ScienceStart! Curriculum - Module 4: Neighborhood Habitats

Grade PreK.

Daily lesson plans allow to practice and master science process skills and to develop a rich and coherent knowledge base about the natural world.

• Includes Units 6, 7, and 8 listed below

Module 4: Neighborhood Habitats - Unit 6: Living Things in the Neighborhood

• During the course of this unit, students will:
• Investigate the characteristics of living things found in their own neighborhood
• Participate in multiple activities comparing living and nonliving things
• Become familiar with the science cycle
• Understand how to make a prediction and compare it with findings
• Become familiar with new vocabulary words used in the context of the science activities
• Begin learning to sort and categorize materials by their characteristics
• Each day, a book will be read aloud, and students will be supported in relating the book’s content to the science concepts being explored
• Read-aloud will also provide a context for developing print awareness and learnin letter-sound correspondence

Module 4: Neighborhood Habitats - Unit 7: Plants in the Neighborhood

• Students will carry out several investigations using plants found in their neighborhood
• Some of the topics explored include:
• Characteristics of a plant
• Life cycle of various plants
• The many ways people use plants
• Plants that we eat
• Students will also:
• Become familiar with the science cycle
• Understand how to make a prediction and compare it with findings
• Become familiar with new vocabulary words used in the context of the science activities
• Begin to understand how to sort and categorize materials by their characteristics

Module 4: Neighborhood Habitats - Unit 8: Animals in the Neighborhood

• Provides opportunities for students to focus on animal life in their neighborhood
• During the course of this unit, students will investigate:
• The variety of wild animals that live around them and how their needs are met withing their habitat
• Animals that people keep as pets and compare and contrast them with wild animals
• Animals are kept on a farm to further understand the interactions and relationships between people and animals
• Through their participation in these hands-on activities, students wll:

• Solving number problems using props
• Writing number sentences
• Making and analyzing data on charts and graphs