STUDENT WORKBOOK K
K-8 SCIENCE
Student Workbook Kindergarten
Published by Accelerate Learning Inc., 5177 Richmond Ave, Suite 800, Houston, TX 77056. Copyright © 2025, by Accelerate Learning Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without prior written consent of Accelerate Learning Inc., including, but not limited to, in any network or other electronic storage or transmission, or broadcast for distance learning.
To learn more, visit us at www.stemscopes.com.
This Student Notebook is designed to be used as a companion piece to our online curriculum.
The pages of this book are organized and follow the 5E model.
EXPLORE
A short activity to grab students’ interest
EXPLAIN
Hands-on tasks, including scientific investigations, engineering solutions, and problem-based learning (PBL)
Claim-Evidence-Reasoning (CER)
A formative assessment in which students write a scientific explanation to show their understanding
STEMscopedia
A reference material that includes parent connections, technology, and science news
ELABORATE
EVALUATE
Reading Science
A reading passage about the concept that includes comprehension questions
Claim-Evidence-Reasoning (CER)
A summative assessment in which students write a scientific explanation to show their understanding
Open-Ended Response (OER)
A short answer and essay assessment to evaluate mastery of the concept
Only student pages are included in this book and directions on how to use these pages are found in our online curriculum. Use the URL address and password provided to you by your district to access our full curriculum.
Student Journal
L.K.3A
L.K.3B
L.K.4
Living and Nonliving Things
Part I: Collect and Record Data At each station, fill in the circles on the chart for that item.
Part II: Analyze and Evaluate Data
Use your chart data above and these living things rules below to decide if the item is living or nonliving.
Living Organism Rules 1. Needs air 2. Needs food 3. Needs water
Part III: Graph Conclusions
Explore 2
Scientists That Make a Difference Scientist: ___________________
What did the scientist observe? Draw a picture below.
Explore 2
Scientists That Make a Difference Scientist: ___________________
What did the scientist observe? Draw a picture below.
Explore 2
Scientists That Make a Difference Scientist: ___________________
What did the scientist observe? Draw a picture below.
Name: ____________________________
STEMscopedia
These two baby ducks were found in a garden. How are they the same? Both ducks are yellow. Their beaks are open. They both have eyes. Look at the ducks again. How are they different?
Duck 1 is not a real duck. It is a toy duck. It has no feet and is not alive.
Duck 2 is a real baby duck. It has feathers. It swims with its feet and is alive.
Reflect Try Now
Another word for alive is living. The real duck is a living thing. The toy duck is a nonliving thing. Real animals need things to stay alive. Draw a line from the picture to its matching need:
STEMscopedia
What Do You Think?
What is the difference between a living thing and a nonliving thing? Plants and animals are living things. They have basic needs. Nonliving things do not have needs.
How do we know if something is alive? Plants and animals are living things. Plants and animals also can do things that nonliving things cannot.
Living things can die. Nonliving things do not. What would happen to a plant or animal if it did not have food, water, air, or a place to live? If these basic needs are not met, the plant or animal could die.
Living things can reproduce and grow. Nonliving things do not.
Animals can reproduce and have babies. Animal babies have to eat food and drink water to grow. Nonliving things cannot reproduce and do not eat or drink.
Plants can make young plants from seeds. Young plants need water, sunlight, air, and a place to grow. Can you see the plant get taller? Then it develops into an adult plant. Nonliving things cannot grow from a seed.
STEMscopedia
Reflect
Living things react to the world around them. Nonliving things do not.
Plants and animals react to things around them. This helps them stay safe and healthy. Nonliving things cannot react to the world around them.
If you are cold, what can you do to get warm? You can put on a coat and a hat. You can jump in place. These are ways you might react to the cold.
Now, think about a rock. What if a rock is somewhere cold? Can a rock do anything to get warm? Does it need to be warm?
Living things, such as humans, can react to the cold. This helps them stay alive. But rocks cannot react to the cold. Rocks are not alive.
The cat reacts to danger. It hisses at something to keep danger away.
The trees’ leaves react to seasons. They change color.
STEMscopedia
Try Now
Living things need food to grow. Use your sense of sight to observe the pictures below and decide which ones eat food to grow. Which of these things grow from eating food? Circle your answer.
Look Out!
If something moves, is it alive? Not always. Many living things move to react to changes around them.
But some nonliving things can move, too.
A car can move. But a car is not alive. It does not have the basic needs of living things. It does not need food and water. It does not grow.
If something grows, is it alive? Not always. All living things need food to get bigger. A fire gets bigger only when it burns more wood. A fire does not need food or water to grow. A fire is not alive.
STEMscopedia
Reflect
Three Famous Scientists Who Have Used Observations to Learn about the Natural World
Dr. Jane Goodall studies chimpanzees in Africa. She found out that chimps use tools. They also have emotions, like being sad and joyful. Even as a child, Dr. Goodall was interested in chimpanzees.
Dr. Carl Linnaeus was a Swedish scientist who studied plants and animals. He came up with a naming system for groups of plants or animals. For example, a dog is called Canis familiaris. Canis is the group name for dogs and wolves. The group name is like a family last name.
James Audubon was born in France but moved to the United States. He studied and painted birds. He is famous for his book Birds of North America.
STEMscopedia
Try Now
We can sort living and nonliving things. To sort something, think about these questions. If you answer yes, it is living. If you answer no, it is nonliving.
sort - put into groups
• Does it have basic needs?
• Does it eat and drink in order to grow?
• Does it react to the world around it?
• Can it reproduce?
• Will it eventually die?
Use your sense of sight to look at the items below. Are they living or nonliving? Draw an X over the ones that are nonliving:
STEMscopedia
Connecting With Your Child
Can plants react to the environment?
Help your child learn more about living things by growing a plant and observing its reactions to its environment. For this activity, you will need a small cardboard box, a green potted plant (that fits under the box), and a sunny windowsill. Bean plants work well for this activity.
Ask your child whether the plant is living or nonliving and why. Students have learned that living things have basic needs (food, water, air, and shelter, or having a place to live). Living things also reproduce, grow, and eventually die. The students also learned that nonliving things do not have basic needs, cannot reproduce, do not eat to grow, and do not die. How does the plant react to the world around it? Explain that you will do an activity to observe how the plant reacts to sunlight.
Assisting your child, cut a hole in one of the corners of the cardboard box. Place the plant on a sunny windowsill. Then place the box over the plant so the hole is at the top where sunlight can reach the plant. Observe the plant each day for two weeks, removing the box for a few minutes as needed. The plant should begin to grow toward the light source. In this way, the plant reacts to its environment. Your child can sketch the plant each day to record any changes.
Here are some questions to discuss with your child:
1. How do you know that a plant is a living thing?
2. Plants cannot move from one place to another. Can they still react to the environment?
3. What are some ways in which you react to sunlight?
Mrs. Smith’s Class
Field Trip
Reading Science
Kindergarten: L.K.1A Living and Nonliving Things
Reading Science
Mrs. Smith is taking her class on a field trip. They vote on where they should go.
They choose the state park for their class trip.
What do you think they will see there?
Mrs. Smith decides they should hike to the creek first.
They see lots of things at the creek. Do you think they are living or nonliving?
They are all living things. A frog, duck, alligator,
Reading Science
and fish all hatch their babies from eggs.
Mrs. Smith shows them plants near the creek.
Are they living or nonliving?
Do they need sunlight and water
Reading Science
to stay alive?
Mrs. Smith takes the class on a hike through the forest. They see these things:
Are they living or nonliving?
They are all living, too. They have babies and need food and water to stay alive!
On the hiking trail, the class sees these things:
Reading Science
Are they living or nonliving?
Do they need food and water to stay alive?
Back at school, the class talks about their trip.
Do you think they saw more living or nonliving things?
Reading Science
1 Which of the following is not a living thing?
A Rock B Animal C Plant
D Frog
2 All of the following are nonliving things except–
A rocks.
B water. C ducks.
D dirt.
Reading Science
3 Living things need certain things to stay alive. They need air, food, shelter, and–
A soil.
B water.
C shade.
D trees.
4 Where does Mrs. Smith take the class hiking first? A Trail
B Forest
C Creek
D Lunch
Open-Ended Response
1. What are three things that living things need to survive?
2. Name two living things and two nonliving things.
3. Why is it important for us to be like the scientists we studied and pay attention to the natural world around us?
Claim-Evidence-Reasoning
James is learning about living and nonliving things in his kindergarten class. His teacher asked the class to find a nonliving thing that belongs with the other nonliving things on the chart below.
Claim-Evidence-Reasoning
Prompt 3
Thinking like a scientist, what nonliving thing did James find in the classroom?
Claim:
The _______________________________________ is a nonliving thing.
Evidence:
Write how you know.
Draw a nonliving thing.
L.K.1B
Parts of Animals
Name: ____________________________ Date: ___________
Explore
Moving Goldfish
Use the word bank to fill in the blanks.
Mouth Tail Eyes
1. Goldfish use their ___________ to help them move.
2. Goldfish use their ___________ to eat food.
3. Goldfish use their ___________ to see predators. Circle the correct parts of the goldfish.
Explore 2
Procedure
1. Work in small groups.
Hmm… I’m Hungry! Student Journal
2. Each group will have all 10 to 12 scent containers available to them. Waft the scents with your eyes closed.
3. After each scent, place an “X” on the data table as to whether it smelled like a food item or a non-food item.
4. As a group, continue to do the same thing with the rest of the scents.
5. Once everyone has smelled all of the scents, the class will guess what each scent might be.
Explore 2
Hmm… I’m Hungry!
Container Number Smells Like Food Does NOT Smell Like Food
Explore 2
Hmm… I’m Hungry!
Container Number Smells Like Food Does NOT Smell Like Food
STEMscopedia
What are you wearing today? Are you wearing shorts? Are you wearing a raincoat? How we dress depends on the weather. Our clothes keep us dry and warm. They can even help us survive.
Think about animals. Do they wear clothes? Of course not! Animals have outside body parts that protect them like our clothes. These parts or characteristics help animals survive in their habitats.
Reflect survive - stay alive habitat - natural home
Body coverings help animals survive. Animals have different body coverings that keep them warm and protect them. Here are some examples:
• Fur—Bears have fur. Fur keeps animals warm.
• Scales—Snakes and fish have scales. The hard scales help protect the animal’s body like armor.
• Hair—Humans and horses have hair on their skin. Hair keeps animals warm.
• Shells—Some animals, like turtles, clams, and snails, have thick, hard coverings to protect their bodies.
• Feathers—Birds have feathers that help them fly and keep them warm. Feathers also help keep birds dry when it rains.
• Wet skin—Some animals, like salamanders, live on land and in the water. When they get out of the water, they have to keep their skin wet so they will not dry out.
STEMscopedia
What Do You Think?
Body Coverings
Look at the list of animal coverings below. What do you think is the best animal picture that matches that covering?
Draw a line to the animal picture that best matches the covering:
1. Scales
2. Shell
3. Fur
4. Wet skin
5. Feathers
6. Hair
STEMscopedia
Reflect
Body color helps animals protect themselves. Color can keep animals safe. It can help them hide from danger. Color can even scare away other animals.
The bright color is a warning. It keeps other animals away.
Green color helps the insect hide on a green leaf.
Different animals use their body parts in different ways to see, hear, grasp objects, protect themselves, move from place to place, seek and find, and take in food, water, and air.
The giraffe is tall. It has a long neck. Giraffes are able to eat the leaves at the top of tall trees.
The squirrel is small. It can hide from large animals. It can grasp tiny seeds with its paws.
STEMscopedia
Many animals have body parts that help them get food. An elephant grabs leaves with its trunk. A butterfly drinks nectar with a long mouth like a tube. An eagle has claws to help catch food and a sharp, curved beak to tear meat.
Body parts also help animals move from place to place. Dolphins have flippers, which help them swim. Birds have wings, which help them fly. Many land animals have legs, which help them walk, run, and hop.
Fish have fins, which help them swim. Fish also have gills, which help them take in oxygen from the water. Fill in the blanks about the other animals. Hint: Use words like swim, jump, and fly
This bird has webbed feet that help it
The bat has wings that help it
The kangaroo has strong legs that help it
STEMscopedia
Try Now
Some land animals, like horses, cows, and deer, have hooves. Others, like dogs, cats, and bears, have paws. Hooves and paws leave prints. Prints change when an animal moves. See how your footprints change when you move:
1. Take off your shoes.
2. Pick a sandy area. A muddy area will work, too.
3. Take 10 steps across the sand. Go slowly.
4. Look at your footprints.
5. Then go back to your first tracks.
6. Run across the sand. Stop at the same place.
7. Look at the difference.
Body parts help animals meet their needs. Large, strong legs help some animals run and jump. Big ears let an animal hear other animals coming close. Special noses let animals smell long distances. Some animals have long, sticky tongues for grabbing food.
Some animals have special eyes. Some can see from very far away. Some animals can even see in the dark. These animals are great hunters! Despite their smaller size, owls have eyes almost as big as ours.
STEMscopedia
Reflect
Their eyes allow them to move in the dark to find food.
Sharks have the best underwater vision. Never play hide and seek with a shark, because you will lose. They can find dim objects in dark water. That means a fish swimming very far away can be found and eaten by a shark. Gulp!
Some body parts are for hearing.
The rabbit’s big ears let it hear sounds from two miles away. The rabbit’s other senses are just as amazing. It can smell food that is belowground. Its eyesight is very good. At night, a rabbit can see danger from a long distance away.
Some body parts are for breathing air. All animals need oxygen, which most animals get from the air.
Sea turtles live in ocean water, but they need to breathe air. Their lungs let them stay underwater for hours. Then they go up to the surface to breathe air again.
STEMscopedia
Look Out!
Career Corner: Zookeepers
Zookeepers work with animals. They know about animal parts. Zookeepers built a shelter with ropes and poles for the monkey. The monkey uses its arms, legs, and tail to swing on the ropes and poles!
What Do You Think?
Where Does It Live?
Body parts help animals live in their habitats. Look at the animals. Decide where each one lives. Draw a line to match the animal to its habitat. The first one is done.
STEMscopedia
Connecting With Your Child
Invent an Animal
To help your child learn more about animal characteristics or body parts, have your child invent an animal that has special body parts. First, ask your child to name some parts of animals and then link those parts to how the animals move or survive in their habitats.
Spend a little time brainstorming together. Think about the features the animal has, such as its body covering, eyesight, hearing, legs, shape, size, and color. Also consider how the animal moves and what it eats. Next, have your child use crayons or colored pencils to draw a picture of the animal on poster board or construction paper, paying close attention to the body parts that help it survive in its habitat. Tell your child to write a name for the animal.
Your child may feel more comfortable looking at a picture to get started and then drawing the animal in its habitat. Encourage creativity, but make sure your child focuses on realistic characteristics and how these characteristics relate to where the animal lives, what it eats, and how it moves.
Discuss the following questions with your child:
• Where does your animal live?
• What type of body covering does your animal have? How would you describe the animal’s size? Does your animal have an interesting body shape? What is it?
• What kind of eyes and ears does your animal have?
• Does your animal grasp objects with its hands?
• How does your animal protect itself? Does it have claws? Paws?
• How do these characteristics help your animal survive?
• How does your animal move?
Exploring the Beach
Kindergarten: L.K.1B Parts of Animals
Reading Science
Brian loves to go to the beach with his family! He likes to play in the water, but mostly he likes exploring.
First, he sees a crab. Watch out for those pincers! It has a hard shell, too. They are both used for protection.
Brian thinks of another animal with a hard shell. A sea turtle!
Reading Science
There are lots of birds near the beach. Their beaks help them get food.
Brian puts on his mask and snorkel. What do you think he can see underwater? He can see lots of fish! They use their fins and tails to help them move through the water.
Reading Science
What other animals have fins?
He also saw an eel! What land animal is like an eel? A snake is like an eel! They both use their tails to move.
Brian sees lots of plants underwater. Plants also grow on top of the water.
Brian had a great time at the beach. What do you like to do at the beach?
Reading Science
1 What does Brian enjoy doing most at the beach?
A Sunbathing
B Exploring
C Swimming
D Making sandcastles
2 What use does the crab have for its pincers?
A For protection
B To snap a beat
C To trap its food
D To walk
Reading Science
3 Some animals use their hard shells for protection. Which of the following animals have a hard shell?
A Pelicans
B Flamingos
C Sea turtles
D Fish
4 What is a bird’s primary use of its beak?
A To tuck it in under its wings
B To bite
C To scratch
D To get food
Reading Science
5 How are the fins and tails of some animals helpful?
A They are used to wave.
B They are used to help move through waves.
C They are used to clap.
D They are used to fly in the air.
Open-Ended Response
1. When it rains, you might use an umbrella or wear a raincoat to stay dry. What does a duck use to stay dry while it swims?
2. What body parts would a goldfish use in order to find and eat food?
3. Why do different animals use different body parts to move from place to place?
Claim-Evidence-Reasoning
In which habitat does the platypus live? Scenario 1
Platypuses have special body parts that help them live in their habitat. They find food in fresh water but also spend time on the land. They have a flat tail like a beaver and webbed feet like a duck to help them swim. Platypuses sleep in burrows (holes) that they dig in the land with the special front claws on their webbed feet. Their brown fur helps them hide from predators on the land and keeps them warm and dry.
Data 2 Prompt 3
Jungle River Desert Ocean
Claim-Evidence-Reasoning
Claim:
A platypus lives in the ______________________________________ .
Evidence:
Write how you know.
Draw how you know.
L.K.2 Life Cycles
Explore 1
Plant Life Cycle
Part I
Draw the Baby Plant
Use a marker to draw the seed coat around the seed.
Part II
Draw your plant each day and watch it grow!
1
Explore 1
Part III
Seed to Adult
Look at the pictures of your plants. Match the correct seedling to its matching adult. Glue one of your matches below.
What are some similarities between the seedlings and adult plants you noticed?
Draw one thing that was the same.
Part IV
Seeds
Draw the seeds you found. Draw the fruit each seed will become.
Explore 2
Draw an animal life cycle. Include arrows to show direction. Name: ____________________________
Explore 3
Are You My Parents?
Student Journal
Glue picture of parent animals here. Glue picture of baby here. Name:
Glue picture of parent animals here. Glue picture of baby here.
Explore 3
Are You My Parents?
Glue picture of parent animals here. Glue picture of baby here.
STEMscopedia
Reflect
Manny is at his family reunion. People say he looks like his grandfather, but Manny does not agree. His grandfather is taller and has wrinkles. His grandfather also has gray hair, while Manny has short black hair.
His cousin Lucia is only one year old. She crawls everywhere. She cannot talk yet. Finally, Manny sees his aunt. She is pregnant with twins. Imagine having two babies inside you! Why are Manny’s relatives so different? How different will Manny look when he is his grandfather’s age? What does all of this have to do with life cycles?
What are the different stages of the life cycle of living things?
A life cycle includes all the stages of life, from birth to death. A stage is just one step in this process. Manny saw people in different stages of life at his family reunion. He has already lived through some of these stages.
Everyday Life: Human Life Cycle
Manny also started his life in his mother’s tummy. When he was born, Manny was a baby. After a year, he became a toddler, like Lucia. Manny is now a child, a little taller and older. In less than 10 years, he will be a teenager. Then he will grow taller and become an adult, with stronger bones and muscles.
After many years, he will have wrinkles and gray hair, like his grandfather. Eventually, he will die. These stages make up the life cycle of a human being. It happens over time.
STEMscopedia
What Do You Think?
How do you think living things change as they grow? All living creatures—not only humans—have life cycles. Plants, animals, and even insects have life cycles. Let us look at the life cycle of a bean plant.
First Stage—Seed: Bean plants start out as seeds called beans. The beans come from inside a bean pod on the adult plant.
Second Stage—Seedling: The bean is planted in good soil with water. The bean later sprouts, which means it grows roots and leaves. Bean sprouting is also called germination. The young plant is called a seedling.
Third Stage—Adult Plant: Over time, the seedling grows into an adult bean plant. The plant needs sunlight, water, good soil, and the right temperature to become an adult plant.
Fourth Stage—Flowers and Bean Pods: The bean plant then produces flowers and fruits called pods, which contain more beans.
STEMscopedia
Look Out!
Nothing lives forever. The last stage of a life cycle is death. However, life goes on with new growth. When the plant dies or the pods fall off, the beans can be planted to grow new bean plants.
Reflect
Some young plants and animals look like their parents.
Scientists watch plants and animals change over time. Many young plants and animals look like their parents. For example, a young strawberry plant has leaves like those of the parent plant. Baby turtles, penguins, dogs, chickens, and zebras also look like their parents.
STEMscopedia
Reflect
Animals grow up and change. Those changes are called a life cycle. Mammals (animals that give milk to young) begin at birth as babies, grow into youth, become adults, reach old age, and then die. Do all animals follow the same cycle?
Dogs—Puppies are born deaf, blind, and helpless. They must get milk and warmth from the mother dog. By 2–3 weeks, puppies are beginning to see, hear, and move about. By 1–3 years, the dog is an adult. A dog becomes an older at 6–10 years. Smaller breed dogs live longer than large breed dogs.
Squirrels—Females give birth twice a year, with two to four young each time. Gestation (the time from conception to birth) lasts up to 2 months. Baby squirrels are born without hair and weigh 13–18 grams. Squirrels do not need their mother’s milk after 2 months. Adult squirrels live 3–5 years.
Rabbits—Baby rabbits, called kittens, are born blind and helpless. After a month, rabbits are on their own. After 2–3 months, rabbits are adults. Rabbits make many babies four or five times each year. Only a small percentage of newborns live to adulthood.
Deer—After 6 months of gestation, baby deer, called fawns, are born with spotted coats. After only a few days of nursing, fawns begin eating their own food.
STEMscopedia
Try Now
Now you try! Look at each part of the life cycle. What comes next? Fill in the blanks using these words: seeds, seedling, or adult.
STEMscopedia
Connecting With Your Child Into the Wild
The next time you take your child to an area with wild animals—for example, a zoo, forest, butterfly house, or park—take that opportunity to focus on the life cycles of animals.
Ask your child to identify or describe the life-cycle stage for each animal, plant, or insect you see. Then ask your child to name the next life-cycle stage for each of them. Point out the other people looking at the animals and ask your child for the life-cycle stages for these people. Allow your child to come up with creative responses and encourage him or her to identify the stages based on prior knowledge and to support those ideas with logical evidence.
If you are going to the zoo, make sure you take time to visit the nursery or the insect house. Children love young animals, which are perfect examples of the beginning of a life cycle. This will give your child an opportunity to reinforce learning in a fun way.
Here are some questions to discuss with your child:
1. How are the life stages you have observed different from each other?
2. What do we name the different stages of a life cycle?
3. Why do we compare life cycles of different animals, plants, and insects?
4. How many stages of a life cycle can you identify in our family?
Lauren’s Garden
Kindergarten: L.K.2 Life Cycles
Reading Science
Lauren and her grandpa planted a garden in the spring. It is summer now. Let us see how the plants look! They planted pumpkin seeds.
This is what the plants look like now. Do you see what is still attached at the bottom of the plant?
Reading Science
What do you think it will look like in a few days? What will happen when the flower falls off the plant? A pumpkin!
Are the flower and the pumpkin the same color?
Lauren and Grandpa also planted flowers in the yard. They did not plant seeds for these flowers. What do you think they planted? Bulbs!
Not all plants need soil to grow. Do you know where these plants live?
Reading Science
These plants live in water!
Grandpa tells Lauren about plants that grow where he lives. They do not need much water. Do you know what they are called?
They are called “cacti” (for more than one).
Watch out! Those thorns will poke you!
Lauren and Grandpa plant one more thing.
What do you think it will grow up to be?
Will it become an apple tree? A sunflower? A cactus?
Reading Science
1 When did Lauren and Grandpa plant a garden?
A Summer
B Fall C Winter
D Spring
2 Look at the picture on the right. What is attached to the bottom of the plant?
A Seed B Stem
C Leaf D Flower
Reading Science
3 Lauren and Grandpa planted pumpkin seeds. What else did they plant?
A Fruits
B Vegetables
C Flowers
D Seeds
4 The text says that where Grandpa lives, plants do not need much water. What kind of plants grow there?
A Bulbs
B Cacti
C Seaweed
D Pumpkins
Reading Science
5 Where might plants live that do not need soil to grow?
A In the water
B In the air
C On top of the table
D In a garden
Open-Ended Response
1. Draw the life cycle of a pumpkin plant.
2. Describe the life cycle of a cat.
3. How are the puppy and mother dog alike? How are they different?
Name: ____________________________ Date: ___________
Scenario 1
At the beginning of spring, Laura and her family planted a rose garden in their backyard. They noticed that there were dandelion plants developing that they did not plant.
Prompt 3
External Data 2
Thinking like a scientist, from what stage in the plant life cycle did the dandelion first grow?
Claim:
A dandelion grew from a _______.
Evidence:
Draw a picture or write about how a dandelion first began.
Plant and Animal Needs
Explore 1
Procedure
Water Me
Student Journal
1. Following the teacher’s directions, water each plant once a week.
2. Every week, measure and record the height of each plant using linking cubes.
3. Draw what each plant looks like every week in the table below.
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Seedling A
Seedling B
Seedling C
Height: __cubes
Height: __cubes Height: __cubes
Seedling D
Height: __cubes
Height: __cubes
Height: __cubes
Height: __cubes
Height: __cubes Height: __cubes
Height: __cubes
Height: __cubes Height: __cubes
STEMscopedia
Reflect
Plants and animals are living things and have basic needs. People are living things. We need certain things to stay alive.
Water is a basic need. We need it to stay alive.
Toys are not a basic need. We do not need them to stay alive.
Now you try! Look at the pictures below. Circle the things you need. Write an “X” on what you do not need.
STEMscopedia
What Do You Think?
Animals have basic needs: food, water, shelter, and space to live.
Try Now
Sometimes animals need shelter. A tree is a shelter for the bird.
Now you try! Look at the pictures below. Write the basic need in the picture. Hint: Use the word air, water, or food.
The cow is eating. It needs to stay alive.
The fox is breathing. It needs to stay alive.
The lion is drinking. It needs to stay alive.
STEMscopedia
Reflect
Plants have basic needs, too. Plants need water, light, air, and space.
Plants need sunlight and air.
Try Now
Plants need space to grow.
Plants need water and nutrients. Nutrients are vitamins. Plants get these vitamins from soil.
Now you try! What do you think plants need? Look at the pictures below. Write the basic need in the picture. Hint: Use the word water or sunlight.
Plants need
Plants need
STEMscopedia
What Do You Think?
Living things have to meet their needs. Look at the bird eggs. What do the eggs need? The eggs need shelter. A nest is a shelter. Now you try! Look at the pictures. Write one thing the plant or animal needs. Use the word food, air, sunlight, water, nutrients, or space. Use each word one time.
Hint: Each picture can have more than one answer. Just pick one answer.
The bird needs
The trees need
The plant needs
The squirrel needs
The rabbits need
The plants need
STEMscopedia
Connecting With Your Child
Go Exploring with Your Child
To help your child learn more about the basic needs of organisms, go on an exploration in your yard, a park, your neighborhood, or any other place that will provide the opportunity to observe a variety of organisms. While keeping safety in mind, be creative with the habitat you choose, and invite your child to suggest places for exploration. You might go several times, exploring different habitats to find unique organisms each time.
Tell your child that you are searching for the strangest organisms you can find. Before you go on the exploration, let your child help you brainstorm the types of organism you might see, such as cats, dogs, squirrels, ladybugs, caterpillars, spiders, fish, frogs, and worms. Don’t forget to include plants like flowers, bushes, and trees.
During your exploration, have your child write down or draw a picture of certain organisms that you observe. Ask your child to name the things the organism needs to live. Ask your child questions such as these:
1. What are organisms? Are you an organism?
2. Why do animals need to eat and drink?
3. Where do plants get their food?
4. What are some examples of when an animal might need shelter? Be specific about the animal and the situation.
Mr. Green’s Farm
Reading Science
Mr. Green invites us to visit his farm. Hop on for a tour!
First we see the orchard and the garden. Look at all the fruits and vegetables! What do the plants need to stay alive?
The plants need sunshine, water, and soil with nutrients.
Mr. Green brings us down to the pasture. Look at all the animals!
Reading Science
The animals have basic needs, too. They need food, water, shelter, and space. What about you and your friends? Do you have basic needs?
Humans need food to eat and shelter for keeping safe. We also need water to drink and clothing to keep us warm.
Thanks for the tour, Mr. Green! Can we visit again soon?
Reading Science
1 The text says, First we see the orchard and the garden. What do you think orchard means?
A Soil
B Vegetables
C Flower garden
D Fruit trees
2 Plants need all of the following to stay alive except–
A soil and nutrients.
B water.
C a tractor.
D sunshine.
Reading Science
3 Animals have all of the following basic needs except–A food.
B water.
C space.
D soil and nutrients.
4 You and your friends have basic needs. Which of the following is not a basic need for a human?
A Sunshine
B Food to eat
C Shelter to stay safe
D Clothing to keep warm
Reading Science
5 The main idea of the story is–
A how to take care of an orchard.
B what living things need to stay alive.
C how to take care of farm animals.
D that Mr. Green has a farm.
Open-Ended Response
1. What is one thing plants need to survive?
2. What is happening to this plant’s size as it goes through its life cycle?
Open-Ended Response
3. A polar bear cannot survive in a desert. Draw a picture that shows what a polar bear needs to live.
Scenario 1
A mystery animal is arriving at the zoo! The zookeeper needs to figure out what to feed this mystery animal. Help the zookeeper figure out which meal package he should choose for the new animal.
External Data 2
Meal Package 1 Meal Package 2 Meal Package 3 The only information you have about the animal is that it is a plant eater.
Prompt 3
Explain which meal package would best suit this new animal.
Claim:
The zookeeper should choose meal package _____ for the mystery animal.
Evidence:
Draw a picture explaining why the meal package you picked would be best for a plant eater.
L.K.3B
Interdependence of Living Things and the Environment
Name: ____________________________
Date: ___________
Explore 1
Interdependency Nature Hunt
Draw one object from your nature walk. Draw a picture to answer the other questions.
A plant I found in nature:
What depends on that?
What depends on that?
What depends on that?
Explore 2
Build My Habitat! Student Journal
Draw a habitat and label the parts.
Shade in the faces to show how well the design habitat works.
Bad Okay Great
Draw a picture of the habitat with the improvements you would make.
Name: ____________________________
STEMscopedia
Pets need people to feed and play with them. Houseplants need people to give them water. You need someone to make you dinner. In fact, all living things depend on each other to survive!
Reflect depend - rely on, or need survive - stay alive
How do you think plants and animals depend on each other?
Animals need plants for shelter.
Birds make their nests in trees. Squirrels and insects also live in trees. They live in the trunk, or middle part, of the tree.
Plants help keep animals safe. Plant leaves protect animals from the weather, like rain or the hot Sun. Plants also help smaller animals hide from bigger animals.
Look Out!
The bird lives in a tree.
Small fish hide from big fish in the plants.
STEMscopedia
Reflect
Animals need plants and other animals for food. Animals cannot make their own food. Cows eat grass. Deer eat leaves. Bees eat tiny plant parts called pollen. Some animals eat other animals. Spiders eat other bugs. Lions eat meat from other animals.
Bees eat yellow plant parts called pollen.
The spider eats other animals.
Try Now
Many animals eat meat. Meat comes from animals. Some animals eat plants. Plants can make their own food. Can you see how the fish below depends on plants, even though it does not eat them? Living things depend on each other for food.
A food chain shows how food moves from one living thing to the next. The first living thing is a plant. Beetles eat plants. Fish eat beetles. What do you think eats fish? The food chain really starts with the Sun. Plants need sunlight to make their own food. Draw a picture of the Sun in the box in front of the plant.
STEMscopedia
Look Out!
Remember that plants are the first living things in a food chain. Look at the pictures of animals eating. Fill in the blanks about food chains. Then circle the word plants in both sentences.
People eat hamburgers. Hamburgers are made from cows. Cows eat
Plants need animals too.
Insects eat plants. Fish eat insects. Then, bears eat
Animals give off a gas when they breathe out. We cannot see the gas, but plants need that gas to grow. They take the gas from the air. They use it to make food. So plants even depend on us!
Looking to the Future
Plants and animals work together. They make up a system. What if part of a system were removed? The rest of the system would be hurt. Deer eat plants. They also hide in plants. What if people cut down all the plants? What would happen to the deer?
STEMscopedia
Try Now
What Do You Know?
Look at the picture of the shark. What does it depend on? Think about what it eats. The shark depends on fish for food.
Now you try. Look at the pictures below. Decide how each animal or plant depends on another living thing.
Write your answers in the blank spaces using these words: shelter, food, gas, and people.
The bird is eating the fish. The bird depends on fish for
The cow breathes out gas. The grass depends on this
The fish eat the fish food dropped in the tank. Fish depend on _________________ for food.
The frog lives around these plants. The frog depends on plants for
STEMscopedia
What Do You Think?
Plants and animals live in different kinds of places called habitats.
Living things depend on their habitat for their basic needs. Animals need food, water, air, shelter, and a space to live. Plants need sunlight, air, water, soil, and space to live.
For example, a bear needs to eat leaves or berries. The bear also needs to drink the water from a nearby river. The bear could also eat the fish from that river. Could a bear live in the ocean or a desert? No, of course not! A forest is a perfect habitat for a bear.
a forest
a beach
a garden a park
a lake
STEMscopedia
Connecting With Your Child
Build a Terrarium
Help your child learn more about the interdependence of organisms by building a terrarium. Plants and animals depend on each other for food and on their surrounding habitat to supply their basic needs. Habitats can be any environment such as a river, forest, desert, or terrarium where you find living things.
You will need a clear container (glass jar, water pitcher, aquarium, two-liter soda bottle, or large glass bowl). Before beginning, take your child outside to observe the parts of a local habitat, such as plants, dirt, and insects. Make a list of all the things you will need to include in the terrarium to make a “mini” habitat.
Ask your child to explain why each item is being added to the list. Some items will be nonliving, so steer the conversation toward how these things are related to living things. For example, soil is nonliving, and animals like earthworms add nutrients to the soil that are beneficial to plant growth. Rocks provide animals with shelter. Point out that logs and other plant parts can provide shelter, too.
After making your list, gather the materials with your child. Build a terrarium with both plants and animals in order to see the interdependency. Animals can include insects, worms, or small lizards. If necessary, conduct research to find out what the animals you include eat. You might decide to keep the terrarium for a long time, but if not, be sure to come up with a plan for the living things that you decide to use before building the terrarium.
For example, you might decide to replant the grasses outside in a garden and release native insects or earthworms back into the wild. Please remember that many animals like frogs, turtles, and lizards that are sold in pet stores cannot be released into the wild. If you decide to use those kinds of animals, plan to keep them as pets for a very long time.
Don’t Eat My Lettuce
Reading Science
Reading Science
Maggie and her sister love to work in the garden. They grow flowers of all different colors. They even grow fruits and vegetables. While Maggie is tending the garden, she notices that something has been eating her lettuce. She spies a little bunny. Could he be eating the plants?
Maggie is angry!
Her sister says, “Do not be angry. The bunny needs to eat, just like you and me!”
“All living things depend on each other. The hummingbird needs the flowers for food.”
“So do the bees.”
Reading Science
“What other living things use our garden?” asks Maggie.
“Look!” her sister says. “The caterpillar uses our garden to eat and build a chrysalis!”
Maggie asks her sister, “Do any other animals depend on us?”
“Yes, our pets depend on us. They cannot take care of themselves.”
Maggie wonders how she can help other animals. She and her sister decide to plant a tree.
Reading Science
Which animals do you think can use the tree? What would they use it for?
1 What do Maggie and her sister love to do?
A Play outdoors
B Read books
C Work in the garden
D Make arts and crafts
2 Maggie and her sister grow–
A plants and animals.
B lakes and ponds.
C bats and balls.
D fruits and vegetables.
Reading Science
3 What conclusion can Maggie make about what is happening to her lettuce?
A The hot Sun is destroying it.
B A plague is destroying it.
C Animals are eating it.
D Her family is eating it because they are hungry.
4 Why does Maggie get angry?
A A rabbit was eating her lettuce.
B Her sister would not share the lettuce.
C The lettuce would not grow.
D There was too much lettuce.
Reading Science
5 How does her sister explain the idea of interdependency?
A Like everyone else, the rabbit needs to eat.
B All living things depend on each other.
C Living things use gardens.
D Pets cannot take care of themselves.
Open-Ended Response
1. What are some things plants need so they can make their own food?
2. Draw one animal that eats plants and one animal that eats other animals. Be sure to draw what they eat!
Eats Plants
Eats Animals
Open-Ended Response
3. These birds are a female and a male cardinal. Draw a picture of what you need to make these birds a home in their habitat.
Sergio learned about how all living things depend on other living and nonliving things to survive. He created the food chain below to show how some living things in a forest interact with one another. He wondered about the energy given to each living thing in the food chain.
Thinking like a scientist, explain how the field mouse gets energy in the food chain.
The field mouse gets energy from ___________________. Write how you know. Draw how you know.
L.K.4
Plant and Animal Extinctions
Extinction
Look at the picture. What do you know? What do you wonder?
Explore 1
Extinct or Living?
Circle the animals that are extinct or no longer living on Earth. Connect the dots by drawing a line from each extinct animal to its living relative.
STEMscopedia
Reflect
Some plants and animals are gone forever. If a plant or animal is extinct, it means that none of its kind live on Earth anymore. Dinosaurs are extinct. The T-Rex in the picture lived long ago, but not anymore.
Other organisms become endangered (almost extinct) and then become extinct over time. Another way of saying a plant or animal became extinct is to say that it “died off.”
Fossils are bones that became rock. They help us understand creatures from long ago.
extinct - when a type of plant or animal no longer lives on Earth
What Do You Think?
Extinction by Asteroid and Climate Change
Dinosaurs disappeared about 65 million years ago. There are no dinosaur fossils after that date. No people lived on Earth back then. So humans could not have killed them off.
What do you think killed all the dinosaurs? Maybe the temperature got too hot or too cold. Dinosaurs could not live with colder temperatures. A huge asteroid hit Earth back then. That impact could have changed the climate. What do you think?
Not just dinosaurs have become extinct. Plants and animals are still disappearing from Earth. So it is important to understand other causes of these extinctions.
STEMscopedia
Reflect
Extinction by Volcanoes
Another reason for the extinction of a species can be volcanoes. When a volcano erupts, hot lava covers the land and kills the things living there.
If any animals survive nearby, they do not have any plants or other animals to eat for food.
Giant volcanoes may have killed many plants and animals long ago.
What Do You Think?
The saber-toothed tiger became extinct about 11,700 years ago.
Look Out!
Today on Earth, plant and animal species are dying off and becoming extinct too fast. In the past, extinctions were caused by asteroids, volcanoes, and temperature changes.
What do you think is the major cause of extinction today? It is us—humans! The extinction of the famous sabertoothed tiger was caused by people hunting them long ago. There are no more saber-toothed tigers.
Does the woolly mammoth in the picture look like an elephant? This animal was also hunted too much over 10,000 years ago. There are no more. Hunting and temperature change both caused the death of this animal. Its fur was used for blankets and clothes, its meat for food, and its tusks for weapons, and its fat was burned to make fires.
STEMscopedia
Reflect
Birds were also hunted too much by humans. The dodo bird lived on an island in the Indian Ocean. It was killed off for food. None were left after 1662.
The passenger pigeon looks like a modern pigeon. It does not live anymore. It was killed off by 1900 for two reasons: overhunting and the cutting down of local trees. Fewer trees meant less shelter for nests and for living.
Pollution of land, water, and air also causes the extinction of living things on Earth.
Trees and plants can become extinct as well. Before settlers arrived, the American chestnut tree covered the land. This tree grew to 100 feet in height and lived 200–300 years. Settlers cut it down for its wood. Since it became extinct, scientists have grown similar trees.
Pigeon hunt in England in the early 1900s
The dodo bird
Passenger pigeon What Do You Think?
STEMscopedia
Below are four pictures of things that can cause extinctions. Which one would you place in the ancient times oval? Which one would you place in the modern times oval? Which two would you place in the middle because they could happen in both ancient and modern times?
STEMscopedia
Connecting With Your Child
The Endangered Species in the United States
To help your child learn more about animals that are in danger of becoming extinct, take a web field trip. Do an Internet search for endangered species near where you live. Find out when they became endangered and explore possible reasons why they became endangered.
If you can, take a trip to your local zoo. Ask a zookeeper if there are any endangered animals that live at that zoo. If so, ask the zookeeper to give you more information about them. Where did they come from? When did they become endangered? How did they become endangered?
Here are some questions to discuss with your child:
• How do plants and animals become endangered?
• What is the difference between endangered and extinct?
• What can humans do to protect the plants and animals that are endangered?
Hiking Trip
Kindergarten: L.K.4 Plant
Reading Science
Jake was hiking with his family. “Slow down, Jake!” his mother said. “We are not all as fast as you!” They were all tired, except for Jake.
Jake sat down on a nearby rock and waited. His family soon caught up with him.
“There are a couple of benches up ahead. We can rest and eat some lunch.” His dad had packed some sandwiches before they left in case anyone got hungry. Everyone was starving. Jake quickly ate his sandwich. He wanted to start hiking as soon as possible.
Reading Science
“Let us rest for a little. We have been hiking a lot,” his dad said. While they were resting, Jake started kicking a rock. He gave the rock a slight push and it turned over. It had a weird design on it. Jake picked it up and looked at it more closely. It did not look like any of the other rocks he saw. “Dad, this rock looks strange. What is it?” Jake asked. His dad took a look at the rock.
“It seems like you found a fossil of a fish,” Jake’s dad said as he inspected the rock.
Reading Science
“A fish? I’ve never seen a fish that looks like that before!” Jake said.
“There are not any lakes or rivers around here,” Linda, Jake’s sister, said. She sounded confused.
“Not now, but maybe a long time ago,” Jake’s dad said. Seeing the confused looks on their faces, Jake’s dad explained, “You see, there was a lake where we are right now, probably a million years ago. This fish lived there. There were some fish alive back then that are not alive today. When this little fish died, he was buried under sand.
Reading Science
After many years, the sand hardened into this and the lake changed. It might have dried out and it became this trail. Even though the lake is gone, the fossil stayed behind just for us to find.”
“Do you think there are more fish fossils here?” Jake asked as he began looking around.
“Maybe, but more things can be fossils, not just fish. Parts of plants or other animals could be fossils,” his dad answered.
Jake held up a jagged-looking rock and brought it over to his dad. “That looks like a shark tooth,” he said.
Reading Science
“So this was once stuck in an animal’s mouth?” Linda asked. Both parents nodded. “Awesome!” Linda exclaimed.
“We better get going. We can look for more fossils on the way,” their mom announced. They cleaned up their lunch and started back on the trail. This time, Jake did not run off. He stayed with his sisters and looked for fossils. At the end of the trail, they had collected 11 fossils!
Reading Science
1 What was Jake most excited about?
A Hiking
B Finding a fossil
C Eating lunch
D Being with his family
2 What does extinct mean?
A No longer living
B Alive
C Scared
D Tired
Reading Science
3 Why do you think the fish died?
A It could not survive anymore.
B It did not have food.
C It ran out of air.
D It ran out of water.
4 What type of area did the hiking area used to be?
A Town
B Lake
C Desert
D Jungle
Reading Science
5 What did Jake find when he kicked over the rock?
A Fossil
B Nothing C Bug
D Dirt
Open-Ended Response
1. Draw what you think caused the dinosaurs to become extinct.
Open-Ended Response
2. Mammoths are extinct, but elephants still exist on Earth. How are mammoths and elephants alike?
3. What is another animal or plant that is extinct?
Scenario 1
Throughout history, many plants and animals became threatened, endangered, and finally extinct. There are four main reasons for the extinction of an organism: overhunting, pollution, habitat loss, or the introduction of a nonnative species.
2
External Data
Name of Organism
Steller’s Sea Cow
Madeiran Large White Butterfly
Round Island Burrowing Boa
St. Helena Olive Tree
Reason for Extinction
These sea cows were wanted as a source of food, as skins to make boats, and as fat for lamp oil.
Farmers in the valleys of Portugal used fertilizers to help their crops grow. The fertilizers used were toxic to this butterfly.
Rabbits and goats were introduced to the island of Mauritius (Mor-ish-us) and destroyed the vegetation where the boas lived.
This species only grew on the Island of St. Helena. Humans cleared forests to create space for farming.
Claim-Evidence-Reasoning
Prompt 3
Study the data table to gain an understanding of why these organisms became extinct. Use the information to write a claim about why one of these organisms is now extinct.
Claim:
Evidence:
P.K.5A States of Matter
Explore 1
Texture Station
Exploring Matter
Circle how each object feels when you touch it.
Sound Station
Circle how each object sounds after you scratch and drop it.
Explore 1
Weight Station
For each set, draw a picture of which item weighs more and which item weighs less.
Volume Station
For each set, draw a picture of which item weighs more and which item weighs less. Sets More Less 1 2 3 Sets More Less 1 2 3
Explore 1
Shape/Color Station
Circle how you sorted the items.
Circle which senses you used to sort the items.
States of Matter Station
Draw pictures of the items you sorted.
Explore 2
Sink or Float?
Predict and then record an ‘S’ for sink or an ‘F’ for float. After you test each item, place an ‘X’ under the correct column, either “sink” or “float.”
Explore 2
Sink or Float?
Predict and then record an ‘S’ for sink or an ‘F’ for float. After you test each item, place an ‘X’ under the correct column, either “sink” or “float.”
Object
Drinking Straw
Pencil
Metal Spoon
Plastic Spoon
Explore 2
Sink or Float?
Predict and then record an ‘S’ for sink or an ‘F’ for float. After you test each item, place an ‘X’ under the correct column, either “sink” or “float.”
Look at the items in the tank of water. Place an ‘X’ on the item that sinks and circle the item that floats.
STEMscopedia
Reflect
We can use size to describe things.
The buildings are big.
The red pot is smaller than the other pots.
The plant is small.
The mother elephant is bigger than the baby elephant.
Try Now
Now, you try! Circle the biggest rabbit. Put an X over the smallest rabbit.
STEMscopedia
What Do You Think?
We can use color to describe things.
The balloon is red. This shirt is blue.
These books are different colors. Write two colors that you see.
STEMscopedia
Reflect
We can use shape to describe things.
The balls are round.
The cookie looks like a star.
The drink is hot.
The ice is cold.
STEMscopedia
We can use temperature to describe things. We can use weight to describe things.
These rocks are heavy.
These feathers are light.
Heavy things sink in water! Light things float in water!
The bricks are rough.
The wet rocks are smooth.
STEMscopedia
We can use texture to describe things. Texture is how something feels. Many words describe an object:
Size
Color
Shape
Temperature
Weight Texture
All of these words tell about the properties of objects. Scientists have another name for all the objects in the world: matter. The biggest building and the smallest pebble are matter.
Try Now
Matter is the stuff that makes up our world. If someone tells you the properties of some matter, then you know what they are talking about. Let us play a game. Circle the picture of matter with the properties described below.
Which object has these properties?
• round
• plastic
• smooth texture
• filled with air
• will not break
Glass marble
Beach ball
STEMscopedia
Matter can also have the property of being a solid or a liquid. These are called states of matter.
Solid state of matter
Liquid state of matter
Solid things keep their shape. Liquids flow like water. Solids things do not flow. Liquids fill the shape of the glass.
Which picture below shows a solid state of matter? Which picture shows a liquid state of matter? Write a big S over the solid matter and a big L over the liquid matter:
Chocolate syrup Chocolate candy bar
STEMscopedia
Try Now
Liquids can become solid if they cool down enough. And solids can become liquids if they heat up enough!
How would you describe the properties of matter for the pictures below?
Is this car heavy or light? (Circle one)
or light? (Circle one)
STEMscopedia
Connecting With Your Child
Describing and Sorting Things at Home
To help your child learn more about the properties of objects, it is important to practice observing, describing, and sorting everyday items. Invite your child to spend some time looking at the properties of these objects:
• Wood (small pieces are lightweight; big pieces like furniture are heavy, stained different colors, smooth, solid)
• Plastic (solid, lightweight, different colors, bendable, smooth)
• Metal (solid, hard, heavy, metallic colors, can be smooth or rough depending on object, cold or hot)
• Cloth (light, different colors, bendable, different textures depending on the fabric, room temperature)
• Paper (lightweight, any shape if folded or molded, any color, room temperature, solid)
Pay special attention to items that can be described and sorted by multiple properties. For example, you could sort a set of blocks by color and then sort them again by size or shape. Help your child understand that objects have many properties. Your child should also compare objects on the basis of the properties listed above. Look at two rocks, candies, or books. Ask your child which object is bigger or heavier (more weight), and ask your child to compare their colors and shapes.
Here are some questions to discuss with your child:
1. What colors do you see?
2. What shapes do you see?
3. How could we describe the texture of this (smooth, rough, bumpy, etc.)?
4. How many different ways could we sort these items?
5. Which object is bigger?
6. Which is colder? Hotter?
7. Is it in a solid state of matter or a liquid state of matter?
Scavenger Hunt
Kindergarten: P.K.5A States of Matter
Reading Science
It is raining outside and there is nothing to do! “I’m bored,” says Maddy.
Mom asks, “Since we cannot go outside, how about an indoor scavenger hunt?” “What is that?” asks Maddy. “It is a game. I will tell you things to look for and you will try to find them.”
First, Mom asks Maddy to find things that are solids. Maddy finds these colored pencils.
Reading Science
“Now find something that is a liquid,” Mom says.
Maddy finds her favorite drink.
“Now find something that can be either a solid or a liquid,” says Mom. Maddy finds these things:
What will happen if they stay out too long?
Maddy looks out the window.
Reading Science
The Sun is out!
The scavenger hunt was fun.
Now it is time to go outside and play.
“Thanks, Mom!” Maddy says.
Reading Science
1 When it is raining, what activity can you do?
A Play baseball
B Go swimming
C Fly a kite
D Play a board game
2 Mom tells Maddy that they can have a scavenger hunt. What things does Mom ask Maddy to find?
A Things that are shaped tall and narrow
B Things that are solid
C Things that are hot
D All of the above
Reading Science
3 The text says, “I’m bored!” What do you think bored means?
A Not interested, tired
B Amused
C Thrilled
D Interested
4 What is this story mostly about?
A Hunting
B Things to play with
C A game of finding things
D Things to eat
Reading Science
5 The author uses pictures in the text mainly to show–A a ball.
B properties of different objects.
C lights.
D things melting.
Open-Ended Response
1. Tell how a solid is different than a liquid.
2. What will happen to the solid in the picture if it gets warm?
Open-Ended Response
3. How are these two objects similar?
4. Draw something that would sink and something that would float.
Sink Float
Scenario 1
It is finally snack time, and your friend asks you to get him one drink and one snack. The charts below show the different drinks and snacks from which you can choose. He wants a drink that is mostly liquid with some solid pieces in it. He does not want a rough snack, and he does not like foods that are red.
2
External Data
cookie brown solid rough
cake yellow and white solid soft fruit snacks red solid smooth
grape juice purple liquid milk white liquid
orange juice orange liquid with some solid pieces
Claim-Evidence-Reasoning
Prompt 3
Write a scientific explanation for the snack and drink you chose for your friend. Make sure it is based on the properties your friend wants them to have! Make a claim and state your evidence.
Claim:
Evidence:
Building Blocks of Matter
Flashlight Assembly
Directions
Draw what is inside the bag before and after you have put the pieces together.
Before Assembly After Assembly
Explore 1
Building Blocks
Create four different structures, using the blocks. Draw what each structure looks like. Structure 1
2
Explore 2
Building Blocks
Draw what each structure looks like before and after the game.
Structure Before Structure After
STEMscopedia
Have you ever built a toy car? What pieces do you see in the picture? Do you see tires?
Cars are made up of different parts. Toy cars have a few parts. Real cars have many parts.
Objects are made up of parts. An object can be made up of different materials or of smaller pieces of the same material. Objects can be small like a toy car or big like a classroom or school. The smaller pieces are put together to make the whole object.
What Do You Think?
Look at the classroom. Do you think you can find the parts listed below that make up this classroom? Draw an arrow to that part in the picture.
STEMscopedia
Observing Matter
We call all the stuff that makes up our world matter. All matter is made up of smaller parts. Look closely at a pair of jeans. Jeans are made of cotton cloth. The cloth is made of cotton thread. The thread is made of very small pieces of cotton. These pieces of cotton are made up of even smaller parts, which are too small to see without a microscope.
If a part is missing, will the object work? Look at the toy cow made up of plastic parts. If you removed a part, could you make this cow? No! You need all the parts.
Could you make something new from old parts?
Could you make something new with these pieces instead of a cow?
Reflect
Look Out!
Jeans
Cotton cloth
Cotton thread
Cotton fibers
STEMscopedia
What Do You Think?
Do you like to play with blocks? How about your friends? When you play with blocks, you are acting like a scientist.
When you stack them, you are exploring balance and shape. When you build a road or a building, you are creating a model. When the blocks all fall down, you are seeing gravity in action!
Have you ever built a tower, and then it fell down? You may have tried different ways to place the blocks. Finally, you created a tower that stayed up! The falling tower was a problem you needed to solve. You explored the problem, and you fixed it! You arranged small parts to make a larger object to solve a problem.
Many different objects can be built from a small set of pieces, such as blocks or building bricks. An object made of a set of small pieces can be taken apart and made into a new object multiple times.
You can build a house with building blocks. You can take it apart and make a new object using the same blocks.
You can build a castle with blocks. You can take it apart and make a new object using the same blocks.
STEMscopedia
Try Now
What happens if you remove a part?
Pick an object on your playground. Look at all the pieces that make up that object. Imagine taking off one of the parts.
Now answer these questions:
• What does this part help the object do?
• If this part were removed, would the object still work?
• Is this part made of even smaller parts?
Be a detective. Find the parts.
This head was made of recycled things; recycled things are objects that are used again instead of being thrown away.
What recycled parts do you see that make up this object?
What can you make out of recycled parts?
STEMscopedia
Connecting With Your Child Building Blocks of Matter
Ask your child to share knowledge about objects and their parts. Your child should share the information that an object is made up of smaller parts and can be taken apart and put together in a new way to make a different object.
Take a walk around your house. Find an object with several parts that can be taken apart. Legos or building blocks would work well. Take a picture of the object. Then ask your child to take the object apart. Study all the pieces. Challenge your child to put the pieces back together in a new way, if possible. Take a picture of the reassembled object.
Here are some questions to discuss with your child:
1. How many parts make up the object?
2. Could the parts be assembled in a new way to make a different-looking object?
3. How did the appearance of the object change?
4. What stayed the same from the first assembly of an object to the second assembly of an object?
Reading Science
Do you like to read books? Do you like to read them at night under the covers with a flashlight? What do you need to make sure the flashlight works?
First, you need a flashlight. Second, you need batteries. They need to work. Third, you need a light bulb. Now you have a flashlight that works!
Reading Science
Do you like ice cream sundaes?
First, you need a bowl and a spoon. Second, you need ice cream and toppings. Toppings can be hot fudge, candy, sprinkles, and whipped cream. Place a few scoops of ice cream in the bowl. Then, top it with all your favorite toppings. Finish it with whipped cream and a cherry on top.
Reading Science
Do you like to make things out of paper? Have you ever made a paper flower?
First, you need paper, scissors, and glue. Cut some green paper to make a long stem and some leaves.
Second, make a yellow circle and glue it onto the stem. The third step is to cut out petals and to glue them onto the yellow circle. Do not forget to glue the leaves onto the stem.
To make things work, we have to go through steps and use different materials. Then, we get something that’s new and exciting!
Reading Science
1 What makes a flashlight work?
A Putting small pieces together to make it
B The plastic
C The light bulb
D The flashlight
2 What is not part of an ice cream sundae in the passage?
A Hot fudge
B Candy
C Whipped cream
D Nuts
Reading Science
3 What state of matter are all of the examples in the passage?
A Solid B Liquid C Gas
4 Would the flashlight work the same without all the parts?
A Yes B No
Name: ____________________________
Open-Ended Response
1. Draw and tell about one thing you can build with the blocks.
Skyscraper
Open-Ended Response
2. Tell what parts a bike needs. Then draw a bike.
3. What would happen if the flashlight was missing a part?
Cynthia was at the park and noticed that both birds and beavers build their own shelters. When she went back to school, she researched examples of bird nests and beaver dams to see how their shelters are built.
After
Explore 1
Seasonal Patterns
Draw a picture of your favorite season and what season comes next. Favorite Next
Cut out the pictures below. Glue the correct answer into the box. What season comes before fall? What season comes after fall? In what season would you see a pumpkin?
STEMscopedia
Reflect
Some things you do during the day. Other things you do at night.
Some things you do only in the winter. Others you do only in the summer.
Why do we do different things at different times?
Day and night are different.
Earth spins like a top. The side facing the Sun has daytime. But when it is daytime where you live, it is nighttime on the other side of the world! Nighttime faces away from the Sun. As the world keeps spinning, day changes to night. Night changes to day. And so on. We have day and night all year long.
Other changes happen to Earth besides day and night.
STEMscopedia
Earth changes during four seasons: winter, spring, summer, and fall.
People can do different activities during different seasons. In the winter, you might build a snowman. In the spring, you might enjoy taking long walks or playing at the park. In the summer, you might cool off in the swimming pool or at the beach. The fall is a great time to play in the fallen leaves.
What is each season like in the United States?
Winter
Winter starts in December and ends in March. During winter, nights are longer and the weather is colder. If it is winter where you live, you will not see as much daylight. The Sun rises later and sets earlier.
Spring
Spring starts in March and ends in June. Days start to get longer. Having more daylight during the day helps the weather get warmer. If it snowed in the winter, the snow may start to melt. Plants also start to grow again.
STEMscopedia
Summer
Summer starts in June and ends in September. We see the most daylight during the day in the summer. All the daylight makes summer the hottest season of the year
Fall
Fall starts in September and ends in December. We start to see a little less daylight each day, which makes the air get colder. Leaves change color and fall off the trees.
Discuss these questions with a partner:
What is your favorite season?
What makes it your favorite season?
What do you like to do during your favorite season?
STEMscopedia
Model sunlight during different times of the day. You will need these items:
• A flashlight
• A ball
• A sticker
Use the diagram to the right to guide you.
1. Put a sticker on the ball. Set the ball in the middle of the room. Turn off the lights. The flashlight represents the Sun, the ball represents Earth, and the sticker represents where you are on Earth.
2. Stand facing the ball at position 1, and shine the flashlight directly on the sticker. This represents noon, because the Sun (flashlight) is directly above the sticker (your location).
3. Keeping the ball in the same location, take the flashlight and slowly move counterclockwise (to the right) until you are shining the light on position 2 of the model. This represents sunset. The sticker on the ball is still getting some sunlight, but it is about to lose it to darkness. This starts nighttime.
4. Take the flashlight and slowly move counterclockwise until you are shining it at position 3. The sticker on the ball is now getting no sunlight. Therefore, at the location on Earth represented by the sticker, it is now midnight.
5. Move to position 4 and shine the light toward the ball. This represents sunrise and the beginning of daytime. The sticker is just starting to receive sunlight.
STEMscopedia
Connecting With Your Child Moving through the Seasons at Home
To help your child learn more about the changing seasons throughout the year, have him or her make a calendar. Buy or make a blank calendar that includes all 12 months of the year.
*To make a calendar, gather 12 sheets of blank construction paper and pile them together. Fold the stack in half horizontally and staple the sheets across the middle fold. Use a marker to divide the bottom half of the page into seven columns and four to five rows. The columns represent the days, and the rows represent the weeks in each month. Number each month according to the correct dates, which you can find by referencing another calendar.
Once you have a blank calendar for a whole year, review each of the months with your child. Go through the year and mark important dates for your family. For example, you might include holidays, the first day of school, birthdays, and vacation dates. Once you have completed the entire year, go back through the months again, but this time have your child discuss the various activities, weather conditions, daylight hours, holiday traditions, and other events that occur each month. Your child will use these ideas to create a picture on the top half of each calendar page that reflects that month. For example, a picture of a mitten might decorate one of the winter months, while a flower could be included for a spring month.
When it is complete, hang up the calendar in your home. Encourage your child to add to the calendar throughout the year.
Here are some questions to discuss with your
child:
• What are the four seasons? What order do they come in?
• What season are we in now? What activities do we do in this season?
• What do animals and plants do during this season?
Season after Season
Reading Science
Today is my birthday! It is summer, a good time to have a swimming party with my friends and family.
After swimming, we eat cake and ice cream outside on the patio in the shade.
My sister’s birthday is in the fall. It is cooler than in the summer. Fall is a good season to go camping. We take a hike to see how the leaves are changing.
Reading Science
I decide to fall into a pile of leaves. It is fun to roll around. Try it sometime! My dad has a December birthday. It is cold and cloudy outside. We wear coats because it is winter.
“What do you want to do for your birthday, Dad?” I ask.
“I want to sit by the fireplace and have hot chocolate and popcorn,” Dad laughs. “It is too cold outside.”
Reading Science
My mom has her birthday during the next season. Can you guess what season is coming? Right! It is spring.
We have celebrated four birthdays and four seasons. Almost a whole year has passed. I will be seven years old once summer comes again.
Reading Science
What is your favorite season?
Can you guess what my favorite season is?
Reading Science
1 Which birthday activities happened during summer?
A Ice-skating and sledding
B Playing in leaves and camping
C Planting flowers
D Swimming and eating ice cream
2 Why would the children have jeans on for camping and not summer shorts?
A Temperatures are cooler in fall.
B Temperatures are warmer in fall.
C Temperatures did not change.
D Temperature had nothing to do with it.
Reading Science
3 What activities would not happen if tree leaves did not change and fall off?
A No swimming or boating
B No biking or skating
C No raking or playing in leaves
D No sledding or ice-skating
4 Which season was best for drinking hot chocolate by the fireplace?
A Spring
B Summer
C Fall
D Winter
Reading Science
5 Why did the author use different pictures with each season?
A Because activities and clothing do not change with each season
B Because activities and clothing do change with each season
C To make the story more colorful
D To make the story less colorful
Name:
Open-Ended Response
1. What season has the most hours of daylight to play outside?
2. Draw a picture of what a tree looks like in each season.
Open-Ended Response
3. The season in January is ________________________________.
4. Draw a picture to show you playing outside in January. Use words to tell about your picture.
William recorded the average amount of sunlight for a day. Test A and Test B were recorded at two different times of the year. Here is what he recorded.
Prompt 3
Thinking like a scientist, which of William’s tests were most likely done in the winter?
Claim:
Test ______ was done in the winter.
Evidence:
Write how you know. Draw how you know.
Explore 1
Day and Night
When light is on half of the globe, what does this represent?
Circle: DAY or NIGHT
When half of the globe is dark, what does this represent?
Circle: DAY or NIGHT
Draw things you see during the day and during the night.
Explore 1
The circle below represents Earth. Use crayons to draw Sun, Moon, stars, and clouds to decorate half of the circle for day and half of the circle for night. Cut out your Earth and glue it on a piece of construction paper. Draw the Sun facing the correct side of Earth.
Explore 2
Effects of the Sun
Directions: Measure the temperature of each item and record it in the table below.
Sand Soil Rocks Water
Circle the answer.
Problem: When Clifford is outside during the summer, he gets . too hot or too cold
Design a hat for Clifford below to help protect him from the Sun and stay cool during the summer.
Explore 2
Color the stars.
Rate how well your hat works.
Draw a picture of how you would change the design of your hat to better protect you from the Sun.
Name:
STEMscopedia
Sunlight from the Sun can be observed on sunny days.
Your face might feel warm when you are standing in the light from the Sun.
What is the Sun?
The Sun is a star. The Sun is just like all the stars you see in the night sky.
We are so close to it that it looks much larger and brighter than other stars.
A star is a huge, spinning, glowing sphere of hot gas.
The Sun provides us with light and heat.
Reflect sphere - shaped like a ball.
Reflect
STEMscopedia
Earth faces the Sun during daytime and away from the Sun at nighttime.
How does sunlight warm Earth’s surface?
Earth rotates on its axis causing day and night. Half of Earth faces the Sun during the day. The other half of Earth faces way from the Sun during the night.
The Sun’s energy moves through space until it hits Earth’s surface. Every day, sunlight warms Earth’s surface. The main source of heat for our planet is the Sun.
Planets that are really close to the Sun can get very hot. Earth is just the right distance away from the Sun.
Planets that are far from the Sun are very cold. It is too cold for humans on faraway planets.
Look Out!
STEMscopedia
Our Earth gets the perfect amount of light and heat from the Sun. What could happen to our world if we did not have the Sun? Without the Sun, there would be no warmth. Our planet would be dark.
Try Now
The oceans would be completely frozen. Plants could not grow. Why is the Sun really important for our life on planet Earth? Think about how we use sunlight. We need sunlight for plants and crops that we eat for food. We also need sunlight to keep people and animals warm.
Sunlight helps us see the things around us. We need the Sun to see what we do in our daily lives, such as when playing or going to school.
STEMscopedia
Sunlight warms Earth’s surface. We need sunlight to warm up the water, land, and rocks on Earth. Living things need certain temperatures—not too cold and not too hot.
Reflect What Do You Think?
We also need sunlight to keep our bodies healthy. One of the amazing things sunlight provides for us is vitamin D, which helps our bones grow.
How can we reduce, or lower, the effects of the Sun’s heat?
Where would you choose to stand on a hot summer day: in the shade or in direct sunlight? You would probably choose to stand in the shade so it does not feel so hot.
The Sun’s heat and light come to us in rays. Objects can block the Sun’s rays. When the sunlight is blocked, an area feels cooler. Can you think of objects you use to block sunlight?
STEMscopedia
How does the Sun’s energy affect our weather?
Sunlight causes changes in our weather.
Sunlight carries light and heat energy, which warm Earth.
Wind, clouds, and rain are all results of the Sun heating Earth.
Temperature differences cause wind. Heating and moving water through the water cycle cause rain and snow.
Career Corner: Astronomers
Astronomers are the scientists who study planets and the Sun.
Astronomers study the Sun by using telescopes and satellites to gain as much information about it as possible.
STEMscopedia
Connecting With Your Child
Edible Model of the Sun
Your child can use cookies and toppings to make an edible model of the Sun’s surface and its features.
What you need
• Round, plain cookies (generic sugar cookies)
• White frosting
• Yellow and red sprinkles (found with baking decorations and food coloring in grocery stores)
• Chocolate chips
• Pull-and-peel licorice candy (with strands separated and cut into small pieces)
• Plastic knives, small paper plates or napkins, paper or plastic table cover
• Garbage bag
• Images of the Sun
Procedure
1. Share the image of the Sun with your child. Does it look the same all over its surface? Does it always look the same in the sky?
2. Start with a plain cookie and spread white frosting on top.
3. Add yellow and red sprinkles to the frosting. Ask what the frosting and sprinkles represent. (Sun’s surface.)
4. Add a few chocolate chips. What do they represent? (Sunspots.) Since sunspots often appear in pairs, how could you represent that on the cookie? (Put two chips close together.)
5. Arch a couple of pieces of licorice on the cookie, standing straight up or lying flat, sticking off the edge. What do these represent? (Prominences that arch out from the Sun’s surface.)
6. Discuss the model(s) and other aspects of the Sun; then enjoy the edible model treat!
STEMscopedia
Here are some questions to discuss with your child:
1. What is the Sun?
2. What is the Sun made of?
3. How does the Sun affect our weather?
4. What could happen to Earth if we did not have the Sun?
5. Why does the Sun look different from other stars?
6. What does the Sun give us?
Energy in Action
Reading Science
There is energy all around us. We get heat and light energy from an object in the sky. What is it? The Sun!
The Sun gives energy to heat our homes and help plants grow.
We can even use the Sun’s energy to make electricity. Some lights are powered by energy from the Sun.
Reading Science
When the Sun comes up in the morning, we are able to go outside and play with friends.
The Sun allows us to do so many things.
Without the Sun, we would not be able to heat our homes, help plants grow, or use it to make electricity.
What is your favorite thing about the Sun?
Reading Science
1 We get heat and light energy from an object in the sky. What is it?
A Moon
B Planet
C Sun
D Cloud
2 All of the following are ways that we can use the energy from the Sun, except for–
A heating our homes.
B helping plants grow.
C making electricity.
D floating a rubber duck.
Reading Science
3 What do you do during the day when the Sun is up?
A Go to bed
B Take a bath
C Play outside with friends
D Eat dinner
4 The Sun helps _______ grow.
cows B pigs C plants D dogs
Open-Ended Response
1. What happens to sand when the Sun shines on it?
2. What can be seen in the night sky on Earth?
3. Draw a picture to show what you could build at the beach to protect yourself from the Sun’s light and heat.
Even though the Sun is hot, people enjoy being outside in the sunshine. Robert and his family went on a vacation to the beach. Robert’s mother made sure that he had plenty of sunblock on his skin before he went into the ocean. She put more sunblock on his skin every few hours. She told him that it is very important to be safe in the Sun.
Think like a scientist and explain why Robert’s mother made him wear sunblock at the beach.
Sunblock is important because it prevents you from getting a
Write how you know. Draw how you know.
Reducing Human Impact
A Littered Beach Shore
Look closely at the photo. What do you notice? How do you think the waste ended up there? What can be done with the litter on the beach shore?
Explore 1
Recycled Beach Materials
Starting at the bottom of the page, color a block for each piece of collected material based on its recycling category.
Recycled Beach Materials Graph
Explore 2
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Circle the picture that shows a resource being conserved.
Explore 3
Draw your design for a pencil holder. How can you create a pencil holder and keep it from falling over? What color will you make your pencil holder so that it can be easily seen? Name:
Design a Pencil Holder
Explore 3
Shade in the pencils.
Design Evaluation
How well does your pencil holder stay standing when full of pencils?
Never stands Sometimes stands Always stands
Draw what you would change to make your pencil holder better.
STEMscopedia
Reflect
Planet Protectors
Earth is a special place. We share this planet with amazing plants and animals.
All living things need clean land, water, and air to live. We must protect the environment
Protecting the environment means finding ways to protect natural resources.
environment - all the living and nonliving things in a habitat natural resources - things we get from Earth.
Natural resources include air, water, soil, plants, animals, metal, and fuel.
STEMscopedia
Humans can change their environment in many ways. People change their environment when they use resources to meet their needs. Look Out!
Houses are built on land that used to have trees.
Trees are cut down to make paper and other things.
Factories pollute the air.
Trash ends up in the water. All the trash we make takes up a
Try Now
STEMscopedia
There are a few ways you can help the land, water, air, and all the living things around you.
Planting trees is one way to help the environment.
The best way to conserve, or save, natural resources is to follow the three Rs: reduce, reuse, and recycle.
When you reduce, you use less of a resource. Turn off the water when brushing your teeth. This keeps us from wasting clean water.
When you reuse something, you use a product more than once. Fill up your own water bottle each day instead of using a plastic one that gets thrown out! This means we make less trash.
When you recycle an item, it is made into a new, useful product. Recycling helps reduce trash. Paper, glass, and plastic are often recycled to make new things.
STEMscopedia
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is a government office that helps people protect and save the environment. Try out these EPA suggestions for protecting the environment at home:
• Turn off lights when you leave a room.
• Save newspapers, cans, and glass for recycling.
• Reuse building materials for new projects.
• Begin a paper recycling center at school.
• Recycle plastic shopping bags so they can be made into other plastic materials.
Looking to the Future: Waste in Landfill
Many plastic products can be recycled. However, some people forget or might not know how to recycle, so a large number of plastic products are thrown away and end up in a landfill. What are some ways we can reduce the number of items that end up in a landfill?
STEMscopedia
Connecting With Your Child Family Action Plans
As a family, look at how you can each help reduce, reuse, and recycle plastic, glass, metal, and paper products.
Factories that produce plastic, glass, and paper products can pollute the environment. Consequently, conserving these materials can help protect the environment and promote cleaner air, water, and land. Talk about ways your family can take real action. Possible ways your family can practice the three Rs to conserve natural resources include the following:
• Reuse plastic water bottles to carry beverages for school lunches, use them to water plants, or fill them with buttons and bolts and make a rhythm instrument.
• Recycle metal cans as pencil holders, flower vases, or small hardware holders in the garage, or hang a group from strings to make a wind chime.
• Recycle discarded newspaper as gift wrapping, a canvas for water coloring, paper-mache, garage shelf liners, or large origami sculptures; save them for newspaper day at local schools; or give them to nursing homes or art departments.
• Reduce water usage by turning off the faucet when brushing teeth, installing energy-saving appliances, and waiting until you have full loads before running the dishwasher or washing machine.
• Reduce pollution by carpooling, planting trees, or picking up neighborhood litter.
Try these for several months. Then meet again and discuss how your family completed the action plan!
Earth Helpers
Reading Science
Hi! My name is Lily. I am five years old. I live in a house with my mom, my dad, and my sister. My sister’s name is Coral. I am an “Earth helper.” You can be one too. Let me tell you how it all started…
One day, my dad told me about our planet, Earth. He said, “Lily, did you know that Earth gives us many things we use to live? We call these ‘resources.’”
“Earth has land and water. It has air and other living things we use every day.”
Reading Science
“We need to protect these things,” he explained. “What does that mean?” I asked. My dad told me that there are little things we can do to help protect Earth. That way, when my sister and I grow up, we will still have clean land, water, and air.
He said, “Let’s start in the house. Turn the lights off when you are done. You will not be using energy when you do not need it.”
Reading Science
“We are going to recycle after dinner tonight,” he said. “We are going to place all our empty water bottles in the recycling bin. We will put our cereal boxes and fruit cans into the recycling bin, too. The recycling truck will come and these things can be used again in a different way.”
“Tonight we are going to brush our teeth. We are going to turn off the water while we brush. That way we will not be wasting water,” Dad explained.
Reading Science
“Now, Lily, do you see how this is helping Earth?” he asked.
“Oh, yes!” I said. “We should not waste. We should recycle and reuse things we have already used!”
“What a smart girl you are!” he exclaimed. “Now, let us talk about what we can do outside of our house.”
Reading Science
We walked to the backyard. I saw an empty juice box on the grass. I thought this should be in the recycle bin, not outside. So I picked it up. “Hooray!” I thought. “I am already helping Earth.”
“Planting gardens and trees helps Earth too,” said Dad. “The trees give us the air we breathe. Gardens give us fruits and veggies to eat.”
“Can we plant a garden and some trees, Dad?” I asked.
Reading Science
“Of course we can! Would you like to help me draw a picture of where we should put them in the backyard?” asked Dad.
I really did not get a chance to say “yes.” I was already running to get my paper and markers. I am an “Earth helper” and I am getting straight to work!
So come along with me. You can be an “Earth helper” too!
Reading Science
1 What are some resources that Earth gives us?
A Shoes
B Air and water
C Cars and trucks
D Bubble gum
2 Where should you place empty plastic bottles?
A In the recycle bin
B In the street
C In the trash
D In the grass
Reading Science
3 If you are brushing your teeth, what resource should you save?
A Water
B Air
C Soil
D Animals
4 Which of the following actions would be something an “Earth helper” would do?
A Leave trash on the sidewalk
B Leave lights on when he or she is not in the room
C Plant trees in his or her neighborhood
D Knock down a bird’s nest
Reading Science
5 To plant a garden and some trees in your backyard, what is the first thing you should do?
A Just start digging anywhere.
B Run around.
C Get trash and throw it everywhere.
D Ask an adult and draw a plan.
Open-Ended Response
1. What are some things you can recycle? Draw pictures and label your items.
Open-Ended Response
2. What can be seen in the night sky on Earth?
Open-Ended Response
3. Think of something people want or need that you could make by reusing some of the things below. Draw a picture of what you would make. Tell what it is.
Claim-Evidence-Reasoning
Scenario 1
Things that we do to live comfortably can impact the world around us.
We can make choices that reduce our impact on the land, water, air, and other living things. Look at the pictures below. Which ones show children making choices that will reduce our impact on Earth?
External Data 2
Claim-Evidence-Reasoning
Prompt 1 3
Decide which picture out of each pair shows the better choice for the environment.
Claim:
Circle the picture you believe shows the better choice for the environment.
Evidence:
OR
Draw a picture or write about why the picture you circled is good for the environment.
Claim-Evidence-Reasoning
Prompt 2 3
Decide which picture out of each pair shows the better choice for the environment.
Claim:
Circle the picture you believe shows the better choice for the environment.
Evidence:
OR
Draw a picture or write about why the picture you circled is good for the environment.
Claim-Evidence-Reasoning
Prompt 3 3
Decide which picture out of each pair shows the better choice for the environment.
Claim:
Circle the picture you believe shows the better choice for the environment.
Evidence:
OR
Draw a picture or write about why the picture you circled is good for the environment.
GLOSSARY
adult grow
adult: a fully grown plant or animal
animal: a living thing that can move on its own and that gets its energy from food
body parts: different parts of a living thing
characteristics: features that help identify something
chart: a sheet that contains information
compare: to see what is the same and what is different
day: the time between sunrise and sunset
describe: to tell about something
determine: to decide because of facts
difference: a way that things are not alike
Earth: the planet we live on
environment: the space and all the living and nonliving things around an organism
evidence: information that supports an idea
explain: to make someone understand
extinct: the permanent disappearance of a species
food: what animals eat to get energy
form: the shape or nature of something from the outside
germination: when a seed begins to grow and put out shoots
grow: to get bigger or older
GLOSSARY
heat: the type of energy that makes things warm
humans: people
interdependency: when the well-being of two or more things is linked together
investigate: to gather information about a certain thing
life cycles: the way that living things continuously grow, make new living things, and die
light: the type of energy that the eye can see
liquid: material that can flow and drip
living: requires energy, grows, can produce offspring, and dies
mammal: warm-blooded animal like a dog, cat, or human
material: equipment and supplies for doing or making things; things needed for doing or making something
matter: stuff that everything is made of
measure: to find the amount or size of something
movement: changing position
natural: not made by humans
needs: what a living thing must have to stay alive
night: the time between sunset and sunrise
nonliving: anything that is not living
GLOSSARY
object: something that can be touched and seen
observe: to notice something with your senses; to use the senses to examine or inspect
organism: a single living thing
parent: an adult plant or animal that has offspring or young
pattern: something that repeats
plant: a living thing that can produce its own food
property: a single part of the way something is
record: to put in writing
recycle: to properly dispose of used resources so they can be reprocessed into new products
resource: something that has value and can be used to support life
season: a period of time that has a certain type of weather
senses: different ways we observe things, including sight, smell, touch, taste, and hearing
set: a group of things that go together
shape: the outline of something
shelter: protection from the environment
solid: something that has a definite shape
space: area or volume for placement of something
sunlight: energy from the Sun that plants capture and use to live and grow
GLOSSARY
sun young
Sun: the star that Earth moves around and that gives Earth all of its energy
surface: the part of something that can be touched or seen
survival: avoiding death
temperature: a measure of how hot or cold it is
water: a liquid that all living things need to survive
young: a living thing that was recently made by its parents
