Click the “Show Me...” button to begin the automated introduction to a FOSS CA Teacher Guide for grade 1. The narrated tour will take about 14 minutes. At any time, you can repeat or pause the automated presentation, or switch to a self-guided exploration of the Teacher Guide, by using the control bar at the bottom of the page and the tabs at the side of the binder. The pull-down Chapter Menu shows the title of each chapter, and can also be used to navigate through the teacher guide.

1,2,4,5,6,7,8,10,12,14,16,18,20,22,25,26,28,30,32,34,36,37,38,40,42,43,44,46,48,49,50,52,58,63,64,66,68,71,107,141,183,185,187,201,205,212,218,226,229,231,234,236,238,239,240,243,244,247,248,250,253,255,256,265,266,268,272,274,276,278,279,280,282,284,285,286,288,289,290

Chapter 1 in every Teacher Guide is the module overview. Page 1 has a concise statement of the goals of the module and a table of contents for the Overview chapter. Pages 2 and 3 are the module matrix. The matrix is a two-page summary of the module activities...investigation by investigation. The categories include: synopses of the investigations... California standards... science concepts... reading and writing opportunities... and assessment activities. Page 4 provides a list of the California Science Content standards addressed in the module... followed by the California Investigation and Experimentation standards. The next two pages are devoted to Science Background. This short section provides a content refresher for teachers. The science content is presented to teachers at a level higher than the level presented to students. The Background section in the Overview chapter paints the science content in broad strokes and places it in a meaningful context. Pages 7 through 24 provide valuable information about the FOSS program for California. The topics include.... a description of the components of the program—the Teacher Guide, Equipment Kit, Science Resources book, and Website... the FOSS Teacher Guide organization... the design of the active investigation... guidance for teaching science to young children... assessment... pointers for addressing the needs of all students... safety in the classroom .... linking science to language development... mathematics, and home activities... organizing the classroom for science... a teaching schedule... and the FOSS for California scope and sequence table. The second chapter provides information related to the preparation and maintenance of the student equipment. Pages 26 and 27 have a complete list of all the items in the equipment kit. The list is organized by drawer, and the consumable items are clearly identified. The next several pages contain specific information about materials preparation and management, including a section that identifies items supplied by the teacher— mostly classroom items and food items... guidance for preparing a new kit, which is done only once by the first user... and preparing the kit for classroom use, which is done each time the kit is used. The last page in the materials chapter is an alphabetical kit inventory list, including packaging quantities, which is useful when planning to resupply an equipment kit after it has been used two times. The Investigation chapters describe the science instruction in detail. An investigation is a major conceptual chunk of the module. A module may have as few as three investigations or as many as six. The presentation of the investigations in the Teacher Guide follows a predictable format. Once you learn to navigate one FOSS investigation, you will be able to successfully navigate any FOSS investigation in any module... the format is always the same. The first page of an investigation identifies the CA standards addressed in that investigation. Below the image is the purpose section, a list of the learning and performance objectives for the investigation. Each investigation is subdivided into 2 to 4 parts. Each part represents several instructional sessions. The At-A-Glance chart on the second and third pages of each investigation is a quick reference that shows how the active investigations, readings, and assessment all fit together. The columns in the At-A-Glance chart include synopses of the activities in each part... suggested time allocation... CA science standards addressed... concepts developed... reading and language development opportunities... and assessment. The fourth page of each investigation chapter (in this case, page 40) is where the specific science background information for that investigation starts. In this first investigation in the Solids and Liquids module, called Solids, teachers find refresher information about states of matter and the conditions that cause matter to change state. The next section is called Teaching Children about... It is a wide-ranging discussion that may include what the teaching and learning research tells us about how students learn the content addressed in the investigation as well as tips and tricks for maximizing the efficiency and effectiveness of the teaching and learning experience. The teaching of the investigation is divided into two to four parts. Parts progress from one to the next, creating a conceptual flow that sequentially introduces the important ideas in the investigation. Investigations flow from one to the next, building developmentally sound concepts that constitute the California standards addressed in the module. Each part starts with a comprehensive list of the materials used in that part. The list is organized into materials for each student... materials for the class... and materials for assessment. Items preceded by a square must be photocopied from duplication masters supplied in the teacher guide. Snapshots of the masters are provided for reference. Items followed by an asterisk are supplied by the teacher. The Getting Ready Section follows the materials list. This section prepares teachers to conduct the investigation effectively. The Getting Ready section points out opportunities and strategies for assessment... describes advanced preparation... provides suggestions for classroom organization, and identifies duplication masters that should be copied. The Guiding the Investigation section is the step-by-step lesson plan for conducting the investigation part. The California Standards addressed in the part are printed in the sidebar column beside Step 1. The sidebar column also provides other kinds of information, such as materials reminders... and notes that call out safety warnings, management tips, and other specific considerations. Square icons in the sidebar call out places in the lesson where vocabulary is introduced... where students should make notebook entries... and places where reading and assessment should be inserted into the activity. Text in the numbered step-by-step section that appears in italics suggests exact language to be used during instruction. The italicized sections may be definitions or summary statements... specific instructions to students... or question sequences to guide discussions. The active investigation of each part concludes with a Wrapping Up discussion. During the wrapping up, new vocabulary is reviewed, reinforced, and transcribed onto a class Word Bank. In addition, key concepts are clarified and transcribed to a What We Learned chart for posting in the classroom. At key points in the module students read in their Science Resources books. The reading opportunity is indicated in the materials section of the part where reading occurs... and in the Getting Ready section. The Reading in Science Resources section indicates where in the curriculum students read the article and provides guidance for getting the most out of the reading. Discussion questions focus student attention on the core ideas, and then students record ideas from the reading in their Science Notebooks,the Teacher Guide provides guidance for using the glossary to learn new vocabulary words, and strategies for extending the reading experience. Each investigation concludes with suggested extension activities in the areas of language arts... Mathematics, Art, and Science. The last section in each investigation describes a Home/School Connection that can be sent home with students to engage parents and family in the science experience. Investigation 2 addresses new content, but the written format and pedagogical approach are exactly the same. The curriculum continues with Investigation 3... and Investigation 4. The presentation of Investigation 4 ends on page 181. That completes the teaching of the Solids and Liquids Module. This teacher guide is typical of the grade K–2 module teacher guides. The first 180 or so pages comprise the specific guidance for teaching the science lessons to students. The approximately 100 pages that follow the investigations contain various kinds of support materials that are used by the teacher to make the teaching experience efficient and effective. Let’s look quickly at the contents of the 9 supporting chapters. The first support chapter is the Science Notebook Masters Chapter. These notebook masters are duplicated and distributed to students to record and process data collected during the active investigations. Each module has several discretionary Teacher Masters that can be called into action as needed. These include a Letter Home to Parents, visual aids... Center Instruction Cards... Math Extension sheets... and Home/School Connection sheets. Assessment serves two functions in the FOSS program. Formative assessments allow the teacher to monitor student learning of the standards continuously throughout the teaching of the module. Summative assessments are given at the end of each investigation to determine student understanding of the standards as a result of teaching the module. Guidance for administering... and scoring the assessments are provided. The chart on this page shows where each standard is assessed in the module. The Formative Assessment column indicates the Parts of the Investigation in which embedded assessments are found. This chapter contains charts for keeping track of students’ progress with the science standards, and the duplication masters for the summative assessments. This chapter identifies the correlations between the California Mathematics Standards and the FOSS investigations in EACH of the modules at the grade level. A comprehensive math correlation begins on page 255. The correlation table includes math standards for the current grade, as well as math standards for the previous grade and the next grade. Reading in the FOSS Science Resources book reinforces, enhances, and extends students understanding of the California content standards. This chapter serves to remind teachers of a number of different strategies for helping students get the most out of the text. There are strategies for reinforcing vocabulary, and building scientific language... and using science notebooks to exercise written language skills. This chapter also includes a reference to the California Department of Education website of recommended literature for students... and a bibliography of articles that discuss methods and strategies for engaging English language learners in science content reading. The last page of the Reading and Writing in Science chapter is the matrix for the English-Language Arts Content Standards for K-5, provided as a reminder of the language arts opportunities in FOSS. The Reading Extensions chapter lists non-fiction and fiction trade books recommended for students and a handful of books recommended for teachers to broaden their science background knowledge. The FOSS California website has been developed specifically to support students and teachers who are using the FOSS California program. This chapter briefly describes how to access the FOSS California website, some navigation pointers, and a list of resources accessible through the FOSS California website. This last chapter is provided to help teachers keep track of their coverage of the California Science Standards. The center column of the checklist describes the instructional sequence of the curriculum. The lefthand column indicates the CA Science standard addressed at each stage of the sequence, and the righthand column indicates the page in the teacher guide where the instruction is described and the page... in the Science Resources book where students read about the standard. The lefthand column has space to record the date that the standard is taught. This concludes the automated overview of a FOSS California teacher guide for grades K–2. To revisit any section of the teacher guide, click the “explore on my own” button in the control bar and use the tabs and page turning arrows to navigate around in the Teacher Guide.