SCIENCE CURRICULUM

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Early Childhood
All About Me

All About Me is a mini-unit for Early Childhood students. It was derived from the first-grade unit, My Senses . Through a variety of self-awareness activities, students discover unique characteristics about themselves. They are able to describe their likes and dislikes and recognize the differences among other people. Throughout the unit, students are guided to make discoveries about themselves, their peers and their families. These discoveries are intended to help children recognize and celebrate unique attributes.

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Kindergarten

Being Good

Being Good has been developed to provide kindergarten students with experiences that will raise self-esteem while building a sense of responsibility. This unit was developed to build on the strengths of school, home and community. Lessons are designed to encourage children to feel part of each of these components in his/her life.
The curriculum focuses on:

• giving specific and accurate information about drugs, studies and results.
• practicing social skills such as assertiveness,  techniques for making friends and refusal skills.

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First Grade
My Senses / 3R's

My Senses is a revision of the former first grade unit, Me and My Senses. It was developed on the recommendation of the Science Task Force and represents “the best of” the former unit. Students and teachers are engaged in a variety of activities designed to help them identify the senses and use them to gather information and make observations. At the end of this mini unit, students and teachers should recognize the importance of our senses in scientific investigations.
The Reduce, Reuse, Recycle unit was developed to meet Illinois Learning Standards on environmental awareness. It is designed to give young students an idea about their responsibility to the earth and their ability to make a difference. Throughout the unit, students and their teachers are engaged in activities that teach and reinforce the three main points: reduce, reuse and recycle. Whole class, individual and small group activities are included in the unit. 

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Second Grade
Eye Spy

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Third Grade
About Ourselves

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Fourth Grade
Mini Health Units

Germinator
Germinator has been developed to present fourth-grade students with basic information about bacteria, hygiene and good grooming practices.
This unit is one of a triad of "mini" health units. It can be completed in as little as three class periods. With extending activities, you may use as many as five class periods.

Being in Charge
The goal of this unit is to help children develop self-care skills and a positive sense of independence. Being independent means a person is able to be alone and take care of their own needs. All children need to learn to be independent by the time they reach adulthood. Practicing independence for short periods of time will help students become confident and responsible adults.
Fourth grade is typically the time when many children can begin to be left alone for short periods of time. However, keep in mind that families vary a great deal in their ideas about when it is appropriate to leave children unsupervised. Also, children themselves vary greatly in how comfortable they are alone.

First Aid
First aid has three important purposes. The first and most important objective is to save a life. Second, first aid prevents the illness or injury from becoming worse. Finally, first aid provides the victim with the medical attention necessary to speed recovery.

This unit includes instruction in some simple first aid procedures which will help students be better prepared to handle common emergency situations. It describes procedures for treating a variety of common injuries, such as cuts and bruises, as well as providing students with information about techniques for dealing with burns, poisoning, breathing difficulties, choking and other situations requiring emergency first aid.

Discovering Our Strengths
Our knowledge of prevention theory and our classroom expertise with students were integrated in this curriculum. Each lesson reflects our philosophy and beliefs as listed below:
Accurate Information: It is essential for both teachers and students to have current, accurate research based on information about alcohol and other drugs if they are to make informed decisions. This information should include:

• Facts about the effects of alcohol and other drugs on the body, the mind and society as a whole.
• The difference between alcohol and other drug non-use, abuse and dependency.
• The effects of alcohol and other drug abuse on the family, especially the children.
• The many other related issues and concerns that reflect the consequences of alcohol and other drug abuse.

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Fifth Grade
Indigestion Building our Strengths

Indigestion
This unit is designed to give students experience in testing foods. Students use scientific equipment to gather data on the contents of a variety of common foods. The data they gather, along with the information from printed and audio-visual materials, supplies students with concepts that they can apply to their own nutritional decisions.

Building Our Strengths
Our knowledge of prevention theory and our classroom expertise with students were integrated in this curriculum. Each lesson reflects our philosophy and beliefs as listed below:

Accurate Information: It is essential for both teachers and students to have current, accurate research based on information about alcohol and other drugs if they are to make informed decisions. This information should include:

• Facts about the effects of alcohol and other drugs on the body, the mind and society as a whole.
• The difference between alcohol and other drug non-use, abuse and dependency.
• The effects of alcohol and other drug abuse on the family, especially the children.
• The many other related issues and concerns that reflect the consequences of alcohol and other drug abuse.

EC K 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Sixth Grade
Have-A-Heart D.A.R.E.

This sixth grade heart unit aims to provide students with information on the circulatory system, which will give them the tools to make reasonable decisions about the lifestyles they choose. The activity oriented approach will stress the processes of science as students learn to measure, collect data, and make inferences and predictions about the functions of the cardiovascular system. Along with the process skills and the content material students learn, this unit attempts to encourage a positive scientific attitude and a realization of how science impacts the world in which we live.
Specific learner objectives are written for each activity. Overall goals for this unit include:

• Recognizing the importance of the circulatory system in sustaining the life of all body cells.
• Identifying the components of the circulatory system, including the heart.
• Understanding the role individuals play in maintaining their own cardiovascular health.

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Seventh Grade

Eighth Grade