6th Grade
California/OUSD’s Guiding Concept for Grade 6: Systems within organisms and between them are adapted to Earth climate systems.
Students will focus on 3 of the 7 crosscutting concepts (CCCs) of Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) to bridge disciplinary boundaries, uniting core ideas throughout the field of science and engineering. The purpose of the CCCs is to help students deepen their understanding of the disciplinary core ideas (DCIs), and develop a coherent and scientifically based view of the world.
Patterns
Cause and Effect
System and System Models.
The 3 units students will engage with in the adopted curriculum, FOSS, are:
FOSS UnitsAnchor phenomenon & Diving question for phenomenon
Weather and Water Observable local weather condition; What makes weather happen?
Diversity of Life Life on Earth; How do you know something living?
Human Systems Interactions The human body; How do humans live, grow, and respond to their environment?
Weather and Water
The FOSS Weather and Water Course focuses on the phenomena of Earth’s atmosphere, weather, and water. The anchor phenomena is observable local weather conditions. The driving question for the course is what makes weather happen? Students will delve into phenomena that may seem unrelated to weather, including a dose of the disciplines of physics and chemistry. A good understanding of meteorology as an earth science isn’t complete without an introduction to concepts that cross into these disciplines.
Diversity of Life
Middle school students are ready to consider what it means to be a living organism. What are the characteristics that scientists use to define life? The driving question for the course is how do you know something is living?
Human Systems Interactions
Life is a series of complex interactions. The anchor phenomenon for this course, the human body, is no exception. The basis of the human body is the cell. Associations of cells work together to form tissues, which form organs. Organs work together to perform specific functions in organ systems. And finally, the array of organ systems make up a human body.
190314_C_WW_Overview.pdf190314_C_DOL_Overview.pdfG4264288_190314_C_HSI_Overview.pdfFOSS has many resources that are online (FOSS on ThinkLink). Here are some resources that we want to highlight to support unit/lesson planning.
For Student Talk, look at the FOSS Language Development Chapter. In addition, ask yourself the following questions:
What opportunities are there in the lesson plan for students to talk, and in service of what? What is the purpose of the talk? How does the curriculum suggest this talk be structured?
What are the language demands of this lesson? Which talk routine will enhance access to the language and content goals of the lesson?
Have my students used this talk routine before? How might I need to prepare them for the routines?
How will you give students feedback on how the talk went? What did we want students to say?
For Check for Understanding, look at the following resources:
FOSS Crosscutting Concepts Chapter for each grade
Portfolio Checklists for each unit
All of the embedded assessments have “What to Look For[s]” named in the teacher guides.
In addition, ask yourself the following questions:
What opportunities are there in the lesson plan for checking for understanding? What specifically will I be looking for in these checks?
How might I capture what I notice in the checks for understanding? How will I use the information to inform next moves?
What might be some common misconceptions students will have? How will I address them as they come up?
What partial responses might I get? What questions can I ask to take students from an “almost there” answer to a grade-level answer?
What will feedback to students look like? Will it be individual, to small groups, or to the whole class?
