The School District of Beloit has a vision for science education that engages all students in science by working with rigorous, relevant, and real-life problems. We do this through the use of curricular resources that are aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards. These resources encourage students to discover the world around them, in order to provide foundational knowledge to all and encourage all students to continue to learn and to keep wonder alive. The goal of the science program is to prepare our students for their future, which could be very different from the world we live in today. As a result, we have developed a scope that allows students to build upon and revise prior knowledge and encourages all students to engage in the practices of science and engineering.
1st Grade Science Units
Unit 1 - Engineering and Technology
Students define and identify problems, define and identify examples of technology, describe how people understand problems and use technology to solve problems, and explore and apply a design process.
Unit 2 - Space
Students learn about the objects in the sky and the patterns that occur. They observe how shadows change throughout the day. Students obtain information about the seasonal patterns of sunrise and sunset throughout the year. They carry out an investigation to determine why stars are only visible in the night sky.
Unit 3 - Light and Sound
Students consider the relationships between vibrations and sound (cause and effect). They reason about the cause and effect relationship between the type of material and the amount of light that can pass through it.
Unit 4 - Plants and Animals
Students relate the shape and stability of structures to their functions. They make observations to design solutions to human problems by mimicking how plants use their parts to survive. Students use modeling to conduct investigation to better understand a problem. They design a solution to solve a real-world problem.
By the end of 1st Grade, students will...
ask questions based on observations to find more information about the natural and/or designed world(s).
make observations and/or measurements to collect data that can be used to make comparisons.
analyze data from tests of an object or tool to determine if it works as intended.
use tools and/or materials to design and/or build a device that solves a specific problem or a solution to a specific problem.
learn about the patterns of the objects in the sky.
carry out investigations to learn more about patterns.
learn about light and sound.
carry out investigations exploring how to make different sounds.
investigate the difference between transparent, translucent, and opaque materials.
design a solution to communicate with light and sound.
learn about the external parts of plants.
learn about the structure and function of the parts of the plant.
design a solution to a human problem by mimicking how plants and/or animals use their external parts to help them survive, grow, and meet their needs.
learn about the structure and function of the external parts of animals.
