Science Content Standards
Eagal Lakes Academy school tours and programs align with life science and history-social science content standards for California public schools and convey the importance of native plants, cultures of indigenous people and natural history of California.
Below are the content standards for each of our school tours and programs.
School Tours
A Sensational Walk: Science Content Standards for California
K
Life Sciences 2a. Students know how to observe and describe similarities and differences in the appearance and behavior of plants and animals.
2b. Students know how to identify major structures of common plants and animals.
Earth Science 3a. Students know characteristics of mountains, rivers, oceans, valleys, deserts and local landforms.
3b. Students know changes in weather occur from day to day and across seasons, affecting Earth and its inhabitants.
Investigation and Experimentation 4a. Students observe common objects by using the five senses.
4b. Students describe the properties of common objects.
4d. Students compare and sort common objects by one physical attribute (e.g. color, shape, texture, size, weight)
First Grade
Life Sciences 2a. Students know different plants and animals inhabit different kinds of environments and have external features that help them thrive in different kinds of places.
2b. Students know both plants and animals need water, animals need food, and plants need light.
2c. Students know animals eat plants or other animals for food and may also use plants or even other animals for shelter and nesting.
2e. Students know roots are associated with the intake of water and soil nutrients and green leaves are associated with making food from sunlight.
Earth Science 3b. Students know that the weather changes from day to day but that trends in temperature or rain tend to be predictable during a season.
3c. Students know the sun warms the land, air and water.
Second Grade
Life Sciences 2a. Students know that organisms reproduce offspring of their own kind and that the offspring resemble their parents and one another.
2b. Students know the sequential stages of life cycles are different for different animals.
2f. Students know flowers and fruits are associated with reproduction in plants.
Earth Sciences 3c. Students know that soil is made partly from weathered rock and partly from organic materials and that soils differ in their color, texture, capacity to retain water and ability to support the growth of many kinds of plants.
Investigation and Experimentation 4a. Students make predictions based on observed patterns and not random guessing.
Third Grade
Life Sciences 3a. Students know plants and animals have structures that serve different functions in growth, survival and reproduction.
3b. Students know examples of diverse life forms in different environments.
3c. Students know living things cause changes in the environment in which they live. Some of these changes are detrimental to the organism or other organisms and some are beneficial.
Life Sciences 2a. Students know plants are the primary source of matter and energy entering most food chains.
2b. Students know producers and consumers are related in food chains and food webs and may compete with each other for resources in a ecosystem.
2c. Students know decomposers recycle matter from dead plants and animals.
3a Students know ecosystems can be characterized by their living and nonliving components.
3c. Students know many plants depend on animals for pollination and seed dispersal and animals on plants for food and shelter.
Fourth Grade
Earth Sciences 4a. Students know how to differentiate among igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks by referring to their properties and methods of formation.
A Sense of California: Science Content Standards for California
Kindergarten
* Students know how to observe and describe similarities and differences in the appearance and behavior of plants and animals.
* Students know how to identify major structures of common plants and animals.
First Grade
* Students know different plants and animals inhabit different kinds of environments and have external features that help them thrive in different kinds of places.
* Students know animals eat plants or other animals for food and may also use plants or even other animals for shelter and nesting.
* Students know how to infer what animals eat from the shape of their teeth. Students know roots are associated with the intake of water and soil nutrients and green leaves are associated with making food from sunlight.
Second Grade
* Students know that organisms reproduce offspring of their own kind and that the offspring resemble their parents and one another.
* Students know the sequential stages of life cycles are different for different animals, such as butterflies, frogs and mice.
* Students know many characteristics of an organism are inherited from the parents. Some characteristics are caused or influenced by the environment.
* Students know there is variation among individuals of one kind within a population.
* Students know light, gravity, touch, or environmental stress can affect the germination, growth and development of plants.
Third Grade
* Students know plants and animals have structures that serve different functions in growth, survival and reproduction.
* Students know examples of diverse life forms in different environments such as oceans, deserts, tundra, forests, grasslands and wetlands.
* Students know living things cause changes in the environment in which they live: some of these changes are detrimental to the organism or other organisms and some are beneficial.
* Students know with the environment changes, some plants and animals survive and reproduce; others die or move to new locations.
* Students know that some kinds of organisms that once lived on the Earth have completely disappeared and that some of those resembled others that are alive today.
* Observe common objects using five senses.
* Describe properties of common objects.
* Describe the relative position of objects using one reference.
* Compare and sort common objects by one physical attribute.
* Communicate observations orally and through drawings.
* Draw pictures that portray some features of the thing being described.
* Record observations and data with pictures, numbers or written statements.
* Make new observations when discrepancies exist between two descriptions of the same object or phenomenon.
* Make predictions based on observed patterns and not random guessing.
* Compare and sort common objects according to two or more physical attributes
* Write or draw descriptions of a sequence of steps, events, and observations.
* Use magnifiers to observe and draw descriptions of small objects or small features or objects.
* Differentiate evidence from opinion and know that scientists do not rely on claims or conclusions unless they are backed by observations that can be confirmed.
Trail programs
A Bird’s Life: Adaptation and Survival Strategies of Birds: Science Content Standards for California
Fourth Grade
Life Sciences 2.b. Produces and consumers (herbivores, carnivores, omnivores and decomposers) are related in food chains and food webs and may compete with each other for resources in an ecosystem.
3. Living organisms depend on one another and on their environment for survival.
3.a. Ecosystems can be characterized by their living and nonliving components.
3.b. In any particular environment, some kinds of plants and animals survive well, some survive less well and some cannot survive at all.
3c. Students know many plants depend on animals for pollination and seed dispersal and animals on plants for food and shelter.
Fifth Grade
Life Sciences 2a. Students know many multicellular organisms have specialized structures to support the transport of materials.
Sixth Grade
Life Sciences 5.b. Matter is transferred over time from one organism to other in the food web and between organisms and the physical environment.
5c. Students know populations of organisms can be categorized by the functions they serve in an ecosystem.
5d. Students know different kinds of organisms may play similar ecological roles in similar biomes.
5e. Students know the number and type of organisms an ecosystem can support depends on the resources available and on abiotic factors, such a quantities of light and water, range of temperatures and soil composition.
Native Partners: California Plants and California Indians: Science Content Standards for California
Third and Fourth Grades: This program augments social studies curriculum on California Indians for fourth grade.
Sixth Grade 6c. Students know the natural origin of the materials used to make common objects.
Native Partners: California Plants and California Indians: History-Social Science Content Standards
Third Grade 3.2 2. "...how the local Indian nations adapted to their natural environment (e.g., how they obtained food, clothing, tools)."
Fourth Grade 4.2 1. "...how they [the major nations of California Indians] depended on, adapted to and modified the physical environment by cultivation of land and use of river resources."
Fifth Grade 5.1 1. "Describe how geography and climate influenced...how they obtained food, clothing, tools and utensils."
5.1 2. "Describe their varied customs and folklore traditions."
Web of Life: The Study of Ecological Relationships and Diversity of Life: Science Content Standards for California
Fourth through sixth grades: This program focuses on food webs, energy flow and interdependence among living organisms.
Sixth Grade 4a. The source of energy for all living things on earth is the sun.
Fourth Grade 2a., Sixth Grade 5a.: Plants convert the sun's energy into food energy for living things.
Fourth Grade 2b. and c., Sixth Grade 5b.: Plants and animals interact to utilize this energy and transfer it to other living things.
Sixth Grade 5b. and c.: The flow of energy is directional and available energy is finite.
Fourth Grade 3a., Sixth Grade 5e.: Each ecosystem has essential non-living and living components which interact in various ways to achieve homeostasis (balance).
Fourth Grade 3b., Sixth Grade 5e.: Different ecosystems are not separate, independent entities, but are connected in many ways.
Fifth Grade 6.a, Sixth Grade 5c. and d.: Organisms may be categorized by their functions and different kinds of organisms play similar roles in different biomes.
Fourth Grade 5a., Sixth Grade 1d. and f.: Water for palm oasis comes from faults in the earth.
Fifth Grade 2a.: (specialized structures) Examine palm boring beetle
Fifth Grade 2c.: (digestion) Dissect owl pellet
Fifth Grade 3d. and e.: (water limited, origin of water for local communities) Fresh water at pond.
Fourth Grade 6a. and c., Fifth Grade 6e., Sixth Grade 7b. Test pond water for organic or inorganic pollution
California Geological Survey - Earth Sciences Content Standards for California Public Schools
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Content Standards
Content standards were designed to encourage the highest achievement of every student, by defining the knowledge, concepts, and skills that students should acquire at each grade level.
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Kindergarten
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3. Earth is composed of land, air, and water. As a basis for understanding this concept:
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Students know characteristics of mountains, rivers, oceans, valleys, deserts, and local landforms.
Students know changes in weather occur from day to day and across seasons, affecting Earth and its inhabitants.
Students know how to identify resources from Earth that are used in everyday life and understand that many resources can be conserved.
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Grade One
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3. Weather can be observed, measured, and described. As a basis for understanding this concept:
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Students know how to use simple tools (e. g., thermometer, wind vane) to measure weather conditions and record changes from day to day and across the seasons.
Students know that the weather changes from day to day but that trends in temperature or of rain (or snow) tend to be predictable during a season.
Students know the sun warms the land, air, and water.
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Grade Two
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3. Earth is made of materials that have distinct properties and provide resources for human activities. As a basis for understanding this concept:
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Students know how to compare the physical properties of different kinds of rocks and know that rock is composed of different combinations of minerals.
Students know smaller rocks come from the breakage and weathering of larger rocks.
Students know that soil is made partly from weathered rock and partly from organic materials and that soils differ in their color, texture, capacity to retain water, and ability to support the growth of many kinds of plants.
Students know that fossils provide evidence about the plants and animals that lived long ago and that scientists learn about the past history of Earth by studying fossils.
Students know rock, water, plants, and soil provide many resources, including food, fuel, and building materials, that humans use.
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Grade Three
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4. Objects in the sky move in regular and predictable patterns. As a basis for under-standing this concept:
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Students know the patterns of stars stay the same, although they appear to move across the sky nightly, and different stars can be seen in different seasons.
Students know the way in which the Moon's appearance changes during the four-week lunar cycle.
Students know telescopes magnify the appearance of some distant objects in the sky, including the Moon and the planets. The number of stars that can be seen through telescopes is dramatically greater than the number that can be seen by the unaided eye.
Students know that Earth is one of several planets that orbit the Sun and that the Moon orbits Earth.
Students know the position of the Sun in the sky changes during the course of the day and from season to season.
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Grade Four
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4. The properties of rocks and minerals reflect the processes that formed them. As a basis for understanding this concept:
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Students know how to differentiate among igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks by referring to their properties and methods of formation (the rock cycle).
Students know how to identify common rock-forming minerals (including quartz, calcite, feldspar, mica, and hornblende) and ore minerals by using a table of diagnostic properties.
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5. Waves, wind, water, and ice shape and reshape Earth's land surface. As a basis for understanding this concept:
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Students know some changes in the earth are due to slow processes, such as erosion, and some changes are due to rapid processes, such as landslides, volcanic eruptions, and earthquakes.
Students know natural processes, including freezing and thawing and the growth of roots, cause rocks to break down into smaller pieces.
Students know moving water erodes landforms, reshaping the land by taking it away from some places and depositing it as pebbles, sand, silt, and mud in other places (weathering, transport, and deposition).
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Grade Five
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3. Water on Earth moves between the oceans and land through the processes of evaporation and condensation. As a basis for understanding this concept:
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Students know most of Earth's water is present as salt water in the oceans, which cover most of Earth's surface.
Students know when liquid water evaporates, it turns into water vapor in the air and can reappear as a liquid when cooled or as a solid if cooled below the freezing point of water.
Students know water vapor in the air moves from one place to another and can form fog or clouds, which are tiny droplets of water or ice, and can fall to Earth as rain, hail, sleet, or snow.
Students know that the amount of fresh water located in rivers, lakes, under-ground sources, and glaciers is limited and that its availability can be extended by recycling and decreasing the use of water.
Students know the origin of the water used by their local communities.
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4. Energy from the Sun heats Earth unevenly, causing air movements that result in changing weather patterns. As a basis for understanding this concept:
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Students know uneven heating of Earth causes air movements (convection cur-rents).
Students know the influence that the ocean has on the weather and the role that the water cycle plays in weather patterns.
Students know the causes and effects of different types of severe weather.
Students know how to use weather maps and data to predict local weather and know that weather forecasts depend on many variables.
Students know that the Earth's atmosphere exerts a pressure that decreases with distance above Earth's surface and that at any point it exerts this pressure equally in all directions.
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5. The solar system consists of planets and other bodies that orbit the Sun in predict-able paths. As a basis for understanding this concept:
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Students know the Sun, an average star, is the central and largest body in the solar system and is composed primarily of hydrogen and helium.
Students know the solar system includes the planet Earth, the Moon, the Sun, eight other planets and their satellites, and smaller objects, such as asteroids and comets.
Students know the path of a planet around the Sun is due to the gravitational attraction between the Sun and the planet.
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Grade Six
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Plate Tectonics and Earth's Structure
1. Plate tectonics accounts for important features of Earth's surface and major geologic events. As a basis for understanding this concept:
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Students know evidence of plate tectonics is derived from the fit of the continents; the location of earthquakes, volcanoes, and midocean ridges; and the distribution of fossils, rock types, and ancient climatic zones.
Students know Earth is composed of several layers: a cold, brittle lithosphere; a hot, convecting mantle; and a dense, metallic core.
Students know lithospheric plates the size of continents and oceans move at rates of centimeters per year in response to movements in the mantle.
Students know that earthquakes are sudden motions along breaks in the crust called faults and that volcanoes and fissures are locations where magma reaches the surface.
Students know major geologic events, such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and mountain building, result from plate motions.
Students know how to explain major features of California geology (including mountains, faults, volcanoes) in terms of plate tectonics.
Students know how to determine the epicenter of an earthquake and know that the effects of an earthquake on any region vary, depending on the size of the earthquake, the distance of the region from the epicenter, the local geology, and the type of construction in the region.
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Shaping Earth's Surface
2. Topography is reshaped by the weathering of rock and soil and by the transportation and deposition of sediment. As a basis for understanding this concept:
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Students know water running downhill is the dominant process in shaping the landscape, including California's landscape.
Students know rivers and streams are dynamic systems that erode, transport sediment, change course, and flood their banks in natural and recurring patterns.
Students know beaches are dynamic systems in which the sand is supplied by rivers and moved along the coast by the action of waves.
Students know earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides, and floods change human and wildlife habitats.
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Resources
6. Sources of energy and materials differ in amounts, distribution, usefulness, and the time required for their formation. As a basis for understanding this concept:
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Students know the utility of energy sources is determined by factors that are involved in converting these sources to useful forms and the consequences of the conversion process.
Students know different natural energy and material resources, including air, soil, rocks, minerals, petroleum, fresh water, wildlife, and forests, and know how to classify them as renewable or nonrenewable.
Students know the natural origin of the materials used to make common objects.
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Grade Seven
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4. Evidence from rocks allows us to understand the evolution of life on Earth. As a basis for understanding this concept:
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Students know Earth processes today are similar to those that occurred in the past and slow geologic processes have large cumulative effects over long periods of time.
Students know the history of life on Earth has been disrupted by major catastrophic events, such as major volcanic eruptions or the impacts of asteroids.
Students know that the rock cycle includes the formation of new sediment and rocks and that rocks are often found in layers, with the oldest generally on the bottom.
Students know that evidence from geologic layers and radioactive dating indicates Earth is approximately 4.6 billion years old and that life on this planet has existed for more than 3 billion years.
Students know fossils provide evidence of how life and environmental conditions have changed.
Students know how movements of Earth's continental and oceanic plates through time, with associated changes in climate and geographic connections, have affected the past and present distribution of organisms.
Students know how to explain significant developments and extinctions of plant and animal life on the geologic time scale.
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