Carver Elementary School - Science Lab (RM 30)

An Activity-Based Program

San Marino elementary schools utilize the Macmillan/McGraw-Hill science curriculum for grades 1-5 and the Houghton Mifflin science curriculum for kindergarten. Both are aligned with the California state standards for life, earth, and physical science.

Carver students attend science lab about every other week, totaling 17 different lab activities for each grade during the school year.

In Science Lab the students work in cooperative groups during hands-on exploration to construct and reinforce scientific concepts. The students use scientific equipment such as spring scales, graduated cylinders, balances, meter tapes, thermometers, and magnets. Students have their own activity books to record their work. The activities are directly coordinated with the science curriculum taught in the classroom. Classroom teachers do additional hands-on activities with students.

The science lab coordinators are Dru Crouch and Susan Josenhans. Below is a brief outline of the curriculum at each grade level.

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KINDERGARTEN

Life Science -
Plants and Animals… What they need and how they move and grow. How are plants the same and different?

Earth Science -
Looking at Earth… Earth’s Materials… Mountains, Valleys, Deserts and Plains… Earth’s Water
Weather and Seasons … Describing Weather and the 4 Seasons…Weather Tools

Physical Science -
Observing Materials by Using Our Senses… Sorting Objects, Sink or Float, Magnetic Objects - Liquids, Solids and Evaporation

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FIRST GRADE

Solids, Liquids and Gases -
Exploring the properties of matter and the differences among solids, liquids, and gases

Changing Matter -
Heating, cooling, and mixing matter

Weather -
Observing and describing weather, using weather measuring tools, water cycle

Seasons -
Comparing weather in winter, spring, summer, and fall

Plants and Their Needs -
Plants’ habitats, needs, and parts; how plants get energy and nutrients

Animals and Their Needs -
Animals’ environments and needs, how animals get food; animal families, herbivores, and carnivores

Plants and Animals Together -
Land and water habitats, food chains, animal adaptations

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SECOND GRADE

Plant Life Cycles -
Flowers, fruits, and reproduction; how plants grow and change; plants’ responses to their environments

Animal Life Cycles -
Kinds of animals, mammals, animals from eggs, animal traits

Earth’s Materials -
Properties of rocks, how rocks change, soil

Earth’s Past -
Finding clues in fossils, fossils of California

Earth’s Resources -
Natural resources from rocks, water, plants and soil

Objects in Motion -
Position, motion, forces, changing motion

Forces at Work -
Tools, machines, gravity, magnets, sound

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THIRD GRADE

Adaptations in Land Environments-
Needs of living things, deserts, grasslands, forest and arctic tundra

Adaptations in Water Environments -
Plant and animal adaptations in the ocean and wetlands

Environments Change -
Living things change their environments, environmental changes affect living things, extinction, fossils

Our Earth, Sun, and Moon -
Day and night, seasons, motion in space

Our Solar System -
Sun and planets, telescopes, the patterns of stars

Matter -
Solids, liquids, and gases; changes in matter, building blocks of matter

Energy -
Forms of energy, potential and kinetic energy, waves

Light-
How light moves, seeing light and color, shadows

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FOURTH GRADE

Life Science -
Living Things Need Energy… Plants and Sunlight, Food Chains, Food
Webs, Microorganisms, Ecosystems, Adaptations

Earth Science -
Rocks and Minerals… Slow Changes on Earth - Weathering, Erosion and Landforms
Fast Changes on Earth - Landslides, Earthquakes and Volcanoes

Physical Science -
Electricity… Static and Building Circuits
Magnetism… Magnets - Electromagnets… Magnets in Motion

Electrical Energy -
Conductors, insulators, parallel and series circuits, magnets and electromagnets

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FIFTH GRADE

Life Science -
Structure of Living Things… From Cells to Organisms
Plant Structures and Functions… Vascular - Transport, Photosynthesis and Respiration
Human Body Systems… Digestive, Respiratory, Circulatory and Excretory

Earth Science -
Earth’s Water… Water Cycle, Freshwater Resources and California Water Supply
Earth’s Weather and The Solar System

Physical Science -
Matter… Types of Matter and Changes in Matter