observations and ultimately the class debriefs the idea that leaves cannot grow if they do not get enough sunlight. When leaves are blocked by other leaves, sometimes they cannot get enough sunlight to help the plant grow.

● The Sunlight and Leaves Model supports students in constructing understanding about reasons why some plants might not receive the amount of light that they need to grow. This model provides students with a visual model of plant leaves blocking smaller plants, supporting them to conceptualize key ideas about why plants can’t always get what they need to grow.

15 minute version● Students then revisit a body model from a previous lesson where they

use their bodies as a model to show how a plant grows. Now they use this body model to show what happens when multiple plants grow near each other.

● Give participants a few moments to read the steps of the Multiple Plants Body Model on the slide.

● In a later lesson, students will also get a chance to engage with a digital modeling tool to visualize why some locations are good places for a new plant to grow while others are not.

15 minute version


● Through their experiences in Chapter 2, students construct understanding of these key concepts.

● Keep in mind that we only looked at a small subset of the all the activities students engage in, so if it seems like these key concepts go beyond what we did, or would require more exposure or sense-making, remember that Chapter 2 of Plant and Animal Relationships spans 5 60-minute lessons, and we just got a snapshot.

Skip over the Plant and Animal Relationships Activity Sequence Version 2 and 3 slides to the Approach graphic organizer.

If presenting the 30 minute version of the Plant and Animal Relationships activity sequence, use the slides that follow. If presenting the 60 minute version of the Plant and Animal Relationships activity sequence, skip to the appropriate slides.



● Point out the notes pages at the end of the Module M section of the participant notebook where participants can take notes during this activity sequence if they’d like.


introduced, students figure out the key concepts displayed (as well as two others, but the concepts displayed are the core content of this first chapter). By the end of the chapter they come to the explanation displayed. Have a participant read the explanation.

30 minute versionIntroduce Chapter 2Since students only investigated what seeds need to grow into full grown plants in Chapter 1, they enter Chapter 2 with a new question: Why aren’t the chalta seeds getting what they need to grow?

30 minute versionIn order to be able to answer the chapter 2 question, students first need to figure out the Investigation Question: How do plants get the water and sunlight that they need to grow?Summarize exemplar of students engaged in a “READ” activity:● Hold up a copy of A Plant Is a System.


To gather more evidence on how plants get the water and sunlight they need to grow, students read this book with partners to find out how a plant uses its parts to get what it needs to grow.

Before reading the book, students set a purpose for reading. Students use this sense making strategy of setting a purpose each time they read a book in this unit to help them make sense of the texts and construct new understandings.

The purpose for reading this book is to find out how a plant uses its parts to get the water and sunlight it needs to grow.

30 minute version● Students use their notebooks to record what they find out how a plant

uses its parts to get the sunlight and water it needs to grow as they read A Plant Is a System. This helps them focus on the set purpose for reading.

● Show/read pages 6-7 to give participants a sense of the book.

30 minute version● Summarize exemplar of students engaged in a

“TALK”/”WRITE” activity:● After revisiting parts of A Plant is a System, students label a plant

diagram in their investigation notebooks and write about how a plant is a system while discussing with a partner.

30 minute version● Engage participants in a “DO” activity:

Students now know that plants have roots and leaves and use those parts to get what they need to grow, but they also know that new chalta trees in the Bengal Tiger Reserve are not growing. They are therefore introduced to a new Investigation Question to investigate: Why can’t plants always get the sunlight and water they need to grow?

Students start by playing a game (which acts as a model) to think about how plants’ roots grow. This game gives them ideas about why plants can’t always get the water they need to grow.

Point out the goal and directions to participants. Invite a participant to be a volunteer partner for you as you model the game. Say each rule and model the corresponding behavior with the volunteer partner.

● Distribute materials (give each pair a game board sheet, 2 crayons and probability cube) and give pairs 5 minutes to play.

● After 5 minutes of game play, bring participants back together


and summarize the game. To summarize, in this activity, students should notice that plant

roots need space in order to get the water that the plant needs to grow, and that this space can be limited by the presence of other plants’ roots. They should notice that when two plants are placed close together, it is more likely that one of the two plants won’t get enough space, but that if plants are farther away from each other, it is more likely that both plants will have enough space for their roots to get water.

30 minute version● To continue investigating Why can’t plants always get the sunlight and

water they need to grow? Students then are introduced to two new models of sunlight on plants’ leaves, the Sunlight and Leaves Model and the Multiple Plants Body Model.



30 minute versionStudents then revisit a body model from a previous lesson where they use their bodies as a model to show how a plant grows.Model for participants the original plant growth model using the following steps:● Hug your knees to your chest on the floor and say seed.● Push out your feet along the floor to show roots spreading out in the

ground and say roots.● Raise one hand above your head and say seed sprouts.● Reach your arms out to the sides and say leaves.● Stand up, stretch your arms above your head, and say full-grown.Now they will use this body model to show what happens when multiple plants grow near each other.


● Invite 4 teachers to demonstrate this model following the directions on the slide.

● In groups of 4, you will now have time to engage in the model. First choose who will be the first growing seed, and then complete the Multiple Plants Body Model. You can move to a place where your group will have space to complete the model.

● Distribute paper.● Have remaining participants engage in the model in groups.

Set timer for 8 minutes and then bring group back together, having participants return to their seats.

● Ask: How does that modeling activity support students in deepening their understanding of plant needs?

● In a later lesson, students will also get a chance to engage with a digital modeling tool to visualize why some locations are good places for a new plant to grow while others are not.

30 minute version● Through their experiences in Chapter 2, students construct

understanding of these key concepts.● Keep in mind that we only looked at a small subset of the all the

activities students engage in, so if it seems like these key concepts go beyond what we did, or would require more exposure or sense-making, remember that Chapter 2 of Plant and Animal Relationships spans 5 60-minute lessons, and we just got a snapshot.

Skip over the Plant and Animal Relationships Activity Sequence Version 3 slides to the Approach graphic organizer.

If presenting the 60 minute version of the Plant and Animal Relationships activity sequence, use the slides that follow.



● Point out the notes pages at the end of the Module M section of the participant notebook where participants can take notes during this activity sequence if they’d like.


introduced, students figure out the key concepts displayed (as well as two others, but the concepts displayed are the core content of this first chapter). By the end of the chapter they come to the explanation


displayed. Have a participant read the explanation.

60 minute versionIntroduce Chapter 2● Since students only investigated what seeds need to grow into full

grown plants in Chapter 1, they enter Chapter 2 with a new question: Why aren’t the chalta seeds getting what they need to grow?

60 minute versionEngage participants in a “READ” activity:● Hold up a copy of A Plant Is a System.● To gather more evidence on how plants get the water and sunlight

they need to grow, students read this book with partners to find out how a plant uses its parts to get what it needs to grow.

● Before reading the book, students set a purpose for reading. Students use this sense making strategy of setting a purpose each time they read a book in this unit to help them make sense of the texts and construct new understandings.

● The purpose for reading this book is to find out how a plant uses its parts to get the water and sunlight it needs to grow.

60 minute version● Students use their notebooks to record what they find out about how a

plant uses its parts to get the sunlight and water it needs to grow as they read A Plant Is a System. This helps them focus on the set purpose for reading.

Distribute one copy of A Plant Is a System to each pair of participants and give them 10 minutes to read together.

60 minute version● Engage participants in a “TALK”/”WRITE” activity:

Students then get to revisit pages 8-10 in A Plant is a System with their partner to support writing about how a plant is a system. They first will label a diagram to show how a plant uses sunlight and water then they will answer a written response question.

With your partner, you will now return to the book and work together to answer the question in step 4 as students would.

You do not have this notebook page in your Participant Notebook, so turn to the notes page at the back to record your thinking for the question.

Take 5 minutes to work together to answer the question.

60 minute version


Engage participants in a “DO” activity:● Students now know that plants have roots and leaves and use those

parts to get what they need to grow, but they also know that new chalta trees in the Bengal Tiger Reserve are not growing. They are therefore introduced to a new investigation question to investigate: Why can’t plants always get the sunlight and water they need to grow?

● Students start by playing a game (which acts as a model) to think about how plants’ roots grow. This game gives them ideas about why plants can’t always get the water they need to grow.

● Point out the goal and directions to participants. Invite a participant to be a volunteer partner for you as you model the game. Say each rule and model the corresponding behavior with the volunteer partner.

● Distribute materials (give each pair a game board sheet, 2 crayons and probability cube) and give pairs 5 minutes to play.

● After 5 minutes of game play, bring participants back together and summarize the game.

● To summarize, in this activity, students should notice that plant roots need space in order to get the water that the plant needs to grow, and that this space can be limited by the presence of other plants’ roots. They should notice that when two plants are placed close together, it is more likely that one of the two plants won’t get enough space, but that if plants are farther away from each other, it is more likely that both plants will have enough space for their roots to get water.

60 minute version● Continue investigating Why can’t plants always get the sunlight and

water they need to grow? Students then are introduced to two new models of sunlight on plants’ leaves, the Sunlight and Leaves Model and the Multiple Plants Body Model.




60 minute version● Students then revisit a body model from a previous lesson where they

use their bodies as a model to show how a plant grows.● Model for participants the original plant growth model using

the following steps: Hug your knees to your chest on the floor and say seed. Push out your feet along the floor to show roots spreading out

in the ground and say roots. Raise one hand above your head and say seed sprouts. Reach your arms out to the sides and say leaves. Stand up, stretch your arms above your head, and say full-

grown.● Now they will use this body model to show what happens when

multiple plants grow near each other.● Invite 4 teachers to demonstrate this model following the

directions on the slide. In groups of 4, you will now have time to engage in the model.

First choose who will be the first growing seed, and then complete the Multiple Plants Body Model. You can move to a place where your group will have space to complete the model.

● Distribute paper.● Have remaining participants engage in the model in groups.

Set timer for 8 minutes and then bring group back together, having participants return to their seats.

Ask: How does that modeling activity support students in deepening their understanding of plant needs?

60 minute version● Engage participants in a “VISUALIZE” activity:

Continuing to investigate Why can’t plants always get the sunlight and water they need to grow?, students explore a digital app in which they place seeds in different locations in a habitat to see which grow into new plants.

● Leave the slide and go to the Student Apps Page and select Plant and Animal Relationships. Select Box 1, 2.4 Plant Growth: City Park.

● Point out features of the app to participants:Select INSTRUCTIONS at the top left of the screen and read aloud the instructions. Point out that these instructions are also listed at the top of the screen

Point out the key with information about the habitat Point out the acorns (which can be dragged onto the

image of the park). Point out the the RESET, UNDO, and REDO buttons at the


top right.● Solicit observations and predictions from teachers about where

in the City Park they think new seeds would grow. Where in this habitat do you think a new plant could grow? Why

do you think so?● Model how to drag and drop the acorn in the grass.

Why do you think the acorn grew into an oak tree in this spot? [It had enough space to spread its roots to get water and to get

sunlight on its leaves.]

60 minute version● You and a partner will now have a chance to explore this model to

experience how students will engage with digital tools. The purpose is to explore where new plants can and cannot grow in this habitat.

● Help participants login and access the Plant and Animal Relationships Science Practice Tools.

● Have teachers engage with the Plant Growth: City Park digital model in pairs for 3 minutes.

60 minute version● Through their experiences in Chapter 2, students construct

understanding of these key concepts.● Keep in mind that we only looked at a small subset of the all the

activities students engage in, so if it seems like these key concepts go beyond what we did, or would require more exposure or sense-making, remember that Chapter 2 of Plant and Animal Relationships spans 5 60-minute lessons, and we just got a snapshot.

● Direct participants to the middle box in the Amplify Science Approach graphic organizer in their Participant Notebooks. Read the prompt aloud.

● Ask participants to reflect on the activity sequence they just engaged in as they discuss the prompt in pairs then record responses in the graphic organizer.

● Invite volunteers to share their ideas.● Ask participants to recall how grouping in the activity sequence

varied (i.e. which activities were whole class, which were in small groups, which were individual, etc.). Ask how this variation in grouping/format could support students in gathering scientific evidence

● Have participants discuss in pairs: What do you notice about the different types of evidence sources that led to the key concepts?

● Lead a whole group share out and guide discussion towards the different modalities in the model activity sequence: students collect


evidence from hands-on investigations (DO) and books (READ), and make sense of them through talking and writing (and for the 60 minute version, visualizing with the digital diagramming tool).

Students collect and make sense of evidence through multimodal instruction. What does this mean?

If you did the 15 minute version of the Plant and Animal Relationships activity sequence:We saw how students collect evidence by reading A Plant is a System and doing, in this case, interacting with three different models: The growing roots game, the Sunlight and Leaves model and the Multiple Plants Body Model. Students also talk and write when they work in pairs to diagram a plant as a system, and visualize when they engage with a digital modeling tool. Throughout each Amplify Science unit, students learn science through these five modalities: Do, Talk, Read, Write, Visualize.

If you did the 30 minute version of the Plant and Animal Relationships activity sequence:We experienced collecting evidence by reading A Plant is a System and doing, in this case, interacting with three models: the growing roots game, the Sunlight and Leaves model and the Multiple Plants Body Model. Students also talk and write when they work in pairs to diagram a plant as a system, and visualize when they engage with a digital modeling tool. Throughout each Amplify Science unit, students learn science through these five modalities: Do, Talk, Read, Write, Visualize.

If you did the 60 minute version of the Plant and Animal Relationships activity sequence:We experienced collecting evidence by reading A Plant is a System and doing, in this case, interacting with three models: the growing roots game, the Sunlight and Leaves model and the Multiple Plants Body Model. We also experienced talking and writing when we worked in pairs to diagram a plant as a system, and visualized when we engage with a digital modeling tool. Throughout each Amplify Science unit, students learn science through these five modalities: Do, Talk, Read, Write, Visualize.

Direct to the Multiple Modalities in Amplify Science page of their Participant Notebooks and give them time to briefly read the descriptions of how students engage with each modality in Amplify Science.● Direct participants to the bottom box in the Amplify Science

Approach graphic organizer in their Participant Notebooks. Read the prompt aloud.


● Ask participants to reflect on the activity sequence they engaged in and the multimodal instructional approach as they discuss the prompt in pairs then record responses in the graphic organizer. They may also refer to the Multiple Modalities in Amplify Science table to support their thinking.

● Invite volunteers to share their ideas.

Transition:● Now that you have a sense of Amplify Science’s multimodal approach

to instruction, you’re going to have some time to look at this approach in your own unit.

● First, we’re going to use unit maps to get a high-level overview of our units.

● This is the unit map for the Plant and Animal Relationships unit we just looked at, but in your Participant Notebook, you have the Unit Map for the first unit you’ll teach at your grade level.

● If you are teaching Plant and Animal Relationships, you just learned what the phenomenon is and saw some activities from Chapter 2, so focus on what happens in the other chapters as you read your Unit Map.

● Give participants time to read their Unit Maps and encourage them to think about the questions in Amplify Science Approach graphic organizer as they read. They may also discuss these questions with other teachers from their grade level.

Introduce the Coherence Flowchart.● Now I want to show you another tool—the Coherence flowchart—for

getting to know your unit. Again, I’ll show you an example from the Plant and Animal Relationships unit and then you’ll have time to work with the Coherence flowchart for your own unit. As I walk you through the Plant and Animal Relationships Coherence flowchart, don’t worry about the specifics of the unit so much as the structure and flow that the Coherence flowchart tool shows. The general chapter structure I’ll talk through holds across every chapter in every unit, even though the content is different.

Suggest that participants follow along on the Coherence Flowchart Structure page in their Participant Notebook.Click through the animations on the slide as you describe the flow of questions, activities, and ideas:● Recall that the problem students are trying to solve in the Plant and

Animal Relationships unit is: What is happening to the chalta trees in the Bengal Tiger Reserve? The Chapter 2 question is: Why aren’t the chalta seeds getting what they need to grow?

● This chapter question leads to the Investigation Question: How do


plants get the water and sunlight that they need to grow?● Students collect and reflect on evidence from multiple sources using

multiple modalities, which leads to key concepts.● These key concepts lead to a new Investigation Question: Why can’t

plants always get the sunlight and water they need to grow?, and more experiences, which help students construct more key concepts.

● Putting together everything they’ve figured out throughout the chapter, students come back to the problem of the chalta seeds aren’t getting the sunlight and water they need to grow in the reserve and construct an explanation to answer the Chapter Question.

Though the content is different in different chapters and different units, and the number of Investigation Questions, evidence sources, and key concepts differ in different chapters, this flow of real-world problems motivating questions, which drive students to collect and reflect on evidence from multiple sources, which helps them construct understanding, which they apply to solve problems is common to every chapter in every Amplify Science unit.

Direct participants to turn to the Analyzing Coherence page in their Participant Notebooks.● Let participants know they’ll work with other teachers at their grade

level, to gain confidence in using a Coherence flowchart as a tool to see how ideas build across a chapter.

● Review the directions. Have participants fill in the blanks for the chapter number with Chapter 1. Point out that participants have the Coherence flowchart for their units in their Participant Notebooks (following the Analyzing Coherence page), and that they will be opening up the digital Teacher’s Guide to find and read about activities.

● Guide participants in forming grade-level groups of about 4 people.

● Support participants in logging in to access the Teacher’s Guide. As needed, support participants in navigating the Teacher’s Guide to complete the activity.

If participants need more support with navigation, suggest that they refer to the Annotated Teacher’s Guide Reference included in the Participant Notebook pages for Module A.

Lead a discussion of the prompt.

M2: Multiple Modalities and Instructional BuildsIntroduce M2: Multiple Modalities and Instructional Builds


In this part of the module we will take a deeper look at how students are supported to engage in multiple modalities in Amplify Science.

You’ll leave with a stronger understanding of how students are supported throughout a unit to gather and make sense of evidence through multiple modalities.

Review and share agenda for M2. Multiple Modalities and Instructional Builds

● Direct participants to the Multiple Modalities in Amplify Science page of their Participant Notebooks and view modalities.

In each Amplify Science unit, students are supported to engage in multiple modalities: Doing, Talking, Reading, Writing, and Visualizing.

● Doing has been central to hands-on, activity-centric, inquiry-based science instruction for a while.

● However in Amplify Science, Doing is more nuanced than just engaging in a hands-on activity. Students are supported to “do” science through different science and engineering practices called out by the NYSSLS, including Developing and Using Models, Planning and Carrying Out Investigations, and Designing Solutions.

● Each Amplify Science has a particular focal practice, which means that students receive explicit instruction with this practice, have repeated opportunities to engage in this practice, and gradually assume greater independence with it across a unit. That said, students also engage in multiple practices throughout every unit.

● For example, the focal practice in Plant and Animal Relationships is planning and carrying out investigations. The focus of this practice being: setting a purpose for investigating, determining what and how to measure in an investigation, measuring and recording measurements, and conducting multiple trials.

● Students have multiple opportunities to plan and carry out investigations throughout the unit. For example, in chapter 1, they plant radish seeds and consider how to investigate whether seeds need sunlight and water to grow.

● Notice that several of these modalities, in particular Talking, Reading, and Writing, are things we more commonly associate with literacy. In alignment with the NYSSLS’s emphasis on science and engineering practices, which include Constructing Explanations, Engaging in


Argument, and Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information, Amplify Science is a literacy-rich science curriculum.

● Listening, speaking, reading, and writing are integrated throughout each Amplify Science unit.

Each unit includes one or more discourse routines. Each unit has a focal sense-making strategy used in both

reading-focused and science-focused activities. Each unit also has a focal writing genre, either argumentation

or explanation, and students writing is supported through a gradual release of responsibility.

● Supported by routines, strategies, and scaffolds, students are expected to engage with each of these modalities with increasing complexity and independence throughout each unit.

● For example, in Plant and Animal Relationships, each time students read a book, they use the strategy of setting a purpose to make sense of the text. The teacher models this in the beginning of the unit, but students gradually assume more responsibility for setting a purpose and using their purpose to focus their reading.

● Finally, all Amplify Science units engage students in visualizing. This takes a variety of forms, including:

supporting students to use the strategy of visualizing to make sense of texts;

creating or analyzing diagrams; and developing physical or digital models.

● Direct participants to turn to the Unit Essentials and Instructional Builds page in their Participant Notebooks.

● There are several unit essentials in Amplify Science which support students in gathering and making sense of evidence through multiple modalities. This activity will familiarize you with those unit essentials and deepen your understanding of how students engage in multiple modalities throughout a unit.

● Review the directions. Point out that Table 1 is provided as a reference, and participants may choose to read more information as indicated in the right column, but they may also choose to prioritize working through Table 2 to analyze builds. Point out the reflection questions to think about how these instructional builds support students engagement with multiple modalities. Let participants know how long they’ll have to work so they can decide how to structure their time.

● Point out that the tables for the 4th and 5th grade units include


an extra support: Simulations. Remind participants that Simulations only exist in the 4th and 5th grade units of Amplify Science Elementary and enable students to investigate and visualize phenomena in a digital environment.

● Work time Use the following slide to help participants login to

access the Teacher’s Guide. If needed (depending on participants’ comfort with

navigating the Teacher’s Guide), demonstrate how to find more information about one of the Plant and Animal Relationships unit essentials, and how to locate and analyze an example of students engaging with that unit essential.

For example:● For Table 1: Open up Standards and Goals from the Plant

and Animal Relationships Unit Guide, scroll down to the Focal Practice Trajectory section and point out that this provides more information about the focal practice in Plant and Animal Relationships .

● For Table 2: Navigate to the Early-in-Unit Example of engagement with the focal practice (Lesson 1.6, Activities 1, 2, 3, and 4) and reflect on how the teacher heavily guides students in planning and carrying out their investigation in this activity. Think aloud about how you might pay attention to how much guidance the teacher provides in the Later-in-Unit Example, and record what you find in the What I Notice column

● Give participants time to: Review Table 1 to become familiar with the unit essentials in

their unit; Use the Teacher’s Guide to complete Table 2 to analyze how

students’ engagement in the modalities builds in complexity and independence across the unit.

Answer the reflection questions in Part 3.● Let participants know when they have 5 minutes remaining

until you bring them together for a debrief discussion.


If participants are struggling to find Unit Guide resource(s), review how to access them and suggest that they refer to the Unit Guide Resources included in the participant notebook pages for Module A for additional information.


If participants need more support with navigation, suggest that they refer to the Annotated Teacher’s Guide Reference included in the Participant Notebook pages for Module A.

● Invite participants to discuss the projected questions in pairs, then lead a whole group discussion.

● Synthesize or guide takeaways: Explicit instruction, repeated opportunities for practice, and a

gradual release of responsibility model support all learners in developing the complex language, science, and engineering skills required to engage with scientific content as scientists or engineers.

Module M Park M3:Introduce Module M Part M3: Three-Dimensional Learning● In this part of the module we will look at how the Amplify Science

approach engages students in three-dimensional learning.● You’ll leave with a stronger understanding of what the three

dimensions of the NYSSLS are and how students engage with them in Amplify Science lessons.

Review and share agenda for M3. Three-Dimensional Learning● Clarify the sequence:

First, we’ll discuss the 3 dimensions of science teaching and learning called for in the NYSSLS.

I’ll model analyzing an activity from our Plant and Animal Relationships sequence in terms of 3 dimensional learning. Then, we’ll practice analyzing a different activity from that unit together.

Once we’ve learned how to do this type of thinking, you’ll think about what 3 dimensional learning looks like in your unit.

● Introduce the three dimensions. The NYSSLS call out three dimensions that students should

engage with to figure out science ideas. Students engage in science and engineering practices to construct understanding of disciplinary core ideas—what you might traditionally think of as content, and use crosscutting concepts—concepts which hold true across different disciplines, to support their engagement with practices and disciplinary core ideas.


● Direct participants to the NYSSLS Reference page in their Participant Notebooks.

Here is a list of all the xdisciplinary core ideas, science and engineering practices, and crosscutting concepts in the NYSSLS.

Note that there are fewer core ideas than in previous standards. The intent here is that teachers and students can go deeper with fewer core ideas rather than teaching a wide range of topics with little depth each year.

Looking at the list of practices, you can see that these cover more than just inquiry. They also incorporate the math and literacy practices that are integral to science.

Finally, the crosscutting concepts represent big ideas, or themes, that help students make sense of disciplinary core ideas across life science, physical science, earth science, and engineering.

● Discuss how the exemplar activity sequence from Plant and Animal Relationships (from M1) engages students in three-dimensional learning.

Think back to the sequence of activities we looked at from Chapter 2 of the Plant and Animal Relationships unit, including the activity with the book, A Plant Is a System, and the key concepts that activity (and others in the chapter) led to.

● Think aloud to model analyzing 3-dimensional learning in the A Plant Is a System reading activity.

I’ll start by modeling, thinking about reading the A Plant Is a System text.

I want to consider how students engage with the 3 dimensions in that activity. I’ll use the NYSSLS reference to help me.

Disciplinary Core Ideas: In Chapter 2 of Plant and Animal Relationships, students

are working towards understanding ideas related to what plants need to grow and what could prevent plants from growing.

The Ecosystems DCI is a focus in the Life Science set of disciplinary core ideas.

The specific ideas students work towards in Chapter 2 of Plant and Animal Relationships are embodied by the key concepts on the slide.

Practices: I’m referring to my NYSSLS reference to analyze which

practices students are engaged with. In this text, students obtain information. This connects

to Practice 8: Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating


Information. Crosscutting Concepts:

Now, I’ll think about crosscutting concepts, the big themes that help students make sense of the ideas they’re figuring out.

I see evidence of Systems and System Models and Structure and Function in this activity.

Students read about how the the structures and functions of a plant and how those parts work together as part of a system.

● Have the group work together analyze 3-dimensional learning in the Multiple Plants Body Model activity.

Let’s think about the activity where students create their own models by building on the Plant Growth Body Model to explore what happens when multiple plants grow in the same space.

They’re discovering ideas about interdependent relationships within ecosystems, which connects to that same Life Science Ecosystems DCI.

Let’s think about the other two dimensions, the practices and crosscutting concepts.

Practices: Which science practices were students engaged with as they created their models of multiple plants growing? Talk to a partner and refer to the NYSSLS reference.

Have participants discuss then share their ideas. Encourage them to explain their thinking. They may mention:

Practice 2: Developing and Using Models Practice 4: Analyzing and Interpreting Data Practice 6: Constructing Explanations and

Designing Solutions Practice 7: Engaging in Argument from Evidence

Crosscutting Concepts: Now, let’s think about crosscutting concepts. Which crosscutting concepts helped students make sense of what they observed?

Have participants discuss then share their ideas. Encourage them to explain their thinking. They may mention:

Crosscutting Concept 4: Systems and System Models

Crosscutting Concept 6: Structure and Function● As students worked to create a physical model of multiple plants in a

habitat to figure out that plants that do not get enough sunlight will not grow into full-grown plants, they engaged in a few different


practices, and made sense of ideas using crosscutting concepts. The student model was a 3-dimensional activity.

● All Amplify lessons are designed to be 3 dimensional. In fact, there is a document in the Unit Guide section that describes each chapter and lesson in 3-D terms. Let’s look at it.

● PLACEHOLDER SLIDE: Navigate to the Unit Guide for Plant and Animal Relationships in the Teacher’s Guide.

Click Unit Guide Scroll to the 3-D Statement document Scroll down so the Lesson 2.2 and 2.3 statements are

visible.● Read the Lesson 2.3 Statement aloud. Clarify the

color coding: orange text for DCIs, blue text for Practices, green text for Crosscutting Concepts.

● Have participants turn to the Analyzing 3-D Learning page of their Participant Notebook.

● Review the directions. Have participants fill in the blank for the chapter number with Chapter 1. Clarify the notes table is meant for them to record big takeaways – they do not need to record details from every lesson.

● Show the completed table as a model: We did not read every 3-D statement from Chapter 2 of Plant

and Animal Relationships, but this example shows the type of notes I might take about the lessons we did talk about.

● Provide work time. Support participants in navigating to the 3-D statements for their unit.

If you finish early, you may want to navigate to a lesson you read about for more detail of what students do during that lesson.

● Use the following slide to support participants in logging in to access the Teacher’s Guide.


If participants are struggling to find Unit Guide resource(s), review how to access them and suggest that they refer to the Unit Guide Resources included in the Participant Notebook pages for Module A for additional information. If participants need more support with navigation,

suggest that they refer to the Annotated Teacher’s Guide


Reference included in the Participant Notebook pages for Module A.

Lead a discussion of the prompt.● Synthesize:

As students gather evidence from multiple sources, they’re engaging in a variety of science and engineering practices, and using crosscutting concepts to make meaning across multiple activities.

Because of Amplify’s multimodal approach, students are continually supported to make meaning of the world like scientists do.

Congratulations!

Module P: Progress BuildsOutline, materials and preparationGrade 2

Session Title Progress Builds (Module P)(flexible time 70-120 minutes, which can be customized by site)

Session outcomes

Participants will be able to:● Explore 3-D formative and summative assessment resources and

discuss how to use assessment results to inform instruction.● Discuss ways to use the program’s formative assessment


resources to organize small-group instruction.

Materials Protocols and handouts:● Module P section of AMP Participant Notebook

Module P: Key Understandings Connecting Progress Build levels to chapter explanations Assessment system reference Assessment types cards Formative assessments: Planning for small group instruction Three dimensions (3-D) in the end-of-unit assessment

organizer NYSSLS reference sheet

Participants will bring:● Computer or tablet

Other materials ● N/A

Date and time Flexible


Module P: Multiple Sources of Evidence Condensed Outline

Part P1. Building ideas within a unit (flexible time 20-40 min)

1. Instructional Approach overview (5 min)a. Amplify Science Approach (4 Circles)b. Progress Build structurec. Plant and Animal Relationships example

Progress Build2. Connecting Progress Builds to unit

phenomena (5 min)a. Introduce Plant and Animal Relationships

phenomenonb. Discuss science conceptual

understanding needed to explain the phenomenon

c. Connect Progress Build to explanations of phenomenon

d. Discuss connection between generalizable science concepts in the Progress Build and phenomena-specific explanations students construct

3. Connecting Progress Build levels to chapter explanations activity (10–20 min)a. Participants analyze the build of ideas in

their unit, and how they connect to end-of-chapter explanations

● Connecting Progress Build levels to chapter explanations

● Unit Map or coherence flowchart (in Module M section of the participant notebook)

Part P2. Amplify Assessment System(flexible time 15-25 min)

1. Introducing opportunities for Assessment along the Progress Build (5 min)a. Identify each assessment type (7 total)b. Placement of assessment types along

the Progress Build2. Activity: Opportunities for assessment

(10–20 min)a. Presenter models how to locate

assessment resources in Teacher’s Guide

b. Participants follow navigation pathways on cards in their participant notebook to practice locating opportunities for assessment in the units they will teach

i. Participants consider how assessments

● Assessment types cards

● Assessment System Reference


they read provide credible, actionable, and timely information about student learning.

c. Solo reflection followed by group share out

P3. Using Formative Assessment to Inform Instruction(flexible time 20–25 min)

1. Planning to use formative assessmenta. Presenter models planning to use formative

assessment data to inform instruction, using assessment resources in the Teacher’s Guide (5 min)

b. Participants use graphic organizer to analyze formative assessments from their unit (10 min)

2. Participants reflect on how to collect data to plan for individual and small group instruction. (5-10 min)

● Formative assessments: Planning for small group instruction

P4: Summative Assessment(flexible time 15-30 min)

1. Locating summative assessment and resources (5-10 min)a. Participants reflect on how they have used

summative assessments in their teachingb. Presenter models locating resourcesc. Participants locate resources

2. 3-D summative assessment (10-20 min)a. Participants read summative

assessment rubricsb. Participants complete a graphic organizer

about the three dimensions in their summative assessment

c. Group reflects on 3-D assessment and Amplify assessment resources

● Three dimensions in the end-of-unit assessment

Module P: Progress BuildsFacilitator’s ScriptGrade 2

Part Overview

Opening ● Welcome and introductions


activity (optional — 10 min)

● Welcome participants● Describe your role/experience as an educator. ● Invite participants to share their role, regions, grade-level and a



● Agenda● Review agenda● Point out the Participant Notebook that participants have in front

of them. Give them a moment to review the Module M: Key Understandings.


should be added.

Welcome the group, introductionsModule P: Progress Builds

● Introduce Module P: Progress Builds Amplify Science units are structured around a conceptual build

of ideas – they call this learning progress a Progress Build. We’ll get to know our units by looking at Progress Builds.

● Review Module P components The conceptual build of ideas in a unit structure student

learning and the program’s assessment system. We’ll get a chance to look at how ideas build through a unit, and to think about the different assessment opportunities that exist.

● Review Module Objectives When we’ve completed this module, we’ll be familiar with

available assessment resources and how to use them, and we’ll learn some ways to use assessment data for organizing small-group instruction.

P1: Building Ideas Within a Unit● Introduce P1: Building ideas within a unit

o We’ll start by thinking about how ideas build in a unit.


● Review and share agenda for P1: Building ideas within a unit

● Introduce Amplify Science Approach. If participants have already worked through Module M, you may want to call on a few volunteers to share what they remember about what this graphic represents.

Amplify Science units at every grade level have a similar structure. We’ll return to this graphic a few times, and may have seen it before. I’d like to emphasize one part that connects to our work with Progress Builds.

Point at the middle circles and the blue arrows: The middle circles, and the blue arrows around them,

really show the ideas we’ll be working with today. Amplify Science units are designed to deepen

understanding around a set of science concepts, rather than cover a few topics at a surface level.

Students continually collect evidence that deepens their conceptual understanding, which helps them build increasingly complex explanations.

A Progress Build structures this sequence.

● Discuss participants’ ideas about the image This graphic is useful for understanding the goal of a Progress

Build. ASK: What do you notice? What do you think this image shows?

● Discuss the parts of the image Prior knowledge: On the left-hand side, you can see “Prior

knowledge.” At the beginning of a unit, instruction starts with what students already know. The designers of the program researched to see what prior understanding students at a unit’s grade level typically have.

Layers: Then, piece by piece, instruction is meant to deepen that understanding. At the beginning of a unit, students work to figure out Level 1, which is the most foundational or basic understanding in the unit. Once they understand the first level, that use that understanding to build Level 2, which is more complex, and Level 3.

Deep, Causal Understanding: By the end of a unit, students have a deep conceptual understanding which they can use to construct an explanation of their unit’s problem.

● Introduce the Plant and Animal Relationships Progress Build


structure Let’s see an example of how students construct an deep

understanding little by little in the Plant and Animal Relationships unit.

Amplify Science units sequence the science ideas in a way that is supportive for student learning. The ideas become more complex and build on previous levels through a unit.

● Read and explain the Plant and Animal Relationships Progress Build

At the first level, students figure out: Plants make seeds, which can sprout and grow into new plants only if they get enough sunlight and water.

They need these ideas about what seeds need in order to progress to the Level 2 understanding: In order to grow, seeds need space to get sunlight on their leaves and to spread their roots to get water.

At the third level, they use ideas about the needs of seeds and how seeds get the resources they need to explain: Some plants depend on animals to disperse their seeds, and some animals depend on these plants for food.

● Point to the grey boxes on the left side of the slide This progression of ideas builds from students prior knowledge

– they have experience with pushes and pulls from their own life.

The unit adds complexity piece by piece until students have a deep understanding.

● Note the Progress Build represents conceptual understanding, and is not related to the unit’s phenomenon.

You know Amplify Science units are designed for students to solve a problem, but note the levels of the Progress Build describe generalizable science content, not an explanation of a phenomenon.

Let’s look at how these ideas connect to the problem in the Plant and Animal Relationships unit.

● Introduce the Plant and Animal Relationships phenomenon In this unit, students find out that there are no new chalta trees

growing in the fictional Bengal Tiger Reserve in India, which is located in a broadleaf forest habitat.

Students will be challenged to figure out what is happening to the trees in the Bengal Tiger Reserve.

While students try to figure out what is happening to the trees, they are building a conceptual understanding of the relationship between plants and animals in a habitat.


● Introduce the solution to the problem● By the end of the unit, students have built a conceptual understanding

of how living things in a habitat depend on each other. They explain why there are no new trees growing in the

reserve: The chalta trees in the Bengal Tiger Reserve depend on

elephants to move their seeds so the seeds will get the sunlight and water they need to grow.

Elephants eat the chalta fruit for food, move to other places in the habitat, and leave droppings with seeds inside in places where the seeds might get the water and sunlight they need to grow.

Because a wall has blocked the elephants from coming into the Reserve, they are not able to eat the fruit and move the seeds to places where they can grow.

● Point out the grey text summarizes the solution to the problem.

● Invite participants to turn and talk in response to the orange text. If necessary, think aloud to model:

One idea that students would need to come up with this explanation is the idea that all animals need food in order to live and grow.

ASK: What other science ideas do students need to understand to come up with this explanation?

● Guide discussion to include: Animals sometimes disperse seeds by eating fruit, moving to

another place, and leaving droppings with the seeds inside. Some plants depend on animals to disperse their seeds. These

animals depend on the plants for food.

● Connect the Progress Build ideas back to the unit problem As you can see, the levels of the Progress Build aren’t related to

the problem in the tiger reserve– they’re related to science concepts: organisms and ecosystems.

Students can apply understanding represented in the Progress Build to explain the Plant and Animal Relationships.

The slide shows some pieces of the explanation students construct at each level.

The Progress Build is a tool students use to explain the unit problem, piece by piece.

● Connect the Progress Build to other phenomena


For example, a student can use the Level 3 understandings of the relationship between the chalta trees and the elephants to explain how plants and animals depend on each other in different habitats.

● Introduce the work time activity You’ll get a chance to learn about the Progress Build for your

unit and how it connects to your unit’s phenomenon. We’ll use a useful resource in the digital Teacher’s Guide called

the Unit Map. We will log in to locate this resource.

[Slide is animated]● Show teachers how to navigate to their first unit’s Unit Map in

the Digital Teacher’s Guide. ● Explain the steps:

1. Once at your unit’s landing page, select “JUMP DOWN TO UNIT GUIDE”

2. Select “Unit Map”3. You can click on “Open printable unit map” or just view as is on

the screen.● Mention participants could also refer to the copy of the Unit

Map for their unit in the Module M section of their Participant Notebooks.

● Have participants turn to the “Connecting Progress Build levels to chapter explanations” page in their Participant Notebook.

● Review directions, then provide participants about 10 minutes to work in pairs:

Read each level of the Progress Build (it’s described in more detail than on the Progress Build slide shown earlier)

Read each explanation in the right-hand column. Draw a line from each Progress Build level to the explanation(s)

that apply the content. Discuss with a partner how each explanation applies the

content of the relevant Progress Build level. Identify in which chapter(s) students construct understanding of

each Progress Build level. [If participants have completed Module M, note that they may choose to use the Coherence Flowchart to figure this out, but if they have not completed Module M, they should use the Unit Map. Both of these resources are in the Module M section of the participant notebook.]● Call participants together to share reactions.


● Synthesize understanding A Progress Build maps the conceptual understanding students

build through a unit. It is structured around generalizable science concepts, not related to the unit’s problem or phenomenon.

Throughout the unit, students gather additional evidence to add complexity to their conceptual understanding.

Each level of the Progress Build builds on the level or levels before it.

The Progress Build does work for students in terms of explaining the unit problem. They apply the conceptual understanding to the unit’s problem.

As students build this increasingly complex science understanding, they are able to apply it to construct an increasingly complex and complete explanation of the unit’s central problem.

Students can apply this conceptual understanding in other contexts, too. They can explain a variety of phenomena using the ideas represented in the Progress Build.

P2: Amplify Science Assessment System● Introduce P2: Amplify Science Assessment System

In this part of the module we will learn about the Assessment System provided by Amplify Science.

You will be introduced to all seven assessment components and leave with a stronger understanding of where they are located in the curriculum and their purpose for informing instruction.

● Review and share agenda for P2: Amplify Science assessment system

● Introduce formative assessment approach: Assessments are designed to provide credible information

about student understanding of science concepts, or about their dexterity with practices, crosscutting concepts, or reading comprehension strategies.

Assessments are actionable by providing specific suggestions for supplementing instruction based on the information provided.

Assessments are timely in the way they are embedded into instruction - they provide insight to teachers as they’re teaching, meaning instruction can be immediately adjusted


based on the data they provide. This is different than traditional assessment, where teachers must wait until the end of the chapter or unit to find out what students understand.

We’ll use a lens of “Credible, actionable, and timely” as we get to know the different types of assessments in the assessment system.

● Introduce Pre-unit and End-of-Unit Assessments The Pre-unit and End-of-Unit Assessments, represented by the

gray bars at the base and top of the Progress Build, occur at the beginning and end of the unit and are often similar, or even identical tasks, but have very different purposes.

The Pre-Unit Assessment lets you know what preconceptions and alternate conceptions your students are bringing to the unit so that you can teach accordingly.

The End-of-Unit Assessment can be used summatively and comes with rubrics you can use for scoring students’ work along the Progress Build, as well as their facility with science and engineering practices and cross-cutting concepts.

● Introduce Critical Juncture Assessments Critical Juncture Assessments, represented by the hummingbird

icons, typically occur at the end of a chapter. They allow you to gather data about students’ understanding of

a level of the Progress Build before they move onto the next level.

Critical Juncture Assessments are meant as formative assessments that provide information you can use to adjust your teaching to address gaps in student understanding.

● Introduce On-the-Fly Assessments On-the-Fly Assessments, represented by the smaller

hummingbird icons, occur approximately once per lesson. On-the-Fly Assessments are embedded in the lessons

themselves and provide additional opportunities to formatively monitor student learning.

● Introduce Self-Assessments Self-Assessments, represented by the smiley face icons,

typically occur at the end of each chapter and provide opportunities for students to reflect on their learning.

● Introduce Portfolio Assessment The Portfolio Assessment, represented by the rectangular box


around the progress build, allows students to select artifacts throughout the year. This process allows students to reflect on their understanding during the year, and then to examine and articulate how that understanding has deepened over time. Take a moment at the beginning of the year to determine when artifacts will be collected, where they will be stored, and determine guidance for student reflection.

● Introduce Investigation Assessment An Investigation Assessment occurs once per grade level and

provides an opportunity to assess students’ facility with the practice of investigation.

The Grade K Investigation Assessment occurs in the Sunlight and Weather unit. In some grades, the Investigation Assessment occurs in the first unit of the year.

You will now get the opportunity to explore many of the assessment components just shown. Because the Investigation Assessment is only located in certain units and the Portfolio Assessment is not located within the Teacher’s Guide, you will not locate those in the activity today.

● NOTE: For reference, Investigation Assessments occur in the following units:

Grade K: Sunlight and Weather (Unit 3) Grade 1: Light and Sound (Unit 2) Grade 2: Plant and Animal Relationships (Unit 1) Grade 3: Balancing Forces (Unit 1) Grade 4: Vision and Light (Unit 2) Grade 5: Patterns of Earth and Sky (Unit 1)

● Introduce the assessment types activity You will now practice navigating to different types of

assessments to identify the purpose of different types of assessment in the assessment system.

You’ll think about about how the different assessment types are credible, actionable, and timely.

● Direct teachers to the Assessment System Reference sheet in their Participant Notebook. Here they will find an overview of the assessment system. This reference document will be used in the next activity.

In groups of 5, each decide on an assessment type to become an “expert” on. Over the next 10 minutes you will use the pathway on the left side of your card to navigate to your chosen assessment type in your first unit, and the questions on the right side to learn about that assessment type.


Use the Assessment System Reference sheet to support you in answering the questions about the assessment. There is a lot of information in that reference you’ll find useful when you start teaching. For now, just focus on the descriptions of the assessment types.

(NOTE: Conducting this worktime as a JIGSAW is optional. If you are not going to facilitate the Jigsaw in groups of 5 teachers, you can have teachers work through all 5 cards on their own.)

● Use this slide to help participants login to access the digital Teacher’s Guide to navigate to the assessments noted on the Assessment types cards.

● If participants are struggling with navigating the Teacher’s Guide, suggest they use the Navigation within a lesson in the Module A section of their Participant Notebooks.

● After 10 minutes or sooner if participants are finished exploring, prompt them to take turns sharing out to the rest of their group one at a time - sharing responses to the questions on the slide.

● Prompt participants to write a response to the prompt on a notes page in their Participant Notebook. Then, ask several participants to share out.

● Synthesize takeaways: All assessments provide credible information about student

understanding along the progress build, and their dexterity with practices, crosscutting concepts, and reading comprehension strategies. They indicate exactly what to look for as evidence of this

understanding. Formative assessments are actionable by providing

specific suggestions to support understanding for students who demonstrate the need for supplemental instruction.

Formative assessments are timely in the way they are embedded into instruction.

A teacher can see and address gaps in student understanding immediately, rather than needing to wait until the end of the chapter or unit to find out what students understand.

● Summative assessments do not provide suggestions for supplementing instruction and are stand-alone rather than embedded into instruction.

The actionable and timely nature of the formative assessment system means teachers will have a sense of how students will


perform on a summative assessment as the unit closes.

P3: Using Formative Assessment to Inform Instruction● Introduce P3: Using formative assessment to inform instruction

You’ve thought about how different formative assessment opportunities can be used as tools to inform instruction in the classroom.

Our purpose for this next part of the module is to think about planning for individual or small group instruction in response to formative assessments.

● Review and share agenda for P3: Using formative assessment to inform instruction

● Review formative assessment system: On-the-Fly Assessments monitor student learning along a level

of the Progress Build Critical Juncture Assessments provide insight about student

learning along the entire Progress Build. They occur at critical moments in the unit, when

instruction will move to the next level of the Progress Build.

● Review formative assessment approach: Formative assessments provide credible information about

student understanding along the Progress Build, and their dexterity with practices, crosscutting concepts, and reading comprehension strategies.

They indicate exactly what to look for as evidence of this understanding.

Formative assessments are actionable because they provide specific suggestions to support understanding for students who demonstrate the need for supplemental instruction.

Formative assessments are timely in the way they are embedded into instruction.

A teacher can see and address gaps in student understanding immediately, rather than needing to wait until the end of the chapter or unit to find out what students understand.

● Introduce the analyzing formative assessment activity You now have an understanding that the assessment system in

Amplify Science is primarily formative in nature to support teachers in monitoring student understanding along the


Progress Build. Let’s look at a specific example of one formative assessment

opportunity called an On-the-Fly Assessment. We will use this template as we analyze how this assessment opportunity could be used to inform our instruction.

● Have participants turn to the Formative Assessments: Planning for Small Group Instruction page in their Participant Notebook.

We will use this template as we analyze how this assessment opportunity could be used to inform our instruction.

As a model, we’ll examine an assessment found in Chapter 2, Lesson 2.1, Activity 4 of the Plant and Animal Relationships Unit.

I would note that I’m in the Plant and Animal Relationships Unit, Chapter 2, on my graphic organizer.

● Describe the activity and the assessment At this point in the lesson students explore a series of stations,

each with one specific habitat. With a partner, students look at animal cards and figure out where they think the animal can live.

The instructional guide for this activity suggests that the teacher circulate to offer support while pairs are working.

The instructional guide calls out that this is an On-the-Fly Assessment opportunity to informally assess students’ ability to discuss why animals can live in certain habitats and not others.

I would note this is an On-the-Fly Assessment on my graphic organizer.

● Model using the Assessment System reference document to analyze the three dimensions of the assessment

When planning for formative assessment opportunities, it is helpful to read all the resources provided in the curriculum.

You can read about each opportunity in the Unit Guide’s Assessment System document seen here.

I would note on my organizer what this assessment is assessing in terms of the three dimensions

For this assessment I can see that it is formatively assessing student understanding of DCIs: ESS3.A: Natural Resources, LS1.C: Organization for Matter and Energy Flow in Organisms; SEPs: Practice 3: Planning and Carrying Out Investigations, Practice 4: Analyzing and Interpreting Data and Practice 8: Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information; and CCC:


Patterns, and Systems and System Models. You'll notice that the Assessment System document in the Unit

Guide refers to the Next Generation Science Standards. These are the national standards with which the NYSSLS align. Both sets of standards have the same three-dimensional structure.

If participants ask about how synthesizing ideas about systems addresses disciplinary core ideas about energy, point out that an understanding of systems provides foundation for understanding how energy is transferred, converted, and conserved in an electrical system.

● Model reading the assessment to determine what data can be collected

In the instructional guide of a lesson, look for the orange hummingbird icon to find notes to help you plan what you will look for/listen for from your students and suggestions for next steps for instruction.

From reading these “look for” notes I understand that I should collect data on whether my students are connecting the text to relevant other sources of information to synthesize ideas about systems.

I would note what I discovered on my graphic organizer.

Show partially completed graphic organizer as a model This is how I would record the thinking I was modeling for you

so far. You’ll record your ideas when you analyze assessments in your

unit.● Model thinking through the bottom three rows.

Now that I’m familiar with the assessment, I’ll think more to connect the assessment to my classroom.

I’d consider how I’d collect the data, how I’d plan for small groups, and my ideas for how to select students.

● Discuss ideas in the bottom three rows as a model I’ve recorded I could use a checklist to collect data, and some

ideas about small groups Your ideas might be different from mine – you’ll be thinking

about how this might look in your classroom.

● Review instructions on the slide. Work only in the first column for now, you’ll move onto analyzing a

second assessment after we discuss the first one.● If necessary, use the following slide to help participants login

to access the Teacher’s Guide.


● Provide participants time to work on the “Formative assessments: Planning for small-group instruction” graphic organizer, circulating to support their navigation. If participants are struggling with navigation, you might also suggest they use the annotated Teacher’s Guide Reference in Module A.

● Following work time, have a few participants share out what they discovered from the exercise.

[NOTE: If you do not have time for participants to analyze a second assessment, call the group together at this point and skip comparing and discussing two assessments. Let participants know they can analyze a second assessment and answer the reflection question at the bottom as a self-study.]

● Use this slide to help participants login to access the digital Teacher’s Guide to navigate to assessments.

● Review instructions on the slide. Provide participants time to work on “Formative

assessments: Planning for small-group instruction” graphic organizer, circulating to support their navigation

Following work time, have a few participants share out what they discovered from the exercise.

● Have participants discuss the reflection question with a partner.

● Have participants share ideas from their discussion.● Synthesize as a summary:

Since On-the-Fly Assessments assess the three dimensions of science learning, they will reveal students’ needs for support in different skills. Student grouping for small-group instruction will vary according to data revealed on different assessments.

● Have participants discuss data collection methods and ideas with a partner.

● Invite participants to share. Suggested ideas to collect formative data: checklists, notes on a

seating chart, assessment-planning organizer

P4: Summative Assessment Introduce P4: Summative Assessment

Our purpose for this next part of the module is to become familiar with the 3-D summative assessments included in


Amplify Science.

● Review and share agenda for P4: Summative Assessment

● Have participants discuss the reflection question with a partner.

● Have participants share ideas from their discussion.● Introduce analyzing a summative assessment

To prepare to learn about the summative assessments in your unit, I’ll walk you through the summative assessment in the Plant and Animal Relationships unit.

● Use the Teacher’s Guide to show the End-of-Unit Assessment: Navigate to Lesson 4.4 OPEN the End-of-Unit Diagram copymaster. OPEN the Assessment Guide from Digital Resources.

• There are three rubrics, one for each dimension of the NYSSLS. You'll notice that the Assessment Guide refers to the national Next Generation Science Standards, or NGSS, rather than the NYSSLS. Recall that the NGSS and NYSSLS have a parallel structure, i.e. the standards align and both are three-dimensional. So you can read these rubrics, which refer to dimensions of the NGSS as if they are referring to the NYSSLS.

You’ll locate and familiarize yourself with the End-of-Unit Assessment for your unit.

Introduce the “Three dimensions in the End-of-Unit Assessment” graphic organizer and the NYSSLS reference sheet in the Participant Notebook.

Provide teachers time to analyze their unit’s End-of-Unit Assessment. Circulate to support navigation. If necessary, use the following slide to

help participants log in. Following work time, invite participants to share takeaways about the

rubrics in the Assessment Guide and responses to the reflection questions at the bottom of the page.

Use this slide to help participants log in to access the digital Teacher’s Guide.

To conclude, connect the summative assessment back to Progress Builds.

This module is titled Progress Builds. Through Parts 2-4, we’ve mostly talked about assessment.

This is because the assessment system is so closely tied to a


unit’s Progress Build. The data you collect in formative assessment provides credible,

actionable, timely information about students progression through the progress build.

In a summative assessment, you’re assessing where students understanding falls on the Progress Build at the end of the unit.

Congratulations!


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