Food is a Basic Need for Living

LS.K.1.1 - Engage in argument from evidence to summarize the characteristics of living organisms and nonliving organisms in terms of their: structure, growth, changes, movement, and basic needs.

LS.K.1.2 - Use models to exemplify how animals use their body parts to obtain food and other resources, protect themselves, and move from place to place.

• Emphasis is on the characteristics that make something living or nonliving.

• Students know living things have the following characteristics: 

  • Structure: Students know that living things are made of parts and each of the parts has a role to support life.

  • Growth and Changes: Students observe and compare how different organisms grow, develop and change over time. 

  • Movement: Students know how various organisms move, noting similarities and differences. 

  • Basic needs: Students know that all organisms have basic needs [e.g., air, water, food, (light for plants)]. 

• Students determine if something is living or nonliving based on its characteristics. Living things have all of the characteristics (structure, growth and change, movement, basic needs). Nonliving things do not have one or more of the characteristics. 

Link to New NC Science Standards - Unpacking

What do we need to live and grow?

LS.1.1.1 - Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to summarize the needs of different plants and animals.

LS.1.1.2 - Analyze and interpret data to compare how the needs of plants and animals can be met in different environments.

• Emphasis is placed on recognizing and summarizing the basic needs [air, water, food, and light (for plants)] of various plants and animals. 

• Students know plants need water, air, and light to live and grow.

• Students know animals need water, air, and food to live and grow.

• Students know plants and animals need shelter and space.

• Link to New NC Science Standards - Unpacking

Life Cycles

• LS.2.1.1 - Use models to summarize the life cycle of animals including: birth, developing into an adult, reproducing, aging and death.

• LS.2.1.2 - Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to compare life cycles of different animals.

• Students summarize how life cycles follow predictable patterns. 

• Students know animals are born, they grow and change into adults, and age and die. 

• Students give specific examples of different animal life cycles. 

• Students use models (e.g., diagrams, physical models, etc.) to explain how animals grow and change through their lives.

• Constructing Explanations- Construct or support an argument with evidence and models that animals have predictable life cycle stages.

• Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information: Read grade-appropriate texts and/or use media to obtain scientific information to determine patterns and evidence about life cycles. 

• Link to New NC Science Standards - Unpacking

Human Body Systems and Life Cycles

LS.3.1.1 - Use models to infer the functions of the skeletal and muscular systems.

LS.3.1.2 - Obtain, evaluate, and communicate scientific information to explain why skin is necessary for protection and for the body to remain healthy.

LS.3.2.1 - Carry out investigations to explain the structures and functions of plants and how they are essential for life.

LS.3.2.2 - Use models to exemplify the distinct stages of the life cycle of seed plants.

LS.3.3.1 - Carry out investigations to explain how environmental conditions determine how well plants survive and grow.

LS.3.3.2 - Construct an explanation to infer how the basic properties and components of soil determine its ability to support the growth and survival of many plants.

• Students know that the skeletal system is comprised of bone.   Bone is a hard material that provides support and protection to the body’s soft tissues. Students know that muscles are formed from tissues that contract and relax, producing motion. 

• Muscles are attached to bones and initiate and regulate movement. Muscles are also found in internal organs that are responsible for essential life processes (heart, stomach, intestines).

• Link to NC Science Standards - Unpacking

Food as Energy 

5.L.2.2 Classify the organisms within an ecosystem according to the function they serve: producers, consumers, or decomposers (biotic factors). 

5.L.2.3 Infer the effects that may result from the interconnected relationship of plants and animals to their ecosystem. 

Human Body Systems and Cell Hierarchy

LS.5.1.1 - Use models to recognize the organizational structure of humans as a multicellular organism (cell, tissue, organ, organ system, organism).

LS.5.1.2 - Use models to compare the major systems of the human body (digestive, respiratory, circulatory, muscular, skeletal, nervous) as it relates to their functions necessary for life.

• Students recognize that multicellular organisms are made up of many different parts.

• Students identify the hierarchy of how the different components build to form body systems: cells make up tissues, tissues make up organs, organs make up the body system.

• Develop and Use Models- Develop a model (e.g., a diagram) illustrating the organizational structure of humans as multicellular organisms.

• Students identify the main structures and functions of each system.

• Students compare the systems in terms of functions necessary for life.

• Students give examples of involuntary (e.g., muscles of the stomach, intestine, and heart) and voluntary (e.g., leg muscles when running) muscles.

Link to NC Science Standards - Unpacking

Agriculture and Cellular Respiration

LS.6.1.1 - Use models to explain how the processes of photosynthesis, respiration and transpiration work together to meet the needs of plants.

LS.6.1.2 - Construct an explanation to compare how vascular and nonvascular plants obtain, transport, and use nutrients and water necessary for survival.

LS.6.1.3 - Use models to summarize structural adaptations, processes, and responses that flowering plants use for defense, survival, and reproduction.

LS.6.2.1 - Use models to summarize how energy derived from the sun is used by plants to produce sugars (photosynthesis) and is transferred to consumer and decomposers.

LS.6.2.2 - Analyze and interpret data to predict how the abiotic factors (such as temperature, water, sunlight, and soil quality) and biotic factors affect the ability of organisms to grow and survive in different biomes (freshwater, marine, temperate, forest, rainforest, grassland, desert, taiga, and tundra.

 How can green plants make their own food? 

• How are the processes of cellular respiration and photosynthesis considered complementary processes? 

• How are the processes of photosynthesis and cellular respiration alike/different? 

• How does the process of transpiration aid in the survival of a plant?

• What is the name of the simple sugar that is produced during photosynthesis? 

• What cell structure regulates the opening and closing of guard cells?

• What is needed for cellular respiration to occur? 

• Which plant pigment traps most of the light energy used in photosynthesis? 

• What is the purpose of the cuticle in a leaf? 

• What is the purpose of the stomata in photosynthesis? transpiration?

Link for NC Science Standards - Unpacking

Human Body Systems

ESS.7.2.1 - Engage in argument from evidence to explain that the good health of humans and environment requires: monitoring of the atmosphere, maintaining air quality and stewardship.

ESS.7.2.2 - Analyze and interpret data to explain how changes in the structure and composition of the atmopshere affects the greenhouse effect and global temperatures.

ESS.7.2.3 - Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to explain the impacts on humans and mitigation strategies of potentially hazardous environmental factors (including air quality index, UV index, wildfire) and storms (hurricanes, blizzards, tornadoes, severe thunderstorns, floods).

Link to New NC Science Standards - Unpacking

Food as a Source of Energy

8.L.5 Understand the composition of various substances as it relates to their ability to serve as a source of energy and building materials for growth and repair of organisms. 

8.L.5.1 Summarize how food provides the energy and the molecules required for building materials, growth and survival of all organisms (to include plants).

Importatance of Diet & Exercise

8.L.5.2 Explain the relationship among a healthy diet, exercise, and the general health of the body (emphasis on the relationship between respiration and digestion) 

Food Chains, Webs, and Potable Water

• LS.8.2.2 - Construct an explanation to summarize the relationships among producers, consumers, and decomposers including the positive and negative consequences of such interactions including: coexistence and cooperation, competition (predatory/prey), parasitism, and mutualism.

• LS.8.2.3 - Construct an explanation to summarize how food provides the energy and the building materials required for the growth and survival of all organisms (to include plants).

• LS.8.2.4 - Use model to explain how the flow of energy within food webs is interconnected with the cycling of matter (water and carbon).

• ESS.8.2.2-Use models to explain how temperature and salinity drive major ocean currents and how these current impact climate, ecosystems, and the distribution of nutrients, minerals, and dissolved gases, and life forms.

Spread, Treatment, and Prevention of Infectious Diseases

LS.8.1.1 - Construct an explanation to compare the basic characteristics of viruses, bacteria, fungi, and parasistes relating to the spread, treatment and prevention of disease.

LS8.1.2 - Analyze and interpret data to explain the difference between epidemic and pandemic as it relates to the spread, treatment, and prevention of disease.

Link for New NC Science Standards - Unpacking

Disease Outbreaks

8.L.1.2 Explain the difference between epidemic and pandemic as it relates to the spread, treatment and prevention of disease.