Exploring Organisms (L)
First graders start learning about basic needs for survival as they look at themselves, their parents, and at bean plants. They see patterns in how offspring are similar to their parents. Students begin to learn about structure and function by focusing on insects. Finally, they design a solution to a real problem faced by human parents as they raise their offspring.
Performance Expectations: 1-LS1-1; 1-LS1-2; 1-LS3-1; K-2-ETS1-2
Teacher supplied items (not supplied in kit): 6 bath towels (optional, just for cleaning up), scissors, 1 photo of you with your parents, water, chart paper, cleaning supplies, craft supplies, crayons, markers, newspapers.
Sky Watchers (E)
By looking up and studying what they see, students build on their understanding of day and night, seasons, shadow and the moon’s patterns. In an area often filled with misconceptions, students use their bodies to actively model these systems. In the final activity, they create models to teach a lesson on what we know about the sun, the moon or how both effect the earth.
Performance Expectations: 1-ESS1-1; 1-ESS1-2
Teacher supplied items (not supplied in kit): Crayons.
Light & Sound Waves (P)
First graders begin to learn about waves in the world by exploring the properties of light and sound. At the end of the unit, students are ready to engineer a communication device. They identify the transmitter, the receiver and the code in this transfer of energy - using either light or sound. Then they present it and describe ways to improve it. Engineering in action!
Performance Expectations: 1-PS4-1; 1-PS4-2; 1-PS4-3; 1-PS4-4; K-2-ETS1-1; K-2-ETS1-2
Teacher supplied items (not in kit): Cut saran wrap, hand wipes, crayons, scissors, 12 plastic milk cartons (or translucent examples), 1 trash can (can be the one in your room), water, chart paper, glue sticks and markers.
Seeing Animal Sounds (EiE)
In Sounds Like Fun: Seeing Animal Sounds, students investigate the properties of sound and their many applications in engineering. The unit begins with the storybook Kwame’s Sound, in which a boy named Kwame living in Ghana explores the field of Acoustical Engineering in order to communicate his drumming rhythms visually to his cousin Kofi. Over the course of the unit, students learn about the properties of sound and its many applications in fields from animal research to the design of musical instruments.