FOSS California Program Components: Teacher Guide
The Teacher Guide is the most important and valuable part of the FOSS California program. It is here that all the wisdom and experience contributed by hundreds of educators has been assembled. Everything we know about the content of the module, how to teach the subject, and assess student progress is presented here. The Teacher Guide provides both new and experienced teachers with the tools and resources they need to teach science efficiently and effectively.
Each FOSS module has its own Teacher Guide in a 3-ring binder which consists of the following chapters:
Module Overview
- List of California science standards addressed in the module
- Science background information
- Outline of investigations, including learning objectives, CA standards, and additional resources
- Teaching schedule for the module
- Descriptions of instructional pedagogies in FOSS
Investigations
- Content background
- At-a-glance planning chart
- Materials and equipment preparation to get ready
- Safety procedures
- Learning objectives and related CA science standards
- Detailed lesson plans to guide the investigation
- Questioning strategies to encourage discussion
- Vocabulary lists
- Interdisciplinary extensions for language arts, math, and social studies
- Assessment opportunities to monitor student learning
Materials
- Complete inventory list
- List of materials not included in the kit
- Recommendations for how to obtain living organisms as well as care instructions
- How to prepare the kit for the classroom
- How to order any replacement parts
Science Notebook Masters
- Includes duplication masters of sheets. For Grades 3-5, notebook masters are in two formats, one for easy insertion into a FOSS science notebook as well as full sheets.
Teacher Masters
- Include duplication masters for:
- Letter to Parents
- Home/School Connections
Teacher Answers Sheets
- For grades 3-5 provide expected responses for science notebook sheets.
Embedded (Formative) Assessment
- Student response sheets and notebook sheets
- Answer sheets and interpretive guidance
Benchmark (Summative) Assessment
- Pretest
- I-Check after each Investigation
- Posttest at the end of the module
- Answer keys and scoring guides
- CA science standards alignment
Assessment Masters
- Include duplication masters of benchmark assessments.
Mathematics in Science
- Describes how to effectively integrate mathematics into the study of science.
Reading and Writing in Science
- Describes how to integrate language arts with science and provides techniques for accommodating English language learners.
Reading Extensions
- Suggests student readings (nonfiction and fiction) and highlights those books recommended by the California Department of Education.
Standards Checklist
- Documents multiple points of student exposure to each CA science standard.
FOSS California Web site - www.fossweb.com/CA
- Explore each subject in greater depth at home or school through the resources and interactive activities on the FOSS California web site. Each module has an interactive site where students, teachers, and families can find images, simulations, and links to other sites to extend content and reinforce understanding. A CD-ROM of the site is included in each kit.
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