Third Grade Life Science 1. Sort and classify different living things using similar and different characteristics (e.g. vertebrates versus invertebrates). Describe why organisms belong to each group or cite evidence about how they are alike or not alike. 2. Identify and explain how the physical structures of an organism (plants or animals) allow it to survive in a habitat/environment (e.g. roots for water, nose to smell fire). 3. Identify the basic needs of plants and animals in order to stay alive (e.g. water, air, food, space). 4. Recognize that living organisms have life cycles, which include birth, growth and development, reproduction, and death; and explain how these life cycles vary for different organisms. 5. Define a biome (e.g. desert, forest, grassland, tundra), and discuss the fact that large biomes have smaller communities within them. 6. Recognize that plants and animals interact with one another in various ways besides providing food, such as seed dispersal or pollination. 7. Provide examples of how environmental changes can cause different effects on different organisms, and use information (data or scenario) to explain how changes in the environment (natural and/or manmade [e.g. deforestation, global warming, overpopulation]) can cause organisms to respond (e.g. survive there and reproduce, move away, die). Earth Science 1. The Earth is part of a solar system, made up of distinct parts which have temporal and spatial interrelationships (e.g. orbits, rotation on axes, stars, sun, spatial relationships of planets). Physical Science 1. Use data to predict how a change in force (greater/less) might affect the position, direction of motion, or speed of an object; demonstrate an understanding that both force and distance determine the amount of work done. 2. Compare and contrast the use and purpose between simple and compound machines (e.g. simple machines such as levers, inclined planes, wedges, screws, axles, and pulleys and how each is built and works), and define and identify fulcrum, load, and a force on a lever. 3. Provide examples of how a man uses energy in everyday life (providing light, warmth in the winter, cooling in the summer, TVs, computers...), and provide examples of items that are manufactured or produced (wood into paper, sap into sugar).
Third Grade continued Common Core Literacy Standards 1. Determine the meaning of general academic terms and domain specific words and phrases in a text relevant to grade 3 topic or subject area (3.RIT.4). 2. Use information gained from illustrations (e.g. maps, photographs) and the words in a text to demonstrate understanding of the text (e.g. where, when, why, and how key events occur) (3.RIT.7). 3. By the end of the year, read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, and the high end of grade 2 3 text complexity band independently and proficiently (3.RIT.10). 4. Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly (3.W.2). 5. Conduct short research projects that build knowledge about a topic (3.W.7). 6. Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one on one, in groups, and teacher led) with diverse partners on grade 3 topics and texts, building on others ideas and expressing their own clearly (3.SL.1). 7. Report on a topic or text with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking clearly at an understandable pace (3.SL.4).
Fourth Grade Life Science 1. Identify and describe the function of plant structures responsible for food production (photosynthesis), water transport, support, reproduction, growth, and protection. 2. Demonstrate and show application of the use of appropriate tools and simple equipment, such as thermometers, magnifiers, and microscopes to gather data and extend the senses. Earth Science 1. Based on data collected from daily weather observations using weather data collection tools, describe the weather in terms of temperature, wind speed and direction, precipitation, and cloud cover. 2. Explain the composition and structure of the Earth s atmosphere and the effects of clouds and their effects on weather and climate (including precipitation, reflecting light from the sun, and retaining heat energy emitted from the Earth s surface). 3. Demonstrate and explain the use of simple instruments, including barometers, sling psychrometers, anemometers, thermometers, windsocks, meter sticks, and rain gauges. 4. Distinguish between and identify based on properties the three categories of rocks (metamorphic, igneous, sedimentary), and the processes that create them. 5. Use results from an experiment to draw conclusions about how water interacts with Earth materials (e.g. erosion, frost heaves), and describe and define different landforms on Earth s surface, such as coastlines, rivers, mountains, deltas, canyons, etc. Physical Science 1. Collect and organize data about physical properties in order to classify objects or draw conclusions about objects and their characteristic properties (e.g. temperature, color, size, shape, weight, texture, flexibility). 2. Given a specific example or illustration (e.g. simple closed circuit, rubbing hands together, predict the observable effects of energy), and identify conduction, convection, and radiation. 3. Recognize that energy has the ability to create change, and identify the various forms of energy (electrical, light, heat, sound). 4. Use observations of magnets in relation to other objects to describe the properties of magnetism (i.e. attract or repel certain objects).
Fourth Grade continued Common Core Literacy Standards 1. Explain events, procedures, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or technical text, including what happened and why, based on specific information in the text (4.RIT.3). 2. Determine the meaning of general academic and domain specific words or phrases in a text relevant to a grade 4 topic or subject area (4. RIT.4). 3. By the end of year, read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, in the grades 4 5 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range (4.RIT.10). 4. Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly (4.W.2). 5. Conduct short research projects that build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic (4.W.7). 6. Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research (4.W.9). 7. Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience in an organized manner, using appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details to support main ideas or themes; speak clearly at an understandable pace (4.SL.4). 8. Add audio recordings and visual displays to presentations when appropriate to enhance the development of main ideas or themes (4.SL.5).
Fifth Grade Life Science 1. Examine and identify the parts of the circulatory system (the pump [heart], vessels [arteries, veins, capillaries], fluid [plasma, platelets, red and white blood cells] and the respiratory system (nose, trachea, larynx, bronchi, bronchioles, alveoli), and recognize how the two systems work together. 2. Identify ways in which living things can be grouped and organized, such as taxonomic groups of plants, animals, and fungi. 3. Describe how energy is transferred in an ecosystem through food webs, and explain the roles and relationships between producers, consumers, and decomposers; recognize the relationship between: herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, and decomposers in the food chain. 4. Compare and contrast cold blooded and warm blooded animals within a habitat, and explain how changes in environmental conditions can affect the survival of individual organisms and the entire species. 5. Describe the fundamental concepts related to biological evolution, such as biological adaptations and the diversity of species. Earth Science 1. Differentiate between renewable and nonrenewable resources, and provide examples of how to reduce waste through conservation, recycling, and reuse. Physical Science 1. Recognize that all matter is composed of minute particles called atoms, and explain that all substances are composed of atoms, each arranged into different groupings. 2. Recognize that over one hundred elements exist, and identify the periodic table as a tool for organizing the information about them, and define and discuss differences between atoms, elements, compounds, and mixtures. 3. Observe, describe, and record how specific treatments affect substances; use the scientific method to design an experiment showing the knowledge gained. 4. Differentiate between a physical change, such as melting, and a chemical change, such as rusting. Common Core Literacy Standards 1. Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text (5.RIT.1). 2. Determine the meaning of general academic and domain specific words and phrases in a text relevant to a grade 5 topic or subject area (5.RIT.4).
Fif th Grade continued 3. Draw on information from multiple print or digital sources, demonstrating the ability to locate an answer to a question quickly or to solve a problem efficiently (5.RIT.7). 4. By the end of the year, read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, at the high end of the grades 4 5 text complexity band independently and proficiently (5.RIT.10). 5. Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly (5.W.2). 6. With some guidance and support from adults, use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of two pages in a single sitting (5.W.6). 7. Conduct short research projects that use several sources to build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic (5.W.7). 8. Draw evidence from literary information to support analysis, reflection, and research (5.W.9). 9. Summarize a written text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally (5.SL.2).