Standards connections
Amplify Science TK units provide precursory experiences to support students in developing the foundational skills and practices that will enable them to be successful in achieving NGSS and Common Core State Standards for Language Arts and Math (CCSS-ELA and CCSS-Math) in later elementary years. The NGSS and CCSS frameworks do not currently include a unique set of standards tailored to students in transitional kindergarten. As such, the Amplify Science TK units were designed to align to the frameworks’ higher-level categories that span across grade levels—Disciplinary Core Ideas, Science and Engineering Practices, and Crosscutting Concepts for NGSS; Strands for CCSS-ELA; Mathematical Practices and Domains for CCSS-Math. These higher-level categories were used to guide topic selection and determine developmentally appropriate learning targets and expected outcomes for students in transitional kindergarten. The goal of this alignment is to engage students in core practices embedded throughout the standards frameworks without duplicating the content that students will experience when they enter kindergarten.
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
In the Life Science: Wondering About Noises in Trees unit, learning about animals getting food and making shelter in trees prepares students for later investigations of the NGSS Disciplinary Core Idea—Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics. As students learn to gather evidence and share ideas, they prepare for later experiences with the NGSS science and engineering practices of Engaging in Argument from Evidence and Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information, as well as the crosscutting concepts of Patterns and Cause and Effect.
In the Physical Science: Wondering About Buildings unit, learning about what makes a building stable prepares students for later investigations of the NGSS Disciplinary Core Ideas—Structure and Properties of Matter, Defining and Delimiting Engineering Problems, Developing Possible Solutions, and Optimizing the Design Solution. As students design solutions to problems by engaging in a cycle of learning and making, they prepare for later experiences with the NGSS science and engineering practice of Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions, as well as the crosscutting concepts of Stability and Change and Patterns.
In the Earth Science: Wondering About Puddles unit, learning about puddles forming in some places but not in other places prepares students for later investigations of the NGSS Disciplinary Core Ideas—Earth Materials and Systems and The Roles of Water in Earth’s Surface Processes in the Earth and Space Sciences, as well as Structure and Properties of Matter in the Physical Sciences. As students learn to investigate and generate questions based on what they’ve learned, they prepare for later experiences with the NGSS science and engineering practices of Planning and Carrying Out Investigations; Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information; and Asking Questions and Defining Problems, as well as the crosscutting concepts of Cause and Effect and Scale, Proportion, and Quantity.
Common Core State Standards (CCSS)
Through its integration of literacy practices authentic to science, Amplify Science TK units provide students with foundational experience in the CCSS-ELA Strands of Language, Speaking and Listening, Reading: Informational Text, and Writing. (Less discipline-specific reading standards, such as Reading: Foundational Skills and Reading: Literature, fall outside the purview of the Amplify Science curriculum.)
The units also provide experience with CCSS-Math Practices 1 and 7 (Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them. Look for and make use of structure.) and the Domains of Counting and Cardinality, Measurement and Data, and Geometry.