Professional Materials:  Santa Ana, California

Throughout Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the RISE program within the Santa Ana Unified School District, several resources were co-created by the RISE team and teachers that supports the units outlined in the preschool / TK curriculum. These resources include family engagement tools, classroom learning experiences, teacher application resources and more.

All of the resources shared here are for you to use or to inspire you to create other items that will connect, deepen and extend children’s STE learning.

Science Is All Around Us

Summary of the The California Preschool/Transitional Kindergarten Learning Foundations 

The California Preschool/Transitional Kindergarten Learning Foundations provided guidance for developing and implementing three dimensional science experiences for children of all ages.  This summary sheet provides a brief overview of the learning foundations related to science.

Connect – Deepen- Extend Worksheet:

This worksheet helps guide the user through the steps of not only planning a connected, or integrated experience, but also deepened and extended experiences across units, crosscutting concepts, and more.

Science During Mealtime

During a brainstorming session with teachers, ideas were generated that highlight many of the ways science may surface during mealtimes.

Community, Community Helpers and Health

Community Helpers Family Engagement Sheet

This family engagement sheet invites families to share a story about an experience with a community helper, providing you insight into who families see as community helpers, their own experiences, and facts about each.

My Healthy Habit Family Engagement Sheet

As a way to discover how families stay healthy, both physically and mentally, this sheet asks families to share one of their healthy habits.

Photo on right:  Families in Madison’s part day preschool classroom were invited to build models of places they frequently visit within the community.

Seasons

Celebrating Fall Family Engagement Sheet (English/Spanish)

This family engagement sheet allows families to share how they enjoy time together during the fall.

Day of the Dead Family Engagement Sheet

A popular holiday in Santa Ana, this family engagement sheet invites families who celebrate the holiday to share details as to how their family recognizes and embraces it.

Winter in Santa Ana

Winters in Santa Ana are not exactly what we typically think of or see displayed in story books.  This sheet highlights some of the ways Santa Ana families think of and experience winter.

Plants and Foods

Caring For Our Plants

This family engagement sheet invites families to share how they care for plants and gardens that they have.

Connect – Deepen – Extend:  Farms and Food Sources

See how one school built on family funds of knowledge within this unit, deepened children’s understanding of needs of living thing and planned to extend the learning into the following unit on insects.

CARVER: During a unit on farms, a child brought in his chickens from home so that children could observe their physical characteristics.

DAVIS: While investigating ice within a unit on winter, children used their senses to compare and contrast the physical properties of water.

EDISON: After children brought in leaves from their neighborhoods, children compared them, observed change, and documented them according to different characteristics (e.g., color).

PIO PICO: As part of a unit on health, children and families shared the ways they stay healthy and strong through this family engagement sheet.

MADISON: Integrating science, art, and social justice, students were tasked with creating a paint color that matched their own skin tone by mixing colors and noticing the changes.

HEROES:  A unit on community helpers surfaced a variety of jobs that family members held, one being a vet tech.  This led to a transformation of the dramatic play area, which then led to investigations around light when children were fascinated with the “x-ray machine”.

ADAMS FD: With many children talking about the pine trees they have seen during the holidays, the children began to investigate these trees, including their pinecones.  Children observed their characteristics and created observational drawings.

DIAMOND: Within a unit on transportation, children investigated the structure and function of wheels, noticed on many of their own modes of getting to school, by understanding that round things roll.