Kindergarten

“When we try to pick out one thing by itself we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.” JohnMuir

Kindergarten students begin the year with the familiar concept of weather and how it affects their lives. The Trees and Weather (FOSS Next Generation) provides students with solid experiences to help them develop an understanding of what plants (and animals) need to survive and the relationship between their needs and where they live. Over the course of the school year students monitor the local weather and experience patterns and variations in weather. Students come to understand the importance of weather forecasts to prepare for severe weather.Throughout the unit students observe, record, and communicate observations by using senses and simple tools. The physical science unit Materials and Motion (FOSS Next Generation) engage students in science and engineering practices by asking questions, participating in collaborative investigations, observing, recording, and interpreting data to build explanations, and designing objects and systems to achieve specific outcomes. Through hands-on investigations students gain experiences that will contribute to beginning-level understanding of the crosscutting concepts of patterns; cause and effect; scale, proportion, and quantity; systems and system models; energy and matter, and structure and function. The Kindergarten Life Science unit focuses on aquatic and terrestrial organisms. Investigations encourage students to compare and contrast organisms as well as explore the diversity of organisms that can be found in our natural world. As students investigate a variety of organisms they discover that all organisms (aquatic and terrestrial) have certain basic needs such as food and water. Investigations encourage students to use their senses to compare and contrast organisms as well as observe different characteristics that are used to classify organisms.

 Curriculum Map

Resources