Kindergarten

Plants( First six weeks) and the Earth (Rocks and Soil) (Last three weeks)

Special note:  I’d like to do plants first, then the earth, which is opposite of the way Rubicon presents it.  I just think it will work out better for seasonal purposes. 

Plants: Plants and their parts will be investigated. Students will grow plants from seed to plant and chart progress, while learning the functions of each plant part.  They will also compare plants to each other and determine similarities and differences. 

**Earth Science:  Students will investigate a variety of rocks and soils and differentiate between them using physical properties. Students will compare rocks to their places of origin within the earth to better understand differences.

First Grade

Living Things: Plants  and Animals

Plants:  Students will explain basic needs of plants, illustrate structures of plants, classify plants, summarize life cycle and explain how environments affect plants.

**Animals: Students will explain basic needs of animals, identify their structures and relate them to their behaviors and needs, and compare animal characteristics, noting similarities and differences.

2nd Grade

Solids, Liquids & Gases (First Six weeks)

Properties and Changes in Matter: Students will explain properties of liquids and solids, exemplify matter that changes from a solid to a liquid and from a liquid to a solid. They will explain how matter can be changed through heating, cooling, cutting, tearing and bending. Students will also recognize that different materials can be mixed together and then separated again.

Seasons and the Sun’s Relationship to Earth (Last 3 weeks)

Students will illustrate the weather conditions of different seasons by using the relationship of our state in terms of geographic location on our globe.

3rd Grade

Mixtures (First 3 weeks) Earth Science (Last 6 weeks)

Mixtures: Students will classify the elements in soils based on their properties.  Students will classify objects in other mixtures and infer meaning from the breakdown in graphs and diagrams.

Earth Science: Students will classify rocks based on their properties, recognize various fossils, make inferences about earth’s history based on fossils, illustrate changes in the earths surface due to slow and rapid processes and explain the use of natural resources.