FOSSweb Updates

Updates

Teaching FOSS in School Year 2020-21

The FOSS team is ready to support you in a wide range of potential circumstances during school year 2020-21. We held user webinars in July and August to introduce important new resources to support in-person, remote, and blended learning for grades K–2, 3–5, and 6–8. In the recorded webinars, the FOSS team outlined how to customize your FOSS instruction to match your district's plan for school year 2020-21.

Recordings of past webinars can be found on the Walk-Through Videos and PDFs page.

FOSS Grades K-5

On FOSSweb, go to a module page and look for the teacher resources listed at the top of Teaching the Module.

Fall 2020—Teaching FOSS
  • Designing Your FOSS Instruction (grades 3–5 and K–2). These documents provide general recommendations for planning science instruction in the time of COVID-19.
  • Module-Specific Navigation Matrix. This working document provides specific recommendations for in-person, remote synchronous, and remote asynchronous instruction for each part of each investigation, including links to resources to consider for various teaching approaches.
  • Google Classroom Support (grades 3–5 only). A document describing how to access and distribute the grades 3-5 notebook sheets as google docs.
  • Google Docs Notebook Masters (grades 3–5 only).
  • Student Remote Learning Menus. These menus provide teachers with direct links to the student-facing Student Remote Learning Menus.
Remote Synchronous teaching and learning at home

FOSS activities that can be done with simple demonstrations for students to observe and discuss are described. Teachers will need some FOSS equipment. In addition, for selected investigation parts in Physical and Earth Science grades 3–5, FOSS is developing short videos to assist with synchronous instruction. Each video includes an introduction, activity, and discussion.

Remote Asynchronous instruction with materials commonly found at home and resources on FOSSweb
Students access resources from their FOSSweb student page (Remote Learning Resources):
  • Home/School Connections Resources on FOSSweb with Other At-Home Activities that can be done either indoors or outdoors.
  • Readings and other resources available in the interactive e-books in English and Spanish
  • Multimedia (online activities, tutorials, virtual investigations, and videos)
  • Short student videos for selected investigations grades 3-5
FOSS Grades 6–8

The FOSS team is preparing instructional resources that will support you so you can teach FOSS every day, even if you are using remote-learning technologies. On FOSSweb, go to a course page to access the new resources at the top of Teaching the Course.

COVID-19 Remote Learning Resources SY 2020-21
  • Designing Your Remote Learning with FOSS Grades 6-8. This document describes pedagogical practices to consider as you plan your FOSS instruction.
  • Remote Learning Investigations Guide Support for each middle school course, with suggested modifications for remote and hybrid instruction and suggestions for at-home investigations using easily found materials when possible.
  • Videos of hands-on experiences for each middle school course, to temporarily replace student hands-on investigations during COVID closures.
  • Suggestions for In-Class Investigations
  • Google Classroom Support
  • Google Docs Notebook Masters for each middle school course.
  • Home/School Connection activities in English and Spanish for each middle school course.
Release schedule for Next Generation remote learning resources (some resources also provided for First Edition and Second Edition courses):
  • August/September 2020 – Weather and Water, Chemical Interactions, Heredity and Adaptation, Electromagnetic Force
  • September/October 2020 – Diversity of Life
  • November/December 2020 – Earth History, Gravity and Kinetic Energy, Waves
  • January/February 2021 – Human Systems Interactions, Populations and Ecosystems, Planetary Science, Variables and Design
Accessing Student eBooks
For Rostered Districts (Clever, Classlink, OneRoster)

Content for rostered schools and districts is enabled and assigned during the onboarding process. If your students do not have access to eBooks, please contact your District IT Administrator or your Curriculum Coordinator.

For Self-Registered Teachers
  • Make sure your students have access to FOSSweb. If they do not, set up a class page following the instructions on the Walk-through Videos on FOSSweb. If your students don't have access to the eBook, ask your school or district administrator to contact your FOSS sales representative by completing this Support Form.
  • Check to see if your students have access by logging in to the class page, selecting a module and verifying that you see the eBooks listed in the “Media Library” section.
  • If you need to share instructions with your students on how to login, you can copy and paste this link (https://youtu.be/Fcfjbt7Li2k) for the instructional video on student login. You can send the link through your school's usual communication tool.

If your students have individual student accounts, share this video link (https://youtu.be/yL_NqXZgmks) for a tutorial on using the eBook tools.

The latest updates on FOSSweb (by date):

10/22/2020
  • Individual Spanish assessments added to Resources by Investigation for all Next Generation modules and courses, Grades 1-8
  • New Remote Learning video for Grade 4 Soils, Rocks and Landforms, Inv. 2.2: Stream-Table Investigations
  • Closed captions added to the following Grades 3-5 Remote Learning videos:
    Grade 3:
    • Water and Climate, Inv. 1.3: Soaking Sponges
    • Motion and Matter, Inv. 1.1: Two Forces
    • Motion and Matter, Inv. 2.1: Wheel-and-Axle System
    Grade 4:
    • Soils, Rocks, and Landforms, Inv. 1.3: Chemical Weathering
    • Energy, Inv. 1.1: Lighting a Bulb
    Grade 5:
    • Mixtures and Solutions, Inv. 1.2: Separating a Salt Solution
    • Earth and Sun, Inv. 1.3: Day and Night
  • Additional Remote Learning videos for Middle School:
    • Chemical Interactions
    • Diversity of Life
    • Weather and Water
  • New multimedia activities:
    • Crystal Images Slideshow in Next Generation and Third Edition Mixtures and Solutions
    • Habitat Organism Card Sort (Spanish) in Next Generation and Third Edition Structures of Life
    • Atom Tiles in Next Generation and Second Edition Middle School Chemical Interactions
    • Sorting through Headlines Card Sort in Next Generation and Second Edition Middle School Weather and Water
10/15/2020
  • New Remote Learning video for Grade 5 Earth and Sun, Inv. 2.2: How Big and How Far? with additional instruction sheet.
  • Additional Remote Learning videos for Middle School:
    • Diversity of Life
    • Electromagnetic Force
  • New Remote Learning Resources for Students for the following Next Generation modules:
    • Grade 1: Plants and Animals: Investigations 3 and 4
    • Grade 2: Solids and Liquids: Investigations 3 and 4
    • Grade 3: Structures of Life: Investigations 3 and 4
  • Google sheets for the following Next Generation Middle School courses:
    • Planetary Science (Spanish)
    • Populations and Ecosystems (English)
  • New Rapid Changes Cards Sort in Next Generation and Third Edition Soils, Rocks, and Landforms
  • New Tree Puzzles multimedia in Next Generation and Third Editions Trees and Weather
  • FOSS Teaching Resources Grades 6-8 for School Year 2020/21 Walk-through Video, available on the Walk-Through Videos and PDFs page
10/08/2020
  • New Remote Learning video for Grade 4 Energy, Inv. 3.1: Building an Electromagnet
  • Additional Remote Learning videos for Middle School:
    • Diversity of Life
    • Electromagnetic Force
  • FOSS Teaching Resources Grades 3-5 for School Year 2020/21 Walk-through Video, available on the Walk-Through Videos and PDFs page
10/01/2020
  • New Remote Learning Resources for Students for the following Next Generation modules:
    • Grade 1
      • Air and Weather: Investigations 3–4
      • Sound and Light: Investigations 3–4
    • Grade 2
      • Insects and Plants: Investigations 3–5
      • Pebbles, Sand, and Silt: Investigations 3–4
    • Grade 3
      • Water and Climate: Investigations 3–5
    • Grade 4
      • Environments: Investigations 3–4
      • Soils, Rocks, and Landforms: Investigations 3–4
    • Grade 5
      • Earth and Sun: Investigations 3–5
      • Living Systems: Investigations 3–4
  • Spanish translations for all Student Remote Learning resources, Grades K-5
  • New Remote Learning videos for the following Next Generation modules/courses:
    • Grade 3 Water and Climate, Inv. 3.5: Condensation
    • Grade 5 Mixtures and Solutions, Inv. 3.2: Salt Concentration
    • Middle School:
      • Diversity of Life
      • Electromagnetic Force
  • Teacher-facing links to Student Remote Learning Menus for all Grades K–5 modules
Please visit the Previous Updates to view FOSSweb updates of the previous year.