Education Standards Addressed in Programs

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Teachers: Our programs help support your curriculum in meeting the Next Generation Science Standards and Common Core Standards. Listed below are our classroom education programs and the standards supported by each one. Programs are listed in alphabetical order. Please contact us if you have any questions or concerns.

 

Avian Mystery

Fourth Grade Next Generation Science Standards

Performance Expectations

4-LS1 From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes

• 4-LS1- 1 Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.

Science and Engineering Practices

Engaging in Argument from Evidence

• Construct an argument with evidence, data, and/or a model. (4-LS1- 1)

Disciplinary Core Ideas

LS1.A: Structure and Function

• Plants and animals have both internal and external structures that serve various functions in growth, survival, behavior, and reproduction. (4-LS1- 1)

Crosscutting Concepts

Systems and System Models

• A system can be described in terms of its components and their interactions. (4-LS1- 1)

Fourth Grade Common Core ELA/Literacy Standards

Key Ideas and Details

• RI 4.2 Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.

• RI 4.2: Determine the main idea of a text and explain how it is supported by key details; summarize the text.

Comprehension and Collaboration

• SL 4.2: Paraphrase portions of a text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.

• SL 4.5: Add audio recordings and visual displays to presentations when appropriate to enhance the development of main ideas or themes.

Research to Build and Present Knowledge

• W 4.8: Recall relevant information from experiences or gather relevant information from print and digital sources; take notes and categorize information, and provide a list of sources.

Fifth Grade Next Generation Science Standards

Performance Expectations

5-ESS3 Earth and Human Activity

• 5-ESS3-1 Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the Earth’s resources and environment

Science and Engineering Practices

Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information

• Obtain and combine information from books and/or other reliable media to explain phenomena or solutions to a design problem. (5-ESS3-1)

Disciplinary Core Ideas

ESS3.C: Human Impacts on Earth Systems

• Human activities in agriculture, industry, and everyday life have had major effects on the land, vegetation, streams, ocean, air, and even outer space. But individuals and communities are doing things to help protect Earth’s resources and environments. (5-ESS3-1)

Crosscutting Concepts

Systems and System Models

• A system can be described in terms of its components and their interactions. ( 5-ESS3-1)

Science Addresses Questions About the Natural and Material World

• Science findings are limited to questions that can be answered with empirical evidence. (5- ESS3-1)

Fifth Grade Common Core ELA/Literacy Standards

Key Ideas and Details

• RI 5.1: Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.

Craft and Structure

• RI.5.4: Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases in a text relevant to a grade 5 topic or subject area.

Comprehension and Collaboration

• SL 5.2: Summarize a written text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.

Research to Build and Present Knowledge

• W.5.8: Recall relevant information from experience or gather relevant information from print and digital sources; summarize or paraphrase information in notes and finished work, and provide a list of sources.

Middle School (Sixth – Eighth Grade ) Next Generation Science Standards

Performance Expectations

MS-LS1 From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes

• MS-LS1-4 Use argument based on empirical evidence and scientific reasoning to support an explanation for how characteristic animal behaviors and specialized plant structures affect the probability of successful reproduction of animals and plants respectively

MS-LS2 Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics

• MS-LS2-1 Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for the effects of resource availability on organisms and populations of organisms in an ecosystem

• MS-LS2-4 Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affects populations

Science and Engineering Practices

Engaging in Argument from Evidence

• Use an oral and written argument supported by empirical evidence and scientific reasoning to support or refute an explanation or a model for a phenomenon or a solution to a problem. (MS-LS1-4)

• Construct an oral and written argument supported by empirical evidence and scientific reasoning to support or refute an explanation or a model for a phenomenon or a solution to a problem. (MS-LS2-4)

Analyzing and Interpreting Data

• Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for phenomena. (MS-LS2-1)

Scientific Knowledge is Based on Empirical Evidence

• Science disciplines share common rules of obtaining and evaluating empirical evidence. (MS-LS2-4)

Disciplinary Core Ideas

LS2.A: Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems

• Organisms, and populations of organisms, are dependent on their environmental interactions both with other living things and nonliving factors. (MS-LS2-1)

• In any ecosystem, organisms and population with similar requirements for food, water, oxygen, or other resources may compete with each other for limited resources, access to which consequently constrains their growth and reproduction. (MS-LS2-1)

LS1.B: Growth and Development of Organisms

• Animals engage in characteristic behaviors that increase the odds of reproduction. (MS-LS1-4)

LS2.C: Ecosystem Dynamics, Functioning, and Resilience

• Ecosystems are dynamic in nature; their characteristics can vary over time. Disruptions to any physical or biological component of an ecosystem can lead to shifts in all its populations. (MS-LS2-4)

Crosscutting Concepts

Cause and Effect

• Phenomena may have more than one cause, and some cause and effect relationships in systems can only be described using probability. (MS-LS1-4)

• Cause and effect relationships may be used to predict phenomena in natural or designed systems. (MS-LS2-1)

Stability and Change

• Small changes in one part of a system might cause large changes in another part. (MSLS2-4)

Middle School Common Core ELA/Literacy Standards

Key Ideas and Details

• RI 6.2: Determine a central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgements.

• RI 6.4: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings.

Key Ideas and Details

• RST.6-8.1: Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of science and technical texts.

• RST.6-8.2: Determine the central ideas or conclusions of a text; provide an accurate summary of the text distinct from prior knowledge or opinions.

Research to Build and Present Knowledge

• WHST.6-8.9: Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

 

Constellation Connections

Fifth Grade Next Generation Science Standards

Performance Expectations

5-ESS1-1. Support an argument that differences in the apparent brightness of the sun compared to other stars is due to their relative distances from Earth.

Disciplinary Core Ideas

ESS1.A The Universe and Its Stars

• The sun is a star that appears larger and brighter than other stars because it is closer. Stars range greatly in their distance from Earth (5-ESS1-1)

ESS1.B Earth and the Solar System

Crosscutting Concepts

Patterns

• Similarities and differences in patterns can be used to sort, classify, communicate and analyze simple rates of change for natural phenomena.

Scale, Proportion, and Quantity

• Natural objects exist from the very small to the immensely large. (5-ESS1-1)

MIDDLE SCHOOL (6th-8th Grade) Next Generation Science Standards

Science and Engineering Practices

Developing and Using Models

• Develop and use a model to describe phenomena.

Disciplinary Core Ideas

ESS1.A: The Universe and Its Stars

Crosscutting Concepts

Patterns

• Patterns can be used to identify cause and-effect relationships.

Scale, Proportion, and Quantity

• Time, space, and energy phenomena can be observed at various scales using models to study systems that are too large or too small.

Systems and System Models

• Models can be used to represent systems and their interactions.

Scientific Knowledge Assumes an Order and Consistency in Natural Systems: Science assumes that objects and events in natural systems occur in consistent patterns that are understandable through measurement and observation.

HIGH SCHOOL (9th-12th Grade) Next Generation Science Standards

Performance Expectations

HS-ESS1 Earth’s Place in the Universe

• HS-ESS1-4 Use mathematical or computational representations to predict the motion of orbiting objects in the solar system.

Science and Engineering Practices

Using Mathematical and Computational Thinking

• Use mathematical or computational representations of phenomena to describe explanations. (HS-ESS1-4)

Disciplinary Core Ideas

ESS1.B: Earth and the Solar System

• Kepler’s laws describe common features of the motions of orbiting objects, including their elliptical paths around the sun. Orbits may change due to gravitational effects from, or collisions with, other objects in the solar system. (HS-ESS1-4)

Crosscutting Concepts

Scale, Proportion, and Quantity

• Algebraic thinking is used to examine scientific data and predict the effect of a change in one variable on another (e.g., linear growth vs. exponential growth). (HS-ESS1-4)

Interdependence of Science, Engineering, and Technology

• Science and engineering complement each other in the cycle known as research and development (R&D). Many R&D projects may involve scientists, engineers, and other with wide ranges of expertise. (HS-ESS1-4)

 

Every Kid in a Park

Students will engage in an activity to learn about animal structures and behaviors that help them survive.

Fourth Grade Next Generation Science Standards

Performance Expectations

4-LS1 From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes

• 4-LS1-1 Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.

Disciplinary Core Ideas

Structure and Function

• Plants and animals have both internal and external structures that serve various functions in growth, survival, behavior, and reproduction. (4-LS1-1)

Fourth Grade Common Core ELA/Literacy Standards

Key Ideas and Details

• R 4.2: Determine the main idea of a text and explain how it is supported by key details; summarize the text.

Research to Build and Present Knowledge

• W 4.8: Recall relevant information from experiences or gather relevant information from print and digital sources; take notes and categorize information, and provide a list of sources.”

 

Land of Many Opportunists

Third Grade Next Generation Science Standards

Performance Expectations

3-LS4 Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity

• 3-LS4-3 Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat some organisms can survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all.

• 3-LS4-4 Make a claim about the merit of a solution to a problem caused when the environment changes and the types of plants and animals that live there may change.

Science and Engineering Practices

Engaging in Argument from Evidence

• Construct an argument with evidence. (3-LS4-3)

• Make a claim about the merit of a solution to a problem by citing relevant evidence about how it meets the criteria and constraints of the problem. (3-LS4-4)

Disciplinary Core Ideas

LS2.C: Ecosystem Dynamics, Functioning, and Resilience

• When the environment changes in ways that affect a place’s physical characteristics, temperature, or availability of resources, some organisms survive and reproduce, others move to new locations, yet others move into transformed environment, and some die. (secondary to 3-LS4-4)

LS4.C: Adaptation

• For any particular environment, some kinds of organisms survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all. (3-LS4-3)

LS4.D: Biodiversity and Humans

• Populations live in a variety of habitats, and change in those habitats affects the organisms living there. (3-LS4-4)

Crosscutting Concepts

Cause and Effect

• Cause and effect relationships are routinely identified and used to explain change. (3-LS4-3)

Systems and System Models

• A system can be described in terms of its components and their interactions. (3-LS4-4)

Third Grade Common Core ELA/Literacy Standards

Comprehension and Collaboration

• SL.3.1: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 3 topics and texts, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.

Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas

• SL 3.4: Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking clearly at an understandable pace.

• SL.3.6: Speak in complete sentences when appropriate to task and situation in order to provide requested detail or clarification.

Fourth Grade Next Generation Science Standards

Performance Expectations

4-LS1 From Molecules to Organisms: structure and Process

• 4-LS1-1 Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.

4-ESS3 Earth and Human Activity

• 4-ESS3-1 Obtain and combine information to describe that energy and fuels are derived from natural resources and their uses affect the environment.

Science and Engineering Practices

Engaging in Argument from Evidence

• Construct an argument with evidence, data, and/or a model. (4-LS1-1)

Disciplinary Core Ideas

LS1.A: Structure and Function (4-LS1-1)

Crosscutting Concepts

Systems and System Models

• A system can be described in terms of its components and their interactions. (4- LS1-1)

Cause and Effect

• Cause and effect relationships are routinely identified and used to explain change. (4-ESS3-1)

Fourth Grade Common Core ELA/Literacy Standards

Comprehension and Collaboration

• SL.4.1: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 4 topics and texts, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.

Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas

• SL.4.4: Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience in an organized manner, using appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details to support main ideas or themes; speak clearly at an understandable pace.
  

Fifth Grade Next Generation Science Standards

Performance Expectations

5-ESS3-1 Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the Earth’s resources and environment.

Disciplinary Core Ideas

ESS3.C: Human Impacts on Earth Systems

• Human activities in agriculture, industry, and everyday life have had major effects on the land, vegetation, streams, ocean, air, and even outer space. But individuals and communities are doing things to help protect Earth’s resources and environments. (5-ESS3-1)

Crosscutting Concepts

Systems and System Models

• A system can be described in terms of its components and their interactions. (5-ESS3-1)

Fifth Grade Common Core ELA/Literacy Standards

Comprehension and Collaboration

• SL.5.1: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 5 topics and texts, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.

Middle School (6th – 8th Grade) Next Generation Science Standards

Performance Expectations

MS-LS2 Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics

• MS-LS2-1 Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for the effects of resource availability on organisms and populations of organisms in an ecosystem.

• MS-LS2- 2 Construct an explanation that predicts patterns of interactions among organisms across multiple ecosystems

• MS-LS2- 4 Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations.

Science and Engineering Practices

Engaging in an Argument from Evidence

• Construct an oral and written argument supported by empirical evidence and scientific reasoning to support or refute an explanation or a model for a phenomenon or a solution to a problem. (MS-LS2-4)

Analyzing and Interpreting Data

• Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for phenomena. (MS-LS2-1)

Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions

• Construct an explanation that includes qualitative or quantitative relationships between variables that predict phenomena. (MS-LS2-2)

Disciplinary Core Ideas

LS2.A: Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems

• Organisms, and populations of organisms, are dependent on their environmental interactions both with other living things and with nonliving factors. (MS-LS2-1)

• In any ecosystem, organisms and populations with similar requirements for food, water, oxygen, or other resources may compete with each other for limited resources, access to which consequently constrains their growth and reproduction. (MS-LS2-1)

• Similarly, predatory interactions may reduce the number of organisms or eliminate whole populations of organisms. Mutually beneficial interactions, in contrast, may become so interdependent that each organism requires the other for survival. although the species involved in these competitive, predatory, and mutually beneficial interactions vary across ecosystems, the patterns of interactions of organisms with their environments, both living and nonliving, are shared. (MS-LS2-2)

LS2.C: Ecosystem Dynamics, Functioning, and Resilience

• Ecosystems are dynamic in nature; their characteristics can vary over time. Disruptions to any physical or biological components of an ecosystem can lead to shifts in all its populations. (MS-LS2-4)

Crosscutting Concepts

Patterns

• Patterns can be used to identify cause and effect relationships. (MS-LS2-2)

Cause and Effect

• Cause and effect relationships may be used to predict phenomena in natural or designed systems. (MS-LS2-1)

Stability and Change

• Small changes in one part of a system might cause large changes in another part. (MS-LS2-4)

Middle School Common Core ELA/Literacy Standards

Comprehension and Collaboration

• SL.6.1: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 6 topics, texts, and issues, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.

• SL 7.1: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 7 topics, texts, and issues, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.

• SL 8.1: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 8 topics, texts, and issues, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.

Note: Emphasized Vocabulary in this Program

Classification, system, ecosystem, native, non-native, invasive, adaptation, competition, pattern, locally extinct (3-5th) OR extirpated (6th)

 

Solar System Round Up:
Pocket Solar System

Fifth Grade Next Generation Science Standards

Disciplinary Core Ideas

ESS1.B: Earth and the Solar System

Crosscutting Concepts

Scale, Proportion, and Quantity

• Natural objects exist from the very small to the immensely large.

Fifth Grade Common Core Mathematics

MP.2 Reason abstractly and quantitatively.

MP.4 Model with mathematics.

Middle School (6th-8th Grade) Next Generation Science Standards

Performance Expectations

MS-ESS1 Earth’s Place in the Universe

• MS-ESS1-2. Develop and use a model to describe the role of gravity in the motions within galaxies and the solar system.

• MS-ESS1-3. Analyze and interpret data to determine scale properties of objects in the solar system.

Science and Engineering Practices

Developing and Using Models

• Develop and use a model to describe phenomena. (MS-ESS1-2)

Analyzing and Interpreting Models

• Analyze and interpret data to determine similarities and differences in findings. (MS-ESS1-3)

Disciplinary Core Ideas

ESS1.B: Earth and the Solar System

• The solar system consists of the sun and a collection of objects including planets, their moons, and asteroids that are held in orbit around the sun by its gravitational pull on them.(MS-ESS1-2), (MS-ESS1-3)

Crosscutting Concepts

Systems and System Models

• Models can be used to represent systems and their interactions. (MS-ESS1-2)

Scientific Knowledge Assumes an Order and Consistency in Natural Systems

• Science assumes that objects and events in natural systems occur in consistent patterns that are understandable through measurement and observation. (MS-ESS1-2)

Middle School Common Core Mathematics

MP.2 Reason abstractly and quantitatively.

MP.4 Model with mathematics.

6.RP.A.1 Understand the concept of a ratio and use ratio language to describe a ratio relationship between two quantities.

Solar System Round Up:
Worlds in Comparison

Fifth Grade Next Generation Science Standards

Science and Engineering Practices

• Develop a model to describe phenomena

Disciplinary Core Ideas

• Measurements of a variety of properties can be used to identify materials.

Crosscutting Concepts

Scale, Proportion, and Quantity

• Natural objects exist from the very small to the immensely large.

• Standard units are used to measure and describe physical quantities such as weight, time, temperature, and volume

Fifth Grade Common Core Mathematics

MP.2 Reason abstractly and quantitatively.

MP.4 Model with mathematics.

MIDDLE SCHOOL (6th-8th Grade) Next Generation Science Standards

Performance Expectations

MS-ESS1 Earth’s Place in the Universe

• MS-ESS1-3. Analyze and interpret data to determine scale properties of objects in the solar system.

Science and Engineering Practices

Developing and Using Models

• Develop and use a model to describe phenomena

Disciplinary Core Ideas

ESS1.B: Earth and the Solar System

• The solar system consists of the sun and collection of objects, including planets, their moons, and asteroids that are held in orbit around the sun by its gravitational pull on them. (MS-ESS1-3)

Crosscutting Concepts

Scale, Proportion, and Quantity

• Time, space, and energy phenomena can be observed at various scales using models to study systems that are too large or too small. (MS-ESS1-3)

Systems and System Models

• Models can be used to represent systems and their interactions.

Scientific Knowledge Assumes an Order and Consistency in Natural Systems

• Science assumes that objects and events in natural systems occur in consistent patterns that are understandable through measurement and observation.

Middle School Common Core Mathematics

MP.2: Reason abstractly and quantitatively.

MP.4: Model with mathematics.

6.RP.A.1: Understand the concept of a ratio and use ratio language to describe a ratio relationship between two quantities.