Science+for+ELLs

Team Members/ School(s)

Alicia LaCroix (K-3 ELL Nellie Stone Johnson) Mary Elliott-Smith (K-5 ELL Nellie Stone Johnson) Kimberly Stewart (K, 6-8 ELL Hmong International Academy) Sarah Sullivan (K-1 ELL Hmong International Academy)

Brief description of Learning Circle plan:

We will be creating scaffolds, activities, and differentiated science assessments for four FOSS Science Units by taking a deep look into the MN Science Standards, the ELA Standards, as well as the WiDA Standards. Each unit will include the Science Standards, ELA Standards, and WiDA Standards to be covered as well as content and language objectives. We will be utilizing the vocabulary terms that coincide with the standards as well as the FOSS Kits to increase the academic language skills of the ELLs within the classroom by incorporating cooperative learning activities and explicit vocabulary instruction.

FOSS Units (grade level based on the correlating standards):

First Grade: Solids and Liquids Third Grade: Sun, Moon, and Stars Fourth Grade: Sound Fifth Grade: Landforms

Plan to measure results:

Differentiated assessments will be created to be used alongside the current provided FOSS assessments. In order to ensure that we are increasing the CALP skills of our students, we will be adding vocabulary components to the assessments or make the current assessments more ELL friendly by building off of their strengths and what we will be teaching explicitly within the units. When these units are used in a collaborative environment, the increasing ability of ELL students to explain their learning in writing or speaking will be pre-assessed and assessed at the closure of the unit.

Timeline: which units will be focused on as well as the essential components to be added to each unit. || Unit overviews will be uploaded while the details and specific materials for the additional materials are finished and fine tuned. || Little by little the specific materials for each FOSS unit will be added to the Wiki. Team members will work together to think of additional resources that could be helpful while co-teaching in a science classroom. ||  ||
 * March || April || May || June ||
 * Hold meeting to discuss

__ Interactive Science Activities __


 * Idea Spinner (Predict, Question, Explain, Summarize):** This can be used with literature as well as science. You will have to put this on more sturdy material and add a spinner, but it is a great tool (included in Kagan's Cooperative Learning Structures) to promote authentic language production within the science classroom. Students can practice stating their predictions, forming questions, explaining, and summarizing. You can also change this template for your own use. We used this in the Sun, Moon, and Stars unit.

This can be used with literature as well as science. You will have to put this on more sturdy material and add a spinner, but it is a great tool (included in Kagan's Cooperative Learning Structures) to promote authentic language production within the science classroom. Students can practice stating definitions, forming questions, describing, and comparing. We put this into the Landforms unit.
 * Idea Spinner (Question, Compare, Define, Describe):**




 * Question Spinner (How, Why, What, Would):** This is similar to the Idea Spinner but requires students to form questions about what they have done in their science investigations. They can practice correct question formation with their peers. As with the idea spinner, this template can be changed for your own use. We used this in the Sun, Moon, and Stars unit.

This is similar to the Idea Spinner but requires students to form questions about what they have done in their science investigations. They can practice correct question formation with their peers. As with the idea spinner, this template can be changed for your own use. We incorporated this question spinner into the FOSS unit on landforms.
 * Question Spinner (How, What, Does, Why):**

[[file:Question Spinner How What Does Why.docx]]
__ Trees: Kindergarten __

= =
 * Unit Overview:** This is an overview of the FOSS Kit with sentence frames to encourage oral language from ELLs and other students. Standards, assessment modification, and language objectives are included.

__ Sun, Moon, and Stars: Grade 3 __


 * Unit Overview:** This is an overview of the FOSS Kit with added activities and resources to help ELLs. Standards, assessment modification, language objectives, and cooperative/language activities are included.


 * Cloze Activities:** These cloze worksheets are designed to be used to emphasize the vocabulary from the FOSS Kit. In our building, they may be used as homework as currently only reading and math homework is sent home. Otherwise, it could also be used as a formal or informal assessment to see how students are doing with the vocabulary terms and understanding the primary concepts in the unit.


 * Guided Reading Resources:** We compiled a list of book sets related to this kit. We will be looking through them again before the end to better organize them. We made sure to include book sets from Good Habits Great Readers as many school have these resources. However, we also tried to mention the book series if it belonged to a series, as other schools may share some of the same book series.

__ Landforms: Grade 5 __

This is an overview of the FOSS Kit with added activities and resources to help ELLs. Standards, assessment modification, language objectives, and cooperative/language activities are included.
 * Unit Overview:**




 * Vocabulary Activities:** This includes Concept Circles, a Concept Ladder, and Concepts and Vocabulary Sort. These can be used to reinforce vocabulary and concepts from the Landforms unit.




 * Guided Reading Resources:** We compiled a list of book sets related to this kit. We will be looking through them again before the end to better organize them. We made sure to include book sets from Good Habits Great Readers as many school have these resources. However, we also tried to mention the book series if it belonged to a series, as other schools may share some of the same book series.