Getting started with Amplify Science California
Dear Elk Grove K–5 teachers,
Welcome to the Amplify Science California family! Below you’ll find everything you need to successfully kick off your science instruction this year.
– Your California team
Program introduction
Onboarding videos
To start using Amplify Science California quickly in your classroom, check out the following onboarding videos. They cover what you need to know to get started fast, from unpacking materials to quickly start using Amplify Science in your classroom and navigating the digital Teacher’s Reference Guide.
Program pacing
Hands-on materials kit
The following videos give you a quick look into our Amplify Science California classroom kits. For each grade level, you’ll find a “How to unpack your kit” video for the first unit of the program.
- Kindergarten: Needs of Plants and Animals unpacking video
- Grade 1: Animal and Plant Defenses unpacking video
- Grade 2: Plant and Animal Relationships unpacking video
- Grade 3: Balancing Forces unpacking video
- Grade 4: Energy Conversions unpacking video
- Grade 5: Patterns of Earth and Sky unpacking video
Teacher digital resources
Watch this video to understand the basic organization of the digital teacher experience and how to navigate the platform.
Want some practice? Download this exploration guide to practice toggling between teacher view, presentation view, and student view.
Our new digital experience also makes it easy to assign work through our LMS integrations.
Our new digital experience also makes it easy to view student work in real time.
Student digital resources
Watch this video to take a peek at the various student digital resources available to your class.
Use this Student Login Click Path document to support students and families logging in from home.
Essential resources
Your Teacher’s Reference Guide is a tremendously rich resource. It’s also packed! That’s why teachers getting started with Amplify Science love our condensed Unit Guides, lesson planners, and device calendars.
Unit Guides
These short and sweet guides provide a big picture overview of each unit’s phenomenon and storyline, the key questions that guide learning, and how the storyline develops from chapter to chapter. We even spoil the big reveal at the end by pointing out ahead of time what students figure out throughout the unit.
Kindergarten
Grade 1
Grade 2
- Plant and Animal Relationships Unit Guide
- Properties of Materials Unit Guide
- Changing Landforms Unit Guide
Grade 3
- Balancing Forces Unit Guide
- Inheritance and Traits Unit Guide
- Environments and Survival Unit Guide
- Weather and Climate Unit Guide
Grade 4
- Energy Conversions Unit Guide
- Vision and Light Unit Guide
- Earth’s Features Unit Guide
- Waves, Energy, and Information
Grade 5
- Patterns of Earth and Sky Unit Guide
- Modeling Matter Unit Guide
- Earth System Unit Guide
- Ecosystem Restoration Unit Guide
Lesson planners
Our lesson planners give you easy access to direct links to key resources within the program.
Kindergarten
- Needs of Plants and Animals lesson planner
- Pushes and Pulls lesson planner
- Sunlight and Weather lesson planner
Grade 1
- Animal and Plant Defenses lesson planner
- Light and Sound lesson planner
- Spinning Earth lesson planner
Grade 2
- Plant and Animal Relationships lesson planner
- Properties of Materials lesson planner
- Changing Landforms lesson planner
Grade 3
- Balancing Forces lesson planner
- Inheritance and Traits lesson planner
- Environments and Survival lesson planner
- Weather and Climate lesson planner
Grade 4
- Energy Conversions lesson planner
- Vision and Light lesson planner
- Earth’s Features lesson planner
- Waves, Energy, and Information lesson planner
Grade 5
- Patterns of Earth and Sky lesson planner
- Modeling Matter lesson planner
- Earth System lesson planner
- Ecosystem Restoration lesson planner
Teacher-provided materials
Your Amplify Science classroom kit includes a wide variety of consumable and non-consumable items. In fact, each kit contains enough non-consumables to support a class of 36 students working in small groups, and enough consumables to support 72 student uses.
In addition to these provided items, there are some teacher-provided items required in each unit. For a consolidated list of teacher-provided items per unit, download the appropriate PDF below.
- Kindergarten: Teacher-provided materials lists
- Grade 1: Teacher-provided materials lists
- Grade 2: Teacher-provided materials lists
- Grade 3: Teacher-provided materials lists
- Grade 4: Teacher-provided materials lists
- Grade 5: Teacher-provided materials lists
Device calendars
Our at-a-glance device calendars make device management and sharing between grade-level colleagues a breeze. With one calendar per unit (beginning in grade 2), you can easily see which lessons utilize devices.
- Grade 2: Device calendars for all units
- Grade 3: Device calendars for all units
- Grade 4: Device calendars for all units
- Grade 5: Device calendars for all units
Approach to assessment
The Amplify Science California assessment system is grounded in the principle that students benefit from regular and varied opportunities to demonstrate understanding through performance. In practice this means that conceptual understanding is revealed through engagement in the science and engineering practices.
Assessment types at a glance
In your classroom, you’ll be utilizing a variety of formative (F) and summative (S) assessments:
- End-of-Unit Assessment (S): Assessments toward the end of each unit feature a combination of targeted discussions, student-generated models, and written explanations to gauge students’ knowledge and growth.
- Pre-Unit Assessments (F): Discussion, modeling, and written explanations to gauge students’ knowledge.
- On-the-Fly Assessments (OtFA) (F): Multi-dimensional tasks integrated regularly throughout the lessons. OtFA opportunities were designed to help teachers make sense of student activity during a learning experience (e.g., student-to-student talk, writing, and model construction) and to provide evidence of how a student is coming to understand core concepts and developing dexterity with SEPs and CCCs. Three-dimensional assessment opportunities make measuring progress toward NGSS learning goals possible.
- Self-assessments (F): One per chapter; brief opportunities for students to reflect on their own learning, ask questions, and reveal ongoing wonderings about unit content.
- Critical Juncture Assessments (F): Variety of multidimensional performance tasks intended to assess student progress, occurring at the end of each chapter. Examples include writing scientific explanations, engaging in argumentation, developing and using models, and designing engineering solutions. Based on student performance on the assessment, teachers have access to recommendations for targeted student interventions, suggested follow-ups, or differentiating classroom instruction.
- End-of-Unit Assessment (S): Assessments toward the end of each unit feature a combination of targeted discussions, student-generated models, and written explanations to gauge students’ knowledge and growth.
Pre-Unit Assessments
Most Pre-Unit assessments are embedded within an activity of the first lesson of a unit. In kindergarten and grade 1, the Pre-Unit assessment (as well as the End-of-Unit assessment) is oral. In grades 2–5 they are typically written. Refer to the Digital Resources area of the Lesson Brief for materials needed for the assessment activity, such as the Clipboard Assessment Tool (K–1 only), copymasters (grades 2–5 only), and an Assessment Guide that will help you interpret and leverage students’ responses.
If you and your students have Interactive Classroom licenses, students can complete their assessment digitally instead of using the copymaster.
When students complete the assessment pages digitally, you’ll be able to review their work on the View Work page.
Critical Juncture Assessments
Critical Juncture assessments typically occur towards the end of each chapter. The Materials and Preparation section will indicate when there is a Critical Juncture to prepare for, but you can also tell when an activity is designed to be a Critical Juncture assessment by the hummingbird icon that will appear within it. Selecting the hummingbird icon will tell you how to assess students’ understanding with the activity, and how to tailor instruction based on what you find. If you need guidance on the “answers” to the assessment activity, refer to the “Possible Responses” tab.
If you are using Classroom Slides or Interactive Classroom, you’ll see a hummingbird or “Critical Juncture” label in the bottom right corner of one of the slides of the activity.
The notes about assessing understanding and tailoring instruction are located in the notes of that slide (on the right-hand side of the Teacher’s Guide tab in the Interactive Classroom experience; underneath the slide in Classroom Slides).
End-of-Unit Assessments
End-of-Unit assessments are typically the last lesson of a unit. In some units, these are two-part assessments that take place over two lessons. The easiest way to find the End-of-Unit assessment is to skim through the lesson titles. Lessons containing End-of-Unit assessments will always have that noted in the title.
Like the Pre-unit assessment, you can find materials for the End-of-unit assessments in the Digital Resources area of the Lesson Brief.
On-the-Fly Assessments
These embedded assessments leverage the formative opportunities in the learning experience students are already engaged in, such as creating models, analyzing data, actively reading, conducting investigations, and more. Refer to the Critical Juncture section above for guidance on finding information about using them.
Unit-level assessment information
You can find overall information about an individual unit’s assessments in the “Assessment System” resource, which is located within the Teacher References section on the Unit Overview page.
The Assessment System resource contains a comprehensive list of all of the assessment opportunities in the unit, including the assessment’s location, a brief indication of what students are doing in that particular activity, what type of assessment it is, which Disciplinary Core Ideas, science and engineering practices, and cross-cutting concepts it specifically addresses, and the kind of evaluation guidance you can expect for it. If you are in a kindergarten or first grade unit, you will also find information on the Clipboard Assessment Tool (used for supporting oral assessment) in this section.
If you’re interested in focusing on information related to the unit’s Critical Juncture and On-the-Fly assessments in particular, check out the “Embedded Formative Assessments” resource, also located within the Teacher References section on the Unit Overview page.
Three-dimensional assessment connections
All assessment opportunities within Amplify Science California include clear labeling around the Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs), Crosscutting Concepts (CCCs), and Science and Engineering Practices (SEPs) to help teachers connect formative and summative assessments to specific NGSS dimensions.
Coming soon
Unlike other publishers, we don’t make you wait until your next adoption to get the latest and greatest from Amplify. We’re always launching new and exciting features. In fact, on this page is a list of new features you can look forward to using during the 2023-2024 school year.
FAQs
Program questions
Amplify Science California is a flexible, blended K–8 science curriculum that addresses 100 percent of the Next Generation Science Standards for California and a significant number of the California English Language Development Standards and Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts, Literacy in Science and Technical Subjects, and Math. Together, the units deliver three-dimensional instruction across the following disciplines: Life Science, Earth and Space Science, Physical Science, and Engineering Design.
Amplify Science California does indeed feature some powerful and engaging digital components, which are gradually introduced beginning at grade 2. However, as a fully blended and flexible program, Amplify Science California can be (and has been) implemented in a wide variety of scenarios.
All lessons were designed with device sharing in mind, and never assume that every student has a separate device. While 1:1 scenarios are great, they aren’t required. When devices are necessary for students to fully experience a concept, teachers can opt to share devices across pairs or small groups, or simply display the Sim or Modeling Tool to the whole class and allow students to “drive” using your device.
Rather than introducing a concept on Monday, testing for mastery on Friday, and knowing students will forget everything by the next Tuesday, we set out to help students build meaningful and lasting knowledge that they can retain and transfer over the course of the entire unit. We accomplish this by giving students multiple opportunities (a.k.a. “at-bats”) to encounter, explore, and experience a concept. Said another way, Amplify Science California is actually made up of a series of multi-modal “mini-lessons.” This intentional, cyclical, and iterative design mirrors the 5Es, allows teachers the flexibility to speed up or skip ahead once students have demonstrated mastery, and empowers students to learn concepts more deeply than any other program.
Yes. Rather than separating performance expectations into physical science units, earth and space science units, and life science units, Amplify Science California units are organized around anchoring phenomena designed to give students opportunities to dive deeply into certain Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs) while also drawing from or applying to others. In organizing the Amplify Science California middle school units, we’ve carefully sequenced these ideas within each grade level to support the development of deep and coherent understanding.
Many real-world phenomena cross the domain boundaries of life, physical, or earth and space science (as well as engineering). Each Amplify Science California unit begins with an intriguing real-world phenomenon that poses a problem that needs to be understood and/or solved. By the end of the unit, students will have analyzed the anchor phenomenon across multiple scientific domains, possibly designed and tested an engineering solution, and applied what they’ve learned in a different context.
For example:
In the Light Waves unit, students investigate the anchoring phenomenon of why Australia has a much higher skin cancer rate than countries at similar latitudes like Brazil. The focus of this unit is on Disciplinary Core Ideas related to wave properties (PS4.A) and electromagnetic radiation (PS4.B). Students explore these physical science ideas deeply within the unit, and also draw on ideas from earth science (e.g., latitudinal variation of the sun’s energy) and life science (e.g., the effect of energy on the DNA in the nucleus of a cell) in order to explain the central phenomenon.
Absolutely. Hands-on learning is at the heart of Amplify Science California. Integrated into every unit are opportunities for students to take on the role of scientists and engineers as they gather evidence, think critically, solve problems, and develop and defend their claims.
In addition, our unique combination of focus and flex activities means teachers have more options, opportunities, and materials to make learning active. Each hands-on activity provides clear instructions for the teacher, with more complex activities supported by video demonstrations and illustrations.
What’s important to remember is that more hands-on doesn’t necessarily mean better, at least according to the California NGSS. That’s because only two of the eight Science and Engineering Practices (SEPs) are directly related to hands-on learning.
Just as scientists gather evidence from many types of sources, students in the Amplify Science California program gather evidence not just by making physical models, but also by making and interpreting digital models; reading texts; watching videos; and analyzing photographs, maps, and data sets. By doing do, students are provided with more opportunities than any other program to use all of the practices called out in the California NGSS Framework:
- Asking questions
- Developing and using models
- Planning and carrying out investigations
- Analyzing and interpreting data
- Using mathematics and computational thinking
- Constructing explanations
- Engaging in arguments from evidence
- Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information
While all of our units engage students in gathering evidence from a rich collection of sources, the reliance on different types of evidence (and evidence sources) varies according to unit. For instance, some units lend themselves to meaningful hands-on experiences, while in other units the phenomena students are investigating are too slow, too dangerous, or too big to be observed directly. In those units, students rely more heavily on other evidence sources such a physical models or simulations.
Unit types in grades K–5
In each K–5 grade, there is one unit that emphasizes investigation, one that emphasizes modeling, and one that emphasizes design. In addition, in grades 3–5, there is also one unit that emphasizes argumentation.
Unit types in grades 6–8
Each 6–8 grade features three types of units: Launch, Core, and Engineering Internships. Each year has one Launch unit, six Core units, and two Engineering Internships.
For teachers who want to supplement the lessons with even more hands-on activities, optional “flextension” activities are included in many units.
Yes indeed. Amplify Science California integrates all four STEM disciplines—science, technology, engineering, and math, in addition to English Language Arts—throughout the curriculum. In addition, each grade level features specific units that emphasize engineering design.
Yes, the program includes multiple opportunities for summative assessments.
End-of-unit assessments: At grades K–1 these look like targeted conversations, at grades 2–5 we incorporate written responses, and at grades 6–8 we assess through a combination of auto-scored multiple-choice questions and rubric-scored written responses. These summative assessments for each unit are designed to provide valid, reliable, and fair measures of students’ progress and attainment of three-dimensional learning.
Benchmark assessments: Delivered four times per year in grades 3–5 and three times per year in grades 6–8, benchmark assessments report on students’ facilities with each of the grade appropriate DCIs, SEPs, CCCs, and performance expectations of the California NGSS.
Science Seminars and final written arguments (formative and summative components): In grades 6–8, culminating performance tasks for each core unit invite students to figure out a new real-world problem. They collect and analyze evidence, examine a number of claims, and then engage in a full-class discussion where they must state which claims are best supported by the evidence, all while making clear their reasoning that connects the evidence to the claims. After the seminar, students then individually write their final scientific argument, drawing on the DCIs, SEPs, and CCCs they have used over the course of the unit to develop a sophisticated and convincing argument that addresses the problem they’ve been investigating. Rubrics, scoring guides, and examples of student responses at each scoring level are provided to teachers to support the assessment of students’ understanding of concepts and specific practices.
Amplify Science California provides more than enough instructional content to fill 180 days of instruction. However, unlike other programs that expect you to complete 180 discrete lessons, Amplify Science California includes built-in wiggle room.
For example, the typical elementary classroom delivers science instruction only two times per week. Rather than asking teachers to wade through unnecessary content, we designed our program to address 100 percent of the California NGSS in just 66 days at grades K–2 and 88 days at grades 3–5. When it comes to middle school, we address 100 percent of the California NGSS in 146 lessons.
Some classes might last longer than one session due to a number of reasons (e.g., enthusiastic student conversations, challenging topics requiring deeper dives, more time needed to accommodate diverse learners, etc.). Also, teachers might want to supplement Amplify Science California with some of their own favorite lessons. Lastly, we’ve accounted for the inevitable assembly days, class trips, testing schedules, etc. For teachers that want to go deeper or expand upon a unit topic, we also offer a number of additional lessons that are not core to each unit.
Amplify Science California lessons are designed to be completed in the following time frames:
Lessons in grades K–1 are designed for 45 minutes of science instruction.
Lessons in grades 2–5 are designed for 60 minutes of science instruction.
That said, it’s not a problem if you can’t allocate 45 minutes of science instruction every day at K–1, or 60 minutes per day at 2–5. Since there are a total of 66 lessons to address 100 percent of California NGSS at grades K–2, and 88 lessons to address 100 percent of California NGSS at grades 3–5, you can easily teach the lessons in smaller blocks and cover all of the content over the course of the school year.
Each lesson of every Amplify Science California unit includes point-of-use differentiation strategies and embedded teacher and student supports for diverse learners, including English learners, students who need more support, and students who are ready for more challenge. These strategies and methods ensure that all students have access to the same content as their peers.
Two notable categories of suggested modifications are:
- English-learner-specific strategies such as English/Spanish glossaries, native language supports, and provision of cognates and other content-specific language scaffolds are provided in each unit.
- Relatively small alterations and additional scaffolds that provide students with greater access to the content.
These types of scaffolds benefit all learners and include suggestions such as providing graphic organizers, practice with multiple-meaning words, etc.
With Amplify Science California, the use of technology is always purposeful.
For example:
- The curriculum has a strong emphasis on literacy, with students reading and analyzing informational texts, and writing scientific explanations and arguments.
- Digital elements are gradually introduced to students in grades 2–3, with the greatest use of digital elements taking place in grades 4–5, as the phenomena at these grades become more challenging to observe directly.
- The curriculum’s readers and interactive notebook pages are available in both print and digital across all K–5 units.
This curriculum addresses a significant number of the standards as they pertain to science. Throughout each unit, students read science texts, engage in science talk and argumentation, and write evidence-based science explanations. The curriculum supports vocabulary, language, and reading comprehension development. Students also use measurement tools with precision, record and analyze data, make sense of scientific phenomena, and develop solutions to problems experienced in the real world.
Digital questions
Teacher Support notes including sample teacher talk, student responses, pedagogical support, and possible student responses are provided within your student-facing slides. Simply click “Teach” and reference your private Teacher Guide tab. Students will only see the lesson slides that you are presenting.
You, the teacher, must “Start class” to launch the presentation tab. (Remember, without the presentation tab, students would be able to see your teacher notes.)
Clicking “Starting class” also brings students to the correct slide, which is particularly important for young students who are learning to navigate.
Teachers can either press the “End class” button in the bottom right corner of the slide navigation, or they can simply close the presentation tab.
Clicking “End class” also enables students to navigate through the lesson on their own. That means they’ll be able to return to slides and books to review content, to the Sims and Modeling Tools to replay them, or to notebook pages to update their work.
You can click on the “Student preview” option in the bottom right corner (within the menu that opens when you click the three dots) to open a new browser tab where you can preview the student view using your teacher account.
Any work you complete in this student preview (or elsewhere in the teacher experience) will be automatically saved to your account.
Looking for help?
For login or technology issues, please submit an EGUSD Heat ticket. For curriculum and pedagogical questions, please refer to the support resources below.
Powerful (and free!) pedagogical support
Amplify provides a unique kind of support you won’t find from other publishers. We’ve developed an educational support team of former teachers and administrators who provide pedagogical support for every Amplify curriculum, assessment, and intervention program. This service is completely free for all educators who are using our programs and includes:
- Guidance for developing lesson plans and intervention plans.
- Information on where to locate standards and other planning materials.
- Recommendations and tips for day-to-day teaching with Amplify programs.
- Support with administering and interpreting assessment data and more.
To reach our pedagogical team, use our live chat within your program, call (800) 823-1969, or email edsupport@amplify.com
Timely technical and program support
Our technical and program support is included and available from 4 a.m. to 4 p.m. PT, Monday through Friday, through a variety of channels, including a live chat program that enables teachers to get immediate help in the middle of the school day.
For your most urgent questions:
- Use our live chat within your program.
- Call our toll-free number: (800) 823-1969.
For less urgent questions:
Connect with other teachers
Our Amplify Science Facebook group is a community of Amplify Science educators from across the country. It’s a space to share best practices, ideas, and support on everything from implementation to instruction. Join today.
Inspiring the next generation of South Carolina scientists, engineers, and curious citizens
Amplify Science is an engaging new core curriculum designed for three-dimensional, phenomena-based learning.
Amplify Science was developed by the science education experts at UC Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science and the digital learning team at Amplify.
Our Instructional model
The Amplify Science program is rooted in the proven, research-based pedagogy of Do, Talk, Read, Write, Visualize. Here’s how each element works:
DO
First-hand investigations are an important part of any science classroom, and Amplify Science has students getting hands-on in every unit, from building models of protein molecules to experimenting with electrical systems.
TALK
Student-to-student discourse and full class discussions are an integral part of the program. Students are provided with numerous opportunities to engage in meaningful oral scientific argumentation, all while fostering a collaborative classroom environment.
READ
Students read scientific articles, focusing their reading activities on searching for evidence related to their investigation, and importantly, on asking and recording questions as they read through fascinating texts on 21st-century topics.
WRITE
Following real-world practices, students write scientific arguments based on evidence they’ve collected, making clear their reasoning about how a given piece of evidence connects to one of several claims.
VISUALIZE
By manipulating digital simulations and using modeling tools to craft visualizations of their thinking— just as real scientists and engineers do—students take their learning far beyond the confines of what they can physically see in the classroom in an exciting and authentic way.
Explore the Digital Teacher’s Guide
When you’re ready to review, click the orange button below and use your provided login credentials to access the Amplify Science Digital Teacher’s Guide. If you need login credentials, contact Jeff Rutter, jrutter@amplify.com.
Resources to support your review
- South Carolina recommended scope and sequence for grades 6–8
- South Carolina standards correlation for grades K–8
- What’s so phenomenal about phenomena? – ebook
- Phenomena in grades K–5
- Student Books in grades K–5
- Literacy-rich science instruction in grades K–5
- Active Reading in grades 6–8
- Engineering in Amplify Science
- Program structure for grades K–5
Scope and sequence
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South Carolina College- and Career-Ready Science Standards 2021
Amplify Science was designed from the ground up to meet the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), and the South Carolina College- and Career-Ready Science Standards 2021 are closely aligned to the NGSS at K-8. The guidance below is meant to provide support for integrating additional companion activities that support full coverage of the South Carolina College- and Career-Ready Science Standards 2021.
Organized by grade level, each section below will outline:
- Additional activities that support 100% alignment to the South Carolina College- and Career-Ready Science Standards 2021;
- The standard being addressed with the activities;
- The recommended placement of the activities within a specific Amplify Science unit; and
- PDFs of any accompanying materials that are necessary to implement the activities.
Standard: MS-PS1-4: Develop a model that predicts and describes changes in particle motion, temperature, and state of a pure substance when thermal energy is added or removed.
Recommended placement: Thermal Energy unit, Lesson 4.4, addition to Activity 3
Materials: “Liquid Oxygen”
By reading the article “Liquid Oxygen,” which describes how the relationship between attraction and kinetic energy determines when a substance changes phase, students extend their understanding of the possible effects of adding or removing thermal energy to include changes in state (phase). Oxygen is one of the most common elements in the world, but most people are only familiar with oxygen in the gas phase. Because oxygen molecules are only weakly attracted to one another, condensing oxygen is difficult. This article introduces students to molecular attraction and discusses its role in phase change, including how it can be used to turn oxygen from a gas to a liquid.
Instructions:
Download PDFs of the “Liquid Oxygen” and distribute it to students. Before they begin reading, remind students of the Active Reading Guidelines.
Standard: MS-PS4-2: Develop and use a model to describe that waves are reflected, absorbed, or transmitted through various materials.
Recommended placement: Weather Patterns unit, Lesson 4.4, addition to Activity 3
Materials: “Harvesting Sunlight”, “Why No One in Space Can Hear You Scream” and “Making Waves at Swim Practice”
After investigating weather patterns, which includes a focus of the effects of energy from sunlight, students extend their learning about light by reading three articles about light and other waves.
“Harvesting Sunlight:” Students read this article to learn about the types of light from the sun that plants use for photosynthesis. The article describes how the sun emits all types of light, but plants can only use certain types of visible light for photosynthesis, mostly red and blue light. Plants also absorb other types of light, and these types of light affect plants in different ways. Students use this information to gather evidence that there are different types of light that can affect a material in different ways.
“Why No One in Space Can Hear You Scream:” Students read this article to learn about how waves are transmitted. Explosions that would be deafening on Earth are silent in space. This is because sound is produced by sound waves and, unlike light waves, sound waves need matter to travel through. Reading about this phenomenon helps students understand the similarities and differences between mechanical and electromagnetic waves.
“Making Waves at Swim Practice:” A practice for the school swim team provides an everyday context for discussing light waves and sound waves in this engaging article. First, the article explores sound waves traveling through different materials–the air, the water of the pool, and even a metal poolside bench. Students discover that sound waves travel at different speeds in different materials. The later part of the article discusses light waves, which also travel at different speeds in different materials. As light waves move from one material to another, they change speed and bend. This bending of light waves is called refraction, and it explains why objects that are partly in the water and partly out of the water (such as the legs of a person sitting on the side of a pool) appear ripply and bent.
Instructions:
Plan one class period for each article. Download PDFs of the “Harvesting Sunlight,” “Why No One in Space Can Hear You Scream,” and “Making Waves at Swim Practice” articles. For each article, before students begin reading, preview the article and discuss what students already know and what they wonder about the topic, then remind students of the Active Reading Guidelines.
Standard: MS-PS2-3: Ask questions about data to determine the factors that affect the strength of electric and magnetic forces. MS-PS2-5: Conduct an investigation and evaluate the experimental design to provide evidence that fields exist between objects exerting forces on each other even though the objects are not in contact.
Recommended placement: Harnessing Human Energy unit, Lesson 3.4, after Activity 1
Materials: “Earth’s Geomagnetism” and “Painting with Static Electricity”
After concluding their investigations of energy transfers and conversions, students read two articles that introduce the topic of forces that act at a distance.
“Earth’s Geomagnetism:” What makes a compass needle point north, no matter what? This article introduces students to Earth’s geomagnetic field and the field lines scientists use to show its direction.
“Painting with Static Electricity:” This article gives students the opportunity to learn about electrostatic fields and forces in the context of spray painting without making a mess. Electrostatic painting systems use electrostatics to draw spray paint toward the object being painted, and nowhere else. Painters charge the object they are painting with a negative charge and the paint with a positive charge. The opposite charges are attracted to one another, causing the paint to move toward the object. This surprising use of electrostatics saves time and paint and keeps things tidy!
Instructions
Plan one class period for each article. Download PDFs of the “Earth’s Geomagnetism” and “Painting with Electricity” articles. For each article, before students begin reading, preview the article and discuss what students already know and what they wonder about the topic, then remind students of the Active Reading Guidelines.
What’s included
Science articles
The middle school science articles serve as sources for evidence collection and were authored by science and literacy experts at the Lawrence Hall of Science.
Student Investigation Notebooks
Available for every unit, the Student Investigation Notebooks provide space for students to:
- Record data
- Reflect on ideas from texts and investigations
- Construct explanations and arguments
Available with full-color article compilations for middle school units.
Digital student experience
Students access the digital simulations and modeling tools, as well as lesson activities and assessments, through the digital student experience. Students can interact with the digital student experience as they:
- Conduct hands-on investigations
- Engage in active reading and writing activities
- Participate in discussions
- Record observations
- Craft end-of-unit scientific arguments
Teacher’s Guides
Available digitally and in print, the Teacher’s Guides contain all of the information teachers need to facilitate classroom instruction, including:
- Classroom Slides
- Detailed lesson plans
- Unit and chapter overview documentation
- Differentiation strategies
- Standards alignments
- In-context professional development
Hands-on materials kits
Hands-on learning is at the heart of Amplify Science. Each unit kit contains:
- Consumable and non-consumable hands-on materials
- Print classroom display materials
- Premium print materials for student use (sorting cards, maps, etc.)
Remote and hybrid learning supports
Amplify has launched a new remote learning solution called Amplify Science@Home. Intended to make extended remote learning and hybrid learning easier, Amplify Science@Home includes two useful options for continuing instruction: @Home Videos and @Home Units.
Amplify Science @Home Videos are recordings of real Amplify Science teachers teaching the lessons. For those teachers who are unable to meet synchronously with their students, the recorded lessons are a great way to keep their students on track and engaged with Amplify Science while at home. These videos will be produced for all K–5 units, and for the first four units of each 6–8 grade level. Their release will be rolling, beginning in August.
Amplify Science@Home Units are modified versions of Amplify Science units, strategically designed to highlight key activities from the program. The @Home Units take significantly less instructional time than the complete Amplify Science program and allow students to engage with science at home. @Home Units will be developed for all Amplify Science K–8 units. Each @Home unit includes:
- Teacher overviews explaining how to use the materials, including suggestions for enhancing the @Home Units if synchronous learning or in-class time with students is available.
- Overviews to send home to families.
Student materials are available in two formats:
- @Home Slides (PDF/PPT) + Student Sheets (PDF) for students with access to technology at home.
- Downloadable @Home Packets (PDF) for students without access to technology at home.
Download the Remote and hybrid learning guide.
Looking for help?
Powerful (and free!) pedagogical support
Amplify provides a unique kind of support you won’t find from other publishers. We have developed an educational support team of former teachers and administrators who provide pedagogical support for every Amplify curriculum, assessment, and intervention program. This service is completely free for all educators who are using our programs and includes:
- Guidance for developing lesson plans and intervention plans
- Information on where to locate standards and other planning materials
- Recommendations and tips for day-to-day teaching with Amplify programs
- Support with administering and interpreting assessment data and more
To reach our pedagogical team, use our live chat within your program, call (800) 823-1969, or email edsupport@amplify.com
Timely technical and program support
Our technical and program support is included and available from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday, through a variety of channels, including a live chat program that enables teachers to get immediate help in the middle of the school day.
For your most urgent questions:
- Use our live chat within your program
- Call our toll-free number: (800) 823-1969
For less urgent questions:
Contact us
Contact your South Carolina team representatives:
Jeff Rutter
Field Manager
jrutter@amplify.com
(727) 512-8440
Cathy McMillan
Senior Account Executive
cmcmillan@amplify.com
(904) 465-9904
Our Instructional model
The Amplify Science program is rooted in the proven, research-based pedagogy of Do, Talk, Read, Write, Visualize. Here’s how each element works:
DO
First-hand investigations are an important part of any science classroom, and Amplify Science has students getting hands-on in every unit, from building models of protein molecules to experimenting with electrical systems.
TALK
Student-to-student discourse and full class discussions are an integral part of the program. Students are provided with numerous opportunities to engage in meaningful oral scientific argumentation, all while fostering a collaborative classroom environment.
READ
Students read scientific articles, focusing their reading activities on searching for evidence related to their investigation, and importantly, on asking and recording questions as they read through fascinating texts on 21st-century topics.
WRITE
Following real-world practices, students write scientific arguments based on evidence they’ve collected, making clear their reasoning about how a given piece of evidence connects to one of several claims.
VISUALIZE
By manipulating digital simulations and using modeling tools to craft visualizations of their thinking— just as real scientists and engineers do—students take their learning far beyond the confines of what they can physically see in the classroom in an exciting and authentic way.
Supporting resources
- South Carolina recommended scope and sequence for grades 6–8
- South Carolina standards correlation for grades K–5
- Program Components K-5
- Curriculum Unit Kits K-5
- What’s so phenomenal about phenomena? – ebook
- Phenomena in grades K–5
- Student Books in grades K–5
- Literacy-rich science instruction in grades K–5
- Active Reading in grades 6–8
- Engineering in Amplify Science
- Program structure for grades K–5
Scope and sequence
GRADE
UNITS
Kindergarten
- Needs of Plants and Animals
- Pushes and Pulls
- Sunlight and Water
Grade 1
- Animal and Plant Defenses
- Light and Sound
- Spinning Earth
Grade 2
- Plant and Animal Relationships
- Properties of Materials
- Changing Landforms
Grade 3
- Balancing Forces
- Inheritance and Traits
- Environments and Survival
- Weather and Climate
Grade 4
- Energy Conversions
- Vision and Light
- Earth’s Features
- Waves, Energy, and Information
Grade 5
- Patterns of Earth and Sky
- Modeling Matter
- The Earth System
- Ecosystem Restoration
GRADE
UNITS
Grade 6
- Launch: Microbiome
- Metabolism
- Metabolism Engineering Internship
- Thermal Energy
- Plate Motion
- Plate Motion Engineering Internship
- Rock Transformations
- Weather Patterns
- Ocean, Atmosphere, and Climate
Grade 7
- Launch: Harnessing Human Energy
- Phase Change
- Phase Change Engineering Internship
- Magnetic Fields
- Earth’s Changing Climate
- Earth’s Changing Climate Engineering Internship
- Chemical Reactions
- Populations and Resources
- Matter and Energy in Ecosystems
Grade 8
- Launch: Geology on Mars
- Earth, Moon, and Sun
- Light Waves
- Force and Motion
- Force and Motion Engineering Internship
- Traits and Reproduction
- Natural Selection
- Natural Selection Engineering Internship
- Evolutionary History
South Carolina College- and Career-Ready Science Standards 2021
Amplify Science was designed from the ground up to meet the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), and the South Carolina College- and Career-Ready Science Standards 2021 are closely aligned to the NGSS at K-8. The guidance below is meant to provide support for integrating additional companion activities that support full coverage of the South Carolina College- and Career-Ready Science Standards 2021.
Organized by grade level, each section below will outline:
- Additional activities that support 100% alignment to the South Carolina College- and Career-Ready Science Standards 2021;
- The standard being addressed with the activities;
- The recommended placement of the activities within a specific Amplify Science unit; and
- PDFs of any accompanying materials that are necessary to implement the activities.
Standard: MS-PS1-4: Develop a model that predicts and describes changes in particle motion, temperature, and state of a pure substance when thermal energy is added or removed.
Recommended placement: Thermal Energy unit, Lesson 4.4, addition to Activity 3
Materials: “Liquid Oxygen”
By reading the article “Liquid Oxygen,” which describes how the relationship between attraction and kinetic energy determines when a substance changes phase, students extend their understanding of the possible effects of adding or removing thermal energy to include changes in state (phase). Oxygen is one of the most common elements in the world, but most people are only familiar with oxygen in the gas phase. Because oxygen molecules are only weakly attracted to one another, condensing oxygen is difficult. This article introduces students to molecular attraction and discusses its role in phase change, including how it can be used to turn oxygen from a gas to a liquid.
Instructions:
Download PDFs of the “Liquid Oxygen” and distribute it to students. Before they begin reading, remind students of the Active Reading Guidelines.
Standard: MS-PS4-2: Develop and use a model to describe that waves are reflected, absorbed, or transmitted through various materials.
Recommended placement: Weather Patterns unit, Lesson 4.4, addition to Activity 3
Materials: “Harvesting Sunlight”, “Why No One in Space Can Hear You Scream” and “Making Waves at Swim Practice”
After investigating weather patterns, which includes a focus of the effects of energy from sunlight, students extend their learning about light by reading three articles about light and other waves.
“Harvesting Sunlight:” Students read this article to learn about the types of light from the sun that plants use for photosynthesis. The article describes how the sun emits all types of light, but plants can only use certain types of visible light for photosynthesis, mostly red and blue light. Plants also absorb other types of light, and these types of light affect plants in different ways. Students use this information to gather evidence that there are different types of light that can affect a material in different ways.
“Why No One in Space Can Hear You Scream:” Students read this article to learn about how waves are transmitted. Explosions that would be deafening on Earth are silent in space. This is because sound is produced by sound waves and, unlike light waves, sound waves need matter to travel through. Reading about this phenomenon helps students understand the similarities and differences between mechanical and electromagnetic waves.
“Making Waves at Swim Practice:” A practice for the school swim team provides an everyday context for discussing light waves and sound waves in this engaging article. First, the article explores sound waves traveling through different materials–the air, the water of the pool, and even a metal poolside bench. Students discover that sound waves travel at different speeds in different materials. The later part of the article discusses light waves, which also travel at different speeds in different materials. As light waves move from one material to another, they change speed and bend. This bending of light waves is called refraction, and it explains why objects that are partly in the water and partly out of the water (such as the legs of a person sitting on the side of a pool) appear ripply and bent.
Instructions:
Plan one class period for each article. Download PDFs of the “Harvesting Sunlight,” “Why No One in Space Can Hear You Scream,” and “Making Waves at Swim Practice” articles. For each article, before students begin reading, preview the article and discuss what students already know and what they wonder about the topic, then remind students of the Active Reading Guidelines.
Standard: MS-PS2-3: Ask questions about data to determine the factors that affect the strength of electric and magnetic forces. MS-PS2-5: Conduct an investigation and evaluate the experimental design to provide evidence that fields exist between objects exerting forces on each other even though the objects are not in contact.
Recommended placement: Harnessing Human Energy unit, Lesson 3.4, after Activity 1
Materials: “Earth’s Geomagnetism” and “Painting with Static Electricity”
After concluding their investigations of energy transfers and conversions, students read two articles that introduce the topic of forces that act at a distance.
“Earth’s Geomagnetism:” What makes a compass needle point north, no matter what? This article introduces students to Earth’s geomagnetic field and the field lines scientists use to show its direction.
“Painting with Static Electricity:” This article gives students the opportunity to learn about electrostatic fields and forces in the context of spray painting without making a mess. Electrostatic painting systems use electrostatics to draw spray paint toward the object being painted, and nowhere else. Painters charge the object they are painting with a negative charge and the paint with a positive charge. The opposite charges are attracted to one another, causing the paint to move toward the object. This surprising use of electrostatics saves time and paint and keeps things tidy!
Instructions
Plan one class period for each article. Download PDFs of the “Earth’s Geomagnetism” and “Painting with Electricity” articles. For each article, before students begin reading, preview the article and discuss what students already know and what they wonder about the topic, then remind students of the Active Reading Guidelines.
What’s included
Science articles
The middle school science articles serve as sources for evidence collection and were authored by science and literacy experts at the Lawrence Hall of Science.
Student Investigation Notebooks
Available for every unit, the Student Investigation Notebooks provide space for students to:
- Record data
- Reflect on ideas from texts and investigations
- Construct explanations and arguments
Available with full-color article compilations for middle school units.
Digital student experience
Students access the digital simulations and modeling tools, as well as lesson activities and assessments, through the digital student experience. Students can interact with the digital student experience as they:
- Conduct hands-on investigations
- Engage in active reading and writing activities
- Participate in discussions
- Record observations
- Craft end-of-unit scientific arguments
Teacher’s Guides
Available digitally and in print, the Teacher’s Guides contain all of the information teachers need to facilitate classroom instruction, including:
- Classroom Slides
- Detailed lesson plans
- Unit and chapter overview documentation
- Differentiation strategies
- Standards alignments
- In-context professional development
Hands-on materials kits
Hands-on learning is at the heart of Amplify Science. Each unit kit contains:
- Consumable and non-consumable hands-on materials
- Print classroom display materials
- Premium print materials for student use (sorting cards, maps, etc.)
Remote and hybrid learning supports
Amplify has launched a new remote learning solution called Amplify Science@Home. Intended to make extended remote learning and hybrid learning easier, Amplify Science@Home includes two useful options for continuing instruction: @Home Videos and @Home Units.
Amplify Science @Home Videos are recordings of real Amplify Science teachers teaching the lessons. For those teachers who are unable to meet synchronously with their students, the recorded lessons are a great way to keep their students on track and engaged with Amplify Science while at home. These videos will be produced for all K–5 units, and for the first four units of each 6–8 grade level. Their release will be rolling, beginning in August.
Amplify Science@Home Units are modified versions of Amplify Science units, strategically designed to highlight key activities from the program. The @Home Units take significantly less instructional time than the complete Amplify Science program and allow students to engage with science at home. @Home Units will be developed for all Amplify Science K–8 units. Each @Home unit includes:
- Teacher overviews explaining how to use the materials, including suggestions for enhancing the @Home Units if synchronous learning or in-class time with students is available.
- Overviews to send home to families.
Student materials are available in two formats:
- @Home Slides (PDF/PPT) + Student Sheets (PDF) for students with access to technology at home.
- Downloadable @Home Packets (PDF) for students without access to technology at home.
Download the Remote and hybrid learning guide.
Looking for help?
Powerful (and free!) pedagogical support
Amplify provides a unique kind of support you won’t find from other publishers. We have developed an educational support team of former teachers and administrators who provide pedagogical support for every Amplify curriculum, assessment, and intervention program. This service is completely free for all educators who are using our programs and includes:
- Guidance for developing lesson plans and intervention plans
- Information on where to locate standards and other planning materials
- Recommendations and tips for day-to-day teaching with Amplify programs
- Support with administering and interpreting assessment data and more
To reach our pedagogical team, use our live chat within your program, call (800) 823-1969, or email edsupport@amplify.com
Timely technical and program support
Our technical and program support is included and available from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday, through a variety of channels, including a live chat program that enables teachers to get immediate help in the middle of the school day.
For your most urgent questions:
- Use our live chat within your program
- Call our toll-free number: (800) 823-1969
For less urgent questions:
Contact us
Contact your South Carolina team representatives:
Jeff Rutter
Field Manager
jrutter@amplify.com
(727) 512-8440
Lisa Jurovaty
Account Executive (West South Carolina)
ljurovaty@amplify.com
(803) 526-1899
Cathy McMillan (East South Carolina)
Senior Account Executive
cmcmillan@amplify.com
(904) 465-9904
Inspiring the next generation of Alabama scientists, engineers, and curious citizens
Review of the B.E.S.T. program for Palm Beach middle schools, Amplify ELA Florida
Review of the B.E.S.T. program for middle schools, Amplify ELA Florida Edition
What is Amplify CKLA?
Amplify CKLA is a core ELA program for grades TK–5 that delivers:
- A unique research-based approach truly built on the Science of Reading.
- A combination of explicit foundational skills with meaningful knowledge-building.
- Embedded support and differentiation that gets all students reading grade-level texts together.
- Opportunities for students to see the strengths and experiences that all people share while also celebrating each others’ unique identities and experiences.
- Equitable and authentic Spanish language arts instruction with Amplify Caminos.
How does Amplify CKLA work?
Grades K–2: Dedicated knowledge-building and explicit skills instruction
Every day, students in Grades K–2 complete one full lesson that explicitly and systematically builds foundational reading skills in the Skills Strand, as well as one full lesson that builds robust background knowledge to access complex text in the Knowledge Strand. Through learning in each of these strands, students develop the early literacy skills necessary to help them become confident readers and build the context to understand what they’re reading.
Grades 3–5: Integrated instruction
In Grades 3–5, Knowledge and Skills are integrated in one set of instructional materials. Lessons begin to combine skills and knowledge with increasingly complex texts, close reading, and a greater writing emphasis. Students can then use their skills to go on their own independent reading adventures.
What makes Amplify CKLA different?
Built on the Science of Reading
Built out of the latest research in the Science of Reading, Amplify CKLA delivers explicit instruction in both foundational literacy skills (systematic phonics, decoding, and fluency) and background knowledge in grades K–2 with an integrated approach to explicit instruction in grades 3–5.
Review this Science of Reading toolkit to learn more about the Science of Reading best practices integrated throughout CKLA.
Explicit systematic skills instruction
Great reading instruction starts with helping kids develop great decoding skills. By building a solid foundation of phonological awareness and phonics, reading the words on the page becomes automatic so that comprehension and critical thinking can happen. Our instruction is supported by:
- Step-by-step lessons with multisensory approaches, clear lesson objectives, and embedded formative assessments.
- Decodable books and student readers with ebook and audiobook versions that feature interesting plots and relatable characters.
- An engaging sound library with fun songs and videos that develop phonological awareness.
- An interactive Vocab App featuring engaging activities with immediate feedback and automated, customized instruction based on student performance.
Coherent knowledge instruction
Students build grade-appropriate subject-area knowledge and vocabulary in history, science, literature, and the arts while learning to read, write, and think creatively and for themselves. Our instruction is supported by:
- Knowledge builders that provide a quick overview of each domain with its key ideas.
- Interactive Read-Alouds designed to build knowledge and vocabulary.
- Content-rich anchor texts that support students as they tackle increasingly complex text and sharpen their analytical skills.
- Social and emotional learning paired with lessons in civic responsibility.
Embedded differentiation for all learners
Amplify CKLA provides built-in differentiation strategies in every lesson for all students, including supports for English learners and Standard English learners.
- Access supports for ELs: Integrated ELD supports in each lesson segment
for English learners and Standard English learners are specific to students’ mastery of the lesson’s objectives. - Support and Challenge for all learners: Lessons include Support and Challenge suggestions that provide assistance or opportunities for more advanced work toward the goal of the lesson. These supports are suitable for all learners, including ELs.
- 30 minutes of Additional Support in every Skills lesson: In the Skills Strand, every lesson concludes with an Additional Support section of recommendations for 30 minutes of extended instruction and activities, directly aligned to the skills taught in the lesson to assist students who need more support in mastering the lesson’s objectives.
- Intervention Toolkit: The Intervention Toolkit provides easy-to-use resources to assist teachers in filling gaps in students’ foundational skills. Teachers will find of hundreds of activities to support phonics, fluency, comprehension, handwriting, and other key skills.
Designated ELD
Amplify CKLA’s designated English Language Development (ELD) component—Language Studio— helps English learners preview and revisit key content within core instruction, building a foundation of academic vocabulary and background knowledge. Core instruction lessons include point-of-use supports for English learners and Support and Challenge strategies for all learners.
Built on the California ELA/ELD Framework, our carefully developed program follows the CKLA Knowledge domains, previewing and reinforcing skills and content from core instruction using instruction specifically built for English learners. The program is also designed around frequent formative assessment, including assessment of language proficiency, giving you effective ways to guide and support your English learners.
Language Studio supports teachers and English learners through the following:
- 30 minutes of instruction with lesson segments are carefully designed around Content Knowledge, Meaning Making, Language Development, Effective Expression, and Foundational Skills.
- Every Language Studio lesson accompanies a core lesson, helping English learners deepen domain and academic vocabulary that will help them access core content.
- Culminating tasks support core projects and target the same skills as primary instruction.
Ready-to-go slides and all-in-one platform
The slides-based Amplify CKLA digital experience enhances instruction while saving you time. Everything you need is all in one place, making it easier than ever to plan lessons, present digital content, and review student work.
- Simplify planning and instruction: Teachers have access to ready-to-use and customizable lesson presentation slides, complete with all the prompts from the print Teacher Guide embedded in the teacher view. As teachers deliver each lesson, students can engage with the content in one cohesive
experience—through Activity Books, slides, digital components, videos, Student Readers, and more. - Interactive student activities: Through the Student Home, students can easily access digital lessons with slides, Activity Pages, ebooks, videos, and other interactive resources from one simple dashboard.
- Your teacher command center: You’re provided with the tools you need to ensure a productive digital experience that’s personalized to meet your students’ needs. This includes a teacher home from which to launch and track lessons, LMS integrations such as Google Classroom and Microsoft Teams, and other customizations based on classroom needs.
- Get real-time insights into your students’ work: The innovative live review tool enables you to keep an eye on students drawing, recording audio, uploading and capturing images, and typing or writing in pre-placed text boxes in their Activity Pages.
How does Amplify CKLA integrate with the other parts of the literacy system?
Amplify CKLA + mCLASS® with DIBELS® 8th Edition
Amplify CKLA integrates with your mCLASS assessment through the CKLA Connect feature, which matches your students with targeted CKLA lessons based on their mCLASS assessment data. In other words, it aligns your assessments more closely with your core curriculum while recommending effective differentiated instruction.
Amplify CKLA + Amplify Reading
Amplify Reading is the student-driven skill practice program within CKLA, providing differentiated, digital instruction in both foundational skills and comprehension strategies. Because Amplify Reading is built on the same approach to reading as CKLA, students are able to extend their learning from the core program further, at their own pace.
Amplify CKLA and Amplify Reading reinforce each other through:
- An aligned scope and sequence and instructional approach: In both probrams, students get instruction and practice in phonological awareness and phonics, with the most common, least ambiguous spellings first.
- Consistent vocabulary words: Many Amplify CKLA words are taught and practiced in Amplify Reading vocabulary games.
- Complementary texts: Fiction and nonfiction books within Amplify Reading reinforce Amplify CKLA knowledge domains.
- Seamless integrations between platforms: Students can easily access Amplify Reading directly from the Amplify CKLA Student Hub.
Navigating the program
Digital navigation walkthrough
Physical materials walkthrough
Check out these additional resources
Amplify CKLA review resources:
- CKLA Program Guide
- Diversity, equity, and inclusion in CKLA
- Text complexity in CKLA
- Trade books in CKLA
- Assessments in CKLA
- Remote and hybrid learning with CKLA
- Amplify ELA technical specifications
- Amplify CKLA Scopes and Sequences
- Grade K Skills and Knowledge
- Grade 1 Skills and Knowledge
- Grade 2 Skills and Knowledge
- Grade 3 Integrated
- Grade 4 Integrated
- Grade 5 Integrated
What is Amplify CKLA?
Amplify CKLA is a core ELA program for grades TK–5 that delivers:
- A unique research-based approach truly built on the Science of Reading.
- A combination of explicit foundational skills with meaningful knowledge-building.
- Embedded support and differentiation that gets all students reading grade-level texts together.
- Opportunities for students to see the strengths and experiences that all people share while also celebrating each others’ unique identities and experiences.
- Authentic Spanish language arts instruction with Amplify Caminos.
How does Amplify CKLA work?
Grades K–2: Dedicated knowledge-building and explicit skills instruction
Every day, students in Grades K–2 complete one full lesson that explicitly and systematically builds foundational reading skills in the Skills Strand, as well as one full lesson that builds robust background knowledge to access complex text in the Knowledge Strand. Through learning in each of these strands, students develop the early literacy skills necessary to help them become confident readers and build the context to understand what they’re reading.
Grades 3–5: Integrated instruction
In Grades 3–5, Knowledge and Skills are integrated in one set of instructional materials. Lessons begin to combine skills and knowledge with increasingly complex texts, close reading, and a greater writing emphasis. Students can then use their skills to go on their own independent reading adventures.
What makes Amplify CKLA different?
Built on the Science of Reading
Built out of the latest research in the Science of Reading, Amplify CKLA delivers explicit instruction in both foundational literacy skills (systematic phonics, decoding, and fluency) and background knowledge in grades K–2 with an integrated approach to explicit instruction in grades 3–5.
Review this Science of Reading toolkit to learn more about the Science of Reading best practices integrated throughout CKLA.
Explicit systematic skills instruction
Great reading instruction starts with helping kids develop great decoding skills. By building a solid foundation of phonological awareness and phonics, reading the words on the page becomes automatic so that comprehension and critical thinking can happen. Our instruction is supported by:
- Step-by-step lessons with multisensory approaches, clear lesson objectives, and embedded formative assessments.
- Decodable books and student readers with ebook and audiobook versions that feature interesting plots and relatable characters.
- An engaging sound library with fun songs and videos that develop phonological awareness.
- An interactive Vocab App featuring engaging activities with immediate feedback and automated, customized instruction based on student performance.
Coherent knowledge instruction
Students build grade-appropriate subject-area knowledge and vocabulary in history, science, literature, and the arts while learning to read, write, and think creatively and for themselves. Our instruction is supported by:
- Knowledge builders that provide a quick overview of each domain with its key ideas.
- Interactive Read-Alouds designed to build knowledge and vocabulary.
- Content-rich anchor texts that support students as they tackle increasingly complex text and sharpen their analytical skills.
- Social and emotional learning paired with lessons in civic responsibility.
Embedded differentiation for all learners
Amplify CKLA provides built-in differentiation strategies in every lesson for all students, including supports for English learners and Standard English learners.
- Access supports for ELs: Integrated ELD supports in each lesson segment
for English learners and Standard English learners are specific to students’ mastery of the lesson’s objectives. - Support and Challenge for all learners: Lessons include Support and Challenge suggestions that provide assistance or opportunities for more advanced work toward the goal of the lesson. These supports are suitable for all learners, including ELs.
- 30 minutes of Additional Support in every Skills lesson: In the Skills Strand, every lesson concludes with an Additional Support section of recommendations for 30 minutes of extended instruction and activities, directly aligned to the skills taught in the lesson to assist students who need more support in mastering the lesson’s objectives.
- Intervention Toolkit: The Intervention Toolkit provides easy-to-use resources to assist teachers in filling gaps in students’ foundational skills. Teachers will find of hundreds of activities to support phonics, fluency, comprehension, handwriting, and other key skills.
Designated ELD
Amplify CKLA’s designated English Language Development (ELD) component—Language Studio— helps English learners preview and revisit key content within core instruction, building a foundation of academic vocabulary and background knowledge. Core instruction lessons include point-of-use supports for English learners and Support and Challenge strategies for all learners.
Built on the California ELA/ELD Framework, our carefully developed program follows the CKLA Knowledge domains, previewing and reinforcing skills and content from core instruction using instruction specifically built for English learners. The program is also designed around frequent formative assessment, including assessment of language proficiency, giving you effective ways to guide and support your English learners.
Language Studio supports teachers and English learners through the following:
- 30 minutes of instruction with lesson segments are carefully designed around Content Knowledge, Meaning Making, Language Development, Effective Expression, and Foundational Skills.
- Every Language Studio lesson accompanies a core lesson, helping English learners deepen domain and academic vocabulary that will help them access core content.
- Culminating tasks support core projects and target the same skills as primary instruction.
Ready-to-go slides and all-in-one platform
The slides-based Amplify CKLA digital experience enhances instruction while saving you time. Everything you need is all in one place, making it easier than ever to plan lessons, present digital content, and review student work.
- Simplify planning and instruction: Teachers have access to ready-to-use and customizable lesson presentation slides, complete with all the prompts from the print Teacher Guide embedded in the teacher view. As teachers deliver each lesson, students can engage with the content in one cohesive
experience—through Activity Books, slides, digital components, videos, Student Readers, and more. - Interactive student activities: Through the Student Home, students can easily access digital lessons with slides, Activity Pages, ebooks, videos, and other interactive resources from one simple dashboard.
- Your teacher command center: You’re provided with the tools you need to ensure a productive digital experience that’s personalized to meet your students’ needs. This includes a teacher home from which to launch and track lessons, LMS integrations such as Google Classroom and Microsoft Teams, and other customizations based on classroom needs.
- Get real-time insights into your students’ work: The innovative live review tool enables you to keep an eye on students drawing, recording audio, uploading and capturing images, and typing or writing in pre-placed text boxes in their Activity Pages.
How does Amplify CKLA integrate with the other parts of the literacy system?
Amplify CKLA + mCLASS® with DIBELS® 8th Edition
Amplify CKLA integrates with your mCLASS assessment through the CKLA Connect feature, which matches your students with targeted CKLA lessons based on their mCLASS assessment data. In other words, it aligns your assessments more closely with your core curriculum while recommending effective differentiated instruction.
Amplify CKLA + Amplify Reading
Amplify Reading is the student-driven skill practice program within CKLA, providing differentiated, digital instruction in both foundational skills and comprehension strategies. Because Amplify Reading is built on the same approach to reading as CKLA, students are able to extend their learning from the core program further, at their own pace.
Amplify CKLA and Amplify Reading reinforce each other through:
- An aligned scope and sequence and instructional approach: In both probrams, students get instruction and practice in phonological awareness and phonics, with the most common, least ambiguous spellings first.
- Consistent vocabulary words: Many Amplify CKLA words are taught and practiced in Amplify Reading vocabulary games.
- Complementary texts: Fiction and nonfiction books within Amplify Reading reinforce Amplify CKLA knowledge domains.
- Seamless integrations between platforms: Students can easily access Amplify Reading directly from the Amplify CKLA Student Hub.
Navigating the program
Digital navigation walkthrough
Physical materials walkthrough
Sample materials
Demo access
Follow the instructions below to access your demo account.
- Click the CKLA and Caminos Demo button below.
- Select Log in with Amplify.
- To explore as a teacher, enter this username: t1.westadackla@demo.tryamplify.net
- To explore as a student, enter this username: s1.westadackla@demo.tryamplify.net
- Enter the password: Amplify1-westadackla
- Click the Programs and apps menu
- Select CKLA Teacher Resource Site
- Select the desire grade level
- Use the toggle to switch between English (CKLA) and Spanish (Caminos) resources.
Note: Your demo account access expires on January 19, 2023.
Check out these additional resources
Amplify CKLA review resources:
- CKLA Program Guide
- Text complexity in CKLA
- Trade books in CKLA
- Assessments in CKLA
- Remote and hybrid learning with CKLA
- Amplify ELA technical specifications
- Amplify CKLA Scopes and Sequences
- Grade K Skills and Knowledge
- Grade 1 Skills and Knowledge
- Grade 2 Skills and Knowledge
- Grade 3 Integrated
- Grade 4 Integrated
- Grade 5 Integrated
- Corrleations to the Idaho Content Standards English Language Arts/Literacy
S4 – 01. Joyful math teaching with Kanchan Kant
This season on the Math Teacher Lounge podcast, we follow the theme “joyful math” and uncover its meaning.
In this episode, Kanchan Kant joins Bethany Lockhart Johnson and Dan Meyer to discuss the key, early investment she makes at the start of the school year to ensure her math teaching will be joyful for herself and for her students for the rest of the year.
Explore more from Math Teacher Lounge by visiting our main page.
Dan Meyer (00:00):
Okay, we are recording. Hey folks. Welcome back to Math Teacher Lounge. (laugh)
Bethany Lockhart Johnson (00:06):
Hardly off to a rocking start.
Dan Meyer (00:06):
Yeah. Yeah. <laugh> Did you like my energy there? Hey folks. Welcome back to Math Teacher Lounge. It’s a new season with your host Dan Meyer. And…
Bethany Lockhart Johnson (00:15):
I’m Bethany, Lockhart Johnson. How’s your summer Dan?
Dan Meyer (00:22):
Summer for me feels really hectic as we prepare, here at Amplify, for the new school year, and everyone’s starting these new math programs. So I’ve been feeling quite amped up, like usual in the summer. But also, my kids started big kid school. So I’ve been seeing the educational system from the role of a parent and all the anxieties and I worry, will I be my kids’ teacher’s most annoying parent <laugh> … So what kind of math curriculum you using? Oh, have you heard of core counting? Can I lead a math center? What’s this worksheet about? I’m really worried my kids are just overall gonna hate my vibe when I come around their classes. Uh, <laugh> so lots going on with me.
Bethany Lockhart Johnson (01:06):
It’s already happening for me and I have a toddler.
Dan Meyer (01:10):
<laugh> There we go. Anyway, that’s what I’m up to. That’s how I’m feeling. I’m curious how you’re doing. We haven’t chatted in a while. We’re excited about the podcast, but it’s been a bit, you know? Bethany got a break from me and my antics over the summer. So, how are we finding you here, as we ramp up to the new season?
Bethany Lockhart Johnson (01:24):
Uhhhh. Well, let me just tell you, I have a toddler. That’s kind of all I need to say. Except that’s not all I will say. Of course, I’ll say more. I am exploring, I’m dipping my toe into the extracurricular toddler activities; the music classes of the toddler world, the creative movement of the toddler world. And yeah, I have lots of opinions and lots of things to say about the teachers. And I’m like, Ugh, I can’t wait to be room mom. And just like…<laugh>
Dan Meyer (01:55):
Just let it rip, you know?
Bethany Lockhart Johnson (01:57):
I have opinions on everything and just hope I don’t get kicked out of the class.
Bethany Lockhart Johnson (02:05):
It’s been an eventfully recharging summer and we are ready for this new season. And in fact, we’re so ready that we decided that we were gonna mix up this season. Just a, just a tiny bit. Shall I explain Dan?
Dan Meyer (02:21):
Yeah. Let’s do it.
Bethany Lockhart Johnson (02:22):
So we have loved all the different topics that we have explored in the Math Teacher Lounge world, but we kind of feel like we need to do some more deep dives. So for this season and the foreseeable seasons …
Dan Meyer (02:38):
We’ll see how it goes.
Bethany Lockhart Johnson (02:38):
Let’s stick with this season. For this season. We’re going to be exploring a singular theme.
Dan Meyer (02:46):
We’re not bouncing around. Yep. We’re not bouncing around from a guest to guest going on whatever shiny thing in the river bed catches our eye. We’re gonna take one theme and see where it goes. What we working with here this season?
Bethany Lockhart Johnson (02:57):
This season, we are going to be exploring the idea of joyful math, joyful math. And Dan, the question I have for you is, is the term joyful math one that you use on the regular?
Dan Meyer (03:10):
No, it definitely is not. I think that joy and math are very rarely, you know, connected in the popular mind. Number one, and number two, you know, I’m kind of an ornery fellow, so that’s not my natural kind of description of math. But we decided that it feels like an important one at the moment, because a lot of math teaching–a lot of teaching in general, math teaching in particular–math teaching is often not a joyful discipline for students, where, you know, I’ve done some research where you look at what people type into Google. And I looked at like, what they…why am I bad at X? And I looked at that for where X is math, where it’s science, where it’s reading, where it’s history. And it was just wild to see how many more hits there are out there on the Internet for “why am I bad at math?” People don’t really associate math with joy, but also we’re looking at joyful math in terms of joyful math teaching. Math teaching, teaching in general, is a tough field at the moment with a lot of teachers leaving teaching. And those who remain are having a lot of soul searching and thinking about, why am I here and how do I sustain this work? And in an environment that seems hostile to my interests or my talents, or work-life balance. And so that’ll be the theme that we’re gonna kind of uncover over the course of our season, talking to various interesting guests, including one today about, yeah, joyful math teaching and joyful math.
Dan Meyer (04:43):
And to help us think about what joyful math teaching looks like, we figured we’d first look at what UN-joyful math teaching looks like. It happens to be the case that we’ve been in a pandemic as you might be aware, and teaching has been challenging. And the NEA, our National Education Association, surveyed its member teachers and asked them the following question … Gave a list of issues that school employees have experienced and asked, for each one indicate how serious of a problem this is for you. This is a survey where more than half of members said they are more likely to leave or retire sooner than planned because of the pandemic. And this is almost double the numbers from July, 2020. It’s really hard to keep track of teacher departures and unfilled vacancies across states. So I don’t wanna like blow this up out of proportion, but it does indicate some real challenges in teaching. So Bethany, I was curious, what do you think like at the top of the list, like what kinds of factors, issues facing educators would you imagine there are?
Bethany Lockhart Johnson (05:48):
So if I’m to understand you correctly, these are reasons someone is not actively experiencing joy in the profession of teaching. Like why would they leave?
Dan Meyer (05:58):
Exactly.
Bethany Lockhart Johnson (05:59):
Well, the number one thing that came to mind for me, well, okay. Wait, wait, one other caveat I need to ask about, you said specifically pandemic-related or just in general, because if it’s pandemic-related, then I think, well, there’s health issues, right? That people are concerned about, but in general, the thing that came to mind was a lack of support from administration districts, lack of funding, and overcrowding in classrooms. Like, you know, I saw somebody had 40 students in their classroom. So those are the two things that I can imagine like top on someone’s list that would make them experience less than a joyful day.
Dan Meyer (06:44):
Yeah. There’s a bunch of you’re kind of identifying here. So number seven on the list is lack of respect from parents and the public, which is like 76% of teachers call that out as serious for them. Others that you kind of circled around in terms of resources go like, not enough planning or unstructured time in the job kind of ties into resources. Yeah. But there’s others that are on the list that I’m curious, you wanna take on the swing at it, given what I’ve said here,
Bethany Lockhart Johnson (07:15):
I feel like too much being asked of them, like being asked to wear too many hats, like they’re being asked to not only teach their class, but also cover all the vacancies and supervise recess and, you know, make a delicious, nutritious lunch. That’s what came to mind. Am am I close?
Dan Meyer (07:33):
Yeah. Number four on the list, unfilled job openings leading to more work for remaining staff. People covering, you know, not just the kind of external to teaching work like you’re describing, but also just taking on like losing your prep period, to take on a class that has been unfilled for all kinds of reasons. Yeah.
Bethany Lockhart Johnson (07:54):
Yeah. I’ve only gotten the fourth. Give me one clue, one clue about …
Dan Meyer (07:59):
So, I mean like, so number one is general stress from the coronavirus pandemic, you know, which I feel like …
Bethany Lockhart Johnson (08:06):
I mentioned that.
Dan Meyer (08:07):
I’ll give you that one. Yep, yep, sure. And then number two, close behind, is feeling burned out, which I think ties into what you’re describing as well. I’m giving Bethany credit on that one. The third one is very different from the ones you’ve been describing. I think I cannot in good faith give you even partial credit for this one. I’ll just say it. Student…
Bethany Lockhart Johnson (08:28):
Wait! Dan, this is not how you give clues.
Dan Meyer (08:31):
Here’s a clue. It’s student absences due to COVID19. It’s really hard to deal student absences. That’s your clue.
Bethany Lockhart Johnson (08:40):
That wasn’t a clue that you told me.
Dan Meyer (08:43):
Yeah, let’s see. I think that’s largely it. There’s also pay is too low, is on the list; student behavioral issues, on the list. And I think that about covers it. So all of that, that basket of items has led to more than half of teachers in this survey, saying that they’re more likely to leave or retire from education sooner than planned. And I don’t know. I think we all know teachers who have bailed.
Bethany Lockhart Johnson (09:08):
I’ve never played a board game with you, Dan, but if we ever play a board game, we’re gonna work on your clue giving, ’cause I want to keep guessing. And you just told me.
Dan Meyer (09:22):
Yeah. Yeah.
Bethany Lockhart Johnson (09:22):
In all seriousness, the <laugh>. In all seriousness, I think yes, the stress of the pandemic and students being absent, what some folks are calling unfinished learning, all of those pieces do play into it. But a lot of those things that you’re mentioning on the list are things that are not unique to the pandemic, right? Like those are things that I feel like there is some modicum of control that we could have over shifting the way the culture of the teaching profession is going so that we could create a more joyful experience for educators, administrators, and students.
Dan Meyer (10:03):
Yeah. Good call out. That’s exactly right. We could tax the people who are not in the classrooms more and increase the pay to classroom teachers. You know, there we go.
Bethany Lockhart Johnson (10:11):
Oh. Bingo. Why didn’t we ask you sooner Dan, for your wisdom.
Dan Meyer (10:15):
Yeah. I’m … solved by Dan. Yeah, good point though. So I read that and yeah, I think that there’s been some … people have critiqued the NEA for being very alarmist about teacher departures as the year has ramped up. It has not been quite the flood of departing teachers as was predicted and thank heavens for that, but we should still be very bummed if teachers are unhappy and wanting to leave and feel like they can’t leave. That is definitely not good. So we were really excited to bring to the table, someone who is just a very joyful teacher and one in a very intentional way. Someone who has a lot of discipline in how she approaches the job and the students in it and tries to create a joyful environment for herself, Kanchan Kant. Kanchan is a math and computer science teacher at Newton North High School in Newton, Massachusetts. She’s been sharing her love for math with her students for the past four years, while also being instrumental in setting the culture and ethos of the math department at her school in her role as the assistant department head. We welcome you on the show Kanchan to help us understand joy and math teaching. Thanks for being here.
Bethany Lockhart Johnson (11:29):
Welcome!
Kanchan Kant (11:30):
Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it.
Bethany Lockhart Johnson (11:33):
One of my friends, her son was asked as his first math homework assignment to write out his math bio. And I loved that idea because we got to hear a little bit about your bio from like a broader perspective. But if we were to ask about your math bio, I will speak for myself to say like, automatically certain images flash into my mind, right? To think about my relationship, my evolving relationship with math. But I’m so curious if I was to ask you, what’s your math bio? How did you become the person, mathematically speaking, that you are today? Would you mind sharing a bit about that?
Kanchan Kant (12:10):
Of course I would love to. So I was born and raised in India and I belong to a family which considers mathematics to be extremely important to succeed in life. My father used to have me add and subtract license plates since I was four years old, when we were out and about. I loved math in school, it just made like complete sense to me. It was logical and you know, it was my favorite subject. I loved it all through high school. I had a confidence speed breaker in undergrad. When in my second semester I almost failed the engineering math course that I took. That was the first time math felt like too much and not like my best friend, which it was supposed to be. So it was a while before I could summon the courage to take on another math course in college.
Kanchan Kant (12:56):
But once I did that, it was like old times. I realized I had to persevere through the challenging bits. And once I did that, it started to make sense again. And through my journey, as an educator speaking to people from various backgrounds and like coming to the United States, I realized that math is challenging for everyone at one time or another. For some people that is elementary school. And for some others, it is college or even later. Either way does not mean that you are not a math person. When I was in college, I felt I was not a math person. Whereas my sister, my very own sister said the same thing about math in middle school. Both of us use math every day. And we are definitely, definitely math people. So for me to be a math person is to persevere, to approach problem-solving in a logical manner, and to find the joy in the process ,as well as the answer.
Dan Meyer (13:47):
That’s wonderful. Yeah. A lot of people, have a moment where they feel like almost betrayed by what they thought was a close friend of theirs, with math, where it’s like, wait, I thought we were tight. You know, I thought we were cool. You and me. And there’s that moment. And I wonder if that’s been a useful moment for you to, you know, bring back now and then as a teacher with students who might feel that even, you know, in high school or in a secondary school as a kid.
Kanchan Kant (14:15):
Absolutely. Like when I talk to students and tell them, yes, I had difficulty in math too. It has not always been easy for men and there are still things I struggle with sometimes, then it’s like more modeling for them that you have to persevere, you should persevere. And once you do that, it makes sense and you can feel successful. So, almost every year I end up sharing the story with my students.
Bethany Lockhart Johnson (14:38):
There’s so much value in that, right? That you are sharing that vulnerability with students. And to say your relationship with mathematics has not been, you know, smooth sailing the whole way through. There were times when you had to work harder than others.
Dan Meyer (14:55):
Yeah. Really fun to hear about you and your father as well. I tried to ask my five-year-old to do some skip counting the other day, like, okay, cool, you’re hot stuff. You can count, you know, up by ones, but what about by twos? And the moment really fell flat. And I watched myself becoming the kind of parent who is whose enthusiasm for math is one day resented by his children. I feel a lot of, yeah, I felt your anxiety Kanchan, with math itself. And now I feel anxiety as like someone who loves math and loves to teach math and may one day alienate the people closest to him. <laugh>
Kanchan Kant (15:31):
I don’t like that future. I have a three-month-old. I do not like this future of mine. If I have to go through what you’re going through. Uh, oh, <laugh>
Dan Meyer (15:38):
You got this. So Kanchan, you’re going back to the classroom coming up here at the time of this recording. It’s a few weeks out. And we’re thinking about like the kind of ways that math teachers sustain a disposition that is joyful. How are you feeling right now, as far as going back to class after this summer? Are you feeling excited, anxious, some combo, tell us about it.
Kanchan Kant (16:01):
I would say combo, but more excited than anxious. I was on maternity leave, as I mentioned, before the school year ended, and I missed the students dearly. Like, my students are what gives me hope in the darkest times. They are thoughtful. They’re empathetic. They’re so eager to learn. And very soon into my teaching career, I realized that if I take the time to get to know my students and make them feel safe and seen in my class, teaching them math would be so much easier and so much more fun. So I’m a little worried about this being like fourth year into the pandemic, but let’s see. Last year I felt the students were finding it difficult to interact with and work with their classmates because they had not been doing it for so long. So I’m hoping this year would go a little better and I’m really looking forward to working with them and building community and see how it goes.
Dan Meyer (16:53):
So if I’m understanding you correctly, you are feeling very well recharged here. You had basically an extended summer with this maternity leave, basically just like a lot of rest and relaxation over the last, like several months. Um, if I get you here. So anyway, I’m glad for that for you. And, yeah. I also hear you on the difficulties of teaching post pandemic or mid pandemic. Anyway, thanks for sharing that.
Bethany Lockhart Johnson (17:19):
What I love is I hear you being so intentional, like thinking about those relationships and thinking about that community that you want to build, you know? How do you hope that you’re gonna cultivate joy in your teaching this year? I mean like, are there certain routines or disciplines that you specifically call forth or that you think other teachers should think about?
Kanchan Kant (17:41):
So at the start of every school year, I dedicate like about three to four weeks to set up the classroom culture, both social and academic. I call my classroom a learning community. We start with community circles, we do icebreaker activities, group building and all those kinds of things. But most importantly, we do a lot of collective problem solving. So I try to present students with problems, which can be solved using multiple strategies and have multiple entry points, basically they are low floor, high ceiling problems. These could be stretch problems that they have seen before, like concepts that they already know or logical puzzles, or just wrapping their heads around different problems. Then I have students share their strategies. The more strategies they have on the board, the more successful I think the problem was. Every year, inevitably, students come up with strategies that I’ve never ever seen before for the same problems that I do.
Kanchan Kant (18:35):
And so I have students come up to the board, they would share their strategies. If they’re not ready for that, they would walk me through their strategies. And I would write their name on the board with different colored markers and everything. Basically to give them choice and agency. It also shows them that the process of doing the problem is so much more important than just getting the right answer and that it is okay to make mistakes in our learning community. I use a lot of vertical whiteboards, some concepts and problems align so well with the vertical surfaces, especially when students can explore together, learn from each other. So I do a lot of that. As for routines, I would say consistency is the key. I consistently reinforce that I want to hear multiple strategies, that it is okay to make mistakes. I am willing to learn from you as much as you’re willing to learn from me. So all like that consistency in culture more than the routines, is I feel important to bring that joy.
Dan Meyer (19:29):
That’s super interesting. Thanks for that. So I’ve heard, I hear two common objections or two common concerns to using rich tasks or doing problem solving. And I think I heard like answers to those two common reservations within what you described there, but I wonder if we can kind of bring it to the surface. And so one of the reservations is around the time that those problems take and another is that teachers often feel like, well, I might be surprised, you know, I might not know what to do with what a student does. And I thought I was hearing like some very interesting answers to both of those kinds of reservations from you, but would you just surface those up if you have some.
Kanchan Kant (20:09):
So in terms of time, I feel if I spend the time at the beginning of the year, setting up that community and doing those problems, it makes learning the math and learning the concepts much more faster throughout the rest of the year. And even when I am trying, like, even throughout the year, if we are doing a warm up problem, as I call it, which has multiple strategies, that’s gonna clarify so many more concepts when we talk about those five, 10 strategies of doing the same problem, then going through multiple problems to clarify those concepts. So for me, it actually saves time instead of taking more time.
Dan Meyer (20:43):
Hmm. That’s super interesting. It’s an investment I’m hearing from you that, yeah, you might not be hitting the curriculum quite as hard early on, but that all of a sudden you’re in the spring and it’s like, oh wow, we’ve been moving so much faster through territory that has been more challenging. What would you say to you know, comfort concerned educators or to address the concern that I don’t know what I’ll do with these five, 10 different strategies. You say, I always see strategies that I’ve never anticipated. Like, it’s a good thing, you know, like you’re happy about that. I think that’s a very intimidating thing for lots of educators. What would you say to that?
Kanchan Kant (21:19):
I think like, for me, it’s a good kind of discomfort. That means like a student is teaching me something, which is actually doing two things. One modeling for them that I’m willing to learn and that I don’t know everything. And two, also telling them that they’re mathematicians. They know what they’re doing. They’re not just receivers of math, they’re actually creating it. So for me, that is very, very important.
Bethany Lockhart Johnson (21:43):
I love that so much. When you think about your students and you’re about to start this new school year, how do you hope your students will experience math in your classroom?
Kanchan Kant (21:53):
So I hope my students can see the beauty and joy of math. They can see that math is a way to see the world and not as something we have to do to get through school. So my hope for my classroom is that we can learn to problem-solve and persevere through problems and learn from each other and not just get through the curriculum. Because like, I think math is a wonderful way to learn these skills, which are so important when you get out of high school. Most importantly, I just wanna make sure that my students see themselves as mathematicians. And like one of the things that like I have to share with you that, because one of my highlights for the year has to be the Desmos art project. I do it every year for the past three years, I think since I’ve started teaching sophomores. And I do it as a unit assessment for functions and my students design something that is meaningful to them, using all the different kinds of functions and colors and shading and everything that you can think of in Desmos.
Kanchan Kant (22:49):
Thank you so much for that though. It is such a cool way for me to see them do that. Like I have seen such amazing creations. One of my students once made a scaled working model of a solar system wherein the planets were rotating at relative speed. The Saturn had rings and they were like asteroids and everything. And then it was beautifully done. Then there was another one who did a very, very detailed whale scenery, her reasoning. I wanna be a Marine biologist and I wanna study whales. So this is what is meaningful to me. So like that one project is just a culmination of everything that I want students to see in math and in my classroom. And like I do more of those kinds of things, but that is one thing that it’s one of the highlights of my year.
Dan Meyer (23:32):
That’s awesome. I love hearing that. Yeah. Shout out to the team at Desmos Studio for building and continuing to develop a tool list that so good for art and animation, even, in addition to some mathematics with a more computational kind. Yeah, that’s really exciting. What’s interesting to me is that you teach high school, and I think that like students at that age have a very well-defined sense of what math is and who they are as mathematicians. And then along you come, you know, and like offer this really interesting disruption, you know, in their sophomore year of high school that like, oh, this can be totally different, this relationship who I am. And that’s just really exciting. I imagine it’s a very surprising year. I would imagine that first month, I would imagine is a very surprising month for a lot of your sophomores.
Kanchan Kant (24:20):
Yeah, it is. I mean, that’s why I take that time to build that community because then that sets the tone and the relationship that we’re gonna have for the rest of the year. Students get to know how to work with each other. They get to know each other, that whole piece is like super important because of that.
Dan Meyer (24:35):
Yeah. That’s awesome. So here’s the thing, like we’re exploring these ideas about joyful math teaching and what it will take to cultivate restore, reclaim joy in math, teaching this next year. And you’ve offered us these really interesting ideas some, some very, you know, philosophical and some technical about how you spend time in ways that lead to joy in the spring for you and your students. Love that. We don’t want to as hosts, as researchers, investigators of this joyful math teaching idea, we don’t wanna say it’s all up to teachers to change their mindset, to do different technical practices, and that will lead to joy. We also wanna be really attentive to the environment that surrounds you, the people who are around to support you, the policy makers, the social structures that influence your joy in very significant ways. So what we would love to know from you is, how are you supported by the greater educational community in keeping your joy in your work? I’m thinking, especially about administrators, you know, front office, staff, parents, even, can you name a few ways for those sorts of people who listen to this podcast, how they can cultivate a math teacher’s joy this coming year?
Kanchan Kant (25:54):
I would say trust. I think more than anything, educators want administrators, parents, the greater educational community, to trust them to be professionals and experts in what they do. That does not mean that we don’t want to learn, that we don’t want feedback, that we don’t wanna get better. It just means that we keep the wellbeing of our students as our top priority. And we would like to be trusted to do just that. Also just keeping in mind that whether we like it or not, we are still adjusting to the new normal while recovering from the worst of the pandemic times. A lot of us are recovering from trauma, a lot of our students are recovering from trauma, and we need time and space for our social and emotional wellbeing.
Dan Meyer (26:35):
Yeah. I’m really curious, Kanchan, you’ve done a lot of work in your area with your grading team and in thinking about equitable and biased resistant instruction. I’m curious how you see those efforts lining up with creating joyful math learning conditions for all students, not just students from a dominant culture of math doing, let’s say.
Kanchan Kant (26:55):
For me, creating an equitable environment in a classroom is most important because once you have that, that’s when you have the relationships, that’s when you have the culture, that’s when all students actually thrive. So to that end, our school and our department has been doing a lot of work around grading practices. We actually assess how we grade students, where the bias is, what we can do to make them more bias resistant. Should we move to mastery based grading? Like that’s something I’ve been experimenting with for the past two years. Through the pandemic, I started doing mastery based grading so that my students can get more opportunities to show that they have learned the content. And so like just little things which help bridge the opportunity gap. I would say another project that our school undertakes is called the calculus project wherein we have students in Black, Latinx, and low income families sign up for that and are recommended for that. And then we do summer classes and yearlong support to preview the material for next year, not as a remedial class, but to actually set students up for success in AP classes for the coming year. So we have the community buildup. We have the courses we have like math support. It’s a very beautiful thing actually. And I’ve been working with that program for four years now. So yeah, so those are my ways of creating more equity in our school.
Bethany Lockhart Johnson (28:19):
That’s so beautiful and I deeply, deeply wish you had been my high school math teacher. And I have to say that the theme that I kind of keep hearing is this intentionality. How you are so intentional about your work, not just with what your students are learning, but how they’re learning it, how they are engaging with this subject and how they are building their own relationship. You talked a little bit about your relationship over the years with mathematics, but how are your students building that relationship? And so I’m just very appreciative of you sharing that with us and with our listeners. And we are so excited to have learned a little bit about, like, I feel like I got a little mini peek into your classroom.
Kanchan Kant (29:03):
Thank you.
Bethany Lockhart Johnson (29:04):
And can I say that if you are listening to this prior to October at NCTM Los Angeles, you will get to hear Kanchan Kant speak at Shadow Con. Can I give that away, Dan? Is that, is that …
Dan Meyer (29:23):
You can drop that. Yeah, It’s pretty top secret.
Bethany Lockhart Johnson (29:26):
Can I drop it?
Dan Meyer (29:27):
Yeah. Do it. Yeah.
Bethany Lockhart Johnson (29:28):
Dan and I will be in the audience cheering you on. It’s been a joy to learn with and from you, and we are so excited to just, you know, kind of keep marinating on some of these ideas about how we can continue to be intentional about creating joyful math spaces for our students. Thank you so much for joining us today.
Kanchan Kant (29:49):
Thank you so much. It was a real pleasure.
Dan Meyer (29:57):
So Bethany, I loved hearing Kanchan talk about both her, just her joyful personality, but how she cultivates joy through craft and technique through, you know, through the various ways she interacts with students in intentional ways, that those make the job more joyful for her. And I thought it was really interesting to hear her talk about how autonomy is the thing that she needs most in her job environment to feel like she can be joyful in her work. In that context, I saw … something on Twitter popped up for me in my, you know, my many Twitter wanderings. This is a segment we might call, Dan finds something on Twitter and shares it with Bethany. Which we’ll tighten that up a little bit, but I’m sending this over to you right now, and I’d love to know as you check this out, what you’re seeing and what you’re thinking and we’ll chat about how it relates to our interview here in a moment.
Bethany Lockhart Johnson (30:47):
All right. I’m ready, send it over. It’s opening. So this appears to be a document by the way, outlining, maybe it’s a district, maybe it’s administration, they’re outlining expectation type and expectation guidelines. Hmm. Okay. And these are lesson plan expectations. Expectation type. Timeliness. Plans are due no later than 6 p.m.. Friday prior to the week of instruction. Comprehensive, all activities for the week for all subjects taught should be included and complete by due date and time. Plans should have at minimum, the following, see template for detail. Okay. So then it goes through the things that the plans need to have, the topic title, target, the objective, the activities, the sequence, the display agendas to be displayed backward design. Okay. So basically <laugh>, we were just talking about, overwhelm. And when I see this document, listeners, have you ever received something from your administrator or anyone, let’s take it more broadly, that is requesting something of you that would take so much time to complete and be so out of touch with your lived reality that it really genuinely sucks the joy out of the experience.
Bethany Lockhart Johnson (32:25):
So the first thing that I see that this document, and again, the goal of whichever district’s plan this is, is that these expectations will lead–now, mind you, I am a fan of like, you know, looking ahead, I’m not a like, oh, hey, what am I gonna teach in five minutes? No, but the idea that then it lays out all of the things in such detail that you’re gonna be teaching feels like one of those pacing guides where, oh, move on to the next page, whether or not your students have any sort of sense making whatsoever. So my first thought is, oh, sad. I have to stay here. I’ll be there past 6 p.m. But I’m gonna be there trying to make the plans for the next week based on what I think my students have learned. Hmm it’s sounds like a little bit of a bummer. Dan, what did you think when you saw this and did I do a fair description of what it is?
Dan Meyer (33:25):
No, it’s, it’s a tough one to describe, ’cause it’s basically a wall of text and commands from an administrator who like, I just have to imagine has just like acres and acres of teachers trying to beat down their door to teach at this school, if this is how you’re gonna treat your teachers. I mean just, yeah. The idea of having a week… I’m with you, you don’t wanna just like, just jump in by the seat of your pants, but the idea of having a full week of lessons for every section you teach, every prep you teach, planned and submitted with every minute, basically morseled out to different goals. It says down here, you gotta like, for all of these, download a CSV of grades and whatnot and attach those. It’s the sort of thing, like you said, there are some edicts that you get from administration where you just have to laugh or just like, you have definitely missed like what I am willing to do here. It’s so far beyond. Yeah. I can’t imagine it. And it just felt like, yeah, it was a great way to get teachers like Kanchan to feel like a real lack of autonomy. Like it’s this would not work. I don’t think.
Bethany Lockhart Johnson (34:33):
And it’s not even like willing to do. Like, let’s say you’re even willing to produce it. Let’s say that me, the rule follower is like, okay. I’m gonna attempt to meet these demands. One, most teachers were just, you know, they probably would put baloney down there anyway. Not saying that I would, but I’m saying like, it’s clearly just a hoop that they’re having to jump through and two…
Dan Meyer (35:04):
Yeah. Compliance, right?
Bethany Lockhart Johnson (35:05):
Yeah. Compliance, compliance. There you go. And two, yeah, it feels like it’s about control and not trusting the teacher. And I love that. Kanchan said that trust is what she needs. Right? You’re hiring me. Yes. I still have lots to learn, but you’re trusting me and you’re creating an environment where I can continue to learn from and with my students. And if I was being asked to submit this tome every Friday before six, that is predicting, what does it say, anticipating the steps necessary for student mastery? You know, I kind of feel like maybe it’s like that one or two teachers where maybe they feel like, oh, I don’t trust that teacher or that teacher isn’t doing a good job, whatever. We better do this for all of the teachers, but then it’s not gonna change the practices of that one teacher and all the other teachers are gonna be resentful.
Dan Meyer (36:00):
Like if there was like feedback that came back to you on, you know, on lesson plans or there was some like something that was very constructive or productive, like maybe that would be different, but it really just feels like these are gonna go into a digital drawer somewhere and not be looked at, at all.
Bethany Lockhart Johnson (36:15):
Yes. The digital drawer. Like I’m gonna send you this report and then nothing is going to happen with it. Except that four hours of my time. Well, you wouldn’t do it, but <laugh>…
Dan Meyer (36:29):
You’ve worn me down. You’ve worn me down. I’m now putty in your hands and more compliant for the next thing. And I also just wanna shout out the administrator today, who I emailed asking about like a teacher participating in a project and this administrator said, I have a standing policy not to email teachers over summer break, which you know, as administrators out there doing just the good work, you know, trusting teachers, watching out for them, trying to be a force multiplier for teachers, making the road wider, the way easier for teachers. So shout out to y’all doing the out there. Really appreciate that.
Bethany Lockhart Johnson (37:04):
Okay. Wait, wait. About that email thing, quick question. Did you ever check your email over the summer?
Dan Meyer (37:11):
Uh, yeah. That’s one way in which I was the, you know, I just love email, you know? Oh. Someone wanted to reach out. Oh, oh, Banana Republic wants to tell me about new clothes that are on offer. <laugh> I mean like, it’s just, I love those personal emails. So yeah, I did check my email over the summer.
Bethany Lockhart Johnson (37:26):
Somebody emailed me recently and they emailed me at like two in the morning. And because I currently have a toddler, I received the email at four in the morning because you know, the best thing to help myself fall back asleep is to hop on my phone, right? Like I’m already up trying to get my toddler back to sleep. I might as well start scrolling. Anyway, so the person had this little thing at the bottom of their email and it said, I have, something to the effect of, I have really like wonky work hours. I may be sending this outside of the like more standard nine to five. But please don’t feel pressure in any way to respond outside of your time. Would you appreciate that, seeing that or does it make you feel like you should respond? ‘Cause I almost responded at four in the morning, and maybe that says something about …
Dan Meyer (38:15):
They’re telling you not to respond.
Bethany Lockhart Johnson (38:16):
I know it was helpful.
Dan Meyer (38:18):
It says don’t, but you’re like, what if they’re saying that because they really expect me to respond and this is one of many ways that you and I are different. I’m always happy to see that.
Bethany Lockhart Johnson (38:29):
Do you respond? I’ve texted you in the evening because you know I have some wonky hours. Do you respond to things, like where’s your boundary there? Or when you were in the classroom, where was your boundary there? Did parents have your phone number?
Dan Meyer (38:43):
No. I gave kids my cell phone number for a couple years and it was a wobbly experiment. But parents will email, you know, back and forth with you. And I think the best thing to like … I love just like adding some friction, some latency into the kind of the chain, you know, like I hate going like back and forth, like da, da, da, da, and then like respond and then da, da da respond. And it just like goes back and forth. So just like just sitting back for an hour or two hours, you know, not responding, just let someone cool down, calm down. Email just gets you more email. That’s like if you send an email, you are just making it more likely to get more email. It’s a, you know, it’s a problem.
Bethany Lockhart Johnson (39:20):
Are you one of the zero people?
Dan Meyer (39:23):
My inbox is at zero. Most days before work.
Bethany Lockhart Johnson (39:26):
You’re joking!
Dan Meyer (39:28):
I end work every day with inbox, at zero.
Bethany Lockhart Johnson (39:31):
You’re joking!
Dan Meyer (39:32):
That’s just, you know.
Bethany Lockhart Johnson (39:33):
Who are you?
Dan Meyer (39:34):
You know, you should take my life coaching, Bethany. I’ll give you a discount since we’re math teacher, lunch pals. But, um yeah. I can help.
Bethany Lockhart Johnson (39:44):
Thank you for qualifying where our pal-dom lives. I wouldn’t even tell you how many are in my inbox. Point is, if you are actively starting the school year, we celebrate you and we are here and over the next few months, we’re gonna be diving into joyful math and that definition’s gonna keep evolving. But I wanna say something that is making me feel a little joyful, Dan. You ready?
Dan Meyer (40:15):
Tell me.
Bethany Lockhart Johnson (40:16):
You and I, in person, at NCTM, the National Council for Teachers and Mathematics. It’s coming up and we are going to be recording Math Teacher Lounge, live. Live, in person! And I hear there’s gonna be like a t-shirt cannon and there’s gonna be, you know, like musicians marching through the aisles or something.
Dan Meyer (40:46):
A marching band?
Bethany Lockhart Johnson (40:46):
A marching band!
Dan Meyer (40:46):
Trained animals. Yeah.
Bethany Lockhart Johnson (40:48):
But the point is, I’m so excited, Dan. And you know, when I see you, I might just, it’s been so long since I’ve seen you, Dan. I’d love to give you a big old embrace.
Dan Meyer (41:04):
You might just, you might just cry. Yeah. Yeah. It’ll be great. Yeah. It’s gonna be awesome for you folks to see me and Bethany have a real awkward first hug since the pandemic. And, uh, but it’s gonna be a blast to hang with us in person. We’ll have some special guests, probably, some interesting segments. You folks should stop on by at NCTM, if you’re gonna be there. Highly recommended.
Bethany Lockhart Johnson (41:29):
Now, we will be broadcasting that episode. You’re gonna get to hear … we’re gonna record it live. It’s gonna happen. In the meantime, you can find us at MTLshow on Twitter, or you can find us in our Facebook group, Math Teacher Lounge. We can’t wait to hear from you. And we’d love to hear what makes math joyful for you? Where can we add a little bit more joy to you this, this season? So thrilled to be back. Thanks for listening.
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Meet the guest
As a math and computer science teacher at Newton North High School, Newton, MA, Kanchan has been sharing her love for math with her students for the past four years. Kanchan is instrumental in setting the culture and ethos of the mathematics department at her school in her role as the Assistant Department Head. Kanchan also leads the Math Department Grading Team and has been instrumental in making grading policies which are more equitable and bias resistant. In her new role as a Transformative Leaders of Massachusetts Fellow in collaboration with Springpoint and Barr Foundation, Kanchan looks forward to making equity and joy of learning the foundation of many more classrooms.
About Math Teacher Lounge: The podcast
Math Teacher Lounge is a biweekly podcast created specifically for K–12 math educators. In each episode co-hosts Bethany Lockhart Johnson (@lockhartedu) and Dan Meyer (@ddmeyer) chat with guests, taking a deep dive into the math and educational topics you care about.
Join the Math Teacher Lounge Facebook group to continue the conversation, view exclusive content, interact with fellow educators, participate in giveaways, and more!
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