As written, Amplify Science aligns with the Minnesota Academic Standards in Science for grades K–1 and 5–8. To support full coverage of the MN Science Standards at grades 2–4, custom MN Companion Lessons are available for download from the Amplify Science Minnesota website (see the section titled, “Minnesota Academic Standards in Science coverage”).
Authored by the Lawrence Hall of Science, the MN companion lessons are designed to complement existing Amplify Science units. Each one therefore includes a suggestion for when/where to implement it within a unit.
Books and/or simulations from other units are sometimes required for companion lessons. These will be included in your Minnesota license. To find them within your and your students’ accounts, you will open the student apps page, choose the unit name from which the book/sim originated (see table), then press the square labeled with the needed book or sim. These instructions are also included in the companion lesson materials, where applicable.
Companion lessons include:
Grade | Lesson | Recommended Unit Placement | Content required from student apps page |
2 | “Describing Climates” | Following Lesson 4.5 of Changing Landforms | World Weather Handbook (digital book) from the unit Weather and Climate |
3 | “Light and Vision” | Following Lesson 4.5 of Environments and Survival | I See What You Mean (digital book) and Simulation from the unit Vision and Light |
3 | “Investigating Stars” | Following Lesson 4.4 of Weather and Climate | Simulation from the unit Patterns of Earth and Sky |
4 | “Salt Water and Freshwater” | Following Lesson 2.6 of Earth’s Features | Water Encyclopedia (digital book) from the unit The Earth System |
4 | “How Raindrops Form” | Following Lesson 4.5 of Earth’s Features | Water Encyclopedia (digital book) and the Simulation from the unit The Earth System |