Kindergarten

·         Develop an understanding of the physical world through the five senses

·         Observe, explore, and care for the natural world

·         Recognize the needs and physical characteristics of living things

Back to Curriculum Page

First Grade

 ·         Differentiate living from non-living things

·         Identify ways that living things interrelate (ecology)

·         Compare how forces move things

·         Compare a day sky to a night sky, including characteristics of sun, moon and stars

·         Compare natural features of the earth

·         Understand the effects of weather changes on people, animals and plants

Back to Curriculum Page

Second Grade

·         Describe different habitats and the plants and animals that live in each

·         Apply knowledge of the life and extinction of dinosaurs to the lives and possible extinction of endangered species today

·         Describe the characteristics, sources, and uses of 3 forms of energy (light, heat, sound)

·         Analyze the reasons for day and night

·         Evaluate their responsibility in maintaining the environment

·         Use a variety of methods to predict the weather

·         Describe the properties of solids, liquids, and gases

Back to Curriculum Page

Third Grade

·         Appreciate that living things include the plant and animal kingdoms and are part of the food chain and web

·         Recognize how each living kingdom adapts and responds to its environment

·         Recognize how there are niches within habitats

·         Understand how all living things go through a life cycle based on different stages

·         Understand the earth, moon and solar system

·         Understand that pollution and recycling are issues that affect each and every living thing

·         Understand the roles of producers and consumers in the food chain

·         Recognize that objects are affected by forces and motion (gravity, magnetism, static electricity)

Back to Curriculum Page

Fourth Grade

·         Define “matter” and how it can be measured, including mass, volume, density, and dimensions

·         Recognize physical properties of solids, liquids and gases

·         Observe, investigate, and describe the behavior of matter during a physical change and chemical change

·         Differentiate between “weather” and “climate”

·         Describe the makeup of the Earth’s atmosphere and its role in regulating temperature on Earth

·         Observe, describe, and illustrate the water cycle

·         Investigate how weather maps can be used to make weather predictions

·         Observe that soils are made of a mixture of several substances

·         Identify and classify minerals by the properties of luster, streak, and hardness

·         Identify and classify rocks by their three basic types: sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic

·         Describe the process by which these types of rocks are formed and classified

·         Recognize that fossils provide evidence about the plants and animals that lived long ago and the nature of the environment at that time

·         Use maps to identify/locate physical features of the Earth

·         Describe/investigate how force affects motion of an object

·         Identify and investigate six simple machines and describe how they work

·         Recognize and investigate how static electricity and magnetism are forces that act at a distance

·         Identify, observe and investigate heat, light, sound, potential, kinetic, and electric as forms of energy and explain how one form of energy can be transformed to another

Back to Curriculum Page

Fifth Grade

·          Explain how systems of the human body are interrelated and regulate the body’s internal environment

·          Describe life cycles of humans (covered in health as well)

·          Recognize that an object at rest will remain at rest and an object moving will continue to move unless a force acts upon it

·          Recognize that motion can be retarded by forces such as friction and air resistance

·          Recognize that everything on Earth is pulled towards the Earth’s center by gravity

·          Describe the composition, circulation, and distribution of the world’s oceans, estuaries, and marine environments

·          Describe and illustrate the water cycle

·          Explain the motions of the Earth, Sun, and Moon (days, months, years)

·          Recognize changes in the Earth’s position relative to the sun and its effects on daylight

·          Demonstrate an understanding of the scale of the Solar System

·          Recognize that the sun’s gravitational pull holds the planets in their orbits

·          Describe the effect of human activities on various ecosystems

·          Evaluate the impact of personal activities on the local environment

Back to Curriculum Page

Sixth Grade

Life Science

·          Lab Tools and safety

·          Characteristics of Living Organisms

·          Classification of Organisms

·          The Microscope

Ecology

·          Biotic & Abiotic parts of the Environment

·          Transfer of Energy

·          Cycles

·          Types of Interaction

Physical Science – Matter

·          Tools of Science

·          Matter

·          Physical Properties of Matter

·          Atoms

·          Elements

Physical Science – Chemistry

·          Chemical Bonds

·          Forming New Substances

·          Chemical Compounds

Earth Science

·          Origin of the Earth

·          Moving Continents

·          Earthquakes

·          Volcanoes

·          Mountain Building

·          Contour Maps & Projections

Physical Science – Electricity

·          Electric Charges

·          Electrical Energy

·          Electric Currents

·          Electric Circuits

Back to Curriculum Page

Seventh Grade

Science Process Skills

·         All process skills.

Life Science

·         Review of living and non-living things and how one affects the other

·         Classification of living organisms

·         6 Kingdoms of living things

·         Kingdoms—identification and characteristics

·         Archaebacteria

·         Eubacteria

·         Protista

·         Monera

·         Fungi

·         Plantae

Earth Science

·         Earthquakes

·         Volcanoes

·         Rocks and minerals

Physical Science

·         Force and work

·         Simple and complex machines

·         Newton’s Laws of Motion—motion and forces

·         Law of Conservation of Energy

·         Chemistry—characteristics of elements (metals, non-metals, metalloids)

Science Technology

·         Variables

·         Dissecting Tools

·         Hot Plates

·         Thermometer

·         Pipette

·         Computer

·         Periodic Table Dichotomous Keys

Back to Curriculum Page

Eighth Grade

Science Process Skills

·         All process skills

Life Science

·         Review of life processes

·         Theory of Natural Selection

·         Heredity

·         Fingerprinting

·         Levels of Biology

·         Cells

·         Tissues

·         Organs

·         Systems

·         Cell Theory and Physiology

·         Osmosis and Diffusion

·         Respiration and Photosynthesis—energy flow

Earth Science

·         Solar System

·         Planets

·         Celestial Bodies

·         Sun, Earth, and Moon systems

·         Fossil Records—diversity and change of time

Physical Science

·         Atomic theory

·         Structure of Atoms

·         Conduction, convection, and radiation

·         Organic Chemistry

·         Laws of Conservation of Mass

·         Properties of Matter:

·         Solute/solvent

·         Gas laws

Science Technology

·         Mixtures and solutions

·         Investigation—household chemicals.

·         Punnett Squares/Pedigrees

·         Tools of genetics and DNA

·         Periodic Table of Elements

Back to Curriculum Page