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New York Science Companion
Grade 5 & Grade 8
Prepare for the New York science tests
New York Science Standards-based instruction, practice, and assessment build students' mastery for New York tests.
Each lesson develops a New York State Science Standards-based skill through four steps to success—skill/concept introduction, guided instruction, guided practice, and independent practice. Instruction follows a gradual release of responsibility model to optimize learning.
Three full-length practice tests diagnose proficiency, measure progress, and ensure mastery and stamina for the New York science exams. Question types include:
- Multiple-choice
- Fill-in-the-blank
- Matching
- Short- and long-answer open-ended response
- Multi-select and multi-part multiple choice questions that mimic technology enhanced questions on digital tests
- Unit tests include phenomena-based question clusters to provide state test practice
A New York-specific Teacher Edition aligns the lessons to the state's Science Performance Expectations codes with reproducible Answer Charts for each practice test correlating each test question to the lesson to review that standard. This provides important insight and direction into skill gaps and which lessons should be addressed by student or by class. A variety of implementation guides and video links for each lesson also add options for your teaching.
Titles in This Program
Program Features & Resources
Features
Diagnostic Pretest
A Tryout Test determines strengths and weaknesses and guides individual instruction by directing students to specific lessons that address learning gaps. Questions are modeled after those found on new NGSS-based state assessments.
Lesson Structure
Each lesson develops a New York standards-based science skill through four steps to success—skill/concept introduction, guided instruction, guided practice, and independent practice. Instruction follows a gradual release of responsibility model to optimize learning.
- Prepare students through concept introduction and Bright Ideas! activities.
- A familiar Question & Answer format provides a practical, real-world presentation of the overarching concepts reviewed and practiced in the lesson.
- Bright Ideas! phenomenon-based prompts offer students an opportunity for group collaboration to analyze a real-world application of the lesson concepts.
- Get Started readings review science concepts using an active reading approach to engage students with the text through in-line critical thinking questions and annotation strategies. The critical thinking questions often represent Crosscutting Concepts or Science and Engineering Practices associated with the standard.
- Get Started guided practice checks students’ comprehension through multiple choice questions with continually decreasing scaffolded support. The last question asks students to write or draw a model to demonstrate their understanding.
- On Your Own independent practice builds proficiency. Diagrams and photos often accompany these questions and ask students to draw conclusions based on the science concepts explored in the lesson.
Assessment
There are multiple opportunities for diagnostic, formative, and summative assessment. Questions are modeled after those found on new NGSS-based state assessments.
- multiple-choice
- matching
- short- and long-answer open-ended response
- multi-select and multi-part multiple choice questions that mimic technology enhanced questions on digital tests
The Diagnostic Tryout Test is used to determine individual or class weaknesses and target instruction appropriately.
Each of the three units covering physical science, life science, and earth/space science ends with a unit practice assessment. These interim assessments are perfect for benchmarking your students' progress.
Progress & Mastery Assessments—two additional full-length tests provide ample opportunity to benchmark proficiency and target skills for additional instruction.
Teacher Materials
Teacher Materials
New York-specific Teacher Editions align the lessons to the New York State Science Performance Expectations codes for the grade 5 and grade 8 tests scheduled to be given in Sprng 2024 and include:
- Detailed answers for all the activities, lesson questions, and tests.
- Reproducible answer charts for the Tryout Test, Progress Test, and Mastery Test correlate each test question to the related state science standard and the lesson to review that standard. This provides important insight and direction into skill gaps and which lessons should be addressed by student or by class.
- Implementation guidance for using the New York Science Companion in a variety of ways.
- Targeted Instruction based on diagnosed student needs.
- Targeted Review throughout the year after the completion of a related unit of study.
- Comprehensive Review at least six weeks before the state science test as a complete review of the skills and standards to be assessed.
- Video Links to YouTube videos correlated to the New York performance expectation each will support.
Look Inside