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Performance Expectations:
Performance Expectations:
In the kindergarten performance expectations, students are expected to demonstrate grade-appropriate proficiency in asking questions, developing and using models, planning and carrying out investigations, analyzing and interpreting data, designing solutions, engaging in argument from evidence, and obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information. Students are expected to use these practices to demonstrate understanding of the core ideas.
NGSS Summary:
NGSS Summary:
The performance expectations in kindergarten help students formulate answers to questions such as: “What happens if you push or pull an object harder? Where do animals live and why do they live there? What is the weather like today and how is it different from yesterday?” Kindergarten performance expectations include PS2, PS3, LS1, ESS2, ESS3, and ETS1.
Disciplinary Core Ideas from NCR Framework:
Disciplinary Core Ideas from NCR Framework:
Students are expected to develop understanding of patterns and variations in local weather and the purpose of weather forecasting to prepare for, and respond to severe weather. Students are able to apply an understanding of the effects of different strengths or different directions of pushes and pulls on the motion of an object to analyze a design solution. Students are also expected to develop a relationship between their needs and where they live.
Crosscutting Concepts:
Crosscutting Concepts:
Crosscutting concepts of patterns: technology; and influence of engineering, technology, and science on society and the natural world are called out as organizing concepts for these disciplinary core ideas.
These strands are not to be taught in a sequential order, but should be integrated throughout the year.
Life Science Concepts
Life Science Concepts
Core Ideas:
Core Ideas:
K-LS1: From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes
LS1.C: Organization for Matter and Energy Flow in Organisms
All animals need food in order to live and grow. They obtain their food from plants or from other animals. Plants need water and light to live and grow. (K-LS-1)
GLEs: SA.1-3; SC.1-3; SE.2; SG2, 4
Performance Expectations:
Performance Expectations:
Students who demonstrate understanding will:
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 kind of food needed by different types of animals; the requirement of plants to have light; and, that all living things need water.]
Suggested Explorations:
Suggested Explorations:
Use science notebooks to sketch living and non-living things in a local environment. (Note differences. Discuss with partner. Share with whole group. Document observations on chart paper.)
Use a Double Bubble Map to compare/contrast plants and animals.
Plant seeds. Observe daily. Document observations in science notebook. Draw and label parts of the plant. Brainstorm in small group what plants need to survive and grow.
Follow the life cycle of a butterfly. Document all stages of the life cycle, using pictures and words. Note habitat: food, temperature, lighting, and surroundings. Visit school library to locate non-fiction books. Read books aloud. Document information.
Have each student choose an Alaskan animal. Read book on animal habitat. Have students draw animal in its habitat. Have students present picture sharing type of animal, habitat, and food they eat.
Physical Science Concepts
Physical Science Concepts
Core Ideas:
Core Ideas:
K-PS2: Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions
PS2.A: Forces and Motion
Pushes and pulls can have different strengths and directions. (K-PS2.1-2)
Pushing or pulling on an object can change the speed or direction of its motion and can start or stop it.
(K-PS2.1-2)
PS2.B: Types of Interactions
When objects touch or collide, they push on one another and can change motion.
(K-PS2.1)
PS3.C: Relationship Between Energy and Forces
A bigger push or pull makes things speed up or slow down more quickly. (Secondary to K-PS2.1)
ETS1.A: Defining Engineering Problems
A situation that people want to change or create can be approached as a problem to be solved through engineering. Such problems may have many acceptable solutions. (Secondary to K-PS2.2)
K-PS3: Energy
PS3.B: Conservation of Energy and Energy Transfer
Sunlight warms Earth’s surface.
(K-PS3.1-2)
GLEs: SA.1-2; SB.1-4; SG.1-4
Performance Expectations:
Performance Expectations:
Students who demonstrate understanding will:
K-PS2.1: 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. [Clarification Statement: Examples of pushes or pulls could include a string attached to an object being pulled, a person pushing an object, a person stopping a rolling ball, and two objects colliding and pushing on each other.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment is limited to different relative strengths or different directions, but not both at the same time. Assessment does not include non-contact pushes or pulls such as those produced by magnets.]
K-PS2.2: 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. [Clarification Statement: Examples of problems requiring a solution could include tools such as a ramp to increase the speed of the object and a as a marble or ball to turn.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include friction as a mechanism for change in speed.]
K-PS3.1: Make observations to determine the effect of sunlight on Earth’s surface. [Clarification Statement: Examples of Earth’s surface could include sand, soil, rocks, and water.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment of temperature is limited to relative measures such as warmer/cooler.]
K-PS3.2: Use tools and materials to design and build a structure that will reduce the warming effect of sunlight on an area. [Clarification Statement: Examples of structures could include umbrellas, canopies, and tents that minimize the warming effect of the sun.]
Suggested Explorations:
Suggested Explorations:
Using balls, race cars, and/or marbles to experiment with motion; move objects to collide with one another, cause objects to speed up and slow down. Work with a partner, note patterns and changes in movement, make observations and note possible explanations.
Build a variety of ramps-experiment with the speed of objects moving on an incline. Make predictions. Encourage students to study data, change variables, and analyze results.
Participate in numerous Tug-of-War activities. Analyze strategies.
Participate in a game of kickball. Experiment with gentle kicks and hard kicks. What happens when your foot swings harder, connecting with the ball? What happens when the ball bumps into something?
Brainstorm words to describe the sun. Create a Circle Map.
Write a Sun poem.
Create a list of natural resources heated by the sun (e.g., soil, water, rocks)
Draw a picture of yourself outside on a hot, sunny day.
Describe where you are and what you are doing.
Draw a picture of yourself on a cold day, with no sunshine. Describe how the pictures are different.
Measure and record temperatures of objects placed in light.
Conduct experiments that illustrate the movement of heat from one object to another.
Earth and Space Science Concepts
Earth and Space Science Concepts
Core Ideas:
Core Ideas:
K-ESS2: Earth’s Systems
ESS2.D: Weather and Climate
Weather is the combination of sunlight, wind, snow or rain, and temperature in a particular region at a particular time. People measure these conditions to describe and record the weather and to notice patterns over time. (K-ESS2.1)
ESS2.D: Biogeology
Plants and animals can change their environment. (K-ESS2.2)
ESS3.C: Human Impact on Earth Systems
Things that people do to live comfortably can affect the world around them. But they can make choices that reduce their impact on the land, water, air, and other living things. (Secondary to K-ESS2.2)
K-ESS3: Earth and Human Activity
ESS3.A: Natural Resources
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. (K-ESS3.1)
ESS3.B: Natural Hazards
Some kinds of severe weather are more likely than others in a given region. Weather scientists forecast severe weather so that the communities can prepare for and respond to these events. (K-ESS3.2)
ESS3.C: Human Impacts on Earth Systems
Things that people do to live comfortably can affect the world around them. But they can make choices that reduce their impacts on the land, water, air, and other living things. (K-ESS3.3)
ETS1.A: Defining and Delimiting an Engineering Problem
Asking questions, making observations, and gathering information are helpful in thinking about problems. (Secondary to K-ESS3.2)
ETS1.B: Developing Possible Solutions
Designs can be conveyed through drawings or physical models. These representations are useful in communicating ideas for a problem’s solutions to other people. (Secondary to
K-ESS3.3)
GLEs: SA.1, 3; SB.1; SD.2-3; SE.1-3; SF.1; SG.2, 4; CS.D.5
Performance Expectations:
Performance Expectations:
Students who demonstrate understanding will:
K-ESS2.1: Use and share observations of local weather conditions to describe patterns over time. [Clarification Statement: Examples of qualitative observations could include descriptions of the weather (such as sunny, cloudy, rainy, and warm); examples of quantitative observations could include numbers of sunny, windy, and rainy days in a month. Examples of patterns could include that it is usually cooler in the morning than in the afternoon and the number of sunny day versus cloudy days in different months.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment of quantitative observations limited to whole numbers and relative measures such as warmer/cooler.]
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-ESS.1: Use a model to represent the relationship between the needs of different plants or 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.]
KESS3.2: Ask questions to obtain information about the purpose of weather forecasting to prepare for, and respond to, severe weather. [Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on local forms of severe weather.]
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. Example of solutions could include reusing paper and recycling cans and bottles.]
Suggested Explorations:
Suggested Explorations:
Participate in classroom practices that conserve natural resources.
Explore ways Alaska Natives conserve natural resources.
Take a walking field trip to record instances of human impact.
Track temperature daily, sunlight, wind, snow, rain, and clouds. Use the data to build graphs for use in analyzing and interpreting weather data. Describe patterns and draw conclusions based on data.
Take a daily nature walk. Observe and record descriptions of the weather. Document behavior of people, animals, and plants. Note patterns. Discuss patterns with table partners.
Choose a plant, animal, or person you observed on the nature walk. Explain to partner how it was impacted by the weather, and how it adapted to the environment.
Pictorially record weather observations and label.
Draw and dress a paper doll for a specific Alaskan season. Name the season and explain why you chose the clothing you did. Discuss the clothing necessary for the Alaskan outdoors in each of the four seasons.
Visit a school garden. Have student choose a plant to study and research. Take a photo of student and plant. Draw a picture. Research plant care and use. Measure plant growth weekly. Document data. Share observations with others.
Write a class story that depicts a setting with severe Alaskan weather. Act out the story using appropriate props for given weather.
Gather information on the four seasons. Create a weather poem for each season. Illustrate each poem.
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