Planning for the Unit

The Planning for the Unit section aims to quickly familiarize the teacher with the unit’s content, structure, and materials needed and provides many other helpful insights about the curriculum. It is highly recommended that all teachers who are using a unit for the first time read through the Planning for the Unit section. Planning for the Unit resources include:

• Unit Overview: A paragraph outlining the unit, including what the unit is about and how students will experience the unit.
• Structure of the Unit: A description and diagram of the sequence of science questions and learning activities in the unit.
• Science Background: A teacher-facing explanation of valuable science content addressed in the unit.
• Language and Literacy: A description of the Amplify Science TK programmatic approach to language and literacy, as well as unit-specific instantiation of the approach.
• About the Book: A brief summary of the content of the book featured in the unit.
• Standards Connections: A brief summary of the unit’s alignment with focal learning standards (NGSS and CCSS).
• Instructional Resources: A description of essential instructional supports embedded throughout the unit.
• Getting Ready to Teach: A detailed list of strategies and practices to help ensure that instruction goes smoothly.
• Materials and Preparation Across the Unit: A complete list of the materials needed to teach the unit—including when the materials are used and which materials are consumable—as well as an overview of the estimated amount of time needed to prepare the materials for each activity in the unit.

 

Introductory Activity, Explorations, and Culminating Activity

The Introductory Activity, Explorations, and Culminating Activity begin with an Overview containing the following information:

• Summary: A one-paragraph description of the Activity or Exploration and its purpose.
• Students Learn: A brief list of key ideas students will come to understand.
• Activities at a Glance (Explorations only): A high-level description of the content and purpose of each of the activities in the Exploration.
• Vocabulary: A list of vocabulary words used.
• Materials and Preparation: A list of all materials needed (for the class, for pairs of students, and for each student) and step-by-step instructions for preparing all activities.
• Teacher References: One or more teacher references to support planning and instruction. Teacher references provide information such as how to plan for flexible implementation of the unit, how to set up detailed models or materials, and depictions of the shared drawing and shared writing as the unit progresses.

Each instructional activity includes the following resources for teachers:

• Instructional Guide: Teacher-facing instructions for delivering each activity. Within the instructional guide, teachers will see:
  • What?: A description of what the teacher and students will do in the activity.
  • Why?: An explanation of the instructional purpose for the activity.
  • How?: Step-by-step instructions with suggested model language. The instructional guide is not intended to be a script; teachers are encouraged to adapt the activities as needed to make the activities fit their teaching style.
• Teacher Support: Each instructional activity typically includes one or more Teacher Support notes. These notes are designed to provide additional information that can be used to enhance instruction. Teacher support notes include the following three categories:
  • Background: relevant information about science content and practices
  • Rationale: descriptions of pedagogical approaches and explanations of why an activity was designed in a particular way
  • Instructional Suggestion: specific teaching tips, strategies, or suggestions for adapting or extending instruction

At the end of each Introductory Activity, Exploration, and Culminating Activity, the following resources are included:

• Class Resources (Explorations only): Materials that can be copied, cut apart, and assembled as card sets for use with students.
• Copymasters: Handouts that can be copied and distributed to students.