Jr Ranger Unit (in-class)

Content Standards for California Public Schools

 

Science	Grade 3rd - Life Sciences: 3. Adaptations in physical structure or behavior may improve an organism’s chance for survival. As a basis for understanding this concept: b. Students know examples of diverse life forms in different environments, such as oceans, deserts, tundra, forests, grasslands, and wetlands. Investigation and Experimentation: 5. Scientific progress is made by asking meaningful questions and conducting careful investigations. As a basis for understanding this concept and addressing the content in the other three strands, students should develop their own questions and perform investigations. Grade 4th - Life Sciences: 2. All organisms need energy and matter to live and grow. As a basis for understanding this concept: a. Students know plants are the primary source of matter and energy entering most food chains. b. Students know producers and consumers (herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, and decomposers) are related in food chains and food webs and may compete with each other for resources in an ecosystem. c. Students know decomposers, including many fungi, insects, and microorganisms, recycle matter from dead plants and animals. Life Sciences: 3. Living organisms depend on one another and on their environment for survival. As a basis for understanding this concept: b. Students know that in any particular environment, some kinds of plants and animals survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all. c. Students know many plants depend on animals for pollination and seed dispersal, and animals depend on plants for food and shelter. Earth Sciences: 4. The properties of rocks and minerals reflect the processes that formed them. As a basis for understanding this concept: a. Students know how to differentiate among igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks by referring to their properties and methods of formation (the rock cycle). b. Students know how to identify common rock-forming minerals (including quartz, calcite, feldspar, mica, and hornblende) and ore minerals by using a table of diagnostic properties. 5. Waves, wind, water, and ice shape and reshape Earth’s land surface. As a basis for understanding this concept: a. Students know some changes in the earth are due to slow processes, such as erosion, and some changes are due to rapid processes, such as landslides, volcanic eruptions, and earthquakes. b. Students know natural processes, including freezing and thawing and the growth of roots, cause rocks to break down into smaller pieces. c. Students know moving water erodes landforms, reshaping the land by taking it away from some places and depositing it as pebbles, sand, silt, and mud in other places (weathering, transport, and deposition). Investigation and Experimentation: 6. Scientific progress is made by asking meaningful questions and conducting careful investigations. As a basis for understanding this concept and addressing the content in the other three strands, students should develop their own questions and perform investigations. Students will: a. Differentiate observation from inference (interpretation) and know scientists’ explanations come partly from what they observe and partly from how they interpret their observations Grade 5th - Physical Sciences: 1. Elements and their combinations account for all the varied types of matter in the world. As a basis for understanding this concept: a. Students know that during chemical reactions the atoms in the reactants rearrange to form products with different properties. h. Students know living organisms and most materials are composed of just a few elements. Earth Science: 4. Energy from the Sun heats Earth unevenly, causing air movements that result in changing weather patterns. As a basis for understanding this concept: c. Students know the causes and effects of different types of severe weather. Life Sciences: 2. Plants and animals have structures for respiration, digestion, waste disposal, and transport of materials. As a basis for understanding this concept: a. Students know many multicellular organisms have specialized structures to support the transport of materials. Investigation and Experimentation: 6. Scientific progress is made by asking meaningful questions and conducting careful investigations. As a basis for understanding this concept and addressing the content in the other three strands, students should develop their own questions and perform investigations. Grade 6th - Shaping Earth’s Surface: 2. Topography is reshaped by the weathering of rock and soil and by the transportation and deposition of sediment. As a basis for understanding this concept: a. Students know water running downhill is the dominant process in shaping the landscape, including California’s landscape. b. Students know rivers and streams are dynamic systems that erode, transport sediment, change course, and flood their banks in natural and recurring patterns. c. Students know beaches are dynamic systems in which the sand is supplied by rivers and moved along the coast by the action of waves. d. Students know earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides, and floods change human and wildlife habitats. Ecology (Life Science): 5. Organisms in ecosystems exchange energy and nutrients among themselves and with the environment. As a basis for understanding this concept: d. Students know different kinds of organisms may play similar ecological roles in similar biomes. e. Students know the number and types of organisms an ecosystem can support depends on the resources available and on abiotic factors, such as quantities of light and water, a range of temperatures, and soil composition. Investigation and Experimentation: 7. Scientific progress is made by asking meaningful questions and conducting careful investigations. As a basis for understanding this concept and addressing the content in the other three strands, students should develop their own questions and perform investigations.
History Social Science	Grade 3rd - 3.0 Students in grade three learn more about our connections to the past and the ways in which particularly local, but also regional and national, government and traditions have developed and left their marks on current society, providing common memories. Emphasis is on the physical and cultural landscape of California, including the study of American Indians, the subsequent arrival of immigrants, and the impact they have had in forming the character of our contemporary society. 3.1 Students describe the physical and human geography and use maps, tables, graphs, photographs, and charts to organize information about people, places, and environments in a spatial context. 1. Identify geographical features in their local region (e.g., deserts, mountains, valleys, hills, coastal areas, oceans, lakes). 2. Trace the ways in which people have used the resources of the local region and modified the physical environment (e.g., a dam constructed upstream changed a river or coastline). Grade 4 4.0 Students learn the story of their home state, unique in American history in terms of its vast and varied geography, its many waves of immigration beginning with pre-Columbian societies, its continuous diversity, economic energy, and rapid growth. In addition to the specific treatment of milestones in California history, students examine the state in the context of the rest of the nation, with an emphasis on the U.S. Constitution and the relationship between state and federal government. 4.1 Students demonstrate an understanding of the physical and human geographic features that define places and regions in California. 3. Identify the state capital and describe the various regions of California, including how their characteristics and physical environments (e.g., water, landforms, vegetation, climate) affect human activity. 5. Use maps, charts, and pictures to describe how communities in California vary in land use, vegetation, wildlife, climate, population density, architecture, services, and transportation. 4.2 Students describe the social, political, cultural, and economic life and interactions among people of California from the pre-Columbian societies to the Spanish mission and Mexican rancho periods. 1. Discuss the major nations of California Indians, including their geographic distribution, economic activities, legends, and religious beliefs; and describe how they depended on, adapted to, and modified the physical environment by cultivation of land and use of sea resources. 4.5 Students understand the structures, functions, and powers of the local, state, and federal governments as described in the U.S. Constitution. 3. Describe the similarities (e.g., written documents, rule of law, consent of the governed, three separate branches) and differences (e.g., scope of jurisdiction, limits on government powers, use of the military) among federal, state, and local governments. Grade 5 5.0 Students in grade five study the development of the nation up to 1850, with an emphasis on the people who were already here, when and from where others arrived, and why they came. Students learn about the colonial government founded on Judeo-Christian principles, the ideals of the Enlightenment, and the English traditions of self-government. They recognize that ours is a nation that has a constitution that derives its power from the people, that has gone through a revolution, that once sanctioned slavery, that experienced conflict over land with the original inhabitants, and that experienced a westward movement that took its people across the continent. Studying the cause, course, and consequences of the early explorations through the War for Independence and western expansion is central to students’ fundamental understanding of how the principles of the American republic form the basis of a pluralistic society in which individual rights are secured. 5.1 Students describe the major pre-Columbian settlements, including the cliff dwellers and pueblo people of the desert Southwest, the American Indians of the Pacific Northwest, the nomadic nations of the Great Plains, and the wood-land peoples east of the Mississippi River. 1. Describe how geography and climate influenced the way various nations lived and adjusted to the natural environment, including locations of villages, the distinct structures that they built, and how they obtained food, clothing, tools, and utensils. Grade 6 6.0 Students in grade six expand their understanding of history by studying the people and events that ushered in the dawn of the major Western and non-Western ancient civilizations. Geography is of special significance in the development of the human story. Continued emphasis is placed on the everyday lives, problems, and accomplishments of people, their role in developing social, economic, and political structures, as well as in establishing and spreading ideas that helped transform the world forever. Students develop higher levels of critical thinking by considering why civilizations developed where and when they did, why they became dominant, and why they declined. Students analyze the interactions among the various cultures, emphasizing their enduring contributions and the link, despite time, between the contemporary and ancient worlds. 6.1 Students describe what is known through archaeological studies of the early physical and cultural development of humankind from the Paleolithic era to the agricultural revolution. 1. Describe the hunter-gatherer societies, including the development of tools and the use of fire. 2. Identify the locations of human communities that populated the major regions of the world and describe how humans adapted to a variety of environments. 3. Discuss the climatic changes and human modifications of the physical environment that gave rise to the domestication of plants and animals and new sources of clothing and shelter.
Language Arts	Grade 3rd - Writing: 1.0 Writing Strategies: Students write clear and coherent sentences and paragraphs that develop a central idea. Their writing shows they consider the audience and purpose. Students progress through the stages of the writing process (e.g., prewriting, drafting, revising, editing successive versions). Organization and Focus 1.1 Create a single paragraph: a. Develop a topic sentence. b. Include simple supporting facts and details. 2.0 Reading Comprehension: Comprehension and Analysis of Grade-Level-Appropriate Text 2.2 Ask questions and support answers by connecting prior knowledge with literal information found in, and inferred from, the text. Writing Applications (Genres and Their Characteristics): 2.3 Write personal and formal letters, thank-you notes, and invitations: a. Show awareness of the knowledge and interests of the audience and establish a purpose and context. b. Include the date, proper salutation, body, closing, and signature. 1.0 Listening and Speaking Strategies: Comprehension: Retell, paraphrase, and explain what has been said by a speaker. 1.2 Connect and relate prior experiences, insights, and ideas to those of a speaker. 1.3 Respond to questions with appropriate elaboration. Grade 4th - Writing: 2.0 Writing Applications (Genres and Their Characteristics) Students write compositions that describe and explain familiar objects, events, and experiences. Student writing demonstrates a command of standard American English and the drafting, research, and organizational strategies outlined in Writing Standard 1.0. Using the writing strategies of grade four outlined in Writing Standard 1.0, students: 2.1 Write narratives: a. Relate ideas, observations, or recollections of an event or experience. b. Provide a context to enable the reader to imagine the world of the event or experience. c. Use concrete sensory details. Reading Comprehension: Comprehension and Analysis of Grade-Level-Appropriate Text 2.4 Evaluate new information and hypotheses by testing them against known information and ideas. Listening and Speaking Strategies: Comprehension: 1.1 Ask thoughtful questions and respond to relevant questions with appropriate elaboration in oral settings. Listening and Speaking Strategies: Comprehension: 1.2 Summarize major ideas and supporting evidence presented in spoken messages and formal presentations. Grade 5th - Word Recognition: 1.1 Read aloud narrative and expository text fluently and accurately and with appropriate pacing, intonation, and expression. Listening and Speaking Strategies: Comprehension: 1.1 Ask questions that seek information not already discussed. Grade 6th - Word Recognition: 1.1 Read aloud narrative and expository text fluently and accurately and with appropriate pacing, intonation, and expression. Listening and Speaking Strategies: Comprehension: 1.3 Restate and execute multiple-step oral instructions and directions. Listening and Speaking Strategies: 1.0 Students deliver focused, coherent presentations that convey ideas clearly and relate to the background and interests of the audience. They evaluate the content of oral communication.
Mathematics	Grade 3rd - Number Sense: 1.0 Students understand the place value of whole numbers: 1.1 Count, read, and write whole numbers to 10,000. Number Sense: 2.0 Students calculate and solve problems involving addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division: 2.1 Find the sum or difference of two whole numbers between 0 and 10,000. Measurement and Geometry: 1.0 Students choose and use appropriate units and measurement tools to quantify the properties of objects: 1.1 Choose the appropriate tools and units (metric and U.S.) and estimate and measure the length, liquid volume, and weight/mass of given objects. Grade 4th - Number Sense3.0 Students solve problems involving addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of whole numbers and understand the relationships among the operations: 3.1 Demonstrate an understanding of, and the ability to use, standard algorithms for the addition and subtraction of multidigit numbers. Mathematical Reasoning: 1.2 Determine when and how to break a problem into simpler parts. 2.0 Students use strategies, skills, and concepts in finding solutions: 2.1 Use estimation to verify the reasonableness of calculated results. Grade 5th - Number sense: 2.0 Students perform calculations and solve problems involving addition, subtraction, and simple multiplication and division of fractions and decimals. Mathematical Reasoning: 1.0 Students make decisions about how to approach problems: 1.1 Analyze problems by identifying relationships, distinguishing relevant from irrelevant information, sequencing and prioritizing information, and observing patterns. Grade 6th - Number Sense: 1.0 Students compare and order positive and negative fractions, decimals, and mixed numbers. Students solve problems involving fractions, ratios, proportions, and percentages: 1.4 Calculate given percentages of quantities and solve problems involving discounts at sales, interest earned, and tips. Number Sense: 2.0 Students calculate and solve problems involving addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division: