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Kindergarten Science

15 curriculum outcomes with explicit teaching progressions

Select a record to inspect its progression

Forces · K-PS2-1

Investigate how pushes and pulls change motion

Independently plan and conduct an investigation that compares how different strengths of pushes and pulls, or different directions of pushes and pulls, change the speed or direction of an object's motion, using contact examples such as pulling a string, pushing an object, stopping a rolling ball, or two objects colliding, testing only strength or only direction in a given investigation. across representations and contexts.

Component progression

  1. 1I can compare how a stronger push or pull changes an object's speed more than a weaker push or pull does, using contact examples such as pushing a toy or pulling a string.
  2. 2I can compare how the direction of a push or pull changes an object's direction of motion or starts and stops it, such as when two objects collide or a person stops a rolling ball.
  3. 3I can plan and conduct an investigation that tests only one variable, either strength or direction of pushes and pulls, at a time and collects evidence to compare its effect on motion.
Forces · K-PS2-2

Analyze test data for a push-or-pull design solution

Independently analyze data from testing a designed object or tool, such as a ramp or a turning structure, to determine whether it changes the speed or direction of a moving object, like a marble or ball, as intended, without attributing the result to friction. across representations and contexts.

Component progression

  1. 1I can identify the intended change in speed, direction, distance, or path that a design solution such as a ramp or turning structure is supposed to produce.
  2. 2I can collect data, such as distance traveled or path followed, from testing a designed object like a ramp or a structure that redirects a marble or ball.
  3. 3I can analyze test data to determine whether a design solution changed an object's speed or direction as intended, without attributing the result to friction.
Energy · K-PS3-1

Observe how sunlight warms Earth's surface

Independently make observations, such as touching sand, soil, rocks, or water in sunlight and in shade, to determine that sunlight warms earth's surface, describing temperature differences using relative terms like warmer and cooler rather than numeric measurements. across representations and contexts.

Component progression

  1. 1I can compare how a surface material such as sand, soil, rocks, or water feels in direct sunlight versus in shade.
  2. 2I can describe the warming effect of sunlight using relative terms such as warmer or cooler, rather than numeric temperature measurements.
  3. 3I can use observations of multiple surface materials to determine that sunlight causes earth's surface to warm.
Energy · K-PS3-2

Design a structure that reduces sunlight's warming effect

Independently use tools and materials to design and build a structure, such as an umbrella, canopy, or tent, that reduces the warming effect of sunlight on a specific area. across representations and contexts.

Component progression

  1. 1I can identify that blocking direct sunlight with a structure, such as a canopy or umbrella, reduces the warming effect of the sun on the area beneath it.
  2. 2I can use available tools and materials to design and build a structure that blocks sunlight from reaching a specific area.
  3. 3I can test a built shading structure to determine whether it reduces the warming effect of sunlight on the area it covers.
Organisms · K-LS1-1

Describe patterns in what plants and animals need to survive

Independently use observations to describe patterns in what different plants and animals, including humans, need to survive, such as that animals must take in food while plants do not, that different animals need different kinds of food, that plants require light, and that all living things need water. across representations and contexts.

Component progression

  1. 1I can use observations to describe that plants need water and light to live and grow.
  2. 2I can use observations to describe that animals, including humans, need to take in food, obtained from plants or other animals, in order to live and grow.
  3. 3I can compare observations of different plants and animals to describe patterns, such as that all living things need water but only animals need to take in food.
Earth Systems · K-ESS2-1

Describe patterns in local weather over time

Independently use and share observations of local weather conditions, both qualitative (such as sunny, cloudy, rainy, or windy) and quantitative (such as counting the whole number of sunny or rainy days in a month), to describe weather patterns over time, such as mornings usually being cooler than afternoons. across representations and contexts.

Component progression

  1. 1I can observe and record local daily weather using qualitative descriptions such as sunny, cloudy, rainy, or windy.
  2. 2I can count and record the number of sunny, rainy, or windy days over a period such as a month, using whole numbers.
  3. 3I can use recorded weather observations to describe a pattern over time, such as mornings usually being cooler than afternoons or one month having more sunny days than another.
Earth Systems · K-ESS2-2

Argue how living things change their environment

Independently construct an argument supported by evidence for how a plant or animal, including humans, changes its environment to meet its needs, such as a squirrel digging in the ground to hide food or tree roots breaking concrete. across representations and contexts.

Component progression

  1. 1I can identify examples of plants or animals changing their environment to meet a need, such as a squirrel digging to hide food or tree roots breaking concrete.
  2. 2I can gather evidence, such as observations or pictures, showing how a specific plant or animal changed its environment.
  3. 3I can construct an argument that uses gathered evidence to explain how a plant or animal changed its environment in order to meet its needs.
Earth Human Systems · K-ESS3-1

Model relationships between living things and their habitats

Independently use a model to represent the relationship between what a plant or animal, including humans, needs and the place it lives, such as deer living in forested areas because they eat buds and leaves or grasses growing in meadows because they need sunlight, showing that plants, animals, and their surroundings make up a system. across representations and contexts.

Component progression

  1. 1I can identify the specific needs, such as food, water, or sunlight, of a given plant or animal.
  2. 2I can identify a place, such as a forest or meadow, that provides what a specific plant or animal needs to survive.
  3. 3I can build a model showing plants, animals, and their surroundings as a system, representing how a specific organism's needs connect it to the place it lives.
Earth Human Systems · K-ESS3-2

Investigate the purpose of severe weather forecasting

Independently ask questions to obtain information about why weather scientists forecast severe weather that is likely in the local region, and how those forecasts help communities prepare for and respond to that severe weather. across representations and contexts.

Component progression

  1. 1I can identify a kind of severe weather that is likely to occur in the local region, such as thunderstorms, tornadoes, hurricanes, or blizzards.
  2. 2I can ask questions to obtain information about how weather scientists forecast severe weather before it happens.
  3. 3I can use obtained information to explain how a severe weather forecast helps a community prepare for and respond to that weather.
Earth Human Systems · K-ESS3-3

Communicate solutions that reduce human impact on the environment

Independently communicate a solution, such as reusing paper or recycling cans and bottles, that reduces the impact of a human activity, such as cutting trees to produce paper or using resources to produce bottles, on the land, water, air, or other living things in the local environment. across representations and contexts.

Component progression

  1. 1I can identify a way a human activity, such as cutting trees for paper or using resources to make bottles, affects the land, water, air, or living things in the local environment.
  2. 2I can identify a choice, such as reusing paper or recycling cans and bottles, that reduces a specific human impact on the local environment.
  3. 3I can communicate, using words, drawings, or models, a solution that reduces human impact on the land, water, air, or living things in the local environment.
Engineering Design · K-2-ETS1-1

Define a simple engineering problem

Independently ask questions, make observations, and gather information about a situation people want to change in order to define a simple problem that can be solved by developing a new or improved object or tool. across representations and contexts.

Component progression

  1. 1I can ask questions about a situation people want to change to gather information about what is not working.
  2. 2I can make observations and gather information about a situation to understand what people need or want.
  3. 3I can use gathered information to define a simple problem that could be solved by developing a new or improved object or tool.
Engineering Design · K-2-ETS1-2

Model how an object's shape supports its function

Independently develop a simple sketch, drawing, or physical model that illustrates how the shape of an object helps it function as needed to solve a given problem. across representations and contexts.

Component progression

  1. 1I can identify the function an object needs to perform to solve a given problem.
  2. 2I can identify how a specific shape or feature of an object helps it perform its needed function.
  3. 3I can develop a sketch, drawing, or physical model that illustrates how an object's shape helps it solve the given problem.
Engineering Design · K-2-ETS1-3

Compare test data for two competing designs

Independently analyze data from testing two objects designed to solve the same problem in order to compare the strengths and weaknesses of how each object performs. across representations and contexts.

Component progression

  1. 1I can collect data from testing two different objects designed to solve the same problem.
  2. 2I can analyze test data to identify a strength and a weakness of how each of the two objects performed.
  3. 3I can compare the two tested objects using their data to determine which performed better for solving the given problem, and in what way.
Computer Science · EEP-CS.K

Give and follow precise instructions

Independently create, follow, and improve a short sequence of instructions to complete a familiar task across representations and contexts.

Component progression

  1. 1I can explicitly teach and model how to put familiar actions in the intended order using a concrete computing example.
  2. 2I can describe how to follow a sequence and notice where it stops working using a traced example or representation.
  3. 3I can independently change one instruction to make the sequence work in a new computing context and explain the evidence that the solution works.
Ai Literacy · EEP-AI.K

Know when a person should help

Independently use an ai helper only with adult guidance and keep personal information private across representations and contexts.

Component progression

  1. 1I can explicitly teach and model how to tell the difference between getting a hint and having a helper do the task with an age-appropriate ai-use scenario.
  2. 2I can describe how to choose information that should never be shared with a digital helper by comparing responsible and irresponsible choices.
  3. 3I can independently show your own thinking after receiving a small hint in a new learning context while preserving the learner's own thinking and responsibility.
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