Kindergarten - Science

Priority Standards

What students will know, what students will do, and what thinking skills students will develop to apply and transfer scientific understandings that endure within the discipline, leverage deeper understandings, and/or support readiness for success at the next grade level.

In Kindergarten focus on these critical areas:

Instruction: Signature Elements

Below are signature elements of SFUSD Science instruction that students should experience regularly throughout kindergarten as they develop as scientists.

Materials

The Kindergarten Science Core Curriculum consists of 3 resources

  1. The SFUSD K-5 Science Portal

The Science Portal is a great first stop to get oriented before beginning any science unit. It contains: 

  • All SFUSD created resources to support the implementation of each unit.
  • A quick link to the Amplify Science digital platform for each unit 
  • Up-to-date professional learning opportunities
  1. Three Amplify Science Kits


 

Each of the 3 kindergarten Amplify kits includes:

  • Hands-on materials
  • 5-6 different texts, including 1 big book and 18 student copies of each title
  • Classroom wall and other print materials
  • 1 Student Investigation Notebook (for making copies)
  • Printed Teacher’s Guide
  • Spanish versions of all student-facing print materials for all Spanish bilingual classrooms

 

**materials lists for each kit are linked below in the table below.

  1. The Amplify Science Digital Platform

The Amplify digital platform includes instructional resources for each Amplify unit in English and Spanish:

  • the digital version of the teacher's guide
  • lesson slide decks
  • a digital student library
  • student digital applications
  • MANY additional instructional supports
     

** the Amplify digital platform can be accessed from the SFUSD Science Portal


Every kindergarten classroom has a set of 3 science kits that are SFUSD curricular materials to teach science. Each kit has:

**Materials List for Each Amplify Kit

Life Science: 

Needs of Plants & Animals

 2 bins: 1 large & 1 small bin

Materials List

Physical Science: 

Pushes and Pulls

2 bins: 1 large & 1 small bin

Materials List

Earth Science: 

Sunlight and Weather

2 bins: 1 large & 1 small bin

Materials List

Budget permitting, the Science Department will replace science materials annually for each kit.

If you are missing materials, refer to the Materials FAQ for guidance.

 


If you are missing anything from the list, please first contact your site administrator or designated support. If they are unable to resolve the issue promptly, please work with your school’s designated Science Lead, a teacher leader at your school, to order any consumable materials in the spring semester with the yearly “Refill Pack” order. The Science Team is able to support you as well throughout the year for permanent science items that break. We understand that sometimes an item is lost or broken. Please, use this form to request replacement of permanent items in your science unit kits and to notify the SFUSD Science Team to order this for you.

Before you complete this form, please be 100% certain that these items are missing or broken. C&I tracks requests by school/classroom to monitor expenditures of our limited funds. A notification email will be sent when your request is fulfilled and ready for district mail pick up OR if any items are unavailable at this time. If materials are unavailable, your school’s principal may be able to purchase these items for you with site funds.

Units

The opening science unit, Launch Unit 0, is four short lessons, and launches the year by supporting students to begin to build science identities and to use a science notebook. The three subsequent science units are intended to engage kindergarteners in 45 minutes of science instruction four times a week. Each unit has 22 lessons. (Sometimes a lesson may take place over a few days.) Students build on their science identities and expand content knowledge in the life science, physical science, and earth & space science units. Click on the videos below for a six-minute unit overview for each unit, or access the unit resources and documents in the unit links column.

Additional science unit material and resources are available on the SFUSD Science Portal: http://bit.ly/SFUSDk5science

Unit Description Video

Unit 0:

We Are All Scientists

The opening science unit, Launch Unit 0, is five short lessons that support students to begin to build science identities and a science community,  and to use a science notebook.  

Unit 1:

Needs of Plants and Animals

Students help a group of children figure out why there are no more monarch caterpillars in a community garden and how to bring them back. Students conduct hands-on investigations to figure out what plants need in order to live and thrive. They ask questions and learn about the system of plants and animals that live together in a habitat. They figure out patterns in the life cycles of living things by reading and analyzing photographs.

Unit 2:

Pushes and Pulls

Designing a Pinball Machine. Students take on the role of pinball machine engineers as they explore the effects of forces on the motion of an object. They consider cause and effect and structure and function as they design and build their own pinball machines. They analyze data from their tests using mathematical thinking. Students also gather evidence of forces at work in their school. (The science team has made a lovely video that I am unable to add)
 

Unit 3:

Sunlight and Weather

Students work to solve the problem of why students at one fictional school are too cold during morning recess while students at another school are too hot during afternoon recess. They develop and use models to gather evidence about the effect of sunlight (energy) on Earth’s surface (matter) and how flooding during wet weather can be avoided. They gather local weather data and use concepts of scale, proportion, and quantity to make sense of it. 

 

Planning Guide

The Science Team suggests trying to stay as close to this schedule and teaching science 4 days a week for 45 minutes. Alternate every 5.5 to 6 weeks with social studies units for that 45-minute block. You’ll see that the schedule below allows a little room to adjust at the start of the school to classroom routines.

1st Trimester 2nd Trimester 3rd Trimester

We are All Scientists

Life Science (LS): Needs of Plants & Animals

Physical Science (PS): Pushes & Pulls

Earth Science (ES): Sunlight and Weather

Sept 26 - 29

(4 lessons)

Oct. 2 - Nov. 10

(21 lessons)

Jan. 24 - Mar. 3

(22 lessons)

Apr. 24 - Jun. 1

(22 lessons)

Reflection Questions

  1. How are students' developmental needs, communities, and experiences being reflected and honored, or how could they be?
  2. What opportunities do you see for developing equitable access & demand, inquiry, collaboration, and assessment for learning?
  3. What are the implications for your own practice? What strengths can you build upon? What will you do first?

Want More?

Standards

More Resources

Contact the Science Team

 

This page was last updated on February 28, 2023