Science Fusion

little317 · #1 07-19-2011, 05:29 PM

Has anyone used the Science Fusion series from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt? Our district just adopted this as our new science series. I looked on the website to check out the online materials.

Ms.Jasztal · #2 07-20-2011, 05:13 PM

HALLELUJAH!!!!!!!

I have been thinking of what our new science series is called, on and off, for the past month or so. It looks nice with interactive workbooks and kid-friendly language. Inquiry is a huge component as well!

Did you see the resources at the end of the school year on display? We had our two potential series laid out at PLC before we cast our ballots.

little317 · #3 07-20-2011, 05:22 PM

I'm excited that even kindergarten has a workbook to use.

Ms.Jasztal · #4 07-20-2011, 05:23 PM

They do? I haven't seen kindergarten's, just the upper grades. I have also only seen one website online... it doesn't say much. Have you seen anything in-depth about the series online?

little317 · #5 07-20-2011, 05:38 PM

I went in as an evaluater, so there was only a sampling of online material.

The consumable workbooks look nice. Great color photos and very simple print. The inquiry flipchart was much better quality than the Scott Foresman charts we had. Everything else was still boxed up. I really would like to see the leveled readers. If there is an audio cd to go with them that would be awesome. I may be pushing my luck on that. I'm just hoping there is more substance with this series.

Ms.Jasztal · #6 07-20-2011, 07:20 PM

Every teacher in our school had to be an evaluator during our PLC time, so I thought that was great. We had Scott Foresman prior to this as well. We never had charts in grade 4, but we had workbooks. These workbooks are a lot better, and they correlate with my new inquiry focus!!!! There seems to be a lot of substance and great materials for experimentation.

I think I saw some magazines that correlate with the series, too... I also believe I saw some type of audio support, but I am not certain.

Here are some pdf files from Fusion: http://hmheducation.com/sciencefusio...d-learning.php

The bottom of this pg. mentions kindergarten: http://hmheducation.com/sciencefusio...curriculum.php

amakaye · #7 07-21-2011, 10:48 AM

We've adopted Fusion as well for next year. I also like the emphasis on inquiry, but the fact that they didn't sacrifice content is great too. We have materials trickling in, so so far I only have the student workbooks and the leveled readers. I like that the leveled readers aren't just the text, like the SF ones were. They are actually enrichment/supplement! All through my samples, it kept mentioning the online materials. I'm hoping they are good...

swansong1 · #8 07-21-2011, 01:10 PM

I was on my district's committee last year to choose a new science series. We looked extensively at Fusion and I liked much of what I saw. The only problem I noticed with upper grades is that the activity pages in the book (crossword puzzles, fill ins, etc) had the answers posted on the bottom of the pages. To me it means that those pages are pretty much wasted space.

amakaye · #9 07-21-2011, 01:16 PM

In my books, there is one activity with the answers on the bottom, and then the others don't have them. I plan on using those in-class for quick check type things.