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These are the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS). Each line describes what students are expected to know and be able to do by the time they take the STAAR assessment. I have bolded the skill portion of each student expectation to highlight what students must demonstrate.
Water Cycle
Water Cycle
The ocean covers over 70% of Earth’s surface and serves as the main source of water for the water cycle.
Thermal energy from the Sun heats water in oceans, lakes, and rivers, causing it to evaporate, or change from a liquid into a gas.
As water vapor rises into the atmosphere, it cools and condenses to form clouds. Water then returns to Earth as precipitation, such as rain, snow, sleet, or hail.
Once it reaches the ground, water may flow as runoff, soak into the soil as groundwater, or collect in bodies of water, continuing the cycle and influencing Earth’s weather and climate.
Evaporation
Evaporation
Substances change state from liquid to gas caused by heat.
Condensation
Condensation
Substance changes state from a gas to a liquid caused by cooler temperatures creates clouds
Precipitation
Precipitation
Water falls from the sky in different states
4 types: Rain, sleet, hail, snow
Conservation
Conservation
Conservation
Conservation
The process of protecting a natural resource. It is important to conserve renewable and nonrenewable resources to prevent harm to the environment and to meet present and future human needs.
Disposal
Disposal
To throw an object away. Proper waste disposal is a way to get rid of waste while minimizing the environmental impact.
Recycle
Recycle
When we recycle, we make something new from something old.
Natural Resources
Natural Resources
The use of natural resources can cause environmental problems, such as air and water pollution and habitat destruction. Extracting natural resources from the environment most likely affects environments by decreasing the variety of organisms.
Practice
Practice
What's the Weather?
What's the Weather?
What is the weather like today where you live? Is it hot or cold? Is there any precipitation, or are the winds strong?
Weather describes the current atmospheric conditions in a specific place at a particular time. Weather can change from day to day or even hour to hour.
Meteorologists are scientists who study and predict weather using special tools, data, and maps.
Weather is made up of several elements, including temperature, wind, humidity, cloudiness, air pressure, and precipitation.
Precipitation is an important part of weather and the water cycle. Water evaporates due to heat from the Sun, condenses as it cools in the atmosphere, and then falls back to Earth as precipitation, such as rain, snow, sleet, or hail.
Weather is different from climate, which describes patterns of weather over a long period of time.
A child wearing rain boots as precipitation falls.
Constant Climate
Constant Climate
A desert has an arid, or very dry, climate and typically receives very little precipitation throughout the year.
What is your town’s climate like? Is the weather usually hot or cold? Does it rain often, or is it usually dry? Think about what the weather is like most of the time, not just on one day.
Climate describes the usual weather patterns in a place over a long period of time. Climate is determined by an area’s typical temperature and precipitation.
For example, southern Florida has a tropical climate. Summers are rainy and humid, and it stays warm for most of the year. Occasionally, temperatures may drop and feel cold, but the overall climate is still tropical because climate is based on long-term patterns, not short-term changes.
Climate is also affected by location on Earth. Areas near the equator, the imaginary line around the middle of Earth, tend to have warm climates. Regions near the North and South Poles tend to have cold climates.
Water Cycle
Water Cycle
Water in its invisible gas form is called water vapor.
Plants release water during a process called transpiration.
When water vapor cools and condenses into liquid water, clouds form.
Weather and Climate
Weather and Climate
Elements of weather are temperature, wind, humidity, cloudiness, air pressure, and precipitation.
Weather describes the conditions of the atmosphere at a specific time and place, while climate describes the average weather patterns over a long period of time.
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