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Page 6 FA L L 2 0 1 0 ™ ▼ N O. 3 6 FULL•OPTION•SCIENCE•SYSTEM Page 3 ® NEWSLETTER available to help you go outside. These supplemental guides are available on www.FOSSweb.com for 12 modules. Kindergarten Grades 3–4 Animals Two by Two Magnetism and Electricity Wood and Paper Physics of Sound Structures of Life Start the Year Connecting to Your Local Biodiversity Grades 1–2 Water Air and Weather By Joanna Snyder, FOSS Curriculum Specialist/OBIS Co-Director Pebbles, Sand, and Silt Grades 5–6 Insects Landforms cross the country, the fall season ❍ resurrecting and modernizing a New Plants Levers and Pulleys Aoften offers exciting opportunities to traditional outdoor education resource experience biodiversity. Fall often produces the Outdoor Biology Instructional To download a Science in the easily observable, measurable seasonal Strategies (OBIS) program; and Schoolyard supplemental guide, go to changes. What better way to start the year ❍ offering a Web-based middle school FOSSweb. Navigate than by integrating outdoor activities that photo challenge network called to one of the 12 take advantage of your schoolyard? Planet FOSS. modules listed. Go to For Parents and To help teachers extend learning into Here are several simple ways to start Teachers/Teacher local environments, FOSS has launched the school year off connecting to your Resources and a new outdoor initiative. The FOSS schoolyard and your students. Outdoors Initiative is our commitment click on the Taking Conduct parts of some FOSS to connecting children to nature and Science Outdoors investigations in your schoolyard. environment by backpack icon. You As a result of a partnership with the Boston ❍ embedding outdoor investigations can download the Schoolyard Initiative (profiled in the Fall within every K–6 FOSS module for the BSI guide as PDFs. 2008 Newsletter), supplemental guides are upcoming ©2012 National Revision; Continued on page 2 1 Your Local Biodiversity continued Lawrence Hall of Science University of California at Berkeley Delta Education In this issue: pg 1 Start the Year Connecting to Your Local Biodiversity pg 3 Notes from the Field . pg 5 Observations . by Larry pg 6 FOSS Collaboration in Chicago, Illinois: The Early Elementary Science Partnership (E2SP) pg 9 FOSStering the Craft of Questioning pg 11 FOSS Tech Corner for K-6 Modules StudentS collect and Sort leaf SamPleS to determine how many specieS of PlantS grow in the activity Site in the pg 12 New from the Wordsmiths Plant Hunt activity. pg 14 Music about Science: Here Comes Science from They Might Be Giants pg 14 In the News Check out the free OBIS activities at Join us for Taking FOSS Outdoors K–8, www.outdoorbiology.com. Regional NSTA full-day workshops. pg 15 Calendar Outdoor Biology Instructional Strategies Register to join us on the Wednesday (OBIS) is an outdoor program that before each 2010 Regional NSTA pg 16 About This Newsletter offers young people fun and rewarding Conference this fall as we model simple opportunities to investigate ecological and effective strategies for using the relationships in their local environment. schoolyard and the local outdoor Here are three activities to get your class environment when teaching FOSS and started outdoors. OBIS. You will experience firsthand, the power of opening the classroom 1. In Plant Hunt, students work in groups door and stepping outside. Using the to collect a leaf sample from as many schoolyard is an extremely effective species as possible in a defined area. means to reinforce, extend, and apply For More Information Together as a class they sort samples to student classroom learning. For information about purchas ing FOSS determine how many species of plants or for the phone number of your regional We will discuss current research that grow in the activity site. representative, call Delta Education toll documents the value of outdoor teaching. free at 800.258.1302, or log on to 2. In Litter Critters, students observe and In addition, you will receive resources that www.deltaeducation.com/foss. collect organisms that live in leaf litter describe how the outdoors can serve as For information about the development and under trees and shrubs. of the FOSS program, contact: a resource to enhance your teaching and 3. In Animal Diversity, students use enrich your school community. Larry Malone or Linda De Lucchi sweep nets to sample and compare the FOSS Program Time outdoors during the school day Lawrence Hall of Science insects living in a managed grassland is beneficial for student learning. Students University of California (lawn) and an unmanaged (weedy) Berkeley, CA 94720 who are exposed to hands-on experiences area. Included in the OBIS activity folio Phone: 510.642.8941 in their local environment often become Fax: 510.642.7387 are simple instructions to make your enthusiastic, self-motivated learners and own sweep nets. FOSS National academically outperform their peers who E-mail: [email protected] www.FOSSweb.com These are just a few of the 97 activities do not have these learning opportunities lhsfoss.org available at no cost online. The website (Liebermann and Hoody, 1998). What FOSS California also offers suggestions for activities that better way to start the year than with a E-mail: [email protected] connect specifically with many of the strong, motivated group of students? www.FOSSweb.com/CA FOSS modules. Take your class outdoors and explore FOSS NYC E-mail: [email protected] the biodiversity of your schoolyard; we www.FOSSweb.com/NYC promise you won’t be disappointed. 2 Studies have shown that students who participate in outdoor instruction report they enjoy school more in general and feel more supported and trusted by their teacher than they did prior to the outdoor experiences (Shaw and Terrance, 1981). References Liebermann, G., and L. Hoody. 1998. teacherS ParticiPate in oBiS and Closing the Achievement Gap: Using the FOSS outdoorS activitieS during the Environment as an Integrated Context 2010 national nSTA conference for Learning; Results of a National in PhiladelPhia. Study. San Diego: State Education and Environment Roundtable. Shaw, T. J., and Terrance, J. M. 1981. “Involved and Uninvolved Student Perceptions in Indoor and Outdoor School Settings.” Journal of Early Adolescence, 1:135–146. Notes from the Field... Family Science Night Building a Community of Support for Science By Cathy Klinesteker, Co-Director, FOSS California Professional Development even great science teachers in the of all ages could do together. Classrooms SCoachella Unified School District were designated for a specific grade level, developed and delivered a plan to bring family but siblings also participated. When children science nights to their schools. They sold finished the activity at their own grade level, food, invited a magician to close the evening often showing parents how it worked if they program, and opened their classrooms had prior experience with it in class, they Joy of teaching/Joy of learning for Budding to hundreds of families who built electric visited other grade levels as time allowed. conStruction engineerS (with ooBleck Still on circuits, explored the properties of oobleck, Many parents didn’t speak English, and their handS) built ramps for rolling marbles, engineered most had very little experience with science amazing structures made of wildly whimsical in school. But amazing things happened. One enthusiasm, built his own circuit under the solid objects, experimented with mixtures father was so excited that he brought his loving direction of his grandson. Three and solutions to their hearts’ content, and family to the next family science night in the kindergarten girls focused intently on building engaged in many more wonderful science district, at a school across town from his castles for the princess stories in their minds activities. Excitement, joy, and sharing across children’s school, to do it all again with more and hearts. generations was the order of the evening! understanding and more family members! A Everyone got raffle tickets for every They were all teaching FOSS in their mom with several small children in tow wrote activity, for helping someone, and for anything classrooms and wanted to showcase that down the recipe for oobleck to do at home else the teacher leaders deemed worthy. kind of hands-on science excitement for with her children and their neighborhood The raffle and the magician provided impetus their students’ families. They used FOSS friends. A grandpa watched and smiled as to move families from the activity rooms activities, FOSS extensions, or related his confident grandson built a circuit, and to the multi-purpose room where treasures hands-on activities that parents and children then, tentatively at first, but with growing from the FOSS publisher (Delta Education), Continued on page 4 3 Family Science Night continued local merchants, families, and a variety of other sources were raffled. Even with these motivators, it took gentle, persistent reminders to encourage people to draw an end to their “science-ing” and move on—a fabulous testament to the wonder of science! They taught in many different schools throughout the district but decided it would be easier to work together to plan one event. They put together a box of everything needed for that event, had each team member be the leader of one room with several activities (including at least one thing that people would make and take home with them), and then took the show on the road. The night started with a short welcome and introduction in the here'S how thiS circuit workS, mom. (MagnetisM and electricity Module) multi-purpose room where the principal told families about how the evening was organized, where activities were located, and about the to come straight from work, if necessary, and have dinner available for the family. The introduction took about 15 minutes, activities in rooms lasted about an hour, and the closing was about 30 minutes.

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