Best Fit Recommendation
Northeast Washington Science Kit Cooperative
Based on alignment between the Washington State Science Learning Standards
and the FOSS kits currently offered in our cooperative
 Best fit does not mean you will be required to use the kit at a specific grade
level.
 Kits are being recommended at specific grade levels because the grade
bands for FOSS are different than the grade bands found in the WA State
Standards.
Physical
K
1
Wood and
Paper
Solids and
Liquids
2 Balance and
Motion
Earth
Life
Gaps
Solutions
1. Intentionality
about
describing
motion of
objects
2. Add force to
Balance and
Motion
3. Covered in
Pebbles,
Sand, and Silt
4. Covered in
New Plants
1. Add Sundials
activity to Air
and Weather
2. Add
classification
of Plants or
Animals to
New Plants
3. Add Fossils to
Pebbles,
Sand, and Silt
Animals 2x2
Air and
Weather
Insects
1.
2.
3.
4.
Motion
Forces
Earth Materials
Plant Parts
Pebbles,
Sand, and
Silt
New Plants
1. Shadows
2. Classify
Plants/Animals
3. Fossils
3 Magnetism
Water
Structures of
Life
1. Inheritance
Earth
Materials
Human Body
1.
2.
3.
4.
Landforms
Environments
1.
2.
3.
and Electricity
4 Matter and
Energy
5 Variables
4.
6 Levers and
Pulleys or Middle School Program
Solar
Energy or
Middle
School Program
Food and
Nutrition or
Middle School
Program
Develop
inheritance
supplement
Sound Energy
1. Add sound to
Fossils
Matter and
Inheritance
Energy
Nutrition
2. Add Fossils to
Earth
Materials
3. Develop
inheritance
supplement
4. Add nutrition
to Human
Body
Measuring Speed
1. Add speed
Inheritance
component
ES1: Earth in Space
to Variables
a. Night and
investigations
Day
2. Develop
b. Orbit
inheritance
c. Sun as a star
supplement
Photosynthesis/Food 3. Develop
Webs
mini-unit to
address
Earth/Sun
system
4. Add photosynthesis and
food webs to
Environments
Unique Standards
Systems is an emphasis in the Washington Standards. Most FOSS activities provide
opportunities to develop the idea of systems but this requires the teacher to be purposeful in
their use of systems “vocabulary” as described in the Washington Standards. Kits that purposely
use systems in the kit structure are; Balance and Motion, Air and Weather and Models and
Designs.
Inquiry: Intellectual Honesty: There are many opportunities for teachers to address the
intellectual honesty standard, but directions to demonstrate intellectual honesty is not built
into the kit directions.
Application: Technological Design Process: is a more specific term than the FOSS use of
technology. Many of the FOSS investigations ask students to plan, research, test, revise,
redesign and report, but again it is up to the teacher to identify this as the technological design
process and be purposeful in using that vocabulary.
Application: “People in different cultures…” is a specific reference in the Application
Standards. Several science stories highlight historical context and provide opportunities for
comparing how science is applied in other parts of the world, but again the teacher needs to be
purposeful in connecting these to the more specific Washington standard.
Justification
1.
Solids and Liquids and Air and Weather are natural conceptual partners because of the focus on
states of matter. Solids and Liquids and Air and Weather were placed in 1st grade because of K-1
PS2A and B (definitions of solids and liquids) and the K-1 Earth in Space standards. Missing
from the K-1 grade band are standards on motion and forces which are addressed by Balance
and Motion in second grade.
2. Sundials will be added to Air and Weather to address the shadows standards from the 2/3 grade
band.
3. Insects and New Plants fit the standards well at either grade band, however the K-1 Life Science
standards focus on habitat, and the study of Insects follows Animals 2x2 nicely.
4. Balance and Motion was suggested for 2nd grade because of the focus on Force and Motion.
5. Pebbles, Sand, and Silt was placed at 2nd grade because of the Fossils standards in the 2-3 grade
band. Pebbles is a natural place to address the Fossils standards with supplemental material.
6. Magnetism and Electricity was placed at 3rd grade with Matter and Energy at 4th because Matter
and Energy is cognitively a higher level kit.
7. Matter and Energy is recommended to replace Physics of Sound because Physics of Sound is
good with cross-cutting standards, however Matter and Energy is much stronger in the content
standards.
8. Water was placed at 3rd grade with Earth Materials at 4th because each of those kits address
standards more appropriate to those grade bands. There are also supplemental materials
addressing fossils for Earth Materials which fills a gap in the 4/5 grade band.
9. Structures of Life was placed at 3rd grade because it is very strong in the 2-3 grade Life Science
Standards. Human Body is stronger in the 4-5 grade Life Science Standards and can be adapted
to add inheritance, nutrition, and systems.
10. Variables, Landforms, and Environments were placed in 5th grade because they are the best fit
for the remainder of the 4th-5th grade standards not covered by the 4th grade kits.
11. There is an obvious gap in the 4-5 Earth in Space standards and the standards focused on
Inheritance and Genetics. Both of these may require development of supplemental materials or
mini-units.
Middle School
We are not making a “Best Fit Recommendation” for middle school at this time because the
middle school kits used in our cooperative are all leveled for Grades 6-8 and the Washington
State Science Learning Standards are also Grades 6-8.
For Deep Alignment documents for the Middle School Kits, please go to:
http://www.wastatelaser.org/_support/alignment.asp