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Contents

• Introduction
• Kit Topics
• Objectives
• Themes and Concepts
• District Standards
• Assessment

Introduction

The Organisms unit is a Science and Technology for Children (STC) kit developed by the National Science Resources Center at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C.

In this unit of study, first grade students explore the similarities and differences between plants and animals. They plant and then, observe the development of familiar seeds into various plants. Next, they create, maintain and compare two distinct environments -- a Woodland Terrarium and a Freshwater Aquarium. Lastly, they contrast themselves with the plants and animals they have studied; they explore their own relationship to these organisms.

Kit Topics

Lesson 1: Sharing What We Know About Organisms

Lesson 2: Observing and Describing Seeds

Lesson 3: Planting Our Seeds

Lesson 4: Observing Woodland Plants

Lesson 5: Observing Freshwater Plants

Lesson 6: How Have Our Seeds Changed

Lesson 7: Observing Freshwater Snails

Lesson 8: Observing Guppies: How Do They Compare with Snails?

Lesson 9: Observing Pill Bugs (Isopods)

Lesson 10: Observing Bess Beetles or Millipedes: How Do They Compare with the Isopods ?

Lesson 11: What's Happening in the Aquarium?

Lesson 12: What's Happening in the Terrarium?

Lesson 13: Freshwater and Woodland Plants: How Do They Compare?

Lesson 14: Freshwater and Woodland Animals: How Do They Compare?

Lesson 15: How Are Our Plants and Animals Alike and Different?

Lesson 16: Taking a Look at Ourselves

Objectives

Students are expected to:

• observe and describe the characteristics of seeds and plants.
• plant seeds and observe and record their growth.
• observe and describe the characteristics of a variety of plants and animals in woodland and freshwater environments.
• record observations in words and drawings.
• make comparisons among a variety of plants and animals.
• communicate ideas through writing and drawing, and discussion.
• read to enhance the understanding of the basic needs to organisms and the diversity of life.
• apply what they know about plants and animals to what they know about themselves.
• maintain plants and animals outside their natural environments.

Themes and Concepts

• We use our senses to observe the world around us.
• Organisms have basic needs: food, water, air, space, and shelter.
• Each type of organism has specific needs, such as type of food, amount of water, amount of light, amount of space, and type of shelter.
• There is a wide diversity of living things on earth.
• Organisms grow, change, and die over time.
• Some plants grow from seeds. The roots grow first and then the stem.
• Plants have similarities, such as the ability to grow and the need for water, light, space and air.
• Animals have similarities, such as the ability to move and the need for food, water, space and shelter.
• Plants and animals have similarities: basic needs, the ability to grow and change, and death.
• Humans are similar to other organisms. Humans have basic needs and also grow, change and die.

District Standards

The Organisms kit meets the following District Standards:

Standard 1. Students understand the process of scientific investigation and design, conduct, communicate about, and evaluate such investigations. (1.a., 1.b.,1.c.,1.d.)

Standard 3: 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. (3.1.a, 3.1.b, 3.1.c., 3.1.d, 3.2.a., 3.3.c,. ,3.4.a, 3.4.b., 3.4.c.,

Standard 5: Students know and understand relationships among science, technology, and human activity and how they can affect the world. (5.a, 5.d.) 

Assessment 

In the STC program, assessment is an ongoing, integral part of instruction. Because assessment emerges naturally from the activities in the lessons, students are assessed in the same manner in which they are taught. The strategies fall into three categories:

• Pre-unit assessment: designed to give you information about what the whole class and individual students already know about the topic and what they want to find out (e.g. brainstorming).
• Post-unit assessment: follows the final lesson; the class revisits the pre-unit assessment questions, giving you two sets of comparable data that indicate students' growth in knowledge and skills.
• Embedded assessment: activities that occur naturally within the context of both the individual lesson and the unit as a whole; they are often indistinguishable from instructional activities. (Note: pp. 10, 11 and 12 in Teacher's Guide.)

Documenting Student Performance :

• Teacher observations and anecdotal notes
• Work products

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