1st Grade Science Content Standards

Physical Sciences

1. Materials come in different forms (states) including solids, liquids, and gases.
As a basis for understanding this concept, students know:
a. solids, liquids, and gases have different properties.
b. the properties of substances can change when the substances are mixed, cooled, or heated.

Life Sciences

2. Plants and animals meet their needs in different ways.
As a basis for understanding this concept, students know:
a. different plants and animals inhabit different kinds of environments and have external features that help them thrive in different kinds of places.
b. plants and animals both need water; animals need food, and plants need light.
c. animals eat plants or other animals for food and may also use plants or even other animals for shelter and nesting.
d. how to infer what animals eat from the shapes of their teeth (e.g., sharp teeth: eats meat; flat teeth: eats plants).
e. roots are associated with the intake of water and soil nutrients, green leaves with making food from sunlight.

Earth Sciences

3. Weather can be observed, measured and described.
As a basis for understanding this concept, students know:
a. how to use simple tools (e.g., thermometer, wind vane) to measure weather conditions and record changes from day to day and over the seasons.
b. the weather changes from day to day, but trends in temperature or of rain (or snow) tend to be predictable during a season.
c. the sun warms the land, air, and water.

Investigation and Experimentation

4. Scientific progress is made by asking meaningful questions and conducting careful investigations.
As a basis for understanding this concept, and to address the content the other three strands, students should develop their own questions and perform investigations. Students will:
a. draw pictures that portray some features of the thing being described.
b. record observations and data with pictures, numbers, and/or written statements.
c. record observations on a bar graph.
d. describe the relative position of objects using two references (e.g., above and next to, below and left of).
e. make new observations when discrepancies exist between two descriptions of the same object or phenomena.

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