The DRAFT K-5th Grade Progression

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K-5th Grade Streamlined Science Progression

In considering a proposal for a K-5th grade streamlined science progression for TCSD the unique characteristics of the Jackson Hole community as well as the needs of TCSD teachers and administrators were taken into account. Four main criteria were utilized in the following order of importance:

  • Focus on a classroom-based approach
  • Logical transitions between scientific disciplines and their associated WyCPS
  • Elements of place-based education and phenological opportunities
  • Availability of instructors from partner organizations

Firstly, a focus on classroom-based learning was used because of the relative ease of implementation in most cases, the higher cost in both money and time involved with busing students to different locations, and the relative ease of representatives from partner organizations to visit the classrooms. 

Secondly, logical transitions between some scientific disciplines and the associated WyCPS for each grade level were identified and used as a basic structure for the progression whenever possible during one year and between years. 

Next, whenever feasible and when deemed necessary to achieve the optimal result from the lessons, elements of place-based education and phenological opportunities were proposed. Those later decisions follow a 40-year legacy in Jackson Hole begun by Jackson Hole High School science teacher Ted Major who began taking his students outside to learn geology, biology, life science,and ecology. To ignore the incredible potential of bringing students inside Grand Teton National Park, the surrounding National Forests, and Wildlife Refuges would be a huge missed learning opportunity. Moreover, we took into account the key times of year when teaching lessons outside would increase their relevance.

Some small deviations from the “best fit” progression using the first three criteria were necessary to take into account the availability of instructors from partner organizations. Currently, programs are being offered in-person and virtually because of COVID-19.

Partner Organizations

The 13 partner organizations identified as contributors to science lessons in TCSD K-5th grade classrooms included (in alphabetical order):

Programs

The 13 partner organizations implemented roughly 150 programs in TCSD K-5th grade classrooms during the 2018-2019 school year. 

  • 8 of those programs were for Kindergarten
  • 10 of those programs were for 1st grade
  • 32 of those programs were for 2nd grade
  • 39 of those programs were for 3rd grade
  • 26 of those programs were for 4th grade
  • 34 of those programs were for 5th grade

Standards

The 2016 Wyoming Science Content and Performance Standards (WyCPS) include:

  • 72 Science Standards for Kindergarten through 5th grade
  • 6 multi-grade level Engineering, Technology, & Applications of Science (ETS) Standards:
    • Three for K-2nd grade
    • Three for 3rd-4th grade

Of the 78 total WyCPS, 75 (96%) are addressed to some extent in the current programming being offered by NGSP organizations. The 75 standards addressed included:

  • ALL 13 of the Kindergarten Science Standards
  • ALL nine 1st grade Science Standards
  • Nine of the 11 2nd grade Science Standards
  • ALL 18 3rd grade Science Standards and the 3rd-5th ETS Standard
  • ALL 14 4th grade Science Standards
  • ALL 13 of the 5th grade Science Standards;

How to use the following Progression:

The following is meant to be a resource and a tool for educators, administrators, nonprofits, government organizations, and the general public to help them explore how the current lessons and programs offered by partner organizations in Teton County Public K-5th Grade classrooms align with the Wyoming State Science Standards. While there are specific ideas offered for projects and timing, these are all just part of one conceptual progression to consider. The Performance Standards or benchmarks, which are based on disciplinary core ideas, lend themselves to building upon one another connecting to one another in many different ways. What follows is just one logical way to connect them as a guide.

The Progression is organized in nested levels with grade as the upper level, followed by time of year, then by standard, and finally by partner organization. The standards, partner organizations, and their lessons are all hyperlinked so that intersted individuals can see the following:

  • Clicking on a hyperlinked standard will show all of the offered lessons that align with that standard.
  • Clciking on a hyperlinked partner organization name will show all of the lessons offered by that partner organization.
  • Clicking on a hyperlinked lesson name will show all of the standards that lesson addresses.

Progression Grids and Narratives by Grade Level

Kindergarten

The Kindergarten progression begins with Forces and Interactions (K-PS2-1 and K-PS2-2). Having students explore and/or build their own simple machines can connect ideas of forces, speed, and energy. Students progress to ideas of Energy using the Sun as an example (K-PS3-1). Students can design and construct different types of shade structures using their new construction skills from the lessons used during the previous group of standards. (K-PS3-2, K-2-ETS1-1(1-3)). The Sun can then be connected to the next topic as the source of all weather patterns on Earth (K-ESS2-1). Students explore different types of weather, including extreme weather, and learn about weather forecasting by making daily observations of the weather (K-ESS3-2). The way humans prepare for extreme weather can be connected to the idea of how we change our environment to suit our needs (K-ESS2-2). Then, students can explore how other animals and plants do the same (K-ESS2-2). That progresses naturally to the relationships of living things and the places they live (K-ESS3-1). Students continue to explore the relationships between living things and their environment, which includes all the basic necessities that living things need to survive (K-LS1-1). An exploration into how to use machines to manage human impacts on other living things (K-ESS3-3) will connect back to the lessons at the beginning of the year that focused on forces, speed, energy, and simple machines.

1st Grade

The 1st grade progression begins where the Kindergarten progression ended with designing solutions to human problems, but this time the solutions explored are by mimicking how plants and animals use their external parts (1-LS1-1). The uses of external parts of plants and animals are then connected to the idea of heredity. Then, students explore how parents and offspring share similar, but not exactly the same external parts (1-LS3-1). Students then learn how those external parts are used by parents and offspring in their behaviors to help the offspring survive (1-LS1-2). That transitions to the idea of communication between parents and offspring using sound. Next, students explore sound as vibrating waves, the effects of waves on making things vibrate, and the idea of ears being one of those vibrating receptors of sound waves (1-PS4-1 and 1-PS4-4). Students can construct and analyze simple communication devices using string and other materials (K-2-ETS1-1(1-3)). The discussion of sound as waves progresses into the discussion of light as waves (1-PS4-2 and 1-PS4-3). The Sun can then be connected as a star and the source of all daylight on Earth (1-ESS1-2). The amount of daylight from the Sun changes throughout the year (1-ESS1-2). More distant stars that are just like the Sun can be seen at night. Patterns of the positions of the Sun, Moon, and stars can be observed throughout a month or for the entire year (1-ESS1-1).

2nd Grade

The 2nd grade progression begins where the 1st grade progression ends with the Sun and light, this time as a necessity, along with water, for plant  growth (2-LS2-1). The topic then spreads to plants adaptation of seed dispersal and pollination (2-LS2-2) and then naturally to the diversity of life in different habitats (2-LS4-1). The speed of plant growth and seed dispersal can then be contrasted with other Earth processes like wind/water erosion and mountain building (2-ESS1-1 and 2-ESS2-1). The topic of change from wind and water progresses to the topics of shapes of bodies of water and land features and the distribution of water on Earth in all its states (solid, liquid, gas) (2-ESS2-2 and 2-ESS2-3). Heating and cooling water into its three states can be expanded to address how some materials can return to their original state after being heated or cooled while others cannot (2-PS1-4). Then, students explore matter, its different properties, intended purposes, and usefulness by identifying the best substances to achieve certain outcomes (2-PS1-1, 2-PS1-2, 2-PS1-3, K-2-ETS1-1(1-3)). 

3rd Grade

The 3rd grade progression begins with an exploration of one of the more peculiar properties of some forms of matter: magnetism and its relationship with electricity (3-PS2-3). Students explore design solutions using magnets (3-PS2-4) and connect those ideas to unbalanced forces and motion (3-PS2-1) while looking for patterns in the motion they observe to predict the future (3-PS2-2). The idea of looking for patterns to predict the future is then applied to predicting weather patterns (3-ESS2-1) and design solutions that reduce the impacts of weather-related hazards (3-ESS3-1, 3-5ETS1-(1-3) can also be addressed here as well with the design solution. Cycles of weather and climate progress to the idea of cycles of birth, growth, death, and reproduction in organisms (3-LS1-1). Students then explore the expression of biological inherited traits (3-LS3-1), variation of characteristics between individuals of a species (3-LS4-2), how those traits are impacted by environments (3-LS3-2), how survival rates vary with different habitats (3LS4-3), group survival behaviors (3-LS2-1), and how changing habitats can also impact survival both at the species and individual levels (3-LS4-4). The idea of weather is then expanded for students to understand more long term patterns of climate (3-ESS2-2). Cycles of weather and climate progress to the idea of cycles of birth, growth, death, and reproduction in organisms (3-LS1-1). Finally, students examine fossils and explore how animals and plants were different long ago (3-LS4-1). 

4th Grade

The 4th grade progression begins where the 3rd grade progression ended with students using fossils to understand organisms, their environments, and how long term changes occurred in the landscape (4-ESS1-1). Using the structures they saw in fossils as a starting point, students then explore the uses of internal and external structures in modern plants and animals (4-LS1-1) and the ways animals receive and process information (4-LS1-2). A reminder of fossils and the idea of changes in the landscape transfers to looking at evidence of short term weathering from erosion from water or wind on the landscape (4-ESS2-1) and using maps to identify patterns on Earth’s land features (4-ESS2-2). Students then consider the impact of natural Earth processes on humans (4-ESS3-2). All of Earth’s natural processes represent examples of the transfer of energy from one form to another just as energy is transferred through a food web. This study of energy examines how an objects’ speed is related to their energy (4-PS3-1), how collisions lead to changes in energy (4-PS3-3), how energy can be converted from one form to another (4-PS3-4), and how energy can be transferred by sound, heat, light, and electricity (4-PS3-2). Students can construct machines that transfer different forms of energy in the most efficient ways possible (3-5ETS1-(1-3)). The concept of energy is then related to fuel and the human use of renewable and nonrenewable resources (4-ESS3-1). Then, the idea of waves are used to unify the previous concepts of the movement of energy, the reflection of light, and the use of patterns to transfer information (4-PS4-1, 4-PS4-2, and 4-PS4-3). 

5th Grade

The 5th grade progression begins where the 4th grade progression ended with a study of light. This time it is the light from the Sun and the stars. Students explore the apparent brightness of the Sun compared to other stars due to the vast differences in distances from those objects to Earth (5-ESS1-1). Gravitation is an additional concept that dovetails nicely with discussions of stars (5-PS2-1). Students also learn about the seasonal changes in the duration of daylight, the lengths of shadows, and positions of the stars throughout the year (5-ESS1-2). The Sun can then be connected as the source of all the energy that makes up animals’ food on Earth (5-PS3-1). Discussion can then progress to photosynthesis and the other two needed elements for that process other than sunlight which are water and air (5-LS1-1). Students can experiment on which combinations of variables make seeds germinate and plants grow largest or how to make mold grow the fastest (3-5ETS1-(1-3)). Availability of fresh water and its distribution around the Earth are the next topics for discussion (5-ESS2-2). These pieces get connected together by considering the movement of matter through the food web (5-LS2-1). Then we zoom out to explore how the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and/or atmosphere interact (5-ESS2-1). Then, the topic moves along to the conservation of Earth’s resources (5-ESS-3-1). Then, we get to the heart of the matter (pun intended). The properties of matter, its interactions when mixed with other types of matter, and the conservation of mass can be connected back to the beginning of the year with a discussion of how everything that has mass–matter–has gravity (5-PS1-1, 5-PS1-2, 5-PS1-3, 5-PS1-4, and 5-PS2-1). 

The Progression with Lessons from Partner Organizations

Kindergarten

August-October

The Kindergarten progression begins with Forces and Interactions (K-PS2-1 and K-PS2-2). Having students explore and/or build their own simple machines can connect ideas of forces, speed, and energy. 

K-PS2-1 Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions: 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.

K-PS2-2 Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions: 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.

Current Partners:

November-December

Students progress to ideas of Energy using the Sun as an example (K-PS3-1). Students design and construct different types of shade structures using their new construction skills from the lessons used during the previous group of standards. (K-PS3-2, K-2-ETS1-1, K-2-ETS1-2, K-2-ETS1-3). 

K-PS3-1 Energy: Make observations to determine the effect of sunlight on Earth’s surface.

K-PS3-2 Energy: Use tools and materials to design and build a structure that will reduce the warming effect of sunlight on an area.

K-2-ETS1-1 Engineering, Technology, & Applications of Science: Ask questions, make observations, and gather information about a situation people want to change to define a simple problem that can be solved through the development of a new or improved object or tool.

K-2-ETS1-2 Engineering, Technology, & Applications of Science: 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.

K-2-ETS1-3 Engineering, Technology, & Applications of Science: Analyze data from tests of two objects designed to solve the same problem to compare the strengths and weaknesses of how each performs.

Current Partners:

Potential Partners:

January-February

The Sun can then be connected to the next topic as the source of all weather patterns on Earth (K-ESS2-1). Students explore different types of weather, including extreme weather, and learn about weather forecasting by making daily observations of the weather (K-ESS3-2). 

K-ESS2-1 Earth’s Systems: Use and share observations of local weather conditions to describe patterns overtime.  

K-ESS3-2 Earth and Human Activity: Ask questions to obtain information about the purpose of weather forecasting to prepare for, and respond to, severe weather. 

Current Partners:

March-April

The way humans prepare for extreme weather can be connected to the idea of how we change our environment to suit our needs (K-ESS2-2). Then, students can explore how other animals and plants do the same (K-ESS2-2). That progresses naturally to the relationships of living things and the places they live (K-ESS3-1). 

K-ESS2-2 Earth’s Systems: Construct an argument supported by evidence for how plants and animals (including humans) can change the environment to meet their needs. 

K-ESS3-1 Earth and Human Activity: Use a model to represent the relationship between the needs of different plants and animals (including humans) and the places they live.

Curent Partners:

May-June

Students continue to explore the relationships between living things and their environment, which includes all the basic necessities that living things need to survive (K-LS1-1). An exploration into how to use machines to manage human impacts on other living things (K-ESS3-3) will connect back to the lessons at the beginning of the year that focused on forces, speed, energy, and simple machines.

K-LS1-1 From Molecules to Organisms: Structures & Processes: Use observations to describe patterns of what plants and animals (including humans) need to survive.

K-ESS3-3 Earth and Human Activity: Communicate solutions that will manage the impact of humans on the land, water, air, and/or other living things in the local environment.

Current Partners:

Potential Partners:

1st Grade

August-October

The 1st grade progression begins where the Kindergarten progression ended with designing solutions to human problems, but this time the solutions explored are by mimicking how plants and animals use their external parts (1-LS1-1). 

1-LS1-1 From Molecules to Organisms: Structures & Processes: 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.

Current Partners:

Potential Partners:

November-December

The uses of external parts of plants and animals are then connected to the idea of heredity. Then, students explore how parents and offspring share similar, but not exactly the same external parts (1-LS3-1). Students then learn how those external parts are used by parents and offspring in their behaviors to help the offspring survive (1-LS1-2). That transitions to the idea of communication between parents and offspring using sound. 

1-LS3-1 Heredity: Inheritance and Variation of Traits: Make observations to construct an evidence-based account that young plants and animals are like, but not exactly like, their parents.

1-LS1-2 From Molecules to Organisms: Structures & Processes: Read texts and use media to determine patterns in the behavior of parents and offspring that help offspring survive.

Current Partners:

January-March

Next, students explore sound as vibrating waves, the effects of waves on making things vibrate, and the idea of ears being one of those vibrating receptors of sound waves (1-PS4-1 and 1-PS4-4). Students can construct and analyze simple communication devices using string and other materials (K-2-ETS1-1(1-3)). The discussion of sound as waves progresses into the discussion of light as waves (1-PS4-2 and 1-PS4-3). 

1-PS4-1 Waves & Their Application in Technologies for Information Transfer: Plan and conduct investigations to provide evidence that vibrating materials can make sound and that sound can make materials vibrate.

1-PS4-4 Waves & Their Application in Technologies for Information Transfer: Use tools and materials to design and build a device that uses light or sound to solve the problem of communicating over a distance.

K-2-ETS1-1 Engineering, Technology, & Applications of Science: Ask questions, make observations, and gather information about a situation people want to change to define a simple problem that can be solved through the development of a new or improved object or tool.

K-2-ETS1-2 Engineering, Technology, & Applications of Science: 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.

K-2-ETS1-3 Engineering, Technology, & Applications of Science: Analyze data from tests of two objects designed to solve the same problem to compare the strengths and weaknesses of how each performs.

1-PS4-2 Waves & Their Application in Technologies for Information Transfer: Make observations to construct an evidence-based account that objects in darkness can be seen only when illuminated.

1-PS4-3 Waves & Their Application in Technologies for Information Transfer: Plan and conduct investigations to determine the effect of placing objects made with different materials in the path of a beam of light.

Current Partners:

Potential Partners:

April-June

The Sun can then be connected as a star and the source of all daylight on Earth (1-ESS1-2). The amount of daylight changes throughout the year (1-ESS1-2). More distant stars can be seen at night. Patterns of the positions of the Sun, Moon, and stars can be observed (1-ESS1-1).

1-ESS1-2 Earth’s Place in the Universe: Make observations at different times of year to relate the amount of daylight to the time of year.

1-ESS1-1 Earth’s Place in the Universe: Use observations of the sun, moon, and stars to describe patterns that can be predicted.

Current Partners:

Potential Partners:

2nd Grade

August-October

The 2nd grade progression begins where the 1st grade progression ends with the Sun and light, this time as a necessity, along with water, for plant  growth (2-LS2-1). The topic then spreads (pun intended) to plants adaptation of seed dispersal and pollination (2-LS2-2) and then naturally to the diversity of life in different habitats (2-LS4-1).

2-LS2-1 Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics: Plan and conduct an investigation to determine if plants need sunlight and water to grow. 

2-LS2-2 Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics: Develop a simple model that mimics the function of an animal in dispersing seeds or pollinating plants.

2-LS4-1 Biological Unity and Diversity: Make observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in different habitats. 

Current partners:

November-December

The speed of plant growth and seed dispersal can then be contrasted with other Earth processes like wind/water erosion and mountain building (2-ESS1-1 and 2-ESS2-1). 

2-ESS1-1 Earth’s Place in the Universe: Use information from several sources to provide evidence that Earth events can occur quickly or slowly. 

2-ESS2-1 Earth’s Systems: Compare multiple solutions designed to slow or prevent wind or water from changing the shape of the land.

Current Partners:

Potential Partners:

January-March

The topic of change from wind and water progresses to the topics of shapes of bodies of water and land features and the distribution of water on Earth in all its states (solid, liquid, gas) (2-ESS2-2 and 2-ESS2-3). 

2-ESS2-2 Earth’s Systems: Develop a model to represent the shapes and kinds of land and bodies of water in an area.

2-ESS2-3 Earth’s Systems: Obtain information to identify where water is found on Earth and that it can be solid, liquid, or gas.

Current Partners:

Potential Partners:

April-June

Heating and cooling water into its three states can be expanded to address how some materials can return to their original state after being heated or cooled while others cannot (2-PS1-4).Then, students explore matter, its different properties, intended purposes, and usefulness by identifying the best substances to achieve certain outcomes (2-PS1-1, 2-PS1-2, 2-PS1-3, K-2-ETS1-1(1-3)). 

2-PS1-4 Matter and Its Interactions: Construct an argument with evidence that some changes caused by heating or cooling can be reversed and some cannot. 

2-PS1-1 Matter and Its Interactions: Plan and conduct an investigation to describe and classify different kinds of materials by their observable properties. 

2-PS1-2 Matter and Its Interactions: Analyze data obtained from testing different materials to determine which materials have the properties that are best suited for the intended purpose.

2-PS1-3 Matter and Its Interactions: 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.

K-2-ETS1-1 Engineering, Technology, & Applications of Science: Ask questions, make observations, and gather information about a situation people want to change to define a simple problem that can be solved through the development of a new or improved object or tool.

K-2-ETS1-2 Engineering, Technology, & Applications of Science: 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.

K-2-ETS1-3 Engineering, Technology, & Applications of Science: Analyze data from tests of two objects designed to solve the same problem to compare the strengths and weaknesses of how each performs.

Current Partners:

Potential Partners:

3rd Grade

August-October

The 3rd grade progression begins with an exploration of one of the more peculiar properties of some forms of matter: magnetism and its relationship with electricity (3-PS2-3). Students explore design solutions using magnets (3-PS2-4) and connect those ideas to unbalanced forces and motion (3-PS2-1) while looking for patterns in the motion they observe to predict the future (3-PS2-2). 

3-PS2-3 Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions: Ask questions to determine cause and effect relationships of electric or magnetic interactions between two objects not in contact with each other.

3-PS2-4 Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions: Define a simple design problem that can be solved by applying scientific ideas about magnets.

3-PS2-1 Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions: Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence of the effects of balanced and unbalanced forces on the motion of an object. 

3-PS2-2 Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions: Make observations and/or measurements of an object’s motion to provide evidence that a pattern can be used to predict future motion. 

Current Partners:

Potential Partners:

November-December

The idea of looking for patterns to predict the future is then applied to predicting weather patterns (3-ESS2-1) and design solutions that reduce the impacts of weather-related hazards (3-ESS3-1, 3-5ETS1-(1-3) can also be addressed here as well with the design solution. The idea of weather is then expanded for students to understand more long term patterns of climate (3-ESS2-2). 

3-ESS2-1 Earth’s Systems: Represent data in tables and graphical displays to describe typical weather conditions expected during a particular season. 

3-ESS3-1 Earth and Human Activity: Make a claim about the merit of a design solution that reduces the impacts of a weather-related hazard.

3-5-ETS1-1 Engineering, Technology, & Applications of Science: Define a simple design problem reflecting a need or a want that includes specified criteria for success and constraints on materials, time, or cost.

3-5-ETS1-2 Engineering, Technology, & Applications of Science: Generate and compare multiple possible solutions to a problem based on how well each is likely to meet the criteria and constraints of the problem. 

3-5-ETS1-3 Engineering, Technology, & Applications of Science: Plan and carry out fair tests in which variables are controlled and failure points are considered to identify aspects of a model or prototype that can be improved.

3-ESS2-2 Earth’s Systems: Obtain and combine information to describe climates in different regions of the world.

Current Partners:

January-February

Cycles of weather and climate progress to the idea of cycles of birth, growth, death, and reproduction in organisms (3-LS1-1). 

3-LS1-1 From Molecules to Organisms: Structures & Processes: Develop models to describe that organisms have unique and diverse life cycles but all have in common birth, growth, reproduction, and death. 

Current Partners:

March-April

 Students then explore the expression of biological inherited traits (3-LS3-1), variation of characteristics between individuals of a species (3-LS4-2), how those traits are impacted by environments (3-LS3-2), how survival rates vary with different habitats (3LS4-3), group survival behaviors (3-LS2-1), and how changing habitats can also impact survival both at the species and individual levels (3-LS4-4). The idea of weather is then expanded for students to understand more long term patterns of climate (3-ESS2-2). 

3-LS3-1 Heredity: Inheritance and Variation of Traits: Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence that plants and animals have traits inherited from parents and that variation of these traits exists in a group of similar organisms. 

3-LS4-2 Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity: Use evidence to construct an explanation for how the variations in characteristics among individuals of the same species may provide advantages in surviving, finding mates, and reproducing. 

3-LS3-2 Heredity: Inheritance and Variation of Traits: Use evidence to support the explanation that observable traits can be influenced by the environment.

3-LS4-3 Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity: 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. 

3-LS2-1 Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics: Construct an argument that some animals form groups that help members survive.

3-LS4-4 Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity: 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.

3-ESS2-2 Earth’s Systems: Obtain and combine information to describe climates in different regions of the world.

Current Partners:

May-June

Finally, students examine fossils and explore how animals and plants were different long ago (3-LS4-1). 

3-LS4-1 Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity: Analyze and interpret data from fossils to provide evidence of the organisms and the environments in which they lived long ago. 

Current Partners:

Potential Partners

4th Grade

August-October

The 4th grade progression begins where the 3rd grade progression ended with students using fossils to understand organisms, their environments, and how long term changes occurred in the landscape (4-ESS1-1). Using the structures they saw in fossils as a starting point, students then explore the uses of internal and external structures in modern plants and animals (4-LS1-1) and the ways animals receive and process information (4-LS1-2).

4-ESS1-1 Earth’s Place in the Universe: Identify evidence from patterns in rock formations and fossils in rock layers to support an explanation for changes in a landscape over time.

4-LS1-1 From Molecules to Organisms: Structure and Processes: Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.

4-LS1-2 From Molecules to Organisms: Structure and Processes: 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.

Current Partners:

November-December

A reminder of fossils and the idea of changes in the landscape transfers to looking at evidence of short term weathering from erosion from water or wind on the landscape (4-ESS2-1) and using maps to identify patterns on Earth’s land features (4-ESS2-2). Students then consider the impact of natural Earth processes on humans (4-ESS3-2). 

4-ESS2-1 Earth’s Systems: Make observations and/or measurements to provide evidence of the effects of weathering or the rate of erosion by water, ice, wind, or vegetation.

4-ESS2-2 Earth’s Systems: Analyze and interpret data from maps to describe patterns of Earth’s features.

4-ESS3-2 Earth and Human Activity: Generate and compare multiple solutions to reduce the impacts of natural Earth processes on humans.

Current Partners:

January-March

All of Earth’s natural processes represent examples of the transfer of energy from one form to another just as energy is transferred through a food web. This study of energy examines how an objects’ speed is related to their energy (4-PS3-1), how collisions lead to changes in energy (4-PS3-3), how energy can be converted from one form to another (4-PS3-4), and how energy can be transferred by sound, heat, light, and electricity (4-PS3-2). Students can construct machines that transfer different forms of energy in the most efficient ways possible (3-5ETS1-(1-3)). The concept of energy is then related to fuel and the human use of renewable and nonrenewable resources (4-ESS3-1). 

4-PS3-1 Energy: Use evidence to construct an explanation relating the speed of an object to the energy of that object.

4-PS3-3 Energy: Ask questions and predict outcomes about the changes in energy that occur when objects collide.

4-PS3-4 Energy: Apply scientific ideas to design, test, and refine a device that converts energy from one form to another.

4-PS3-2 Energy: Make observations to provide evidence that energy can be transferred from place to place by sound, light, heat, and electric currents.

3-5-ETS1-1 Engineering, Technology, & Applications of Science: Define a simple design problem reflecting a need or a want that includes specified criteria for success and constraints on materials, time, or cost.

3-5-ETS1-2 Engineering, Technology, & Applications of Science: Generate and compare multiple possible solutions to a problem based on how well each is likely to meet the criteria and constraints of the problem. 

3-5-ETS1-3 Engineering, Technology, & Applications of Science: Plan and carry out fair tests in which variables are controlled and failure points are considered to identify aspects of a model or prototype that can be improved.

4-ESS3-1 Earth and Human Activity: Obtain and combine information to describe that energy and fuels are derived from renewable and non-renewable resources and how their uses affect the environment.

Current Partners:

April-June

Then, the idea of waves are used to unify the previous concepts of the movement of energy, the reflection of light, and the use of patterns to transfer information (4-PS4-1, 4-PS4-2, and 4-PS4-3). 

4-PS4-1 Waves and Their Applications in Technology for Information Transfer: Develop a model of waves to describe patterns in terms of amplitude and wavelength and that waves can cause objects to move.

4-PS4-2 Waves and Their Applications in Technology for Information Transfer: Develop a model to describe that light reflecting from objects and entering the eye allows objects to be seen.

4-PS4-3 Waves and Their Applications in Technology for Information Transfer: Generate and compare multiple solutions that use patterns to transfer information.

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5th Grade

August-October

The 5th grade progression begins where the 4th grade progression ended with a study of light. This time it is the light from the Sun and the stars. Students explore the apparent brightness of the Sun compared to other stars due to the vast differences in distances from those objects to Earth (5-ESS1-1). Gravitation is an additional concept that dovetails nicely with discussions of stars (5-PS2-1). Students also learn about the seasonal changes in the duration of daylight, the lengths of shadows, and positions of the stars throughout the year (5-ESS1-2). 

5-ESS1-1 Earth’s Place in the Universe: Support an argument that differences in the apparent brightness of the sun compared to other stars is due to their relative distances from Earth. 

5-ESS1-2 Earth’s Place in the Universe: 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. 

5-PS2-1 Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions: Support an argument that the gravitational force exerted by Earth on objects is directed down. 

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Potential Partners

November-December

The Sun can then be connected as the source of all the energy that makes up animals’ food on Earth (5-PS3-1). Discussion can then progress to photosynthesis and the other two needed elements for that process other than sunlight which are water and air (5-LS1-1). Students can experiment on which combinations of variables make seeds germinate and plants grow largest or how to make mold grow the fastest (3-5ETS1-(1-3)). Availability of fresh water and its distribution around the Earth are the next topics for discussion (5-ESS2-2). 

5-PS3-1 Energy: 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. 

5-LS1-1 From Molecules to Organisms: Structure and Processes: Support an argument that plants get the materials they need for growth primarily from air and water.

3-5-ETS1-1 Engineering, Technology, & Applications of Science: Define a simple design problem reflecting a need or a want that includes specified criteria for success and constraints on materials, time, or cost.

3-5-ETS1-2 Engineering, Technology, & Applications of Science: Generate and compare multiple possible solutions to a problem based on how well each is likely to meet the criteria and constraints of the problem. 

3-5-ETS1-3 Engineering, Technology, & Applications of Science: Plan and carry out fair tests in which variables are controlled and failure points are considered to identify aspects of a model or prototype that can be improved.

5-ESS2-2 Earth’s Systems: Describe and graph the amounts and percentages of water and fresh water in various reservoirs to provide evidence about the distribution of water on Earth.  

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January-March

These pieces get connected together by considering the movement of matter through the food web (5-LS2-1). Then we zoom out to explore how the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and/or atmosphere interact (5-ESS2-1). Then, the topic moves along to the conservation of Earth’s resources (5-ESS-3-1). 

5-LS2-1 Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics: Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment. 

5-ESS2-1 Earth’s Systems: Develop a model using an example to describe ways the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and/or atmosphere interact.

5-ESS3-1 Earth and Human Activity: Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to conserve Earth’s resources and environment. 

Current Partners

April-June

Then, we get to the heart of the matter (pun intended). The properties of matter, its interactions when mixed with other types of matter, and the conservation of mass can be connected back to the beginning of the year with a discussion of how everything that has mass–matter–has gravity (5-PS1-1, 5-PS1-2, 5-PS1-3, 5-PS1-4, and 5-PS2-1). 

5-PS1-1 Matter and Its Interactions: Develop a model to describe that matter is made of particles too small to be seen.

5-PS1-2 Matter and Its Interactions: 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. 

5-PS1-3 Matter and Its Interactions: Make observations and measurements to identify materials based on their properties.

5-PS1-4 Matter and Its Interactions: Conduct an investigation to determine whether the mixing of two or more substances results in new substances. 

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