Essential Questions - most important “big picture” questions students should be able to answer after completing learning activities.

• What common vocabulary should be used when conducting an investigation? Why are predictions an important part of the scientific process? How can we make better predictions? Why should we follow a plan when conducting an investigation? What tools are available to gather data when conducting an investigation? How does data help us explain our investigation? What are some of the ways we can collect data?  How can we communicate the results of our investigation to others? How can we make sure an investigation is done the same way each time? How can we make sure our data is accurate? How can we visually represent data? What tools are available to help gather data? How can we identify errors in our data? How can data be graphically represented? How does data help us make better predictions?  How can models help complete a scientific investigation? What are safety procedures to follow when completing an investigation?
• What physical changes can water undergo? What are some of the major features of the Earth caused by water? How much of the Earth's surface is covered by water? What are the states in which water can be found? What is the water cycle? What water terminology can be associated with weather? How is water a renewable resource? What causes precipitation? Why is water an important resource? What happens to water as it is heated and cooled? What factors influence the water cycle?
• How can energy affect common objects? What are some common terms associated with energy? What are the different properties of electricity? What materials carry electricity and which do not? How can we distinguish between a parallel and series circuit? How can a home be wired for electricity? How much energy input will be needed to obtain the desired energy output? (e.g. What materials conduct electricity? What materials are insulators? How will a plant grow to its desired height?) How is an energy source (e.g. battery) converted into usable energy
  (e.g. electricity)? What components are necessary in a system to transfer or transform energy? (e.g. What is needed to make a complete circuit? What is needed to grow a plant?)
• How can a species be identified? How can plants be classified?
• What do plants need in order to survive? What do plants need to grow? What is the function of each part of a plant? What is the life cycle of a plant? Why do animals and plants depend on one another? How do animals rely on plants?
• How do the different parts of a body system work together to carry out a specific function?
• How has technology changed our lives? What are some careers that involve science and technology?

Standards 

Highest Frequency Standards High Frequency Standards Other Standards & E-skills

Standard 1: Students apply the process of scientific investigation and design, conduct, communicate about, and evaluate such investigations.
Standard 1 Benchmarks:     Grades 3-5 
1. design, plan and conduct a variety of simple investigations (for example: formulate a testable question, state a hypothesis, make systematic observations, develop and communicate logical conclusions based on evidence
2. select and use appropriate tools and technology to gather and display ( for example: graphs, charts, diagrams ) quantitative and qualitative data related to an investigation (for example: length, volume, and mass measuring instruments, thermometers, watches, magnifiers, microscopes, calculators, and computers)
  
Standard 2: Physical Science: Student know and understand common properties, forms, and changes in matter and energy. (Focus: Physics and Chemistry)
Standard 2 Benchmarks:     Grades 3-5
1.  objects have physical properties that can be measured (for example: length, mass, volume and temperature)
2.  measurable physical properties can be compared before and after effecting a change to verify a change has occurred and used to predict its outcome in similar circumstances
3.  matter is made up of parts that are too small to be seen 
4.  matter exists in physical states (solid, liquid, gas) and can change from one state to another
5.  there are different types and sources of energy ( for example: light, heat, motion) 
6.  electricity in circuits can produce light, heat, sound and magnetic effects
7.  there are different types of forces (for example: gravity and magnetism)
8.  changes in speed or direction of motion are caused by forces

Standard 3: Life Science: Students know and understand the characteristics and structure of living things, the processes of life, and how living things interact with each other and their environment. (Focus: Biology – anatomy, Physiology, Botany, Zoology, Ecology)
Standard 3 Benchmarks:     Grades 3-5
1.  each plant or animal has different structures and behaviors that serve different functions in growth, survival, and reproduction
2.  green plants need energy from sunlight and various raw materials to live, and animals consume plants and other organisms to live 
3.  human body systems have basic structures, functions and needs (for example:  digestive, respiratory, circulatory, skeletal, muscular)
4.  there is interaction and interdependence between and among nonliving and living components of ecosystems ( for example: food webs, symbiotic and parasitic relationships, dependence on rainfall, pollination)
5.  life cycles vary from organism to organism (for example: frog, chicken, butterfly, radish, bean plant)
6.  fossils can be compared to one another and to living organisms according to their similarities and differences
7.  there are similarities and differences in appearance among individual organisms ( for example: plants vs. animals, vertebrate vs. invertebrate )

Standard 4: Earth and Space Science: Students know and understand the processes and interactions of Earth’s systems and the structure and dynamics of Earth and other objects in space. (Focus: Geology, Meteorology, Astronomy, Oceanography)
Standard 4 Benchmarks:     Grades 3-5
1.  fossils are evidence of past life 
2.  natural processes change Earth's surface (for example: weathering, erosion, mountain building, volcanic activity, earthquakes and floods)
3.  many of the Earth’s resources can be conserved, recycled and depleted
4.  weather is different from climate 
5.  most of the Earth’s surface is covered by water, that most of the water is salt water in the oceans, and that fresh water is found in rivers, lakes, underground sources and glaciers 
6.  water exists on Earth in different states (solid, liquid, gas) and changes from one state to another (for example: evaporation, condensation and precipitation) 
7.  there are basic components of the solar system  (for example: Sun, planets, moons)
8.  the Earth and Sun provide a diversity of resources (for example: soils, fuels, minerals, medicines and food)
9.  the rotation of the Earth on its axis, in relation to the Sun, produces the day-and-night cycle and the orbit of the Earth around the Sun completes one year  

Standard 5: Students understand that the nature of science involves a particular way of building knowledge and making meaning of the natural world.
Standard 5 Benchmarks:     Grades 3-5
1.  when a science experiment is repeated with the same conditions, the experiment generally works the same
2.  models are used to represent events and objects (for example: comparing a map of the school to the actual school; a model of the Earth to the Earth itself )