Do you teach Kindergarten Amplify Science? 

Have you been wondering how you could make Amplify more relevant, meaningful, and culturally responsive for YOUR students? 

“My students really connected with the unit because of the localizing adaptations. Walking around the school and to the local P-Patch was an awesome way for the kids to connect with their community. Many students had been to the P-Patch in the past and were able to talk about how it had changed or stayed the same over time. ...It was so wonderful to take the kids around the school perimeter and have them observe using their five senses. Kids were so excited to crunch leaves, feel (and taste) the rain, and throw leaves around. We felt the moss on the trees and talked about how things may look different a couple months from now. It was special to have the kids become so familiar and engaged with their immediate surroundings." - Adi Azoulai, Queen Anne Elementary School

This asynchronous course provides an opportunity to explore opportunities in a unit-specific Western Washington “localizing guide” that supports teachers in making meaningful and authentic connections between the science students are doing in their classroom and their region, community, and personal funds of knowledge.  The guide was created and piloted by classroom teachers in collaboration with the developers of Amplify Science, school district leads, local ESDs, and IslandWood staff. 

The localizing guide has a wide variety of ready-to-use activities to choose from. You’ll find interviews designed to bring in related experiences from family members, home and schoolyard investigations, photographs that swap-in local and familiar examples, and many other possibilities. You will also learn how local phenomena, such as the decline of the Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly population in Western Washington due in part to habitat loss, connect the learning in this unit to the animals and plants in our region.

Clock Hours: 2.5 STEM clock hours for watching videos, reading the unit’s localizing guide, and reflecting on your first impressions. Optional topics provide an opportunity to earn up to 5 additional STEM clock hours (half of which can be claimed as equity clock hours if desired).

Timing: Progress through the course at your own pace.  Most topics can be done before you teach the unit. Clock hours will be turned in for those who complete a final survey by the closing date of the course (May 23rd, 2027). You will then need to claim them through pdEnroller (with payment of a pdEnroller administrative fee). 

Important Note: This course is intended for Western Washington teachers who are teaching the Kindergarten Amplify Science Needs of Plants and Animals unit. One of the optional topics requires access to the unit, and another includes reflecting on your localizing efforts while teaching it.  If you are not teaching the unit, please consider taking our “Localize your Science Classroom Asynchronously” course or one of our “Introduction to Localizing” Workshops. They provide localizing strategies, examples, and scaffolding that can be used with ANY science unit at any grade level.