Download Kindergarten Science Curriculum

Kindergarten Science Curriculum
Scientific Process
Assessment Anchors
S4.A.1.3, S4.A.2.1, S4.A.2.2, S4.A.3.3, S4.A.1.1.1, S4.A.3.2, S4.A.3.1
Essential Questions
What is a scientist?
What tools do scientists use to make sense of their world?
Skills
Students as scientists…
•
Speak logically and rationally using scientific vocabulary.
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Observe carefully; make sensible predictions and state hypothesis.
•
Practice generating questions.
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Collect information.
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Design own investigations, experiment and state conclusions.
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Support conclusions with data or reassess if necessary.
•
Use notebooks to record and study data through experiences,
observations, and thinking.
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Use scientific tools appropriately.
•
Practice generating questions and use questions as tools for
learning.
•
Find answers to expand knowledge and exercise higher level
THINKING skills.
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Learn to identify and describe by categorizing and classifying
similarities and differences.
•
Learn to identify and describe relationships among parts of a
familiar system.
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•
Observe patterns, variables, and different characteristics of living
and non living things to make sense of the world.
•
Distinguish between scientific fact and opinion.
•
Use the five senses to make connections from what is already
known to new information.
•
Understand and use models to illustrate simple concepts.
•
Love science and THINK it is fun.
*All of the above connect to EDM.
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Life Science- Living Systems
Exploring structures and properties of living things
Exploring life processes and interactions
Assessment Anchors
Essential Questions
S4.A.2.1.1, S4.A.2.1.3, S4.A.2.1.4, S4.A.3.3.1, S4.A.3.3.2, S4.B.1.1.1,
S4.B.1.1.3, S4.B.1.1.4, S4.B.1.1.5, S4.B.2.1.1, S4.B.3.1.2, S4.B.3.2.3,
S4.C.1.1.2, S4.B.1.1
What are the similarities and differences among living and nonliving
things? (EDM)
Describe the relationship and connection between plants and animals.
(EDM)
Choose two animals from different habitats and describe how they adapt
to their environments. (EDM)
How are you and a plant similar and different from each other? (EDM)
Enduring Understandings
Living things have basic needs; food, water, air, space to grow, and
shelter.
All living things (animals and plants) have body parts or structures that
help them grow/move, stay safe, and learn about their world.
The length of time from birth to death is called a life cycle. Life cycles of
different animals vary.
All living things deserve respect and gentle care.
Defense mechanisms play an important role in the cycle of prey and
predator in all animals.
Animals adapt to their habitats in a variety of ways which include
coloration, defense mechanisms, movement, hibernation and migration.
Animals are nocturnal or diurnal.
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Content
The students will understand-
Animals
Mammals
Common Characteristics•
Most born alive
•
Fur or hair
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Milk from mother
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Warm blooded
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Breathe with lungs
Examples- whales, duck billed platypus, bumblebee bat
Amphibians
Common Characteristics•
Wet skin
•
No hair, feathers, or scales
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Cold blooded
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Part time land/water
•
Most hatch from eggs
Examples-frog, toad, salamanders
Reptiles
Common Characteristics•
Most come from eggs
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Scaly skin
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Cold blooded
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Most swim
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Breathe with lungs
Examples-turtle, alligator, snake
Birds
Common Characteristics•
Beaks, feathers, 2 legs, 2 wings, backbone
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Most fly
•
Lay eggs
•
Some migrate
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No teeth
•
Only some build nests
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Hatch from hard shell eggs
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Warm blooded
•
Breathe with lungs
Examples- humming bird, ostrich, penguin
Fish
Common Characteristics•
Covered in scales
•
Most hatch from eggs
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Live in water
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Use fins and tails to move
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Breathe through gills
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Cold blooded
Examples-salmon, shark, clownfish
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Insects
Common characteristics•
3 body parts-head, thorax and abdomen
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6 legs attached to the thorax
•
Legs and feet are for tasting, hearing,
holding prey, carrying pollen
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Most have wings
•
Nearly all have antennae to feel, taste, smell,
hear
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Prey to birds, frogs and bats
•
Most hatch from eggs
•
Symmetry (EDM) butterflies/mothscocoons/chrysalises
•
Help people- produce honey, silk, and wax,
eat harmful bugs, are tools for research,
provide enjoyment, and help plants by
pollinating
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Harm people- they stink, sting, and bite, eat
food and clothing, carry disease, and look
scary
•
For defense some camouflage, sting, smell,
escape, hide, play dead, and use mimicry
Examples –ant, ladybug, walking stick
Hibernation
Animals hibernate to escape the cold and because there is a limited
supply of food.
Common characteristics•
Drop in body temperature
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Slower heartbeat
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Increase in body fat
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Conservation of energy
Degrees of hibernation vary.
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Light sleepers wake up to defend themselves
against predators, to eat, and/or to mate
Examples- skunks, some snakes, ladybugs
•
Heavy sleepers cannot wake up to defend
themselves against predators.
Examples- bats, some turtles, queen bees
Common habitats•
Burrows-chipmunks, ground hogs, jumping mouse
•
Dens and caves-bears, bats
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Under stones, leaves and logs-snakes, snails,
raccoons, skunks
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Crevices-insects
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Mud-frogs, turtles, alligators
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Cocoons and chrysalises-moths and butterflies
Migration
Animals migrate to escape the cold, to find food, to have babies,
and/or to hibernate.
Examples
•
To find food- whales, reindeer, some birds
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To have babies- salmon, monarch butterflies, turtles
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To hibernate- ladybugs, toads, bats
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The longest migration is the arctic tern from the
North Pole to the South Pole.
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•
Skills
The shortest migration is the deer from the
mountain to the valley, the toad from the garden to
the pond, and the ladybug from the garden to the
crack in the wall.
The students will be able to –
1. Compare and contrast two different animal groups. (EDM)
2. Categorize animals according to different characteristics.
3. Use pictorial experiences to heighten their awareness of the
different animal families.
4. Develop an understanding for all living things.
5. Develop a growing curiosity and interest in all living things.
6. Explain the difference between hibernation and migration.
7. Understand the difference between light and heavy sleepers.
8. Use scientific vocabulary to describe different animal families.
9. Express an understanding of content using scientific notebooks.
Content
The students will understand-
Plants
Common Characteristics•
Structures of most plants include seeds,
roots, stems, leaves, flowers, and fruit.
•
Roots take in water and hold the plant in the
ground, stems carry the water and nutrients
to the leaves and hold up the plant, leaves
make the food for the plant and give off
oxygen, flowers make seeds, new plants
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grow from seeds, the fruit provides a
covering for the seed.
•
Most plants need room to grow, the right
temperature, light, water, air, nutrients and
time to grow.
•
We need plants for oxygen, food for people
and animals, shelter, animal habitats, and
products such as medicine.
•
Plants can be identified and sorted by
looking at their structures: shapes of leaves,
seeds, flowers, or bark.
Examples- fruits, flowers, vegetables, herbs, trees
Skills
The students will be able to1. Plant and care for seeds providing the elements necessary for
survival.
2. Observe growth over time. (EDM)
3. Label the parts of a plant.
4. Use scientific vocabulary to describe different plants and their
needs.
5. Express an understanding of content using scientific notebooks.
TREES
FOSS kit content
The students will understandFall Trees
Trees have identifiable structures.
Trees are a resource to people and other animals.
Trees are growing, living organisms.
Trees have basic needs, including water, light, and nutrients from
soil.
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Trees are identifiable from their shapes. (EDM)
Leaves
Leaves have identifiable structures.
Leaf shapes can be compared to geometric shapes. (EDM)
Leaves can be identified by their shapes. (EDM)
Leaves have many properties that can be compared. (EDM)
Trees through the Seasons
Trees have identifiable structures that serve different functions.
Trees change through the seasons.
Trees are a resource. They are useful to people and other animals.
FOSS skills
The students will be able to1. Develop a growing curiosity and interest in living things
that make up their world.
2. Observe and describe the properties of a tree and leaves.
3. Compare the similarities and differences of trees using
pictures and oral language.
4. Help plant and care for a tree temporarily in the classroom.
Then permanently in the schoolyard.
5. Observe trees throughout the school year for changes that
come with different seasons.
6. Compare the shapes of leaves to geometric shapes.(EDM)
7. Observe and compare the size, texture, color and edges of
leaves.
8. Communicate an awareness of the diversity and variety of
tress and leaves.(EDM)
9. Acquire the vocabulary associated with the properties and
structures of trees and leaves.
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Physical Science/Chemistry/Physics
Observing objects and properties of matter
Assessment Anchors
S4.C.1.1, S.4.C.1.1.2
Essential Questions
What are the observable differences and similarities between living
and nonliving things? (EDM)
How many ways can we sort nonliving things? (EDM)
Compare similarities and differences of metal, plastic, and wood.
(EDM)
Observe changes to water while in the sunlight. (EDM)
Enduring Understandings
Objects can be sorted by properties which are observable through
the senses (texture, hardness, mass, shape, size, volume, color,
magnetism, weight, temperature, composition). (EDM)
Tools can be used to learn about the properties of an object.
(EDM)
Objects can change and have new properties.
Content
Skills
The students will understand•
Water is a liquid, ice is a solid, and steam is a vapor.
•
Water freezes to make a solid-ice, ice melts to make liquidwater, and water heats to make a vapor/gas-steam.
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Magnets attract and repel.
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Magnets attract to magnetic surfaces but magnetic surfaces
are not magnets.
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Magnets attract iron and steel.
•
Some objects sink in water, some objects float in water.
(EDM
The students will be able to[11]
1. Freeze water to make a solid (ice), and melt ice to make a
liquid (water).
2. Explore with magnets categorizing objects that attract and
those that do not. (EDM)
3. Predict whether certain objects float or sink. Experiment to
prove hypothesis. (EDM)
4.
Use scientific vocabulary when observing objects and
properties of matter.
5. Express an understanding of content using scientific notebooks.
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Biological Science/Environmental Studies
Exploring the Environment
Assessment Anchors
S4.A.1.3.5, S4.B.3.3.1, S4.B.3.3.2, S4.B.3.3.5, S4.D.1.2.2,
S4.D.1.2.3
Essential Questions
How can I care for the Earth?
How can I save water, energy, and paper in my school and at
home?
What are different ways I used water this week?
What is one thing in the classroom that is made from a land
resource?
Enduring Understandings
We get resources from living and nonliving things to
meet our needs.
Conservation of natural resources is important to survival.
Content
Skills
The students will understand•
Natural resources come from the Earth.
•
Natural resources are things found in nature that are useful
to people.
•
Natural resources include forests, oceans, water, land,
animals, minerals, air and plants.
•
There are negative effects in polluting the air, land and
water.
•
Reusing, recycling, and reducing trash is important.
The students will be able to1. Sort refuse; cardboard/paper and plastic/glass/cans for
recycling.
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2.
Discuss the cause and effect of pollution and our
natural resources.
3. Use scientific vocabulary when observing objects and
properties of matter.
4. Express an understanding of content using scientific
notebooks.
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Earth/Space Science
Exploring weather and seasons
Assessment Anchors
Essential Questions
S4.D.2.1, S4.D.3, S4.B.3.2.3
What is your favorite kind of weather? Why? (EDM)
Why do we need a combination of rainy and sunny days? (EDM)
What are some words that describe the four seasons? (EDM)
How are the daytime and the nighttime skies different and the
same? (EDM)
Enduring Understandings
The four seasons follow yearly patterns and produce observable
changes. (EDM)
Some plants and animals adapt to changes in the season.
Seasonal weather depends on geographic location. (EDM)
The sun is always shining and essential to life because it warms the
land, water and air. (EDM)
Weather is what the outside air is like. (EDM)
Content
The students will understand•
Snow, rain, sleet and hail are types of precipitation. (EDM)
•
It takes 24 hours (one whole day) for the Earth to complete
one rotation. (EDM)
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Daytime sky (EDM)
-The sun gives us light.
-The sun is the only star visible in the daytime.
-Clouds, birds, airplanes, and moon may be visible.
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Nighttime sky (EDM)
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-There is no light from the sun.
-Stars are balls of gas that makes their own light.
- Planets may be visible as they orbit around the
sun.
-The moon is a rock located close to the Earth that
is visible because of the sun’s light.
-Earth is one of the eight planets.
-Earth is covered by land and water.
Skills
•
Plants experience seasonal changes.
•
Animals experience seasonal changes.
The students will be able to1. Identify different types of precipitation.
2. Observe and describe the daytime sky.
3. Observe and describe the nighttime sky.
4. Explain how plants and animals adapt to seasonal
changes.
5. Use scientific tools and vocabulary to describe and
understand weather and seasons. (FOSS)
6. Express an understanding of content using scientific
notebooks.
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