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Please
locate the FUSD Science Course of Study or Curriculum Guide
and Science Curriculum Map (Pacing Guide)
you need from the list below. Clicking on the link
will take you to the appropriate page needed for your grade
level course of study or curriculum guide.
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The
FUSD Science Science Program is
explicitly aligned to the California
Science Content Standards (CDE, 2000) and include science
concepts, processes, and scientific ways of thinking. All
Fresno Unified students can apply these skills and understanding
to make informed personal decisions, to accurately communicate
with a variety of audiences, to be become life-long learners,
and to make successful transitions to post-secondary education
and the work force.
The
Science Pacing Guide that
corresponds to each Course of Study serves as a guide to
instruction for time and material management.
Key
vocabulary lists - click on link to download copy of vocabulary list:
K-6
pdf 7-8
pdf Earth
Science pdf Biology
pdf Chemistry
pdf
Elementary
Science Curriculum Guides - Adopted program: Harcourt
Science 2007 for K-6
Middle
School Science Course of Study
High
School Science Courses of Study
ELECTIVES
- Zoology
- UNDER CONSTRUCTION
- Anatomy
and Physiology - UNDER CONSTRUCTION
- Marine
Biology - UNDER CONSTRUCTION
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Grade Level Descriptions
Kindergarten
Kindergarten
provides students with the opportunity to learn how to classify,
compare, sort, and identify common objects. They
to begin to explore the world around them and learn through
discovery about changes on Earth, in the sky, plants, animals,
their habitats, and non-living things in their local community.
Students begin to learn about the environment to promote
respect for nature. Students show knowledge of scientific
concepts from hands-on exploration and listening to teacher
read, which supports the development of comprehension, questioning,
and other important process skills.
Grade
1
Science
instruction in the first grade builds upon the science skills
developed in kindergarten and from the child's life experiences.
Students learn about the general properties of solids, liquids,
and gases.; learn about plants and animals by studying how
they adapt and respond to the enviroment; and learn about
the weather and how to measure seasonal changes.
Students discover that many objects are made of different
parts and have many different characteristics. Students
recognize and realize that natural resources are limited
and can be extended by recycling or decreasing use.
First graders explore ways people learn about science through
questioning, comparing, investigating, and observing.
(Grade 1 Course of Study)
Grade
2
Second
graders should learn how to follow oral instructions for
an investigation, measure, do simple graphing, make drawings
to record, and display data. They learn about the
life cycles of animals and plants and the basics of inheritance.
In the earth sciences students learn about rocks,
minerals, fossils, and the evidence they provide about Earth
' s history. Students recognize the purpose, process
and effects of technology, simple equipment and instruments
used in learning about science. Students develop
an awareness of repeated scientific investigations and understand
that under the same conditions the results are similar or
the same. (Grade 2 Course of Study)
Grade
3
The
scientific process skills of observation, measuring, and
classification serve as focal points for the third grade.
Students develop a conceptual understanding of matter;
the forces of interaction; and the properties of light and
how light affects the perception of direction, shadow. They
draw inferences from simple experiments and study the physical
and chemical changes of matter. Third grade students
also learn about different environments and the types of
organisms adapted to live in each. Students examine
results of technology and explore careers in science as
well as scientific contributions from a diversity of cultures.
(Grade 3 Course of Study)
Grade
4
Fourth
graders continue to safely conduct investigations, choose
appropriate tools, measure, collect, formulate conclusions,
and communicate findings through writing. They learn
to formulate and justify predictions based on cause-and-effect
relationships, differentiate observation from inference,
and conduct multiple trials to test their predictions.
They learn to design and build simple electrical circuits
and experiment with components such as wires, batteries,
and bulbs. They will observe that electrically charged
objects may either attract or repel one another and that
electrical energy can be converted into heat, light, and
motion. Students expand the study of ecology by examining
the relationships between animals and plants. Students
gather information on the weather and its patterns and how
erosion impacts the Earth's surface. They explore
how utilizing technology affects human lives and how technology
and inventions change to meet people's needs. (Grade 4 Course
of Study)
Grade
5
Students
in grade five will learn about chemical reactions and discover
the special (and shared) properties of metallic elements.
They will clearly distinguish between molecules and atoms
and chemical compounds and mixtures and learn about the
organization of atoms on the periodic table of the elements.
They can then be shown how particular chemical reactions
(e.g., photosynthesis and respiration) drive the physiological
processes of living cells. They will add to what they have
learned in previous grade levels about the external characteristics
and adaptations of plants and animals and learn about some
of the fundamental principles of physiology. They will learn
about blood circulation and respiration in humans; digestion
of food and collection and excretion of wastes in animals;
the movement of water and minerals from the roots of plants
to the leaves; and the transport of sugar generated during
photosynthesis from the leaves to the other parts of the
plant. Students in grade five also study the hydrologic
cycle (water cycle), the process by which water moves between
the land and the oceans. They will learn how the hydrologic
cycle influences the distribution of weather-related precipitation
and, as a consequence, the types and rates of erosion. They
will also study the solar system and learn that it contains
asteroids and comets in addition to the Sun, nine planets,
and moons. They will learn the composition of the Sun and
the relationship be-tween gravity and planetary orbits (CDE,
2000). (Grade 5 Course of Study)
Grade
6
The
science curriculum in grade six emphasizes the study of
earth sciences. Students at this age are increasing
their awareness of the environment and are ready to learn
more. The standards in grade six present many of
the foundations of geology and geophysics, including plate
tectonics and earth structure, topography, and energy.
The material is linked to resource management and ecology,
building on what students have learned in previous grades.
Unless students take a high school earth science
class, what they learn in grade six will be their foundation
for earth science literacy. (Grade 6 Course of Study)
Grade
7
Now
is an exciting time for the study of life sciences.
Knowledge of biological systems is expanding rapidly, and
the development of new technologies has led to major advances
in medicine, agriculture, and environmental management.
A foundation in modern biological sciences, with
an emphasis on molecular biology, is essential for students
who will become public school science teachers, college
and university science professors and researchers, and specialists
in technological fields.
Another
definitive reason for a focus on life science in grade seven
is the students' own biological and behavioral transition
into early adolescence. Young adolescents make decisions
that may have an enormous influence on their lives.
The study of life science provides a knowledge base on which
adolescents can make well-informed and wise decisions about
their health and behavior. The relevance of the curriculum
to students' lives helps students to maintain an interest
in science and to expand their knowledge of the natural
sciences. (Grade 7 Course of Study)
Grade
8
Students
in grade eight study topics in physical sciences, such as
motion, forces, and the structure of matter, by using a
quantitative, mathematically based approach similar to the
procedures they will use in high school. Earth, the solar
system, chemical reactions, the chemistry of biological
processes, the periodic table, and density and buoyancy
are additional topics that will be treated with increased
mathematical rigor, again in anticipation of high school
courses. Students should begin to grasp four concepts that
help to unify physical sciences: force and energy; the laws
of conservation; atoms, molecules, and the atomic theory;
and kinetic theory. Those concepts serve as important organizers
that will be required as students continue to learn science.
Although much of the science called for in the standards
is considered “classical” physics and chemistry, it should
provide a powerful basis for understanding modern science
and serve students as well as adults. Mastery
of the eighth-grade physical sciences content will greatly
enhance the ability of students to succeed in high school
science classes. Modern molecular biology and earth sciences,
as well as chemistry and physics, require that students
have a good understanding of the basics of physical science.
(Grade 8 Course of Study)
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