Next Generation Science Standards for California
Public Schools

In Unit 1 Patterns in the Sky, students investigate patterns in the changing positions of the sun, moon, and stars in the sky. 

• Students create physical models to explore the causes of day and night and the moon cycle.
• They use first-hand observations and sundial models to analyze how the position of the sun in the sky resulting and shadows can be predicted.

In Unit 2 Changing Seasons, students explore the relationship between Earth’s movement in the solar system and the changing seasons.

• Students explore seasonal patterns in the changing amounts of daylight, temperature, and the environment.

In Unit 3 Seeds and Leaves, students explore living things, beginning with an investigation into the differences between living and nonliving things.

• Students investigate what plants need to grow and develop the structures they need to survive.

In Unit 4 Animals on Earth, students analyze how animals have body parts that help them survive and grow.

• Students investigate the structures of insects, by building insect models.
• They observe how ants use their body parts to get what they need to survive.

In Unit 5 Mimicking Plants and Animals, students explore how plants and animals have different body parts to help them get what they need to survive and grow.

• Students apply what they know about plants and animal structures to design a prototype that can pick up litter.

In Unit 6 Animal Behaviors, students investigate how animal parents help their offspring survive by analyzing protecting, feeding and comforting behaviors.

• Students mimic the beaver’s behavior of building dams to design their own dams that solve the problem of protecting a town from a river’s flood water.

In Unit 7 Hearing and Sound, students explore how some animals communicate using sound.

• Students investigate the cause-and-effect relationship between vibrating materials and sound, using their senses of hearing, touch, and sight.
• Students build kazoos using different materials for the membrane to see how the sound changes depending on the material used.

In Unit 8 Sight and Light, students continue to learn about senses, exploring the cause-and-effect relationship between sight and light.

• Students investigate how objects can only be seen when they are illuminated.
• They compare objects that produce their own light with objects that need an outside source of light to be illuminated.

In Unit 9 Communicating Over Distances, students apply sound and light concepts from Unit 8 to design a communication device that uses either light or sound signals to send a message over a long distance.