Earth and Space Systems: Grade 1 – Daily and Seasonal Cycles
Overview
In observing their environment, students become aware of changes that take place in it, including changes in physical factors such as temperature, wind, and light, and changes in plants and animals. Through observation and investigation, students will learn that changes often occur in cycles, including the relatively short cycle of day and night and the longer cycle of the seasons. Recognizing these cyclical patterns prepares students to discover relationships among events in their environment, and between the environment and themselves.
Resources
Autumn and Winter (10 mins.) Learn 360 video - http://www.learn360.com/ShowVideo.aspx?ID=515654
Overall Expectations
By the end of Grade 1, students will:
* demonstrate an understanding of changes that occur in daily and seasonal cycles and of how these changes affect the characteristics, behaviour, and location of living things;
* investigate changes that occur in a daily cycle and in a seasonal cycle;
* describe how living things, including humans, adapt to and prepare for daily and seasonal changes.
Specific Expectations
Understanding Basic Concepts
By the end of Grade 1, students will:
* identify the sun as a source of heat and light;
* compare the different characteristics of the four seasons (e.g., length of day, type of precipitation);
* use units of time related to the earth’s cycles (e.g., days, months, seasons);
* describe, using their observations, changes in heat and light from the sun over a period of time (e.g., measure and describe outdoor temperature changes at different times of the day; observe and describe how the position of the sun influences the length and shape of shadows).
Developing Skills of Inquiry, Design, and Communication
By the end of Grade 1, students will:
* design and construct models of structures that would provide protection against local weather conditions (e.g., bus shelters, umbrellas, houses);
* ask questions about and identify needs or problems arising from observable events in the environment, and explore possible answers and solutions (e.g., chart observations of a sunflower over several days and identify a pattern in the movement of the head of the flower; record sunrise times and sunset times and observe a pattern);
* plan investigations to answer some of these questions or solve some of these problems;
* use appropriate vocabulary in describing their explorations, investigations, and observations (e.g., use words such as buds, flowers, seeds, and leaves to identify seasonal changes in plants);
* record relevant observations, findings, and measurements, using written language, drawings, concrete materials, and charts (e.g., draw pictures of how animals live and what they do at different times of the year; measure and record changes in temperature);
* communicate the procedures and results of explorations and investigations for specific purposes, using demonstrations, drawings, and oral and written descriptions (e.g., write and illustrate a booklet about their observations of seasonal changes; keep a journal recording and describing the weather for a given period of time).
Relating Science and Technology to the World Outside the School
By the end of Grade 1, students will:
* identify outdoor human activities that are based on the seasons (e.g., swimming, gardening, skating) and examine some of the solutions humans have found to make it possible to engage in these activities out of season (e.g., community and sports centres make it possible to swim and skate in any season; greenhouses make it possible to garden in any season);
* identify characteristics of clothing worn in different seasons and make appropriate decisions about clothing for different environmental conditions;
* identify features of houses that help keep us sheltered and comfortable throughout daily and seasonal cycles (e.g., lights, furnaces);
* describe changes in the characteristics and behaviour of living things that occur on a daily basis (e.g., their own daily routines at school and at home, the behaviour of nocturnal animals, changes in certain plants and flowers);
* describe changes in the characteristics, behaviour, and location of living things that occur in seasonal cycles (e.g., trees shed their leaves, birds migrate);
* describe ways in which humans modify their behaviour to adapt to changes in temperature and sunlight during the day (e.g., they put on extra clothing when it gets colder, they wear sunglasses).
Earth and Space Systems: Grade 2 – Air and Water in the Environment
Overview
Air and water form a major part of the physical environment and are essential materials for life, yet our awareness of them is often limited largely because we recognize them only in their most obvious and observable forms (e.g., water in lakes and rivers, rain, wind). Through investigations, students will learn about the characteristics of air and the various forms of water in the environment, about changes in and interactions between air and water when they are heated and cooled, and about their movement through the environment. In the process, students will discover the many ways in which air and water contribute to the health and survival of living things, including ourselves.