Purpose of Science Curriculum Maps

This map is meant to help teachers and their support providers (e.g., coaches, leaders) on their path to effective, college and career ready (CCR) aligned instruction and our pursuit of Destination 2025. It is a resource for organizing instruction around the TN State Standards, which define what to teach and what students need to learn at each grade level. The map is designed to reinforce the grade/course-specific standards and content—the major work of the grade (scope)—and provides suggested sequencing, pacing, time frames, and aligned resources. Our hope is that by curating and organizing a variety of standards-aligned resources, teachers will be able to spend less time wondering what to teach and searching for quality materials (though they may both select from and/or supplement those included here) and have more time to plan, teach, assess, and reflect with colleagues to continuously improve practice and best meet the needs of their students.

The map is meant to support effective planning and instruction to rigorous standards. It is not meant to replace teacher planning, prescribe pacing or instructional practice. In fact, our goal is not to merely “cover the curriculum,” but rather to “uncover” it by developing students’ deep understanding of the content and mastery of the standards. Teachers who are knowledgeable about and intentionally align the learning target (standards and objectives), topic, text(s), task,, and needs (and assessment) of the learners are best-positioned to make decisions about how to support student learning toward such mastery. Teachers are therefore expected--with the support of their colleagues, coaches, leaders, and other support providers--to exercise their professional judgment aligned to our shared vision of effective instruction, the Teacher Effectiveness Measure (TEM) and related best practices. However, while the framework allows for flexibility and encourages each teacher/teacher team to make it their own, our expectations for student learning are non-negotiable. We must ensure all of our children have access to rigor—high-quality teaching and learning to grade level specific standards, including purposeful support of literacy and language learning across the content areas.

Introduction

In 2014, the Shelby County Schools Board of Education adopted a set of ambitious, yet attainable goals for school and student performance. The District is committed to these goals, as further described in our strategic plan, Destination 2025. In order to achieve these ambitious goals, we must collectively work to provide our students with high quality, College and Career Ready standards-aligned instruction. The Tennessee State Standards provide a common set of expectations for what students will know and be able to do at the end of a grade. College and Career Ready Standards are rooted in the knowledge and skills students need to succeed in post-secondary study or careers. While the academic standards establish desired learning outcomes, the curriculum provides instructional planning designed to help students reach these outcomes. The curriculum maps contain components to ensure that instruction focuses students toward college and career readiness. Educators will use this guide and the standards as a roadmap for curriculum and instruction. The sequence of learning is strategically positioned so that necessary foundational skills are spiraled in order to facilitate student mastery of the standards. Our collective goal is to ensure our students graduate ready for college and career. The standards for science practice describe varieties of expertise that science educators at all levels should seek to develop in their students. These practices rest on important “processes and proficiencies” with longstanding importance in science education. The Science Framework emphasizes process standards of which include planning investigations, using models, asking questions and communicating information. The science maps contain components to ensure that instruction focuses students toward college and career readiness. The maps are centered around four basic components: the state standards and framework (Tennessee Curriculum Center), components of the 5E instructional model (performance tasks), scientific investigations (real world experiences), and informational text (specific writing activities).

The Science Framework for K-12 Science Education provides the blueprint for developing the effective science practices. The Framework expresses a vision in science education that requires students to operate at the nexus of three dimensions of learning: Science and Engineering Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Disciplinary Core Ideas. The Framework identified a small number of disciplinary core ideas that all students should learn with increasing depth and sophistication, from Kindergarten through grade twelve. Key to the vision expressed in the Framework is for students to learn these disciplinary core ideas in the context of science and engineering practices. The importance of combining science and engineering practices and disciplinary core ideas is stated in the Framework as follows:

Standards and performance expectations that are aligned to the framework must take into account that students cannot fully understand scientific and engineering ideas without engaging in the practices of inquiry and the discourses by which such ideas are developed and refined. At the same time, they cannot learn or show competence in practices except in the context of specific content. (NRC Framework, 2012, p. 218)

To develop the skills and dispositions to use scientific and engineering practices needed to further their learning and to solve problems, students need to experience instruction in which they use multiple practices in developing a particular core idea and apply each practice in the context of multiple core ideas. We use the term “practices” instead of a term such as “skills” to emphasize that engaging in scientific investigation requires not only skill but also knowledge that is specific to each practice. Students in grades K-12 should engage in all eight practices over each grade band. This guide provides specific goals for science learning in the form of grade level expectations, statements about what students should know and be able to do at each grade level.

An instructional model or learning cycle, such as the 5E model is a sequence of stages teachers may go through to help students develop a full understanding of a lesson concept. Instructional models are a form of scaffolding, a technique a teacher uses that enables a student to go beyond what he or she could do independently. Some instructional models are based on the constructivist approach to learning, which says that learners build or construct new ideas on top of their old ideas. Engage captures the students’ attention. Gets the students focused on a situation, event, demonstration, of problem that involves the content and

abilities that are the goals of instruction. In the explore phase, students participate in activities that provide the time and an opportunities to conducts activities, predicts, and forms hypotheses or makes generalizations. The explain phase connects students’ prior knowledge and background to new discoveries. Students explain their observations and findings in their own words. Elaborate, in this phase the students are involved in learning experience that expand and enrich the concepts and abilities developed in the prior phases. Evaluate, in this phase, teachers and students receive feedback on the adequacy of their explanations and abilities. The components of instructional models are found in the content and connection columns of the curriculum maps.

Science is not taught in isolation. There are commonalities among the practices of science (science and engineering), mathematics (practices), and English Language Arts (student portraits). There is an early focus on informative writing in ELA and science. There’s a common core in all of the standards documents (ELA, Math, and Science). At the core is: reasoning with evidence; building arguments and critiquing the arguments of others; and participating in reasoning-oriented practices with others. The standards in science, math, and ELA provide opportunities for students to make sense of the content through solving problems in science and mathematics by reading, speaking, listening, and writing. Early writing in science can focus on topic specific details as well use of domain specific vocabulary. Scaffold up as students begin writing arguments using evidence during middle school. In the early grades, science and mathematics aligns as students are learning to use measurements as well as representing and gathering data. As students’ progress into middle school, their use of variables and relationships between variables will be reinforced consistently in science class. Elements of the commonalities between science, mathematics and ELA are embedded in the standards, outcomes, content, and connections sections of the curriculum maps.

Science Curriculum Maps Overview

The science maps contain components to ensure that instruction focuses students toward college and career readiness. The maps are centered around four basic components: the state standards and framework (Tennessee Curriculum Center), components of the 5E instructional model (performance tasks), scientific investigations (real world experiences), informational text (specific writing activities), and NGSS (science practices). At the end of the elementary science experience, students can observe and measure phenomena using appropriate tools. They are able to organize objects and ideas into broad concepts first by single properties and later by multiple properties. They can create and interpret graphs and models that explain phenomena. Students can keep notebooks to record sequential observations and identify simple patterns. They are able to design and conduct investigations, analyze results, and communicate the results to others. Students will carry their curiosity, interest and enjoyment of the scientific world view, scientific inquiry, and the scientific enterprise into middle school.

At the end of the middle school science experience, students can discover relationships by making observations and by the systematic gathering of data. They can identify relevant evidence and valid arguments. Their focus has shifted from the general to the specific and from the simple to the complex. They use scientific information to make wise decision related to conservation of the natural world. They recognize that there are both negative and positive implications to new technologies.

As an SCS graduate, former students should be literate in science, understand key science ideas, aware that science and technology are interdependent human enterprises with strengths and limitations, familiar with the natural world and recognizes both its diversity and unity, and able to apply scientific knowledge and ways of thinking for individual and social purposes.

How to Use the Science Curriculum Maps

Tennessee State StandardsThe TN State Standards are located in the first three columns. Each content standard is identified as the following: grade level expectations, embedded standards, and outcomes of the grade/subject. Embedded standards are standards that allow students to apply science practices. Therefore, you will see embedded standards that support all science content. It is the teachers' responsibility to examine the standards and skills needed in order to ensure student mastery of the indicated standard.

ContentThe performance tasks blend content, practices, and concepts in science with mathematics and literacy. Performance tasks should be included in your plans. These can be found under the column content and/or connections. Best practices tell us that making objectives measureable increases student mastery.

Connections

TN Standards Learning Outcome Content ConnectionsStandard 4 -Heredity – 3 weeks

GLE 0107.4.1 Observe and illustrate the life cycle of animalsGLE 0107.4.2 Describe ways in which animals closely resemble their parentsScaffolded (unpacked) ideas

● Plants and animals have life cycles that include being born, developing into adults, reproducing, and eventually dying.

● The details of a life cycle are different for different organisms.

● Some animals have very different appearances at certain stages of their life cycles.

● The offspring of animals resemble their parents but are not exactly alike.

● Many characteristics of an organism, but not all, are inherited from parents.

I can observe, describe, and record the life cycle of a particular animal. (0107.4.1)

I can match pictures of parents and related offspring by identifying common characteristics.

Essential Question(s)1. What are the life cycles of

representative animals?2. What are some ways that

offspring resemble their parents?

MacMillan/McGraw-Hill: A Closer LookChapter 2 Lesson 1 Plants Grow and Change pp. 72-77Chapter 2 Lesson 2 Animals Grow and Change pp. 82-87Lab and investigationsExplore: Lesson 1 p. 73 What do seeds need to grow?Think, Talk, and Write p 77 Write about what happens to plants that do not get what they need to grow and stay healthy.Lesson 2 How do animals grow and change?Think, Talk, and WriteOnline Resources Cycles of Life This lesson plan allows students to have a hands-on experience and learn about the metamorphosis of insects.The Life Cycle of a Butterfly The purpose of this lesson is to familiarize the students with the life cycle stages of a butterfly. The lesson begins with the reading of Eric Carle's book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Students use different shapes pasta to illustrate the life cycle of butterfly with bow-tie pasta representing the adult butterfly. Students are asked to write about the life cycle of a butterfly. Assessment suggestions are includedPlant Life: How Do Plants Grow? This online resource provides several activities on plant life cycles.Life Cycle Games – Sheppard Software has Life cycle games to deepen the student’s understanding about life cycles.Plant Life Cycle Sequence Game.Life Cycle of an American Bullfrog from

Academic VocabularySeedling, life cycle, mammal, amphibian, tadpole, offspringStrategies for teaching science vocabularyPerformance TasksPractice 7 Engaging in argument from evidence

A Kangaroo's Life Cycle a 530L Lexile level passage discusses the life cycle of a kangaroo. This Passage & Question Set align to the following Common Core Anchor Standards:

CCSS.ELA- LITERACY.CCRA.R.1Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.2Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.10Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently.

A Sea Turtle's Story a 570L Lexile level passage discusses a sea turtle’s life cycle.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.1Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.2Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas. CCSS.ELA-

K5learning.com, but it is only a 14 day trial membership.Sid the Science Kid Garden Scavenger Hunt, Plant a Tree, Beautiful Trees, Exploring HabitatsPink Palace Museum Outreach Suitcase Exhibits (FREE): Magnifiers, Plant Reproduction, Trees & Leaves, Dinosaurs, Skulls/Predator & Prey

Passport Program: Tree Cookies, Leaves & Seeds, Sharks, Weddell Seals, Insects

Lichterman Nature Center Field Trips● Exhibits: Urban Wildlife, Adaptations, Seasons,

Life Cycles, Backyard Wildlife Center

● Programs: Exploring Nature Your Way (self-guided), Habitat Detectives, In Your Backyard, Animals Alive! Grant Program (Free--for up to 2000 Title 1 students grades 1-8 during Aug-Sep & Dec-Mar—funding subject to availability)

Video ResourcesLadybug Life CycleLife Cycle Video

LITERACY.CCRA.R.10Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently.

10 Ready to go resources for teaching life cycles

 Life Cycle Project Choose one animal. You may not choose bear, frog, butterfly, or turtle because they are in the science book. PLAN Research the animal. Think about questions like:

● Does the animal come from an egg or does it have live birth?

● What does it look like when it is born?● What is it called when it is born?● What does it look like when it gets older?● How old is the adult when it begins to

reproduce?● What is the life span of the animal?

DO Create a poster. Include:

● a label for each stage of life,● a picture of the animal at each stage of

life,● a description of the animal at each stage

of life.● The information must be in your own

words. Do not copy pages of information from the internet or a book and glue them on a piece of poster board. Use the information you find to form your own sentences.

● The information must be accurate. Babies are not carried inside the mother’s stomach or tummy. They are carried inside the mother’s womb or uterus. Be prepared to tell the class about your animal and to show us your poster.

Standard 5 –Biodiversity and Change - 3 weeksGLE 0107.5.1 Investigate how plants and animals can be grouped according to their habitats.GLE 0107.5.2 Recognize that some organisms which formerly lived are no longer found on earth.Scaffolded (unpacked) ideas

● Some animals that once lived are only known because of the fossil evidence that they left behind.

● Some kinds of organisms that are alive today resemble types of living things that have disappeared from the face of the Earth.

● The offspring of animals resemble their parents but are not exactly alike.

● Many characteristics of an organism, but not all, are inherited from parents

I can observe plants and animals on the school grounds and group them according to where they are found.I can create a chart of different habitats and match animals to specific locations.I can sort pictures or illustrations of animals into groups that are extinct and those that still exist and offer possible explanations for extinction.Essential Question(s)

● What information can fossils tell us about life that once existed?

● What are some ways that offspring resemble their parents?

MacMillan/McGraw-Hill: A Closer LookChapter 3 Lesson 1 pp. 102-107Chapter 3 Lesson 2 pp. 110-115Chapter 3 Lesson 3 pp. 118-123

Lab and investigationsChapter 3 Lesson 1 Explore Inquiry Activity: p. 103 Where do plants and animals live?Think, Talk, and Write p. 107 Make a chart with columns labeled Grasslands and Forests. Write in some animals that live in each habitat

Chapter 3 Lesson 2 Explore Inquiry Activity: p. 111 What happens if a plant does not get water?Think, Talk, and Write p. 115 Make a chart with columns labeled Desert and Arctic. Write in some animals that live in each habitatChapter 3 Lesson 3 Explore Inquiry Activity p. 119 How do plants and animals live in water?Think, Talk, and Write p. 123 Make a chart with columns labeled Lake and Ocean. Write in some animals that live in each habitat

Academic VocabularyExtinct, investigate, grassland, forest, habitat, desert, Arctic, lake, fresh water, ocean, salt water

Performance Tasks

Art Link: Observe plants and animals around your school. Draw where each lives.

Social Studies Link: How do plants survive where you live?

Art Link: Find pictures of different whales. Compare them. Make an ocean collage/

1. Animal Match - Match babies with the parent

2. Animal Park - Match the babies with their parent

3. Baby Animals - Find the parent4. Farm Babies -worksheets and lesson

plan5. What will I be when I grow up? - Match

babies with the parent

Online ResourcesFossils and Dinosaur resources

Video ResourcesSid the Science Kid Garden Scavenger Hunt, Plant a Tree, Beautiful Trees, Exploring HabitatsExtinct and Endangered Animal Images and VideoThis site includes images and videos of extinct (or at one time thought to be extinct) animals. This would be a great site for teachers to show images and videos to whole groups or for students to view independently. Teachers, or students, can also search this site for threatened and endangered species.How Fossils Form This is a short video that teaches students how fossils are formedLife Cycle videoFossils for Kids A video on fossilsAnimal parents and their offspring that look Totally Alike – A Youtube video about animals and their offspring resembling each other.

Pink Palace Museum Outreach Suitcase Exhibits (FREE): Magnifiers, Plant Reproduction, Trees & Leaves, Dinosaurs, Skulls/Predator & Prey

Passport Program: Tree Cookies, Leaves & Seeds, Sharks, Weddell Seals, Insects

Lichterman Nature Center Field Trips● Exhibits: Urban Wildlife, Adaptations, Seasons,

Life Cycles, Backyard Wildlife Center

6. Butterfly Life Cycle - from Enchanted Learning

7. Butterfly Life Cycle - lesson plan with nine activities

8. Four stages of the butterfly life cycle - short explanation of each stage

9. Frog Life Cycle - eleven weeks from egg to frog

10. Life Cycle of a frog - page to print - Frog life cycle page to label

11. Life Cycles - frog and butterfly12. Monarch Butterfly life cycle - separate

page for each of the four stages13. One, Two, Three, Grow - learn the life

cycles, then match the body parts of the animal

14. Stages of a butterfly

● Programs: Exploring Nature Your Way (self-guided), Habitat Detectives, In Your Backyard, Animals Alive! Grant Program (Free--for up to 2000 Title 1 students grades 1-8 during Aug-Sep & Dec-Mar—funding subject to availability)

Standard 7 –The Earth – 3 weeksGLE 0107.7.1 – Realize that water, rocks, soil, living organisms, and man-made objects make up the earth’s surface.GLE 0107.7.2 Classify earth materials according to their physical properties.

Scaffolded (unpacked) ideas

● Rocks, minerals, soils, and water are common materials found on the Earth’s surface.

● The different physical properties of natural materials can be used to separate them into groups.

● Natural materials have different properties that make them useful to living things.

I can create a diagram of the school grounds to identify where water, rocks, soil, living organisms, man-made objects are found.

I can sample areas of the school grounds to identify where different materials are found.

Essential Question(s)

● What are some examples of natural, non-living things that are found on the Earth’s surface?

● What are some basic physical properties of a material?

MacMillan/McGraw-Hill: A Closer LookChapter 4 Lesson 2 p. 164-171Chapter 4 Lesson 3 p. 174-179

Lab and investigations activitiesChapter 4 Lesson 2 Explore Inquiry Activity p. 165 How are parts of Earth’s surface alike and different?Chapter 4 Lesson 2 Think, Talk, and Write p 171 Write about how lakes and rivers are different.Chapter 4 Lesson 3 Explore Inquiry Activity p. 175 How can you classify rocks?Chapter 4 Lesson 3 Think, Talk, and Write p 179 Write about three different kinds of soil.

Online ResourcesKids Loves Rocks- Kids Love Rocks is a rock and mineral website for kids. This educational site is a resource for young rock and mineral collectors and hobbyists. Learn about rocks, minerals, and everything related to the earth.

Rocks and Minerals Interactive Websites this page has several rocks and mineral websites for the students to choose.Rock Hound Kids- an excellent resource for kids who loves rocksVirtual Interactive Quarry - This site is wonderful!

Academic vocabularyProperties, rock, surface, river, mountain, valley, plains, mineral, soil

Strategies for teaching science vocabulary

Performance TasksArt Link: Create a diagram of the area around your school. Label the places that have water, rocks, soil, living things, and human-made objects.

Social Studies Link: Collect some soil and rocks from three areas near your school. Classify where different types of materials were found.

Understanding the Earth's Crust : a 2 week unit on rocks and minerals

The Rock Cycle reading passage

Land and Water Sort Cards This link provides teachers with materials for all contents areas including music and art. Many of the resources are free; however, some must be purchased. There are both computer generated and photograph printable land and water form picture and defintion cards that can be printed for a workstation activity. Scroll down to Land and Water Form to "Landform Cards 2". You can also

The Virtual Quarry Interactive is a site for both students and teachers.  There is many vidoes available under "Rock Cinema" that you can choose from.  There is a "Teacher's Desk"  that has videos, units, image library, and briefings.  On of the interesting parts of this site is the "Virtual Microscope" where you can see up close pictures of the rocks and minerals and info about each one.  There is also an interactive game called "Restore a Quarry" that your students will love!

Video ResourcesRock Types and Rock CycleThree Types of RocksExploring Rocks and MineralsRocks and Minerals Videos courtesy of PBS Learning Media

print definition cards so they match the picture to the definition or word cards that has the students just match the picture to the word.

Earth Systems Interactive Cards This is an interactive game for young children. Students will drag and drop cards with "real" pictures into groups. The groups are "living things", "air" , "water", and "land".

District and web-based resources have been provided in the Instructional Support and Resources column. The additional resources provided are supplementary and should be used as needed for content support and differentiation.