Characterize materials as solid or liquid, investigate their properties, record observations and explain the choices to others based on evidence (i.e., physical properties).
Observe, sketch, demonstrate and compare how objects can move in different ways (e.g., straight, zig-zag, back-and-forth, rolling, fast and slow).
Describe the position or motion of an object relative to a point of reference (e.g., background, another object).
Observe, demonstrate, sketch and compare how applied force (i.e., push or pull) changes the motion of objects.
Investigate the motion of objects when they are acted upon at a distance by forces like gravity and magnetism.
Construct and use tools to observe and measure weather phenomena like precipitation, changes in temperature, wind speed and direction.
Experience and describe wind as the motion of the air.
Ask questions about charted observations and graphed data. Identify the day-to-day patterns and cycles of weather. Understand seasonal time scales in terms of temperature and amounts of rainfall and snowfall.
Ask questions and design class investigations on the effect of the sun heating the surface of the earth.
Investigate how the sun appears to move through the sky during the day by observing and drawing the length and direction of shadows.
Investigate how the moon appears to move through the sky during the day by observing and drawing its location at different time.
Investigate how the shape of the moon changes from day to day in a repeating cycle that lasts about a month.
Investigate how light travels through the air and tends to maintain its direction until it interacts with some other object or material.
Observe and describe how light is absorbed, changes its direction, is reflected back and passes through objects. Observe and describe that a shadow results when light cannot pass through an object.
Describe evidence to support the idea that light and sound are forms of energy.
Describe how wind, water and glacial ice shape and reshape earth’s land surface by eroding rock and soil in some areas and depositing them in other areas in a process that occurs over a long period of time.
Describe how earthquakes, volcanoes and landslides suddenly change the shape of the land.
Investigate transportation systems and devices that operate on or in land, water, air and space and recognize the forces (lift, drag, friction, thrust and gravity) that affect their motion.
Investigate how changes in speed or direction are caused by forces: the greater the force exerted on an object, the greater the change.
Recognize that our earth is part of the solar system in which the sun, an average star, is the central and largest body. Observe that our solar system includes the sun, moon, seven other planets and their moons, and many other smaller objects like asteroids and comets.
Observe and use pictures to record how the sun appears to move across the sky in the same general way every day but rises and sets in different places as the seasons change.
In monthly intervals, observe and draw the length and direction of shadows cast by the sun at several chosen times during the day. Use the recorded data as evidence to explain how those shadows were affected by the relative position of the earth and sun.
Use a calendar to record observations of the shape of the moon and the rising and setting times over the course of a month. Based on the observations, describe patterns in the moon cycle.
Describe and model how the position, size and relative motions of the earth, moon and sun cause day and night, solar and lunar eclipses, and phases of the moon.
Recognize that gravity is a force that keeps celestial bodies in regular and predictable motion, holds objects to earth’s surface and is responsible for tides.
Understand that the sun, an average star where nuclear reactions occur, is the central and largest body in the solar system.
With regard to their size, composition, distance from sun, surface features and ability to support life, compare and contrast the planets of the solar system with one another and with asteroids and comets.
Demonstrate that the seasons in both hemispheres are the result of the inclination of the earth on its axis, which causes changes in sunlight intensity and length of day.
Recognize and explain how different ways of obtaining, transforming and distributing energy have different environmental consequences.
Describe and investigate how forces between objects—such as magnetic, electrical or gravitational forces—can act at a distance or by means of direct contact between objects.
Explain that forces have magnitude and direction and those forces can be added to determine the net force acting on an object.
Describe how the earth is a layered structure composed of lithospheric plates, a mantle and a dense core.
Recognize that the earth possesses a magnetic field that is detectable at the surface with a compass.
Explain how convection currents in the mantle cause lithospheric plates to move and cause fast changes like earthquakes and volcanic eruptions and slow changes like the creation of mountains and formation of new ocean floors.
Use geological features such as karst topography and glaciation to explain how largescale physical processes have shaped the land.
Recognize and demonstrate how the sun’s energy drives convection in the atmosphere and in bodies of water, which results in ocean currents and weather patterns.
Describe and model how water moves through the earth’s crust, atmosphere and oceans in a cyclic way as a liquid vapor and solid.
Describe the characteristics of ocean currents and identify their effects on weather patterns.
Describe the physical and chemical composition of the atmosphere at different elevations.
