Teaching Standards Summary - Unit 1

Disciplinary Core Ideas

Earth Science

ESS2.E Biogeology

• 3-5 Living things can affect the physical characteristics of their environment.

ESS3.A Natural resources

• K-2 Living things need water, air, and resources from the land, and they live in places that have the things they need. Humans use natural resources for everything they do.

ESS3.C Human impacts on Earth systems

• 3-5 Societal activities have had major effects on the land, ocean, atmosphere, and even outer space. Societal activities can also help protect Earth’s resources and environments.

Life Science

LS1.C Organization for matter and energy flow in organisms

• K-2 Animals obtain food they need from plants or other animals. Plants need water and light.
• 3-5 Food provides animals with the materials and energy they need for body repair, growth, warmth, and motion. Plants acquire material for growth chiefly from air, water, and process matter and obtain energy from sunlight, which is used to maintain conditions necessary for survival.

LS2.A Interdependent relationships in ecosystems

• K-2 Plants depend on water and light to grow, and also depend on animals for pollination or to move their seeds around.
• 3-5 The food of almost any animal can be traced back to plants. Organisms are related in food webs in which some animals eat plants for food and other animals eat the animals that eat plants, while decomposers restore some materials back to the soil. Organisms can survive only in environments in which their particular needs are met. A healthy ecosystem is one in which multiple species of different types are each able to meet their needs in a relatively stable web of life. Newly introduced species can damage the balance of an ecosystem. (5-LS2-1)
• 6-8 Organisms and populations are dependent on their environmental interactions both with other living things and with nonliving factors, any of which can limit their growth. Competitive, predatory, and mutually beneficial interactions vary across ecosystems but the patterns are shared.

LS2.C Ecosystem dynamics, functioning, and resilience

• 3-5 When the environment changes, some organisms survive and reproduce, some move to new locations, some move into the transformed environment, and some die.

LS3.B Variation of Traits

• 3 Different organisms vary in how they look and function because they have different inherited information. (3-LS3-1)
• 3 The environment also affects the traits that an organism develops. (3-LS3-2)

LS4.B Natural Selection

• 3 Sometimes the differences in characteristics between individuals of the same species provide advantages in surviving, finding mates, and reproducing. (3-LS4-2)

LS4.C Adaptation

• 3-5 For any particular environment, some kinds of organisms survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all. (3-LS4-3)

LS4.D Biodiversity and humans

• K-2 A range of different organisms lives in different places.
• 3-5 Populations of organisms live in a variety of habitats. Change in those habitats affects the organisms living there. (3-LS4-4)

Science and Engineering Practices

The eight practices of science and engineering that the Framework identifies as essential for all students to learn and describes in detail are listed below.

1. Asking questions (for science) and defining problems (for engineering)
2. Developing and using models
3. Planning and carrying out investigations
4. Analyzing and interpreting data
5. Using mathematics and computational thinking
6. Constructing explanations (for science) and designing solutions (for engineering)
7. Engaging in argument from evidence
8. Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information

Crosscutting Concepts

1. Patterns: Observed patterns of forms and events guide organization and classification, and they prompt questions about relationships and the factors that influence them.
2. Cause and effect: Mechanism and explanation. Events have causes, sometimes simple, sometimes multifaceted. A major activity of science is investigating and explaining causal relationships and the mechanisms by which they are mediated. Such mechanisms can then be tested across given contexts and used to predict and explain events in new contexts.
3. Scale, proportion, and quantity: In considering phenomena, it is critical to recognize what is relevant at different measures of size, time, and energy and to recognize how changes in scale, proportion, or quantity affect a system’s structure or performance.
4. Systems and system models: Defining the system under study—specifying its boundaries and making explicit a model of that system—provides tools for understanding and testing ideas that are applicable throughout science and engineering.
5. Energy and matter: Flows, cycles, and conservation. Tracking fluxes of energy and matter into, out of, and within systems helps one understand the systems’ possibilities and limitations.
6. Structure and function: The way in which an object or living thing is shaped and its substructure determine many of its properties and functions.
7. Stability and change: For natural and built systems alike, conditions of stability and determinants of rates of change or evolution of a system are critical elements of study.

​English Language Arts/Literacy: Reading

RI.3.1 Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.

RI.3.2 Determine the main idea of a text; recount the key details and explain how they support the main idea.

RI.3.3 Describe the relationship between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text, using language that pertains to time, sequence, and cause/effect.

RI.3.7 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).

RI.4.7 Interpret information presented visually, orally, or quantitatively (e.g., in charts, graphs, diagrams, time lines, animations, or interactive elements on Web pages) and explain how the information contributes to an understanding of the text in which it appears.

RI.5.7 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.

RI.5.9 Integrate information from several texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.

English Language Arts/Literacy: Writing

SL.3.4 Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking clearly at an understandable pace.

W.3.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.

W.3.7 Conduct short research projects that build knowledge about a topic.

W.3.8 Recall information from experiences or gather information from print and digital sources; take brief notes on sources and sort evidence into provided categories.

W.4.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.

W.4.7 Conduct short research projects that build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic.
W.4.8 Recall relevant information from experiences or gather relevant information from print and digital sources; take notes and categorize information, and provide a list of sources.

W.5.7 Conduct short research projects that use several sources to build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic.

W.5.8 Recall relevant information from experiences or gather relevant information from print and digital sources; summarize or paraphrase information in notes and finished work, and provide a list of sources.

English Language Arts/Literacy: Speaking and Listening

SL.3.4 Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking clearly at an understandable pace.

Mathematics: Mathematical Practice

MP.2 Reason abstractly and quantitatively.

MP.5 Use appropriate tools strategically.

Mathematics: Measurement & Data

3.MD.B.4 Generate measurement data by measuring lengths using rulers marked with halves and fourths of an inch. Show the data by making a line plot, where the horizontal scale is marked off in appropriate units—whole numbers, halves, or quarters.

1 How to use maps and other geographic representations, tools, and technologies to acquire, process, and report information

2 How to use mental maps to organize information about people, places, and environment

4 The physical and human characteristics of places

5 That people create regions to interpret Earth’s complexity

8 The characteristics and spatial distribution of ecosystems and biomes on Earth’s surface

14 How human actions modify the physical environment