Each unit, available in both print and digital formats, addresses the Next Generation Science Standards and interweaves each element of three-dimensional learning

 

Light and Sound

The Light and Sound topic encourages students to discover the presence of light and sound in the world around them, and to engage in design thinking. During this topic, the children:

• Act as “sound detectives” to heighten awareness of sounds all around. 
• Discover that all sounds are produced by vibrations. 
• Investigate how well sound transmits through the air and a variety of materials. 
• Use cup-and-string telephones to explore how sound vibrations travel. 
• Identify sources of light and ways to light up a dark space. 
• Investigate how light travels until it hits something. 
• Observe how light interacts with materials. 
• Learn that materials can block light, let some light through, or let most light through. 
• Discover that some materials tend to redirect more light than others. 
• Investigate how shadows are produced. 
• Work with a partner to design a communication device and test ways to send and receive messages. 
• Describe how the device works, why they settled on their design, and the problems they solved along the way.

 

Examining Living Things

The Examining Living Things topic encourages children to think and work as biologists. During this topic, the children: 

• Learn about what it means to be a biologist, and engage in a biologist’s practices of exploring the world. 
• Discover that the structures of plants and animals are related to their functions. 
• Observe and record patterns in the structures of different plants, and in the structures and behaviors of different animals. 
• Appreciate that by mimicking how other living things meet their needs, humans can look to the natural world to design solutions to our problems. 
• Model and create a nature-inspired solution to a human problem. 

 

Watching the Sky

The Watching the Sky topic encourages children to be aware of what is in the sky above as well as how these objects appear to move. During this topic, the children: 

• Draw and label what the sky looks like during the day and what they think it looks like at night. 
• Draw the sky at night. 
• Learn when the sun, moon, and stars are visible. 
• Discover that the sun and the moon appear to move in a predictable pattern in the sky. 
• Observe that there is more daylight in early fall than in winter. 
• Discover that the hours of daylight decreases between fall and winter and then increases between winter and spring. 
• Try to watch at least one sunrise and sunset every month.