Do you have a digital experience license? If so, some of the features outlined in this article may be different for you. We’d recommend checking out this information on the Amplify digital experience, instead. Not sure if you have a digital experience license? Use this guide to find out.
The Amplify Science digital teacher experience offers many useful features, including:
Instructional materials with unit, lesson, and activity level detail
Digital tools (grades 2–5 only)
Instructional materials
You’ll find preparation and instructional information at the unit level, lesson level, and activity level within Amplify Science. Check out our navigation tour to see what this looks like, or simply keep reading.
For unit-level information, select a unit from the year overview page and you’ll see the following.
Right click and select "open image in a new tab" to make each image larger.
When you select a lesson from the unit landing page, you’ll come to the Lesson Brief, where you’ll see lesson-level information. The exact content will vary, but this image depicts the typical type of information that a Lesson Brief will contain.
Notice the Classroom Slides within the Digital Resources section on the right-hand side. These can be used to present and use the lesson’s activities with students (find Classroom Slides tips and tricks here!).
While the Classroom Slides are one option to use in delivering instruction, you can also simply reference the numbered tabs containing activity-level information. Within each activity tab, you’ll see basic information about what students are doing in the activity and how long it should take. Below that, you’ll see 2–4 tabs depending on what type of information is applicable to the activity, followed by step-by-step instructions for implementing the activity.
Heads up! Even if you use the Classroom Slides, you will need to access the Possible Responses tab within the corresponding activity to find answers or example responses for any applicable notebook page or copymaster.
Want a copy of those images to keep nearby for reference? Here’s a printable PDF.
Digital tools
Every unit in grades 2–5 has at least one digital application (app) associated with it. There are two main categories of digital tools in Amplify Science: Simulations and Science Practice Tools (often modeling tools, but also sorting, scale, and graphing tools). You can think of simulations as responsive tools that produce data, while science practice tools are more like mediums for students to consolidate and show their thinking.
You can access the apps for your unit via the student apps page, which you can get to through the Program and Apps menu in the Global Navigation bar.
Your students, meanwhile, can access the students apps page by logging in at learning.amplify.com (this should be bookmarked on student devices, and your IT department should be able to tell you what login credentials your class should enter).
Once you and/or your students open the student apps page, choose the appropriate unit from the menu.
After choosing the unit, there will be rows of links to all of the unit’s apps and digital books. These links are presented as color-coded and numbered squares to make it easy for you and your students to communicate about them (e.g., “click on the blue 2”).
Selecting any of the squares will launch the chosen app or book in a new tab.
You can read more about the app(s) used in a particular unit by locating the “Apps in this Unit” resource under Teacher References on the Unit Overview page.
Digital Books
Each unit in grades K–5 has a set of five books associated with it. Class sets of these Student Books are included in the Unit Kits (1 book for every 2 students, assuming a class size of 36), but you and your students can also access them digitally. To do so, you can have students follow the same instructions that are provided in the Digital Tools section above because the books are located on the same student apps page! As the teacher, you can also access the books via the Amplify Library, which is available via the Global Navigation Menu.
When accessed digitally, the Student Books include a read-aloud option. Audio Read-Aloud is a helpful feature that allows users to play and control an audio recording of each book. This functionality provides students the immense benefit of associating written and verbal language. It also serves to assist students with visual impairments in accessing the texts. The audio is available in both English and Spanish versions of the books, giving young students the opportunity for added support as they learn to read in either or both languages (note that you must have a Spanish license to access the books in Spanish).
Following, you’ll find a list of all of the Student Books that are used in each unit. As you look through the list, you’ll see that each grade level has one book title that is marked with an asterisk. These are bonus books that are not referenced in the Teacher’s Guide, nor are they needed to teach the program with fidelity (outside of California), but if you would like to incorporate them, they are available to you via the Amplify Library (just search the title)! The bonus books feature real scientists currently active in their fields, and represent the diverse ethnicities, backgrounds, sexual orientations, perspectives, and experiences that make the scientific community so rich and interesting. They also offer additional opportunities to engage students in focal science practices and concepts.
List of digital Student Books available by unit
Kindergarten
Needs of Plants and Animals
A Plant in the Desert
Above and Below
Handbook of Plants
Investigating Monarchs
Science Walk
What Does a Scientist Look Like?*
Pushes and Pulls
A Busy Day in Pushville
Building with Forces
Forces in Ball Games
Room 4 Solves a Problem
Talking About Forces
Sunlight and Weather
Cool People in Hot Places
Getting Warm in the Sunlight
Handbook of Models
Tornado! Predicting Severe Weather
What Is the Weather Like Today?
1st Grade
Animal and Plant Defenses
Frog Model
Parents and Offspring
Spikes, Spines, and Shells: A Handbook of Defenses
Tortoise Parts
Whose Lunch Is This?
Light and Sound
Can You See in the Dark
Engineering with Light and Sound
Let's Test!
What Made This Shadow?
What Vibrates?
Spinning Earth
A Walk Through the Seasons
After Sunset
Nighttime Investigation
Patterns of Earth and Space
Space Explorers*
What Spins?
2nd Grade
Plant and Animal Relationships
A Plant Is a System
Habitat Scientist
Handbook of Habitats
Investigating Seeds
My Nature Notebook
Properties of Materials
Can You Change It Back?
Handbook of Interesting Ingredients
Jelly Bean Engineer
Jess Makes Hair Gel
What If Rain Boots Were Made of Paper?
Ideas and Inventors*
Changing Landforms
Gary's Sand Journal
Handbook of Land and Water
Landform Postcards
Making Models of Streams
What's Stronger? How Water Causes Erosion
3rd Grade
Balancing Forces
Explaining a Bridge
Forces All Around
Handbook of Forces
Hoverboard
What My Sister Taught Me About Magnets
Inheritance and Traits
Blue Whales and Buttercups
Handbook of Traits
How the Sparrow Learned Its Song
Scorpion Scientist
The Code
Environments and Survival
Biomimicry Handbook
Cockroach Robots
Earthworms Underground
Environment News
Mystery Mouths
Who Thinks About Structure?*
Weather and Climate
World Weather Handbook
Dangerous Weather Ahead
Seeing the World Through Numbers
Sky Notebook
What’s Going On with the Weather?
4th Grade
Energy Conversions
Blackout!
Energy Past and Present
It's All Energy
Sunlight and Showers
Systems
Who Thinks About Systems*
Vision and Light
Crow Scientist
Handbook of Animal Eyes
I See What You Mean
Investigating Animal Senses
Seeing Like a Shrimp and Smelling Like a Snake
How to Train Your Robot
Earth's Features
Arguing to Solve a Mystery
Clues from the Past
Fossil Hunter's Handbook
Rocky Wonders
Through the Eyes of a Geologist
Waves, Energy, and Information
Patterns in Communication
Seeing Sound
Sound on the Move
The Scientist Who Cracked the Dolphin Code
Warning: Tsunami!
5th Grade
Patterns of Earth and Sky
Dog Days of Summer
Handbook of Stars and Constellations
How Big Is Big? How Far Is Far?
Star Scientist
Which Way Is Up?
Modeling Matter
Break It Down: How Scientists Separate Mixtures
Food Scientist’s Handbook
Made of Matter
Science You Can’t See
Solving Dissolving
Who Thinks About Scale?*
The Earth System
Chemical Reactions Everywhere
Drinking Cleopatra's Tears
Engineering Clean Water
How the Earth System Explains Dinosaur Extinction
Water Encyclopedia
Water Shortages, Water Solutions
Ecosystem Restoration
Energy Makes It All Go
Matter Makes It All Up
Restoration Case Studies
Walk in the Woods
Why Do Scientists Argue?