Elementary K-5

Kindergarten

In Kindergarten, students answer questions such as: “What happens if you push or pull an object harder? Where do animals live, and why do they live there? What is the weather like today, and how is it different from yesterday?” In Unit 1, students develop an understanding of what plants and animals (including humans) need to survive and the relationship between their needs and where they live. In Unit 2, students develop an understanding of patterns and variations in local weather and the purpose of weather forecasting to prepare for and respond to severe weather. In Unit 3, students apply an understanding of the effects of different strengths or different directions of pushes and pulls on the motion of an object to analyze their design solution. In Unit 4, students learn about the ways that scientists learn about the natural world and engineers solve problems and engage in the science and engineering practices to learn about rocks and solve the problem of pollution in the oceans.

Science Pacing Guides

Unit 1 | Introduction to Plants and Animals

Essential/Priority Standards

Use observations to describe patterns of what plants and animals (including humans) need to survive.
Use a model to represent the relationship between the needs of different plants and animals (including humans) and the places they live.
Develop a simple sketch, drawing, or physical model to illustrate how the shape of an object helps it function as needed to solve a given problem.

Essential Question(s)

Overarching Questions

How do organisms live, grow, respond to their environment, and reproduce?
How do Earth’s surface processes and human activities affect each other?

Enduring Understanding

Patterns

Patterns in the natural and human-designed world can be observed and used as evidence.
Systems and System Models
Systems in the natural and designed world have parts that work together.

Unit 2 | Playground Cooldown

Essential/Priority Standards

Make observations to determine the effect of sunlight on Earth’s surface.
Use tools and materials to design and build a structure that will reduce the warming effect of sunlight on an area.
Use and share observations of local weather conditions to describe patterns over time.
Ask questions to obtain information about the purpose of weather forecasting to prepare for, and respond to, severe weather.
Analyze data from tests of two objects designed to solve the same problem to compare the strengths and weaknesses of how each performs.

Essential Question(s)

Overarching Questions:

How is energy transferred and conserved?
How and why is Earth constantly changing?
How do Earth’s surface processes and human activities affect each other?

Students will Understand

Cause and Effect

Events have causes that generate observable patterns.
Patterns
Patterns in the natural world can be observed, used to describe phenomena, and used as evidence.

Unit 3 | Make it Go

Essential/Priority Standards

Plan and conduct an investigation to compare the effects of different strengths or different directions of pushes and pulls on the motion of an object.
Analyze data to determine if a design solution works as intended to change the speed or direction of an object with a push or a pull.
Describe ways to change the motion of an object (i.e., how to cause an object to go slower, faster, go farther, change direction, stop.)
Analyze data from tests of two objects designed to solve the same problem to compare the strengths and weaknesses of how each performs.

Essential Question(s)

How can one explain and predict interactions between objects and within systems of objects?

Students will Understand

Cause and Effect

Simple tests can be designed to gather evidence to support or refute student ideas about causes.

Unit 4 | River Rescue

Essential/Priority Standards

Communicate solutions that will reduce the impact of humans on the land, water, air, and/or other living things in the local environment.
Make qualitative observations of the physical properties of objects (i.e., size, shape, color, mass).

Essential Question(s)

Overarching Question

How do Earth’s surface processes and human activities affect each other?

Students will Understand

Cause and Effect

Events have causes that generate observable patterns.

Grade 1

In first grade, students begin to answer questions, such as: “What happens when materials vibrate? What happens when there is no light? What are some ways plants and animals meet their needs so that they can survive and grow? How are parents and their children similar and different? What objects are in the sky, and how do they seem to move?” Students will develop an understanding of how plants and animals use their external parts to help them survive, grow, and meet their needs, as well as how behaviors of parents and offspring help the offspring survive. The understanding is developed that young plants and animals are like but not exactly the same as their parents. Students are able to observe, describe, and predict some patterns of the movement of objects in the sky. Students will develop an understanding of the relationship between sound and vibrating materials, as well as between the availability of light and the ability to see objects. The idea that light travels from place to place can be understood by students at this level through determining the effect of placing objects made with different materials in the path of a beam of light.

Science Pacing Guides

Unit 1 | Tiny Flyers

Essential/Priority Standards/Performance Expectation(s)

Read texts and use media to determine patterns in behavior of parents and offspring that help offspring survive.
Make observations to construct an evidence-based account that young plants and animals are like, but not exactly like, their parents.
Construct an argument supported by evidence for how plants and animals (including humans) can change the environment to meet their needs.
Analyze data from tests of two objects designed to solve the same problem to compare the strengths and weaknesses of how each performs.

Essential Question(s)

Overarching Questions

How do organisms live, grow, respond to their environment, and reproduce?
How are characteristics of one generation passed to the next?
How can individuals of the same species and even siblings have different characteristics?

Students Will Understand

Patterns

Patterns in the natural and human designed world can be observed, used to describe phenomena, and used as evidence.

Unit 2 | Mastering Mimicry

Essential/Priority Standards/Performance Expectation(s)

Use observations to describe patterns of what plants and animals (including humans) need to survive.
Use materials to design a solution to a human problem by mimicking how plants and/or animals use their external parts to help them survive, grow, and meet their needs.
Make observations to construct an evidence-based account that young plants and animals are like, but not exactly like, their parents.
Analyze data from tests of two objects designed to solve the same problem to compare the strengths and weaknesses of how each performs.

Essential Question(s)

Overarching Questions:

How do organisms live, grow, respond to their environment, and reproduce?
How are the characteristics of one generation passed to the next?
How can individuals of the same species and even siblings have different characteristics?

Students will Understand

Structure and Function

The shape and stability of structures of natural and designed objects are related to their function(s).

Patterns

Patterns in the natural and human-designed world can be observed, used to describe phenomena, and used as evidence.

Unit 3 | Sun and Moon

Essential/Priority Standards/Performance Expectation(s)

Use observations of the sun, moon, and stars to describe patterns that can be predicted.
Make observations at different times of year to relate the amount of daylight to the time of year.
Describe the presence of the sun, moon and stars in the sky over time.

Essential Question(s)

Overarching Questions

What is the universe, and what is Earth’s place in it?

Students will Understand

Patterns

Patterns in the natural world can be observed, used to describe phenomena, and used as evidence.

Unit 4 | Putting on a Show with Light and Sound

Essential/Priority Standards

Plan and conduct investigations to provide evidence that vibrating materials can make sound and that sound can make materials vibrate.
Make observations to construct an evidence-based account that objects can be seen only when illuminated.
Plan and conduct an investigation to determine the effect of placing objects made with different materials in the path of a beam of light.
Use tools and materials to design and build a device that uses light or sound to solve the problem of communicating over a distance.
Plan and conduct investigations to provide evidence that changes in vibration create changes in sound.

Essential Question(s)

Overarching Question

How are waves used to transfer energy and information?

Students will Understand

Cause and Effect

Simple tests can be designed to gather evidence to support or refute student ideas about causes.

Grade 2

In second grade, students formulate answers to questions such as: “How does land change, and what are some things that cause it to change? How are materials similar and different from one another, and how do the properties of the materials relate to their use? What do plants need to grow? How many types of living things live in a place?” Students develop an understanding of what plants need to grow and how plants depend on animals for seed dispersal and pollination. Students compare the diversity of life in different habitats. Students apply their understanding of the idea that wind and water can change the shape of the land to compare design solutions to slow or prevent such change. An understanding of observable properties of materials is developed by students through analysis and classification of different materials. Students study materials to design the best habitat for a penguin and then take on the role of paleontologist to apply science and engineering practices to study prehistoric animals and design specialized tools.

Science Pacing Guides

Unit 1 | Helping Seeds Travel

Essential/Priority Standards

Plan and conduct an investigation to determine if plants need sunlight and water to grow.
Develop a simple model that mimics the function of an animal in dispersing seeds or pollinating plants.
Make observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in different habitats.

Essential Question(s):

How and why do organisms interact with their environment and what are the effect of these interactions?
How can there be so many similarities among organisms yet so many different kinds of plants, animals, and microorganisms?
How does biodiversity affect humans?

Students will Understand:

Cause and Effect

Events have causes that generate observable patterns.

Structure and Function

The shape and stability of structures of natural and designed objects are related to their function(s).

Unit 2 | Saving the Sand Dunes

Essential/Priority Standards

Use information from several sources to provide evidence that Earth events can occur quickly or slowly.
Compare multiple solutions designed to slow or prevent wind or water from changing the shape of the land.
Develop a model to represent the shapes and kinds of land and bodies of water in an area.
Obtain information to identify where water is found on Earth and that it can be solid or liquid.

Essential Question(s):

Overarching Questions

What is the universe, and what is Earth’s place in it?
How and why is Earth constantly changing?

Students will Understand:

Stability and Change

Things may change slowly or rapidly.

Patterns

Patterns in the natural world can be observed.

Unit 3 | A Home for a Penguin

Essential/Priority Standards

Plan and conduct an investigation to describe and classify different kinds of materials by their observable properties.
Analyze data obtained from testing different materials to determine which materials have the properties that are best suited for an intended purpose.
Make observations to construct an evidence-based account of how an object made of a small set of pieces can be disassembled and made into a new object.
Construct an argument with evidence that some changes caused by heating or cooling can be reversed and some cannot.
Predict and investigate that water can change from a liquid to a solid (freeze), and back again (melt), from a liquid to a gas (evaporation), and back again (condensation) as the result of temperature changes.

Essential Question(s):

Overarching Question

How can one explain the structure, properties, and interactions of matter?

Students will Understand:

Patterns

Patterns in the natural and human designed world can be observed.

Cause and Effect

Simple tests can be designed to gather evidence to support or refute student ideas about causes.
Events have causes that generate observable patterns.

Energy and Matter

Objects may break into smaller pieces and be put together into larger pieces, or change shapes.

Unit 4 | Exploring Earth

Essential/Priority Standards

Make observations to construct an evidence-based account of how an object made of a small set of pieces can be disassembled and made into a new object.
Plan and conduct an investigation to describe and classify different kinds of materials by their observable properties.
Ask questions, make observations, and gather information about a situation people want to change. Define a simple problem that can be solved through the development of a new or improved object or tool.
Analyze data from tests of two objects designed to solve the same problem to compare the strengths and weaknesses of how each performs.

Essential Question(s):

Overarching Questions

How can one explain the structure, properties, and interactions of matter?

Students will Understand:

Energy and Matter

Objects may break into smaller pieces and be put together into larger pieces, or change shapes.

Grade 3

In third grade, students answer questions such as: “What is typical weather in different parts of the world and during different times of the year? How do organisms vary in their traits? How are plants, animals, and environments of the past similar or different from current plants, animals, and environments? What happens to organisms when their environment changes? How do equal and unequal forces on an object affect the object? Students develop an understanding of types of organisms that lived long ago and also about the nature of their environments. They are introduced to the idea that when the environment changes, some organisms survive and reproduce, some move to new locations, some move into the transformed environment, and some die. Students explore the similarities and differences of organisms’ life cycles. They figure out that organisms have different inherited traits, and these traits affect their ability to survive and reproduce. Students are introduced to the idea that different types of foods are grown in different regions of the world. They compare climate differences between their area and other places and how this determines which types of plants can be grown. Next, students are introduced to the problem of frost affecting plants that are growing. Students investigate how frost forms and how it affects plants. Students analyze seasonal weather to understand how plants can be protected based on predictable weather patterns. Students then engineer and test solutions to protect plants from the hazard of frost. Students are introduced to the problem of a carnival missing a pinball machine. They investigate games that use force in order to gather data on how objects move. They use patterns in data as evidence to describe how balanced and unbalanced forces affect the motion of an object. They plan investigations to collect evidence about the effects of gravity on objects. They connect these ideas to their pinball game and think about how they can make the pinball move in their pinball machine. Students brainstorm possible tricks they could add to their pinball machine. They use data from their investigation to identify cause-and-effect relationships in motion caused by magnetic force. They apply all earlier standards to develop, build, and test a pinball machine with tricks.

Science Pacing Guides

Unit 1 | Adapting to Change

Essential/Priority Standards

Construct an argument that some animals form groups that help members survive.
Analyze and interpret data from fossils to provide evidence of the organisms and the environments in which they lived long ago.
Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat some organisms can survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all.
Make a claim about the merit of a solution to a problem caused when the environment changes and the types of plants and animals that live there may change.

Essential Question(s):

Overarching Questions

How and why do organisms interact with their environment, and what are the effects of these interactions?
How can there be so many similarities among organisms yet so many different kinds of plants, animals, and microorganisms?
How does biodiversity affect humans?

Students will Understand:

Cause and Effect

Cause and effect relationships are routinely identified and used to explain change.

Scale, Proportion, and Quantity

Observable phenomena exist from very short to very long time periods.

Systems and System Models

A system can be described in terms of its components and their interactions.

Unit 2 | Change Over Time

Essential/Priority Standards/Performance Expectation(s)

Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence of the effects of balanced and unbalanced forces on the motion of an object.
Make observations and/or measurements of an object’s motion to provide evidence that a pattern can be used to predict future motion.
Ask questions to determine cause and effect relationships of electric or magnetic interactions
between two objects not in contact with each other.
Define a simple design problem that can be solved by applying scientific ideas about magnets.

Essential Question(s):

Overarching Questions

How can one explain and predict interactions between objects and within systems of objects?

Students will Understand:

Patterns

Patterns of change can be used to make predictions.

Cause and Effect

Cause and effect relationships are routinely identified, tested, and used to explain change.

Unit 3 | Guardians of the Garden

Essential/Priority Standards

Represent data in tables and graphical displays to describe typical weather conditions expected during a particular season.
Obtain and combine information to describe climates in different regions of the world.
Make a claim about the merit of a design solution that reduces the impacts of a weather-related hazard.

Essential Question(s):

Overarching Questions

How and why is Earth constantly changing?
How do Earth’s surface processes and human activities affect each other?

Students will Understand:

Patterns

Patterns of change can be used to make predictions.

Cause and Effect

Cause and effect relationships are routinely identified, tested, and used to explain change.

Unit 4 | Pinball Wizard

Essential/Priority Standards

Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence of the effects of balanced and unbalanced forces on the motion of an object.
Make observations and/or measurements of an object’s motion to provide evidence that a pattern can be used to predict future motion.
Ask questions to determine cause and effect relationships of electric or magnetic interactions between two objects not in contact with each other.
Define a simple design problem that can be solved by applying scientific ideas about magnets.

Essential Question(s):

Overarching Questions

How can one explain and predict interactions between objects and within systems of objects?

Students will Understand:

Patterns

Patterns of change can be used to make predictions.

Cause and Effect

Cause and effect relationships are routinely identified, tested, and used to explain change.

Grade 4

In third grade, students answer questions such as: “What is typical weather in different parts of the world and during different times of the year? How do organisms vary in their traits? How are plants, animals, and environments of the past similar or different from current plants, animals, and environments? What happens to organisms when their environment changes? How do equal and unequal forces on an object affect the object? Students develop an understanding of types of organisms that lived long ago and also about the nature of their environments. They are introduced to the idea that when the environment changes, some organisms survive and reproduce, some move to new locations, some move into the transformed environment, and some die. Students explore the similarities and differences of organisms’ life cycles. They figure out that organisms have different inherited traits, and these traits affect their ability to survive and reproduce. Students are introduced to the idea that different types of foods are grown in different regions of the world. They compare climate differences between their area and other places and how this determines which types of plants can be grown. Next, students are introduced to the problem of frost affecting plants that are growing. Students investigate how frost forms and how it affects plants. Students analyze seasonal weather to understand how plants can be protected based on predictable weather patterns. Students then engineer and test solutions to protect plants from the hazard of frost. Students are introduced to the problem of a carnival missing a pinball machine. They investigate games that use force in order to gather data on how objects move. They use patterns in data as evidence to describe how balanced and unbalanced forces affect the motion of an object. They plan investigations to collect evidence about the effects of gravity on objects. They connect these ideas to their pinball game and think about how they can make the pinball move in their pinball machine. Students brainstorm possible tricks they could add to their pinball machine. They use data from their investigation to identify cause-and-effect relationships in motion caused by magnetic force. They apply all earlier standards to develop, build, and test a pinball machine with tricks.

Science Pacing Guides

Unit 1 | Structure, Function, and Survival

Essential/Priority Standards

Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.
Use a model to describe that animals receive different types of information through their senses, process the information in their brain, and respond to the information in different ways.
Develop a model to describe that light reflecting from objects and entering the eye allows objects to be seen.

Essential Question(s):

Overarching Questions

How do organisms live, grow, respond to their environment, and reproduce?
How are waves used to transfer energy and information?

Students will Understand:

Cause and Effect

Cause and effect relationships are routinely identified.

Systems and System Models

A system can be described in terms of its components and their interactions.

Unit 2 | The Power of Water

Essential/Priority Standards

Identify evidence from patterns in rock formations and fossils in rock layers to support an explanation for changes in a landscape over time.
Make observations and/or measurements to provide evidence of the effects of weathering or the rate of erosion by water, ice, wind or vegetation.
Generate and compare multiple solutions to reduce the impacts of natural Earth processes on humans.
Analyze and interpret data from maps to describe patterns of Earth’s features.

Essential Question(s):

Overarching Questions

What is the universe, and what is Earth’s place in it?
How and why is Earth constantly changing?
How do Earth’s surface processes and human activities affect each other?

Students will Understand:

Cause and Effect

Cause and effect relationships are routinely identified, tested, and used to explain change.

Patterns

Patterns can be used as evidence to support an explanation.

Unit 3 | Sending Tsunamis

Essential/Priority Standards

Apply scientific ideas to design, test, and refine a device that converts energy from one form to another.
Make observations to provide evidence that energy can be transferred from place to place by sound, light, heat, and electric currents.
Develop a model of waves to describe patterns in terms of amplitude and wavelength, and that waves can cause objects to move.
Generate and compare multiple solutions that use patterns to transfer information.

Essential Question(s):

Overarching Questions

How is energy transferred and conserved?
How are waves used to transfer energy and information?

Students will Understand:

Energy and Matter

Energy can be transferred in various ways and between objects.

Patterns

Similarities and differences in patterns can be used to sort, classify, and analyze simple rates of change for natural phenomena.

Unit 4 | What Energy Does

Essential/Priority Standards

Use evidence to construct an explanation relating the speed of an object to the energy of that object.
Ask questions and predict outcomes about the changes in energy that occur when objects collide.
Use models to explain that simple machines change the amount of effort force and/or direction of force.

Essential Question(s):

Overarching Question

How is energy transferred and conserved?

Students will Understand:

Energy and Matter

Energy can be transferred in various ways and between objects.

Grade 5

In fifth grade, students answer questions such as: “When matter changes, does its weight change? How much water can be found in different places on Earth? Can new substances be created by combining other substances? How does matter cycle through ecosystems? Where does the energy in food come from, and what is it used for? How do lengths and directions of shadows or relative lengths of day and night change from day to day, and how does the appearance of some stars change in different seasons?” Students explore the phenomenon of a pizza farm and the fact that we eat pizza. They develop an understanding of the idea that plants get the materials they need for growth chiefly from air and water. Using models, students can describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment and that energy in animals’ food was once energy from the sun. They apply this learning to develop a model of a pizza farm, showing how energy and matter flow through this system. Students are able to describe ways the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and/or atmosphere interact. They describe and graph data to provide evidence about the distribution of water on Earth. Students explore how cultures have observed the sky. Students engage in hands-on investigations to explain how we can see illuminated objects in the sky. They discover why some stars are brighter than other stars. Next, students explore how different cultures used patterns in the sky to tell time. They explore patterns, including shadow length throughout the day, daylight hours throughout the year, seasonal constellations, and moon phases, and use models to explain the relationship between the motion of the Sun, Moon, and Earth and these patterns. They explore how gravity causes these motions. Students use what they have learned to develop a narrative, depicting a fictional civilization and how they used patterns in the sky to keep time. Students describe that matter is made of particles too small to be seen through the development of a model. Students develop an understanding of the idea that regardless of the type of change that matter undergoes, the total weight of matter is conserved. Students determine whether mixing two or more substances results in new substances.

Science Pacing Guides

Unit 1 | From Sun to Food

Standards Addressed

Use models to describe that energy in animals’ food (used for body repair, growth, motion, and to maintain body warmth) was once energy from the sun.
Support an argument that plants get the materials they need for growth chiefly from air and water.
Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment.
Compare and contrast the major organs/organ systems (e.g. support, reproductive, digestive, transport/circulatory, excretory, response) that perform similar functions for animals belonging to different vertebrate classes.

Essential Question(s):

How do energy and matter get into our food?
How do energy and matter move through a system?

Unit 2 | Using Our Resources Wisely

Essential/Priority Standards

Obtain and combine information to describe that energy and fuels are derived from natural resources and their uses affect the environment.
Develop a model using an example to describe ways the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and/or atmosphere interact.
Describe and graph the amounts of saltwater and fresh water in various reservoirs to provide evidence about the distribution of water on Earth.
Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the Earth’s resources and environment.

Essential Question:

How do organisms obtain and use the matter and energy they need to live and grow?

Unit 3 | Celestial Clocks and Calendars

Essential/Priority Standards

Develop a model to describe that objects can be seen only when light is reflected off them or when they produce their own light.
Support an argument that differences in the apparent brightness of the Sun compared to other stars is due to their relative distances from the Earth. Represent data in graphical displays to reveal patterns of daily changes in length and direction of shadows, day and night, and the seasonal appearance of some stars in the night sky.
Make observations during different seasons to relate the amount of daylight to the time of year.
Support an argument that the gravitational force exerted by Earth on objects is directed down.

Essential Question(s):

What makes objects in the sky look different?
How can we use patterns in the sky to tell time?
How can we explain the patterns in space we observe?

Unit 4 | What Consistens About Matter

Essential/Priority Standards

Develop a model to describe that matter is made of particles too small to be seen.
Measure and graph quantities to provide evidence that regardless of the type of change that occurs when heating, cooling, or mixing substances, the total weight of matter is conserved.
Make observations and measurements to identify materials based on their properties.
Conduct an investigation to determine whether the mixing of two or more substances results in new substances.
]Define a simple design problem reflecting a need or a want that includes specified criteria for success and constraints on materials, time, or cost.
Plan and conduct investigations to separate the components of a mixture/solution by their physical properties (i.e., sorting, filtration, magnets, screening).

Essential Question:

How can one explain the structure, properties, and interactions of matter?

Contact Information