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Science
Regional Prioritized Curriculum
Grade 6
Living Environment
Standard 4:
Key Idea 6:
Background:
Students will understand and apply scientific concepts, principles, and theories pertaining to the physical setting and living environment and
recognize the historical development of ideas in science.
Plants and animals depend on each other and their physical environment.
An environmentally aware citizen should have an understanding of the natural world. All organisms interact with one another and are dependent upon their physical environment. Energy and matter flow
from one organism to another. Matter is recycled in ecosystems. Energy enters ecosystems as sunlight, and is eventually lost to the environment, mostly as heat.
Guiding Questions:
What us the role of the sun in an ecosystem?
How do organisms relate to each other in ecosystems?
What makes the ecosystem a system?
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Standard 4: Key Idea 6: Performance Indicator 6.1: Describe the flow of energy and matter through food chains and food webs.
Essential Knowledge/Skills
(Major Understandings)
6.1a Energy flows through ecosystems in one direction, usually
from the Sun, through producers to consumer and then
to decomposers. This process maybe visualized with food
chains or energy pyramids.
Classroom Ideas

6.1b Food webs identify feeding relationships among
producers, consumers, and decomposers in an ecosystem.
6.1c Matter is transferred from one organism to another and
between organisms and their physical environment.
Water, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and oxygen are example
of substances cycled between the living and nonliving
environment.


Field trip to a local ecosystem (Madison- Oneida
BOCES Nature Trails).
- Provide guided questions before the trip for
each student.
- Class discussion about what was observed on the
trip.
- Focus on the interaction between plants and
various organisms.
- Illustrations of food chain, web, and pyramid
using graphic organizers.
- Label with vocabulary.
Continue to use the same model to discuss sources of
and path of energy and matter in the system.
Research and present information on the organisms
in the food web they identified and how they
function as a system.
Assessment Ideas

Teacher observations

Student responses

Journal entries

Student demonstrations

Lab reports/summaries

Teacher-developed and studentdeveloped rubrics for performance
tasks and projects
Time/Notes
Ex. Assess illustrations of food chains,
webs, etc. for accuracy and
understanding.
Ex. Assess food web presentations for
depth of information and understanding of
the total system.
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Standard 4:
Key Idea 7:
Background:
Students will understand and apply scientific concepts, principles, and theories pertaining to the physical setting and living environment and
recognize the historical development of ideas in science.
Human decisions and activities have had a profound impact on the physical and living environment.
The number of organisms an ecosystem can support depends on the resources available and physical factors; quantity of light, air, and water; range of temperature, and soil composition. To ensure the
survival of our planet, people have a responsibility to consider the impact of their actions on the environment.
Guiding Questions:
How is balance important to a system?
Why is interdependence important to a system?
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Standard 4: Key Idea 7: Performance Indicator 7.1: Describe how living things, including humans, depend upon the living and nonliving environment for
their survival.
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Essential Knowledge/Skills
(Major Understandings)
7.1a A population consists of all individuals of a species that
occur together at a given place and time. Populations
living in one place form a community. The community and
the physical factors with which it interacts compose an
ecosystem.
Classroom Ideas

Students research, in teams, 1 of the major biomes.
Then they will plan and create a visual display/model
for a “walk through” exhibit at a theme park. It must
include major plant and animal species, as well as the
physical features of the region. Relationships
between species must be described and
demonstrated in the exhibit.

Teacher observations

Student responses

Journal entries

Student demonstrations
Relate to overpopulation in animal species and natural
limitation. Compare to limitations on humans.
Research/find examples of overpopulation of both
humans and animals in current events. Create a
presentation that demonstrates how overpopulation
has changed the region researched.

Lab reports/summaries

Teacher-developed and studentdeveloped rubrics for performance
tasks and projects
7.1b Given adequate resources and no disease or predators,
populations (including humans) increase at rapid rates.
Lack of resources, habitat destruction, and other
factors, such as predation and climate, limit the growth
of certain populations in the ecosystem.

7.1c In all environments, organisms interact with one another
in many ways. Relationships among organisms may be
competitive, harmful, or beneficial. Some species have
adapted to be dependent upon each other with the
result that neither could survive without the other.

7.1d Some Microorganisms are essential to the survival of
other living things.

See 6.1a, 6.1b, 7.1a, and 7.1c
7.1e The environment may contain dangerous levels of
substances that are harmful to organisms (pollutants).
Therefore, the good health of environments and
individuals requires monitoring the soil, air, water and
taking steps to keep them safe.

See 7.1b

Assessment Ideas
See 7.1a
Time/Notes
Ex. Evaluate the biome project using a
rubric to assess the content and visual
display.
Ex. Assess presentations for
reasonableness of explanations.
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Standard 4: Key Idea 7: Performance Indicator 7.2: Describe the effects of environmental changes on humans and other populations.
Essential Knowledge/Skills
(Major Understandings)
7.2a In ecosystems, balance is the result of interactions
between the community members and their
environment.
Classroom Ideas

See 7.1b
7.2b The environment may be altered through the activities
of organisms. Alterations are sometimes abrupt, and
some species may replace other over time, resulting in
longterm gradual changes (ecological succession).

7.2c Overpopulation by any species impacts the environment
due to the increased use of resources. Human activities
can bring about environmental degradation through
resource acquisition, urban growth, land-use decisions,
and waste disposal etc.

See 7.1b
7.2d Since the Industrial Revolution, human activities have
resulted in major pollution of air, water, and soil.
Pollution has cumulative ecological effects such as acid
rain, global warming, or ozone depletion. The survival of
living things on our planet depends on the conservation
and protection of Earth’s resources.

See 7.2b

Use newspaper and magazine articles to discuss
human impact on the environment (pollution, oil spills,
rain forest destruction)
Debate positive and negative aspects of human
activities in a given area. Students design possible
solutions.
Assessment Ideas

Teacher observations

Student responses

Journal entries

Student demonstrations

Lab reports/summaries

Teacher-developed and studentdeveloped rubrics for performance
tasks and projects
Time/Notes
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Resource Materials
Title
Source
Kids As Global Scientists
www.onesky.umich.edu
Heath Life Science
DC Heath and Co.
ISBN#0-669-113662
Prentice Hall
ISBN# 0-13-807652-9
Reader’s Digest
ISBN# 0-89577-612-x
Prentice Hall
ISBN# 0-13-423443-x
The Center for Applied Research in Education
ISBN# 0-87628-304-0
Exploring Earth Science / Lab manual
How the Weather Works
Ecology - The Earth’s Living Resources
Environmental Science Activities Kit
(Hands on activities for students)
Title
Source
Grade 6 Living Environment, Summer 2000
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Grade 6 Living Environment, Summer 2000
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