OgdensburgSchool
Science Curriculum
K-8
June 15, 2010

Science Curriculum

Grades K – 8th

Rationale

We believe that our Science program should prepare students to become scientifically literate. There is an increasing awareness of new knowledge, tools, resource, and ways of doing and communicating science. An understanding of science offers opportunities to function effectively in an increasingly technological world. As with mathematics, science education and scientific ways of thinking will help students confront a wide range of real world issues.

Science in the elementary and middle grades is critical if our learners are to become active, responsible citizens who hold meaningful and productive jobs and contribute to the welfare of the community. Science education is vital to the maintenance and growth of our nation’s economic and technical competitiveness and to maintaining our status in the global marketplace.

We subscribe to the National Council of Teacher of Science Standards which were developed and recently revised by leaders in the science community. According to these standards, the six principles for school science are:

  • Equity. Excellence in science education requires equity-high expectations and strong support for all students.
  • Curriculum. A curriculum is more than a collection of activities; it must be coherent, focused on important science, and well articulated across the grades.
  • Teaching. Effective science teaching requires understanding what students know and need to learn and then challenging and supporting them to learn it well.
  • Learning. Students must learn science with understanding, actively building new knowledge from experience and prior knowledge.
  • Assessment. Assessment should support the learning of important science and furnish useful information to both teachers and students.
  • Technology. Technology is essential in teaching and learning science; it influences the science that is taught and enhances students’ learning.

Ultimately, we want our students to learn science by being actively involved in scientific activities that develop their computations, concepts, and problems-solving abilities

Educational Goals

The following are based on the National Council of Teachers of Science Standards and the New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards:

  • Develop an understanding of science concepts.
  • Develop an appreciation of science.
  • Understand the nature of science.
  • Develop the dispositions to use the skills, abilities, and attitudes associated with mathematics.
  • Establish connections between science and other disciplines.
  • Knowing science can be personally satisfying and empowering.
  • Develop decision-making abilities.
  • Recognize science as one of the greatest achievements of humankind.

Instructional Objectives

  • Student understanding will be actively constructed through individual and social processes.
  • Integrate technology into classroom lessons and experiences.
  • Engage students in discussions about scientific ideas.
  • Provide activities that investigate and analyze questions.
  • Use activities designed to use process skills in context.
  • Implement inquiry as instructional strategies, abilities, and ideas to be learned.
  • Use activities designed to foster cognitive development promote independence, and foster critical thinking skills.
  • Provide activities that require the use of multiple process skills – manipulations, cognitive, and procedural.
  • Provide learning activities that include performance tasks and require communication of scientific explanations.
  • Use hands-on activities that actively engage students.

TABLE OF CONTENT

Rationale …….…………………………………………………………………… 1-2

Table of Content ………………………………………………………………….3

Curriculum Map

Kindergarten ……………………………………………………………… 4

First Grade ……………………………………………………………….. 5-7

Second Grade …………………………………………………………….. 8-10

Third Grade ……………………………………………………………….11-13

Fourth Grade ……………………………………………………………..14-16

Fifth Grade ……………………………………………………………….17-20

Sixth Grade ……………………………………………………………….21-24

Seventh Grade ……………………………………………………………25-29

Eighth Grade ………………………………………………………………30-32

Core Curriculum Content Standard and Learning Objectives

Grades First & Second …………………………………………………..33-50

Grades Third & Fourth …………………………………………………..51-69

Grades Fifth & Sixth …………………………………………………….70-94

Grades Seventh & Eighth ………………………………………………..95-120

Resources

Websites and Text books ……………………………………………….121

Kindergarten Curriculum Map

Students will be able to:

Science Practices (5.1.2.A, B, C, D)

  • Cooperatively work in a small group setting.
  • Be assigned a role in the group and work towards a task.
  • Understand what a problem is and know ways to go about solving a problem.

Chemistry (5.2)

  • Understand that matter takes up space.
  • Identify things that are matter.
  • Identify objects as liquids and solids.

Physics (5.2)

  • Identify things that are in motion and things that are not.
  • Understand that for things to move they must have energy.
  • Comprehend that light can reflect and cannot bend around corners.
  • Understand that sound can echo off objects and can bend around corners.

Life (5.3)

  • Identify things as nonliving and living.
  • Understand that plants and animals are living.
  • Comprehend that living things take in energy
  • Identify plants get energy from the Sun, while animals eat other organisms to get energy.
  • Understand that living things are dependent on nonliving things.

Earth Science (5.4)

  • Explain what a volcano is.
  • Identify what an earthquake is .
  • Explain the difference between a snow storm and a rain storm.
  • Identify the difference between lightning and thunder.
  • Understand soil is made up of rock and living things.

1st Grade Curriculum Map

Students will be able to:

Intro to Science

Scientific method taught throughout the year through hands on lab activities (5.1.4.A, B, C, and D)

  • Identify what a model is and how models can be used to demonstrate concepts.
  • Develop increasingly productive ways of representing ideas.
  • Understand that scientists use the scientific method to solve problems.
  • Comprehend what a question is.
  • Recognize what a hypothesis is and how it is used in the scientific method.
  • Perform a lab in a group and collect data through a lab.
  • Understand that within each group there are roles in each group and each person has a responsibilitythat must be done for the group to succeed.
  • Use their five senses to observe.
  • Develop an individual sense of responsibility and good habits for safety.
  • Become knowledgeable about the care of animals so that both students and the animals stay safe and healthy during all activities.
  • Follow local, state, and national laws, policies, and regulations when live organisms are included in the classroom.

Measuring (5.1.2.A)

  • Identify specific lab tools with what they measure
  • Stopwatch: time
  • Ruler: distance
  • Measuring cup: volume
  • Thermometer: temperature
  • Balance: weight
  • Clock: time
  • Identify what volume is.
  • Identify what weight is.
  • Identify tools that might help them solve a problem
  • Magnet
  • Magnifying glass
  • Calculator
  • Computer
  • Understand safety rules must be followed in class.

Chemistry

Matter (5.2.2.A)

  • Understand that all matter takes up space and has weight.
  • Comprehend the meaning of volume and mass.
  • Identify the three states of matter
  • Solid
  • Liquid
  • Gas
  • Understand that each state of matter has its own properties based on the energy level associated with the movement of particles in that matter.
  • Solid has a specific shape and specific volume.
  • Liquid does not have a specific shape but has a specific volume.
  • Gas does not have a specific shape nor a specific volume.

Changes in Matter (5.2.2.B)

  • Comprehend that matter can change state without changing the actual substance.
  • Identify that a substance that goes from solid to liquid is call melting, liquid to solid is called freezing, liquid to gas is called evaporation, and gas to liquid is called condensation.

Energy (5.2.2.D)

  • Understand what energy is.
  • Comprehend that energy is not matter because it does not take up space or has weight.
  • Identify that light and heat are energy.
  • Identify the characteristics of heat and how living things use heat
  • Hot air rises and cold air sinks.
  • Living things produce heat.
  • The sun produces heat which warms the earth.
  • Identify what light is and it’s characteristics
  • Light travels in a straight line.
  • Light can be reflected.
  • Light can be refracted or bent which cause images to change size and shape.
  • A shadow is caused by an object in the way of the light’s path.
  • Identify what electricity is.

Life

Nonliving verses living (5.3.2.A.1)

  • Identify objects as living and nonliving by simple characteristics.
  • Group living and nonliving things according to the characteristics that they share.
  • Understand the basic needs for all living things.
  • Identify what plants and animals need to live.
  • Explain how all living things grow.
  • Identify that living things take in water from their environment.
  • Understand that all living things have the ability to reproduce.
  • Identify that all living things grow and develop.

Life Requirements (5.3.2.B.1)

  • Explain how animals get food and identify if an animal is a:
  • Carnivore.
  • Herbivore.
  • Omnivore.
  • Compare how different animals obtain food and water.

Biomes and Habitats (5.3.2.C.1 and 2)

  • Identify what is a habitat and how that habitat can help an organism to survive.
  • Identify where animals live
  • Forest
  • Wetland
  • Ocean
  • Desert
  • Rain forest
  • Describe the ways in which organisms interact with each other and their habitats in order to meet basic needs.
  • Comprehend what helps animals to survive in certain habitats.
  • Camouflage
  • Claws
  • Antennae
  • Hiding
  • Identify the characteristics of a habitat that enable the habitat to support the growth of many different plants and animals.

Genetics and Growth (5.3.2.D.1)

  • Explain how offspring of plants and animals are similar to their parents.
  • Identify difference between parents and their offspring.

Evolution (5.3.2.E.1)

  • Identify what a variation is in a population. (Example hair color, coloration of feathers, coloration of bark.

Earth Science

Astronomy (5.4.2.A)

  • Identify all eight planets and understand that they all orbit the Sun.
  • Understand that the Sun is a star and that it is the center of the solar system.
  • Understand that the only star that can be seen during the day is the Sun.
  • Comprehend that the Moon is not a star.

Soil (5.4.2.C)

  • Identify that soil is made up of nonliving and living objects.
  • Understand that soil can differ in properties based on the location that the soil comes from.
  • Comprehend that soil can vary in moisture, particle size, and living/organic matter.
  • Collect and analyze different samples of soil and chart differences between the sample (moisture, particle size, organic life, and debris).

Weather (5.4.2.F)

  • Comprehend why snow falls during the winter and rain during warmer temperatures.
  • Explain how weather can affect our daily life.
  • Use a thermometer to measure temperature in degrees Fahrenheit. Describe how hot or cold an object or weather event feels by using a thermometer.
  • Use a rain gauge to measure precipitation and describe how this measurement would change when frozen precipitation such as snow or ice melts.

Biochemical Cycles (5.4.2.G)

  • Understand that most of the Earth’s surface is covered by water.
  • Comprehend that water can enter and exit the earth’s crust, atmosphere, oceans, and living things.
  • Create a variety of explanatory models of the water cycle, including the water that moves through the crust, and into the ocean.
  • Conduct experiments on how increasing or decreasing temperature cause water to change form (solid, liquid, gas), and apply the results to water cycles.
  • Distinguish between the type of water and the location.
  • Fresh water= Rivers, Lakes, and Streams
  • Salt water= Bays and Oceans

2nd Grade Curriculum Map

Students will be able to:

Intro to Science

Scientific method taught throughout the year through hands on lab activities (5.1.4.A, B, C, and D)

  • Develop appropriate norms for presenting scientific arguments and evidence.
  • Practice productive social interactions with peers in the context of science investigations.
  • Demonstrate understanding of the difference between scientific argument, which rests on plausibility and evidence and has the goal of shared understanding, and everyday arguments.
  • Learn appropriate norms and language of scientific argumentation.
  • Persuade peers of the validity of one’s own ideas and the ideas of others.
  • Evaluate risks and benefits of decision.
  • Minimize the probability of harm by taking appropriate precautions.
  • Use evidence to uncover cause-and-effect relationships.
  • Create multiple representations of the results of an investigation.

Move confidently between multiple forms of representations (e.g., graph, chart, data table).

  • Ask questions and decide what to measure in order to answer the questions.
  • Develop strategies for accurately measuring and collecting data.
  • Organize the data logically so that it may be used to answer questions or validate predictions.
  • Use age-appropriate tools with accuracy and confidence.
  • Use mathematics in the collection, organization and analysis of data.
  • Use tools of data analysis to organize and represent data.
  • Make claims based on the available evidence.
  • Cite evidence and explain the reasoning for a claim.
  • Use data representations to communicate findings.
  • Justify claims with connections to other fundamental concepts and principles.
  • Use evidence and data to support both a claim and the reasoning behind a scientific argument.
  • Develop an individual sense of responsibility and good habits for safety.
  • Become knowledgeable about the care of animals so that both students and the animals stay safe and healthy during all activities.
  • Follow local, state, and national laws, policies, and regulations when live organisms are included in the classroom.

Physical Science

Matter (5.2.2.B)

  • Comprehend that matter can change.
  • Identify what a mixture is and be able to understand that mixtures can be separated.
  • Understand that even if something dissolves into water it is still a mixture.
  • Understand when you heat or cool matter that the matter will expand or contract.

Energy (5.2.2C)

  • Explain what energy is.
  • Comprehend that energy comes in different forms.
  • Solar
  • Wind
  • Geothermal
  • Chemical
  • Identify what solar energy is and how it is useful.
  • Explain how living things need energy and all energy comes from the sun
  • Identify what a conductor is and give examples.
  • Explain how shadows are produced.

Force and Motion (5.2.2.E)

  • Comprehend what is a force and how any object in motion is caused by a force.
  • Define and explain what work is.
  • Explain that gravity is a force and identify how gravity can affect objects.
  • Identify that friction is a force and explain how friction can affect objects in motion.
  • Comprehend that friction causes heat.

Magnets (5.2.2.E)

  • Comprehend that a magnet has two poles.
  • Understand that that a magnet has a north pole and a south pole.
  • Identify that opposite poles attract and similar poles repel.

Life

Animals and Plants (5.3.2.A.1)

  • Understand that plants and animals have different structures.
  • Identify root, stem, leaves, seed, and flower of a plant.
  • Identify body parts of an animallike: arms, legs, head, body, claws, eyes, mouth)
  • Observe a variety of plants and animals (in natural settings or using digital/video) and identify the basic needs that are common to plants or animals of the same group.
  • Observe a variety of animals and identify how each animal obtains food and water. Identify those unique physical features (trunks, beaks, claws, etc.) or behaviors (web-building, hunting/stalking, foraging, etc.) that allow certain animals to obtain food.

Life Requirements (5.3.2.B.1)

  • Describe the requirements for the care of plants and animals related to meeting their energy needs.
  • Distinguish how plants and animals live together.
  • Producers
  • Consumers
  • Predator
  • Prey
  • Habitats
  • Parasite
  • Symbiotic relationships (plants and animals benefiting together and animals and animals benefiting each other)
  • Identify the difference between a food chain and food webs.

Plants (5.3.2.B.3)

  • Identify root, stem, leaves, and petals.
  • Identify parts of a flower and that flowers that are fertilized make seeds.
  • Identify what a seed is and the importance it is to the plant.
  • Explain that most plants get water from soil through their roots and gather light through their leaves.
  • Identify how plants germinate.
  • Understand that plants go through life cycles.
  • Explain how a seed grows to a tree.
  • Understand how plants take in light, carbon dioxide, and water to make food (Photosynthesis).
  • Identify that plants grow and change throughout the year.

Biomes and Habitats(5.3.2.C.1)

  • Explain how some woodland, prairie, desert, and marsh plants adapt to their environment.

Human Impact (5.3.2.C.3)

  • Identify ways that humans protect habitats and help conditions for growth of plants and animals.
  • Identify ways humans negatively affect habitats and the population of plants and animals.

Genetics and growth (5.3.2.D.2)

  • Identify how plants and animals can go through a life cycle.
  • Observe a life cycle
  • Nymphs
  • Eggs
  • Adult
  • Describe how an organism can grow and develop.
  • Classify and categorize animals into groups like mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians.
  • Identify that there are a variety of animals and be able to identify the type of animal based on characteristics.
  • Vertebrates
  • Mammals
  • Birds
  • Fish
  • Reptiles
  • Amphibians
  • Invertebrates
  • Insects
  • Octopi
  • Spiders

Evolution (5.3.2.E.1)

  • Describe how similar structures found in different organisms (e.g. eyes, ears, mouths,) have similar functions and enable those organisms to survive in different environment.
  • Identify how food webs can change
  • Human impact
  • Natural disasters
  • Understand that structures of living things are adapted to their function in specific environments
  • Comprehend that there are many different kinds of living things that live in a variety of environments
  • Describe the ways in which organisms interact with each other and their habitats in order to meet basic needs.
  • Comprehend what an adaptation is.
  • Identify some adaptations that plants and animals have and how that adaptation helps them to survive.
  • Adaptations of mammals
  • Adaption of fish
  • Adaptation of fish
  • Adaptation of Reptiles
  • Adaptation of Amphibians

Earth Science