Curriculum and Instruction - Science and Technology/Engineering

WALPOLE PUBLIC SCHOOLS
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY/ENGINEERING
GRADES K-5

Curriculum Summary

These curriculum summaries have been developed by teachers and administrators to serve as another way of communicating with parents. They highlight the core curriculum and expectations for student learning at each grade level.

The curriculum summaries describe what most students at a grade level are expected to know and be able to do by the end of the school year. They also reflect the goals of the various Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks. It is important to note that although children may learn and grow at different rates and through varied styles, all should make regular progress.

While we have high expectations for all students and encourage each student to work to their capacity, parents and teachers recognize that some students have more difficulty in school. Others will progress more rapidly and move well beyond these core expectations. It is the joint responsibility of school and home to provide support, challenge, and encouragement for all students.

Grade K

Students will answer these questions:

What do plants and animals need to grow?
What are the stages of plant/animal lives?
How do plants/animals resemble their parents?
How do people and animals use their senses?
What seasonal changes can you observe?
What do animals/humans need in order to live?
How do we classify objects/plants/ animals?
What patterns does the weather follow?
How does air move materials?
What tools are used for different jobs?

Grade 1

Students will

study characteristics of living things.
examine life cycles.
discover what plants and animals need to grow.
know the parts and functions of a plant (roots, stems, leaves, flower).
interact with their environment through their senses.
examine how humans and animals adapt to changes in their environment.
investigate the three states of matter and how to change from a solid, liquid, and gas.
describe the weather changes from day to day and over the seasons.
purpose and function of simple machines.
prove how simple machines make our lives easier.

Grade 2

Students will answer the following questions:

What do plants and animals need to live and grow?
What are the characteristics of living and non-living things?
How can we classify living things?
What are the stages of plant/animal life and how do they vary?
How do plants/animals resemble their parents?
What do you need in your habitat to survive?
How can objects move in various ways?
How does force influence the motion of an object?
What is the earth composed of?
How does the sun support life on earth?
How are years, seasons, days, and nights impacted by the events around us?
How do human beings and animals use parts of the body as tools?

Grade 3

Students will answer the questions:

What are the major stages of the life cycle of the frog?
How do inherited characteristics change over time as adaptation to changes in the environment that enables organisms to survive?
How have changes in the environment caused animals to die or migrate?
How do organisms meet some of their needs in an environment by using behaviors?
What is the difference between instinctive behaviors and learned behaviors?
How can organisms cause changes in their environment to ensure survival? How do these changes affect the ecosystem?
How is energy from the sun used by plants within a food chain?
What causes magnetic poles to repel or attract each other?
What objects and/or materials will attract to magnets? What objects and/or materials will not attract magnets?
How is sound produced and how does sound travel? How does rate of vibration relate to pitch?
What is included in the solar system? What is Earth’s role in the solar system?
How do natural systems compare to mechanical systems that are designed to serve similar purposes?

Grade 4

Students will answer the questions:

How do scientists classify animals?
How do animals adapt in order to survive?
What are minerals and how are they classified?
What are rocks and how are they classified?
How is Earth’s surface shaped?
What causes weather?
How does climate change?
What are the properties of matter?
How can matter change?
Why is accuracy important in forecasting weather?

Grade 5

Students will answer the questions:

What structures in plants are responsible for food production, support, water transport, reproduction, growth, and protection?
What are the stages in the plant life cycle?
How do inherited characteristics differ from characteristics that are affected by climate or environment?
What plant behaviors are impacted by the environment and gravity?
What is the process of photosynthesis, and how is it used in the food chain?
How do different soil types affect the growth of plants?
How is the solar system arranged with the sun, planets, and moons?
How does the earth rotate and :ct time?
How does earth revolve and affect the calendar?
How does the sun appear to move in the course of a day?
What is a lunar eclipse?
What is a solar eclipse?
What are the phases of the moon, and why do we see the moon this way?
How can energy be transferred from one form to another?
What are the components of an electrical circuit?
What is the difference between an insulator and a conductor?
How is an electromagnet made? How is it useful?
How does light travel and what happens when it strikes an object?
Why do reflection, retraction, and absorption happen?
Why are certain materials appropriate for specific tasks?
What tools could be used to construct a given prototype?
How does a simple machine differ from a complex machine?

Contacts

Brendan Dearborn, Boyden School Principal

Carrie Ruggiero, Elm Street School Principal

Brian Bemiss, Fisher School Principal

David Barner, Old Post Road School Principal

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