GLEN RIDGE PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Curriculum Guide

Course Title: Prekindergarten Science

Subject: Science

Grade Level: Prekindergarten

Department/School: Science/Linden-Forest

Duration: Full Year

Number of Credits: N/A

Prerequisite: N/A

Elective or Required: N/A

Author: Donna Panciello-Chiaramonte

Date Submitted: Summer 2004

Course Description

The prekindergarten science curriculum will provide students with the opportunity to explore and investigate the world around them with their senses. Each child will apply what he or she learns to their everyday life in the classroom and outside in the everyday world.

GLEN RIDGE PUBLIC SCHOOLS

SCIENCE MISSION STATEMENT

The Glen Ridge Public School’s science curriculum seeks to develop scientifically literate, life-long learners through a program that fosters a spirit of wonder, intellectual curiosity and collaborative problem solving that is authentic, hands-on, inquiry-based and developmentally appropriate. This is done through the study of Life, Physical, Earth and Environmental science.

Our students will use the scientific method to understand and respond to questions about science, technology, and societal and world problems. Students will be challenged and encouraged to take risks and to develop critical thinking skills as they apply to real-world experiences.

New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards

Science

STANDARD 5.1 (SCIENTIFIC PROCESSES): ALL STUDENTS WILL DEVELOP PROBLEM-SOLVING, DECISION-MAKING AND INQUIRY SKILLS, REFLECTED BY FORMULATING USABLE QUESTIONS AND HYPOTHESES, PLANNING EXPERIMENTS, CONDUCTING SYSTEMATIC OBSERVATIONS, INTERPRETING AND ANALYZING DATA, DRAWING CONCLUSIONS, AND COMMUNICATING RESULTS.

STANDARD 5.2 (SCIENCE AND SOCIETY): ALL STUDENTS WILL DEVELOP AN UNDERSTANDING OF HOW PEOPLE OF VARIOUS CULTURES HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, AND HOW MAJOR DISCOVERIES AND EVENTS HAVE ADVANCED SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY.

STANDARD 5.3 (MATHEMATICAL APPLICATIONS): ALL STUDENTS WILL INTEGRATE MATHEMATICS AS A TOOL FOR PROBLEM-SOLVING IN SCIENCE, AND AS A MEANS OF EXPRESSING AND/OR MODELING SCIENTIFIC THEORIES.

STANDARD 5.4 (NATURE AND PROCESS OF TECHNOLOGY): ALL STUDENTS WILL UNDERSTAND THE INTERRELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND DEVELOP A CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING OF THE NATURE AND PROCESS OF TECHNOLOGY.

STANDARD 5.5 (CHARACTERISTICS OF LIFE): ALL STUDENTS WILL GAIN AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE STRUCTURE, CHARACTERISTICS, AND BASIC NEEDS OF ORGANISMS AND WILL INVESTIGATE THE DIVERSITY OF LIFE.

STANDARD 5.6 (CHEMISTRY): ALL STUDENTS WILL GAIN AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE STRUCTURE AND BEHAVIOR OF MATTER.

STANDARD 5.7 (PHYSICS): ALL STUDENTS WILL GAIN AN UNDERSTANDING OF NATURAL LAWS AS THEY APPLY TO MOTION, FORCES, AND ENERGY TRANSFORMATIONS.

STANDARD 5.8 (EARTH SCIENCE): ALL STUDENTS WILL GAIN AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE STRUCTURE, DYNAMICS, AND GEOPHYSICAL SYSTEMS OF THE EARTH.

STANDARD 5.9 (ASTRONOMY and SPACE SCIENCE): ALL STUDENTS WILL GAIN AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE ORIGIN, EVOLUTION, AND STRUCTURE OF THE UNIVERSE

STANDARD 5.10 (ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES): ALL STUDENTS WILL DEVELOP AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE ENVIRONMENT AS A SYSTEM OF INTERDEPENDENT COMPONENTS AFFECTED BY HUMAN ACTIVITY AND NATURAL PHENOMENA.

Curriculum Description

UNIT 1 - EXPLORING WITH THE SENSES

Standard 5.4; 5.5

Goal: All students will gain an understanding of the structure, characteristics, and basic needs of organisms and will investigate the diversity of life.

Objectives:

Each student will be able to:

1. Investigate the basic needs of humans and other organisms. (CCS 5.5–A.1)

2. Recognize that some kinds of organisms that once lived on earth have completely disappeared. (CCS: 5.5-B.2)

3. Recognize that humans and other organisms resemble their parents. (CCS: 5.5-C.1)

4. Select and use simple tools and materials to complete a task. (CCS: 5.4-B.1)

Activities:

- Discuss how each child is alike and different from their parents.

- Create a family portrait.

- Discuss and define each sense.

- Use the senses of touching, seeing, hearing, smelling and tasting to identify each object.

- Discuss how each person uses their senses to find out about their surroundings and

themselves.

- Discuss that our senses enable us to observe the properties of different objects and to

classify these objects.

- Investigate how the sense of smell can be used to group scents.

- Investigate by using their senses to explore physical change in materials.

UNIT 2 – MATTER

Standard 5.4; 5.6

Goal: All students will gain an understanding of the structure and behavior of matter.

Objectives:

Each student will be able to:

1. Sort objects according to the materials from which they are made or their physical properties, and give a rationale for sorting. (CCS 5.6-A.1)

2. Observe that waters can be a liquid or solid and can change from one form to the other. (CCS 5.6-A.3)

3. Select and use simple tools and materials to complete a task. (CCS 5.4-B.1)

Approximate Duration to teach: January - March

Activities:

- Observe and recognize the physical properties of water in different states such as

evaporation, freezing, melting, liquid and solid.

- Experiment with water in different forms.

UNIT 3 – MOTION, FORCES AND ENERGY TRANSFORMATIONS

Standard: 5.4; 5.7

Goal: All students will gain an understanding of natural laws as they apply to motion, forces, and energy transformations.

Objectives:

Each student will be able to:

1. Distinguish among the different ways objects can move slowly, in a straight line, in a circular path, back and forth. (CCS 5.7-A.1)

2. Show that the position and motion of an object can be changed by pushing or pulling the object. (CCS 5.7-A.2)

3. Demonstrate that sound can be produced by vibrating objects. (CCS 5.7-B.1)

4. Select and use simple tools and materials to complete a task. (CCS 5.4-B.1)

Activities:

- Explore using their senses to find out more about an object by moving closer to it or

farther away from it.

- Manipulation of blocks and vehicles to investigate pushing and pulling.

- Discuss how a person can get different information about the same thing by moving

closer to it or farther away.

- Investigate how the sense of hearing can be used to classify sounds.

- Experiment with sound by grouping objects based on the sound they make.

UNIT 4 – THE EARTH

Standard: 5.4; 5.8

Goal: All students will gain an understanding of the structure, dynamics, and geophysical systems of the earth.

Objectives:

Each student will be able to:

1. Observe and describe rocks and soil. (CCS 5.8-A.1)

2. Identify the sources and the uses of water. (CCS 5.8-B.1)

3. Describe current weather conditions and recognize how those conditions affect our daily lives. (CCS 5.8-B.3)

4. Describe daily and seasonal changes and patterns in the weather. (CCS 5.8 B.4)

5. Select and use simple tools and materials to complete a task. (CCS 5.4-B.1)

Activities:

- Experiment by planting flowers.

- Investigate and examine different types of rocks.

- Discuss the daily weather and chart the weather on a weekly chart.

- Discuss the seasons and the changes that occur.

- Draw seasonal pictures to represent the changes.

UNIT 5 – THE UNIVERSE

Standard: 5.4; 5.9

Goals: All students will gain an understanding of the origin, evolution, and structure of the universe.

Objectives:

Each student will be able to:

1. Recognize that the sun supplies light and heat to the Earth. (CCS 5.9-A.1)

2. Select and use simple tools and materials to complete a task. (CCS 5.4-B.1)

Activities:

-Experiment with different types of light.

Approximate Duration of Time: Concepts will be introduced and reviewed throughout the school year.

List of Texts, Resources, and/or Literature:

· New Jersey Core Curriculum Standards

· Scope and Sequence

· Authentic literature to correspond with the unit

· Houghton Mifflin Science: Discovery Works (Unit B Exploring With the Senses)