Science Newsletter
Edmond Public Schools
Greetings, Elementary and Secondary Science Teachers!
Welcome back to school! This EPS Science Newsletter is the first of what will be many over the year. These newsletters will feature useful information for science educators such as grant and professional development opportunity announcements, updates from the office of curriculum, and lesson tips. I want to thank you in advance for your patience with the length of this newsletter; I want to make sure that I thoroughly address the most frequently-asked questions that I have been receiving this week. I promise that future issues will be much more brief!
In this issue:
• Apply to serve on a standards transition team
• Safety
• Curriculum maps and resources
• Link to Sir Ken Robinson’s video over Changing Educational Paradigms
• Literacy in science
• Benchmarks
• Textbook adoption
• AP textbooks
• A sneak peek at the 2016-2017 standards
• District plan to transition to new standards
• Grants
• About Brandi
Apply to Serve on a Standards Transition Team
Please take a moment to complete this brief survey. The survey will let me know which district science committees you are interested in serving on.
Safety
As we begin to prepare to provide excellent, hands-on learning opportunities for our students, it is important that we refresh our memories regarding safety in the science classroom. Please review the following documents before beginning any activity that may pose a risk to students (directions for locating these resources are in parentheses).
- Science Class Safety Information Sheet (R:\Safety Information\Internal Policies)
- Secondary Science Safety Notebook (R:\03 High School Resources\Science\Secondary Science Safety) OR Elementary Science Safety Notebook (R:\01 Elementary Resources\5th Grade\Science\Elementary Science Safety)
- Review all documents in R:\03 High School Resources\Science\Secondary Science Safety OR R:\01 Elementary Resources\5th Grade\Science\Elementary Science Safety
If you have any questions at all regarding safety in the science classroom, please contact me.
curriculum maps and resources
As you may know, Governor Fallin signed into rule a new set of science standards for the state. These standards do not go into effect until 2016-2017. In the meantime, you should continue to use previous SOAR guides/district curriculum resources as your guide for this school year and next. There are no changes in the standards that your students are expected to master. Curriculum guides can be found on the district R drive. If you are unable to locate a guide for your grade/subject area, please contact me. The R drive is an excellent repository for documents, but for great resources on the Internet that are in non-document form I will be using the site Pearltrees. I will add new resources to these repositories as I find them, so be sure to check the R drive and Pearltrees frequently. In addition, the State Department of Education has produced helpful Test Item Specification Guides (“Item Specs”) that I highly recommend teachers of grades 5 & 8 and Biology study closely.
Link to Sir Ken Robinson's lecture
Many of you requested that I send you the link to Sir Ken Robinson’s RSA titled Changing Educational Paradigms. I am glad you found this lecture to be useful. Every time that I watch it, I find myself motivated to create stimulating learning opportunities for children so that they can showcase their divergent thinking abilities. You can find that lecture at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U.
Literacy in science
With the repeal of Common Core, many teachers are left wondering about the role of literacy in the science classroom. Literacy is essential to the work of science, and will continue to be a focus in district science classes. Despite the fact that changes have been made to the standards for language arts classes, science will experience no changes in the expectation to integrate literacy and science. Please continue to implement the reading and writing strategies that you have been working on for the past three years. I encourage you to integrate those in a way that is relevant to the work of science (for instance, writing a well-constructed explanation for phenomenon that students experience—like we did yesterday when we explained how batteries work after constructing our own batteries).
Benchmarks
We will continue the practice of giving benchmarks this year. The format of the benchmarks will not differ from last year’s format. Students will still be expected to answer multiple choice questions over material to be covered each quarter, as designated in the curriculum guides. The questions will be chosen from a bank of teacher-approved questions and will be almost entirely DOK (depth-of-knowledge) levels 2 & 3. There will also be one written response question on each benchmark. The format and expectations for the written response questions will be the same as they were last year. To prepare your students for the written response portion, it is recommended that students be given ample opportunities to communicate and defend scientific claims and explanations in written format throughout the year. The dates for the benchmarks are:
- October 9
- December 5 (high school) / December 19 (middle school)
- March 11
- May 6 (high school, excludes Biology) / May 13 (middle school)
textbook adoption
We will be adopting textbooks this year. This means that we will be looking at a variety of options throughout the fall and spring. In spring, all science teachers will have the opportunity to vote for the textbook that they think best meets the needs of students. Funds for purchasing textbooks will be sent to the district in July, and the district can begin purchasing the books during the summer. The district will be purchasing new science textbooks for use for next school year.
AP textbook needs for this school year
Tara Fair has agreed to purchase teachers editions of AP textbooks for those teachers who need them. Please let me know ASAP if this affects you. In addition, I am in conversations with textbook reps in the hopes that—at the very least—we can get online access to the textbooks.
New science standards
I am excited that so many of you are eager to learn more about the new science standards that will go into effect in 2016-2017. Throughout the year, I will work more with you to help you understand the standards better, and to prepare to implement them. In the meantime, if you would like to take a sneak peek at the standards, they are available for viewing here. The format is different from what we are used to, so if you need help understanding the standards, please view this video. EPS will gradually transition to the new science standards, and I will keep all district teachers up to date with information regarding our progress. In the meantime, the most important thing to remember when gearing yourself up for the transition is that the new standards focus on active learning. If your kids are learning the content in a way that allows them to practice science and develop skills, you will be ahead of the game when it is time to implement the new standards!
grants
It can be difficult to engage students in science activities on a limited school budget. Grants are a great way to get funding for your programs. Throughout the year, I will send you information about grants that you may qualify for. I would also be happy to help you write your grants, if needed. In addition to writing grants, parents can be a valuable resource. Many teachers have had great luck securing materials by sending newsletters (flyers or emails) home to parents to request donations of specific items. Also, the community could be a great resource for support. Remember that parents and community members are more likely to support your program if they see that you are doing awesome things. Promote those great things that go on in your class!
Let's Give them something to talk about!
If you ever have any questions, suggestions, or concerns do not hesitate to contact me! And please invite me to your classrooms to check out all of the amazing work that you are doing.
Best wishes, and have a great year… and remember: Let’s give them something to talk about!
Follow the EPS science program on Twitter @EPSscience, and use the hashtag #EPSsci to let us all know what’s going on your classroom!
About the Office of Science Curriculum
Science Content Specialist
Edmond Public Schools
Cell 550-9039
#EPSsci
Email: brandi.williams@edmondschools.net
Phone: 340-2839
Twitter: @EPSscience