OVERVIEW
Unit 1: Selecting & Using Materials in Design Process
Students will describe and classify different kinds of materials by observable properties such as color, flexibility, hardness, texture, and absorbency.
Students will test and analyze different materials to determine which ones have the properties best suited for an intended purpose.
Students will explain that when a chunk of material is cut or broken into pieces, each piece is still the same material and has weight.
Students will demonstrate that the properties of a small set of pieces do not change when they are used to build larger objects.
Students will construct an argument with evidence that some changes to materials caused by heating or cooling can be reversed, and some cannot.
Students will design and conduct an experiment to show the effects of friction on the temperature of objects that rub against each other.
Why do we use certain materials for different jobs?
How do the physical properties of a material determine its best use?
How can we use our knowledge of science to solve a real-world problem?
How can adding or taking away heat change a material?
What happens to an ice cube when it gets warm? What about when it cools down? Is that a reversible change?
Why do we use a certain type of container to keep things cold in the lunchbox? What properties does that container have?
Can you take apart your favorite building blocks and make something else with them? Did the properties of the individual pieces change?
If you rub your hands together really fast, what do you feel? Why do you think that happens?
Solids, Liquids, and Gases by Steve Jenkins (Part of the "Look and Wonder" series, great for young learners)
Change It! Solids, Liquids, Gases and You by Adrienne Mason (Uses fun activities to explore changes in matter)
Friction by Mary Lindeen (A simple and direct book that explains the concept of friction)
What Is the World Made Of?: All About Solids, Liquids, and Gases by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld (A good introductory book that answers fundamental questions about matter)
Unit 2: Organisms: Needs and Interactions
Students will learn that plants and animals rely on their surroundings to get everything they need.
Students will learn that animals get their food from plants or other animals.
Students will learn that plants need air, water, and light to grow.
Students will learn what a habitat is and that many different plants and animals can share the same habitat.
Students will learn to create a model that shows how an animal helps a plant to reproduce (e.g., a bee pollinating a flower or a squirrel burying a seed).
What do plants need to grow?
How do plants and animals compare from one habitat to another?
Do plants depend on animals, or is it only animals that depend on plants?
When you look outside, what living things do you see?
What do our pets need to survive? How is that similar or different to what a squirrel or a bird needs?
Let’s look at a plant in our house. What do we do to help it grow?
From Seed to Plant by Gail Gibbons: explores how a seed grows into a plant
The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle: follows a seed's journey through the seasons
A Place for Turtles: focuses on how animals find their homes
A Tree Is a Plant by Clyde Robert Bulla: explains how trees grow
What If There Were No Bees?: A Book About the Grassland Ecosystem: discusses how different species interact within an ecosystem
Unit 3: Dealing With Changes to Earth
Students will learn how land is changed by wind and water.
Students will explore different landforms like hills, valleys, and dunes, as well as various bodies of water such as rivers, lakes, and oceans.
Students will cover how water can be in a liquid or solid (ice) form.
Students will understand that there can be multiple solutions to a problem.
Students will practice comparing different ideas to find the best one.
Students will learn to make observations and collect data for these comparisons.
How can land change over millions of years?
How can we prevent changes to the land caused by wind or water?
What are some different types of landforms we see around us?
How can water change the land? What about wind?
Can you tell me about the difference between a river and a lake?
What are some ways we could protect a sand dune from being blown away by the wind?
Have you ever seen water as both a liquid and a solid? Where?
Erosion: Changing Earth's Surface by Robin Koontz: This book uses many pictures to explain how wind, water, and ice cause erosion.
The Magic School Bus Inside the Earth by Joanna Cole: Join Ms. Frizzle's class on a field trip to learn about how the Earth's surface and landforms are constantly changing.
A Drop of Water: A Book of Science and Wonder by Walter Wick: This book has beautiful photographs that explore the properties of water, including its different forms.
Unit 4: Mapping the Water
Students will learn that maps can be used to represent the shapes and types of landforms and bodies of water.
Students will learn to create maps showing landforms such as hills, valleys, riverbanks, and dunes.
Studens will learn to create maps showing bodies of water like streams, rivers, ponds, oceans, bays, and lakes.
Students will learn that diagrams, captions, and illustrations in texts can provide useful information.
Students will learn to create a model to show patterns in the natural world.
How can flat maps show us where landforms are located?
What are bodies of water like around the world?
What are some of the different types of landforms and bodies of water you've learned about?
Can you find a map in our house? What does it show?
How would you draw a map of our street or our neighborhood? What would you include?
What are some different forms that water can take in nature?
Mapping Penny's World by Loreen Leedy: A girl named Lisa learns about mapmaking by creating maps of her dog Penny's favorite places. The book teaches concepts like scale and map keys.
All the Water in the World by George Ella Lyon and Katherine Tillotson: A poetic and beautifully illustrated book that follows the journey of water through the water cycle.
I'm Trying to Love Rocks by Bethany Barton: This book uses humor and engaging illustrations to convince a skeptical narrator that geology and the stories rocks tell about Earth's history are anything but boring.
Earth's Landforms and Bodies of Water by Natalie Hyde: An informative book with interesting images that explains how landforms and bodies of water change over time.
Volcanoes by Gail Gibbons: This nonfiction book uses clear text, maps, and diagrams to explain the basics of volcanoes, from how they form to the different types that exist.