1st Grade
1st Grade
Embedded Files
Unit 1
(coming soon)
Unit 2
(coming soon)
Unit 3
keep here
Unit 4
(coming soon)
1st Grade Unit Order Rationale
1st Grade Unit Order Rationale
The Utah SEEd 1st grade standards are organized into three strands: 1.1 Patterns in Space, 1.2 Living Things and Their Surroundings, and 1.3 Waves: Light and Sound. These “strands” outline big areas of learning but are not meant to be taught sequentially or used as instructional units. Instead, they describe the key ideas and skills students develop over time.
The OpenSciEd 1st grade curriculum has been intentionally adapted for SEEd to include four connected units. This design ensures that all SEEd standards are taught in a logical, meaningful order that reflects how young learners make sense of the world—through observing real phenomena, asking questions, and figuring things out together. Each unit builds on what came before and intentionally integrates the Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs), Science and Engineering Practices (SEPs), and Crosscutting Concepts (CCCs) outlined in the SEEd standards.
The order of units in the OpenSciEd storyline is especially important for 1st grade. Units 1 and 2 build a connected set of ideas about waves, addressing Strand 1.3 of the SEEd standards and supporting the engineering thinking students will use throughout the year. Unit 3 shifts to space and sky patterns from SEEd Strand 1.1 and includes engineering standard 1.1.3, which we added to the storyline to ensure full alignment since it was not part of the original OSE unit. Unit 4 completes the expectations for SEEd Strand 1.2 on living things. This unit required thoughtful supplementation to fully address standard 1.2.1, which was not included in the original storyline, and the removal of an NGSS-only engineering expectation so the unit aligns fully with SEEd’s 1st grade expectations.
Unit 1 – Waves: Light
This unit introduces students to understanding how light helps us see and how different materials affect the path of light. Students begin by trying to read under covers made from different materials and investigate why some let in more light than others. Through hands-on investigations, they gather evidence about how transparent, translucent, opaque, and reflective materials affect light. By the end of the unit, students use this understanding to explain how to successfully read under covers and write an informational text to communicate their ideas to others.
Addresses SEEd standards 1.3.2 and 1.3.3
Unit 2 – Waves: Sound
Students explore how objects make sound and how sound travels from place to place. The unit begins with students observing a clock tower sending a sound signal. They investigate what causes sounds, how vibrating objects create sound, and how sound can make other objects vibrate. In the second part of the unit, students identify sound signals used in their community and then apply engineering practices to design and test their own sound-signal devices to communicate good news across the classroom.
Addresses SEEd standards 1.3.1 and 1.3.4
Unit 3 – Space: Sky Patterns
In this unit, students observe the Sun, Moon, and stars to identify patterns in their apparent motion and in the changing length of daytime and nighttime. They build explanations for why it is sometimes day and sometimes night, why the Sun’s location appears to change, and why different seasons have longer or shorter daytimes. The SEEd engineering standard 1.1.3 has been intentionally incorporated into this storyline so students design an device that measures the varying patters of daylight.
Addresses SEEd standards 1.1.1, 1.1.2, and 1.1.3
Unit 4 – Animal & Plant Traits
In this final unit, students explore how animals and plants use their external parts to survive, grow, and meet their needs. The storyline has been supplemented to include matter content needed to address SEEd standard 1.2.1, originally absent from the OpenSciEd materials. It has also been refined to remove NGSS-specific engineering expectations that are not part of the SEEd framework.
Addresses SEEd standards 1.2.1, 1.2.2, 1.2.3, and 1.2.4
Page updated
Report abuse