When looking at the Kindergarten Next Generation Science Standards, I tried to lump them into groups that made sense with what we were doing for our Around the World units, but also with each other. To that end, we are looking at various biomes as we tour the world, including the plant and animals that live in them. I am also taking a more direct approach to tackling some of the plant, animal and environment related standards. Here are the standards I lumped and how we progressed through them. However, we did these activities interspersed with our biome units.
K-LS1-1. Use observations to describe patterns of what plants and animals (including humans) need to survive. [Clarification Statement: Examples of patterns could include that animals need to take in food but plants do not; the different kinds of food needed by different types of animals; the requirement of plants to have light; and, that all living things need water.]
K-ESS2-2. Construct an argument supported by evidence for how plants and animals (including humans) can change the environment to meet their needs. [Clarification Statement: Examples of plants and animals changing their environment could include a squirrel digs in the ground to hide its food and tree roots can break concrete.]
K-ESS3-1. Use a model to represent the relationship between the needs of different plants and animals (including humans) and the places they live. [Clarification Statement: Examples of relationships could include that deer eat buds and leaves, therefore, they usually live in forested areas; and, grasses need sunlight so they often grow in meadows. Plants, animals, and their surroundings make up a system.]
K-ESS3-3. Communicate solutions that will reduce the impact of humans on the land, water, air, and/or other living things in the local environment.* [Clarification Statement: Examples of human impact on the land could include cutting trees to produce paper and using resources to produce bottles. Examples of solutions could include reusing paper and recycling cans and bottles.]
Living vs Nonliving
- Brainstorm what you think living things need, make a list
- Watch "What Makes Something Alive?"
- We read several book. I couldn't find links to all of them, so here are some of the ones we read:
- Living things and nonliving things : a compare and contrast Book
- Living things need light
- Living things need food
- Living things need shelter
- Living things need air
- Living things need water
- Revise list
- We also did this Living and Non-Living Graphic Organizer activity. It doesn't exactly link to what living things need, but I already had it and it made for a good discussion.
- We started out reading books on the subject
- Does a woodpecker use a hammer? : think about how everyone uses tools
- How Animals Build
- Castles, caves, and honeycombs
- You Can't Build a House if You're a Hippo
- The Home Builders
- Look Inside Animal Homes
- Peek Inside Bug Homes
- We watched some videos
- Big Changes in the Big Forest
- Big Changes in the Big Apple
- K Science: How do plants and animals change their environment?
- Fill out the changes graphic organizer
- Read about animal adaptations. We have many books and we got several from the library as well. Here is some of what we read
- Anti-Freeze, Leaf Costumes, and Other Fabulous Fish Adaptations
- Spit Nests, Puke Power, and Other Brilliant Bird Adaptations
- There are a few others in this series, we just don't own them and couldn't get them from the library
- Secrets of Animal Camouflage
- Plants Fight Back
- Funny Beasts
- Bigfoot and Adaptations
- Why do Tigers Have Stripes?
- How do Animals Talk?
- Do Lizards Eat Ice Cream?: How Animals Beat the Heat
- Do Frogs Drink Hot Chocolate?: How Animals Keep Warm
- Animal Adaptation Biome Sorting Activity
- Here are some videos we watched
- Note: Human impact is a huge topic, so we're just scratching the surface!
- Read some books about human impact on Earth. Here is what we read:
- Looking After Our Planet
- Getting Started with Our World p66-71
- Fill out the Human Impact Graphic Organizer
- Related videos:
- We plan to do the same thing with human impact on oceans, although we will do it when we do our Ocean Biome Unit.
- Looking After Our Oceans
- Fill out ocean page of the Human Impact Graphic Organizer
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