K–6 Teacher Guides

The teacher guide is the most important part of the FOSS program. It is here that all of 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 the resources that will assist the effort is presented here. The teacher guide is the cerebral cortex of the module. All of the thinking and feeling that has gone into the module is communicated here.

Each FOSS module has its own teacher guide, which consists of

• An Introduction to the FOSS program.
• A Module Overview, which addresses specific information on science background and national science standards, and offers a teaching schedule for the module.
• A Materials folio that lists the kit inventory and outlines how to prepare, store, and maintain your kit.
• A series of investigation folios that include
  • Materials lists
  • Preparation outlines
  • Detailed lesson plans
  • Questioning strategies to encourage discussion
  • Interdisciplinary extensions for reading, language arts, math, and social studies
  • Assessment opportunities to monitor student learning
• Duplication masters of student sheets to help students record, organize, and interpret their observations (in English and Spanish).
• An Assessment folio
  • The embedded assessment is both formative (to provide diagnostic information throughout the module) and summative (to provide end-of-module evaluative information).
  • Scoring guides are included to help you effectively interpret student responses.
  • There is also a section on portfolio assessment.
• The FOSS Science Stories folio guides the use of the FOSS Science Stories by relating a story to the investigation and providing key discussion questions that focus on both content and the type of literature.
• A Website folio adds additional opportunities to extend content and knowledge through interactive simulations, bulletin boards, and specific links to other Internet sites to reinforce and enhance the topic.
• A Resources folio recommends student readings (fiction and nonfiction), software, videotapes, and teacher resources for an even more meaningful experience.