Curriculum and Instruction – Office of Science
Introduction
In 2014, the Shelby County Schools Board of Education adopted a set of ambitious, yet attainable goals for school and student
performance. The District is committed to these goals, as further described in our strategic plan, Destination2025. By 2025,
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80% of our students will graduate from high school college or career ready
90% of students will graduate on time
100% of our students who graduate college or career ready will enroll in a post-secondary opportunity
In order to achieve these ambitious goals, we must collectively work to provide our students with high quality, College and Career
Ready standards-aligned instruction. Acknowledging the need to develop competence in literacy and language as the foundation for
all learning, Shelby County Schools developed the Comprehensive Literacy Improvement Plan (CLIP). The CLIP ensures a quality
balanced literacy approach to instruction that results in high levels of literacy learning for all students across content areas. Destination
2025 and the CLIP establish common goals and expectations for student learning across schools. CLIP connections are evident
throughout the science curriculum maps.
The Tennessee State Standards provide a common set of expectations for what students will know and be able to do
at the end of a grade. College and Career Ready Standards are rooted in the knowledge and skills students need to succeed in postsecondary study or careers. While the academic standards establish desired learning outcomes, the curriculum provides instructional
planning designed to help students reach these outcomes. Educators will use this guide and the standards as a roadmap for curriculum
and instruction. The sequence of learning is strategically positioned so that necessary foundational skills are spiraled in order to
facilitate student mastery of the standards.
Our collective goal is to ensure our students graduate ready for college and career. The standards for science practice describe
varieties of expertise that science educators at all levels should seek to develop in their students. These practices rest on important
“processes and proficiencies” with longstanding importance in science education. The Science Framework emphasizes process
standards of which include planning investigations, using models, asking questions and communicating information.
1 Elementary Science Kindergarten, 2nd nine weeks
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Curriculum and Instruction – Office of Science
Construct
explanations
and design
solution
Obtain,
evaluate, and
communicate
information
Engage in
argument
Ask questions
and define
problems
Patterns
Develop and
use models
Practices
in
Science
Use math,
technology,
and
computational
thinking
Plan and carry
out
investigations
Cause and
Effect
Stability and
change
Cross Cutting
Concepts
Analyze and
interpret data
Energy and
matter
Systems and
system
models
Crosscutting concepts have value because they provide students with connections and intellectual tools that are related across the
differing areas of disciplinary content and can enrich their application of practices and their understanding of core ideas. Throughout
the year, students should continue to develop proficiency with the eight science practices. Crosscutting concepts can help students
better understand core ideas in science and engineering. When students encounter new phenomena, whether in a science lab, field trip,
or on their own, they need mental tools to help engage in and come to understand the phenomena from a scientific point of view.
Familiarity with crosscutting concepts can provide that perspective. A next step might be to simplify the phenomenon by thinking of it
as a system and modeling its components and how they interact. In some cases it would be useful to study how energy and matter flow
through the system, or to study how structure affects function (or malfunction). These preliminary studies may suggest explanations
for the phenomena, which could be checked by predicting patterns that might emerge if the explanation is correct, and matching those
predictions with those observed in the real world.
2 Elementary Science Kindergarten, 2nd nine weeks
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Curriculum and Instruction – Office of Science
Science Curriculum Maps
This curriculum map is designed to help teachers make effective decisions about what science content to teach so that, our students
will reach Destination 2025. To reach our collective student achievement goals, we know that teachers must change their instructional
practice in alignment with the three College and Career Ready shifts in instruction for science.
To ensure that all student will be taught science content and processes in a comprehensive, consistent, and coherent manner,
Science Curriculum Maps are provided. Foundation texts for the maps include Shelby County Schools Framework for Standards
Based Curriculum, Science Curriculum Frameworks-K-12 (State of Tennessee Board of Education, and National Science Education
Standards).
Teachers function most effectively and students learn best within an “aligned” curriculum delivery system. An aligned system begins
with a concerted effort to implement the state curriculum frameworks. Many districts have developed curriculum guides built around
these frameworks to ensure that what is taught in particular grades and courses is closely linked with student Learning Expectations
found in the state standards. Classroom teachers use these locally-generated curriculum guides to plan and implement their individual
grade or course Pacing Guides. Expectations for student performance are clear and carefully tied to daily instructional events and
classroom assessment practices. In theory, a fully aligned system closes the loop between state standards and student learning.
Additionally, a coherent instructional/assessment system offers the potential for heightening student learning as reflected by their
performance on state-mandated standardized tests. Our collective goal is to ensure our students graduate ready for college and career.
Most of the elements found in the state Curriculum Frameworks were incorporated into the curriculum mapping
materials prepared by Shelby County Schools. Additional features were included to add clarity and to offer avenues that could assist
teacher in developing grade level lessons.
A district-wide, K-12, standards-based curriculum is implemented in science. This curriculum is articulated in the form of individual
SCS curriculum maps for each grade and subject. These SCS curriculum maps enable the district to implement a single curriculum
that emphasizes specific standards. Since Shelby County has a high rate of mobility among the student population, the SCS
curriculum maps ensure that all students receive the same program of high-level instructional content and academic expectations,
regardless of which school they attend. The utilization of a district-wide standards-based curricular program ensures that students in
SCS are engaged in hands-on inquiry based activities as teachers implement the curriculum maps.
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Curriculum and Instruction – Office of Science
Kindergarten 2nd nine weeks
Focus: Life Science
Unit K.1.1
Standard: Heredity (Cell Structure and Functions)
(Text in blue are hyperlinked to suggested resource)
Time Frame (5 Weeks)
I Can Statements:
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I can observe plants and observe animals change as they grow.
I can match pictures of offspring with the adult such as seeding with a grown plant, child to parent, calf to cow, etc. Also, write the names of each when identified.
I can keep and illustrated record of how plants change as they grow seed to adult using of measure.
Standards
0007.4.1 - Observe how
plants and animals
change as they grow.
0007.4.2 - Observe that
offspring resemble their
parents.
Learning Outcomes
Observe the world of familiar objects using the
senses and tools.
Ask questions, make logical predictions, plan
investigations and represent data.
2 Elementary Science Kindergarten, 2nd nine weeks
Tasks & Resources
MacMillan/McGraw-Hill: A Closer Look Grade K
Unit A: Plants
 Parts of Plants Lesson 1: pgs. 24-29
 What Plants Need Lesson 2 pgs. 34-39
 How Plants Grow Lesson 3: pgs. 42-45
Teacher’s Edition: Unit A, TE pp. 40 -45, and Unit B
TE How babies Grow, Growing Animals pp. 104 -111.
Lesson 6 & 7 106-112 Compare and contrast animals
and people pg. 112
CLIP Connection
Academic vocabulary
root, stem, leaf, air, light, water, soil,
seed, seedling, fruit, flower,
vegetable
Literacy Connections

How plants work Students, with guided
support from the teacher,
will read the
passage. Students will use
details in the passage to
answer text dependent
questions that focuses on
how plants work.
2015-2016
Curriculum and Instruction – Office of Science
3 Elementary Science Kindergarten, 2nd nine weeks
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How plants get food and
water - Students, with
guided support from the
teacher, will read the
passage. Students will use
details in the passage to
answer text dependent
questions that focuses on
how plants get food and
water.
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Invite children to circle the
parts of the plants using a
dry-erase marker. Write
labels for the parts to help
children revisit these terms
while reviewing the life
cycle.
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Count the number of times
the word look appears in
the first stanza of the poem
on page 6. have them help
you count the number of
letters in the word look.
Point to the word some
each time it is read to help
the students notice a
pattern.
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Provide a blank piece of
paper divided into five
2015-2016
Curriculum and Instruction – Office of Science
parts. Tell a brief story of
the life cycle of a pumpkin.
Have students draw a
picture of what the
pumpkin plant looks like at
each stage of growth.
Additional Unit K.1.1 Online Resources
Online Resources
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Video from Curious George
plants http://pbskids.org/curiousgeorge/video/td/video_pop.html?clip=td/105B&title=Paper%20Towel%20Plants&ar=16:9&cc=true&filetype=mov&bandwidth
=_hil
 Lesson plan for Curious George plantshttp://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/lsps07.sci.life.oate.lpexploreplant/exploring-plants/
 Lesson including writing on concepts of living and nonliving things by developing their own definitions. video
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzKKfABeY_s3aV9HU1h6cWtDRW8
 Lesson on what animals need to stay alive http://lessonplansource.com/living-and-non-living-things-whats-alive/
Pink Palace Museum Outreach
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Suitcase Exhibits: (free) Magnifiers, Plant Reproduction, Trees & Leaves
Passports: ($10/topic) Tree Cookies, Leaves & Seeds
Lichterman Nature Center Field Trips
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Exhibits: Seasons, Life Cycles
Programs: In Your Backyard
Nature 2U: Plants: From Seed to Table
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Curriculum and Instruction – Office of Science
Kindergarten 2nd nine weeks
Unit K.2.2
Focus: Life Science
Standard Characteristics (plants and Animals)
(Text in blue are hyperlinked to suggested resource)
Time Frame: 4 Weeks
I Can Statements:
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I can compare and contrast the basic features of a variety of plants.
I can compare and contrast the basic features of a variety of animals.
Standards
0007.5.1 - Compare the basic
features of plants and animals
Learning Outcomes
Observe plants and animals and make
records of their similarities and
differences.
Explain the data from an investigation.
Observe a plant to identify how it
changes as it grows from a seed to the
adult plant and record data using nonstandard measurement devices.
Tasks & Resources
CLIP Connection
Macmillan/McGraw-Hill (2010)
A Closer Look /Kindergarten
Academic vocabulary
animal, habitat, shelter, space, reptile, snake, lizard,
mammal, wings, fins, food, insect, animal features, reef,
skin, fur, scales, shell, feathers, grow, change, farm,
beekeeper, growth, parent, egg
Unit A Lesson 4 Look at Leaves and
Flowers Sorting plants Pgs TE 4652
Unit Theme-Learn about Plants:
pgs. 52-57, 58-69
Unit Theme—Learning about
Animals: pp.88-9, 94-95, 96-107
Lab activities
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5 Elementary Science Kindergarten, 2nd nine weeks
Leaf rubbings- gather a
variety of different leaves.
pg. 53 TE
Create a park including
Literacy Connections
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All kinds of plants - Students, with guided
support from the teacher, will read the
passage. Students will use details in the
passage to answer text dependent questions
that focuses on the variety of plants.

Animals build homes - Students, with guided
support from the teacher, will read the
passage. Students will use details in the
passage to answer text dependent questions
that focuses on the different types of animals
2015-2016
Curriculum and Instruction – Office of Science
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flowers, trees, bushes,
etc…
Music/ Take a Look
Science songs p. TE TR24
Animals Need pg TR25
and how they build their homes.
Additional K.2.2 Online Resources
Online Resources
 www.scssciencedepartment.weebly.com password: energy
 Lesson on the Needs of Living Things http://www.teachersdomain.org/resource/tdc02.sci.life.colt.lp_stayalive/
 Book for purchase Learn more with Plants and Animals (Real World Science) by Richard Hantula Gareth Stevens,2005
 Books for purchase Learn more with Animal Babies by Harry McNaught Random House, 1977
Pink Palace Museum Field Trips
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Exhibits: Adaptations, Insects, Mid-South Mammals
Labs: Journey to the Poles, Dinosaurs & Fossils
CTI Theater: Flight of the Butterflies 3D, Humpback Whales 3D, Walking with Dinosaurs: Prehistoric Planet 3D
Suitcase Exhibits: (free) Dinosaurs, Magnifiers, Skulls/Predator & Prey, Trees & Leaves
Passports: ($10/topic) Weddell Seals, Sharks, Tree Cookies, Leaves & Seeds
Lichterman Nature Center Field Trips
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Exhibits: Urban Wildlife, Adaptations, Seasons, Life Cycles, Backyard Wildlife Center
Programs: Habitat Detectives, In Your Backyard, Wild Lunch, Animals Alive!
Nature 2U: 11 topics including Amphibians: the Original Transformers, Going Batty; Birds-Our Feathered Friends; Beautiful Butterflies, Marvelous
Mammals;
Reptiles: Scales & Scutes, Plants: From Seed to Table; Poking in the Pond; Spectacular Spiders; Nocturnal Animals, Creepy Crawlies
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