Language and literacy in TK

The Amplify Science curriculum capitalizes on the wealth of opportunities provided by science to learn about the world via reading and writing and on the strong link between science and literacy practices. Language and literacy in the Amplify Science TK units emphasize speaking, listening, reading, and writing to figure out and communicate science ideas. This approach accounts for the developmental needs of young learners by considering the relationship of language development to each component of literacy. TK units are designed to help students develop the language of science that will facilitate their learning of challenging concepts and that will support them in using language as a tool for explaining their learning to others. Across each TK unit, students have many opportunities to hear and use the language of science while listening to Read-Alouds, investigating, and composing drawings and written text to communicate what they are learning.

In each TK unit, students first experience the central phenomenon in the Introductory Activity with the unit’s book or with a set of colorful picture cards. Hands-on indoor and outdoor investigations, interactions with models, observations of pictures and videos, and kinesthetic activities, as well as ongoing engagement with the unit’s book, help make this phenomenon come alive. Throughout the unit, the class revisits these different sources to gather additional evidence that will support them in figuring out the central phenomenon. As students investigate with the book and through hands-on activities, they learn the language of science and build their capacity for communicating science ideas. Students are supported in talking like scientists through the use of language frames that build in complexity across the unit and by participating in vocabulary and discourse routines. After gathering evidence from firsthand experiences and text, students record their ideas in their Science Notebooks (or, in the Physical Science unit, Engineer’s Notebooks). At the end of each Exploration, students participate in a Shared Drawing and Discussion activity to compose a shared drawing and a shared writing about the central phenomenon. Students collaborate to orally compose the ideas for the shared drawing and shared writing while the teacher records students’ ideas. Each unit concludes with a Culminating Activity that provides an opportunity for students to talk, draw, or write about key understandings they have developed throughout the unit.