1: The student conducts classroom and outdoor investigations, following home and school safety procedures and environmentally appropriate and ethical practices.

1.A: demonstrate safe practices and the use of safety equipment as described in the Texas Safety Standards during classroom and outdoor investigations; and

Field Investigations
Lab Safety

2: The student uses scientific inquiry methods during laboratory and outdoor investigations.

2.A: plan and implement descriptive investigations, including asking well-defined questions, making inferences, and selecting and using appropriate equipment or technology to answer his/her questions;

Pendulum Clock

2.C: construct simple tables, charts, bar graphs, and maps using tools and current technology to organize, examine, and evaluate data;

Graphing Skills
Prairie Ecosystem

4: The student knows how to use a variety of tools, materials, equipment, and models to conduct science inquiry.

4.A: collect, record, and analyze information using tools, including calculators, microscopes, cameras, computers, hand lenses, metric rulers, Celsius thermometers, mirrors, spring scales, pan balances, triple beam balances, graduated cylinders, beakers, hot plates, meter sticks, compasses, magnets, collecting nets, and notebooks; timing devices, including clocks and stopwatches; and materials to support observation of habitats of organisms such as terrariums and aquariums; and

Measuring Volume
Weight and Mass

5: The student knows that matter has measurable physical properties and those properties determine how matter is classified, changed, and used.

5.A: measure, compare, and contrast physical properties of matter, including size, mass, volume, states (solid, liquid, gas), temperature, magnetism, and the ability to sink or float;

Density
Mineral Identification
Phases of Water
Weight and Mass

5.B: predict the changes caused by heating and cooling such as ice becoming liquid water and condensation forming on the outside of a glass of ice water; and

Phases of Water

6: The student knows that energy exists in many forms and can be observed in cycles, patterns, and systems.

6.A: differentiate among forms of energy, including mechanical, sound, electrical, light, and heat/thermal;

Energy Conversions

6.B: differentiate between conductors and insulators;

Circuit Builder

6.C: demonstrate that electricity travels in a closed path, creating an electrical circuit, and explore an electromagnetic field; and

Circuit Builder

7: The students know that Earth consists of useful resources and its surface is constantly changing.

7.B: observe and identify slow changes to Earth's surface caused by weathering, erosion, and deposition from water, wind, and ice; and

Rock Cycle

8: The student knows that there are recognizable patterns in the natural world and among the Sun, Earth, and Moon system.

8.B: describe and illustrate the continuous movement of water above and on the surface of Earth through the water cycle and explain the role of the Sun as a major source of energy in this process; and

Water Cycle

8.C: collect and analyze data to identify sequences and predict patterns of change in shadows, tides, seasons, and the observable appearance of the Moon over time.

Ocean Tides
Phases of the Moon
Summer and Winter

9: The student knows and understands that living organisms within an ecosystem interact with one another and with their environment.

9.A: investigate that most producers need sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide to make their own food, while consumers are dependent on other organisms for food; and

Forest Ecosystem
Prairie Ecosystem

9.B: describe the flow of energy through food webs, beginning with the Sun, and predict how changes in the ecosystem affect the food web such as a fire in a forest.

Forest Ecosystem

10: The student knows that organisms undergo similar life processes and have structures that help them survive within their environment.

10.B: demonstrate that some likenesses between parents and offspring are inherited, passed from generation to generation such as eye color in humans or shapes of leaves in plants. Other likenesses are learned such as table manners or reading a book and seals balancing balls on their noses; and

Inheritance